Kurt hadn't said anything after Blaine's confession, just cleaned him up and then let him nap for an hour or so before it was time to prepare dinner. Blaine was surprised, but not exactly disappointed; though it would have been nice to have some explicit answer to his request, it was also true that he had had enough difficult conversations for the day. And, he reminded himself, he couldn't expect Kurt to have an immediate answer to everything. Collaring was, after all, a pretty big deal (which was why Blaine wanted it so much), and maybe Kurt needed to think about it.

…...

Kurt didn't need to think about it. Weeks ago, he had designed Blaine's collar himself, and as he had wanted to make it a Christmas present, he had given the order for it to be custom-made a few days ago. He had hoped Blaine wouldn't mention collaring, maybe, if he was very lucky, not even think about it, but now...Now he had the problem of having a sub who wanted to be collared, a mind that could suddenly think of nothing else than his collar around Blaine's neck, and no collar.

Sighing, he grabbed his phone. Maybe he would be able to speed things up a little.

Wednesday night, he went to Defiance to have dinner with Elliot. He saw Chandler briefly, glowing with a new collar around his neck, and though he was honestly happy for them, he could not help but think that their hurried decision was partly responsible for his current situation.

Still, the good wishes and congratulations he offered both of them were genuine, and Elliot smiled as they sat down to eat. He looked much better now, the dark rings under his eyes and the harried, stressed look on his face finally gone.

"You look better," Kurt said. "Happy."

"I am," Elliot said. "Seriously, Kurt, this one time, thank you for meddling. I don't know how long it would have taken me to get my head out of my ass otherwise."

"And still you didn't invite me to the collaring."

"It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I'm sorry."

"But...you're supposed to have a ceremony! With guests and rituals and speeches and everything!"

"Would you loke some cheese with your whine, Kurt? It's not a wedding!"

"For us, it might as well be. More or less."

Elliot hesitated a moment, then put his fork down. "Look. He wouldn't believe me I was in love with him, insisted I was only with him out of pity or some such bullshit. So I grabbed a collar and snapped it around his neck and asked if he believed me now, and he just...nodded and he hasn't let me take it off since, not even to replace it with a prettier one. It happened in about thirty seconds, there wasn't time to send out invitations!"

"Okay, okay!" Kurt raised his hands in defense, laughing. "I'll forgive you for not inviting me to take part in one of the most important events of your life. But...you wanted to, right? You didn't just do it to...appease him?"

"No! No, I wanted to. I'd probably have waited, had the circumstances been different, but...you know I've been in love with him for some time now. He's an awful brat, but I love him."

They laughed and ate for a bit in silence. Then Elliot asked a question, and from his tone. Kurt could see he had been thinking about it for some time.

"It's not...weird, is it? Me being together with your ex?"

"No! Wait, okay, it's a little weird. But it's not bad." Kurt took a moment to gather his thoughts; this was too important to stumble over his own words.

"I mean, both of you are my friends. I want you to be happy. And Chandler – he's been an important part of my life for so long, and – well, I don't think there will be a time when we won't be in each others' lives in some way or other. So I'm just glad he has someone to take care of him, someone I can trust to do a good job. Blaine and Chandler are on the way of becoming friends, by the way. So, soon, we'll be able to pass all the weirdness and go on double dates or something."

"With Chandler in the picture, they would probably end up as foursomes," Elliot said drily.

"Okay, that would be weird. On second thought, let's not go on double dates," Kurt said, laughing.

"Anyway, I wanted to ask you a favor."

"Let me guess. You want a private night at the club with a few assorted guests so you can have your ceremony and your rituals and your speeches and make Blaine do some humiliating and/or painful things to prove he's worthy of you before you collar him?"

"I'm not even going to ask how you knew it, but yes. Except, since I already know he's "worthy of me", I'm going to skip the painful or humiliating part."

"But, Kurt, it's tradition!"

"If you can be unconventional, so can I."

"When do you want to do it?"

"Next week? The collar should be ready by then, I insisted it was really important. I'm starting to feel guilty. I really want to surprise him, so I haven't said anything, but I think he's getting nervous. I don't want to make him wait any longer."

He hesitated, then added, "I'd also like to feel...more secure...before November. I could really use that then."

Elliot grimaced and nodded. He knew November was a difficult month for Kurt. "Everything will be ready for you, whenever you want it."

…...

