"What are you so excited about?" Mercedes asked Kurt right before school was due to end. He was practically bouncing in his seat, and he wasn't surprised that it hadn't gone unnoticed. There was only a week left until school got out for the summer, and everyone in glee club was already feeling the high from nationals, but this happiness was of a completely different sort.

"Blaine's picking me up from school today. I haven't seen him all week because he's had final exams, but we're going to go to the movies tonight, and I'm just looking forward to seeing my boyfriend, oh my god Mercedes, don't give me that look." She laughed in a way that suggested infectious happiness over any real hilarity.

"What look, boo?" He rolled his eyes. It was her signature someone's getting smooched face, the one she used most often when she was interrogating for gossip.

"You know exactly the one." The bell rang and Kurt walked quickly out of school to the parking lot. Mercedes followed, right up until Kurt spotted Blaine waiting by his car across the lot and ran over, throwing his arms around Blaine's neck and kissing him on the full. Blaine was tangibly surprised, but he didn't complain in the slightest as he adjusted to the kiss. Kurt was just so happy to see him that he didn't have a chance to process the appropriateness of attacking him.

A throat cleared and Kurt pulled away from Blaine, turning to find Mercedes, Santana, and Tina, each with their arms folded. He had forgotten that he had even lost Mercedes in the rush. "Kurt, I'm happy that you're feeling safe enough around here now that Karofsky is transferring to kiss your boyfriend on school grounds, but the PDA thing applies to everyone," Santana said. Kurt laughed into Blaine's shoulder for a moment before nodding seriously to the girls.

"Sorry, 'Tana."

"Yeah, you better be. Now go home, Hummel, better not keep that cupcake you call a boyfriend waiting." Kurt didn't need to be told twice, hopping quietly in the car and waving to Santana as they drove away, laughing softly when she disguised a wave as raising her hand to fix her hair.

"How do I look?" Kurt asked, brushing down his suit for the hundredth time since he put it on, waiting for some approval from his family. He couldn't help his excitement; he had always loved weddings, and this was the first that he was going to of his own accord and not because he was invited in extension of his parents.

"Are you sure it's not your wedding?" Burt teased, receiving a whack from Carole. Kurt loved how well the two families had integrated in the last few months. Everything felt perfectly normal now where they didn't immediately following the wedding. Carole taking his side, even in a playful manner, was indicative to Kurt of how far their relationship had come. Whether or not she was his mom, she was as close as he was getting, and he loved her all the same.

"You look amazing, sweetheart," Carole told him, "don't listen to your father. Not even you stand a chance of upstaging a bride, don't worry about that."

"Um, thanks?" Kurt turned to Finn, who more or less grunted before turning his attention back to the TV. Kurt rolled his eyes, but would never push the subject further. Finn didn't try to get involved where clothes were in focus, and he didn't expect Kurt to get involved with football. It was a comfortable arrangement.

Kurt sat down to wait until Blaine arrived to pick him up, and wasn't disappointed when the doorbell rang a few minutes later. Blaine let himself in even after ringing the bell and joined the family in the living room. "Hey," Blaine said, earning hellos from all of the Hummel-Hudsons, "Are you ready to go?" Kurt jumped up and hugged Blaine in greeting, holding on a couple of moments too long for it to be friendly.

"Okay, now I am." Burt and Carole looked at them expectantly as they separated, Blaine keeping one hand on Kurt's lower back. They looked right back, waiting for someone to say something. They knew what they wanted from them, and somewhere along the way Kurt and Blaine had mutually decided on keeping the PDA toned down around their families.

"Go on, kiss him," Carole urged. Kurt rolled his eyes at his parents, but he still cupped Blaine's cheek in his hand and guided their mouths together for a short, sweet kiss. Kurt could tell they were practically stifling awws, but he decided to enjoy the support rather than berate them for it. "Have fun tonight. Drink responsibly."

"I don't think Luke and Erica will let us drink, but thanks," Blaine said, saying goodbye to Kurt's family before guiding him outside and to the car. He wasn't sure when Blaine had become so at home with his family, but he loved every single second of it.

