And now the story is about to change :) If you've ever wondered how Kurt could redeem himself... just see what I had planned this whole time :)

Chapter 26

About midday on Saturday, Burt was profusely apologizing to Kurt because he had an emergency and had to go back to D.C. Kurt understood and told his father that he was okay to be alone, despite Burt saying that after last night he didn't want to leave Kurt alone in an empty house.

"I'll be fine," he said and gave Burt an encouraging smile. "We'll talk later. Call me when you land." He hugged his father and received a kiss on his head. Minutes later, he was alone and wasn't sure what to do with his time. He had his homework done and nothing was holding his attention for longer than five minutes. All he could think of was Blaine. He tried watching TV, but ended up only being able to flick through each channel rapidly five times and shut the contraption off. He tried reading, but after reading the same page three times and not knowing what he read, he shut the book and put it away. For about thirty seconds, he thought to go for a run, but decided better of it. Baking was a thought that he seriously considered, but no one would be here to eat the cookies and didn't feel like bringing them to school. Karofsky and he still weren't on the best of terms to hang out even though they were friendly again. Even looking on the discount fashion websites held no interest for him

In the end, Kurt tossed and turned in his bed for hours attempting to take a nap. He was lonely and that feeling was creeping up on him again. "Fuck it," he said out loud and got up to take a shower.

About an hour and a half later, Kurt was sitting at the bar at Scandals sipping a dirty martini. A Brittney song came on and he turned his head to see the cavalcade of men start dirty dancing up against one another. Then there was a flash of something he didn't expect. For a second, Kurt thought he saw… No, he thought. He readjusted his seating, leaning far over to see the image again. But that couldn't be. A short teen with dark hair and a gelled comb over was dancing rather provocatively. His face was flushed like he'd been dancing for a while. Blaine doesn't dance with anyone, but Eli. But Eli wasn't attached to the short teen the way Kurt expected him to be. In fact, Eli wasn't anywhere near Blaine. Kurt scanned the crowd. He couldn't see Eli anywhere.

He abandoned his drink and went over to the dance floor. Squeezing his way through, he made it over to Blaine and pushed his way to get behind him. With a hand carefully placed on Blaine's hip from behind, he started dancing to make himself seem normal.

Feeling the pressure of someone behind him, Blaine draped himself backwards, the way he saw Kurt do may times. The balance was easier than he thought. He attention was diverted because the person dancing behind him was a better and far better smelling specimen than the man in front of him, so Blaine chanced turning around. Two feelings went through him. Elation and a bit of Oh, it's you. It's not that he would rather have seen anyone other than Kurt, but their interactions these days were purely physical and Blaine wasn't exactly happy with Kurt. There was a reason he only had sex with him these days and having the boyfriend argument afterwards wasn't it.

A smile spread across his slightly intoxicated face anyway. "You found me."

"Yeah. Didn't expect to see you here."

Blaine circled his hand around Kurt's and started tugging him towards the exit, leaving the poor sap that he had entranced behind.

"Where are we going?" Kurt asked.

"My car."

"Why?"

A single eyebrow arched up and Blaine smirked. "Because the windows are begging to get all steamed up."

Something about the way Blaine said it crushed Kurt. He yanked his hand out of Blaine's. "I'd rather dance with you."

As if Kurt denying him a sexual favor offended him, Blaine scoffed. "Oh, come on, Kurt. Don't tell me you're turning into a prude now."

"Why are you talking like this?" He knew exactly why. Kurt was looking at a mirror. This was how Blaine was spoken to by Kurt for months.

Instead of answering, Blaine just looked insulted at being turned down. "Fine. You're loss."

Kurt stood in his lover's way, blocking him from making a move on anyone. "Why don't you have a drink with me?"

"If I wanted a drink, I would have taken you to the bar."

"So, that it? The back of your car or nothing?"

"That's news to you?" Total bitch was being read across Blaine's face. His body language was different, however. His normal posture was the only apparent thing left of Kurt's Blaine Anderson.

Kurt was still too stunned and shocked to move fast enough. Instead, all he could do was watch Blaine move around him and go back to the dance floor, where men easily flocked to fill up Blaine's dance card.

Burt's words were on a record loop in Kurt's head. "Save him. Save him. Save him." He didn't know how he was supposed to do that. Kurt would be damned if he let Blaine leave with someone else to take them into the back room. He'd turn into the biggest cock block anyone's ever seen before he'd let that happen. Until then, he remained on his perch at the bar keeping a close watch and trying to figure something else out because his window of time was done.

Kurt was not having fun. His usual game of arriving at a prime hour at Scandals and making his rounds, trying to find the best looking hook-up he could find, then dancing it up to make everyone jealous that he was not their arm candy for the night, wasn't working. All he could do was keep looking at Blaine. Blaine was being bought drinks and chatted up, not to mention felt up on the dance floor. The whole view was driving Kurt insane. It wasn't so much a jealousy thing, though that was there and very prevalent. It was more of a protective thing. He watched how Blaine moved and used his body language. He watched where Blaine's eyes roamed and the looks he gave other men. Blaine was turning into Kurt. It nearly made smoke come out of Kurt's mouth and ears at the notion of Blaine acting like Kurt. It angered him.

