I swear Chapter 10: Snow, a glee fanfic

A/N .O gahhhh - so long story short = computer virus during finals week = ME CRYING DEEPLY ALONE IN MY ROOM FOREVER
Sorry to be totally crazy and non-updating-y, but my life has been like AHHH :S
And, not to be like a total "I totally don't like how this turned out!" kind of attention-y person, but this turned out WEIRD, because I rewrote the whole damn thing in like...a day T_T and the mood turned...different...?
ANYWAY, I'm SORRY! FOR EVERYTHING *still is crying deeply*
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee

"…Just kinda like…" Nick trailed off, grimacing as his eyes turned downcast with a pained expression, blinking a few times as he mindlessly stabbed the remains of his pancakes with his fork.

"'Like'…?" Trent urged, a smirk twitching up his lips as he made brief eye contact with David, who had his arms crossed in front of him with his eyebrows raised.

The dark-haired boy sighed irritably in response, putting his fork down entirely and closing his eyes. "Just kinda like…stuff…coming out," he opened his eyes weakly after that, looking from face to face for reactions.

Wes, David, and Trent all burst into bouts of laughter, causing Nick to huff angrily and roll his eyes, turning his attention back to his food, which he continued to stab pointlessly.

Blaine and Jeff shared a worried glance, the former bringing a hand up to motion the others to quiet down. When they wouldn't, the curly-haired boy let out an aggravated grunt. "You guys, really. Shut the fuck up. Nick," he turned to the dark-haired boy, "what, uh… What do you mean…'stuff'?"

Nick shifted his glance up to Blaine, who was giving him a sincerely concerned, albeit slightly embarrassed, expression. "Um… Just…like, not the normal…stuff… Just like…junk…and," he sighed, shaking his head slightly, "fuck, I don't know."

Blaine sighed, scanning the cafeteria for a certain pale-skinned boy before turning to Nick again and leaning in closer. "Does it… Does it, like, hurt when you piss?" Nick's eyes darted up to meet Blaine's quickly before the dark-haired boy let out a low moan, burying his face in his hands. "Look, Nick… I, um… I had gonorrhea…when I was 15," he added the last part at his friends' surprised looks, "and that shit sucks if you don't get it taken care of."

Nick breathed out and nodded slowly, looking as though he was about to say something when his eyes shifted to somewhere behind David. The occupants of the table all turned to see Thad approaching with a tray in his hands, his face twisted in obvious worry.

"Thad, where's Kurt?" Blaine asked, his voice filled with surprise at the dark-haired boy arriving to breakfast alone.

"Fuck if I know. He came back in last night after…sneaking out to – to get a blowjob from you –"

"I didn't blow him!"

Thad scoffed and plopped down in between Jeff and Nick, shoving an undercooked piece of hash brown into his mouth. "Whatever you say, B. He just comes waltzing back into the room looking all sweaty and satisfied... And the only other times he looks like that is when he goes for a run and he definitely wasn't in his running sweats."

Blaine sat, seemingly distracted by the other boy's statement. He hadn't given Kurt a blowjob. He had simply had a passionate make-out session with him… But the mere thought of touching Kurt's penis… Tasting it… Putting his lips around it and –

"So he's not still in the room, or…?" Blaine cut off his own unclean thoughts, his voice seeming painfully obvious that he was trying to redirect the conversation.

Thad raised an eyebrow at the curly-haired boy and shook his head. "No. I woke up this morning and he wasn't in the room. And his running shoes were gone, so I just assumed that's where he was. But when I was done showering and ready for class, he still wasn't back... And he's not answering his phone, so…"

Jeff brushed his blonde hair from his eyes and looked thoughtful. "Maybe he just didn't realize how late it was. He's probably just back at the room now, freaking out and rushing to get ready."

Blaine nodded, still looking worried, especially after seeing Thad's concerned expression. "Yeah, maybe… I… I just… I hope…" He trailed off, after getting knowing glances from everyone at the table. Ever since Blaine's drunken realization of love for his boyfriend, the others in the group seemed to enjoy pointing it out endlessly. "…But anyway… Back to what we were talking about before? Nick, you should really get that checked out."

The dark-haired boy nodded with a contemplative look on his face, and Thad cocked an eyebrow. "Get what checked out, exactly?"

"Nicky boy might have an STD after fucking one of those chicks last weekend," Wes announced cheerily, earning a harsh smack in the arm from said boy.

"Fuck, man! What girl did you sleep with?" Thad asked, suddenly interested in the subject.

"Uh… The blonde one," he shrugged after a moment, realizing he'd never heard her name.

"Shit! I think I fucked her too! Wait – you didn't –? Did you go raw?"

Nick shrunk back a little and averted eye contact. "Uh, well…yeah, but –"

"You're a fucking idiot!"

"Are you serious?"

"Fucking stupid!"

Nick rolled his eyes and nodded through all of the guys' reactions, opening his mouth, about to respond –

"Dumbass," Thad breathed finally, shaking his head with an almost amused disbelief. The bell signaling the end of breakfast sounded and Thad's face dropped significantly. As the others began to stand up and move towards the exit, the dark-haired boy remained seated, quickly scanning the room with an apprehensive air about him.

"Thad…?"

The boy looked up at the call of his name to see Trent giving him a questioning expression, and that the others had stopped in their attempts to make it to the exit of the room and were all looking at him expectantly.

"I – um… Yeah…" He came to his feet, his mind clearly distracted as his movements were slow and delayed. As the boys all gave him similar skeptical looks, due to the fact that his response hadn't made any sense, the dark-haired boy shook his head, coming out of his worried daze and running his eyes through the emptying room one last time. "Right. Let's… Let's go."

"Holy shit! It's crazy out there!" Nick announced excitedly to the other six boys as they entered their English class, brushing the snow from his shoulders and smiling at his blonde roommate, knowing his love for winter weather.

Jeff let his mouth twitch up into a small smile and brought his hand up to remove some of the remaining flakes from his roommate's dark hair, shaking his own head in amusement and removing his coat.

The others filed in and the classroom was soon full. As Blaine shrugged off his coat and made his way to their usual seats, he caught sight of Thad's obviously upset expression. The curly-haired teen took a seat beside Kurt's empty one and frowned. The bell rang to indicate the beginning of class and Blaine shook his head slowly. Something's not right…

"…Thad, I think –"

"I know," the other boy replied quickly, knowing Kurt's boyfriend would be worried by this time. He turned to face the others as a whole and spared a short glance to their teacher, who was still filing through a stack of papers. "Something's wrong. We need to go find him…"

"Especially in this weather… I mean, it's freezing out there, I – B!" Jeff hissed as Blaine began to stand up and eye the teacher carefully as though he was about to try to make a run for it. David rolled his eyes and stood up, yanking the curly-haired boy back by the sleeve of his blazer and pulling him back down into his seat, causing him to shove the dark-skinned boy away from himself and huff angrily, watching the door almost longingly. "What are you doing? Mr. Goff hates us already, he'd kill you if he saw you ditching."

It was just their luck that the week's schedule had been rearranged to accommodate their time off from classes, and that this Tuesday's classes began with English.

With Mr. Goff.

"I'm sorry," Blaine began, his voice thick with sarcasm as he turned sharply to face the blonde and cock his head with attitude, "my fucking boyfriend is out there somewhere in the freezing cold. So how about we fuck off, Jeff! …David!" He spat out at the two who had gone against his attempt of finding Kurt immediately.

Wes reached his hand out and patted the curly-haired boy lightly on the shoulder from his seat behind him. "Don't worry, B. I'm sure Kurt's fine… He –"

"Really, Wes? Kurt's on time every fucking day... He probably fell or something, and got hurt in this blizzard. He's probably not fine…" Thad cut off the Asian boy with a low tone to his voice, sounding pessimistic and slightly defeated. Blaine placed his hands over his face and let out a low moan, letting his head fall to the desk with a loud thwack! that got the attention of a few of the surrounding students. Wes and David snapped over to look at Thad, giving him looks of 'what the fuck?', and he only responded by shrugging and rolling his eyes. "What? It's fucking true. Other than B, I probably know Hummel better than any of you… You guys don't get how this kid gets ready before class. He'd never give up his 'morning routine.' This isn't good."

Blaine raised his head slowly, and looked even more worried, his hand subconsciously running over the tattoo on his chest, sighing. "Maybe if we just –"

"Boys…" The teacher began, looking at the small group that was still chattering as everyone else quieted down with narrowed eyes. The man turned to face the entire class. "Okay, everyone. This is our last meeting before Winter Intermission, so we're going to be going over the reading list for break… But first, everyone pass up your Twelfth Night passage analyses," Mr. Goff approached the first row of desks and waited as the boys all began rummaging through their bags, pulling out various sheets of paper and began handing them forward.

"Mr. Goff?"

"Yes, Mr. Nixon? Is there something I can –? Oh… Is Mr. Hummel…absent today?" The teacher's face lit up in surprise when he took in the vacant seat beside a worried and defeated Blaine, and his face shifted to an annoyed expectance as his gaze fell upon the other boys in the group.

Trent faked innocence and obliviousness, raising an eyebrow and glancing to the seat Kurt usually occupied and shrugged casually. "I –"

"Mr. Harwood? I was under the impression your roommate was relatively well-behaved… I can be sure he isn't wandering campus or attempting an escape…?"

"Of course not, sir. He…woke up late and was…rushing to get ready. I-I'm sure he'll be here any minute." Thad tried to sound cool and collected, but his friends could hear the uncertainty in his voice very clearly.

Mr. Goff raised his eyebrows at this and stalked off to his computer and typed a few things quickly, then scanned the screen. "Well… He was absent for breakfast…? But, alright, I'll take your word for it and wait another few minutes for his arrival…"

"Mr. Goff...?"

The man seemed to be looking over the information on his screen, not looking up as he answered. "Yes…? Yes, Mr. Nixon?"

"Can I…? I gotta piss… I was gonna ask before…?"

At this, the teacher's head snapped up and looked at the bigger teen, seeming to just remember the earlier interaction. "Right, I – of course! I –" he shook his head, slight irritation dawning on his face, "– language, Mr. Nixon. But yes, you may be excused. Be quick. Alright, so as we were ending Twelfth Night…"

Trent stood slowly, watching as the teacher rambled on and turned to face the board, beginning to write down themes. Trent turned to bend down to the other boys, and patted Blaine on the shoulder, catching his attention, causing the curly-haired boy to look at him with a puzzled expression.

Trent jerked his head in the direction of the door and nodded. "Don't worry, B, I got your boy," he said, so quiet, Blaine had to strain to hear him, but when he did, he nodded curtly, a soft expression on his face, and watched after Trent as he made his way out of the door and down the hall.

Blaine and the others sat, anxiously, patiently waiting the return of Trent, or even the – now, very – late arrival of Kurt. They were waiting for something.

Something.

Anything.

