My life is a,
series of actors changing places
except there's no back stage
and there's no place for me.

It's okay though,
the jokes on the television
make me laugh,
remind me that it's okay
not to have a backstage or a place to hide.

Well I've got dinner on my plate,
got my paycheck yesterday.
How great, how cool.
I've got places, I've got friends,
I've got Joey, Ross, and Chandler, then..
there's you.

And now, how, we like to say that we're in love,
doesn't it, seem like that should be enough,
but, the world will roll their eyes but I still think,
well I still think that we're in love.

Oh shoes and jackets,
purses and tennis rackets,
make their way as they please,
in those SUVs to the country club.

I don't play much,
but I do enjoy having the ball in my court,
and what's more,
I like playing, for love.

But I've got arms and you've got legs,
together we've made some mistakes.
But hey, we're doing well!

Well I've got reason to believe,
in the power of you and me to break,
this spell.

And now, how, we like to say that we're in love,
doesn't it, seem like that should be enough,
but, the world will roll their eyes but I still think,
well I still think that we're in love.

One more question:
how is this one big lesson?
I don't think that there's a quiz,
but if there is I'll be, outside;
playing in the yard,
swinging on monkey bars,
exercising my right to this recess from this lesson
that I tried, ohh

But I've got arms and you've got legs,
together we've made some mistakes.
But hey, we're doing well!

Well I've got reason, to believe,
in the power of you and me to break,
this spell.

And now, how, we like to say that we're in love,
doesn't it, seem like that should be enough,
but, the world will roll their eyes but I still think,
well I still think that we're in love.
well I still think that we're in love, love, love.
well I still think that we're in love.
Ooh..

More lyrics: .com/i_still_think_lyrics_darren_
All about Darren Criss: .com/music/Darren+Criss

Blaine hated his life. No he loved his life. He did have a job he loved which payed for the house he loved in a city he loved with the people he loved. But that was just it, sure he did have some of the people he loved, his sister was only a ten minute drive away, Wes and Dave weren't more than an hour away and his new-found New York friend, Kate, was in the house when he came home but he didn't have anyone to love. There was no-one to come home to and kiss hello, just a big empty house and Kate. He'd always thought he'd be married by the time he was thirty, now he was thirty seven and... well he was alone. So Blaine, at that moment, hated his life.

A girl at work had tried to flirt with him, earlier that day and it really annoyed him when they did that. He was pretty famous and it was well known he was gay, so why were girls always trying to "convert" him, it was like some kind of sick joke. Slamming his car door, Blaine marched down his drive and swung open the front door "Kate! I'm home!"

"Not so loud," Kate peered round the door, brow furrowed and red hair dishevelled. Kate was a dancer, that was how Blaine had met her, she had been in the chorus line for a musical he had starred in. It was rare to see her with anything but a smile on her face, but now she frowned.

Irritably, Blaine asked "What's wrong?"

"Well," she bit her bottom lip "It's rather unusual." She paused, glancing over her shoulder "Look Blaine could you just stay away from the living room for a while, it's just... I'll explain later, just go." Great, now Kate was hiding something, somehow though, Blaine didn't have the energy to argue so he just plodded up the stairs and sat in his study to shuffle through some paperwork to do with his latest studio album. "Blaine?"

Without looking up, he replied "Yes."

"On the way home from work today I saw this girl crying by the side of the road so I stopped to offer her a lift but she didn't have anywhere to go and..."

Rubbing his temples Blaine groaned "You brought home a girl from the street."

"She's just escaped an abusive relationship, Blaine," Kate retorted "And she's been really badly beaten up, you can tell, she just needs a friend."

He ran it through his head and sighed "All right, Kate, you can keep her but she's your responsibility, you hear me?"

"Thank you Blaine," she beamed "I've made her dinner, she's in the living room eating now so don't come in..."

"Wait," he interrupted her "What?"

Awkwardly, she stared at her feet for a second before admitting "She's scared of men, abusive relationship, remember?"

"I can't live with her if she's scared of me!" he cried, trying not to blow up and load all his anger onto his best friend "Look, I'll give her til seven, then I'm coming downstairs to meet her, okay?"

With a slight nod, Kate disappeared to tend to their guest. Just for something to do, Blaine reached for his guitar and sang "Remember that time?

When you wouldn't talk to me?

You wouldn't talk to me

All night

Remember that song?

And all the words we'd sing?

Well here's a song I sing

All right..."

"You sound good."

Blaine jumped and looked over his shoulder to see the teenager stood in the doorway, dark curls down to her waist and baby blue yes wide. Swallowing, Blaine tried to ignore the feeling that he'd met her before and half-smiled "Thanks."

