1x08: Merry Christmas, Darling Pt3

"What do you want, Finn?" Kurt asked when his giant stepbrother came into his room, barely looking up from the Vogue in front of him. Things had been tense between them since their argument and Kurt wasn't going to give in as long as Finn didn't apologize for calling him selfish and a freak.

Finn looked sheepish when Kurt finally looked up, wringing his hands. "I need your help, dude." Kurt raised an eyebrow but told Finn to continue.

"You need to convince mom and Burt to stay overnight at their party. They said they won't because they are afraid I'll throw another party."

"Which you want to do?" Finn nodded. "You had fun too during the summer," he said and Kurt had to admit Finn was right. It had brought them closer as brothers, trying to hide the party from their parents.

"What makes you think they are going to listen to me?" Kurt wondered. Finn sniggered. "You are the responsible one – didn't you know." Kurt laughed as well, because if his dad knew about some of the things he had done in New York, he wouldn't be called responsible anymore.

"So what's in it for me? Why should I help you?" A party did sound like fun, but Finn didn't need to know that – what better chance to let him stir a bit.

"I know you wanna see Blaine for New Year's Eve, but with the parents around you won't be able to do anything. I'll keep my mouth shut if you want to have him over overnight, if you help me get rid of them," Finn explained and Kurt contemplate it for a moment.

Unfortunately, Finn was right. If his parents came home after their party, Blaine would have to go home early as well and they wouldn't get to share a kiss at midnight, and now that he actually had someone to kiss, he didn't want to miss out on it.

"Alright," he agreed, his desire to spend the night with Blaine winning out.

Getting his parents to agree was easier than he had thought. He promised Carole that the house would still be standing the next day and that he and Finn would keep out of the liquor cabinet, promises that were easy to keep. If he knew Finn's friend Puck at all, he would provide all the alcohol for the party and they had agreed that people wouldn't stay the night to avoid having to deal with hung over people the next day instead of focusing on the clean up.

He waved when his dad and Carole drove away and texted Blaine that the coast was clear. Five minutes later, his boyfriend pulled into the driveway and Kurt dragged him into the house to properly say hello, before they helped Finn getting the basement ready for the party.

Finn spent most of the first two hours observing Kurt and Blaine. They weren't sitting close together like he and Rachel were, but they were still gravitating toward one another unconsciously.

He didn't really get it – the whole being into dudes thing – but Rachel's dads were kinda cool and Kurt looked happier with Blaine around than he had in the past, so he figure it was cool. And so far they hadn't really done anything gay in front of him apart from holding hands in New York, so all was good. He didn't know how he would react if they started making out in front of him, but right now that wasn't a problem because Kurt wasn't really out to anyone.

At some point, Kurt and Blaine disappeared upstairs and Finn was tempted to follow them to see what they were doing, but then Rachel draped herself over him, and he focused his attention back on her.

Puck had brought a bunch of cheerleaders and Finn chuckled when he saw one of them hit on Blaine. His brother's boyfriend either didn't realize or he just didn't want to be rude, because he inadvertently was flirting back judging by the girl's reaction. He nudged Rachel and pointed it out to her and Rachel giggled as well.

"Hey Kitty," she called out, getting on her feet a bit unsteadily. "I don't think Kurt's too happy, your hanging all over his boyfriend."

Finn grabbed Rachel's hand and yanked her back down next to him. "What are you doing? You know that's supposed to be a secret," he hissed, because that was not cool. "I'm helping," his girlfriend pouted. "Kurt looked pissed."

His brother might have looked pissed before but right now he looked paler than he had ever looked before. He knew he should go over to him and make sure he was all right, but Rachel leaned in to whisper into his ear.

"I'm bored. Can we go upstairs? I'll let you touch my boobs over the bra." Finn immediately jumped up, because Rachel usually didn't put out.

"Um, Rachel and I are going upstairs to talk," he announced before letting his tiny girlfriend drag him upstairs. Kurt would be able to handle himself and if anyone gave him shit - they would have to deal with him or Puck, who for some reason really liked his stepbrother.

Kurt froze the moment the words left Rachel's mouth. He didn't think she did it out of spite though, because the girl could barely stay upright and he had been glaring at the cheerleader who was slobbering all over his boyfriend for the past few minutes.

Blaine looked like a deer caught in headlights as well, while the cheerleader looked less then pleased. "You could have just said so instead of leading me on," she hissed and Blaine's eyes widened. "I was just being nice. I swear," he addressed Kurt and Kurt gave him a small smile to show him he wasn't actually angry with him.

Then he slowly turned around to face the inevitable, but the world was still turning. Mercedes gave him a thumbs up and the girls she was sitting with smiled as well. Most of the other people had gone back to partying already, apparently not caring much about a guy they didn't know.

