(A/N: LONG time, no see. To anyone, any single follower, reader, or reviewer etc, thanks for sticking about, or checking this out for the first time, really is much, much, muchly appreciated.)

Burt looked at himself in the mirror and straightened the collar of his polo shirt, the same one he'd worn to impress a room full of Ohio's elite parents and now the same one he was wearing to impress a 17 year old kid. He shook his head at the notion, the things he did for Kurt. He shook his head again. This kid, Blaine, wasn't even going to care what he was wearing, because no matter what he pulled out of his closet, it wasn't going to be even half as nice or as expensive as whatever the kid was used to. He was a mechanic, and he knew that wasn't the best paying or most impressive job in the world, and maybe he couldn't figure out a sure way to fix the economy, but he could fix a blown tire in the middle of nowhere, and that was enough for him.

Now when he'd met him, he'd liked Blaine, a lot! But the thought that he had to try to impress this kid was unsettling to him, and the fact that Kurt had to constantly put on his best was even more unsettling. If this Blaine kid was his Kurt's boyfriend, than Kurt shouldn't need to be anything less than he was, he shouldn't need to always try to impress him. Blaine was a rich kid, he went to Dalton, the tuition probably didn't even put a dent in his family's income. Sometimes Burt wondered what exactly Blaine was doing with a kid like his Kurt. He wasn't one to judge a book by its cover or anything, but Burt didn't associate with a lot of high end people. He liked his friends at the car shop, he liked Carole's nurse friends and some of the parents back from McKinley. How was he supposed to know the way rich people thought? How was he supposed to know how to act around them, or how they acted around other people? He just didn't want his son to get hurt he guessed.

"Dad! Hurry up! Blaine is going to be here any minute!" Burt turned from the mirror at his son's voice. He rolled his eyes at his reflection and hurried downstairs.

"You told the kid 6:30 right?" he asked, glancing at his wristwatch, it read 6:40.

"Yeah, but you know traffic is a little bad this time of day, and Blaine lives pretty far away." Kurt bit his nail nervously glancing at the kitchen clock. All of the food was cooked now and waiting in the kitchen to be placed in the dining room when Blaine arrived. Burt looked towards the table, it looked like a goddamn feast! Here they were putting on their best and the kid couldn't even bother to arrive on time! Burt stopped himself short there though, it was pretty bad traffic around now, and besides, 10 minutes wasn't so bad. There was no way he could know why Blaine was late and therefore he didn't see the need of getting all mad about it now. Besides, if he got mad now, it would do absolutely no good for Kurt.

Blaine winced as he drove his car, the vehicle making a sharp turn. His back still hurt from when his father had thrown him into the corner of his desk and there was a deep purple there. He loosened the tie on his warbler's uniform and let out a steam of breath. Lying to Kurt had been easier than he thought. Of course he felt terrible about it, but the better part of him was glad he could pull it off. He was protecting Kurt from things that he really didn't need to know, things that he was better off not knowing. Lying to Kurt was something he simply had to do. It was the good thing to do.

Blaine was just flipping through radio channels when his phone starting ringing. He reached into the back seat where his backpack was, keeping one hand steady on the wheel and his eyes on the road. He fished blindly through his backpack until he felt his phone. He quickly sandwiched the phone between his ear and shoulder as he made another turn.

"Hello?"

"I need you to pick up my dry-cleaning." his father's voice came through the other end. Blaine instantly felt an icy shiver run through his body at the voice. He fought the oncoming panic.

"Don't you have assistants for that sort of thing?" he asked. He could almost see the irritated look on his father's face.

"Well I'm not asking them right now, am I Blaine." his father spat and Blaine half expected spit to come flying through his phone. Blaine sighed and looked at his watch, it was 5:15 and he was still about 20 minutes from home. He had wanted to go home, shower and change before heading to Kurt's, which was at least a half hour drive. Blaine bit his lip, there was no way he could be late to Kurt's, it was the first time he'd been invited to the house!

"Uh…when do you need it?" he asked. He heard a frustrated growl from the other end and he grimaced.

"What do you mean 'when do I need it'?!" his father yelled, "I need it fucking now!"