Blaine stiffened and sat up straighter in his chair as he felt the vibrations of his phone tingle up the side of his leg, and glanced up at his teacher, seeing the man hadn't noticed. Wes, having heard the phone buzz, leaned forward to read over the curly-haired boy's shoulder to see the text.

Blaine cautiously pulled his phone out, attempting to keep one eye on his teacher, and saw a single message from Trent.

u gota get to arts. fuckin stat – T

Wes turned his attention to Blaine's face, carefully watching for the boy's reaction after reading the text himself. The Asian boy then made eye contact with his roommate, who had noticed something had occurred, that new information had been found out. It seemed the curly-haired teen read the message over a few times, his breathing getting increasingly faster and his face falling more and more into a panicked expression.

"Mr. Goff! Can I –? I need to go to the bathroom!" Blaine sprung to his feet, his eyes wide and his face void of most of its natural color as he interrupted Mr. Goff's lecture.

The teacher turned around and raised an eyebrow, taking in his stressed form. "Mr. Anderson, sit down," he huffed, seemingly amazed that the curly-haired boy was outrageous enough to jump up and disturb his teachings. Blaine's eyebrows pulled together in slight pain and he glanced to the door briefly, then let his eyes fall on the teacher, seeing his angry expression and sat down, reluctantly. "Now, you may use the restroom when Mr. Nixon returns. Alright, so –"

"No, Mr. Goff, really," there was a tone in the boy's voice that made the teacher stop what he was doing and face Blaine again, "I really need to go…" His eyes were pleading, hoping in some way that the man might shove aside his pre-established hate for him and understand that something important was happening.

Mr. Goff's angry gaze faltered and for a moment, he was about to excuse the boy, but a few snickers from surrounding students within the classroom brought him back to his senses.

After all, this was Blaine Anderson talking. He was part of that group, and was most likely up to something.

"Now, Mr. Anderson! As I said before, you may be excused when your classmate returns! I won't have any of this behavior in my –"

But Blaine didn't listen. He shook his head through the man's reply angrily and shot up to his feet, dashing to the door and ignoring the surprised looks he got from his peers, as well as from his teacher. "Sorry!" He called out, sounding almost exasperated at the situation, not putting up with this outrageousness any longer.

He needed to be where Kurt was.

He needed to know where Kurt was.

Blaine was sure Mr. Goff would send security after him, but he wasn't concerned, and he didn't look behind him as he jumped through the main doors of the English wing and out into the cold air. It was positively freezing.

The ice-cold breath hurt his throat as he sucked it in hastily; panic flooding through his system as he tried to see through the snowy weather. He slowed his running pace down to a quick stride, suddenly feeling as though he might faint from the lack of oxygen and amount of snow he was inhaling.

He looked out across the long field that led to the Arts Building and squinted, hoping to make out at least something that would indicate what was happening. Giving up, he began making his way across the long stretch of land, pushing his way through the wind that was racing in the opposite direction of his stride.

And then he saw it.

Or them, rather.

There, blurred by the excessive amounts of winter weather, were two forms, seemingly crouching against the main entrance door of the Arts Building. And by the way he was built, the way he stood, and the barely visible color of his skin and hair, Blaine knew.

It was Kurt.

Blaine didn't remember running the rest of the way to the boy, or nearly collapsing onto the ground beside Trent, but there he was, being supported by the bigger teen as he pled desperately to his boyfriend.

"Holy shit! Holy fuck! Fuckfuckfuck," Blaine's eyes were wide and confused and he stood still for a moment, his fingers digging into his scalp painfully as he took in his boyfriend freezing to death. "Kurt, babe, Kurt," he cried, attempting to pull the slim boy into his arms, who was hardly-responsive and shaking more than he thought physically possible. He jumped back when there was something hindering he ability to hold his boyfriend, and looked down, seeing Kurt's arms were behind his back, his wrists tied to the handles of the door where the lock was in place with a plastic zip-tie. "What the fuck is this? Baby, tell me what happened… Kurt," Blaine breathed, his voice unsteady, bringing his hand up to run on the fair-skinned boy's cheek, which was unusually red and chapped-looking from the harsh weather, but there were also bruises and a few cuts scattering his delicate face.

"I-I-I c-couldn't…" was all that came from the freezing boy's lips as he briefly opened his eyes and then shut them again, causing Blaine to jump back into action, trying to solve this problem.

It was only then that he noticed Kurt was simply in his running attire, thick sweats and a weather-proof jacket, but not warm enough for this. Blaine ripped his own coat from his body instantly, fumbling from his own shaking, and draped it over the boy's shivering body as best as possible, also realizing his clothes were wet to the touch.

Because someone had jumped his boyfriend while he was on a run.

And tied him to an abandoned building in the middle of winter, and left him there for over an hour…

In the middle of a blizzard.

"B, I thought he might have – have t-taken cover inside of Arts when the storm hit, a-and I came out here and found him like this," Trent strained to explain through the weather, his voice sounding unnaturally distant for their close proximity. "He was trying to yell to get me to notice him at first and I almost didn't b-because his voice was hardly there… Dude…I bet it was Renny –"

"No fuck it was Renny!" Blaine spat angrily, dropping down to his knees beside Kurt to get a good angle at the tie on his hands. He dug into his pants pocket and came back with a small switchblade, flipping it open shakily and pulling through the plastic tie, but the knife was dull and required some effort to use. "And what the shit, Trent? Why the hell didn't you do something sooner? He could die, he probably has hypothermia!"

Trent approached the two and held Kurt as he began to fall forward from exhaustion, and looked at his curly-haired friend. "Bro, I know you always carry a knife around – I didn't have one! You're just fucking lucky I found him… If I didn't come out here –"

"Fuck, I know! Shut up! Just – help me fucking – carry him," Blaine rambled out impatiently, coming back to his feet as he finally freed his boyfriend from the plastic ties, his voice anxious and his body filling with more adrenalin and panic as Kurt became less and less responsive. The two boys managed to each get a sturdy grip on one side of Kurt, each of them having their necks supporting underneath one of his arms. "It's – it's… It's gonna be okay, baby… Come on… Kurt… Kurt, stay awake," Blaine ran his eyes over his boyfriend's face as they hastily half-dragged him on his feet to the dorm, which was luckily one of the closest structures to the Arts Building.

As they entered the warmth of the building, Kurt's eyes heavily rose, and he flickered his gaze to Blaine, who was trying to drag him in the direction of the stairs, but Trent tugged them back.

"Bro, no way. He needs to go to the medical wing. Look at him," Trent rambled shakily, having to use his arm that wasn't already around the pale boy to support him as Kurt began falling forward in shuddering movements. Kurt's face had lost any ounce of color that was present from the cold once they entered the building, and his shaking had worsened.

"Trent, are you crazy? The medical wing's on the other side of campus! He's gonna die if we try to drag him all the way over there! We – we at least need to…to warm him up a little bit first. If he's still looking like this, then we can take him." Trent nodded understandingly and Blaine pulled his boyfriend close to him, eyebrows furrowing together as he ran a hand over the boy's icy cheek. "Come on," he snapped at the bigger teen, and motioned for them to head up the stairs, but Trent stayed behind.

"Dude… I…" He breathed anxiously, glancing back at the door, looking reluctant but seeming aware that time was crucial for the pale boy. At first Blaine thought it was because he still was feeling unsure of their treatment for Kurt's condition, but then realization dawned on him.

"Trent… Fuck,I forgot about your probation. Just…go back, you'll be able to make it before next period starts, I'll be fine. I'll get him up there and warm him up," he nodded, already beginning to support Kurt and move away from the other teen in rushed movement.

"Are you sure, B? I mean – I – I can, if you need –"

"Go, Trent! You can't miss more class!"

"Okay, okay, okay… This is fine – this is fine, I got this…" Blaine clamped his eyes shut and trekked up the stairs, attempting to pull Kurt along.

As soon as Trent had left, Blaine's inevitable panic began to set in. He suddenly realized the severity of the situation. He managed to partially drag his boyfriend up to his room, and flung the door open, holding it open with his foot as he moved them both inside.

His first instinct was to wrap Kurt up in blankets, but he realized suddenly that his clothes were soaking wet. They needed to be taken off if he wanted to get the other boy warm.

Without thinking or hesitating, Blaine steadied Kurt by leaning him against the edge of the bed, so he was half-sitting, his body still trembling violently. Blaine stripped the other boy of his top layers, feeling them crunch slightly beneath his fingers, frozen from the outside weather.

Kurt immediately flung his arms around his own chest at the loss of clothes and his knees instinctively began to rise, in an attempt to curl into some kind of fetal position.

Blaine let out an anxious whine, putting two fingers under the waistband of Kurt's sweatpants, then hesitated, reaching out a hand to hold Kurt's chin, forcing him to face him and make eye contact. "Babe, baby, come on… Look, I'm just gonna take these off, okay?"

Getting no response but steady, returned eye contact, Blaine nodded and tugged the pants off, leaving Kurt in his boxer-briefs. Blaine almost jumped into action to start with the piling of blankets, until seeing Kurt's underwear, too, were wet. Kurt's shaking suddenly stopped, and his body fell into a visible relaxed form, and he began falling forward, his eyes shut.

"Fuck! Kurt!" Blaine grabbed the boy's shoulders and straightened him back up, almost jumping back from the bitter cold temperature radiating from his boyfriend's pale skin. Blaine, in a hurried panic now more than ever, tugged the boy's boxers off and dragged him to the main center of the bed, grabbing every ounce of blanket and sheet and pillow he could find, and tucking it all around him, noticing at least that he had begun shivering again, regaining some kind of consciousness.

"B-B-Blaine?" Kurt stuttered, his teeth audibly chattering as he tried to move his head and open his eyes to locate his boyfriend. Blaine, having moved to Thad's bed to strip the bedding and give it to Kurt, ceased his actions immediately and jumped over to the boy, bearing a small blanket that he began drying the boy's cold, wet hair with.

"What? What is it, baby?"

"Blaine, p-please," he moaned, his eyes falling shut again and his body curling it on itself, "I – I'm s-so cold, I… I need you, please."

Blaine's eyes widened and he nodded frantically, tossing the now-wet blanket aside, his thoughts suddenly scattered as there was now something he could actually be doing. He began looking around the room as though something would help him collect his thoughts.

Right, right. Kurt needs me. I need to get him warm. Come on, come on! Um, um, um, um – clothes! First, get out of wet clothes!

Without a second thought, Blaine stripped himself of his own clothes, finding they had gotten completely soaked as well, whether it was due to his brief time out in the weather, or his struggling to hold Kurt and haul him around, he didn't know.

After being completely void of any clothes, Blaine practically dove beneath the covers, crawling over to Kurt and wrapping his arms around the thin boy. He had to tell himself to not flinch away, but goosebumps ran all along his body as he came in contact with his boyfriend's freezing skin.

Kurt shifted so that they were facing each other, and Blaine immediately accommodated the new position, pulling Kurt in closer and bringing his leg up to wrap around Kurt's thigh, trying to reach every inch he possibly could of the boy's too-cold skin so he could heat it up, noting that the pale boy's heartbeat was frantic and fast, which concerned him extremely.

