Kurt sighed a little as he was driving back to Dalton. It had been a great two weeks of Christmas vacation, but it was time to get back to school.

Going home had been a nice, if somewhat strange thing. He met up with all his glee friends and heard them talk about school and what was happening, and he felt a weird sort of disconnect. This was a group of people he had been a part of since the group started, and it felt strange to hear them tell about things he hadn't been there for. And the same went the other way; he told them about Dalton, about his new classes and friends and even about Tristan, and none of them had experienced it with him. Having been in contact with Tina (& mike by association), Santana and Brittany helped a little, because they kept up with each other several times a week. Most everyone else, though, he would only see whenever he was visiting home. Almost like he had left for college already and only saw his high school friends a few times a year.

He didn't know why it hit him so hard, why it was so weird to him, but the changes were obvious, and he couldn't help but get a glimpse of what his world would look like in a year. He would probably lose contact with more and more of the New Directions, and the ones he did keep, would start to stick out more and become clear. Some had already started fading, like his friendship with Mercedes. Mercedes, who was so obsessed with the food they served at school, that she didn't realize what had been happening to him. Mercedes, who tried to force her religion on him when he was going through the nightmare that was his dad's heart attack. Something in him had kind of broke when she had started to ignore him at the start of the school year, and Karofsky had somehow seen it, or maybe it was just fate, and started really terrorizing Kurt, making him shy away from reaching out to anyone else. Kurt would think back many times, and think the path in his life changed there, jumped off one track and onto another, leading him to Dalton. Without it, he wouldn't have met his friends, wouldn't have met Tristan, and who knew where life would take him because of that change?

Kurt had thought he would be sad at the obvious change coming, but something in him felt calm and assured that it would all be okay. That the people meant to stay in his life would stay or come back, and that those not meant to be there would fade out.

Another exciting thing that had happened during the break was that Tristan had come to visit, and Kurt had gone with Tristan to the Thorne home. Kurt had been nervous about it, he wanted them to like him, but it had thankfully gone perfectly fine. They were nice, normal people, who treated Kurt nicely and liked to embarrass their son in front of his boyfriend. Tristan's meeting with the Hudmels had also been fine, though Kurt sat his dad down before the dinner and laid out very clearly that if Burt tried to pull out any threatening of the boyfriend bullshit, that Kurt would be really mad. It was demeaning and insulting and sexist, and he wouldn't have it. His dad had grumbled a bit, but the dinner itself had gone perfectly well. And though Burt hadn't said much about it to his son after, Carol had made it quite obvious that she liked Tristan and thought him a good boyfriend for Kurt.

There had been some murmurs from the members of New Directions about Kurt coming back, about them needing him. Kurt had made it very clear that he was going no where near that school while Karofsky was still there. Finn started talking about how the other boy was changing, but Kurt had tuned it out. He had already applied for and gotten the scholarship he needed to stay at Dalton, and not only would Dalton look better at his resume, but his physical well being was more important than not getting to be in Glee club at McKinley. Besides, he had made new friends and a boyfriend he had no intention of leaving. Of course, one big plus of not being at McKinley was avoiding the crazy that was Rachel Berry. She had been rude and entitled the few times he had seen her and kept talking about how if he was really their friend, he should spy on the Warblers for them. But Kurt couldn't know anything about what New Directions was doing, of course, in case he was a double spy. The world of Rachel Berry was certainly an interesting one.

Kurt drove into the parking lot and smiled when he saw the familiar figure standing there. Tristan was leaning back against his car, waiting just where he knew Kurt would park. He parked and jumped out of the Navigator, being pulled towards his boyfriend for a kiss the moment he was steady on his feet.

"Well hello to you to." Kurt smiled as he pulled back from the kiss, marveling over the fact that he could do this now and leaned in for another kiss. They parted again after a few minutes, and Tristian smiled, dimples full out.

"Yes, I did miss you, even though it's only been three days. How did the rest of the break go?"

Kurt went to pull out his suitcase as he answered, and they started the walk towards the school, hand in hand.

"Oh, you know, Rachel was crazy, Finn was weirdly inappropriate, and Puck made another fifteen jokes about how gay Dalton is. The usual."

"Well, I can report that my little brother still things you are far too cool to date me, and my mom once again says thanks for fixing her car."