The wedding was small and simple and passed quickly. Erica looked as beautiful as everyone expected, in a typically white dress with lavender accents and flowers in her hair. In all the time Kurt had known her, this was the girliest he had ever seen her. While everyone turned to look at her, Kurt shot a look at Luke at the front of the aisle, grinning from ear to ear. His eyes sparkled, but he wasn't even remotely close to tears for the enjoyment on his face. He leaned over and said something to his best man, making him laugh.

Halfway through the ceremony Blaine took Kurt's hand in his and didn't let go until they left the building. There was a procession to Erica's parent's house, where there was a marquee set up in the large garden for the reception. They found their table easily- it was most obviously marked by six of their best friends. Nick, Jeff, Leo, Ethan, Marley, and Unique were all sitting at the table, and Kurt was thrilled to find that Unique was wearing a dress, and rocking every single stitch of it. Whether her parents were supportive or not, she was a fierce young lady, and Kurt was glad that no one in the LARP group had ever called her by her birth name around him. He knew not to ask, it was simple courtesy, and he couldn't care less.

"What took you two so long to get here?" Jeff teased, even though they had walked in only minutes later than the others.

"We got caught at a red light," Blaine said with a shrug. The others almost seemed disappointed that they didn't have a better story to tell, or that they didn't turn bright red in avoiding a confession. Kurt wasn't sure when he and Blaine had joined the boring old married couples, but Leo and Ethan seemed to lack spontaneity just as much, and Nick and Jeff had more or less reverted back to their friendship after just a few short weeks of dating, though the make outs and boyfriend titles stayed. It was as though they had realised that dating your best friend didn't have to change everything.

Each table had a disposable camera on it for the partygoers to use, which Leo set to doing right away, making all the other couples at the table pose in turn until he had taken pictures of all of them. When Unique took the camera off him, she quickly insisted that sitting beside one another wasn't a suitable pose, and wouldn't rest until Blaine finally played into her hands and kissed Kurt for a picture. With a glance around the room, it seemed as though no one had batted an eyelid at the affection. It was a comforting thought to know that Erica and Luke came from families that minded as little as they did.

Luke and Erica approached their table together, hand in hand. "I'm glad you're all here together. It's time for our family photo," Luke explained, and they all followed them without question. They approached a photographer standing in front of some rose bushes, undoubtedly the set for the wedding photos.

"You can all take prom-esque pictures later, if you like. Roberto will be setting up a backdrop soon and everything," Erica said quickly. She was either incredibly excited about the events of the night ahead or she was getting antsy.

Luke arranged them in a careful semicircle and nodded to most of the guys in the group- Kurt seemed to be the only one who wasn't in the loop. He had been positioned with the girls too, though, so he wasn't exactly surprised. With Erica and Luke he didn't even think to take offense.

Wordlessly, Luke, Blaine, Nick, Jeff, Ethan, and Leo unbuttoned their shirts, revealing various superhero t-shirts. Kurt didn't mind being out of the loop so much anymore.

"You didn't!" Erica exclaimed, bursting into giggles as soon as the first picture was taken. Roberto snapped a few more shots as they kept laughing, clearly happy with the pure joy.

"Oh, but I did."

"You're a moron."

"But I'm your moron," Luke pointed to his wedding ring, "Forever." Erica leaned up to kiss him then, being greeted accordingly. The heroes rebuttoned their shirts without any prompting and they group slipped away from behind the couple, letting them have their moment. They had the pictures they needed for the moment, anyway, and Roberto certainly didn't stop them.

Blaine laced his fingers with Kurt as they headed back into the marquee, Kurt wondering why the wedding was making his boyfriend so affectionate.

"Because I love you all the time but being surrounded by a celebration of two people in love brings it out in me," Blaine said, squeezing his hand softly. Kurt hadn't realised that he had been thinking aloud. At least his thoughts were perfectly PG.

"I love you too."

"Do you not want me to be affectionate? I can try to stop but there's no guaranteeing that I won't hold your hand again," Blaine looked almost guilty in the confession. Kurt shook his head. Part of him was still adjusting after the months they had been together to the fact he had someone who wanted to hold his hand all the time, even in public places like the wedding.

