HELLO! I'M STILL ALIVE! So I kind of disappeared from the radar for a while there...It's not exactly easy to explain why but it's just been extremely difficult for me to a) come up with an idea and b) put it into actual words, recently. This is the first thing I've written in about 4/5 months and it's not the best chapter ever, but hopefully when I get back into the habit of writing it'll get better as the story progresses. Anyway, enjoy and please review to let me know what you think!

"Blaine, where are you?"

Blaine barely registered the voice on the other end of the phone as he hurriedly ran through the subway station, jumping onto the train and breathing a sigh of relief that he'd actually made it.

"Sorry," Blaine panted. "I got out of class late. I'll be there soon, I promise."

"You're already late," the voice replied, irritation evident. "If you're not here in half hour I'm leaving."

"Tyler," Blaine pleaded, but the call had already disconnected.

Sighing, Blaine put his phone back in his pocket and prayed that the subway would speed up a little.

Blaine made it to the coffee shop just as Tyler was about to leave, out of breath and sweaty from running the entire way there from the subway station.

"I'm so sorry," he said, all but collapsing into his seat. "I honestly thought I'd be here by four but class ended late and I had to run to the subway station and then I had to run here and I-"

"Blaine,"

Blaine sighed, stopping his rambling. "Yes?"

"I think we should break up."

"I...what?" Blaine said. "Is this because I'm late? Because I-"

"It's not because you're late, Blaine," Tyler sighed. "I'm not that cruel."

"Then why?" Blaine asked. "I thought we were happy..."

"Maybe you are but I...I don't think I am," Tyler said. "Let's be honest; this isn't working. This hasn't worked for a long time, we've just been trying to make it work."

"But..."

"Blaine, honestly? When was the last time we went on a date?"

"I...I thought this was a date." Blaine said dejectedly, staring down at the table.

"I mean a real date," Tyler replied. "When was the last time either of us tried to do anything special for the other one?"

"So, basically I'm a sucky boyfriend," Blaine concluded. "Great."

"You're not a sucky boyfriend," Tyler argued. "It's both of us, to be honest. We're too different. You're still in school, trying to become a teacher - and I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I'm so, so proud of you - and I'm happy with where I am in my life."

"So you're willing to throw three years of a relationship down the drain because, what? You've sorted your life out while I'm still trying to figure out who I am?"

"Blaine," Tyler sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm just going to leave before we have an argument."

"Tyler -"

"Goodbye, Blaine." Tyler said, pressing a kiss to Blaine's cheek before grabbing his coat and leaving.

Sighing, Blaine put his head in his hands, a tear falling down his cheek.

The truth was he knew that their relationship wasn't working out. Maybe he just had a little more faith that they could work things out...or maybe he was just too scared to let go of one of the only things that had gotten him through moving to New York.

The first few years were rocky, to say the least. He was studying at NYADA, but in the two years that he was there he just wasn't happy. He was living in a tiny, stuffy apartment with a roommate that had no boundaries whatsoever, he'd only made one friend and he hated the course he was taking.

Unhappy with everything in his life, Blaine had decided to take a year off from college and just...explore. He moved into an apartment with his best friend, Amy (aka the only person he'd met in college) and his days were filled with going out to the closest coffee shop for his regular breakfast of a bagel and a medium drip, and then he'd wander around the city, exploring the little places that he never even knew existed.

That was how he met Tyler. He ended up getting lost in a small neighbourhood that he'd never heard of or been in before and Tyler was the only person around to help him out. They'd exchanged phone numbers once they'd managed to get Blaine back to a place he was familiar with and the rest was history.

Tyler had helped him through basically everything. When he first moved to New York he felt like an ant in a swarm of elephants, but meeting Tyler made him feel so much bigger and more confident. He helped him figure out where he was actually going in his life and encouraged him to take a course at NYU and study to become a teacher when he didn't think he was good enough.

"Are you okay?"