He was probably lucky, Finn had only invited his glee club and none of the jocks from his team, because he knew their reaction would have been anything but nice.

He watched Finn and Rachel leave, surprised Finn had actually stood up for him to his girlfriend.

A hand slipped into his own and Kurt was faced with Blaine's hopeful smile. He smiled back tentatively and sat down again next to Blaine on the couch, but this time he moved in closer, because what was the use of pretending when the cat was already out of the bag?

It had been hard pretending that the were nothing more than friends, especially after they had both had a few drinks and so he tried to ignore the other people in the room and snuggled up to his boyfriend.

He accepted another pink drink from Mercedes, hoping that if Blaine were tipsy enough he would get a proper kiss at midnight – one like those the other couples in the room were demonstrating on their couches.

"Are you doing okay?" Blaine asked after accepting a drink himself and Kurt nodded. "As long as it doesn't leave the room, it should be fine. Apparently there are people at McKinley with half a brain."

Blaine looked thoughtful for a moment before he untangled himself from Kurt and stood up.

"Hey guys. If you couldn't mention this," he pointed to him and Kurt, "that's be great. Kurt's family doesn't know and we'd like to keep it like that for now," his boyfriend addressed the group.

Most nodded and got back to their own activities, while Puck slurred. "Don't intend to remember anything tomorrow morning anyway."

"Thank you," Kurt whispered. "If my dad finds out I want it to come from me, not some guy coming into the shop or something like that."

He snuggled up to Blaine again and they quietly enjoyed each other's presence until it was getting close to midnight.

He and Kurt were standing close together in a more secluded corner of the Hummel's basement when the countdown to midnight started and as soon as the clock struck twelve, Kurt surprised him by passionately pressing their lips together.

For a moment he forgot himself and all the other people making out around them, and swiped his tongue across Kurt's lower lip. His boyfriend only opened his mouth wider and so Blaine took a chance and slipped his tongue into Kurt's mouth. To his relief, Kurt didn't pull back though and soon there tongues were dancing together.

Had you asked him before if he expected to end the old year French kissing his boyfriend surrounded by Ohio public school kids, he would have thought people had gone mad. As it was, he was just enjoying himself, and tried to push all thoughts to the back of his mind.

When they finally pulled apart, Kurt looked like the cat who got the cream, and Blaine hoped he wouldn't regret it the next morning when he was sober again. They hadn't been drinking much, but Kurt was definitely tipsy, and people didn't always make the smartest choices when they were drinking.

Finn and Rachel had returned shortly before midnight, looking a little rumpled for a couple who only walked away to talk, and by the time two o'clock came around, he and Kurt helped Finn getting people in the designated drivers' cars.

Rachel was pouting when she realized he would be staying the night at the Hummels, but Finn reminded her that her dads expected her to come home from the party, before Kurt could get into another argument with her.

Apart from Rachel accidentally? outing them, she and Kurt had stayed clear of one another during the night and for that Blaine was glad because Thanksgiving break hadn't been exactly pleasant with them arguing the whole time.

He knew they would have to find a way to all get along if Finn kept dating her, and he at some point would become Kurt's boyfriend officially, because that would mean they'd spend a lot of time together during future breaks. But he could worry about that another time.

Once everyone was gone and they had cleaned up the worst – knowing they wouldn't want to do it before Kurt's parents returned in the morning – he and Kurt said goodnight to Finn – who looked only mildly uncomfortable when they both went into Kurt's bedroom – and took turns getting ready for bed in Kurt's bathroom.

Like the night in the motel, it was slightly awkward at first, sliding into the bed next to Kurt but instead of each staying on their own sides like last time, Kurt moved in closer and snuggled up to him. He turned over and put his arms around Kurt, holding him as close as possible, before whispering into his ear.

"Happy New Year, Kurt."

When Kurt woke up the next morning in Blaine's arms it was because his phone wouldn't stop ringing on his nightstand.

"Kurt, honey, it's Carole," his stepmother greeted him after he finally rolled out of Blaine's embrace and answered the phone. He had no idea how Blaine managed to sleep through the ring tone he had sat for his dad and Carole.

"I just wanted to let you know that we are on the road already and should be back home in about an hour, just in case you need time to clean up the house."

Kurt frantically looked at his alarm clock which told him it was only shortly after eight. They hadn't expected their parents to be home before eleven and so he was grateful for Carole's call, because the last thing he needed was being found in bed with Blaine by his dad.

"Of course not, Carole," he quickly told her. "Everything is fine here." "Well, if you say so. I gotta go, you're dad just came back. See you in a bit."