"No, of course not. I love that you want to be constantly expressing how much you care about me. I was just momentarily concerned that there was a reason you were being clingy." He knew that when Blaine got physically affectionate it was often a symptom of some emotional problem in his life. That had been why they had cuddled so much when they were still friends. They both went seeking physical comfort, and they had always found it in one another.

"Ouch."

"I didn't mean…. I'm sorry." Kurt stopped walking to pull Blaine closer for a kiss, but Blaine turned away at the last moment. "Sorry," Kurt said again. He shouldn't have assumed that kissing Blaine would shut him up.

"Yeah. Who feels bad now?" Blaine said, quirking an eyebrow at him. Kurt sighed in fond exasperation, and with a mutual eye roll Blaine kissed him. Kurt could feeling him smiling beneath his lips, clearly content in how wound up he succeeded in making his boyfriend.

"Meanie," Kurt said, but he was smiling as he said it, hollow of any threat.

"Oh, shush," Blaine said, kissing him again before pulling him towards the marquee again.

Later in the night, Kurt stood on the dance floor with Blaine in his arms, dancing together to a slow song, only vaguely aware of the others dancing around them. Blaine had his head resting against Kurt's shoulder, sighing contently every few minutes. "Don't fall asleep on me, honey," Kurt said, tightening his hold on him just the slightest bit.

"I'm not falling asleep," Blaine promised, "I'm just happy."

"Mm," Kurt hummed in agreement, completely understanding Blaine's bliss. There was something hugely satisfying about dancing at a wedding with your boyfriend, with the perfect mix of slow love songs playing around them. It was always nice to be close to Blaine, but this was especially amazing.

"This is nice," Blaine said dreamily.

"It is." The song changed to something much faster and they couldn't ignore it any further, so they allowed themselves to separate, even while staying within arm's reach of one another. They danced right up until Erica danced over to them, making them step away from one another to allow her into the tiny circle.

"I have someone I want you to meet, Blaine," she started, "you can meet him too if you want, Kurt, but it might be less relevant for you. Come with, anyway." Blaine offered Kurt his arm, and he linked their arms together as they followed along behind Erica. They stopped at one of the tables, by a teenage boy who was playing around on his phone. "Sebastian?" the boy snapped his head up. There was something immediately suspicious about him to Kurt, something that just didn't inspire any faith or trust in him. "This is Kurt and Blaine," Erica turned to them, "and this is my cousin Sebastian. He's starting at Dalton after the summer."

"Oh!" Blaine said, immediately offering him his hand, "I'm Blaine, I'll be a junior next year. You don't happen to be a singer by any chance, do you?" Kurt pulled Blaine down into one of the chairs. If they were going to stay and talk to Erica's cousin, he was at least going to be comfy doing it.

"Uh, yeah, a bit. Are you in the show choir?" Sebastian asked. He didn't seem much like he wanted to be there, nor that he wanted to talk about school.

"Yeah, I'm the lead soloist."

"He's really good," Kurt added. Sebastian ignored him, leaving his gaze on Blaine.

"And you LARP with Erica and Luke?"

"Yeah, I've been with them since the start of the group forming, Kurt joined at the end of last year. It's how we met," Blaine said. Sebastian nodded, but he still didn't look at Kurt at all.

"So you two are a couple?" Blaine nodded. "That's okay, I like a challenge." Kurt resisted everything he had to punch him. Blaine had both his hands in his, probably anticipating the fury. He could read Kurt much better than he often gave him credit for.

"How much do you know about LARPing?" Blaine asked. He looked at Kurt frequently, almost as though he was making up for Sebastian's rudeness, probably trying to ensure that he wasn't going to hit anything. He wanted to get out of there, but he accepted that Blaine had an innate need to be friendly and polite, especially since Erica had just introduced them.

"I'm going to be starting a branch of your LARP over in Westerville. A lot of your players are local to Westerville anyway, right?"

"Yeah, but none of them are going to switch for you," Kurt said. Ethan came over to Lima for Leo, and the LARP was a bonus for them; Nick and Jeff he had less reasoning for, but he hoped they would be loyal. Even as two branches of the same roleplay, there was going to be rivalry right from the start.

