Kurt falls back on the bed, exhausted. He is happy when Blaine falls on top of him though, and nuzzles in to kiss at his neck. "Tired?"

"Totally dead. Wow. One day at the garage and I'm done for."

"Yeah, I'm tired too," Blaine admits. "But I had fun."

"You should sleep more."

"I do sleep," Blaine says, pulling back with a frown. "Next to you, in case you hadn't noticed."

"Yeah..." Kurt decides to drop it. His dad has said he'll deal with it on Monday, and Kurt only has tommorrow left in Ohio before he heads back to New York. He really doesn't want a fight now. "I got confused, thought that was someone else."

"Oh very funny," Blaine says with a smile. He lowers his head again, and kisses at his neck. "We should shower before dinner."

"Hmm. We should. I'll go first."

"What? Oh, come on, Kurt, please. I've had to look at you in coveralls all day."

"Yes, and last time we attempted it in the shower, we nearly ended up in the emergency room," he says haughtily, pushing Blaine off him so he can sit.

"Well I'll hold on tighter this time," Blaine tries. "Or you can...y'know, take me from behind."

"No." Kurt sounds firm, but he laughs and kisses Blaine's adorably pouty lips. "Just wait until bedtime."

Still, as soon as the water is running, Blaine quickly strips off his clothes and invades the bathroom. There's something about Kurt in the shower that does something to him, and he finds himself powerless to resist. On work or school mornings, it takes enormous self-control not to go rushing in the second he hears the water start to run.

"Holy shit," he moans, when he pulls back the curtain. Clearly Kurt was expecting him, because there he is, head thrown back under the spray, masturbating slowly. "Get over here," he demands, without opening his eyes. "Let me touch you."

"Burt!" Angie yells, as she sets the lasagna down on the table. "Honestly."

"What?"

"You have an oil smudge on your neck, and across your forehead. Did your momma not teach you how to shower?"

"Oh she did," Burt says, with a glare at Kurt and Blaine, who look as innocent as can be. "But there wasn't enough hot water to take one. Someone used it all."

"Ah yes, I forgot there's three of you to take showers today."

"They seem to count as one," Burt grumbles. "And one who takes forty five flamin minutes!"

Blaine slides low in his seat, as Kurt smirks proudly, and Angie clears her throat. "Uh...boys? Should you maybe...I don't know. Apologize?"

"Nope." Kurt carries on regardless, handing his plate to Angie to fill with lasagna. "It's Blaine's fault anyway. He won't leave me alone when I'm in the shower."

"Kurt!" Blaine- his eyes just visible above the tablecloth- suddenly comes to life. "That is my mom!"

"I really do not want to know what you two get up to," Angie says stiffly. "Just please be considerate of everyone living in this house."

"Oh God," Blaine and Burt moan in unison, just knowing Kurt is about to blow, but he doesn't. He looks shocked, that someone has spoken to him with authority, but he swallows hard and looks across at his dad.

"Fine. I'm sorry. Next time we'll be quicker. I know exactly how Blaine works."

No one says anything, but there is a thud as Blaine finally falls out of his seat to curl up on the floor, and pray that the ground will swallow him whole.

Their time together in Ohio passes too quickly, but neither can be sad, as they know that in ten days, they'll be together again and heading off on vacation. Blaine drives Kurt to the airport, and shamelessly makes out with him right in front of the departures entrance.

"Hmm. I love you so much. Have I told you that recently? I do. I love you."

"You might have mentioned it," Kurt grins, kissing him again. "But I can never remember, so I think you'd better keep saying it."

"You'll call me, right? If you need me?"

"I promise."

"And don't forget to check on Brian. And Santana."

"Well I can't forget her, she tells me she's coming over tonight."

"Good."

"Have fun with dad. And your mom, too. You should try and spend some time with her if you can. I like her. Away from that dickhead she has so much spark and sass."

"I will. And Kurt?"

