Over the events of the last few weeks, Kurt had forgotten Tina. Or maybe he had pushed any thoughts of her away, having to deal with more important things and, after her last ridiculous request, pretty much labeling her as hopeless.

But when he received a phone call from Santana while at work, he was reminded of her existence, and of her continued insistence to make that existence something that somehow concerned him.

"Why did I get an email from someone I don't know, asking me to take her to visit a BDSM club very few people know I frequent?"

It took him a moment to understand, but when he did, he was mortified.

"I'm so sorry," he said. "She's a friend of Blaine, and he felt he had to tell her about our lifestyle, and to help her understand, he gave her your email to talk or so you could show her around your club if you were willing, since we can't show her ours. I of course assumed he had talked to you about it, at least after he did it."

"No worries, princess," she said. "The hobbit probably just forgot about it. And I have nothing against showing her the club. You know I love defiling innocents."

"Okay," Kurt said. He'd still punish Blaine, even if Santana wasn't mad; this was about good manners, not to mention saving him from embarrassment. "You don't need to go easy on her. I'm still hoping she won't want to hear about it ever again. Show her the ropes and chains."

"And the whips and the dildos and everything there is to see," Santana agreed. "I promise to shock her."

Kurt punished Blaine when he came home, after explaining to him the reason for the punishment. Blaine was mortified about his own forgetfulness and lack of good manners, and accepted the crop with grace.

Afterwards, teary-eyed and submissive, he thought aloud about sending Santana a written apology, possibly accompanied by a gift basket. Kurt laughed.

"It's okay, pet, you don't have to. I apologized for you, and she isn't really mad—I think she rather likes the prospect of either tempting a vanilla to come over to the dark side, or else scaring her away."

He sighed as he stroked Blaine's back, running a finger lightly over the faint marks the crop had left, and felt him shiver. He had the feeling that the thing with Tina was not quite over.

As was mostly the case, he was proven right a few days later when Blaine and he were cleaning up after dinner and the doorbell rang. Tina stood outside, uncommonly shy, smiling a little awkwardly.

"Can I come in?" she asked, and Kurt silently moved out of the way, whispering to Blaine, "Doesn't she ever call or text beforehand like normal people?"

Blaine just shrugged and hugged her, led her to the couch and even offered her a peace of the raspberry cheesecake they had had for dessert.

"So how was your foray into the realm of safe, sane and consensual depravity?" Kurt asked, not wanting to waste any time on small talk. She might be Blaine's friend, and God knew Kurt had done his part to ensure she stayed it, but that didn't mean he had to tolerate her in his home for longer than necessary.

She looked at him without understanding, and Blaine was just grinning unhelpfully, so he had to clarify.

"Leather and Lace?" Still nothing. "The club you visited with Santana?"

Santana had called yesterday, telling him they'd been there, though frustratingly, she had refused to tell details over the phone.

"Oh." Tina blushed. "It was...informative. Scary. It's partly why I'm here, actually, but first I wanted to get something out of the way."

She put her plate down on the coffee table and looked at them.

"I'm sorry. And this time I'm completely honest about it, and I don't have any ulterior motives. I really am sorry. Santana...made some things very clear to me. Like, really, really clear."

Kurt suppressed a chuckle; he could imagine how that might have looked like.

"Especially," she continued, "what I...asked the last time I was here, Kurt. It was horribly inappropriate, and I understand now that in any case Blaine could and probably would have refused, and...just, I'm sorry. Really."

"Wait," Blaine interrupted. "I don't understand. When were you here? What did you ask for?"

Tina looked at Kurt. "You didn't tell him?"

"Told me what?" Blaine asked.

Kurt shook his head. He didn't really want to discuss this in front of Blaine, but it didn't look like he had a choice.

"Why didn't you tell him?" Tina asked. "I mean, I never gave you any reason to be nice to me. In your place, I probably would have told him."

"It's because against popular opinion," Kurt said, "I'm actually not a total asshole. Blaine cares about you, and he did something that took a lot of courage to keep your friendship. I wasn't going to jeopardize that."

"You're not an asshole at all," Blaine said indignantly. "You're one of the most caring, compassionate people I know."

Kurt laughed and kissed him. "Thanks sweetheart, but I think you might be biased."

Tina shook her head. "You two are ridiculous."

"So, talk about the club," Kurt said, warning Blaine with a look to let the other thing go for now.

–-

It was the first time, Blaine thought, that Kurt and Tina had been together in one room and it wasn't entirely uncomfortable for everyone involved. He was curious about what Tina has asked Kurt, but even without Kurt's warning glance, he wouldn't have asked. Kurt would probably tell him later, and besides, the topic was obviously embarrassing for Tina. He knew she still felt insecure around Kurt, and he wouldn't want to add to that.