Maybe I should have taken him to the medical wing…

After a good few minutes, when Blaine heard Kurt's shaky breath even out and the trembling in his shoulders subsided, he let out a long sigh of relief. His boyfriend's heart had reached an even, moderate beat, matching his own tempo. He let his eyes fall shut as his adrenalin rush came down, and slowly began running his hands up and down the boy's smooth back.

Up and down, up and down, up and down… He could feel the skin beneath his hands getting warmer…

He heard a long, breathy release of his own name, "Blaine," from his boyfriend's lips, and his actions stopped, his eyes opening slowly to take in Kurt's chapped lips, parted slightly and swollen from the cold, seemingly taking deep breaths as he had apparently fallen asleep.

He blinked, appreciating the peaceful sight in front of him, and resumed his rubbing Kurt's back. As the color began to return to the pale boy's face – the small bit of color that was usually present, anyway – Blaine let himself relax into the mattress of Kurt's bed, realizing he'd never been in it before with him, when it was just the two of them.

Blaine's eyes widened and he took in a sharp breath.

He was naked.

In bed. With Kurt.

Who was also naked.

As this concept dawned on him, his senses all of a sudden decided to work properly, and he noticed the bare skin of his penis was brushing up against Kurt's, something he hadn't felt before this moment, something he hadn't noticed before this very moment... He wasn't hard. He was simply unclothed, but still… The idea alone had him feeling an overwhelming sense of intimacy with this beautiful boy in his arms.

Why was it that Kurt and him naked together in bed doing nothing even remotely sexual felt like such a huge deal to him? It could be the fact that he and Kurt hadn't had sex yet, hadn't seen each other properly naked yet, and that this was uncharted territory…

Or it could be that Blaine Anderson was absolutely, shamelessly, undeniably in love with Kurt Hummel…his gorgeous boyfriend…

Yeah, it was probably that…

His gorgeous boyfriend…that someone – no, not someone, Renny – had nearly killed. This was not going to end well for that boy, Blaine knew that much. He pushed aside the fuming anger that consumed him for a moment, and tried to breathe through the feeling of his blood boiling… Just for a moment. He'd deal with that later.

After all, he was in bed with his boyfriend, who was now safe, so Blaine pulled Kurt flush up against him, feeling every ounce of skin-on-skin, and treasuring it. The overwhelming heat beneath all the layers of blankets and covers made Blaine feel drowsy and he realized how much energy, physical, mental and emotional, that he'd just put out in just the past hour.

He deserved a nap with his boyfriend. So much.

"No. Fuck no… Is this what all this shit today was about? You guys ditched so you could fuck?"

Thad walked into his shared room and scanned the area, followed shortly by Nick and David, who did the same. Granted, it did look suspicious. There were clothes scattering the ground – underwear included – and not to mention the fact that Blaine, in his slumbering attempt to get more comfortable, had rid himself of most of the blankets, and half of his bare ass was visible as he was lying on his stomach.

"Get your damn pants on, Anderson. No one wants to see that shit," Thad huffed, his expression tight and angry-looking. He reached down without looking and grabbed the first article of clothing he could find on the floor and chucked it at Blaine's sleeping form, which happened to be Kurt's sweatpants, causing a stir from the curly-haired boy.

"Mmmm – whus goin' on…? Kurt…?" Blaine propped himself up on his forearms and eyed his surroundings, picking up and looking down curiously at the article of clothing that had been tossed onto his head with his mostly-closed eyes. He brushed his curls from his face, which was still screwed up from being woken up so abruptly, and twisted around, only to find Thad staring down at him, looking furious, and sighed, falling back down onto the bed face-first. "Whuh do you want, Thad?" He attempted, his voice highly muffled through the pillow.

Thad smiled tightly and sarcastically. "Gee, B. Well, since you asked so damn kindly… I'd appreciate not to come back to naked guys in my room! What the fuck? We didn't know what the hell was going on! We tried texting you, you could have told us you ditched to fuck your boyfriend!"

At his words, Blaine flipped over and sat up, eyeing the boy incredulously. Didn't Trent tell them…? Before he could get any words out of explanation, Thad approached the foot of the bed.

"Wakey, wakey, Kurtie! Up and at 'em! Rise and shine!" He spoke with attitude, gripping the end of the comforter Kurt was cuddled up in, and Blaine was partially covered by, and yanked it from their bodies, resulting in the pale boy's naked form to be exposed, as well as the rest of Blaine's.

Kurt immediately sprung up to a sitting position, looking scandalized and confused around the room, taking a split-second before looking down at himself and gasping, curling himself into Blaine's side and bringing his legs up shakily in some kind of humiliated attempt to cover himself. "Stop!"

The three boys standing burst into laughter, watching Kurt and his obvious embarrassment. Blaine looked absolutely livid and opened his mouth to speak when it happened.

The moment of laughter died immediately. The three Warblers took in the bruises and marks covering their fair-skinned friend's back and legs, seeing something had clearly happened…

Blaine, though, hadn't seen their realization, and reached forward to pull the blanket from Thad's hands, yanking it over himself and his boyfriend, effectively covering them both back up. "Fuck you guys! What's your problem? Leave him the fuck alone!" Blaine spat at them, then his expression softened as he turned to his boyfriend, who was still shamefully hiding his face in Blaine's arm, just shaking his head as the curly-haired boy tried to sooth him by petting his head gently.

The others still stood, mostly in shock of the situation, until Nick stepped forward hesitantly, his eyes darting between the two boys. "Blaine – I – Kurt, we – we're sorry… I… What… What happened?"

"Well…" Blaine blinked a few times, licking his lips, letting his eyes fall downcast as his anger settled slightly. He sighed then, shifting his gaze towards his boyfriend, who remained curled up against him, obviously painfully embarrassed at his recent exposure. "Babe, why don't you – ? I mean, you never told me exactly what happened…" But Blaine could just feel Kurt tense and shake his head subtly at the suggestion.

"Blaine… Blaine, baby, please… I just… I'm tired. And I don't feel well…"

The curly-haired boy pulled his lips in tightly and nodded, and ran his hand down his boyfriend's back. "Okay, okay… Well I'm just gonna – if it's okay with you – ? Do you care if I tell them?" Kurt paused a few seconds before shaking his head gently, and Blaine nodded softly in response, then blinked a few times thoughtfully. "I thought Trent would've told you –"

"We didn't have class with him again, yet… And, after you ran off during English this morning, we were all freaking out. And Trent didn't come back, and we couldn't get a hold of him…either," Thad added the last part looking pointedly at Blaine, referencing to the boy not answering his phone , who shook his head solemnly in response, silently expressing that he wanted to continue. The other boys nodded to him.

"Well, yeah. So," he sighed, rubbing Kurt's back again and glancing down at the boy, "Trent found him zip-tied to the – the doors of Arts… And he knew I carry a knife, so he texted me there. And… Kurt… Well, he was obviously freezing," he closed his eyes tightly, his brows furrowing together, as though getting angry at the mere memory of the situation, "and so – so we brought him back here to – oh, and Trent. He had to go because he's still on probation and I didn't want him to get into more trouble… But I brought him here and started…warming him up…"

David's eyebrows furrowed together and he approached the bed, eyeing the curled-up boy curiously and cautiously. "What's his – ? Did you take his temperature…?" He reached out a tentative hand to Kurt's forehead at Blaine's shaking head, to which the fair boy flinched back from, and his shoulders began irregularly giving small shakes. "Kurt. Relax," he breathed out, eyeing the surrounding blankets and pulling them up around the boy, which Blaine took over for him, tucking them around his boyfriend tightly. David observed for a half-second before stalking off into the bathroom, followed by the eyes of the fully-awake occupants of the room.

He returned after a few moments of audible fumbling and rustling in the bathroom with a small thermometer and a few gray packs. "What are those?" Jeff inquired lightly, looking at the items in the dark-skinned boy's hands.

David tossed the gray packs onto the bed and then began messing with the thermometer, watching it attentively as it turned on, making sure it worked properly. After a few seconds, he shook his head, coming out of his focus and approaching Kurt in his bed again. He looked at Jeff, as the blonde was still looking at him with an expectant look, and gestured to the gray packs, to which Jeff nodded. "Heat packs – actually – can you guys activate those?" David reached a hand out to pull Kurt's face towards him and placed the thermometer in his mouth, then glanced back over to Jeff and Thad, who were hesitantly picking up the packs and eyeing them questioningly and turning them over in their hands. "Just – just, like, squeeze them. They'll heat up really fast."

Blaine sat and watched the whole situation, still clutching onto Kurt's naked body and rubbing up and down his arms in hope of helping. The thermometer made a series of beeping noises, all fast and high-pitched, and David hissed a swear under his breath as he removed it from Kurt's mouth.

"What?" Blaine asked quickly, finding his voice embarrassingly thick from being so tense.

David didn't answer immediately, but instead pressed various buttons on the small device, eyes squinting and head shaking subtly as none of them seemed to do what he wanted. He opened his mouth to respond to Blaine, but his eyes were caught by Thad and Jeff about to place the now-heated packs beneath the blankets, against Kurt. "No, no, no, no – don't put it right on his skin. Just – yeah, like that," he nodded as they simply pressed the heat packs against the blankets surrounding the small boy, then turned to Blaine. "Yeah, this thermometer doesn't register temperatures below…mmm, probably 94 or 95 degrees. So…he's probably under that, still." At his curly-haired friend's concerned expression and his worried glance to his boyfriend, David added, "those should help, though. I'm sure he'll warm up… You did a really good job so far, B."

"Um, well… We're gonna head off to next period. Are you gonna…? Or are you gonna stay here with him?" Jeff asked Blaine as the three of them began pulling on their coats, watching the curly-haired boy sprawled out on Kurt's bed, clad in only a clean pair of his boyfriend's boxers.

"No – yeah. I'm – I'm gonna stay here with him… I should…" He sat up, glancing at the clock on his bedside table, a determined look on his face as he began looking around him, until locating the thermometer lying amongst the blankets, "I should actually take his temperature again… I'll see you guys later… Um…" The three boys halted near the door, turning to face their friend as they adjusted their coats and warm-weather clothing. "It was…really cool of you guys to help out like this..." The boys all nodded with slight smiles and Thad gave a small wave before they exited the room.

Blaine watched them go and then stood up and stretched his arms above his head, sucking in a shaky yawn before heading towards the bathroom door. "Kurt? Can I come in?"

There was a brief pause before, "yes," was breathed out quietly in that voice Blaine recognized so well.

Blaine entered the room and saw Kurt, bundled up in various layers of dry clothes, placing a towel down on the counter and looking intently at his reflection in the mirror, most likely at the various small cuts and marks, an almost stoic expression on his face. "Babe, are you okay?"