"Yeah?"

"One more kiss."

They get along okay, being apart. In fact, in a strange way, it's a really good thing, as it makes them miss each other, and reminds them to cherish the time they get to spend in each others company. They Skype each day, and Kurt really wants to ask Blaine about his bathroom habits, but how on earth do you bring something like that into the conversation? Blaine is meticulously private about such things. He always closes the bathroom door at home, and he's yelled at Kurt twice for sitting there reading the newspaper with the door wide open. He doesn't mention anything about any of it, really, other than to tell Kurt off when he starts discussing his own habits, so it comes as quite a shock when, the day after Kurt has returned to New York, Burt invades his room.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Sure. Though you're probably fed up with me after a day at work."

"Fed up with you? Never." Burt ruffles his hair, and sits on the bed, patting the space next to him. "I think we need to have a chat."

"Oh? Why?"

"I think you have a problem, kid, and you won't tell anyone because you're embarrassed."

Blaine sits down next to him tentatively. "What-what problem do I have?"

"Hmm, well, I don't know exactly, but it's been noted that you're in the bathroom quite a lot."

Blaine stares. And blinks. And stares some more. "Excuse me?"

"Blaine, I'm gonna lay it all out here, okay? You and me, we're above secrecy, or embarrassment. Kurt asked me to talk to you, because he doesn't know how to go about it, but he said he keeps waking up to find you in the bathroom, and a few times you've been crying. I've been watching you today, and you went to the bathroom five times during the day. I'm sure that's more than normal. It's okay, if you've got problems after the op, you know? We can get you fixed, buddy, but I just need to know about them, that's all."

"Uh...I don't have any problems."

"Blaine, I think you do."

"With my...y'know, it all works fine," Blaine chokes out. "It's not...there's nothing wrong. In fact, I'm surprised Kurt hasn't given you that information already."

"Oh, he's told me you're still having sex," Burt says nonchalantly, while Blaine falls back on the bed in embarrassment. "It's your toilet habits that are concerning him."

"I don't have a problem!" Blaine cries. "I had a lot of water at work today, it was hot! That's all!"

"And at night? How do you explain that?"

Blaine stops. He could tell him exactly how he feels each and every night, how he's starting to dread falling asleep, because he knows what's coming, and how he wakes, sweating, trembling and whimpering, or yelling and crying. He could also explain that he goes and cries alone in the bathroom, because he doesn't want to wake Kurt, and he doesn't want him to think he's weak.

He could tell him all this and more, but he doesn't want to see the pity in Burt's eyes.

"I had like...one nightmare, maybe two. I didn't even know Kurt was awake," he says honestly. "He certainly didn't say anything."

"Oh." Burt is surprised. Certainly Kurt had made it seem like more than that. So was Kurt overreacting, or was Blaine trying to sweep it all under the rug? He knows which he thinks is more likely. "Blaine, are you...if you haven't got problems with your penis, is it something else? More an emotional sort of problem?"

"No!" he shouts, loud enough for Burt to know he's hit the nail on the head. "And please don't ever say that word again." He rolls over on the bed, and hides his face in his hands.

"Emotional?"

"The other one."

"Penis?"

A small nod.

"We've all got one, Blaine. Well. Not girls. Or some guys. You know, guys who were born girls. Or maybe they do? I don't know. Do they? I'll ask Angie."

"My mom is not gonna know the answer!" Blaine cries despairingly. "Please leave. Just...leave."

"But you..."

"I'm fine, I just want to talk to Kurt, that's all."

"Are you two gonna fight?"

"Probably," Blaine admits. "And you're not going to want to be sitting here when we do."

"He was only trying to help, Blaine," Burt says sadly. He stands and walks away, pausing at the bottom of the stairs. "Don't be too hard on him."

"Fine."

"Hug?"

Blaine sits. He's a mess of emotion now, torn between being angry at Kurt, annoyed at Burt, and disappointed in himself for not admitting the truth.

