Chapter Text
"I just don't see how we could possibly afford all of this. I'm sorry, Kurt." Burt sighed and scratched behind his ear while looking over the numbers again.
"It's okay, Dad. I get it. It was worth a shot." Kurt forced a smile in his dad's direction. He really did understand, but it didn't make it any less frustrating.
"Well, sir, looking at your son's transcripts, we'd be able to offer him a partial scholarship." The headmaster typed a few numbers into a calculator before showing them a significantly lower number. "We could offer you his tuition at this cost."
"We could do that, but how much would room and board be if he were to board here?"
"The room and board numbers are here-" He pointed to a number and Burt's eyebrows flew up at the number. "-But all of our rooms are unfortunately filled through the end of the year. He'd have to commute until next summer when we could get him into a room."
"I don't know, Kurt. A two-hour commute seems silly. You'd be leaving at, what, five am? You wouldn't be home until dinner time. If it's what you want, we'll make it work, but four hours a day in the car seems ridiculous and the gas will add up fast."
"Just a thought, if I may." Blaine stepped forward from where he'd been hovering silently near the door. The three at the desk turned to him and the headmaster nodded for him to continue.
"My parents pay the extra for me to have a single room. If it were okay with the school and your family and of course you, Kurt, I'd be more than willing to have you share my dorm room. There's plenty of space for an additional bed and you'd be able to room with someone you know." Blaine nodded to signify he was finished before stepping back to lean against the wall next to the door again.
"That would be fine with the school. Our single rooms are just standard rooms with one less bed, so it's no issue for us."
"What do you think, Kurt?" Burt asked his son. He was nervous about Kurt transferring, but rooming with a friend seemed like it would make the transition easier.
"That would be fine with me. More than fine, actually, but I wouldn't want to impose on you, Blaine. Are you sure?"
"Of course. It's not imposing at all. I'd love to have you. Someone needs to keep me from singing at 2 in the morning and waking the floor up like I normally do." They shared a small smile before Kurt turned back to Burt.
"Alright, then it's settled. Of course, the cost of boarding too means money is going to be a lot tighter around home, so be aware of everything you're giving up for this, okay Kurt?" Kurt nodded quickly, a large grin on his face. "Now, where do we sign our bank account away?" Burt half-smiled at the headmaster.
"Don't be silly. I'd hate to put your family in unnecessary financial stress. I'll continue to pay for the room myself, along with the rest of Kurt's boarding costs." Blaine smiled, a hint of sadness in his eyes. Everyone else looks up at him in surprise.
"Blaine, I couldn't possibly expect that of you and your family. Thank you for the offer, but-" Burt shook his head repeatedly while speaking.
"Nonsense, Mr. Hummel." Blaine interrupted.
"Call me Burt. I've told you a million times."
"Either way, stop. My family is, um, well-off I suppose you could say." The headmaster snorted quietly and Blaine gave him a look before continuing. "The money is really not an issue. Please, let me." Burt looked about to argue again, so he added "Stop arguing. It's happening."
"Alright, I suppose if you insist I'll let you for now, but we'll discuss this more later, okay?" Burt gave in before turning to Kurt. "I can take care of the rest of the paperwork. Why don't I give you two some gas and dinner money and Blaine can take you home to pack your things and get your car?"
"No need for gas money, Mr. Hummel. I'd be glad to do it."
"Blaine, honestly." Burt shoved a few bills into his hands. "It's Burt, though I have a feeling 20 years from now I'll still be telling you that and you still won't be listening." Kurt and Blaine glanced at each other quickly before turning away and blushing at the thought that Burt thought Blaine would still be around in 20 years. "If you really don't want to take the money, then let Kurt go shopping with it."
Kurt hugged his father with a grin before stepping out of the office with Blaine behind him.
"Thank you for everything, Blaine. You're way too good to me. Even though you think I'd have learned to stop fighting you on things by now, be prepared for a fight from both me and my dad about the room and board costs." Kurt looked over at Blaine when they were safely buckled into Blaine's silver Boxster.
"Hush, Kurt." Blaine squeezed his hand with a smile before pulling out of the school parking lot.