To get a closer look, Kurt decided to switch to the dance floor and danced with random men that he paid no attention to just so he could keep an eye on Blaine. He watched Blaine accept a kiss from a late twenty something that looked addicted to self tanner and deep-v t-shirts. This was his last bit of nerve. He couldn't watch this or attempt to ignore it anymore. He walked away from his dance partner, completely ignoring him and not saying anything as a wayward goodbye.

Blaine was giggling at something the man he was with was whispering in his ear. "So, is it my turn to buy you a drink yet?" Kurt said, pretending to be playful. It didn't come out that way though. Since Kurt was gloriously angry, anything nice wasn't going to sound the way it was intended.

"What do you want?" Blaine snapped, annoyed.

"Where's Eli?"

"He didn't come."

"You came alone?"

The man slung his arm around Blaine and smiled at Kurt. "Oh, honey, don't worry, he won't be coming alone tonight." He laughed a particularly annoying nasally laugh, which grossed out Kurt.

Now he knew how Blaine felt every time he was forced to watch Kurt in action. He wanted to slap the shit out of this guy, but instead he turned his attention back to Blaine. He grabbed his hand. "Come on. We're leaving."

Blaine swiftly slid his hand out of Kurt's. "No. You can do what you want. I'm staying."

Kurt's eyes narrowed, obviously put off. "I am not leaving you here alone. Get off your high horse and come with me."

The overly self tanned man got between Blaine and Kurt, trying to establish dominance. "He said he's staying."

Kurt was undeterred and more annoyed by the man's show of alpha-ism. Clearly he had never met the likes of Kurt Hummel before. "Look, Orange Glow. First off, you need to lay off the bronzer and self tanner because you look like an over cooked rotisserie chicken. Second, he's a minor, so say hello to prison if you even think about tapping that. And third, get the fuck out of my face before I ruin yours."

The man turned back to Blaine. The sound of the word 'minor' got his attention. He looked him up and down, thinking that he should have known. Blaine said nothing because he was in complete shock that Kurt did that to him. Now Blaine knew that he could never go back to Scandals until he was actually twenty one because word would spread quickly that he was a minor and no one would come near him, or possibly even let him in. The man walked away after an annoyed sound followed up with a sigh.

"Let's go," Kurt said, taking Blaine's hand again.

He took his hand back once more. "I'm not going anywhere with you!" His exclamation was screeched, not caring if he would make a scene or not.

"Oh stop acting like a drama queen. If you wanna yell at me, do it in the car, not in public."

"I'll yell at you wherever I want and I'll go home with whomever I want, whenever I want. You don't own me."

"I know!" Kurt yelled, exasperated. They'd been saying that to each other for a while now. It was starting to get old and, though Kurt never wanted to admit it before, it hurt every time it was said by either other them because deep down he really did want Blaine to be his and only his. "Believe me; I know I don't own you. Let's just get out of here and talk about it in my car."

"I don't want to be anywhere near you. I hate you."

Kurt sighed. He'd heard Blaine say that he hated him before, but for some reason, it stung sevenfold this time. "Please," he begged gently, his eyes naturally giving off an emotion Blaine rarely saw. He wasn't playing a game. It was real. "Don't do this."

Even through Blaine's buzz and stubbornness, he could see Kurt's sincerity. It was quickly making his shield that he was holding up falter. He was trying to be cold and uncaring, the way Kurt always way, but as a beginner, it wasn't easy shutting everything he'd ever thought off. "Why not? You do. You do it all the time. Why can't I?"

"Because you're not me. You're better. I don't want you to become who I am."

Everything went silent for Blaine. Even the based out thump-thump of the house music had been drowned out. He didn't understand why Kurt was doing this, but he understood the expression on his face. "You can't keep doing this. It's not fair to play with me like this. I know you don't care or anything, but I do. I care and it's me who keeps getting hurt. So, please, if you've ever cared about me in any shape or form, friend, lover, boyfriend, or otherwise, just leave me alone."

Kurt gulped. It was now or never. What Blaine was experiencing, the loss of sound, was the exact opposite of what was happening to Kurt. For him, everything was getting louder. The music was messing with his thoughts and even his heart beat was pounding so hard that it was giving him a headache. He leaned in close and put his lips near Blaine's ear, being careful not to touch him. "You're wrong. I do care." He leaned back and looked Blaine in the eyes, his own full of melancholy.

It stunned Blaine into silence. He gave up trying to fight him. He would always do what Kurt said and he would always go with him when he asked. Always. That was Kurt's power. "Where do you want to go?"