Kurt's turned around, leaning against the counter, and his face suddenly softened and he tilted his head, smiling at his boyfriend affectionately and just truly appreciating his kind nature, for perhaps the first time that day due to his proper clarity beginning to return. "I – yes. Yes, I am," a smirk curled up onto his lips, and he pushed himself off from the counter and approached Blaine, loosely wrapping his arms around him. "Thanks to," he smiled, tightening his grasp slightly, "no one in particular…" He rolled his eyes, taking in Blaine's seemingly confused face.

"…I…"

Kurt giggled very softly, hardly audible, at his boyfriend's speechless manner, and pressed a soft, slow kiss to his lips, then pulled away, and looked pointedly at the thermometer in the other boy's hands, causing the curly-haired teen to remember his initial intentions of entering the room.

"Right – right, I wanted to – um. I mean, you should take your temperature again…"

Kurt pouted slightly at the suggestion teasingly, looking at Blaine with puppy-dog eyes. "Mmmm… Okay," and he dropped his jaw, eyes at the ceiling playfully as Blaine stared at him, appearing dumbstruck. At this face, Kurt dropped his façade and chuckled, a little sadly, grabbing the thermometer and sticking it in his mouth.

They both waited for a few moments until the steady beeping of the device informed the two boys that it was done reading. Before Kurt could reach for the stick, Blaine grasped it and scanned the numbers himself. "97.9… That's – it's," he looked up to his boyfriend, who was softly smiling, "it's almost back to normal…"

"Good…" Kurt spoke quietly, bringing his arms up around his curly-haired boyfriend's neck, pulling him into a tight embrace and letting out a small hum of contentment as they swayed back and forth slightly. Blaine held him back just as passionately, and a few moments passed, both boys just blinking and looking thoughtful. "So…" His voice took a different tone, and he breathed out lightly, letting his eyes fall shut and his face nuzzling down into Blaine's shoulder. "…I think…I wanna take a bath."

"A bath."

"…Mmhmm…"

Blaine nodded slowly, seeming to be contemplative. "Yeah, I think… I think that would be okay. Should I – ? Do you want me to leave?"

Kurt pulled out of the hug and eyed his boyfriend cautiously. He figured it would be safe to ask, after everything that happened. After seeing each other, and feeling each other, before, in the bedroom. His reasons were sincere, after all, but he was still hesitant to pose the question.

"I was actually thinking… Maybe… Could – could you help me get out of these clothes? And – and into the tub…?" Blaine's eyebrows shot up at the question, and he stuttered out a small noise, but before he could properly answer, Kurt cut in to defend himself. "I – I – It's just that – I'm really sore still. And I, um, I'm still pretty dizzy. I just don't want to –"

"Kurt –"

"If it would be weird, though, that's fine. I know we haven't had – haven't, uh, you know, and we've hardly really seen each other naked, but –"

"Kurt." After seeing that he had positively gotten the pale boy's attention, he tilted his head slightly to the side. "Kurt, it's okay... Of course I'll help you. We… You don't have to be shy around me…okay?" Kurt nodded slowly, and swallowed, thickly and audibly. "Here, I'll run the bath. Just…stay here for a sec."

Blaine quickly moved to start the faucets, adjusting the water until it was a warm and comfortable temperature. As he set the plug in, he heard Kurt behind him suck in a hiss of pain, and sprung up, returning to his boyfriend as he pale boy was seemingly attempting to pull off his outer sweater, and holding the side of his rib, wincing slightly.

"Babe, I thought we agreed I'd help you with this…" Blaine teased, but there was a soft, worried look present in his face as well as he very carefully removed the sweater, cautious to not pull any limbs or strain any unnecessary parts.

"I thought I'd be able to get off a damn sweater," Kurt grumbled, his lips pulled into a tight line.

After a good minute, Kurt had gotten stripped down to his boxers and a tank top, almost entirely due to the help of Blaine, and the fair-skinned boy moved to pull the hem of his shirt up, but Blaine took over for him, giving him a small look before pulling it fully over his head. When he discarded the top on the floor, his breath hitched, taking in the sight before him.

Kurt's bruises had become even more defined since Blaine had clothed him a half hour or so beforehand. There were big, lighter ones covering the majority of his naked torso, and a few deep, purplish-brown ones that adorned his ribcage, and one that disappeared beneath the line of his boxers. Blaine attempted to make eye contact with his boyfriend, but Kurt was busy eyeing the ceiling with effort to look casual, but there were obvious tears present in his eyes that were trying to not fall.

"Here," Blaine breathed, sensing the change in mood, and feeling the increasing shaking in his boyfriend's body, and led him to sit down on the edge of the bathtub, turning it off as it was mostly full. He knelt in front of Kurt's sitting form and tried not to focus on the large, swollen kneecap his boyfriend had been attempting to support himself on all day.

Blaine knew that Kurt had most likely been in shock right after… Right after whatever it is happened, happened.

And he knew that his boyfriend had gone into a partially-unconscious state while he had been at the worst of his moderate hypothermia, not able to fully comprehend or deal with the reality of it all.

And Blaine knew that his precious, vulnerable Kurt tried to play the situation off like a joke, make funny remarks, act playfully and teasingly, and ignore the severity of the attack, ignore that this violence could have killed him.

But he looked up at the beautiful boy in front of him, and he knew something else.

He knew that the reality of what happened had just hit this pale boy, and he was so close to falling apart that there might be nothing Blaine could do to hold him together. Which might be a good thing.

Because maybe Kurt needed to fall apart.

Blaine made to reach towards Kurt's underwear, but pulled his hand back. "Um," he blinked a few times, running his hand softly up his boyfriend's leg, getting him to finally make eye contact with him, and gestured vaguely to the boxers. "This okay?" He pinched the material between his fingers and played with it for a moment, watching Kurt's eyes for his reaction.

When the other boy gave a shaky, quick nod and raised his hips slightly, trembling slightly as he tried to support himself, Blaine tugged the boxers down, and pulled them from his feet, and he heard his boyfriend suck in a shuddering breath. As soon as he was completely naked, Blaine quickly supported him enough to help lower him into the tub, into the warm water.

A brief moment passed while Blaine watched Kurt, seeing that he was alright and that the water temperature didn't need to be adjusted. All the while, Kurt seemed to be holding his breath, his face screwing up as he tried to remain calm. Then, Blaine moved behind the pale boy and placed firm hands on his shoulders, making sure to avoid any obvious sore spots, and began rubbing small circles in the soft skin.

The touch seemed to be all it took for Kurt to break down. He jolted forward with an unsteady sob, his eyes clamping closed and the tears that tried so hard to not fall, fell.

"Hey, hey, hey… Shhh, hey…" Blaine leaned forward, hugging the slight boy from behind, wrapping his arms delicately around his boyfriend's chest. He tried for a moment to think of something that would get across what he was feeling. Something to express that…

That everything would be okay.

That this wasn't Kurt's fault.

That he was better than those horrible, disgusting, homophobic assholes that did this to him.

That he would get past this, and that…

That he was there for him. That Blaine was, and would always…be there for him.

Instead, he cradled the boy's head into his chest, rocking him back and forth slightly, just holding him, just loving him, even if he couldn't say it out loud yet… He could feel the heat sparking between them as he just held his crying boyfriend, and Blaine leaned forward and pressed a hard kiss to the top of Kurt's head, his lips lingering there for a while as he breathed slowly out of his nose, hoping some of the love he was so afraid to express could be passed to his boyfriend through this brief contact.

And as Kurt's crying died down, and as his breathing began hitching in its slow settling, Blaine thought maybe some of it did.

"Come in," Blaine called out halfheartedly, not taking his attention away from the phone he was turning over in his hands.

Kurt peeked his head in and smiled softly at the sight of Blaine sitting on his bed, then entered the room and closed the door behind himself. "Hey, babe," he greeted the other boy lightly, leaning over him and placing his hands on Blaine's shoulders, following his gaze to the phone in his hands and kissing the side of his head.

At the physical touch, Blaine seemed to come back into reality, shifting his gaze to his boyfriend. "Hmmm, hey," he replied, sounding distracted, but turned his head to meet the pale boy's pink lips.

Kurt moved to sit down beside his boyfriend, and then glanced around the room, stiffening at the sight around him. "What's all this?"

Blaine shot a look at Kurt, seeing his gesture to all the packed bags and possessions. "Just got a call from my mother. Or my mother's assistant, rather. Wanted to 'inform me' that my mom 'requested my presence this holiday'… So I guess someone's coming to pick me up in, like, an hour." He let out a scoffing, angry breath and just shook his head, trying to calm himself down.

Kurt made a sympathetic noise, rubbing his hand down his boyfriend's back. "Baby –"

"No. No, fuck it. It's fine. I should have expected this, I just… Whatever. It doesn't matter…" He waved an aggravated, dismissive hand in Kurt's direction, causing the other boy to flinch back slightly. Blaine breathed for a few moments before turning to his boyfriend, his thoughts shifting. "So, how are you feeling? Better?"

Kurt watched the curly-haired boy's face for a moment, seeing his obviously still-upset expression, but allowing him to change the subject. "I – yeah. Yes, I'm fine. And the weather's gotten a lot better out, so…at least if someone ties me up again out there, I might not get hypothermia," Kurt made an pathetic attempt at lightening the situation, an awkward smile in place. Blaine winced at the bad humor, but he did end up cracking a small smile. Kurt's lips twitched up slightly in return, feeling somewhat victorious in helping his boyfriend's mood shift, and ran his hand along the boy's upper arm. "But really. Are you okay? I know it upsets you when your parents do this kind of stuff…"

Blaine tensed noticeably at the question, but nodded immediately. "I – whatever. Yeah, it doesn't matter… It's just two weeks… I just… Just fucking drop it, okay…? I really should finish packing my shit…"

"Do you need any help? I can –"

"No, Kurt, I'll be fine," he snapped, cutting Kurt off, and the icy feeling radiated from his body. Kurt hadn't seen this side of his boyfriend in a while. The wall, the façade he put up to protect himself. Blaine turned his eyes away from the pale boy, staring blankly at the wall for a few moments as Kurt stood up and made towards the door. "Look, I'll see you down in the common room when I bring all my stuff down there."

"O-okay… I'll see you then…"

"Hey B, how's…?" Nick trailed off and eyed the backpack and small duffel the curly-haired boy was carrying curiously. "You…leaving for break?"

Blaine tossed the bags onto the floor unceremoniously and sunk down into a chair beside Wes. "Apparently, yes, I am."

The boys in the room all exchanged knowing glances, eyebrows rising. "Mother dearest decide she wants you home for all the Anderson-family Christmas cheer?" Wes drawled out, turning to face his friend with an arched eyebrow.

Blaine let out an aggravated huff. "Seriously. I don't even – ugh! My father probably thought it would look good for his damn campaign to have the family all together for Christmas. His precious little boy returning from his 'studying abroad trip in Europe'! For fuck's sake…" He ran a hand over his face in annoyance, then looked around him, a slightly surprised look coming onto his face. "Kurt not here yet?"

