"After Regionals"

"Kurt's upstairs in his room."

Blaine smiled, thanked Burt Hummel and mounted the stairs. He wondered briefly if Burt was going to shout "Leave the door open," or some other parental thing, but he didn't. Blaine concluded that Kurt hadn't told his family they were dating yet.

Blaine's eyes widened, as he reached the threshold to Kurt's room and saw Kurt at his desk, crying into his hands, "Kurt are you okay?" He had seemed good enough when they had buried Pav. He couldn't believe he had really misjudged so much, although his own misjudgment really shouldn't surprise him anymore.

Kurt looked up at him, "Crap. I didn't hear-You weren't supposed to see me like this." He muttered half to Blaine, half to himself, hurriedly wiping his tears with the heel of his hand.

Blaine quickly crossed the room and pulled Kurt into his arms, "Kurt what's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Kurt pulled away, but Blaine kept hold of his hand, tugging him back. He wasn't quite able to get Kurt back into his arms, but he kept him from going too far.

"Kurt, no. You're upset. What happened?" There was silence, except for a sniffle from Kurt. "Please, babe, tell me." Chewing slightly on his lower lip, Blaine felt like he was begging. He wanted Kurt to trust him, needed it really.

Kurt slipped his hand from Blaine. He collapsed onto his bed. Chuckling bitterly to himself, "Actually, it really is stupid."

Blaine sat next to him. "All the same, I want to know what's wrong. You're my boyfriend. I want to help." He ran his fingers lightly through Kurt's hair and brushed them along Kurt's jaw, gently coaxing Kurt to face him.

He felt it a small victory that Kurt had a little half-smile on his face, even though his voice hitched a bit when he started talking. "I was just upset about losing at Regionals."

Blaine furrowed his brows. "Kurt, why? I mean, I'm disappointed, of course, because we could have owned at Nationals, but it's no reason to get so upset. I didn't think it was that important to you."

"It's not just that." He took a deep breath, "I know I should be happy for New Directions, and this is really petty, but I didn't want them to win without me."

"I don't understand."

"I just-I just keep thinking that no matter how much they say they miss me, that they really think that they lucked out because I was a burden to them and caused them to lose. And, maybe if we won, then maybe I'd prove them wrong."

"Kurt, that's ridiculous. There's no way in the world they think that!" Blaine's eyes grew wide. He slowly started panicking over what could possibly cause Kurt to think about himself like that.

Kurt pushed himself off the bed and began pacing around the room. "Well, maybe they should."

"Kurt!" Blaine didn't know if he was pleading or chastising.

"What, Blaine? It's not like I had any solos with them, and even when I was just in the background, they lost."

"Kurt, please…"

"And now with the Warblers! I get here, and we lose!"

"Kurt, no!" He pulled Kurt's hand, forcing him to sit back on the bed. "When you joined us, we tied with them at Sectionals, remember? The Warblers didn't even get past Sectionals last year."

Kurt shook his head, tears came down his face again. "Blaine, the Warblers won at Sectionals because you led them. You didn't last year. Then you added me to the mix, and I screwed it all up." He covered his face with his hands.

"No, no, no, no, no." Blaine let the words out in a stream. He cupped Kurt's cheek and made him look at him, gently wiping tears from his face. "Kurt, listen, the only reason the Warblers lost at Regionals was because we didn't let you solo earlier. You sounded incredible at Regionals. We sounded incredible." The younger boy tried to pull away but Blaine's guitar-calloused hands kept him close. "Honestly, if we had put 'Candles' in our Sectionals set list, we wouldn't have tied with New Directions, we would have blown them out of the water. Then, we would have won at Regionals, because honestly, there was no way we would have lost to the Jesus freaks."

In response to the "Jesus freaks" comment, Kurt smiled slightly, but said nothing.

"And, did you ever think that maybe New Directions would have started winning a little sooner if they had actually used your gorgeous voice?"

"I don't know." Kurt voice sounded so soft and broken.

Blaine pulled him into his arms. "Now, stop being silly. I won't allow you to say such horrible things about my boyfriend."

