It was a chilly day and mid December, and Blaine Anderson tightly gripped his coffee cup to bask in any ounce of warmth he could. He was sitting on a bench outside of the Lima Bean waiting for Sam Evans to pick him up so they could prepare for the midnight premiere of The Hobbit. It was all Sam had been talking about for the past week, and while Blaine was excited as well, he could not help from being distracted. Blaine picked up his phone to, once again, read the last message he received from Kurt. Kurt had explained that he wouldn't have the money to fly to Ohio for Christmas since he had been accepted at NYADA. The last message he had sent to Blaine read: Sorry:( I really wanted to spend Christmas with you. While Blaine was over the moon excited about Kurt's acceptance to NYADA, he couldn't help the disappointment he felt about not getting a chance to see Kurt for Christmas.
Blaine was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't hear the footsteps of somebody approaching him from behind. "What'cha doing out here all alone in the cold, Kid?" came a familiar voice that cause Blaine to jump. He turned around and looked right into the eyes of Burt Hummel.
Blaine hesitated for a moment trying to find the right words. He hadn't spoken to Burt since him and Kurt broke up, so he was worried about saying the wrong thing. "Oh, uh, I'm just waiting for Sam." He looked down at his coffee cup, a part of him hoping that Burt would accept that answer and just move on. He tensed up, however, when he felt Burt sit directly next to him on the bench.
They sat in complete silence for a moment, and Blaine was beginning to think that there wasn't going to be a conversation like he feared. He mentally prayed that Sam would hurry up and get here so he could leave. The silence was broken when Burt finally spoke up: "I miss seeing you around, you know? Just cause you're not with Kurt anymore doesn't mean you can't still come around the shop if you ever need any parts or an oil change or anything. I'll still give you the family discount."
Blaine had not expected such a casual opener to this conversation. He did, however, notice a trace of sadness in Burt's voice that kind of made him want to cry. He realized that he didn't break the heart of just one Hummel that night in October, but two. "Okay, yeah," was the only response Blaine could muster at the moment.
Burt then shifted his body so he was facing Blaine before he said, "Kid, I know you and Kurt have been talking again, and I think that's great. I know how much you two mean to each other. But I hope you know that I'm still here for you if you ever want to talk. I miss Kurt like crazy, and," he paused for a second before adding, "I miss you too."
Blaine's eyes widened and he looked up at Burt in surprise. That was the last thing he had expected to hear. "You do?" he asked.
"Of course I do," Burt replied. "Since the two of you broke up I was wishing you had the courage to come talk to me, even though Kurt didn't want to talk you."
"I was-I was sure you hated me," Blaine stuttered. "Did-did Kurt tell you what I…"
"He told me enough," Burt interrupted. "I didn't need to hear all of the graphic details, but I heard enough. Did I want to hate you for hurting him so much? Yeah, I did. But I couldn't. And you know? I figured you were probably hating yourself enough for the both of us."
Blaine looked directly at Burt, his eyes shining with tears. He didn't say anything but let Burt continue. "But I was disappointed. I was disappointed because I had thought that this was the end of the best thing that ever happened in my kid's life. You know, you didn't just help Kurt when he was being bullied; you-you saved his life."
Burt's voice was shaking, and Blaine couldn't help but allow a couple tears to flow freely. "Kurt was at a very dark point in his life before he met you," Burt continued. "I was beginning to think that I was losing my son. But that day," he choked over his words briefly, "that day he came home after meeting you, he was smiling. It was the first time I had seen him smile, really smile, in a long time. And he couldn't stop talking about you."
"He talked about me?" Blaine managed choke out through tears.
Burt chuckled slightly. "Yes. He talked about you the rest of the day; and then every day after that, when you would call him, I'd see his face just light up. It was like nothing else mattered. He didn't care that he was being hurt because he finally had someone to pull him out of the darkness. And that-that is why I will fight for you two. You need to be in each other's lives."
A small smile had finally found its way onto Blaine's face. He swallowed before saying, "So, you still want me and Kurt to be together even after what I did to him?"
"Do you want to know what happened the day you came back from New York?" Blaine shrugged at Burt's question. "Kurt called me on the phone. He called me, and I sat on the phone with him for an hour while he cried. I remember him saying how badly he wanted to call you, but he couldn't bring himself to because he was supposed to be hating you, so he called me instead. I didn't really know what you had done that got him so upset at the time; I just knew it was bad."
"So, why don't you hate me then?" Blaine asked. "If I made Kurt cry so badly, how can you just forgive me so easily?"
"You just answered your own question," Burt said with a smile. "Hearing the way Kurt sounded, how upset he was, told me that you were someone worth crying over. If what you did to him hurt him so bad that he cried to me for an hour, it's obvious that you're someone who's not easy to give up. He wasn't ready to give you up just yet, and I don't want him to ever be ready." He hesitated before adding, "I don't think I'll ever be ready to give you up."
Blaine smiled through his tears. A faint honk of a car caused him to look up where he saw Sam peeking out of the window and waving him over. Blaine and Burt stood up simultaneously and face each other in silence for a few moments. Blaine was the one who broke the silence this time. "I-uh-I got to go."
"No problem." Burt patted Blaine lightly on the shoulder. "It was great seeing you, Kid, and don't be stranger. You got it?"
"Yeah. I got it." Blaine turned and started heading towards Sam before pivoting back around. "Burt?"
Burt looked up to face Blaine one last time.
Blaine paused, debating whether or not he should actually speak. He gave a half-smile and said, "I'm not ready to give up on him either," before turning around fully and hopping into Sam's car.
That night, Blaine received a new text that he would stare at for the next week: Booked 2 tickets to New York for Christmas. Prove to him you don't want to give this up.