A few of the Warblers shrugged. "He was still packing up his shit when I came down here," Thad told him from his place sitting against the small table in the center of the room. "I'm pretty sure he's taking his entire fucking wardrobe back to his house," he breathed out in a laugh, shaking his head at his roommate.

Blaine pursed his lips slightly and nodded, obvious conflict on his face.

"I'm sure he'll be down in a minute," Jeff reasoned, seeing the look on his friend's face. "Did you need to see him right now, or…?"

Blaine immediately shook his head, coming out of his slight daze. "No, no. I just… We sort of… I just kinda snapped at him earlier and we said we'd meet down here, so I wanted to…you know."

"Apologize, make sweet gay babies, and confess your undying love to him?" Nick offered with a straight face, his tone genuinely curious as though it would be a viable option. The others in the group laughed at this, and Blaine rolled his eyes, going along with the joke.

"Ha. But, whatever. I just kinda felt bad…" Blaine trailed off, instead pulling his phone out of his pocket and composing a quick text to his boyfriend.

hey u comin down 2 the commons? n sry about earlier – B

Yes, yes. I'm just trying to figure out how to pack everything I need into a single duffel bag and suitcase. And…what about earlier? – K

Blaine raised an eyebrow at this. Surely Kurt had noticed the way Blaine had acted before?

just wen I snappd at u back in my room. sry about that – B

Oh, I didn't really notice, to be honest. – K

o. well i still feel bad. didnt mean 2 be a dick – B

Yeah… Well, I'm gonna go. I need to finish packing, but I'll be down in a minute. – K

Kurt looked down at his phone as he sent the last message. He knew exactly what Blaine was referring to, but he didn't want to talk about it more than it needed to be discussed. It hurt when Blaine had lost his temper with him, but he figured if he pretended to not notice Blaine's icy mood swing, it would allow his boyfriend to not feel bad over snapping at him, and Kurt could try to forget about the outburst altogether, and not get worked up over something that didn't truly matter.

Blaine's eyebrows furrowed together as he stared blankly at the last message sent by Kurt. Had he really not…noticed? The curly-haired boy let out a confused sigh and closed his phone, placing it back in his pocket, and stared blankly at the room before him.

"Was that Kurt?" Nick inquired, getting the attention of the others as well as he directed the question to Blaine.

"Yeah…" Blaine drew out the word, still thoroughly confused at how the short conversation had gone down.

David took notice of this behavior and tilted his head to the side, raising an eyebrow slightly. "He pissed?"

Blaine blinked thoughtfully for a few moments before letting out a disbelieving scoff. "No. He's – no, he didn't notice anything about…how I was a dick before…" The others in the room shrugged, most of them losing interest, a few humming in agreement to the oddity of the situation. Blaine leaned back in his seat, placing his hands behind his head and squinting his eyes in confusion, letting his gaze wander to the ceiling. "Maybe he's pretending to be okay…but he's not…and he's mad at me…"

Trent looked up at Blaine from where he was playing cards with Jeff and Thad on the floor. "Sounds like a chick thing to do… Then again, Kurt is kind of a chick most of the time…" The bigger teen mused absently, laying a card down and directing his attention away from the conversation.

Blaine let his mouth fall open at the casual statement of insult, and was about to violently defend his boyfriend, but figured it was no use. Instead, he left them with an airy and slightly smug, "Kurt…is more of a man than you guys…will ever know…" He let out a breathy laugh, his mind drifting to the sexy, hot and heavy moments he had experienced with his boyfriend. Granted, they weren't frequent, but oh, they were worth the wait…

"He finally put out?" Thad questioned him with amused disbelief, not taking his eyes off the cards in front of him, earning an annoyed smack from Jeff, who gave him a disapproving look, shaking his head slightly. "What?" He turned his attention to Blaine, actually shifting his gaze to him. "Did he?"

"Well… No, but –"

"Knew it."

"Dude, Thad! He got… He got raped. No shit he's gonna want to wait a while," Blaine huffed, eyeing the entrance of the common room, making sure it was still void of certain pale-skinned boys. "And I don't need to fuck him to know he's a man…"

At this, Wes turned to Blaine, eyebrow raised in surprise. "Wait… He hasn't had sex at all yet? Or he hadn't had sex with you yet…? Since the, um… Since the rape, I mean."

Blaine seemed taken aback by the question. "I – I don't know. Probably not at all…" He stuttered over his response a little, not enjoying the idea of Kurt having sex with anyone other than him. "I mean, he was in jail for a lot of the time after it, so, yeah. Probably not at all..." The others in the room exchanged a few looks and Blaine furrowed his eyebrows at their expressions. "What?"

David moved to sit beside Blaine's other side in the empty seat there and looked thoughtful before responding. "How long ago was that, anyway?"

"The rape? I don't know, nine, ten months ago…? It was in March, I think. "

Wes and David shared a look past their curly-haired friend and David continued. "And… I mean, he's had other boyfriends before, right?"

Blaine opened his mouth, about to attempt a response, but he shut it and furrowed his eyebrows together, giving the dark-skinned boy a suspicious look. "Okay, what the fuck are you getting at?"

"Look, B, it's just that… He said he's had sex before, we can assume he's had boyfriends before…?"

Blaine tilted his head skeptically, still not entirely sure of this conversation. "I – sure. Sure, yeah, I guess…" He thought back to his boyfriend's brief mentions of his previous sex experiences, and his obvious views on 'hooking up' with guys… Not to mention his talented – so, so talented – mouth. This boy no doubt had been in relationships before…

"Okay… So. That being said… You really think he'd wait this long…? I mean, it's been what – a month since you've been together?"

Blaine's face scrunched up in anger. "Are you – are you fucking serious, David? He was raped, and he – just because he's had sex before doesn't – doesn't mean that he's ready right now! I – ugh – I can't believe you guys. Are you trying to say that my boyfriend is – holding out on me to be a prude?"

The group in the common room all made some kind of uncomfortable eye contact until Wes shrugged to Jeff, urging him to speak, as he usually had the best way with words in such topics. "Not…exactly. Just… He's had boyfriends before, he's done this all before… He might not be that serious about you… And we've noticed lately how you've been around him… Like…how you were really protective over him this – this morning and –"

"Protective? He almost froze to death! And I thought we established this weekend that I love him? Isn't that something that people do when they're in love?"

"But does he love you back?" Jeff asked softly, hardly audible, afraid to meet the other boy's eyes. A thick silence followed the question, and Blaine's anger dropped and was replaced with a worried, hurt expression.

"I… O-of course he does. We…" Blaine trailed off, his eyes finding the floor as he thought about the other boy, rethinking and questioning their relationship.

"He said he did?"

"Well, no, but I mean, I haven't told him either… I just…" Blaine's expression shifted back to an angry one and he let out a huff of annoyance. "What the fuck is wrong with you guys? Are you just trying to ruin my fucking relationship?"

Thad chucked the cards in his hands, causing them to scatter all around the floor in front of him. "For fuck's sake!" He turned around to face the curly-haired boy with a fed-up expression dominating his features. "Listen, B. We thought you were gonna fuck this up, and fuck him over. And now, we're pretty sure you're the one getting fucked over."

"Excuse me?"

"We don't want you to think all of a sudden that – that you're in this relationship, and that everything's freaking perfect! Because you've never done this before, and you might not see that he's not that fucking into you!"

"You really think he's not into me?"

"We're not…" Wes sighed, running his hand through his hair, "…saying that, necessarily, B. We're just… We want you to be careful, okay? Don't get so damn caught up in him just because he's your first boyfriend..."

Blaine made a face at this statement, but the room fell into relative silence for a few minutes, before a loud, clear voice rang through the room.

"Hold your applause, gentlemen. Kurt Hummel has arrived…" The fair-skinned boy entered the room with an exaggerated sigh, hauling a heavy-looking suitcase and two over-stuffed duffels into the room. He placed his hands on his hips and eyed the luggage. "I ended up just going with another bag… I'm not the one who's going to be carrying it anyway…" He smiled mock-charmingly and then glanced up to the boys in the room, and his face fell. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Trent breathed as he picked up his abandoned cards with a sense of believability and nonchalance, "unless you count Blaine's mom being a crazy bitch as something…"

Blaine watched Kurt's face hungrily for his reaction, but only got an arched eyebrow and a slow nodding of his head. "I see," Kurt breathed out, still feeling slightly guilty for his false-ignorance towards his boyfriend from earlier.

"Yeah," Blaine chuckled suddenly, his tone conveying his awkward mood, "old news… Um, Kurt?"

Kurt plopped down onto the floor beside Nick and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Yeah, babe?"

"They have coffee in the Main Office… Probably for people coming to pick their kids up. Do… you wanna go grab some with me?" Blaine's expression was painfully eager, hoping his boyfriend would want to spend time with him.

Hoping that his boyfriend was as 'into' him as he was him.

Hoping that his boyfriend…loved him?

Kurt yawned and lay down on the floor, letting his heavy eyelids fall shut. "Mmm, Blaine, I'm so exhausted from today... As much as caffeine would probably help, I'm not sure I can move right now…" He giggled the last part softly, then relaxed into the carpeted floor, letting his head fall to the side.

"I – okay. Yeah, that's… I just thought maybe we could…spend a little time together before we both leave for two weeks…"

Kurt opened his eyes at this and sat up slowly, a curious eyebrow raised. "Baby, we've spent the entire day together…" He shot one last look at his boyfriend and lowered himself back onto the floor. Of course he loved spending alone time with Blaine… But he truly was exhausted… And after the whole situation earlier…and now Blaine seemed to be acting…passive-aggressive?

"No, that's fine… You're right… We just have a half hour before we're getting picked up and I thought you might want to spend it with me… But that's fine." Blaine was frustrated now… Why didn't his boyfriend just get some damn coffee with him?

Kurt shot up to a sitting position, eyebrows furrowed together. He let out a scoff. "Blaine. I'm fucking tired. If you recall today's events, I nearly froze to death and had the shit kicked out of me. Excuse me if I want to relax a little bit!"

"Well excuse me if I want to see you before you leave!"

"It's only two weeks, Blaine!"

"I'm gonna miss you so much…"

Kurt giggled, realizing it was late and that the first round of security would be coming by soon to do hallway and lounge checks. He nudged Blaine, implying silently that it was time to go back to their rooms. As they began pulling their shirts back on, Kurt turned to his boyfriend. "It's two weeks, babe…"

Blaine let out a surprised scoff. Of course. How had he not seen it before? Kurt didn't care. He was making this all up in his head, wasn't he? "Do you even care that you're gonna be away from me?"

Kurt's mouth fell open at this accusation. "C-care? Do I care?"

At this point, the other six boys in the room had gotten to their feet, and Trent had mumbled something along the lines of 'coffee?', getting a response from Nick that appeared to be, 'yes, coffee sounds way less awkward than listening in on their first fight.'

"Yes, Kurt. I believe that's what I asked."