Blaine tried to not let it get to him. It had been over a week, they had managed to see each other three times, they had done one amazing scene, and still Kurt hadn't said anything. Well, of course he had said something, but nothing about the thing that burned on Blaine's mind. It was maddening.

Blaine could see that he was somewhat distracted, and he could tell that Kurt could see, too, but he didn't do anything about it. And somehow, Blaine hesitated to say something. He had done so once, to no avail, and now, he was afraid. Because the only thing worse than this state of suspension he was in would be to be told that there would be no collar. That Kurt didn't want him that way, not now, not ever.

He met with Chandler once and didn't even try to hide his envy about the ugly, bulky collar he was wearing with such pride and joy that Blaine would have known it was there even if Chandler had been wearing a turtleneck. Which he did not. He had on a white shirt whose open neck displayed the black collar in a way that attracted more than one glance.

Blaine admired the collar after he had hugged Chandler in congratulations. It was plain black leather, with a D-ring in front and a padlock in the back, so wide as to be impossible to hide and so unambiguous it couldn't be passed off as anything else. Blaine could never wear something like that.

"And yet," Chandler said with a sympathetic shrug.

Blaine nodded.

It had now been almost three weeks, and Blaine was still trying not to go crazy. It was getting better; there were moments, even hours he completely forgot. But he could be reminded by almost anything. Right now, it cost him a lot of effort to not constantly look at Tina's neck, or more exactly, the pretty blue choker she was wearing.

He was out with Ruth, Tina and David, and he had had a lot of fun until Tina complained about the heat in the bar they were sitting in and took off her scarf. Since then, he had been practically staring into her cleavage, and she really didn't need to feel confirmed in her crush on him..

"Blaine?" she asked now, looking at the same time worried and intrigued. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said, shaking his head a little to clear it. "Yeah, sorry. This is pretty."

He indicated the choker, and Tina smiled.

"I found it yesterday in my high school things. I had a Goth phase then."

They talked a little, and after a while, Blaine zoned out a bit. He wasn't unhappy, far from it. He was as happy with Kurt as he could imagine being, he just...wanted more (and why did he always want more? Why could he never be content with what he had?). Their contract would run out next month, and Kurt still hadn't said anything about renewing it. He didn't think they'd break up, not really, but still it would be nice to have confirmation.

"Didn't you promise to ask your boyfriend to join us, Blaine?" Ruth asked, and Blaine looked up sharply. He hadn't really promised, just said, "We'll see", but he blushed nevertheless.

"I completely forgot to ask him, I'm sorry. I don't think he would have been able to make it, though. He's really busy at the moment."

"I'm beginning to think he doesn't even exist," Tina muttered.

"Oh, he does exist, I'm sure. These...heart eyes don't come from nothing." Ruth grinned and let the "heart eyes" sound more suggestive than the words merited.

"Yeah, but he has never been seen," David objected. "He has never even picked you up from work or something."

"He lives on the other side of town," Blaine said. The conversation was beginning to tire him; he hadn't come here anticipating to be constantly interrogated.

"Look, I'll be sure to bring him soon, alright? Maybe you could rein in your curiosity until then."

"We'll try," Ruth promised, and soon, the conversation turned to other topics. Blaine was relieved and signaled for another drink when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

"Come to my place."

That was weird; Kurt almost never messaged him. Blaine was also quite sure that he had told him he would be going out tonight.

"Sorry, out with friends. Think I told you?" he typed and then put his phone away again, thinking the matter settled. After less than a minute though, it buzzed again.

"I wasn't asking."

Oh.

Blaine gulped, his pants suddenly too tight and the room too warm. They hadn't really done anything like that before, and though it put him in an awkward position, it was also so, so hot. There was no way he would disobey the command; not only to avoid punishment, but also because he desperately wanted to know what Kurt had in store for him.

He quickly typed, "Yes, Sir," and then stood, careful to drape his jacket over his arm in a way that hid the bulge in his pants.

"Sorry, guys," he said. "I have to leave."

"Now?" Tina asked, sounding confused and a little wary. "We only just got here."

"I'm sorry. Kurt just texted me; it's sort of an emergency."

"Is everything alright?" Ruth asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just have to go, sorry."

He fled, paying his tab at the bar and looking back to wave at his friends, who were looking at him, shaking their heads in confusion.

It didn't matter. All he wanted was to get home as soon as possible.