"Not right now."

Burt hangs his head and gives a nod. "Okay. Well, it's my turn to cook, so..."

Blaine hates himself.

He hears the door softly close at the top of the stairs, and he falls back on the bed again and tries not to cry. He can feel all those old feelings of self loathing creeping back in, and he hates himself even more because of it.

He hates them.

He hates that Spencer and Simon can continue to affect his life like this, after all this time.

Opening up the laptop, he is relieved when Kurt answers right away. His anger towards him subsides somewhat, when he sees his smiling face, but he still manages to give him a stern glare.

"What?"

"You know what," Blaine says, and Kurt shrugs. "There is nothing wrong with my junk!"

"Oh."

"Yes, oh. Why, Kurt? Why did you tell dad to talk to me? Why couldn't you do it?"

"Okay, you're upset. I get that."

"Damn right I'm upset! Do you know how embarrassing it was? And he's actually counting the number of times I use the bathroom in a day!"

"You say there's nothing wrong," Kurt interrupts. "But how do you explain the crying in the bathroom at night?"

"I had another nightmare, that's all," Blaine snaps. "It's gone now, it won't happen again, and I didn't want to wake you and worry you. Now please, just drop it."

Kurt thinks. He doesn't know why he didn't realize before, but that's obviously Blaine's problem. He's trapped in a recurring nightmare. "One time?"

"One," Blaine says firmly. "There was the time you knew about, and then the next time I assumed you were sleeping."

"I was. I turned over and you weren't there, so I woke up."

"Well anyway, like I said. Please just leave it. My anatomy is fine, my brain is fine. End of story."

Kurt wants to call him out on this, because he knows it's far more than once that he's woken in the night, and he also knows, just from looking at Blaine's tired and drawn face, that it's having far more of an effect than he's letting on.

He also knows that he doesn't want to fight when they're so far apart. He doesn't want the yelling, the crying, the disconnecting of calls, and the long, anxious hours spent waiting for one of them to give in and call back. Kurt isn't very good at giving in.

"Fine. I'm really sorry, Blaine." He sighs, knowing this will have to be dealt with at some point, but not right now. "I just assumed, you're right. I didn't talk to you about it because I didn't want to ruin the time we had left together. So I'm sorry for asking dad to do it instead."

"It's okay," Blaine mumbles, his eyes downcast. He feels terrible. Kurt is apologizing to him for being concerned, and what is more, he has every reason to be worried, and Blaine is basically shutting him down. "Let's just...move on."

"Are you mad at me?"

"No. I don't know. A little, maybe." Blaine looks up, his heart plummeting when he sees Kurt anxiously biting his lip. "No," he says, softening. "No, I'm not mad. You're so beautiful, you know that? I love you."

"I love you too," Kurt says, the relief evident in his voice. "I miss you."

"I miss you too, but it'll be vacation soon. Tell me about your day. Did you do that shoot thingy? In the park?"

"We started, but it'll take a few days. Oh! I got asked out."

"Oh great!" Blaine laughs, throwing his hands up in the air. "I leave you alone for five minutes, Hummel!"

"No, no, listen," Kurt says with a grin. "It was the guy who's doing the lighting for our shoot. I mean, he claimed he was asking for a friend, but we all know that's a lie. He said his friend wanted to ask me out, so could he get my number, and I said...get this, because this is like the greatest thing ever," he says, straightening up proudly. "I said, 'Oh, I'm sorry, I have a fiancé.' Did you hear that?" he shrieks excitedly. "Not 'I'm taken,' or 'I have a boyfriend.' No. Fiancé, Blaine. I have a fiancé!"

Blaine can't help but laugh, because Kurt looks so damn proud to be able to say that, and Blaine knows it makes no difference if five hundred guys asked him out, he'd turn down each and every one. "Yeah you do," Blaine says, blowing a kiss. "And I never thought I'd be happy that you'd been asked out," he teases lightly. "But your response kinda makes it pretty awesome."