Only once Blaine was snapped out of his thoughts did he realise that he was all but balling his eyes out. He looked up to see a man with perfectly coiffed brown hair standing in front of him, a little girl holding his hand and shyly cuddling a teddy bear to hear chest.

"I..." Blaine began, about to make up a lie but changing his mind and shaking his head bringing his hands up to wipe his tears away.

The man sat down opposite him, lifting the little girl up onto his lap and cuddling her close when she leaned against him.

"Do you want to talk about it? Or is that way too forward of me and should I just leave?" The man asked in a rushed manner, causing Blaine to laugh a little despite himself.

"I...my boyfriend just broke up with me."

"Oh," the man frowned a little. "I'm sorry."

Blaine winced a little at the uncomfortable look on the mans face. Great, he thought, he's homophobic.

"Look if you have a problem with me being gay you might as well just leave." Blaine snapped rudely.

"What? No, I..." The man chuckled. "I, um...I'm actually gay," he said, making Blaine blush in embarrassment.

"Oh," Blaine said quietly, picking at the coffee cup Tyler left on the table when he left. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," the man smiled. "I just, um...it kind of hit a sore spot. My husband died a little over a year ago."

"Oh," Blaine repeated, suddenly feeling slightly sick with embarrassment. "I'm...I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," he smiled. "I've...accepted it, I guess. I mean, it still hurts like hell when I think about it but...yeah."

"Kurt!"

The man jumped a little, looking up at the barista that had just shouted his name.

"Um, that's me...I'll be back in a minute." He...Kurt said, standing up and shushing the little girl gently when she let out a whine, clutching onto him tightly.

He returned a few moments later, coffee in hand and sleeping child resting against his shoulder.

"Blaine," Blaine said.

"Um...what?" Kurt asked.

"My name," Blaine said, realising how stupid he must have sounded. "My name's Blaine."

"Oh," Kurt laughed, sitting down. "I'm Kurt, if you haven't already realised."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Kurt said, taking a sip from his coffee.

"If your husband died last year then..." He made vague hand gestures to the sleeping child in his arms. "She looks really young."

"She's almost two," Kurt replied easily. "She was seven months when...yeah."

"Oh," Blaine said sadly.

"Yeah, she has no idea who he is," he said, clearly upset but that thought. "Which I mean...as much as I'd like for her to know who he is...at least she didn't get attached and then lose him and...yeah."

"I'm sorry," Blaine said. "I shouldn't have brought it up..."

"It's fine," Kurt smiled, clearing his throat a little. "So, tell me about you."

"Um...I'm twenty three and I'm studying to become a teacher."

"Oh wow," Kurt said, clearly impressed. "What age do you want to teach?"

"I think...probably kindergarten or first grade. I like kids." Blaine shrugged.

"I'll keep that in mind when I need a babysitter for this little one," Kurt teased, looking down at the little girl snuggled up in his arms.

"What's her name?" Blaine asked curiously.

"Cleo," Kurt answered, causing the little girl to open her eyes and blink up at him in confusion. Kurt chuckled, pressing a kiss to her head and cuddling her a little tighter, an obvious signal that she was allowed to go back to sleep.

"She looks like you," Blaine said with a smile.

"She looks like my mom," Kurt replied happily. "Whenever my dad sees her he says that if I were born a girl I'd look exactly like her."

"That's...slightly creepy," Blaine laughed. "Although I do kind of see what he means."

"No!" Kurt cried teasingly. "Not you too!"

Blaine laughed for a short moment before stopping and looking down at the table sadly, suddenly remembering everything that happened before Kurt showed up.

"You okay?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah I just...I think it just hit me that I have nobody to text 'goodnight' to before I go to bed tonight, and I have nobody to sit next to on the subway on the way to school or to kiss me and hug me when I have a stressful day."

"I'm sorry," Kurt frowned.