"I'm Alice," she said "Kate brought me."

With a nod, he replied "Yeah, she told me."

"Don't stop because of me, I love that song," she stumbled over her words slightly but still held Blaine's gaze.

Turning to face her, he gestured to the chair by his desk and she scurried to sit down. He smiled slightly and carried on "Remember that way?

How you'd never lie to me

'Cause you'd never lie to me

No way."

Eyes wide, Alice began to sing alone with him "You could be faking it

God, don't be like that

I don't like the way you act

'Round me."

For a moment, she stopped and let Blaine sing on his own "So baby come on, come on..."

"Oh, don't you tell me no," this time it was Blaine's turn to to stop and let Alice sing on her own "There you go again

You're ten out of ten

Sorry, did I just s-stutter?

Won't tell you what you know

There you go again

You were never my friend

You were never my-

You were never my lover! No."

Grinning, he carried on without her "Remember that night?

When I saw you standing there?

Dark eyes and dark hair

It's just you."

"Remember the way?" Alice joined in with him "How you were way out of line?

And I was way out of time

For you."

On her own, she took it from there "And I got your number

Right next to your name

But it ain't no thing, no

No it ain't enough

And I've got your word I know

But it's all I'll get

Trying to forget

Your kind of love."

"So baby come on, come on..." Blaine began.

Alice's angelic voice accompanied Blaine's and they kept on going "Oh, don't you tell me no

'Cause there you go again

You're ten out of ten

Sorry, did I just s-stutter?

Won't tell you what you know

But there you go again

'Cause you were never my friend

You were never my-

You were never my lover!"

"Look at you two getting along," Kate was stood in the doorway, grinning at both of them "Blaine, this is Alice, Alice this Blaine."

Alice frowned "Wait, Blaine? As in Blaine Anderson, broadway and pop legend."

"Legend's not exactly how I'd put it," Kate laughed.

Winking at his best friend, he chuckled "I like this girl."

"Are you two together?" Alice asked, glancing between the two of them.

With a chuckle, Blaine shook his head "No, trust me I'm gay."

"Yeah and I'm totally out of his league," Kate added, grinning then her eyes flicked to the younger girl "You don't have a problem with Blaine do you?"

Stunned, Alice shook her head "What, no? I was raised by an openly gay guy, I have no problem with Blaine."

"Where is your dad?" he pushed, setting his guitar down.

Awkwardly she shuffled "I'm not sure exactly, he moves around a lot with his job and I haven't seen him in over a year. I'd rather not talk about it."

"Okay," he nodded, now he was over the shock of meeting this girl he noticed the bruises on the parts of her arm which weren't covered by the borrowed T-shirt of Kate's and the slight scratch on the side of her neck which was hidden by her hair. He guessed that beneath those slightly oversized clothes there were more signs of cruelty. Somewhere inside him then, Blaine decided that he would take care of Alice, if it was the last thing he did, he would take care of her.

So for the next few months, Alice was there in the house, so young and so happy, despite everything she's been through. Kate was constantly buying her clothes, as though Alice was her personal barbie doll. Blaine enjoyed the teenager's company, she had a taste for fashion and music as well as a maturity unusual for a sixteen year old. There were more than a few occasions when he was overcome with the feeling that he'd met her before.

Four months after Alice's arrival, Blaine was in a dance rehearsal for his latest music video when one of the staff hurried into the studio "Mr Anderson."

"Angela, please call me Blaine, we're all friends here," he sighed, running a hand through his hair as he stopped dancing to face the blonde.

Awkwardly, she shuffled "You have a visitor."

With that, Kate ran in, looking dishevelled and upset with her make-up smudged and her clothes disgruntled "Blaine, we have an emergency!"

"What's wrong?" he tried to ignore the panic in his best friend's eyes and the way her fists clenched and unclenched anxiously. She didn't answer, just ran into his arms and started sobbing.

Before either of them knew it, they were in the car on the way to casualty, driving as fast as they could. His voice jumped as he asked her "How did he find her?"

"I don't know," Kate's voice shook and she had her arms wrapped around herself as if holding herself together "We should have made her press domestic abuse charges against him, we should have."

Shaking his head, Blaine held back the tears "We couldn't have known, she wouldn't even tell us where or who he was."

They parked up and hurried into reception and he hurried to the front desk with Kate in toe "Excuse me, we're here to see Alice... er Alice..."

"She never told us her last name," Kate swallowed, the tears coming to her eyes again.

Behind them, a voice called "Excuse me." The two of them turned to see a man, a man Blaine recognised on sight, even after all these years. He was tall with bright blue eyes and sandy brown hair and dressed completely in designer clothes "I couldn't help but hear that you were looking for an Alice, that wouldn't be Alice Hummel would it? My daughter?"