Kurt came to his feet, his features turning into an expression of confusion more than anything else. "I… Of course I care, Blaine, I –" He let out a distressed sigh, shaking his head in disbelief. "I can't believe we're even having this conversation right now…" Blaine stood, blinking rapidly and not saying anything in response, his angry look still in place. "Well… Now that I'm up, I suppose I'm going to go get that coffee… Feel free to join me," he added and began walking towards the exit. When he sensed the other boy not following him, he turned around again, this time with a softer expression. "If not… I'll see you in the parking lot outside in a little bit…"

Blaine watched as his boyfriend left the room, and the anger inside of him came to a boiling point, mostly at the situation.

And himself.

He let out a strangled grunt and punched the wall closest to him, getting some kind of satisfaction out of the slight dent the wall suffered and the throbbing pain that resulted in his hand.

As soon as the anger peaked, it dissipated. He let his breath even out and his head hung down, his eyes falling shut. What was he doing? Was he making something up out of nothing?

He couldn't deny that there were a couple instances that he was worried about the equality of love between Kurt and him, but it was mostly due to the fact that Blaine had never been in a relationship before. He had no idea what it was supposed to be like… When the others had brought it up… It just hit a sore spot. And it made him truly question his whole relationship… And he knew, deep down, that some of the anger he had just expressed originated from earlier that day, and should have been directed at the assholes that hurt his precious boyfriend… Not directed at the victim, himself! On top of all of that, Blaine knew he always got angsty when his parents surprised him with a family get-together…

…He really fucked up.

"And be careful with that one, too. It has most of my Armani collection," Kurt sighed, sounding bored, as he pointed to his second duffel and watched his stepbrother raise an eyebrow at him.

"Are you serious? Dude, you know you're not even allowed to leave the house –"

"Yes, Finn. I know –"

"And most of this stuff is, like, outside clothes –"

"Finn! Don't look inside of those!" Kurt gasped, horrified, leaping up from his position leaning against his Navigator to snatch the bag from his nosy brother, wincing at his sore limbs. "And you touched everything. Why would you – ? I had this all clean and perfectly arranged," he sighed, shaking his head, almost in disappointment as he packed the duffel himself into the backseat of the car and leaned against it. "I sometimes can't believe we're brothers…"

"You guys aren't real brothers, you know… Not related," Thad commented randomly from where he sat on the curb by the parked cars, blowing out smoke from his cigarette and eyeing the small crowd of boys, taking their things to their respective vehicles.

"I –" Kurt sighed, grasping the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb, "I – I know, Thad. I'm just – It's an expression… Someone I'm related to is romantically involved with someone he's related to… I can't figure out how our two specific sets of DNA mingle…" Kurt shrugged as the rest of his group came out into the waiting area in front of the parking lot, hauling their own bags with them. His eyes focused particularly on a curly-haired boy with hot, hazel eyes. Hazel eyes that looked especially distressed at the moment.

Thad, however, decided to continue the conversation and turn it specifically humiliating. "Kurt… Didn't you totally have a huge boner for your stepbrother before your parents hooked up? You seemed to think you two could…mingle." Just as Kurt's roommate said this, the other boys, as well as Finn himself, had all come together to form a small group around the two other boys.

A few chuckled and laughed at this, and Kurt groaned, hiding his face. Finn stifled a laugh, seeing his brother's embarrassment. "Those were dark times, roomie. Dark. Times… Need I remind you this was also around the same time I tried to date a girl?" Kurt spoke flatly, his expression deadpan.

Everyone, excluding Finn, gaped at this. Trent moved forward, holding up his hand in shock. "Wait, wait, wait – we've never heard this story. Please, continue…"

Kurt groaned again, shaking his head back and forth slightly. "For the love of – Forget I said anything. Finn, are we ready to go?"

The taller teen blinked stupidly for a few moments, seemingly going over a mental list in his head. "Oh – you got your meds?"

Kurt sucked in a quick breath, his cheeks flushing with heat. "Finn!"

"Sorry, sorry, just checking! Your dad wanted me to remind you just to make –"

"Yes, Finn. Yes. I have them. Now can we go?" Kurt closed his eyes briefly, trying to not snap at his brother. He was still not fully on good terms with the teen after the events that took place at Sectionals, but he found it was hard to stay mad at someone so…childish? Besides, Finn usually attempted to make up for being an idiot in some way or another.

"Um, can I grab a coffee first? I was up all night playing Call of Duty with Puck because I forgot I had to drive to come get you today, so –"

"Yes, fine. Go ahead…" Kurt sighed, rubbing his hand over his face in annoyance. One the bigger teen smiled and left to enter the Main Office, Kurt let out an aggravated moan. "Sometimes, I swear he's just an overgrown child who plays high school…"

When no one in the group responded to his statement, he noticed the awkward air that had come to be. About half of the boys in front of him were watching Blaine carefully and the others were eyeing him with questioning looks.

Right. His fight with Blaine…

Just as he was about to say something to the curly-haired boy, Kurt's boyfriend made a subtle jerk of his head, indicating they part from the group slightly and talk privately. Kurt nodded and followed the boy that was so intensely confusing him a few yards away from the rest of their friends.

"Blaine, I –"

"No, Kurt, let me start… I was stupid. I was making up shit in my head about us and – well. I think I was making it up… I…" He sighed, stepping forward and placing a gentle hand on his boyfriend's shoulder, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth as he did so. "I guess… I guess I just need to straight forward ask you about all this stuff… But it's just – I… It's…" He let out a slightly shaky breath and drew his eyes away from the boy he loved, pressing his fist against his mouth in thought.

"Blaine… Blaine, you can ask me anything… We can talk about this," Kurt assured him, suddenly feeling like something he had no idea about was going on and beginning to panic over it.

Blaine swallowed and shifted his gaze back up to the piercing glasz eyes that never failed to amaze him, seeing the sincerity and warmth that was present there. He knew Kurt cared about him. How could he have thought any different? But still… He needed to ask. He needed to make sure… "Kurt… The…guys were talking to me about how they –"

"Blaine, dude –"

Blaine and Kurt turned sharply to find an almost-panic-ridden David at their side, his eyes fixed on a spot past them both, his eyes wide in some kind of shock.

"David, please, I need to talk to Kurt…alone? Can we –?"

"B, your car –"

Blaine shot an almost nonexistent glance over towards the area the cars were pulling up, not actually focusing on any given vehicle, and then faced the dark-skinned boy again, nodding impatiently. "Yes, okay. I'll be done in a second. My mother's damn assistant can wait, I need to talk to my boyfriend right now –"

"No, B. Your car. Your BMW," David spoke slowly, this time gesturing to the lot, the slightly confused, surprised expression still in place.

At this, Blaine tensed in shock, his hand dropping from Kurt's shoulder. "My – ? Why would she be driving my – ?" He dropped dead silent as he turned towards the parking lot, his face falling to a look not unlike one of a man spotting a UFO or witnessing a murder. "Oh, fucking…shit," he breathed out, hardly, as it seemed the air in his lungs had evaporated.

A young man with dark, gelled hair and tan skin was exiting the black vehicle, a three-piece suit perfectly tailored and pressed. He resembled Blaine, though the unmistakable warmth that held the high schooler's eyes were absent, along with the curly quality of the boy's hair, replaced instead with straight, gelled locks.

The man approached the three boys, and soon the others in their group came forward as well. Blaine simply stared dumbly at the man, his eyes wide and almost frightened-looking.

"Blaine," he greeted, his tone of voice akin to one of an old business partner reacquainting himself with a coworker, a false, overly-bright smile in place. He stuck his hand out, somehow patronizingly, and raised an eyebrow at the curly-haired boy's blank expression.

"Jonathan…" Blaine all but choked out, grasping the hand skeptically. He flashed a look to those around him, completely unsure if the situation called for introductions. "Um… This is –"

"Jonathan Anderson, Blaine's older brother. It's a pleasure to meet all of you," he grinned, shoving his hand in Trent's direction first, and the teen raised an eyebrow, then shook the hand hesitantly. "Uh, Trent…" When Jonathan continued to lock his eyes with the other boy, looking at him expectantly, he added, "Nixon. Trent Nixon…"

He continued to shake hands with those around the group.

"Wes Montgomery."

"David Thompson."

"Jeff Sterling."

"Nick Duval."

"Thad," he dark-haired teen sighed, not taking his free hand out of his pocket to shake the offered one. He blew his cigarette smoke forward, not bothering to aim it in another direction.

Jonathan narrowed his eyes slightly at the boy, though kept his grin in place as his offered hand fell down to his side. "Short for Thaddeus, I presume?"

Thad cocked an eyebrow, taking another puff and blowing it out. "Short for Thaddeus…"

The man nodded, looking him over slightly. "Very good…" He turned to Kurt, the last one in the line of boys to introduce themselves, and made to bring his hand up into an offer, but flinched it back after running his eyes over the pale boy's appearance. His face fell and a slightly unpleased look flashed across his face for a brief moment, before his false grin was restored. "And you are…?

Kurt blinked a few times, confused, seeing the judgmental body language and the retracted handshake offer, but put on a small, tight smile. "I'm –"

"This is Kurt Hummel," Blaine spoke suddenly, interrupting the fair-skinned boy, a painfully false smile on his face, eerily similar to his brother's. "He's…" Blaine's eyes darted quickly to make eye contact with his boyfriend, hopefully getting across his message strongly enough. "He's Thad's roommate," he spoke very pointedly, making it obvious that for the purposes of Blaine's brother, Kurt was nothing else.

Jonathan didn't seem to notice the odd behavior, or if he did, he didn't say anything of it. He instead let out a hardly-noticeable scoff and nodded his head slowly. "That must be a fun room…"

A few beats of silence passed until Wes sighed dramatically and made a confused gesture with his hands. "Okay, B. You…never told us you had a brother…?" He threw out there, knowing everyone was thinking the same thing.

Thad flicked his cigarette butt and folded his arms across his chest, his eyes narrowing. "In fact, I recall on several occasions you mentioning you were an only child…"

Blaine let out a humorless laugh and licked his lips, his eyes finding the floor. "Yeah, well… I lied," he whispered, even though he knew his brother would be able to hear him. The group of Warblers all focused their eyes on Blaine questioningly, but Jonathan's face dropped to a slightly darker look, one that was even more frightening due to the grin that accompanied it.

"Uh oh. Keeping me a secret from all your little buddies, Blaine?"

The curly-haired boy let out a faint breath, turning his head to avert his gaze even further from his brother's. "Look, Jonathan, I don't even know what you're doing here –"

"Aren't you happy I'm here? I haven't seen you in over a year and a half…" He made a face at the younger boy, one of mock-hurt, grabbing his scruffy chin to force him to face his direction. When Blaine still wouldn't shift his eyes to look at the man, his gaze downcast and brows furrowed defiantly, Jonathan dropped the façade and smirked mockingly, dropping the boy's face and patting him lightly on the cheek. "Come on, brother. Mother and father are eagerly waiting our return. They're so grateful you could make it back home for the holidays…" He trailed off, tilting his head sideways, his hands now clasped behind his back as his face shifted to a dangerous smirk.