Sighing, Kurt responded by nuzzling against Blaine's neck, inhaling the light scent of a slightly musky cologne. After a moment, though, he pulled away slightly. "Kiss me."

Blaine grinned, "Of course." He pressed a quick, chaste kiss to Kurt's lips. When he attempted to pull away, Kurt threaded his fingers through Blaine's hair, deepening the kiss instead.

His eyes grew wide and shot towards the open bedroom door, and he gently but firmly pushed Kurt away.

"What?" Kurt asked, looking a little hurt.

"Kurt, I don't-"

Kurt frowned. "What is it? Do you not want to ki-"

He pressed a finger to Kurt's mouth, in order to silence him. "No! No, of course, I want to kiss you." And it was the absolute truth. Blaine always wanted to kiss Kurt. Sometimes, he was afraid it wasn't healthy, actually. "I do. I just-"

Again, Blaine shot a glance at the open door. "It's just, your dad seems to like me right now, and I'd really like to keep it that way, you know?"

At this, Kurt smiled genuinely. "Don't worry. He's watching football with Finn. We'll be fine," and then Kurt leaned forward and pressed their lips together very firmly.

And really, when Kurt pressed against him and slipped his tongue into his mouth, Blaine really couldn't say "no." Kurt moved back on the bed and pulled Blaine with him, so when he leaned back, Blaine fell gently on top of him. Kurt giggled into Blaine's mouth and wound his fingers into Blaine's hair, soft fingers insistently brushing against his scalp.

"Hmm." Blaine sighed. One hand rested on Kurt's shoulder, the other on his side, gently running his fingers up and down, along the side seam of his shirt. He lost himself, just tasting Kurt's mouth, trying to memorize the flavor of a grande non-fat mocha through him.

It was bliss. Yes, this was heaven. Blaine was sure of it.

And, then, suddenly, Blaine screamed, as he felt two heavy hands lifting him away from Kurt. His eyes shot open, as he felt his back slam against the wall and found himself face to face with Burt Hummel.

Burt's forearm was crossed across Blaine's throat. His jaw was clenched and his eyes wide. Blaine felt his heart racing, for reasons completely unrelated to the reasons it was racing before.

Burt Hummel snarled, "Looks like you didn't want to wait until he was drunk at a college party to take advantage of him, huh?"

"I-uh-n-I-" Blaine couldn't respond. He tried to form sentences, words, anything, but that didn't really seem possible.

"Just, what do you think you were doing?" Burt shouted and lifted Blaine away from the wall, slamming him against it again.

"Dad! Dad, please, get off him." Kurt had finally come to his senses, jumped off the bed, and began pulling at his father's arm.

"No, Kurt, what the hell-"

Kurt pulled Burt around to face him. Blaine was released, but stayed pressed against the wall, absolutely paralyzed. "Dad, listen, if you kill my boyfriend, I will never forgive you."

"Wait-what?" The rage in Burt's face faded slightly, being replaced by shock and confusion.

After a moment to breathe, Kurt said, "This wasn't exactly how I was planning to tell you, but yeah…"

Apparently, nothing was registering in Burt's mind, "I-Kurt, did you even listen to me-when we had that talk-Kurt…"

"Yes! Dad, I listened. I'm not throwing myself around! I-We-We weren't even doing anything other than kissing." At Burt's skeptical look, Kurt repeated, "I promise, we only kissed. We weren't doing anything else. We weren't going to do anything else, and Dad, if my first boyfriend isn't special enough for me to kiss, I don't know who ever will be."

Blaine had somehow managed to slide down the wall. He pressed his hands against his face, and tried to regulate his breathing.

"Kurt, when did this happen?"

"We got together not even a week ago." He didn't plan on revealing that he knew the exact minute he and Blaine had first kissed and had been counting minutes ever since.

"And, just when were you planning to tell me about it?"

"I-" Kurt paused, "Look, I'm sorry. I wasn't planning on hiding it or anything, it just never seemed like the right time."

"The right time? When exactly would that be?"

