Author's Note: This is possibly the angstiest chapter I've ever posted, so be warned. There's a little fluff, though. ;) I don't own Glee, as always.

Also, I'm in San Francisco at the moment, and I think it may be my favorite city ever... even if I didn't see Darren. (Not that I was excited about that possibility. Nope. Not me. Is it bad that I have a boyfriend but still really want to meet Darren? I feel guilty about that. Excuse my internal argument. This is how I think, but thankfully my writing is not quite this confusing. Is it? Tell me in the comments.)

On that note, please read and review. I'll see if I can write something as a prize for the person who guesses what happens to cause problems for these guys two chapters on... It's most likely not all that hard to work out. I'll give you a hint: You guys will most likely hate me for it, but it has to happen for the story... Ah, the writing goddess is a cruel mistress. Don't worry! Everything will be explained. You might have to wait a while for the prize, unfortunately, because as I mentioned, I'm in the States. The rest of this story is written though, so I should still be able to update regularly.

Wow. Long author's note. Long chapter. Have fun reading, and please don't hate me too much. Please? Even if you do, review. Hey! That rhymed. Like I said, ignore me. I'm in a weird mood.

The nightmares had started again. Blaine hadn't had them for months, but now they attacked him, more forceful than ever, with new incarnations to send him gasping for air in the darkness, and play across his eyelids when he closed them for the night.

He whimpered, as the next hit came, this time on his back. Why did they hate him so much? He and Daniel weren't even going out. It was just as friends... Another kick, and with it, a crack from his chest. He thought it might have broken a rib. "Stop..." he moaned, beyond caring about his dignity. At first, he'd tried not to cry out, but it was useless. The pain just kept coming. "Please..." He turned his head slightly, and reached out for Daniel. "I'm sorry," he tried to tell his friend, but Daniel couldn't hear him. The final kick came, and Blaine blacked out.

He woke up, trying to erase the pain from his mind. Daniel had hated him after that, and he'd lost the only friend who understood what he was going through. That was one of the reasons he'd been so sympathetic to Kurt from the beginning. He knew what it was like to be alone. He stared at the ceiling, eyes wide open, but eventually slipped back into sleep.

Blaine ran towards the locker room. This time he'd save Kurt. He knew, in the way that you do in dreams, that this had happened before. And every time, he'd been unable to stop it. Still he hoped that this time would be different. He skidded outside the door, and knew that once again, he was too late. He stood still, watching as Karofsky took the kiss from Kurt. His Kurt. And Blaine did nothing. Because he was a coward, frozen by fear.

That was the same dream as the recurring nightmare he'd had soon after he met Kurt, after learning the consequences of his horrible advice. But this time he noticed something that hadn't registered before. From the very beginning, in that dream, he'd thought of Kurt as his. He closed his eyes, comforted by the thought.

He stood outside the locker room, more determined than ever to save Kurt. He can't touch us, remember? Or what we have. Kurt's words, his bravery, gave Blaine strength. This time, he heard Kurt's voice, and was heartened. I can save him. I know I can. He took a step forward, but it wasn't the same, terrible familiar scene. It wasn't a wrenching, tearing ordeal. It was Kurt, and Karofsky, kissing. No... Kurt's hand reached up to touch Karofsky's cheek, the same way he'd done the first time he and Blaine kissed, and many times since. Blaine tried to scream a denial, but nothing came out. How could you do this to me? He wished, desperately, to wake up, but there was nothing he could do except watch Kurt betray him.

The tears ran down his cheeks, sobs shaking through him. It was worse, a thousand times worse, than seeing what had already happened. "I thought you loved me!" he cried. "Please don't leave me," he whispered despairingly. "I can't survive without you."

At school the next day, Kurt could see that Blaine hadn't slept peacefully. "Are you okay?" he asked, putting an arm around his boyfriend.

Blaine just stared back, haunted by the images that had tortured him through the night.

"What's wrong?" Kurt said, really worried now. "Did something happen last night?"

Blaine shook his head, not wanting to concern Kurt. "I'm fine."

"You're obviously not fine." He led Blaine to one of the benches outside the school, and leaned Blaine's head against his chest. "Come on. If you don't tell me what's wrong, I can't fix it." They had about ten minutes before class, so it was safe to talk.

Blaine melted into Kurt's arms. "You can't fix it..."

"Of course I can," Kurt said confidently.