Kurt hung up the phone and immediately started shaking Blaine awake who only buried his head deeper into Kurt's pillow. "Five more minutes," he mumbled but Kurt was persistent.

"Get up, my dad will be back in an hour and we need to finish cleaning up." Blaine's head shot up and Kurt nearly fell off his bed when his boyfriend rushed to entangle himself from the blanket.

"I'm awake. What can I do?" he asked sleepily and Kurt told him to start cleaning up the rest of the basement while he went to wake his brother.

When knocking didn't help, he pushed open the door to Finn's bedroom and bravely went inside. Shaking Finn didn't help, so he put his phone directly next to Finn's ear and blasted Lady Gaga as loud as he could. Luckily it had the desired effect, though he had to fear for his iPod's life for a moment, while avoiding getting hit by one of Finn's flailing limbs.

After explaining the situation, the two brother's went downstairs to put away the remnants of the party found in the kitchen, before joining Blaine in the basement.

Fifty minutes later, they deposited the last trash bag a few houses down the road, hoping not to be caught by any neighbors, before collapsing on the couch together.

In the end, it was Finn who alerted them to something they had overlooked. "Dude, is he supposed to be here?" he asked pointing at Blaine, who paled as well. "Shit." He hadn't even thought of that.

"Maybe he came over early for breakfast," his stepbrother suggested but Blaine shook his head. "I live in Columbus and it's only nine o'clock in the morning."

Kurt was still trying to come up with a good excuse when he heard a car pull into the driveway. Instinctively, he pushed Blaine down on the couch and threw a blanket on top of him.

"Blaine, pretend to be asleep. Finn, go back to bad. If they ask, Blaine came over to watch the ball drop with us, but fell asleep on the couch and we didn't think it safe to make him drive home so far if he was tired," he quickly instructed before shooing Finn upstairs.

When he returned to the living room, Blaine was fake snoring – though still convincing – and Kurt rushed into the kitchen to get breakfast started. He had just started the coffee machine when a key turned in the lock, and a few minutes later, Carole and his dad came into the kitchen. While Carole looked surprised, his dad looked pissed – but that was to be expected.

"Kurt, is there something you want to tell us?" he asked, voice still calm. Kurt gulped. "You mean, Blaine?" His dad nodded. "Care to remind me what I told you about sleepovers only a week ago."

Kurt put on his best 'I'm a good kid – you can trust me' smile. "That I had to ask for permission first. But Dad, Blaine came over to watch the ball drop with us because he was home alone in Columbus, but he fell asleep on the couch and we didn't want him to drive back if he was tired."

His dad sighed. "Good thinking, kid. But you still should have called. And what about Blaine's parents, won't they be worried?"

Kurt shook his head. "Blaine's dad is out of town as well, and Cooper went back home. His parents are divorced," he added, not sure if his dad already knew that or not.

"Why don't you get him and your brother and we'll finish breakfast," Carole suggested and Kurt gave her a grateful smile. She might not be his mother, but it was great to have an ally in the house.

Breakfast went over smoothly, though he wasn't sure Carole actually bought their 'Rachel came over to watch TV with us and left after midnight, but Blaine was tired so he slept on the couch' story, but even if she didn't she didn't say anything.

Afterward, the three of them went back upstairs to Kurt's room, so Blaine could get changed and ready to drive home.

"Thanks, dude, for helping us with the clean up," Finn told him when Blaine returned from the bathroom. "If Kurt has to date a dude, I'm glad it's you."

Kurt decided not to take offence at Finn's choice of words, happy his stepbrother and boyfriend were getting along.

"And I'd like to make a toast to my and Kurt's brohood. We totally made this thing work last night." Kurt rolled his eyes but still raised an imaginary glass.

Finn gave them some privacy to say goodbye but came back into his room once Blaine had left.

"I just wanted to say that you can count on me to not say anything to Burt again until you are ready. I saw how scared you were when Rachel said what she said and I only realized then, that you are not just keeping it a secret so you can have unsupervised alone time with your boyfriend, but that you are actually afraid Burt will react badly. So yeah, I promise to keep my mouth shut and I'll tell you if anyone at school says anything."

Kurt was touched that Finn had actually given his situation some thought and he briefly put his arms around his giant stepbrother.

"Thank you, Finn. That means a lot."

Later that night he was looking through the pictures he and his friends had posted on facebook the past few months. Things had gotten a lot better since he had left Lima, he thought, but if he could make a wish, he would still wish for the new year to have less drama in it.

Up Next: It's a new semester at NYADA.

I should finish 'Somebody that I used to know' soon and afterward I should have more time for this story as I have promised myself not to start another one again for a bit.