"My place? I'm home alone." When Blaine answered with a look that showed pain, Kurt added sheepishly, "I could use the company. I've never been good staying alone in that house." When they got to Kurt's car, Blaine's expression hadn't changed. Clearly he had misinterpreted Kurt's intentions. "What are you thinking?"

"You have this power over me that makes me never able to say no to you and you know it. You use it against me all the time and for reasons I don't understand, I keep running back to you, only to be used as a place to stick your dick into and then insult."

"That's not what you are to me and that's not why I'm asking you to come to my house. I don't want to fuck you."

"So, I'm no good to you anymore?" he asked hastily, not knowing why Kurt wanted him around in the first place. If Blaine wasn't there to be taken advantage of physically, then why was he there at all?

"No! Blaine…!" He hit the steering wheel with the heel of his hand, angry at himself. "That's not what I meant. I meant I didn't take you away from that guy and invite you to my place because I only wanted to have sex. I took you away from him because I was disgusted with what I saw and I asked you to come with me because I need to tell you something."

"What you saw was me doing what you do all the time."

"I know! And that's what disgusts me. I disgust me. Don't you get it? This life. The casual hook-ups, the not caring who I hook up with… I don't want that for you. You're too good for it. You deserve more. You deserve to be made love to and not fucked or randomly jerked off in a teacher's office. You're worth so much more than that."

"Then why did you do those things to me?"

"Because that's what I deserve. I'm not worth anything you gave me or let me do."

"How can you say that? Kurt, you can't possibly believe that about yourself."

"I believe it because it's true. I have never been with anyone, other than you, that has given a damn about me. For a long time now, I've come to believe that I'm only worth what someone would use me for. I've never really had any friends. The Warblers are great, but they not really friends so to speak. They're not as tight as they appear, but that's besides the point. I'm getting off track. What I'm trying to say is that you were right about something happening to me to change everything. I hate myself. I fuck up everything and the only time I ever felt good about myself was the day I met you."

"Why are you telling me all this now?"

Kurt gulped. That gnawing feeling was back again. He was going to say something that he somehow felt would ruin him when it was thrown in his face. He couldn't stop it this time and he couldn't push it back down. The rims of his eyes became wet and he gulped again. "Because I'm in love with you."

Blaine thought that if Kurt had ever told him that he was in love with him again that he would be elated and it would be a time of joy, except this wasn't what was happening. "Why don't we go back to your house and we can talk about this more."

He didn't expect Blaine to return his sentiment and he certainly didn't believe that he deserved it, what with everything he put Blaine through, but a complete change of subject was not even on his radar. His heart, for the first time ever, truly shattered.

The ride to Kurt's house was completely silent. No one said a word. Kurt bit his lip so hard that he thought that he must have drawn blood. He hadn't, but the thought was there. He parked the car and he tried to swallow what little saliva he had, but the amount was so minute that it failed to moisten any part of his mouth or throat.

Blaine followed him to the front door. "Kurt, wait." He covered Kurt's hand with his own as Kurt put his key in the lock. "I spent this entire ride trying to figure out what to say to you."

"And?"

The warm honey eyes of Blaine's looked deeply into Kurt's and let out a breath. His previous bitchy austere was now gone. Normal Blaine was back. "Why now? Why do you love me now? Or did you love me all along and never wanted to tell me?"

"Always." His voice broke and he sounded tired. "I always loved you, Blaine. From the second I saw you in the hallway I knew it."

For a minute, they stared at each other without words. "I hate you," Blaine finally said, his proverbial heart at war.

"I know."

"But I love you too." Kurt's eyes went wide and the moisture dried up, making the white parts instantly pink. "Didn't you hear me? I said 'I love you too.'"

It wasn't regret that kept Kurt silent, it was the shock. This whole time he truly thought that Blaine hated him; that maybe Kurt had been too good at his initial intent to make Blaine dislike him and he may have ruined his chances. "I-" he said breathily. Immediately, his instinct was to deny himself what he truly wanted. "I don't deserve you."

Blaine's face tightened and his lips pressed together. He had heard this excuse too many times for it to make what was happening okay. "I knew it. I knew you would do-" Kurt's lips were on his now, unmoving, but sure of his intentions.

"I want you. Not just sexually, I want all of you. I love you and I'm going against every ounce of instinct that I have to tell you that instead of saying something to make you run again. I'm not good for you and I don't deserve you, but that still doesn't stop me from wanting you."

Blaine sighed, tired and exhausted of his constant game. His rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You're not a bad person. I know who you are. Your actions don't resemble your heart. You tell me to do a lot of things and I've obeyed all but one of them."

"Which one was that?"

Blaine inched closer, trying to change Kurt's negativity. "To stay away."

Kurt smiled a real smile for the first time in days and closed the gap between them by pressing his lips to Blaine's.

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The next chapter is almost finished. Hopefully that will be up within the next day or so. :) I really hope you're liking the turn this story is taking.