"It's the nightmares," Blaine whispered.

Kurt knew about nightmares. The worst moments of his life, playing over and over, just so he could relive them in horrifying detail. "What nightmares?" he asked harshly.

Blaine swallowed. "Do you have anything, that if you could go back and change, you would do it in a second?"

"Yes," Kurt said without hesitation.

"Those are my nightmares."

"Can you tell me about them?" Kurt asked gently. "Maybe that would help." He stroked Blaine's head, trying to comfort him.

"In the first one, I'm back at my old school, on the ground, and they're kicking us..." he shuddered, feeling his ribs crack again.

When they'd first met, Blaine had seemed invincible, perfect. Kurt had thought that nothing Blaine had gone through could have been as bad as his own experiences, because how could you survive anything worse? Blaine had seemed so strong, but now Kurt knew that his boyfriend was stronger. "It's okay. You'll never have to go through that again." Kurt hugged him tighter. "I won't let them hurt you."

Blaine almost smiled. He did feel a little better.

"And the second one?" Kurt asked. He seemed to be making an impression, at least.

This one was more painful. "I try to save you..." Blaine whispered. "But I'm too late."

Kurt's heart broke for him. "You did save me," he told Blaine. "We're here now, aren't we?"

Blaine didn't even seem to hear him. "I just have to watch..."

"I'm sorry," Kurt said.

"Don't be sorry," Blaine told him. "You didn't do anything." At least, that's what he kept trying to tell himself. But the vivid dream of Kurt and Karofsky together kept breaking in.

"Oh, Blaine," Kurt said. "Can't I do anything to help?"

Blaine had a thought, but it was ridiculous. He shook it away, realizing as he did so that he really wanted this. "My parents are out tonight..." They often went away during the school year, and left him alone. "You could come over." He saw Kurt's look of surprise and apprehension, and hastened to explain himself. "Not- not to do anything. Just to stay with me."

Kurt's expression softened. "I'll ask." To his surprise, when he asked his Dad if he could stay the night at Blaine's, Burt didn't take a lot of convincing.

"I trust you," he said. "And Blaine's a good kid."

"Thanks, Dad." He hugged his father, truly grateful. "I love you, you know that?"

Burt ruffled his hair, even though Kurt hated it when he did that. "Love you too, kid."

Blaine drove them to his house around five. He opened the door of the empty house for Kurt, and Kurt stared around at the mansion. Actually, it wasn't really a mansion, but the house was way bigger than any Kurt had ever lived in. It was easy to see how Blaine's parents had afforded Dalton. "Nice place," was all Kurt said.

"Thanks," Blaine said, but he was a little embarrassed. "I like yours better, though."

"We don't have a pool in the back yard," Kurt said, trying not to sound jealous.

"True... but you have a family who actually likes to be around you," Blaine said, a little bitterly.

"Sorry," Kurt said. "I didn't mean-"

"I know." Blaine sighed. "I shouldn't have said that."

Kurt touched his arm comfortingly. "Don't worry about it."

"So, what do you want to do?" Blaine asked, covering up their moment of awkwardness. "We could go to the basement and play air hockey," he suggested brightly.

"You have air hockey?" Okay, now Kurt was really jealous. "Yes!"

Blaine didn't mention that he'd never actually used it, not having any siblings to play with him. Well, there was that one time that David and Wes had come over, but his friends had been uncomfortable with the awkwardness that surrounded his family. So he hadn't invited them over again. He'd gone to their houses instead.

Besides the air hockey table, the basement contained a pool table and an old Pac Man game.

"You have Pac Man?" Kurt asked in awe.

"Yeah... I used to play it a lot when I was younger."

Kurt went over and stared at the old machine. "That is so awesome."

"Thanks," Blaine laughed. "So. Air hockey?"

"Yeah," Kurt said, as though in a trance. He shook his head, mentally preparing himself. "You're going down, Anderson."

Blaine smirked. "That's what-"

"Shut up." Kurt stood on one side of the table, and Blaine hit the puck towards him.

Kurt hit it back, and scored a point. Blaine blinked. He'd be ready next time. He tried again, and the same thing happened. "Not fair..."

"Why not?"

"You- you just="

Kurt smiled at him innocently. He hadn't bothered to tell Blaine that he was awesome at air hockey. His dad used to take him to an arcade when he was younger, and they'd played it a lot. "Are you giving up?"

