gayblein requested: Blaine is a bit uncomfortable with cuddling in front of Burt, but Kurt is not.

It takes a long time for Blaine to relax on “family nights” (read: when Burt or Carole or Finn request their presence in the living room), which is one of the saddest things that Kurt has to watch him go through.  Kurt knows the reasons for this; they can’t even look at each other too long at the Andersons’ without a nasty silence descending, and they haven’t been dating long enough for Blaine to realize that this isn’t normal at all.  It makes him hurt so much to see the conflict and hurt on Blaine’s face all the time when they’re over there; it’s sometimes not enough off a trade off; they go there because Blaine’s parents are happy to ignore them and so they are afforded privacy, but at the cost of feeling judged the entire time.

Holding hands works at first, but eventually Blaine’s palm gets so sweaty that he pulls away self-consciously.  An arm around the back of the couch near Blaine’s shoulder causes one too many fake bathroom breaks and offers to go to the kitchen for fresh drinks and snacks.  Forget an actual arm around the shoulder; the one time Kurt tried to do that Blaine had actually jumped across the couch to get away from him.  Kurt thinks that if he actually tried to kiss Blaine he’d get slapped.

He just doesn’t know what to do.  Blaine is so sensitive about making an impression, the right impression, that he’s lost touch with that sweet courage that has kept Kurt going all year.  Why can’t he help Blaine get past this?

And then one evening Burt shakes the paper down from in front of his eyes and stares at them.  Kurt and Blaine are sitting with one couch cushion between them, and Blaine is folded up Indian-style with his hands laced in his lap.

“Anderson,” Burt says, slowly.  Carole looks up from her paperback. “If you don’t cuddle my son, I’m going to have to.  Please don’t do that to him.”

Blaine’s face goes blotchy red and Kurt’s eyes widen.

“I will do it,” Burt adds on. “I will do it, and I will do it with coos and I may even do it with baby pictures.”

“He will do it,” Kurt says. “Save me, Blaine Warbler?”

Blaine frowns and then cuddles up to Kurt’s side in one swift, collapsed movement.  He looks like a kicked puppy, which of course means that Kurt has to pepper his cheek with kisses.  The last one lands on Blaine’s ear, and Kurt whispers, “Is this okay now?”

“Um.  I—yeah, I—I’m sorry.  This is pretty new for me.” His face is still read but he cracks a smile, at Kurt and then Burt and then Carole.

Kurt slides his arms sideways around Blaine’s neck and looks over his shoulder to see his dad smiling at them.  He smiles back, heart overflowing with gratitude.