Erica returned to the table with Luke in tow. "I heard LARP," Luke said, "I'm here to take Blaine and Kurt away and talk to them."

"Was I not meant to tell them?" Sebastian said, the picture of innocence. Erica smiled at him, even if it seemed a little forced.

"Not really, no. Is Rory around somewhere?"

"Yeah, I guess. We've been around one another all night, you can't blame us for splitting up."

"Rory, the experienced LARPer, was meant to talk to them about that, oh my god, you are an actual idiot," Erica said to him as Kurt and Blaine followed Luke out of the marquee. Kurt was still left wondering who Rory was as Luke began his explanation.

"Blaine, you're the one we care about most in this. We aren't leaving the roleplay just because we're helping Sebastian start one up."

"Am I meant to move to his because it's based in Westerville?" he asked, shifting closer to Kurt. Kurt wrapped an arm around his waist supportively, knowing that now, this was Blaine's call for physical comfort.

"Not at all. We don't want to lose any of you. Sebastian and Rory's LARP is going to take place in the same world as ours, but in a different town. We'll have combined sessions once a month or so." Blaine nodded. "We didn't think this was going to upset you, Blaine," Luke said gently.

"It doesn't, not really…. I just didn't want to hear it from him."

"He's not a bad guy. A little rough around the edges, maybe, but he's nice enough. I can't say I know him very well, I've only met him a couple of times at Erica's family things. But we didn't want you to hear it from him, either. Erica was hoping that Rory would talk to you instead, about that. She was just trying to give him a familiar face for when he started at Dalton."

"He hit on me," Blaine said factually. Luke looked at Kurt for confirmation, though he wasn't totally disbelieving and it showed on his face.

"He implied that Blaine being in a relationship only meant he was more fun to chase."

"Oh, damn. I'm sorry, you guys. We shouldn't have left you alone with him," Luke said, "I mean, I wouldn't have, but Erica forgets sometimes that we aren't all his cousins. We aren't obligated to smile at him and such." He began to head back inside, and so Kurt and Blaine followed wordlessly. Kurt pressed a kiss to Blaine's temple in some hopeful gesture of support.

Blaine was quiet for the rest of the evening, right up until they waved Erica and Luke off for their honeymoon. He kept himself attached to Kurt somehow all evening, a gesture that he didn't especially mind.

"You're thinking very loudly," Kurt said. Blaine nodded. "Tell me about it later?" Blaine nodded again, obviously very thankful that Kurt didn't want to talk right away. He wanted to know what was going on so he could help to make it better, but he knew Blaine, and he knew when he wasn't ready to share what was on his mind. Blaine dropped Kurt off home and walked him to the door to kiss him goodnight.

"I hate thinking that you still have to drive all the way to Westerville," Kurt said, resting his hands on Blaine's chest following their first of what was always several goodbye kisses. Blaine's arms were wrapped around his waist comfortably, with their foreheads leaning against each other.

"I know. I should have just arranged to stay over somewhere in Lima since I knew the reception would go so late."

"Do you want to come in and get some coffee or anything? Say hi to my dad?" he was stalling now, but he didn't have it in him to care. Any extra moments with Blaine, even when he was only greeting Burt, were better than nothing- and they justified another goodbye.

"Will Burt be up?" Kurt laughed.

"Oh yeah. He will have stayed up to make sure I got home okay. He's a worrier. I mean, he'll only get worried about your drive back to Westerville too, but still." Blaine kissed him again gently, but this time it wasn't a goodbye, but rather an attempt to cram in more kissing before they hung around a parent.

"I think I could come in for a little while. It's not too late yet," he said. Kurt smiled, kissing him once more.

"Okay. Come on." He took Blaine's hand and let himself into the house, turning off the porch light on his way in. They walked through to the kitchen, where they predictably found Burt sitting at the table, doing the crossword from the newspaper (or at least pretending to). "Hey, dad."

