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Burt was waiting for them when they pulled up to the Hudson-Hummel residence.
Finn and his group parked in the driveway and Kurt pulled Miranda's car to a spot in front of the house. The snow was coming down fairly thickly, but didn't seem to be sticking -- at least not yet.
Kurt helped Miranda out of the car, and they all grabbed their overnight stuff out of the back.
Introducing everyone went smoothly.
Burt said, "I hope you don't mind the couch, Miranda."
"It's fine, Mister Hummel," she said.
"I'll heat up a pack in the microwave for your feet," Kurt added. "It can get cold up here."
"And you boys, you're used to sharing, right?" Burt didn't want to seem ungracious.
"It's not a problem, sir." Wes smiled. "Kurt and I end up sharing a shaving sink most mornings."
Burt looked between them, puzzled.
Kurt said, "All the crew teams practice at the same time in the morning. Wes is varsity. I'm just on the house team, but several other guys are up early for their team practices. It's two men to a sink for shaving, since the coaches will give us demerits if we show up late or unshaven."
"Dude, you get in trouble for not looking good at sports' practice? That's harsh. Bieste is still trying to get John Ivor to shower after practice."
"And you wonder why I gave up football," Kurt said, dryly.
Blaine laughed, and then noticed that Finn and Burt weren't. "Kurt played?"
Finn clapped his step-brother on the back. "His field goal won us our only game last year." He turned to Kurt. "With your growth spurt, you actually look big enough to be on the team. Wait a minute, what's crew?"
David grinned. "Rowing. Now me, I'm on the fencing team. Blaine plays rugby since we don't have anything other than intramural teams for football."
Kurt grinned. "I didn't get to see you running around in shorts? That's terrible."
Burt looked between the boys and wondered. "Well, it sounds like you have full schedules."
"Not to mention maintaining our GPAs so we can warble," said Wes. He looked pointedly at Kurt.
"Yes, my grade report arrived. It was a bare scrape, but I can still sing."
"Glad to hear it." Wes patted his shoulder. "Where should we go?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll take you down to my room. You and David can flip a coin over who gets my bed. I'll take a sleeping bag." He looked pointedly at Finn.
"No need to flip. One of you can have my bed, too. I like sleeping bags. It feels like camping."
Wes and David grinned.
"Sweet," David said. "No floor for me."
They said goodnight to Burt, who went up to join Carole.
When they got down to Kurt's and Finn's room, none of them had any trouble picking out which side belonged to whom thanks to the large Jessica Alba picture over Finn's bed.
Finn grabbed the single air mattress with an air of triumph. He said to Wes and David, "Don't worry -- we changed the sheets this morning, so everything's clean." He grabbed his pillow, threw another one at his bed, and picked out his favorite sleeping bag.
Blaine and Kurt smiled shyly, and Kurt said, "I hope you don't mind sharing with me."
"No. Not at all." Blaine took his hand and looked at the double air mattress that was left.
"We could unzip the sleeping bags, and put bedding on it."
Blaine nodded. "Sounds pretty close to perfect actually."
Kurt blushed and went to get some sheets.
David tossed Kurt's pillow to Blaine, who tossed one of the guest pillows at him. "Lucky you," David said.
Wes just quietly giggled.
Finn looked around and realized how the sleeping arrangements had worked out. "Hey, wait a minute."
Kurt ignored him and began making up the double air mattress with Blaine's help.
"I'll tell Dad."
"Go ahead. Have you told him about all the time you've been spending with Santana?"
"You're dating the scary lady?" David looked at Finn in bewilderment.
"She likes popular people. Like football players. Plus she was kind of my first."
Kurt's eyebrows went up. "I hadn't realized. Before or after Quinn?"
"Uh, after. Quinn and I never… and Rachel …"
"Sorry, Finn, it was none of my business." Kurt looked at him. "Just like I don't think it's any of your business where I sleep tonight."
"Yeah, but like, you guys actually got it on at the party and all -- in front of other people."
Everyone stared at him.
Finally, David said, "So did you. And with someone a whole lot scarier than Blaine could ever be."
Blaine whispered to Kurt, "Should I take that as a compliment or an insult?"
Wes chuckled and whispered over Kurt, "Both, bro. It's always both."
"But that was, y'know, normal. Like Santana's scary, okay, I get that, but she's a girl."
"Are you telling me that you never watched her and Brittany making out? I mean, seriously, they offered to do it for me when I was still barely peeping out of the closet."
"Well, yeah, on that one date when I wasn't sure if I wanted to get together with Rachel, and then Jesse came on the scene, and…"
David looked at Wes. "Are you getting the impression that all-boys schools are actually less dramatic than coed ones?"
Wes said, "Yes. Yes, I am."
"Which is completely off the point, Finn. I made out with my boyfriend at a party where you made out with Santana, Wes made out with his girlfriend…"
"And I got to kiss Mercedes, but we mostly just talked." David glanced at Kurt and then said to Wes, "He was threatening grievous bodily harm if I messed with Mercedes and broke her heart."
"You should have heard Finn trying to threaten Blaine. It was sweet."
Finn's attention whipped between the conversations. He finally said, "The point is guys wanting to watch girls make out is normal. And Tina shut me up, but watching two dudes is kind of icky. I mean, I get it. You're into guys, but…"
Kurt sighed. "Finn, you're about to say something really stupid. Please don't. It's been a good evening, and I don't want it spoiled." He picked up his kit and grabbed some pajamas and slippers before heading to the bathroom. He shut the door firmly behind him.