"Kurt," Blaine choked, pushing past Kate "You're Alice's father?"

Eyes widening, Kurt's hands flew to his face "Blaine?"

"Well, I guess that explains why she looked so familiar," Blaine gasped, glancing back at Kate who looked completely confused "She's some kid."

Kurt just shook his head "I told her, I warned her about him, he was dangerous and now look where he's got her, I just can't..." There were tears running down his face now as he looked up at the ex-boyfriend he hadn't seen in over ten years "I can't loose her Blaine, I just can't."

"You won't," Blaine replied, only just resisting the urge to grab for the taller boy's hand "Alice is resilient, she'll get through this."

Flopping down into one of the arm chairs, Kurt whimpered "I let her down, I pushed her away, I was so stupid. She needed me and I just didn't see it."

"Stop it Kurt," Blaine sat down next to him "This is not your fault, it's the fault of that idiot of an ex-boyfriend who beat her up."

With a glance towards the door, a look of realisation crossed Kurt's face "How do you know Alice anyway?"

"Kate found her after she broke up with..." Blaine trailed off "Anyway, we took her in, she's been living with us now for four months."

Uncomfortably, Kurt shuffled in his seat "You two aren't together are you?"

"What?" he started, taken aback "No, Kurt 100% gay, remember?"

A familiar sparkle flashed through the counter-tennor's eyes as he nodded "Yeah, I remember."

"Kate's just my room-mate," Blaine shrugged "I don't like to be alone and she's always wanted a gay best friend."

At the realisation that she was being talked about, Kate wandered forward to stare at the two men "Blaine? What's going on?"

"Oh yeah, sorry," he answered awkwardly "Kurt, this is my room-mate, Kate Rook. Kate this is Kurt Hummel, he's er..."

Without missing a beat, Kurt offered his hand to her "Blaine's high school sweet-heart."

"You're Alice's Dad?" she shook his hand with a look of slight disbelief.

Sniffing back his tears, Kurt nodded "Yeah, small world huh." He didn't even realise he was doing it, like it was the most natural thing in the world, Blaine slid his fingers through Kurt's. As he did so, Kurt glanced up at him and squeezed his hand.

Then the doctor walked into the waiting room "Alice Hummel's family?"

"That's us," Blaine said, standing up, still holding Kurt's hand.

With a sort of solemn nod, the doctor turned with the words "Follow me." So they did, down a long white corridor to a tiny room with a single bed and a little dark-haired girl looking smaller than she ever had before. "Alice, your family's here to see you."

"Family?" she asked weakly, shuffling into a sitting position as the three of them walked in. Then, on seeing Kurt, tears came to her eyes and she shook her head "I'm so sorry Daddy."

Releasing his hold on Blaine's hand, Kurt scurried to his daughter's bedside and took her hand "Don't you dare apologize, I should have come after you when you ran away, I should have listened to you."

"But you were right, he was dangerous and I didn't listen," she whimpered, reaching out to her dad "And then I couldn't find you."

He wiped away her tears with his thumb "There were other people you could have called. Aunt Rachel and Uncle Jesse. Aunt Mercedes and Uncle Marcus. Aunt Brittany and Aunt Santana. Aunt Tina and Uncle Mike. They're all in New York, they all would have helped you. And even if not them there's Granddad and Aunt Carol or Uncle Will and Aunt Emma or Uncle Finn and Aunt Quinn or even Uncle Puck and Aunt Lauren in Ohio."

"How could I face them after I'd been so stupid," Alice replied, then smiled "Besides, Blaine and Kate looked after me."

Glancing over his shoulder, Kurt half-smiled at Blaine as their eyes met for a moment "He certainly looked after you for me didn't he?" Then he turned back to the teenage girl "But you still should have tried to contact me, have you any idea how worried I've been for the last year?"

"I'm sorry Daddy," she sniffed.

Delicately, he moved a strand of hair behind her ear "Oh well, I've got you back now, that's what matters."

"Hey, Blaine, Kate, you guys got my text!" she waved with a smile and her father moved aside to sit in a chair by the bed.

Still wiping her eyes, Kate replied "Do you have any idea how worried you made us, I mean really?"

"Sorry," she shrugged bashfully "So you met my dad."

With a chuckle, Blaine sighed "You know, I can't believe neither Kurt nor me mentioned the other one to you."

"What do you mean?" Alice glanced between Blaine and Kurt "You two know each other?"

Kurt glanced up at Blaine and held his gaze "His coffee order is Medium Drip."

"And his is Grande non-fat mocha."