"Hey Kurt, sorry it took so long! I spilled my first cup all over myself and then this lady started talking to me about her kid and she thought I was someone's dad, or something…" Finn had his signature awkward smile on as he approached the group, his coffee in hand and his shirt sporting a new, brown stain. Jonathan raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a slightly expectant look as he entered the small circle. "Um… Hi…"

At this, the man practically jumped forward, shoving his hand into Finn's direction. "Very nice to meet you, I am Jonathan Anderson, Blaine's older brother," he nodded his head, his grin threatening to split his face.

Finn furrowed his eyebrows together in slight confusion at the situation, but forced a somewhat pleasant-looking smile on his face and returned the handshake. "I'm Finn…uh…Hudson. Kurt's big brother –"

"Finn, we've been over this. I'm older than you…"

"Oh. Right. Kurt's…younger brother… I guess…"

Jonathan pulled his lips into a tight line, seemingly attempting to refrain from laughing. "Not related, I assume?"

Finn looked puzzled for a moment before nodding. "Uh, yeah. We're stepbrothers…"

"Of course. Well Blaine, we really should get going. The weather doesn't look too fond of us today…" He began walking off towards the shiny, black BMW, Blaine trailing along, eyeing the boys he was leaving behind with a pained expression. "It was very nice to meet you all! Have safe trips home!"

As Blaine entered the passenger side of the car, he gave a small, weak wave, his eyes trained on a certain fair-skinned boy as he bit his lip sadly, watching him longingly.

Kurt returned the gesture, blinking sadly and letting his hand fall heavily after the boy he cared so much for disappeared behind the tinted windows and drove off into the weather.

"I'll see you in two damn weeks, man," Nick laughed against Jeff's neck as the taller boy held him close. Jeff clamped his eyes shut and inhaled a sharp breath, willing it not to be shaky. He forced out a small giggle.

"I-I know. I just… I feel bad that you have to stay here for Christmas," he spoke softly, pulling away from his best friend and eyeing his reaction, wrapping his arms around himself.

Nick shrugged lightly, pulling his lips into a line. "I always do… Besides," he started, a small smile falling onto his lips, an eyebrow rising, "Trent and Thad and – and Wes are all staying here too and I don't see you holding onto them for dear life…" He looked at his blonde roommate, a knowing smirk perfectly in place.

Jeff tensed slightly, heat creeping up onto his cheeks, causing him to shade a deep pink. "Uh…" He blinked a few times and brought a hand up to fiddle nervously with his lip ring, trying to think of an intelligent response.

Nick made a goofy face, scrunching his nose up slightly and let out a loud laugh, embracing the blonde teen again. He nuzzled slightly into his roommate's shoulder as the other boy began responding slightly to the contact. "I'll miss you too, bro," he whispered, the sound muffled slightly against Jeff's coat. "Hmmm…" Nick pulled back from the embrace slightly and looked past Jeff, in the direction of the parking lot. "Your sister coming to pick you up?"

Jeff quirked an eyebrow, then turned around to follow his roommate's gaze, catching the sight of the red car that belonged to his family. "No… That's my dad."

Nick nodded and hummed in response. "Well… Say hi to Sarah for me," he raised an eyebrow suggestively and let a grin fall on his lips teasingly.

Jeff let out a false, airy laugh, biting his lip and nodding. "Of course…" He brought his tongue out to run over the ring on his lip, his eyes finding the ground.

Honk! honk!

Both boys looked over to see the small red car had pulled up to the front of the lot, and inside, a thin blonde man was waving enthusiastically. Jeff gave one last look to his roommate and slung the strap of his bag over his shoulder, making his way to the car.

Once he scooted into the passenger seat, he smiled sheepishly to his father, who simply grinned in return, taking a little extra time to look at his son fondly. "Hey kid," he leaned over the center consul as well as he could to give his son a half-hug, "how have you been doing out here?"

"Alright," Jeff responded, his eyes wandering slightly around the interior of the car, not exactly sure if what he had just said was a lie or not. "It's been the same, really…" That sure was a lie.

His father nodded, and crept slowly up in the line of traffic moving through the lot. Once the car came to a pause again, his father turned to him. "That's good… You… You look…hungry…" The man gave a small snort of a laugh at his own words and Jeff couldn't help but crack a genuine smile. His dad was always a dork… He shrugged lightly in response to the comment. "Really though, kid. I have a half a turkey sandwich from the drive. Do you want it?"

"No, Dad, I'm good. Thanks, though."

"You sure, boy? You look like you've lost some weight."

Jeff blinked a few times, tonguing his damn lip ring – a habit he'd found himself getting addicted to – the skin sticking out from where it was being pushed from inside his mouth. "I… I've just been getting over being sick. I think I had the flu or something…" Or something…

"If you're sure…" His father moved up again in traffic, almost reaching the exit of the school. He turned to his son again, arching an eyebrow as he adjusted his glasses, squinting his eyes. "Now what is that you've got on your lip, kid? Don't tell me that some kind of piercing-stud-ring thing going on. Is that new?"

Jeff let out a small giggle. "Yeah, dad. I just got it this weekend, actually… We, um… We went to this competition thing. For our singing group. And – yeah…"

His dad nodded, looking forward as he finally made it to the stretch of road beyond the school lot. "That's good…" There was a brief pause in conversation before, "Now I'm sure that boy Nick got some kind of…crazy stud-spike thing going on too, huh? That kid was always…uh! Just a nutcase! Always knew he'd get you into trouble… And now look! Sheesh!" He shook his head, but gave his son a playful look out of the corner of his eye.

Jeff nodded, smiling fondly. "Nick got a tattoo, actually. It's pretty funny…"

The blonde's father just nodded again, watching the road ahead of him as he went. Jeff sighed, sinking back into his chair. He wasn't feeling too sick now, maybe the whole thing would blow over… Yeah, the flu… He rolled his eyes at his own stupid remarks, but his attention was caught by the memory of his neighbor…and his claims of illness… Kurt had said he was…'getting over some kind of virus', but that was well over a week ago. He seemed fine other than the vomiting Thad had overheard. But…

It seemed as though every other day since the pale boy had arrived, Jeff had heard him hacking up the contents of his body through the thin walls connecting their rooms. But if Kurt wasn't actually ill, then…? He…? Of course! After all, Kurt… Jeff needed to talk to Kurt about this. Maybe he could understand… Maybe he could understand what Jeff was going through…

"Hey now! What's all this?"

Jeff let out a quiet gasp as his father's exclamation brought him back into the present. He looked ahead of them and saw an officer of some kind having the main flow of traffic turning around or going in other directions. His dad pulled up to the cop and rolled his window down, resting his arm on the open window and sticking his head out slightly, squinting in the blustery weather.

"What's going on, here? Me and my kid are trying to get home," his dad spoke to the man, who bent down to hear him over the – wait, when did it start snowing again?

"Sorry, sir. Road's closed. Big accident down on I–270. Nine car pileup."

"Oh, jeez… Well, do you know when the road's gonna open again?"

"I'm afraid not. Though you are advised to take cover 'til the storm settles down. This is no weather for driving."

"Finn," Kurt began, one arm folding over his stomach and the other pressing a fist against his mouth to contain his frustration. "Finn, do you want me to drive?" He let his eyes find the ceiling of the car to distract himself from the slow-moving vehicle.

Finn chanced a quick look at Kurt before turning his attention back to the road, his expression incredulous. "What? No! You don't even have a license anymore!"

Kurt dropped his hand and folded both of his arms together and narrowed his eyes, directing his gaze at his brother. "But you're driving like an idiot," he breathed out flatly.

Finn's mouth dropped open, insulted. "It's not me, dude! Traffic's, like, stopped! Maybe it's the snow… It's sort of coming down again… Should we – ? Should we just go back for now? It looks like some people are trying to get off the road to turn around…"

Kurt pulled his lips together in a tight line, not in the mood for anything else to go wrong today, but nodded firmly. This, after all, was undoubtedly frustrating. Finn made a sketchy cut in front of an old pickup truck, and was able to take an exit, finding a different route back to Dalton.

As they were approaching the school, Kurt's phone vibrated in his pocket. For some reason startled by the device, he quickly pulled it from his pocket, looking at the screen. Nick was calling him…?

"Nick?" He asked curiously into the line as he picked up. Perhaps he forgot something important back at the dorm…

"Kurt?" He heard the other boy let out a shaky sigh of relief. "Oh god... Where are you?"

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "I'm… I'm actually on my way back to Dalton. Traffic was hardly moving and we hadn't even gotten onto the main road yet, so –"

"Kurt, there was a huge accident. Like 10 cars, or something, piled up on I-270," Nick mumbled out, sounding distressed at the thought. "We were trying to call you before and you didn't pick up… We were freaking out about all you guys that got on the road…"

The pale boy blinked a few times of shock at the sound of the accident, as well as the fact that he had missed calls. "I – wow. Well… Sorry I didn't hear my phone – it's on vibrate…"

"Don't worry about it."

"But we're on our way back right now. We'll be there in probably 15 minutes or so."

"Okay, I'll see you, Kurt. Later."

"Bye."

Kurt shrugged his coat off as he entered the commons, eyeing the boys there with a mix of curiosity and fondness. David was curled up in a ball, almost completely covered beneath a blanket, and the only reason Kurt recognized him was due to the fact that his bare feet were sticking out. Jeff was having what appeared to be an amusing conversation with his dad and Nick, who had his phone clutched in his hand. Wes, Thad and Trent were playing cards, and by the looks of their comfortable positions splayed out on the floor, they had been there a while.

A few boys acknowledged Kurt and Finn's entrance with small waves or nods, and the taller teen collapsed into one of the leather chairs in the room, and Kurt began walking over to sit beside the card-playing boys when he heard a pained moan coming from the direction of the fetal-positioned David.

Kurt jumped slightly at the sound and then cocked an eyebrow, kneeling down slightly to try to see the boy better. "David…?"

"Ugh!" Kurt looked to Wes for some kind of explanation, but the Asian boy just waved a hand dismissively, as though to say 'don't even ask.'

But Kurt figured he had nothing better to do. He approached the lump of person and placed a careful hand on it, an amused smile on his face. "…David…?"

"Mmmm! So close! So close to going home!" He flung the blanket from his face and shot up into a sitting position. "Do you know how close I was to going home? Sooo close… Ugh!" He fell back onto the carpet with an exaggerated sigh, then pulled the blanket back up around his face so only his eyes and above were visible. "First, I almost get to go to Thanksgiving. Now, I almost get to go to Christmas! What's next? That's all the good ones!" His voice was muffled by the blanket, but the whiny quality rung clear.

Kurt's eyes were wide at the frantic boy. If he was honest, he'd never seen this side of David before, and he wasn't entirely sure he knew how to deal with it. "I'm…sorry…?" David just huffed something incoherent and rolled on his side to face away from Kurt.

