It wasn't so much that Kurt was angry with Blaine; he was just angry with himself and the fool he'd made of himself. Plus, he didn't feel like he could talk to – or even look at – Blaine without crying and begging for Blaine to love him. And now, Blaine knew Kurt liked him, there was maybe a 0.2% chance of them going back to being friends and that killed Kurt.

But then, why had Blaine kissed him? Because he's a gentleman? Somehow that didn't strike Kurt as being right. Blaine was a pure knight in shining armour but Kurt doubted that Blaine would think kissing someone as chivalrous. And he knew all about the drama with Karofsky – he knew that Kurt thought that a kiss was something special. Why kiss him if he just wanted to be friends?

Stop it, he told himself. Overthinking never helps and it's hardly going to change anything. Blaine wants to be friends and now you've made yourself look like an idiot. That's all there is to it.

Could he go back to just being friends with Blaine? Not after this. Definitely not after this. He'd die of shame.

Kurt sighed and rubbed his eyes, before resuming his staring match with the tree opposite. He'd been sitting in the memorial garden for half an hour: he hadn't been hungry enough to risk the cafeteria and seeing Blaine, and he'd needed time to think, anyway.

"I thought I'd find you here." Kurt looked up and his heart rose at the same moment that his stomach plummeted into his feet. Blaine stood in front of him, hands deep in his blazer pockets and breath misting in front of his face.

"Did you?" Kurt asked hoarsely, only now starting to shiver in the cold. The snow on the paths and benches had been cleared but it still clung to the trees, grass and flowers, making everything sparkly.

"Well, no," Blaine answered, lowering his gaze. "I went to the Warblers' hall first, because I didn't think you were planning on freezing yourself to death." He smiled slightly and looked up.

Kurt shrugged. "I didn't think anyone would be out here. In the Warblers' hall, there's always the chance that Wes will walk in."

Blaine nodded understandingly. "That is a risk," he agreed, "but, even so, aren't you cold? We should go inside."

Kurt was avoiding looking Blaine in the eye and felt his friend's gaze hot on his face. "No, I'm alright."

"No, you're not, Kurt – you're shivering! Please just tell me what is so wrong – why can't we be friends again?"

"Because," Kurt replied sharply, feeling a lump form in his throat, "I don't understand why you'd kiss me if you just wanted to be friends!"

He heard Blaine pause, heard his intake of breath. "That's kind of personal, Kurt," he said quietly.

Kurt stared determinedly at Blaine's shoes rather than his face. "Why?"

Blaine walked over and sat down on the bench, keeping about a foot between himself and Kurt. "Look, you're freezing," he said. "You've got to warm up, you'll get pneumonia or something."

Kurt pulled his blazer slightly tighter around him and tried to stop his teeth chattering.

"C'mon, Kurt, don't be an idiot, please," Blaine persisted. "You've been out here for ages; it's not good for you."

Kurt was about to respond that he wasn't an idiot when he felt Blaine move closer and wrap an arm around him – a warm, solid arm that Kurt immediately wanted to cling on to and never let go. Blaine put both his arms around Kurt's shoulders and made a stab at wrapping his blazer around him too. "See, you're shivering," he said, sounding desperate.

Kurt knew Blaine was right, knew there was nothing noble about sitting around in the snow freezing to death because he felt like sulking. But he didn't want to know. Without realising, he leaned into Blaine, felt the heat of Blaine's body against the cold of his own and began to feel infinitely better.

"Come on," Blaine said, and Kurt felt Blaine's hand against his back, guiding him to stand up and move back into the warmth of the Dalton buildings. He complied without comment, mostly because he was freezing and he didn't know what to say.

Once they'd sat down in home room – which was surprisingly, miraculously, empty – Blaine began to rub some feeling back into Kurt's arms and Kurt let him. Finally, Blaine sat down in front of Kurt and looked him straight in the face. Kurt kept his eyes down.

"Kurt," Blaine said authoritatively. "Kurt," he repeated when Kurt didn't respond. "Kurt, look at me," he said, the tiniest shred of desperation creeping into his voice.

Kurt raised his gaze and found himself looking into Blaine's eyes for what felt like the first time in ages. "Yes?" he said quietly.

"Please, can we stop this?" Blaine asked. "Please, can we just be friends again?"

Kurt hardly remembered saying "yes" before he flung his arms around Blaine and held him tight. He didn't care that he'd acted like a moron earlier. He didn't care that Blaine didn't want a relationship. He didn't even care that Wes could walk into the room with a Warblers-related issue for Blaine at any moment. All he cared about was Blaine and him, being friends. And that was all that seemed to matter.