"I don't know, Dad!" Kurt wasn't quite shouting, but his voice got a littler louder. He forced his voice under control. "Maybe I should have told you already, but Dad, as new as you are to all of this, I'm new at it, too. I don't know the appropriate length of time I should wait before telling you I have a boyfriend. I'm figuring this all out as I go."

Burt's face was no longer angry, just very serious. "Kurt, go downstairs. Finn and Carole are waiting and probably wonder what's up with all the noise. I'll be down with Blaine in a minute."

"Dad!"

"Kurt," his father said warningly, "We'll just be a minute."

"I…okay, fine." Kurt turned on his heel after shooting an apologetic look at Blaine, who still was crumpled on the floor, and exited.

A moment of silence drifted over the room, as Blaine tried to think of what way Burt Hummel was planning to kill him. He wanted to shrink into the wall. This was not how he planned on acting when he met Kurt's family as his boyfriend. First, the hungover morning in Kurt's bed, then the sex-ed talk, now again on Kurt's bed making out. Then, he felt Burt's hands on his arms, lifting him to stand. "You okay, kid?"

"I-well-uh-" Sadly, Blaine's word processing skills were still non-existent.

"I hope I didn't hurt you too much. I guess I got a little carried away. That was-um…it's not exactly something I'm used to seeing."

"I'm-um-not hurt really, more shocked."

Burt smiled a little. "I'm okay with that." He cleared his throat before going on, "So, what exactly is going on with you and Kurt."

Blaine felt Burt's eyes resting on him, scrutinizing him. It wasn't sharp, but it felt like something heavy. "Well, like he said, we've been together about a week. It was right after his bird died."

Burt tried not to frown, because he thought less-than-a-week was a little short for heavy make-out sessions on a bed, but at least this was someone Kurt had known for awhile. "Uh-huh, plans for the future?"

Blaine choked, "For me or us?"

"The two of you right now. You don't need to know what you're doing with your life quite yet. You have college to figure that out, and it probably won't be my business." Granted, it might be his business if Blaine and Kurt stayed together after high school, but Burt wasn't even close to being ready to think about that.

Blaine felt himself relax a little. It was nice to not have his own father breathing down his neck about what college he should attend, and how it would get him into the profession he wanted Blaine to practice. "Well, I-" He looked in Burt's eyes. They were similar to Kurt's. More hazel than grey, blue, and green, but they had the same honesty. "Look, I don't know if I'm in love with Kurt, yet…but, I think…I think I'm very close to it…being in love with him, I mean. I do know-I…I know he's my best friend. He has been long before we ever got together. If we do break up, I never want to lose him completely. I would do anything to keep his friendship." Blaine felt like the words were coming from his mouth ridiculously slowly, but he was just happy that coherent sentences were somehow forming.

After his speech, he looked down. He couldn't keep staring Burt Hummel in the eyes. It was terrifying.

"Okay." Blaine looked up at Burt again. "You seem…alright. If you hurt him, I reserve the right to use one of my shotguns, but for now, for now you're okay."

Blaine was pretty sure this talk couldn't have gone better. He had barely managed to rasp out a "Thank you," when Burt clapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"And, Blaine, look, from what you've told me, you're not on the best terms with your father, are you?"

Well, that was the understatement of the week, "No, not at all."

"I can't promise that I'll actually be any good at anything, but if you need help, let me know, alright? You make Kurt happy. I saw that a long time ago, and for now, I want to make sure you're okay."

Blaine was more than surprised now. "I-Thank you, sir."

"Not 'sir', Burt. Mr. Hummel, if it really makes you uncomfortable."

Blaine smiled now. "Thank you…Mr. Hummel." He'd work up to Burt.

"Now, let's get dinner. Kurt probably thinks I killed you."

Blaine laughed, but cringed at how nervous he sounded.

At the table, there were two empty places. Burt took his at the head of the table, leaving a seat open next to Kurt. Kurt shot Blaine a look that asked, "Are you okay?"

Blaine smiled and laced their fingers together, giving Kurt's hand a squeeze, conveying as clearly as he could, "I'm wonderful."

A/N: I'm really not sure how I feel about this, but the first part was clawing at my brain, and so I wrote it, and the rest sort of just came as I was writing. Hope you all enjoyed it.