Kurt sighed as he awoke then smiled softly when he realized he was using Blaine's chest as a pillow, his heartbeat thudding lightly in his ear. There was light movement across the span of his back, which he recognized as Blaine's fingers. He laid there and smiled for a few minutes, not wanting to disrupt the quiet peacefulness that had fallen over them. Finally his craving for Blaine's lips got the better of him and he carefully pushed himself up. They smiled softly at each other before sharing a tender kiss.
"Morning." Blaine whispered quietly, brushing his nose against Kurt's.
"Morning."
Their peaceful air broke when the countertenor's phone started to ring, causing the two to jump. Kurt quickly grabbed the phone, wanting to go back to their quiet morning as soon as possible.
"Hello?" He cleared his throat when he realized how raspy he sounded.
"Not doing anything inappropriate, are you?" He giggled.
"No, Dad, we're not."
"Good, that's good. I, uh… Did you have a good time?"
"I had a great time." He smiled over at Blaine, who placed a quick kiss on his cheek.
"That's good. Kurt, there's something we all need to talk about when you two get home." The countertenor bit his lip.
"Are we in trouble?" Burt laughed, easing his upcoming anxiety.
"No, you boys aren't in trouble. There's just something really important that we need to talk about, as a family. Don't feel rushed to come home, just don't get here too late, okay?"
"Okay, we'll see you later."
"See you later." Kurt hung up his phone and sighed softly. He looked up into Blaine's concerned eyes and smiled.
"We're not in trouble, there's just a family conversation awaiting us when we get home." Blaine chuckled.
"Sounds like we are in trouble." Kurt shrugged, cuddling up against Blaine.
"I'm not worried. Can we just lie here for a little longer?" Arms wrapped around him and he smiled softly, glad to have the peace and quiet back if only for a little while.
The ride home was quiet as well, the two holding hands and stealing loving glances and smiles every once in awhile. They walked hand in hand up the driveway and into the house, where they were suddenly hit with a tense air. Kurt unconsciously squeezed Blaine's hand as they made their way into the living room. Burt was sitting in his chair with Carole and Cassandra sitting on the couch.
"Mom?" They all turned, Carole and Cassandra with small smiles and Burt with a serious look on his face.
"Hi Blaine. Come sit down."
"You too, Kurt." Carole chimed in. The boys plopped down on the loveseat together, both of them oblivious to Burt's raised eyebrow and Cassandra and Carole's knowing glances.
"Now Blaine, your birthday is coming up soon." Burt sighed softly at the heartbroken look on Blaine's face. "You'll be eighteen so the foster system won't take care of you anymore."
"I know." Blaine bit his lip and squeezed Kurt's hand. He relaxed a bit when the countertenor squeezed back reassuringly.
"You have a few options, you can either stay here and continue living with us or you can go live with your mother." Blaine's jaw dropped. He figured that after his birthday he would have to figure out something on his own and he thought he would most likely end up in a homeless shelter so having two people offering to let him live in their home was a complete shock.
"I… What?"
"You're a part of this family, Blaine." Carole said with a smile. "We couldn't just let you leave but we understand if you want to live with your mother."
"And I understand if you want to stay here with the Hummel-Hudsons." Cassandra nodded once, smiling as well. Blaine looked completely overwhelmed and it took him a moment to articulate a sentence that would actually make sense.
"D-Do I have to decide right now?"
"No, take all the time you need." He nodded.
"Kurt, how do you feel about this?" Carole asked. She could tell by his dropped jaw that he was surprised as well.
"This… That's great! I would love for Blaine to stay here." He turned to him, smiling softly. "It's his decision, though."
"You okay, kid?"
"Yeah, I, uh… Upstairs." Blaine hurried up the stairs, leaving the families downstairs to sigh heavily.
"Maybe we shouldn't have dumped that onto him." Carole said softly.
"Well, he needed to know that he has options."
"But I'm sure we could've gradually moved towards this conversation. He looked entirely overwhelmed." Cassandra sighed, wringing her hands.
"I'm going to check on him." Kurt said it so softly he was sure no one heard him as he headed up the stairs. He knocked on Blaine's door and he was surprised how quickly it opened.
"What do I do?" Blaine blurted out. The countertenor sighed and shrugged.
"I don't know, Honey, it's your decision." Blaine sighed roughly and turned back to his bed, face planting into it. Kurt crawled into bed with him, much more confident than he had the night before in the hotel, and nuzzled his nose against the back of Blaine's neck.
"Let's not worry about this now, okay?" There was a mumbled response that was eaten up by the pillow. "I'm going to assume that was an agreement. So I heard Mr. Schue is going to make us do duets for this week's assignment. Will you sing with me?" Blaine chuckled, turning his head to smile at Kurt.
"Of course I will."
A/N: Okay, one more chapter after this and then the epilogue. I kind of want to write as slow as possible because I'm dreading having to end this story, it's really grown on me. Thank you all for reading and reviewing! It's greatly appreciated!