Happy Tuesday, everyone! So I think I've decided to try and post twice a week (this depends on school and work- it might not be super consistent). Anyway, I hope that you enjoy today's chapter! It takes place in December, a few days after the first date from the previous chapter.

***DISCLAIMER***

MENTIONS OF SEX AND SUICIDE. NOTHING GRAPHIC, BUT THOUGHT I'D THROW IN A WARNING ANYWAY SO PEOPLE DON'T GET UNCOMFORTABLE. RATED T FOR A REASON!

As always:

I do NOT own Glee or any of the characters

If you notice any grammatical errors don't hesitate to reach out!

I still have pages of this story saved, so let me know if you'd be interested in seeing more chapters in the future!

Anyways, enjoy! ️:)

Kurt hummed as he put the final touches onto the package. Christmas was only days away, and per usual he'd waited until the last minute to wrap gifts. Usually he was pretty good with the whole Christmas process- he was a natural at picking out presents- but there was one person he still had no idea what to get, and that person was Blaine. He'd given it a lot of thought, but nothing seemed to fit. His ideas either weren't special enough or lacked creativity, and he was starting to get frustrated.

His phone buzzed, distracting him from these thoughts. A message from Blaine popped up on the screen:

"Hey... so my parents are heading on a business trip this wknd. Do you wanna hang out at my place?"

Kurt smiled to himself. Was that even a question?

"Duh, of course I do. Keep me posted."

The front door slammed open, causing Kurt to jump.

"Are mom and Burt here?" Finn asked, his voice cracking slightly.

Kurt shook his head. "No, Carole's running errands and dad's working the evening shif-". he paused, concern creeping into his voice. "...Finn? Are you okay?"

Finn nodded, sitting next to Kurt. "I'm fine. It's just..." he trailed off, wiping at his nose.

Kurt handed him a tissue, placing the gift he'd just finished wrapping onto the growing pile under the tree. "Finn, you can talk to me. What's going on?"

Finn's voice quivered as he spoke. "I... I just broke up with Rachel." He reached for another tissue.

Kurt was shocked. "What? Why? I thought things were going well."

Finn shrugged absentmindedly. "They were. She just told me she got an acceptance letter from Byers. I'd warned her that if she got in we'd be in trouble, and that there was no way we'd last, but she didn't listen, and now..." he sighed. "Now we're not together anymore."

Kurt sat in silence, rubbing Finns back as he cried softly into his knees. He couldn't believe it- just three weeks ago at the dinner party Finn and Rachel couldn't keep their hands off each other, and now they were broken up. It scared him, really. It was the perfect example of how fragile love could be, and his heart skipped a beat at the thought of something like this happening to him and Blaine. He pushed these thoughts away. That was ridiculous, they were as happy as ever. Not to mention, this was Finn's moment, not Kurt's.

"Do you want anything? Maybe some ice cream?" Kurt offered gently.

Finn shook his head. "No, thanks though. I think I just need some time to process everything."

"That's understandable. Let me know if you change your mind." Kurt stood, turning to go upstairs.

"Kurt?" Finn blurted suddenly.

"Yes?"

Finn turned his head so he was facing his brother. "Could you maybe... sing for me?"

Kurt could feel a smile growing on his face. He'd take any excuse to sing for an audience. "I'd love to. Any requests?"

"Why don't you choose? Just, can we avoid the cheesy love songs for now? The last thing I need is to be reminded of what happened."

Kurt nodded slowly. "I have the perfect one in mind." He opened his mouth and began.

Finn closed his eyes as "Every Time you Need a Friend" by Mariah Carey coursed through the air. It was as if the lyrics were speaking to him, telling him to hold on. When Kurt finished, Finn smiled. "That was amazing. Thanks for helping me out."

"Anytime." Kurt stood once more. "I'll leave you alone for awhile. Just shout if you need another song."

"I will." He sniffled again, a sad smile on his face. "That was cool of you."

"What can I say? I love helping people." Kurt walked upstairs and into his room, closing the door behind him. It was true, he did love helping people. The only issue was he still couldn't seem to help himself find a gift for Blaine.

"Hi." Finn stood awkwardly in Kurt's doorway. It was the second time he'd been there since last month, and it still felt surreal to him.

"Hey, you caught me just in time. I'm about to head over to Blaine's." Kurt checked his reflection in the mirror. Satisfied, he turned back to Finn. "What's up?"

"I wanted to thank you. For singing for me the other day. It really helped me come to grips with everything." Finn rocked back and forth on his heels. "If it weren't for you I'd probably still be stuck in a toxic relationship without any hope of ending things."