"Hi, bud. Do you always bring stray teenagers home from these things?" Burt teased, though he stood up and offered his arms to Blaine. "Hey, son." Blaine stepped into the hug contently. "How was the wedding?"

"Good, really good. Erica looked beautiful, but don't all brides?" Kurt said, stopping suddenly, worried that he was going to ramble if he kept going any longer. "I told Blaine to come in for a bit because he still has the whole drive back to Westerville ahead of him."

"You can always stay here," Burt offered nonchalantly. Blaine opened his mouth in surprise. "Will your parents be waiting up for you? I can call them if you don't want to do it."

"Oh, um, thank you for the offer, s-Burt. But I can get home alright," Blaine insisted. Burt glared at him.

"Come on, kid. It's late, you look emotionally shattered, and I know you want to stay. Finn's at Puck's tonight, so you can even stay in his room if your parents are worried about you and Kurt." Kurt wasn't sure how Burt had picked up that Blaine was emotionally shattered, but he wasn't wrong. Burt was more perceptive than Kurt gave him credit for, sometimes.

"Oh- okay. Fine, I'll stay. You Hummels sure know how to wear me down, goodness," Blaine said. Burt laughed triumphantly. "I'll call them, though, they shouldn't need to talk to you."

"Take him up to your room, Kurt, find him something to wear. Your stuff is a better bet than Finn's or mine." Kurt led Blaine up to his bedroom and found pyjamas for both of them while Blaine talked to his dad on the phone, who was surprisingly okay with the idea of him staying over. He told no lies- he said that he was staying at his boyfriend's house, that it was okay with Kurt's parents, and everything worked out just fine.

"I'm going to shower in the morning," Kurt said, "but you're welcome to shower now, if you want."

"I think I will. It's better than sleeping with all the gel," Blaine explained with gestures around his head. Kurt passed him the t-shirt and sweat pants that he had found for Blaine to wear and let him shuffle out of the room towards the bathroom. Kurt changed in his absence, though Blaine reappeared as he was between changing shirts. "Oh, sorry," Blaine said.

"It's fine. You can come in." Kurt picked up the t-shirt to put on, but Blaine stopped him.

"Hang on a second. Turn around?" Kurt turned, still shirtless, and turned back to find his boyfriend grinning at him.

"Were you just checking out my ass?" he raised an eyebrow at Blaine is suspicion, still confused as to why he wasn't allowed his shirt on.

"No, I… you don't have any bruises on your shoulders, Kurt," Blaine said, "You actually have had a chance to let them heal now." Kurt couldn't help but grin then too.

"Oh, that's really good. I hadn't even thought about it." He put his shirt on to find Blaine was standing very close to him when he was done. He pulled him in close for a hug. There was soft knock on the door, enough for them to move away from one another.

"Everyone decent?" Burt asked from outside the door.

"Yeah, come in, dad," Kurt said. Burt opened the door but hovered near the doorway nonetheless.

"You can stay in here tonight, Blaine. You've done it before, and I'm choosing to trust you. I'm going to close the door again because I know the light in here gets funny and it will keep the noise down in the morning if you want to sleep in, but no funny business, alright? I'm not going to sleep just yet and these walls are thin." Burt closed the door again, and Kurt just looked at Blaine for a moment, not sure to trust his dad's trust in them.

"Well," he started, "Are you ready for bed?" they slid into bed beside one another, and Blaine very quickly wound up in Kurt's arms, tucking himself into Kurt's side with his head slotted on his shoulder. "Thank you for coming to nationals, by the way."

"It's okay. I promised you I would be there to support you, and my dad had some meetings anyway. I only missed one day of school to make it for your performance. I'm sorry our fantasies of Broadway and walking in Central Park couldn't be fulfilled quite so well," Blaine said as he began to draw patterns on Kurt's chest absentmindedly.

"We have all the time in the world for that."

"That we do, my love." Blaine leaned up to kiss him goodnight, perhaps the real last time. They always had a few false starts, though, and Kurt couldn't be sure that even in bed beside one another they wouldn't procrastinate sleep further.

A/N: and that's it! The epilogue will be posted tomorrow, and you can all expect the sequel in a week or two. Thank you all for being so wonderful xx