There had been a little mishap when Kurt had arrived at Tristan's house, where his mother's car didn't want to start. Kurt had had a quick look and figured it out, which apparently was all they needed to like him.

"Well, remind her to take it to dad's, it needs a bit of an overhaul before it stops again. So, are you ready for your last semester as a high schooler? I know you've looked at schools, but where are you applying?"

"Ugh, I don't know, it feels weird. I've been here the last four years, it's so strange to think about going somewhere else. I don't really know yet, I have a couple of months before my applications have to be in. I'm still thinking I want to be a counselor of therapist or maybe a special eds teachers or something, but I'm not really sure which program I want to take. I'll probably end up applying to several, just to have some choices when the time comes."

"Well, let me know if I can help you in any way." That earned Kurt a quick kiss in the cheek and a smile.

"I will, thanks babe."

The day after, Kurt was sitting down on the Warbler couches with Jeff and Nick, listening to them talk about the vacation Jeff's family had taken them on. Sometimes, Kurt was envious of the kind of money most of the people around him at Dalton had (though Tristan was actually also here on a scholarship). But listening to Jeff talking about how his dad hadn't come along because of work, or how Nick's mom barely even saw her children, leaving them with sitters and their nanny, all feelings of envy vanished. His dad might screw up from time to time, and he might not have his mom in his life anymore, but Kurt had always known his parents loved him, and his dad made sure Kurt always knew that.

Warblers were settling in around them, and soon Wes was standing in front of them, welcoming them back.

"Hi everyone, and welcome back to a new semester! Great work on the Christmas dinner, the performance went flawless, and I want us to hit that stride with Sectionals and then Nationals as well guys! The Council has talked with our school advisors, and we have decided that it's time we try something a little different, like what we did at the dinner."

There had been a Christmas dinner the last night before the break, and the Warblers had performed. They had had four songs, all with different front singers, and all of them with at least two soloists. The funny thing was that because Blaine had been sick when they had started to rehearse, he wasn't the front man in any of them, and Kurt suspected that's why the solos had been so nicely split among the rest of the group. Maybe that had opened the eyes for the council that there were others who could and should get to shave solos or shared numbers, instead of just having Blaine as the front man.

"Today, however, we are just going to have a little fun, and anyone who wants to perform something can go right ahead."

Blaine was out of his seat before Wes had even finished, and Kurt caught Jeff rolling his eyes at Nick. Though Kurt's world the last months had been reduced Kurt's world to the people he actually had any interest in, you couldn't be in the Warblers and not be aware of Blaine. He liked taking space, one of the other boys had commented once, and that was the nicest way of putting it. Now, Kurt knew that Blaine had friends in the group, but there was also a significant amount of them that only found him frustrating. Or more specific, found his need for attention frustrating. So that he was the first one to jump up was no surprise. A couple of other Warblers followed him up, so it was clear that this was planned already.

"Hi guys, so I just wanted to do something a little fun, but also a little romantic, you know. I've been struggling to put my feelings into words, so I figured I would try doing it in song. So, this is for someone here, I think you know who you are."

Kurt looked on curiously until he realized Blaine was looking their direction. Everyone knew Nick and Jeff were together, but Kurt… Oh no. Dread started gathering in his stomach, hoping it wasn't what it looked like.

The boys in the back started on a melody and Kurt didn't really recognize what it was until Blaine started to sing. "I threw a wish in the well, don't ask me I'll never tell, I looked at you as it fell, and now you're in my way."

Kurt could hear Jeff snort next to him, and he had to hold back a laugh on his own. Blaine was singing it perfectly fine, but it was just such a Blaine song. As the song went on, however, Kurt lost all humor he had with it. Now, he wasn't particularly cocky about this kind of thing, and would always err on the side of caution when it came to understanding if people flirted with him or not, but Blaine made it pretty obvious. There were looks, "flirty" dancing and even pointing that was clearly towards Kurt (Kurt in another reality who would get to know Cooper would have laughed at this).

What he didn't understand was what in the world was going on. He thought everyone knew he was dating Tristan; they hadn't exactly been hiding it. But then again, maybe people didn't notice as much as Kurt thought they did.

