A/N:

Due to popular demand, and because GOSH YES I NEEDED TO WRITE THIS, a fast update.

I hope the writing and re-writing at light-speed (well almost*wink*) did not have the quality suffer. Let me know, please?

Stop Me, I Need To Think

Blaine, after saying a quick, lively hello to everyone, almost instantly ends up in the kitchen, preparing the salad for the meal while Burt and Carole are busying themselves laying the table, Kurt joining them for a brief moment to thank his Dad for officially inviting Blaine to today's Friday Night Dinner.

It means a lot to both boys to have at least one family acknowledge their relationship as one of meaning and love.

As Kurt's arms come around Blaine and he allows his chest to rest against Blaine's back, chin resting lightly on Blaine's left shoulder, Blaine, still slicing tomatoes, hums in appreciation of the warmth this touch guides through all of his body.

It makes him feel complete.

Kurt's touch makes Blaine feel whole in a way nothing Blaine can remember ever has.

Blaine is pretty sure this is what love feels like, 'Must be;'he thinks to himself, and for a short moment he can forget that he remembers nothing about love, but - what feels like - everything about all the rest.

Kurt's hands glide from where they have been resting on Blaine's lower abdomen to Blaine's chest, pulling himself closer against Blaine.

Only the thin cotton of Blaine's dark green, long sleeved shirt - with the sleeves rolled up right now - keeping Kurt's heat from sinking deeper into Blaine's skin and from mingling with Blaine's own.

"I love watching you preparing food, there is something almost mesmerizing about the rhythm your hands fall into after a while. How did I never notice that before tonight?"

"Well, at Dalton we were never even allowed near the kitchen, and we have never actually cooked together before," Blaine reminds Kurt.

"We could try out some new recipes together," Kurt suggests.

"And cook some of our favorite foods for each other," Blaine adds turning his head to briefly smile at Kurt, as he dries his hands on a kitchen towel, having just finished with the last tomato.

Out of the blue, taking in all the emotion Kurt caries in his eyes and smile, it all becomes too much. And Blaine has to force himself to keep breathing regularly.

Kurt, hands still resting over Blaine's upper chest, registers the stuttering mess Blaine's breathing is growing closer to become, with every breath, but before he has the chance to ask what brought this on Burt and Carole reenter the kitchen.

"This looks wonderful Blaine, thank you for offering to help with the food," Carole says.

As Blaine turns to face Kurt's parents, Kurt lets go of Blaine, and the thought carrying the worry slowly begins to slip away, until it has made its way completely out of Kurt's mind's reach.

The thought, that seemed so important just a second ago, now is only buried deeper, as the conversation turns from cooking to football; and when Finn comes back from Puck's and they all settle around the table in the living room to eat, the thought is forgotten not least because Blaine looks happy, with a smile on his face that still wipes Kurt's mind of all coherent thought within seconds.

There is no awkwardness. Yes, it is the first official Friday Night Dinner with Blaine, and yes that is special to Burt and Kurt, to Carole and even Finn.

Blaine's smile though says it all, says that of all the people sitting around this table tonight there is none to whom this evening, this meal is more important than Blaine.

Kurt chin propped up in his right hand, gazes at Blaine with the brightest of smiles.

Kurt ravels in the ease he feels simply smiling back at his boyfriend, until Finn, nudges him "Dude, are you going to eat that or not?"

Blaine is laughing, because Kurt has not moved one inch from his previous position, still beaming at Blaine, when he says "I will. Eventually."

"Kiddo?"

"Yes Dad, I will eat. No Dad, I am not sick."

"Lovesick," Finn mumbles under his breath, and Kurt, uses his free left arm to nudge his step-brother into his right side, still otherwise not even flinching.

Now Carole is smiling wide, "I remember my sister and me being like that."

"Ouch," Finn complains, with a time-delay that indicates that really he felt nothing at all, except the need to make a scene, and Kurt thinks Finn is definitly spending entirely too much time with Rachel, "those things are pointy, be more careful with them will you! I feel like you just rammed one of your sai-swords into my side."

"Sai-words?" Blaine asks wide-eyed.

And Kurt just grins at Blaine as he half-whispers "I am kind of a ninja."

Kurt keeps watching Blaine, who is sitting next to Carole, throughout the rest of the meal.

And now, today, for the first time – and Kurt does not know either why now, or today, or why at all, come to think of it – Kurt notices these little moments in which Blaine looks confused and irritated and just, 'A little lost?'

Blaine is still, as usual, laughing at the anecdotes Finn and Burt exchange about football and basketball, and Carol's stories about her colleagues newest obsessions at work, and all the family banter going on, first and foremost between the siblings; but through all of it there are these little moments, and now the thought buried before has made its way back to the surface. 'Something isn't right.'

The timing is what strikes Kurt most, because it adds a sense of intense hurtful grief to it.

Just like now.

Laughter is still filling the room when Blaine's face suddenly drops and Kurt feels a stab to his chest. Pleadingly gazing into Blaine's direction, trying desperately to catch his eyes and ask.

But Blaine has his eyes fixed to the ground until a small smile returns to his lips and he can bring himself to look back up, usually at Finn.

Kurt thinks it is because Blaine knows that Finn is not the best at reading people. In fact, Finn's people reading skills are about as well practiced as his dance moves.

But it is not just the unabashed expression of happiness that seems to throw Blaine of.

There are the moments that are met with much more than mild discomfort. The affectionate smiles Burt and Carole keep throwing Finn and Kurt, occasionally accompanied with a full-hearted pat on the back or the gentle placing of a hand over that of one of the boys, usually followed by a gentle, loving squeeze that has everyone who notices smile – and around such a small table that is everyone – are not met with a smile from Blaine.

Kurt thinks he can see Blaine's eyes flicker with…What? Pain? Hurt? 'Sadness?'Kurt thinks to himself, every time he can actually manage to catch a glimpse of them before they are fixed back on to the ground.

Kurt is sure his Dad has noticed too, sitting at the head of the table with Finn and Carole to his right and left, the perfect distance from Blaine, so that he cannot miss it. Unlike Carole, sitting too close to Blaine to catch more than a quick glance of him here and there; so his changing expressions go unnoticed by her.

When Kurt reaches across the table and gently intertwines his right with Blaine's left, their eyes meet fully and Kurt throws Blaine a questioning, love-filled look.