The time passed in a comfortable silence other than the radio for almost 15 minutes before Kurt's wandering mind got the better of him and he needed to ask.
"Tell me to shut up if you don't want to talk about it, but I’m curious. You said you're well off, which I figured as much what with, you know." He trailed off, gesturing at the car they were sitting in. "But you never talk about it and you act weird about it. I mean, I know it's way too personal to ask, but I've seen tuition and boarding costs. You have a ridiculous addiction to coffee that has to add up quickly and you always insist on paying for mine too. You drive to Lima to visit me ridiculously often. I'm just concerned I'm getting in with the son of a mob boss or something." Blaine snorted loudly before breaking into laughter, though it was hollow and bitter.
"I promise you my dad is not a mob boss or mafia or anything of the sort. I just come from what I suppose you'd call 'old money.' It's a family thing. Beyond what my parents have, I also have a trust fund I can get when I turn 18 and a well-funded bank account thanks to my grandparents. I don't really like to talk about it, no." He sighed and added quietly, "It's nice and all, but I'd give it all up in a heartbeat to have the kind of family you have."
"Are they-?" Kurt started to ask.
"They're just not very accepting of who I am. My dad's incredibly homophobic. He was in denial for a long time after I came out to them. After I was basically run out of my old school, he was so embarrassed of me.”
“What happened?” Kurt hadn’t known what had happened to Blaine before Dalton. Whenever it came up, Blaine avoided the topic.
“At my old school, there was a Sadie Hawkins dance.” Blaine paused to sigh. “I had just come out, so I asked a friend of mine, the only other gay guy in the school. While we were waiting for his dad to pick us up, these three guys, um, beat the living crap out of us.”
“Blaine, that’s awful. I’m so sorry.”
“My dad, he didn't care about me or my well-being. He was just mad that I disgraced the family name. He couldn't get over that. He sent me away to Dalton and paid for it so that I wouldn't embarrass him further. He honestly doesn't give a shit about me. He's made it perfectly clear that once I'm 18, I get my trust fund and then I’m to never speak to them again. My mother doesn't do anything to fight it. She's accepted the inevitable. My grandparents are still in denial about the whole thing. I’m pretty sure they think I'm just sick and I'll get over it. I'm just glad it's only until July that I still have to pretend to be their son." Blaine's grip had tightened on the steering wheel as he'd spoken of his father and his knuckles were white. He felt Kurt's hand on his arm and the tension quickly drained away.
"I had no idea. That's horrible."
"Sorry, I shouldn't have gotten all worked up. That's why I really try to not talk about it."
"I have come to you with all of my issues and you've helped me with every single one of them. Let me do the same for you." Kurt spoke quietly, hand still on Blaine's forearm. "You can always talk to me, about this or anything else."
"Thank you." Blaine said quietly after thinking for a few moments before changing the topic. "So, how fast do you think you can pack? It's only 10 so we could grab lunch at your house, pack, and then I'll take you out to dinner before we head back. We can move you into my room and spend the rest of the night watching Disney movies."
"So, you think you can only take me out to dinner once and I'll move in with you? I’m not that easy. It takes a few more dates than that." Kurt teased lightly, but panicked after the words came out. He scrambled for something else to say. “So, Disney movies? I think I'll love living with you." Kurt smiled.
"Egg salad okay?" Kurt poked around in the fridge while Blaine sat at the kitchen table.
"Sure, sounds delicious." Blaine stood and stepped over to the fridge while Kurt moved to make the sandwiches. He opened it and pulled out a pitcher of lemonade. He finished filling the two glasses just as Kurt was done making sandwiches. They grabbed their lunches and headed down to Kurt's room to pack.
Kurt watched in amusement as Blaine flopped onto the bed and began to practically inhale his sandwich. He looked around his room and took a thoughtful bite before stepping over to his closet.
