Kurt bounces on his toes nervously as he waits for the door to open. It seemed like such a good idea earlier, seemed like the sort of thing they should be doing now, but now he's here, he's wishing he'd never suggested picking Blaine up.

Picking Blaine up means Blaine's house, and Blaine's parents.

While he's generally popular with parents, he's never met any before in the context of dating their child. Even through his nerves, he can't help but smile at the thought; he's dating Blaine. Finally.

The door opens, revealing a smiling brunette; Kurt freezes.

"Hi, you must be Kurt." She steps back, inviting him inside. "Blaine's been talking about you a lot."

Kurt takes a deep breath and follows her in. "Hi, Mrs Anderson," he says, smiling nervously. "I… it's nice to meet you."

She chuckles gently and closes the door behind him. "And it's very nice to finally meet you too, Kurt. Blaine should be about ready to go, if you want to knock on his door."

She leads him into a wide hallway. "It's the 2nd door there on the right. And the door stays open, okay?"

Kurt just nods as she disappears through an open door into what is clearly the lounge.

He wonders if his dad and Carole will impose a similar rule the next time Blaine is over – he suspects they will. Finn isn't allowed to have the door closed if has a girl over – any girl – and they've already argued about double standards in this matter. (When he'd calmed down, Kurt'd had to admit his dad had a point.)

Up to now, he and Blaine have been granted a lot of leniency in this respect, but now his dad knows they've moved beyond 'just friends', that could all be subject to change. They'll just have to wait and see, he guesses.

He raps on Blaine's closed door with his knuckles. "Blaine?"

"Just a second!" comes back through the door; a few moments later it swings open, a wide-grinning Blaine behind it. "Hi."

It's a fraction of a second before Kurt notices the difference; his breath gets caught in his throat and a hot weight drops into the pit of his belly. He swallows hard and forces himself to start breathing again, to respond to Blaine's greeting before he starts thinking something's wrong. "Hey," he replies, knowing his voice is a little breathless.

If Blaine notices, he doesn't mention it, backing instead into his room and beckoning Kurt to follow. "Come in. I'm… well, I had a bit of a clothing crisis so I'm a bit behind. I just have to do my hair and we can…"

"No!" Kurt interrupts, almost involuntarily.

Blaine halts, looking at him in confusion. "No… what?" he says slowly.

Kurt presses his thumb and index finger together, steeling himself. "No… don't do your hair." He stares at Blaine, waiting for a reaction.

Blaine looks back with wide eyes, as if Kurt has truly lost the plot. "You want me not to do my hair?" The very idea seems impossible for him to even fathom.

Kurt nods. "Yes. Well, you could put a little bit of smoothing cream or something through it if you really want, but… just… don't style it."

"Kurt," Blaine starts, taking a step closer, "if I don't style my hair, then it looks like this." He frames his head with his hands. "It's just…" He pauses for a second, flailing his hands. "A mess," he finishes eventually.

"Hot," Kurt says throatily, at the same moment, his eyes locked on Blaine's.

Blaine stops and blinks, startled. He opens his mouth and no sound comes out. "H…hot? Really?"

Kurt shrugs one shoulder and smiles shyly, biting his lip. "Yeah. I…" He steps towards Blaine, drawn. "I don't know. Maybe it's that I can do this…" He reaches out, lets a curl wrap itself around his finger. He swallows hard at the tickle of it against his knuckle.

"It just… I like it," he breathes. His heart is beating hard in his chest, and they've barely touched. He lets his hand fall a little, palm cupping Blaine's cheekbone. His fingers tingle – he's still getting used to the fact that he can just initiate contact like this – and Blaine leans into the touch, his smile softening.

"All right," he murmurs, swaying a little towards Kurt. "For you… I'll keep it."

Kurt can't contain the grin that spreads across his face. He starts to lean in, freezing when Blaine pulls back.

"But tomorrow," Blaine continues before Kurt can so much as raise a questioning eyebrow, "you're taking me shopping for new hair stuff to control it."

Kurt chuckles and presses a quick kiss to Blaine's lips, suddenly conscious of the wide-open door and Blaine's mom just down the hall. "Deal."