"Ha! Well, he was a nice enough guy. I felt kinda bad for turning him down, but hey, what can I do? It's not my fault the world's hottest guy wants me for his own."

"Pfff. You're the hottest one," Blaine teases. "Did he tell you it was him in the end, and not his friend?"

"No! He was like 'Oh my friend will be disappointed.' But whatever. I get that it's nerve wracking, telling people you like them like that."

"Well it took you long enough," Blaine teases. "Still, we got there in the end."

They chat for a while longer, until Blaine realizes that his mom will be home soon, and he wants to talk to Burt before that, so after blowing countless kisses at the screen, he heads upstairs to the kitchen.

"Sorry," he says, curling in under Burt's arm, and hugging him tight.

"Oh Blaine, it's okay, kid, really." Burt steps away from the stove, so he can hold him properly, and he gives a little kiss into his hair. "I didn't mean to embarrass you, or make you mad. Kurt and I...we're just concerned about you, that's all."

"I know, but I'm fine, really."

Burt sighs. There's not really a lot he can do, because by forcing Blaine to talk, he will only drive him away, he's learned that with Kurt, the hard way.

"Well, that's good, you know?" he eventually says, as brightly as he can. "As long as you know that we're always here. Kurt, me, your mom."

"I do."

"Good. Oh, and speaking of I do...I wanna talk weddings with you and Kurt some time, so get to thinking about a date."

Kurt looks up from his notebook, and tries to give the lighting guy from yesterday a friendly wave, but he looks the other way quickly. Kurt feels bad for him, but not only is Kurt entirely unavailable, even if he was free and single, the guy wouldn't be his type anyway.

"Hi."

Kurt looks up again, from where he is sitting under the shade of a tree on his lunch break, to see one of the models from the shoot looking down at him. "Oh," he says, quickly swallowing his mouthful of sandwich. "Hey." He quickly shifts his bag from the grass next to him, and gestures for the young man to sit. "Are you okay? Is there a problem?"

"No, I just thought I'd come say hi. I'm Solomon."

"Oh, well, hello Solomon," Kurt says politely. "I'm Kurt. Is the shoot okay for you?"

"Yeah, it's actually my biggest shoot so far, so I'm kinda nervous. I don't want to mess up."

"Oh I'm sure you won't."

"I don't know, I messed up yesterday, so..."

Kurt studies him. He's a model, and in many ways, seems so confident. Kurt had watched yesterday as he laughed and joked with the make-up girls, and flirted with the wardrobe lady, who had just laughed at his antics and reminded him she was old enough to be his mother. He's good looking, there's no denying. Tall, black, with deep brown eyes and closely cropped hair. He has broad shoulders and a trim waist, and boy does he look good in a suit. But he doesn't wear bow ties, or gel his curly hair. He doesn't have dimples when he smiles, and when he looks at Kurt and bites his lip, Kurt doesn't swoon and feel an overwhelming urge to kiss him. In fact, Kurt doesn't feel anything at all.

"How did you mess up? I thought things had gone well."

"I uh...I got my friend to ask you for your number," he admits, and Kurt's eyebrows nearly reach his hairline in surprise. "I didn't realize you were engaged, and I just wanted to say I'm really sorry. If I'd know, I never would have..."

"That was you? I assumed the guy was lying and asking for himself."

"No, no. Jack is completely straight," Solomon laughs. "That was...it was me."

"Wow. Okay. Well, um...yes. Sorry. Taken," he says proudly.

"Well, I should have figured," Solomon says, gesturing up and down. "Anyway, it was really out of line, so..."

"No, it's fine. We actually kind of laughed about it," Kurt admits. "I mean, not at you, but just because we only got engaged like, two weeks ago, so it's all kinda new and exciting, even turning someone down. Just to be able to say that I have a fiancé is thrilling."