"What do you mean?"

"You opened my eyes last month. At the dinner party. You and Blaine seemed so..." he trailed off. "So different. In a good way. I guess Rachel and I just didn't have that spark."

Kurt sat on his bed, patting the spot next to him. "Do you want to sit down?"

"But I thought you were about to leave."

Kurt shrugged. "You're my brother, it won't kill me to be a little late. Besides, I'm still not one hundred percent satisfied with this outfit."

Finn smiled, accepting the offer. "Well, you have a ton of clothes, so that shouldn't be an issue."

Kurt gave an exasperated sigh. "Oh, you'd be surprised. It takes work to look this good. But in all seriousness, are you sure you're okay? You loved Rachel- literally every conversation we've had up to this point has had something to do with her."

"I did love her. I guess we just grew apart. Sometimes love isn't enough, and I think this is the first time I'm realizing it." Finn shook his head. "It's not important though. I'm fine, really. Now what were you saying about going to Blaine's? Fill me in."

Kurt smiled. "Well, he invited me to come over and hang out. His parents are on a business trip, so we're probably going to watch a movie or get dinner somewhere."

Finn raised an eyebrow. "Hold on. His parents are gone?"

"Yeah, why?"

Finn almost laughed, but managed to restrain himself. "Wow, you really are clueless. Do you remember that time when Burt and my mom went to Mexico for a week?"

"I think so..."

"Did you really think Rachel and I were just watching movies the whole time she was here?"

Kurt shrugged. "I mean, yeah, that's kind of the traditional date night."

"Kurt, Blaine isn't inviting you over to watch a movie with him. He's inviting you over because he wants to hook up. Trust me, it's the oldest truck in the book."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Finn, I know Blaine. He's not the type of guy to do that. We've barely even held hands!"

"Well, something tells me that's about to change."

"You're crazy." Kurt selected a pair of shoes from his closet. "Why don't you stop talking nonsense and get out of my room?" He joked.

"Okay fine. But don't say I didn't warn you." Finn walked out, his footsteps growing quieter as he disappeared down the hall to his room.

Kurt grabbed the car keys from the table, sipping them into his pocket. He was paranoid the whole ride to Blaine's house. They'd only been together for a couple weeks- there was no way Blaine would invite him over just to have sex. No matter how much he tried to calm his nerves, Kurt was still nervous as he stood on the front step. He could turn back now, tell Blaine he was sick or something, but he knew he needed to face the situation head on.

Blaine opened the door on the first knock. "Hey, you're a little late... is everything okay?"

"No," Kurt blurted. He felt a little bad barging into his boyfriend's house and greeting him like this, but he needed answers. "We need to talk."

"Okay, come inside though, you'll freeze." Blaine waited for him to enter before shutting the door behind them. "Do you want something to drink? I had my mom restock the fridge, so there's a ton to choose from."

"I'm not thirsty." Kurt still stood in the entryway, practically paralyzed. He didn't want to believe anything Finn had said- it scared the hell out of him.

Blaine suddenly seemed uncomfortable too. "Kurt, if I did something please tell me. I don't know what's going on but I want to fix it."

"Why did you invite me over?" Kurt said, frustration creeping into his voice. He wasn't a very forceful person, and it felt weird to be raising his voice.

Blaine seemed taken aback by this sudden outburst. "I invited you over because you're my boyfriend and I want to spend time with you... what's your deal?"

"My deal? Are you seriously asking me that right now?"

"Yeah, I'm really confused, I thought we were doing well."

"We were until Finn explained your text to me!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, Blaine. You know, if you wanted to hook up you could've just said so!"

"Wha- hook up? Kurt, what are you talking about? I just wanted to binge watch Netflix together and order pizza. Look, I even got all your favorite snacks." He nodded towards the coffee table where there were bowls of popcorn and candy boxes neatly arranged. "Do you really think that badly of me? That I'd take advantage of our relationship like that?" He said bitterly.

Kurt felt a pang of guilt in his chest. "Blaine, I'm sorry, I-"

Blaine turned away, the hurt clear on his face. "Maybe we shouldn't hang out tonight after all."

"What? No, I made a mistake! Please don't do this!"

"Kurt, you should probably go." Blaine stood motionless, still facing the other direction.

"I said I was sorry..."

"Just go. Please."

Kurt stood there for a moment longer before he obediently grabbed his coat and made the walk back to his car. He felt heavy, like something was slowly crushing him into the ground. The second the car door closed behind him he burst into tears.

