Question 7; Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?

Kurt woke up in the middle of the night panting. Soon after, there was a knock on his door:

"Kurt?"

"Come on in, Blee."

Blaine's head showed up through the door's gap:

"Just came to check on you…"

Kurt rubbed his eyes puzzled:

"How did you know I was awake?"

The rest of Blaine's body came through the door. He looked concerned:

"You screamed, Kurt."

"I screamed?"

"Yes, honey; are you alright?"

Kurt smiled at the term of endearment Blaine hadn't noticed he had used. Yet, he couldn't let his hopes high – Blaine loved someone else.

"I had a nightmare."

Blaine approached his bed and hugged Kurt in an awkward way, kind of from the side. Kurt turned himself to adjust properly to his friend's embrace. Only then he noticed his tears wetting Blaine's pajama's top. He started to motion like he'd break free of the embrace, but Blaine held him tighter.

"Oh, Blaine! I dreamt about my mother."

"I thought dreams about her were good ones…"

Kurt sighed and cleaned a couple of tears, still from inside Blaine's embrace.

"She was dead in the dream. I think you could say she was a ghost. She was receiving me in the after-life. First I saw her, then I was shot. It felt so real."

Blaine rubbed his back in a soothing way:

"But it was just a dream."

Kurt started to sob despite his best efforts to control himself. Blaine held him tighter yet and then let go completely.

"Blaine?"

"I'll make you cocoa."

"Thank you, Blee; a hot beverage would do me good."

Blaine went towards the kitchen while Kurt went to the bathroom to splash some water to his face. He checked his reflex – he was a mess; puff red eyes, dark circles and a skin paler than ever. No wonder Blaine had fallen for somebody else; he'd seen Kurt at his worse. Dear sweet Blaine…

The smell of hot chocolate drove Kurt to the kitchen. Blaine welcomed him with a smile:

"We had little marshmallows…"

Kurt snorted a laugh:

"Why are you the best? Only you to make me smile at an hour like this."

"Don't make such a fuss, Kurt. I know how horrible nightmares can be – hence the cocoa – but in the end it was just a dream."

Kurt sipped his beverage, unconsciously licked his lips in satisfaction and let the drink do its magic. He finally looked up from his mug and looked at Blaine with glossy eyes:

"You don't understand. I mean, how could you? If I haven't told you yet. Well, last year… You may remember the story about Russ? The boy who got killed for being gay?"

Blaine nodded and Kurt kept on:

"I was carrying flowers to the place he was killed, like many gay kids in New York…"

"I went there too. The whole gay community was touched by that story."

"Exactly. I was there and some guys started…"

Kurt stopped to take a deep breath. Blaine reached for his hand over the table. Kurt sighed:

"Some guys started calling another boy who was there some homophobic names. I didn't even know the boy… Nor Russ to tell the truth… But that made me see red. I shouldn't have, I know I shouldn't have… But I went after those guys to make them take back what they had said. And…"

Blaine completed the sentence for him:

"And you got beaten up pretty badly. Rachel told me last year about her friend in the hospital… Only now I'm connecting the dots… Oh, Kurt."

Kurt held his hand up in the air to stop Blaine – there was more that he needed to say:

"My boyfriend at the time got pretty mad at me. He said I should know how to be invisible, how to let these things fly right over me, that homophobia would always exist. At first, I didn't care much about what he was saying, until he said something I could never let go ever since: what if one of them got a gun? How would he tell my father he'd lost his only son to something so stupid?"

Kurt started to cry again, only this time he let go and let himself sob all his anger. Blaine was quick to get up from where he was sited and run to hug Kurt again.

"It wasn't stupid, Kurt. You were so brave. I… I shouldn't be saying this to you, but stupid was your ex-boyfriend! How could he say such things to you! Homophobia will end someday, but we'll have to fight for it."

Kurt stopped mid-cry to chuckle:

"Maybe not fight with our bare hands, isn't it? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty weak in combat."

Blaine rolled his eyes at first but then chuckled too:

"Talk about yourself; I'm a boxing champion."

Kurt smiled to him in a way that showed up in his eyes. Blaine stared back and grinned.

"It's good to see your smile is back again."

"Thank you."

Blaine looked down to his own mug and spoke without meeting Kurt's eyes:

"Sorry I trashed your ex-boyfriend."

"Adam really deserved it. I mean, for the other things he did. Anyway, You helped me a lot tonight. I think I exorcised a ghost tonight – ever since he spoke those things to me, I've been dreading that I would die by gunshot by some homophobic just for being who I am…"

Blaine's lip's corner stood up in a half-smile:

"Sorry to say that, my friend, but you are pretty contradictory – just last week you were saying you dreaded dying old and alone."

"Maybe the shot only gets to hit me because I'm old and slow."

Blaine full on laughed:

"Your stubbornness is epic, Kurt. Come on!"

Kurt couldn't resist Blaine's laughter and started to giggle too. Blaine got up and collected the mugs. He spoke while walking to the sink:

"Okay, You're yourself again. I'll do the dishes and then we go to bed."

Blaine blushed:

"I mean, each one to his bed."

Kurt mumbled:

"I wouldn't be this lucky."

"Come again?"

"I said thank you for everything."

"You're more than welcome, Kurt."