"R-right." Blaine stuttered, gripping the steering wheel harder, "I'll bring it right home." he switched on his turn signal, he'd need to loop back around from where he'd just come about 15 minutes.

Burt was getting impatient now. It was 7:00, NO KID. Where the hell was he? Didn't he know this was his son's feelings he was messing with? His son's dinner he was ruining? Burt looked over into the living room, where the front door was. Kurt was watching some show on TV, pretending like he wasn't glancing out the window at the driveway every 15 seconds. Burt couldn't stand how absolutely miserable he looked. He sighed and walked over to his son, sinking into the seat on the couch next to him.

"Hey kiddo."

"Hey Dad." Kurt didn't look at him, his eyes too busy flitting between the window, the door, the TV and then down to his phone. Burt glanced out the window too, praying he'd see Blaine's car pull into the drive. No such luck. Burt sighed heavily and shook his head. He breathed deeply for a moment before looking for the words he needed.

"Listen Kurt, I think-"

"Um Dad, sorry, I'll be right back, I'm going to uh—call Blaine." Kurt interrupted him abruptly and stood up to go into the other room to make the call. Burt didn't stop him. He walked into the dining room where Carole was surveying the food which was beginning to grow cold, trying to decide what to do with it since it was ready well before its consumers.

"Hey hon, any sign of him yet?" Carole asked, seeing him walk in. Burt shook his head in the negative.

"Uh….no actually, still no." he scratched the back of his head, staring at all the food, a hint of anger reaching him, "Kurt went to go call him."

"It's probably just bad traffic." Carole reasoned, finally deciding on taking some of the more fine dishes back to the kitchen to put in the fridge. Burt followed her.

"He could've called." he muttered.

"Maybe he doesn't use his phone in the car, wouldn't be the worst thing." Carole said. Burt sighed, he loved Carole, he loved how she had that way of always looking for the good in people, a trait he wished would slowly rub off on him. But couldn't she see that this kid was simply blowing Kurt off? Like this had all been some sort of joke from the get-go? Let's see how far the Hummel-Hudson's will go to impress me, and then let's make them feel like fucking idiots? Let's make Kurt feel like an idiot?

"Or maybe he's just messing with my kid for the fun of it." Burt said out loud.

"Burt, that's not true." Carole said sternly, "We know Kurt, you know Kurt. If Kurt trusts Blaine, if he likes Blaine, then we should trust him too. We should trust Kurt's judgment. He's a good kid, he's sees the good in people."

"Kurt's got good judgment Carole, but that doesn't mean he can't be played! That doesn't mean people can't take the good in Kurt and twist it around and take advantage of him!"

"Honey-"

The door bell rang. Burt and Carole whipped around to stare at the door. Burt's eyes flickered briefly to the clock on the dining room wall. 7:12. The goddamn nerve. He started storming towards the door, having it set in his head to give this kid a goddamn piece of his mind, but Kurt was soon in front of him, dashing towards the door and smoothing his hair simultaneously.

"Blaine!" Kurt swung the door open.

"Ku-" Before he could finish, Burt watched Kurt fly into Blaine's arms, hugging him tightly.

"I was so worried, I thought you'd crashed or something!"

"I-it was traffic Kurt, I'm sorry I didn't call, my phone was in the trunk with my backpack." Blaine said in a rush, "God Kurt, I am so sorry." Kurt pulled back.

"You're still in your Warbler's uniform." he murmured as he looked him over.

"I couldn't get home to change." Blaine didn't offer any further explanation, "Kurt, I'm so sorry, I really—I just—Kurt, I'm sorry."

"Blaine really, it's fine." Kurt shushed him, "We both know I love the blazer on you anyway." he smiled and Blaine weakly smiled back. Kurt slid his hand into one of Blaine's and led him further into the house, "Mom! Dad!" Carole and Burt came over, Burt had his arms crossed and he sent Blaine a glare. Blaine was too busy looking at his shoes to notice. The goddamn nerve.

"Blaine, this is my step-mom, Carole." Kurt introduced, "Carole, this is Blaine…my boyfriend." he blushed but smiled at the label. Blaine finally looked up and offered his hand to Carole.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Hummel." he said. She ignored his hand and gave him a quick hug.

"It is certainly a pleasure to meet you Blaine, you're very handsome." she smiled. Blaine smiled bashfully.