"At least I don't have to pack too much since we have uniforms." He sighed before pulling down his suitcases and setting them in the middle of the floor. He methodically opened the top three drawers of his dresser (socks, underwear, skinny jeans) and emptied them into the first suitcase. He opened another drawer and grabbed t-shirts and undershirts to add to the suitcase. He turned back to his dresser again but watched out of the corner of his eye as Blaine, humming absentmindedly as usual, slid to the floor to zip it closed for him. He grabbed a few bottles of skin care products from the top of his dresser and added them to the second suitcase.
"So, where are we going on our date tonight?" Blaine asked with a smirk. Kurt could feel his heartbeat speed up slightly and a small blush crept up on his cheeks. He knew it wasn't a real date, but he couldn't help but feel nervous.
"Well, we should be able to get back to Westerville in time for dinner, so why don't you pick somewhere there and you can show me around a little?" Kurt responded after thinking about it for a minute. He moved to his bathroom where he began to load up toiletries. Hair brush, gel, lotion, toothbrush - he checked each thing off his mental checklist.
When he stepped back into the bedroom, he found Blaine next to his desk and staring down at a picture frame in his hands. The toiletries fell from his arms into the suitcase with a thud and the crash made Blaine jolt and look up.
"Your mother, isn't it?" He stuttered out to Kurt.
"Yeah." Kurt said after a heavy breath. "That's her."
"She's beautiful." Blaine smiled at him sadly before turning back to the desk and grabbing three other picture frames from the top shelf. One held a picture of Kurt with Finn, Carole, and Burt on a trip to Cedar Point. The second was New Directions right before they performed at Regionals last year. The last, the most recent, was of Kurt and Blaine when they went to see Rent a few weeks back. They'd asked a middle-aged couple to take it for them in the lobby during intermission and right before the shutter had snapped, Blaine had jumped onto Kurt's back. They'd both toppled to the ground right after the picture was taken, but the shot itself showed them still mostly upright and they both had massive grins on their faces.
Blaine stepped over and set the four frames into Kurt's suitcase with a smile before reaching out and squeezing his hand affectionately.
"We need more pictures in our room. You haven't seen it yet, but it's pretty boring in there." Blaine laughed lightly before walking back to the desk and plopping into the chair. "Want me to pack up your laptop into your bag?" He turned to see Kurt nod and got to work unplugging and winding the cords.
Kurt stepped into his closet and looked around. He was torn between wanting to take the time to carefully pick his clothes and wanting to hurry up so he and Blaine could get back to Westerville. He pulled a few button-ups and shirts out of his closet along with a handful of bow ties and placed them into the third suitcase.
"I know I'll be back a lot, but I'm still worried about not having enough clothes." Kurt sighed, picking out a few scarves and throwing them into the suitcase.
"You'll probably barely wear anything outside of the uniform. I feel like I only ever wear it or my pajama pants." Blaine responded as he picked at the DVDs on the bookshelf, pulling off a handful.
"Enjoying my movie collection?" Kurt laughed. "Grab whatever on the shelf you want to bring with and throw it in." He gestured at the suitcase before turning back to his dresser to pull out two pairs of pajama pants and a hoodie from the bottom drawer. He added them to the third suitcase, closed the lid, and zipped the suitcase.
"What do you still need to pack?"
"Just anything else personal I'd want." He scanned the room for anything else, picking up his Nook from the nightstand and the chargers from the wall and deposited them into his backpack. "I think that's everything I'll need." He zipped the final suitcase and slid it to the door where Blaine had moved the other two.
"At least it's easy to come back if you forget anything."
"True. Help me carry these upstairs?" Blaine brushed by him with a light graze of his hand along Kurt’s hip to grab two of the suitcases and headed up the stairs. Kurt watched, mesmerized once again by Blaine's ass in his uniform pants, before snapping out of it and grabbing the other suitcase and his backpack.
They headed outside and loaded the car quickly.
"We'll go to Dalton first to drop off one of the cars before dinner. I'll call you on the speakerphone when we get on the highway. Sound good?" Blaine asked as Kurt slammed his trunk shut.
"Of course." Kurt grinned back at him. "You sure you'll be okay making the drive all alone in your car?"
"Hopefully." Blaine chuckled. "I’ll try my hardest. See you there."