"The club was...," Tina said, smiling and shaking her head. "Not for me. I can see the appeal of a Dom/sub relationship, but that...all these toys and contraptions...I bolted when a girl who was chained to some sort of cross was being whipped, like, with a real whip. And Santana told me she liked that sort of thing, and that she had a safeword and everything would stop if she said it, but...she was crying, and at some point, I just ran. But."

"But?" Blaine asked with a smile. She sounded excited; he had a feeling that the experience in the club hadn't been as bad as it sounded.

"When I went to get my coat, I met someone. He looked slightly freaked out, like me, and we -well, we went to get a drink together. Somewhere else, without whips. And we talked, and we really hit it off, and...I met him every day since then, and today, I kissed him."

Blaine hugged her. He was really happy for her; he knew that everything, how weird she had been, her crush on him, had all come from how lonely she was, and he had often hoped for her to find somewhat who would appreciate her.

"I'm really happy for you," he said, and Kurt nodded, and Tina smiled. She looked happy.

"So. I wanted to ask. Um, it's, it's really..." She blushed and stuttered, and Blaine could see that Kurt was trying hard not to order her to take a deep breath and talk, like he would with Blaine.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Okay. This is...both of us were slightly freaked out by the club. But since we met there, of course we talked about it, and...okay, there's a reason we were in that club in the first place, right? We're both interested in...that. Everything. Just not the hard stuff? And so—this is really early for us, we're not even close to...even having sex, but, I wanted to ask...how can we do ….things...in bed without, you know, really doing it that way?"

"What role do you see yourself playing?" Kurt asked. "I know you probably don't want to label yourself as one or the other, necessarily, but it will probably at least influence the way you go about it. And it's rather important to see if you fit in that area."

"Um...we talked about it," she said, blushing fiercely. "That first night, actually. He...thinks he might be submissive. And I...well."

"Let him make you come," Blaine suggested. He was blushing, he could feel it, but still, this was something he did. The Doms might discuss how to best torture their subs, but the subs talked about what they wanted, too, and how to get their Doms to do it.

"Using his hand, mouth, a toy. Don't let him fuck you if he's not trained. And then, when you've come, you just...you thank him and praise him, don't forget that, it's important, but you don't...do anything to him. And the next day, let him make you come again, and then he gets to come, too, in whatever way you decide. You can...when you know each other longer, you can go up. Like, have him make you come three times, or four, or five, before he gets to come, too."

Her face was so red she looked close to bursting, but she seemed intrigued. Still, she hesitated.

"But how do I—I mean, I can't just go to sleep, can I? After -?"

"Not in the beginning, no. You have to talk to him. Tell him what you want, what you want him to do."

"But, I've never -I mean, people don't...really do that, do they? Talk about sex, so openly, with each other?"

"You're blushing, but you are talking to us," Kurt pointed out.

"Yes, but I couldn't...with him, it would be different. I mean, honestly. Do you do that? With each other?"

Blaine got a little scared when Kurt grinned and asked, "Would you like a demonstration?"

Tina shrugged, then nodded.

"Really? You might freak out again."

"No, hit me. I might spontaneously combust, but I won't run away or anything."

Then Kurt looked at him for confirmation, and Blaine felt his mouth go dry. He really wanted to know where this was going. And wasn't this what he had wanted when he had told Tina? To wear his collar openly, and call Kurt sir, and be himself, and—well, not necessarily talk about sex with her, but she had started it. Still, he had to suppress a nervous giggle before he nodded.

"Well, I really like what you suggested, pet," Kurt said. "And I think you suggested it for a reason. We've already done that to a point, but not in that scale I'm imagining now. Because, with you being so well trained, we can do much more, and you can hold out for much longer...Spring break is coming up, isn't it? How long is it?"

Blaine swallowed. "One week, Sir."

"So short? That's disappointing. Still, with the weekends before and after, that's nine days I have you at my mercy. There's so much we can do in this time. Exactly what you said to Tina—you bring me off every day in any way I decide, and since you're trained, I can even let you fuck me. And you don't get to come. And since we like to occasionally use toys, there are so many ways I can tease you. What do you say?"

God, he wanted it so much. So much. While he had made his suggestion to Tina mainly because he thought it was a good way to try out some Dom/sub in bed without going too far into the matter, he had also hoped that Kurt would hear him and heed him. He just hadn't expected such a prompt and more or less public response.

He could feel himself get hard as he imagined a week where Kurt would mercilessly tease him, fuck him, use him—and he gave up and let himself slide slowly from the couch until he was kneeling at Kurt's feet. He briefly looked up to Tina, who sat rigidly, open-mouthed, pressing her legs together. He didn't know if it was from embarrassment or arousal, and he didn't care.

"Yes, Sir. Please," he said, hearing his voice tremble. He wasn't embarrassed about it, just like he wasn't about Kurt's words or his own reaction to them. After all, Kurt had merely done what Tina had wanted.