The song came to an end, and Blaine smiled over the applause that he got. Then he turned towards Kurt, making it very clear who he was talking to. "Well?"

Kurt looked at him in confusion. "Well what?"

"What did you think? Did you like it?" Blaine looking at him with his puppy dog eyes. The rest of the room had fallen completely silent. There were some slightly confused sounds around the room, and Kurt could swear he heard someone whisper "but I thought he had a boyfriend?"

"It was well preformed, with some great backing." Kurt looked to the three boys who had helped out with a nod.

"No, I mean, it was for you. You must have known that." Blaine had the signs of a small frown on his face, and Kurt felt a strange feeling of floating out of his body. What was happening?

"Blaine, no. We've barely even spoken together in weeks."

Blaine broke him off before he could say anything more. "But that's why I chose that song. I saw you and I just knew. And if you think about it, I think you will see that you did the same. Besides, don't embarrass me like this, in front of people."

You could hear the shocked silence in the room, and Kurt could feel his anger grow.

"No, I didn't. Besides, I have a boyfriend. And I'm not going to leave him for you. No, Blaine. This isn't going any further."

Blaine's mask of 'please like me' had started to change as Kurt talked, and was now a picture of righteous anger. Kurt could see David coming up behind Blaine, putting a hand on his shoulder, and Kurt sighed in relief.

"Blaine, come on man, you tried, and it didn't work. Let it go."

Blaine turned towards the older boy, anger still on his face. "What, you're gonna allow Kurt to stay in the group after that? After what he did to me?"

"Blaine, man, he has just as much right to be here as you, you need to calm down."

Wes and Thad had started moving in by now, and this was turning into a spectacle. With a few huffs and an angry look behind him, Blaine left the room.

David turned to Kurt, worry in his face. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

Kurt relaxed a little, his stiff posture sagging into the chair. "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little shocked. I just thought everyone knew."

Jeff came up to him with a bottle of water, and Kurt laughed a little, but accepted it.

"Thanks guys. I'm fine, though, we can go on with the practice. Maybe someone else wanted to sing something?"

It took a couple of minutes, but soon they were up and running again, and a few more guys performed. The feeling of the room changed, and by the time they were done, they were all laughing and joking around. Blaine was thankfully absent at dinner, and the more he thought about it, the more the whole thing just turned slightly hilarious to Kurt. So much so that when he told it to Tristan later in the evening, he couldn't help but joke a little about it.

"Did you know, I got serenaded today. Or, had a song given to me? Would it technically be a serenade if it isn't under a window outside?"

Tristan sat up from where he had been slightly slouched on his bed. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it turns out that though I thought we had been very obvious in our status as a couple, not everyone has caught on to that. In the Warblers practice today, Blaine sang "Call me maybe" and basically asked me out."

"Wait, what?" Something in Tristan's voice made Kurt sit up as well, looking more attentively at his boyfriend.

"Yeah. It was quite a spectacle. I had to turn him down very publicly and dramatically. So, he might be kinda mad at us, just so you know."

"Oh, okay."

Kurt narrowed his eyes as he looked at the other boy's face. Something was very much not right. Normally, Tristan would have asked for details, would have joked around with him.

"What's wrong?"

Tristan seemed a little embarrassed and wouldn't really meet Kurt's eyes.

"Is that something you want?"

"What?" Kurt felt completely thrown, not seeing that coming.

"Serenade. Songs in front of a big group. That kind of thing. Is that something you'd want from a boyfriend?"

Understanding flooded Kurt, and he lay his hands on both sides of Tristan's face. "No, honey. What I want in a boyfriend is you. I like singing, and I wouldn't mind singing with you, but I have no need for you to go out of your comfort zone to please me."

The relief on his face was obvious, and he looked away, a little shyly. "It's just this… this feeling that I won't ever be enough, you know. This voice in my head. And I've come pretty far, and usually I can keep the voice silent, but when I hear stuff like that I just keep thinking that you might something else, that I should become someone else to be good enough to be with you."

Kurt could feel the tears gathering as he listened to Tristan talk. It wasn't a foreign feeling for Kurt himself, but to hear how all-encompassing it could become for his boyfriend was terrifying, and he couldn't stand it anymore. He pulled the older boy in for a hug, and held him tight, giving the comfort he could.