Blaine shrugged. "He was right," he said. "Our relationship hasn't really been a relationship for a while now. All we ever did was fight on the rare occasion that we actually had some time to ourselves and whenever I spent the night at his apartment he'd just watch TV while I did schoolwork and then we'd go to bed at different times with nothing but a kiss on the cheek to say goodnight. I think I'm just so...used to the idea of having him around that I don't want to let go even thought I know we'd both be better off. He helped me through everything and picked me back up when I felt like I wasn't good enough for anything...I guess I'm just scared to not be with him."

"I don't even know what to say," Kurt said sadly. "I'm sure you'll be okay. You have friends that can help you, right?"

Blaine scoffed. "I have one friend," he said pathetically, a tear rolling down his cheek. "I mean there are people in my classes that I talk to sometimes and I eat lunch with but I'm not close, by any means, with them."

"Give me your phone," Kurt said, holding his hand out until Blaine put his phone in it. He tapped the screen a few times before handing the phone back to Blaine. "Now you have another friend."

"Why?" Blaine asked dejectedly.

"Why what?"

"Why would you want to be friends with a pathetic twenty three year old who's stuck in college for the next two years and is, apparently, very clingy?" Blaine asked, unable to stop his tears once again.

"Okay firstly," Kurt said. "I'm offended that you think I'm too old to be friends with a twenty three year old," he teased, eliciting a small chuckle from Blaine as he reached across the table to hold his hand. "Secondly, you're not 'stuck' in college for the next two years, you're studying hard for the next to years to achieve something incredible. And thirdly, you're not pathetic or clingy. Well, I wouldn't really know about the clingy thing but I think you just lost someone who's incredibly important to you and you're scared to let go, which is normal. You're just a little bit lost right now, that doesn't make you pathetic."

"I've been lost since I was eighteen," Blaine pointed out. "I had this perfect vision of coming to New York, studying at NYADA and being in movies and on Broadway but when I got here it turned out that I hated NYADA and I didn't really want to be on Broadway all too much."

"So you found a different dream," Kurt countered. "And that's fine. People do change you know, especially after a big transition like finishing high school or moving to a different state."

Blaine sighed in defeat. "You have an answer for everything, don't you?"

"Yup," Kurt grinned, eliciting laughter from Blaine. "So listen to what I'm telling you, because I'm always right."

Blaine laughed. "Why are you being so nice to me?" He asked. "For all you know I could be like...a serial killer."

"Well the fact that you're pointing out that you could be a serial killer leads me to believe that you're not a serial killer."

"I'm not a serial killer," Blaine giggled. "My parents raised me to be polite and chivalrous towards everyone," he said proudly, sitting up a little straighter and pulling on his bowtie. "I'm very proper."

Kurt laughed loudly. "You're a dork, that's what you are."

A tired whine snapped the two men out of their little world. Cleo reached up to grab onto Kurt's shoulders, pulling herself up as much as she could and hugging him tightly, beginning to cry in earnest.

Kurt pulling back a little so he could see her face and wiped the tears from her face.

"What's wrong, baby?" He asked, pushing her hair away from her face.

"Tummy," Cleo cried, smashing her face back against Kurt's shoulder until he cuddled her again.

"Okay," Kurt sighed. "I think I need to get this little one home and call the doctor. She's been sick for a few days and she doesn't seem to be getting any better."

"I should probably get going too," Blaine agreed. "I've been in here for over an hour and I haven't even bought anything."

"I'll be expecting a call from you, okay?" Kurt teased. "We're friends now - there's no escape."

Blaine laughed. "I promise I'll call you."

"Pinky swear?" Kurt said, holding his pinky out.

Blaine locked pinkies with him, laughing all the while. "I'm not sure you're mature enough to be a dad."

"Hey, ignorance is the key to being a parent," Kurt countered. "If I'm no fun then Cleo will grow up to be boring too."

"Touché," Blaine grinned.

"Daddy," Cleo whined, her face still pressed tightly against Kurt's shoulder.

"Okay, okay," Kurt said, kissing the top of her head. "I'll speak to you soon, okay?"

Blaine nodded, standing up with Kurt and walking out of the shop with him. He waved goodbye to Kurt before making his own way home, feeling a little better about everything that had happened earlier in the day.