"Thanks." he chuckled. His gaze turned to Burt and upon noticing the glare and the intimidating stance, his smile disappeared.

"Mr. Hummel." he said, "It's good to see you again." he offered his hand. Burt simply stared at it before turning around and walking back into the dining room. Blaine's hand slowly floated back down to his side, he felt like he'd been punched in the gut.

"Boys, I'm just going to go heat up a few things. You can sit on the couch or watch TV, ok?" Carole waited until the two slightly stunned boys nodded and made their way to the couch before she stormed into the kitchen. She found Burt there, standing at the counter, eating chips.

"Burt! What is your problem!" she hissed at him, quietly enough so that the two boys wouldn't hear, but loud enough to startle him. He jumped and had the decency to look surprised before his face contorted in anger again.

"My problem? Carole, that kid just put Kurt through something I'm sure he'd equate to torture! Alright? I mean, he's sitting there waiting for 45 minutes for this guy to show up and when he does, he didn't even bother to change out of his school uniform!"

Carole snatched the bag of chips out of his hand, throwing them back on top of the refrigerator, "Did you not hear Blaine say that traffic was bad?"

"Oh, you know what? Bull. Shit." Burt guffawed, "You know what? Traffic my butt." he mumbled reaching for the chips again only to have Carole slap his hand away.

"So maybe it wasn't traffic, maybe he fell asleep and forgot, does it really matter, honey? Blaine was sincerely apologetic about being late. He already feels terrible about being late and coming in his uniform, do you really need to act this way towards him? What if it was Kurt's first dinner with Blaine's dad and Kurt was treated like this?" Carole's reprimand was firm and Burt looked down, feeling instantly bad.

"You're right, Carole." he muttered, "I'll ease up."

"Thank you," Carole kissed him on the cheek, "I'm sure Kurt and Blaine will both appreciate it a lot. Now go be nice while I hurry dinner." she gave him a light shove towards the living room where Blaine and Kurt were sitting on the couch, murmuring to each other in rapid undertones.

As soon as Burt's footsteps could be heard coming towards the room, the whispering came to abrupt stop and Kurt turned sharply in his seat to glare at his dad. Burt rubbed the back of his neck uneasily and looked to Blaine, hoping the kid wasn't just as mad. However Blaine was staring imploringly at Kurt, his hand clutched around Kurt's wrist in a desperate attempt to keep him from doing whatever he was about to do.

Kurt only grabbed Blaine's shoulder and said in a hushed tone, "No Blaine, I don't care, you didn't do anything wrong, he can't treat you like this."

"Kurt please," Blaine begged, "don't say anything, it's fine." his voice was even softer, and even if Burt hadn't been able to make out the words, he could definitely recognize the tone of panic. He suddenly felt ten times worse. Kurt bristled at Blaine's plea.

"It most certainly is not fine, Blaine."

"Kurt, it-"

Burt spoke up, finally coming fully into the room, "No Blaine, Kurt's right, it's not fine. I'm sorry about the way I treated you just now. You were late and I thought you were standing my kid up. For laughs." Blaine seemed absolutely stunned for a moment, and his mouth tried a few times first to form words.

"Mr. Hummel, I would nev-"

"Kid don't worry, it's all been a big misunderstanding on my part." Burt said, cutting past what he was sure would've been another attempt at an apology, "Just try not to be an hour late next time."

"Of course, sir." Blaine's reply was quick.

"It's not just Kurt you're screwing over when you're late to family dinners. Carol has to make the food, I have to change out of sweatpants, Finn has to resist the urge to snack and Kurt has to go through an extra two hours of 'what-to-wear' anxiety and hair styling."

"Dad!" Kurt shrieked, furious. Blaine couldn't stop the small grin when he realized Burt was really just a caring father and he appreciated the joke. He subtly patted Kurt's hand next to his, to let him know not to be embarrassed. He would've spent just as much time on his outfit and hair had his father not called.

"I had no idea I was such an event Mr. Hummel." Blaine smiled subtly, his whole body taking a sigh of relief.

"Well you are kid, and don't you forget it." Burt said, "Now c'mon, that five star dinner Carol made is just waiting to be eaten."

(A/N: Thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoyed!)