"He loves football."

"He loves Scarves."

"His corny nerdiness borders on extreme."

"He loves Patti LuPone."

"He told me to have courage."

"He's the most courageous person I've ever met."

Then the two of them both said "He was my first boyfriend."

"And I didn't know this!" Alice exclaimed.

**KEH & BA**

"Do you live in New York?" Blaine asked as they waited for the girls to come out to meet them.

Shaking his head, Kurt replied "We don't really live anywhere, we have two houses, one in Paris, the other in London, we spend Christmas in New York with friends and Summer in Ohio with my dad and Carol."

"Your clothing line is amazing by the way," Blaine said, shuffling awkwardly.

Quietly, Kurt shrugged "I love what I do, I miss the music though, it really isn't possible to do much performing when you're on the move all the time."

"You could have done it, you know," Blaine grinned "Rachel, Mercedes and Jesse did, didn't they and Santana, Brittany, Mike and Tina didn't do so bad for themselves either."

Head snapping up to meet the smaller boy's eyes "You did it."

There was an awkward silence then, before Blaine asked, to break the tension "So, where are you staying?"

"At Rachel's, oh damn!" Kurt cursed in realisation "They don't have enough room for me and Alice!"

Shaking his head, Blaine glanced towards the door as Alice and Kate came to join them "It doesn't matter anyway."

"It doesn't?" Kurt's brow furrowed with confusion.

With a smile, Blaine replied "Kurt, you didn't think I'd let you two out of my sight did you, you are staying with me."

The ride back home was full of the chattering of the girls with the odd interjection from Kurt or Blaine. It wasn't until about ten at night when Kate and Alice had both gone up to bed that the two men were left alone together once again. Finding the silence that followed intolerable, Blaine picked up his guitar and began to play some familiar chords, singing quietly "My life is a,

Series of actors changing places,

Except there's no back stage
And there's no place for me." As Blaine began to sing, Kurt looked up from his book and watched as the dark haired boy continued "It's okay though,
The jokes on the television
Make me laugh, remind me that it's okay
Not to have a backstage door or place to hide." With his eyes on his hands, Blaine ignored the way Kurt watched him with a unfailing intensity "Well I've got dinner on my plate,
Got my pay check yesterday.
How great, how cool.
I've got places, I've got Friends,
I've got Joey, Ross, and Chandler, then..
There's you." Slowly, Kurt closed his book and set it aside, leaning forward in his seat "And now, how, we like to say that we're in love,
Doesn't it, seem like that should be enough,
But, the world will roll their eyes but I still think,
Well I still think that we're in love." Playing fast and with a focussed concentration, Blaine didn't see Kurt rise, slowly, to his feet "Oh, shoes and jackets,
Purses and tennis rackets,
Make their way as they please,
In those SUVs to the country club." As Kurt began to move forward, Blaine carried on "I don't play much,
But I do enjoy having the ball in my court,
And what's more,
I like playing, for love." Now Blaine looked up and Kurt froze, stood there staring at him. Smiling though, Blaine just carried on "But I've got arms and you've got legs,
Together we've made some mistakes.
But hey, we're doing well!" Keeping that eye contact, Blaine put all the emotions he'd felt since the break up flood into the music "Well I've got reason to believe,
In the power of you and me to break,
This spell." Kurt began to move forward again but Blaine didn't see him, he'd closed his eyes as he sung "And now, how, we like to say that we're in love,
Doesn't it, seem like that should be enough,
But, the world will roll their eyes but I still think,
Well I still think that we're in love." On that last word, Kurt cut him off with a kiss. Just a soft and slow kiss full of all the emotion that flooded through their hearts for each other. As the taller boy pulled away, Blaine sighed "I wrote this song for you, you know, it was one of the first songs I ever wrote."

"Finish it then," Kurt whispered.

Smiling, he sang "One more question:
How is this one big lesson?
I don't think that there's a quiz,
But if there is I'll be, outside;
Playing in the yard,
Swinging on monkey bars,
Exercising my right to this recess from this lesson
That I tried, oh."

Kurt joined in now, the two of them finding the perfect harmony as they sung Blaine's first number one "But I've got arms and you've got legs,
Together we've made some mistakes.
But hey, we're doing well!
Well I've got reason, to believe,
In the power of you and me to break,
This spell." Nose to nose they sung quietly to each other "And now, how, we like to say that we're in love,
Doesn't it, seem like that should be enough,
But, the world will roll their eyes but I still think,
Well I still think that we're in love.
Well I still think that we're in love, love, love.
Well I still think that we're in love.
Ooh..." And well, they still thought that they were in love and maybe they were, maybe they were going to find out.