It wasn't even midnight when they finished talking to Burt and headed upstairs, but both boys felt exhausted beyond belief. Blaine could barely make the effort to lift his foot to the next step, and he was sure Kurt was feeling even worse. He gently put his hand on the small of Kurt's back as they reached the top floor and then guided him into his bedroom. Blaine kicked off his shoes and tossed his jacket in the direction of the chair before collapsing face first onto the bed. He felt infinitely grateful that Burt agreed to let him stay over in light of what had happened. Originally it was to comfort Kurt, who was barely holding it together, but now Blaine was just glad he didn't have to make the long drive home.
Kurt hadn't said a word since he finished the whole prom queen story, insisting that he be the one to explain the crown to his dad, although Blaine was beside him the whole time, watching his boyfriend's reactions and ready to step in if necessary. But Kurt, as brave as ever, didn't need any assistance as he calmly spoke of the night's events, only stopping a few times to take deep, shaky breaths while Blaine rubbed his arm.
After a few minutes of lying in silence, Blaine noticed that Kurt hadn't joined him on the bed, nor did he hear the water running in the bathroom. He slowly forced himself to sit up on the bed and rubbed his eyes wearily. He heard a sharp intake of breath behind him and turned to see Kurt sitting at his vanity, his trembling hands opening a bottle of lotion while tears streamed down his cheeks.
"Kurt," he began carefully, "You're exhausted. It was a long night – you should just come to bed." Kurt vehemently shook his head without turning to look at his boyfriend.
"I know your vigorous moisturizing routine is important to you," Blaine tried again, "But I really think that tonight-" Kurt continued to shake his head and stare at the mirror, as his shoulders began to shudder and the tears started to fall faster. Blaine could feel his heart fracturing as he watched his boyfriend slowly begin to fall apart for the third time that evening; first, in the hallway after they called his name, second, in the car after he said goodbye to his friends and the fake smile finally melted away, and now, in his bedroom, after telling his father what his fellow students did to him.
Blaine slowly got up and walked across the room, afraid to make it worse by touching his boyfriend or saying the wrong thing but still wanting to be closer. He softly began, "I think your skin will survive one night. Please just come to bed?" and placed his hand hesitantly on Kurt's arm.
Finally Kurt spoke, "I have to do my moisturizing routine because I need to take care of my skin and stress makes it even worse and if I don't do it every night then I break the routine and it will take weeks for my skin to recover and I need– it just needs to be perfect. Why can't everything be perfect?" Kurt covered his face in his hands as Blaine rubbed his shoulders.
Blaine quickly surmised that this rant wasn't just about skincare; Kurt might not be able to control how most of the kids treated him at school, but one thing he did have power over was his skin and his nightly routine. As long as he continued that, everything was normal and fine and he could pretend all of his hopes of being accepted by the other students hadn't been shattered into a million pieces thanks to some stupid slips of paper and a microphone at a school dance.
Blaine glanced around the room, his eyes falling on his suit jacket draped across the back of the desk chair. He walked over to it, Kurt finally looking up at him when he felt the pressure of Blaine's hand leave his back. Blaine dragged the chair as close to Kurt as possible before sitting down and looking his boyfriend in the eyes. "Will you teach me your routine?"
"Are you serious?" asked Kurt, after taking a moment to wipe the stray tears from his face.
"You keep telling me I need to take better care of my skin. It's about time I listened, don't you think?"
Kurt stared at him blankly for a moment, then gave a small smile and nodded. He took a deep breath, grabbed the closest tube of moisturizer, and squeezed some into his hand. He explained what it was for, reached towards Blaine and then paused to quietly ask, "Is this okay?" He waited for Blaine to nod in response before gently rubbing the product on his boyfriend's face.
Blaine, for his part, just enjoyed the sound of Kurt's voice, growing stronger as he continued describing his routine in detail. The feeling of Kurt's soft hands on his face was soothing, almost putting him to sleep. It was also intimate in a way he hadn't expected, with Kurt's breath on his cheek and his fingertips tracing the outlines of his face. Now I understand what he meant about the touch of fingertips, Blaine thought to himself, as he imagined those fingers trailing down his chest or across his hips. He hoped Kurt didn't notice his blush under the warm lights around his mirror. As horrible as this evening had been for both of them, he had never felt closer to his boyfriend than this instant, Kurt's hands rubbing small circles into his face, falling into the comfortable sounds and motions of his nightly routine, which now had suddenly turned into their nightly routine.
Eventually Kurt took his hands away, although he continued talking about which products were best for Blaine's skin and how often he should use them, as Blaine opened his eyes and just smiled at his boyfriend. Kurt stopped mid sentence and smiled back, his first real smile that evening since they had arrived at the dance. Blaine leaned over and kissed him chastely before grabbing his hand and pulling him out of his seat.
"Thank you," he said simply. "Now will you come to bed, before I fall asleep on this chair?"
Kurt just nodded and followed his boyfriend across the room. They climbed into bed and Blaine reached over to shut off the lamp on the nightstand before scooting closer to his boyfriend, who was already lying on his side under the covers. He hesitantly put his arm around Kurt, who leaned back into his touch, pressing his body slowly but firmly against Blaine's. Blaine kissed the back of his neck and he could feel Kurt relax as he let out a long sigh.
"Thank you," he whispered fiercely. Blaine wasn't sure if he was referring to agreeing to attend prom, chasing him out into the hallway, dancing with him, or just the moisturizing routine, but he didn't care. He pulled Kurt tighter against him and whispered, "You're so strong and so brave."
"Only because of you," Kurt answered as he dropped his head onto the pillow. If Blaine hadn't been so tired, he would have argued that Kurt was strong and brave way before he came along. Maybe they could just be brave for each other, he decided, as his heavy eyelids shut. His last conscious thought before drifting to sleep with his arms wrapped securely around his boyfriend was that if an entire high school couldn't break them, even with the help of secret ballots and a plastic crown, then nothing could tear them apart.