Blaine, Wes, and David looked at each other, and shrugged. They began to get ready for bed.
Wes had his shirt off and had begun peeling off his pants, when Finn said, "Blaine's right there."
Wes looked over his shoulder at Blaine who was sitting on the floor trying to get one of his shoes untied. "He's my roommate. He's seen me change clothes before." He finished undressing and put on his pajamas.
"Yeah, but he's gay. Aren't you worried he's going to, like, sneak a peek?"
Blaine grabbed his sleep clothes and stalked over to the bathroom. "Kurt, is it all right if I come in?"
"Sure."
Wes and David shared some wordless communication before turning to Finn.
David said, "Kurt told us how nice you were to him at your folks' wedding, so why are you being such a jerk now?"
Finn's head shot up. "I'm happy he's got a boyfriend. I mean, if Blaine hurts him, I'll have to do something about it because that's what brothers do, but Kurt seems happy -- mostly -- at Dalton. I think it's because of Blaine."
"All right," Wes said. "So, to reiterate David's point, why are you being such a jerk?"
Finn looked blankly at them both. "Haven't you ever wondered about it? Whether they're looking at you? I mean, Kurt had a crush on me last year, and it made me really uncomfortable, but it's natural, right? To be uncomfortable. I'm not being mean. Kurt's a really good guy. And I hope Blaine is too."
David and Wes sat on their respective beds.
Wes sighed. "So, here's the deal. I've checked out the cheerleaders at our sister school, back before I met Miranda. She's on her school's lacrosse team. She's a brutal player. It's beautiful. And I've been known to look at a Playboy or two…"
Finn said, "You know there's a lot better porn on the internet."
"And the servers at Dalton are tight. Internet porn is nearly impossible to get," David explained. "Wes's point is, men check out women all the time. You were looking at Rachel nearly as much as you were watching Santana. And I'm sure I saw you staring at Brittany's hips a few times."
"But that's normal."
"The term is heteronormative, Finn." Kurt came out of the bathroom in two layers of t-shirts and a pair of pajama bottoms.
"What?"
"Heteronormative. It means you think straight is the only way to see the world and it makes you uncomfortable to realize that a man might check you out the way you would check out a girl."
"Right. That's it." Finn grinned at Wes and David. "See, he gets it."
"Yeah, but you don't." David shook his head. "I'm not saying it isn't a little odd sometimes, but… Kurt asked us if we were all gay at Dalton. He wasn't the first one. We end up taking flak from the townies because they think we're all rich, preppy, and, excuse the expression Kurt, faggy."
"You can use it once, David, not twice," Kurt said.
Wes continued, "The point is, some guys leave Dalton because they can't hack being assumed to be gay when they aren't. Or because they're so deep in the closet they can see Narnia."
"The point is," Kurt said, "You insulted me and you insulted Blaine by saying we should stay hidden. No one else minded us making out. Even Puck wasn't bothered." He rubbed Finn's shoulder. "Couldn't you just be happy for me?"
"I am. Really. I mean, I don't go after guys, but even Rachel kept talking about how cute he is, so I guess he must be."
Wes said, "Blaine's hella cute. No one's so straight they can't see that."
Blaine came out of the bathroom wearing sweatpants, a t-shirt, and glasses. "Thanks, Wes. I wondered why I got two solos this year." He grinned at his roommate's discomfiture. "Finn, Kurt explained to me that you didn't mean it badly."
Finn held out his hand and Blaine shook it.
David was making his way over to the bathroom.
Finn said, "I'm just glad Mom and Dad had some place to send Kurt after that death threat, and he's been really happy with you guys."
Three heads snapped to look at Kurt.
Wes said, "Bullying. All we heard was that you were bullied."
Blaine was ashen. "I thought he'd tried to kiss you again or something."
"Kiss you? Karofsky?!?" Finn shouted.
"Quiet, Finn. I don't want Dad to hear."
Finn noticed that Blaine had taken Kurt's hand and how close they were standing to each other. He heard Kurt say, "I'm safe now." And something clicked.
"I won't tell Dad about Karofsky, but I think you should," he said to Kurt.
Kurt could barely look away from Blaine, but Blaine nodded at Finn's comment. He said, "All right. I will, before the break's over."
"Before New Year's," Blaine said. "I want us to start the New Year right."
Kurt bit his lip and nodded. "Is anyone else ready for bed?"
David and Wes smirked.
Blaine rolled his eyes at them. "Yeah."
Finn said, "I'm not allowed to have Santana down here alone."
"There are five people here. We're not exactly alone. Have you been copying your math homework from Brittany again?"
"I guess I felt I needed to protest a little." Finn shrugged. "I won't tell Dad."
David clapped him on the shoulder and handed him some earplugs. "Just in case they get out of hand."
Wes grinned. "Take off that top layer, Kurt." Off his shocked look, he added, "I've shared a bed with him. The boy gives off more heat than a furnace."
David nodded. "My friend speaks sooth. I think Blaine may be responsible for global warming."
He self-consciously peeled off his top layer to a wolf-whistle from David and an "attaboy" from Wes. They got under the covers together, and Blaine pulled Kurt's arm over him so they were spooning.
Blaine said, "Someone hit the light, please."
"I got it," Finn said.
There were some giggling and settling sounds, then they all fell asleep.