Kurt felt awful. He couldn't believe that he was so naive to fall for Finn's tricks. Why hadn't he just kept his mouth shut? He checked the clock. 7:30.

He sighed before dragging himself out of bed. He barely put any thought into his outfit, pulling on a sweatshirt he hadn't worn in years and a pair of jeans. He didn't recognize his reflection in the mirror. He was sleep deprived, and his chin was starting to break out. Normally these things would bother him, but not lately. It wasn't like he was dressing to impress- all he wanted to do was to fly under the radar.

Still sulking, he grabbed a bagel from the counter, practically throwing the fridge door open in his search for jelly.

"What did that fridge ever do to you?" Burt joked, eyes on the paper.

Kurt sighed. "Sorry dad, I'm just having a hard time." Finally locating the jelly, he grabbed a knife from the drawer and began to spread it. "I'm actually feeling kind of sick, do you think I could stay home today?"

"Stay home? Kurt, you've been 'sick' for almost a week now. Don't you think it's time you tell me what's really going on?" Burt raised an eyebrow, placing the newspaper back on the table so he could give his son his full attention.

"Nothings going on, dad. Well, except for the fact that my immune system seems to be weakening by the day." Kurt took a bite of his bagel, still refusing to relent.

"I know you're not sick, okay? You always make me go buy that weird tea from the store when you are."

"Maybe I have a stomach virus."

"You don't have that either. If you did you wouldn't be standing here eating a bagel right now." Burt pointed out. "Did something happen at your new school? Are kids bullying you there too?"

Kurt shook his head. "No, it's really not a big deal. Can you just let me stay home for one more day?"

Burt shook his head. "You know I can't do that. I'm sure your friends miss you. Besides, isn't this your last day before Christmas break?"

"Dad, it's fine. Trust me, no one will even notice if I don't show up."

"What about Blaine? Won't he notice?"

Kurt let out a sigh of defeat. What was the point of hiding it anymore? "No, he won't even care. If you're really dying to know, we had a fight a couple days ago."

Realization dawned on Burt's face. "So that's what this is about. Kurt, you should talk to him. I'm sure you two can fix this." He took his son's hand. "All couples fight, it's normal. Just last night Carole and I had an argument about what tv show to watch."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Dad that's different, it's just a tv show."

Burt paused. "I guess you're right, that's a bad example. Look, the point is that we overcame it. I know that you can do the same thing with Blaine."

Kurt withdrew his hand. "I don't know if I can. I made a stupid mistake- even if he did forgive me I doubt he'd want to stay together."

"I don't know him that well, but Blaine seems like a great young man. From what I've seen he cares about you very much."

Kurt shrugged, turning back to his bagel.

Deciding the conversation was over, Burt grabbed his gloves and headed towards the door to leave. He hesitated. "If it will make you feel better I guess you can stay home again. But if you do you need to make sure you get the work you missed from a classmate- I'm not spending all this money on private school for nothing." He waited for a response, but when there was none he left, door clicking shut behind him.

Kurt knew his father was right- he should go to school- but he knew that he couldn't. Not yet. He didn't know if he could look at Blaine, let alone talk to him. Even if he could, what would he say? He ultimately decided against this, and focused all his attention on homework.

After a couple hours of working, he went to the kitchen to make some lunch. He was just about to settle down with a sandwich and a soda to watch tv when a knock sounded at the door. Kurt set his plate on the coffee table, confused. Who could it be? His parents were at work, Finn was at school, Blaine-

Blaine.

Kurt gulped, stomach flipping. He took a deep breath. No matter how awkward it was between them he couldn't just sit inside and pretend he didn't hear anything. The knock came again, more urgent this time.

Without a second thought Kurt flung the door open with every intention to tell Blaine he was busy and couldn't talk, but immediately paused. Blaine wasn't on the doorstep- it was Mercedes. And she looked scared.

"Mercedes? What's wrong? Why are you here?"

Mercedes let out a shaky breath. She was trembling like a leaf, and it was obviously not because of the cold. "Kurt, you need to come with me, now. It's Karofsky- he's locked himself in the bathroom and is refusing to come out. We think... we think he's trying to kill himself."

Kurt felt his face turn pale. "Oh my god. Stay here, let me grab my shoes!"

Ahh, the twist. I debated whether or not to extend this chapter, but ultimately decided I preferred to end with a cliffhanger! The next chapter will pick up where this one left off. I hope you enjoyed! Please feel free to leave a review, it means a lot to me and I love reading them! :)

Until next time! xxx