"No." Blaine readied himself, determined to score a point. Kurt gave him an easy save, and Blaine smiled, having managed to at least hit it back. Then Kurt hit in into his goal again.

"How are you doing that?"

"It's not that hard. You need to pay more attention."

"I am!"

Kurt went a little easier on him after that, but still won by seven points.

"I hate you," Blaine said.

"No you don't," Kurt said smugly.

"Hmph."

They went back upstairs. Blaine didn't really feel like playing air hockey any more, since Kurt had won so easily. Blaine cooked dinner, and they watched the Lion King while eating spaghetti.

"This is incredibly cliche, you realize," Kurt said.

"Not if we're watching Disney movies while we eat."

"I'll give you that."

They went through the Lion King, Aladdin, and the Little Mermaid. When Prince Eric came on screen, Kurt's mouth fell open. "Oh. My. God."

"What?"

"You're Prince Eric," Kurt said in shock.

"What?" Blaine said again. "Why?"

"He looks just like you!"

Blaine squinted. "No he doesn't..."

Kurt had a strange smile on his face.

"Why are you looking like that?" Blaine asked suspiciously.

"If you're Eric, I get to be Ariel," Kurt said dreamily.

Blaine looked at him, amused. "But then you wouldn't be able to sing!" he cried.

"Damn," Kurt said, his fantasy ruined. "Fine. He still looks like you, though."

"If you say so."

When the movie finished, they went upstairs to Blaine's room.

Kurt bit his lip. "Um... where do I sleep?"

"In the bed," Blaine said, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So where do you sleep?"

"Oh." Blaine turned red. "In the bed too?" His voice rose until it became a squeak.

"Are you okay with that?"

"Uh huh. Yep. Fine."

"If you're not, that's okay." He'd never expected Blaine to be more embarrassed about this than he was. "I mean, we haven't really done this before..."

"No. No, it's fine." Blaine looked very uncomfortable.

Kurt laughed. "I can sleep on the floor if you want."

"No!"

"Okay..." Kurt left to get changed into his pajamas and get ready for bed. When he came back, Blaine was sitting on the bed awkwardly.

"Blaine. This really isn't a big deal. We slept in the same room over the summer, remember?"

"Yeah. I know..." Blaine sighed. He was being an idiot. "I just don't want to do anything you're not comfortable with."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "I'm not really the one who has a problem with this."

Blaine turned off the light, and they both got under the covers, reaching an unspoken agreement not to discuss the matter further.

Kurt stared at the ceiling in silence for a while, pondering the differences between his and Blaine's families. Blaine's parents had a lot of money, but he wasn't comfortable around them, and they often left him alone for long periods of time. It made Kurt sad for his boyfriend, and he resolved to invite Blaine over to his house more often. He opened his mouth to say something, but Blaine seemed to have fallen asleep. His eyes started to close...

"Kurt."

His eyes flew open. "Yeah?"

"Kurt..." Blaine moaned, almost as though he was in pain.

"What?" He glanced over at his boyfriend. Blaine was shivering, and his eyes stared at something Kurt couldn't see. "Is something wrong?" he whispered, slightly scared.

"No!" Blaine cried out. "Don't leave me," he whimpered.

"I'm right here," Kurt said, wondering why this phrase frightened him so much.

"Please... I love you," Blaine whispered, tears rolling down his face.

Kurt felt a surge of fierce protectiveness. "What's wrong? Blaine?" He shook Blaine as gently as he could.

Blaine was frozen again, staring at the scene from the night before, this time in a hallway. "Kurt," he said. "Kurt..." It made no difference. They didn't seem to hear him. Kurt and Karofsky walked away, hand in hand. "No! Don't leave me!" Kurt didn't turn around. "Please... I love you." Something was shaking him, but he couldn't wake up.

Kurt embraced Blaine, hoping that it would get through to him. "Don't worry," he said softly. "It's not real. It can't hurt you." Kurt stroked Blaine's hair.

Suddenly he felt warm and safe. "Kurt?" he asked hopefully. Slowly, painfully, he fought his way out of the nightmare.

Blaine opened his eyes. "Kurt?" The hand that was stroking his head paused.

"Blaine?"

"Kurt," he said in relief. "You didn't leave me."

"Of course not," Kurt said. "I'm never letting go of you, remember?"

"Never?"

"Never."