"I'll bet." Solomon settles back against the tree. "I would never have asked you out if I'd known. Really. I'm not that kind of guy. It's just you seemed like fun, so..."

"Honestly, please don't worry."

"So, tell me about your fiancé then. How did you meet?"

"Erm...well, that's a really long story," Kurt laughs. "And my lunch break is nearly over."

"Tell me some other time then. What does he do? Is he in fashion?"

"Blaine? Ha! No, he's a total nerd," Kurt says affectionately. "He studies mechanical engineering at NYU, and he wants to be a aerospace mechanic."

"He wants to design spaceships?" Solomon asks excitedly. "Cool!"

"Yeah. And he will, you know? He is incredibly smart. He can like...inhale a book and then he just knows it all. He studies really hard and...oh, when he does? He wears glasses."

"Right. So he's younger, or...?

"He's twenty," Kurt confirms. "Eleven years between us. But it works."

"No, totally, I mean, age is nothing but a number, right? I'm twenty five, so I'm more or less in the middle of you two."

"Are you from New York?"

"Yeah. Born and bred. You?"

"Ohio."

"So a male model asked you out?"

"Yes, but I don't think it was because he was attracted to me, necessarily, more like he just wanted to try and meet someone. Does that make sense? He's a nice guy. Asked me about you, and listened while I rambled proudly on. Is that okay? That I talked to him?"

"Of course it's okay! You've proposed now," Blaine teases. "You're trapped."

"And I am perfectly happy to be trapped."

"I think it's good that you've found a friend."

"Well I'm not going to see him again, I wouldn't think. He's not booked for tomorrow, but you know, if the magazine uses him in the future, it'll be good to say hi. Anyway. Tell me about you. I miss your lips."

Blaine gives a pout at the screen, and makes Kurt laugh. "Well, last night, over dinner, dad was saying yet again that he has all the wedding fund taken care of, and that we're not allowed to contribute. He wants you and I to discuss dates some time so he has a clearer idea."

"Oh, well. I mean, whenever suits you, really. You'll graduate in two years, so...Blaine?" He stops talking, when he sees the anxious look Blaine is giving.

"Uh...I did have a thought..."

"Go on."

"Well, I was thinking about next May."

"As in, eleven months time?"

"Yeah. Okay, hear me out. If we marry after I graduate, it'll be all the stress of my finals, plus getting a job, plus the wedding. Then, if I do get into the NASA program, they might want me to start right away. If we did next year instead, I'd have the summer free, we could take a long honeymoon, and plus...well, you'll kinda think this is silly but...I'd like to get married on the eighteenth, because that would be three years to the day since you first told me you loved me."

Kurt sits, stunned. "You'll only be twenty one," he says softly. "Are you really ready to be someone's husband at that age?"

"Not someone's, yours. And I've been ready for months. I'd marry you tomorrow if you wouldn't freak out about having the right suit."

"Eleven months though? To organize a wedding? A real one?"

"It's okay Kurt, it was just a suggestion. We don't have to go with it. If you'd prefer to wait the two years, that's fine. I know we're going to get married, and that's enough for me."

"Can I think about it?" Kurt asks, and Blaine gives a nod. "It's just...I assumed two years, and you know what I'm like about changes of plan."

"I do," Blaine confirms. "And just so you know? I'll always love you, whatever you decide."

It takes ten minutes. Ten minutes in which Blaine folds the laundry, and then nearly drops the basket when the skype call comes through on his laptop.

"What the hell was I thinking?" Kurt asks in a rush. "Of course I'll marry you then! Why did I panic? I'd marry you in a heartbeat, but I do want the day to be perfect, and what you told me? About it being three years since we said I love you? Perfect. That's it, that's the perfect day. I'm sorry. I was just surprised at it being moved up by a year, but...oh Blaine. Blaine! We're gonna send out save the date cards! We're gonna get married!"