"Don't mind him," Wes commented sassily, smirking as he rearranged a couple cards in his hand, focused, "he's on his period."

Thad cocked an eyebrow at this, and Trent snorted. "Wes, please. You're on your period 30 days out of the damn month," the bigger teen joked, causing the boys around him to snicker, excluding Wes, who simply rolled his eyes, huffing slightly.

Thad crushed his cigarette into the empty coffee cup he had beside him, a mock-understanding expression falling onto his face, accompanied by a smirk. "So, one day a month, on months that have 31 days, of course…we get a normal Wes."

Trent laughed at this, nodding his head eagerly. "Exactly. And what a day it is!"

David sat up at this, and faced the four boys, looking thoughtful. "I think I've somehow missed all of those days…"

"Oh, fuck you guys," Wes grumbled, laying a card down and attempting to change the focus of the group.

Kurt smiled at the antic of his friends, and his gaze shifted to Nick, Jeff, and his father, who was standing up and excusing himself, something about getting more coffee. Kurt approached the two other boys and sat down on a seat near them, directing his attention to Jeff. "So you and your dad had to come back, too?"

Jeff nodded slowly. "Yeah… We hardly got out of the school when we had to turn around."

Kurt hummed sympathetically, then squinted his eyes slightly in thought, taking in his surroundings. "Blaine not back yet?" The two boys shook their heads, exchanging a quick look that Kurt didn't pick up on. "Hmmm… I wonder if he made it home…"

Nick sighed slightly. "I doubt it. He has to go right on that road to get home… There's no chance he made it there before the accident..." Kurt sighed slightly, remembering that Blaine left before he did. He should have been back by now… "Look, Kurt. We tried calling, and we couldn't get a hold of him…" At this, the pale boy furrowed his eyebrows together, beginning to get worried. Surly, nothing bad could have –

"Hey, boys," everyone looked up as Jeff's dad peeked in the entrance of the commons, his thumb stuck in the direction of the Main Office, "there's news on in there about the accident."

They all made their way to the Office Building, only to find a small crowd of people huddled around the television hung in the top corner of the room, turned to a news station, the scene of the accident clear as day in the dull colors of the outdated technology. The voiceover newsperson was rambling on about the weather being dangerous to drive in, and how one car skidded, and another car seemed to slide, and this happened, and that, but the boys were focused on a specific car, crunched into a tiny piece of metal in the center of the pileup.

"K-Kurt," David choked out shakily, grasping the pale boy's shoulder with a slightly trembling hand. "Kurt, that's Blaine's car."

Kurt felt his heart speed up about 20 times its natural, healthy speed, but he found himself shaking his head feverishly. "No, no it's not," he decided indefinitely, though his eyes burned as he focused in on the small, black BMW. The 750i xDrive Sedan. The car he just saw Blaine leave in with his freak of an older brother, with its custom, red, spinning tire rims. But no, it couldn't be…

"Oh fuck, it is! Holy shit! It has the red rims and everything!" Trent exclaimed, sounding more shocked than anything else.

But Kurt was still shaking his head, back and forth, back and forth. No, that was not Blaine's car…

The news station shifted to another story, and the office administrative workers turned it off, and the small crowd began to dissipate, though a few of those who heard the boys' outbursts gave them sympathetic looks.

"Kurt –" Jeff began, but was cut off when the fair-skinned boy turned sharply away from him, yanking his phone out of his pocket, his hands frantically shaking as he dialed his boyfriend, holding the phone up to his ear with both hands, the tears in his eyes beginning to form.

"Hey, it's Blaine. I'm not here right now, so leave me a message, and I'll call you back –"

Kurt's phone cracked up the side as he dropped it hard on the tiled floor. He stared intently at the glass doors leading to the outside world. Past the small set of stairs leading to the parking lot. The last place he saw Blaine. The last place he might ever associate with the precious boy with dark, curly hair and an eyebrow piercing. An eyebrow piercing and a tattoo over his heart that he got for Kurt.

Kurt thought back to that weekend and the tattoo he chose for his boyfriend and choked, falling forward onto his knees and not even feeling it when Finn grasped him from behind, holding him close. He felt his body heaving and gagging, and he was surprised when he saw no vomit on the floor in front of him. Perhaps all the vomiting he had done earlier when his hypothermia had settled down had rid his body of the reflex altogether.

His vision blurred and he reasoned rationally that he must be crying, but his body was so unnaturally numb that for all he knew, he could be going blind, because he couldn't feel it either way.

He didn't know how long he knelt on the floor, sobbing, but each moment, each painstakingly harsh breath he took, he felt the pain in him grow, like each breath in was two steps of hurt and each exhale was only a single step of relief. It cumulated until he felt like his entire body was threatening to explode, or implode, or cease, entirely.

He remembered feeling similar when he thought Blaine had overdosed, though his feelings for the boy were much more closeted at the time, but something about this, a car accident, it was so different, so horrendously normal and usual, that it was like a shock ran through his body at idea of someone, anyone, dying that way.

The idea that someone could die, just trying to go home, just trying to get somewhere. To work, to school, to the movies, to the store…

His knees stung from where they crunched into the hard ground beneath him.

"T-turn it back on," he coughed, talking to no one in particular, "please! I need to see it!"

He found himself somehow facing the television again, being supported by a medley of different sets of arms, watching as the news covered something completely unimportant and unrelated, and he felt like he was slowly slipping away, like he might faint, or dissolve into nonexistence, but either way, black was certainly closing in around the corners of his vision… He could hardly see, and the sounds around him fuzzed out until he heard some kind of static chaos. He couldn't feel or think, and he was almost certain that if he tried, he wouldn't be able to smell or taste, either…

"Kurt? What's going on?"

Kurt felt like the next few seconds of his life were in slow motion.

He turned around and saw the flash of the form and body and curly head of hair he knew so, so, so freakishly well, and the corners of his vision merged into his line of sight and he was consumed by darkness.

"Kurt! Kurt!" Kurt felt a strong, chilled pair of strong arms latch around his front as his legs gave out, but he only knew because he felt the unmistakable drop in the pit of his stomach that one felt when falling quickly, or riding a rollercoaster. His legs themselves were still void of feel. "Baby, please, what's going on? You're scaring me," Blaine mumbled, and Kurt realized he could feel it vibrating against his skin. And he could feel again. And hear. Blaine.

Kurt only realized then how hard he was crying, and how sore his entire body was from earlier that day, throbbing in pain. "Blaine! I – I – I –" Words weren't working, but his vision cleared up and he saw before him the beautiful man that he had absolutely no idea he had fallen so in love with.

Because, holy shit, he was.

Kurt was in love with Blaine…

The pale boy jolted as a particularly sore spot on his rib shot through his nerves, and he winced in pain, tears of so many kinds leaking from his eyes and his emotions in ten-thousand places.

Blaine was panic-ridden, running his eyes over his obviously-traumatized boyfriend, and glanced back behind him, through the glass doors, where his older brother was seemingly yelling to a cell phone, shielded under the slight ledge of the roof from the increasingly intense weather. "Come here," Blaine tried, finding himself choking on his own words, and pulled the boy with him into the junior commons, and sat down on one of the large, leather chairs, pulling Kurt down beside him so they were very close to each other. "Shhh, it's okay. Kurt. Kurt, what's going on?"

Kurt willed himself to relax, to come back into some form of reality and normal sense of feeling, so he knew this was all real. "I-I – I thought it was you," he ended up sobbing out, his breath hitching in his throat. When Blaine stared at him with a completely puzzled look, he continued. "O-on TV, they showed the a-accident," he attempted a deep breath, but it turned out shaky, "and we thought it was your c-c-car," he fell into his boyfriend's shoulder, and grasped at it hungrily, desperately.

Blaine clamped his eyes shut, suddenly understanding. "Shhh, baby, it wasn't me, I'm okay… It's okay…"

"I don't – I don't know what I'd do…if I lost you, Blaine. I-I… I… I couldn't…"

Blaine held him tight to his chest, trying to figure out how tight he could possibly hold him without angering the bruises and hurt on his body. "Hey, come on, shhh,"

Kurt regained a slight amount of sanity, pulling away from the other boy enough to look him in the eye. "Really, Blaine… I don't… I don't think I could live if that happened… If you weren't in my life right now…"

Blaine's breath caught in his throat. Everything he'd been thinking about before… Every doubt he'd had, every question of their relationship… "Really…?"

Kurt's already-hysterical face turned into one of disbelief and shock, holding the intense gaze of his boyfriend's deep, hazel eyes, looking at him so hopefully and full of need. "Yes," he reached forward to touch Blaine's stubbly face, simply running his hands over it in some kind of frantic attempt to be closer to him, to feel him, "of course really! Why would you – ? Why would you think anything different…? I – I know we had our little…fight today, Blaine, but I thought you knew how much you…mean to me…"

Blaine nodded slowly, biting his lips, trying to choke down his tears. "I just… Kurt… Before… When I was trying to talk to you…" Kurt nodded, urging him to continue, still keeping his hand firm on the curly-haired boy's face. "The guys were… They were warning me because they were – afraid that I was…more invested in this relationship than you are…" Kurt tilted his head to the side, giving him a look that suggested otherwise. "…And… I just – I got super freaked out and started…reading into everything too much. And… I wanted to say…I'm sorry. For being so…" He trailed off, ending with a sigh that spoke the unsaid words.

Kurt waited a moment, watching his eyes, seeing for sure that he was finished talking. "That's what that was all about…?"

Blaine let out a sniffle-laugh, swallowing audibly. "Y-yeah. I was… I was pretty dumb… I mean, they were pretty dumb…"

Kurt blinked slowly, opening his eyes again to stare back at the other boy, smiling softly and dropping his hand from Blaine's face to gently caress his hand. "They were just…trying to look out for you… Be good friends, and all that…"

"But they were wrong…" Blaine trailed off weakly, just watching those glasz eyes, hoping to get some kind of validation or confirmation of this statement.

Kurt hummed a sympathetic noise and pulled them together so their foreheads were touching, staring deeply into his love's eyes… Because that's what Blaine was… His love. "So…so wrong, baby…" He shook his head slightly for emphasis and sighed deeply… "Blaine, I…" Kurt pulled away enough that he could look at his boyfriend's face, holding their steady gaze. "I am…so in love with you," he said it with so much confidence and truth, but his voice still shook with emotion as the words left his lips.

Blaine let the air in his mouth escape in a hot breath, and he blinked back a few tears that threatened to fall, letting the warmest smile that he ever felt grace his lips. "I… Oh god, I… I love you, Kurt… So much," he breathed a heavy sigh and surged forward to connect their lips, but just briefly, because he pulled away shortly after to simply embrace the boy he loved.

The boy that loved him.

A/N Blah blah blah :| So, it ended at an odd spot, but I have this whole...thing happening next, and... You know what? Just don't question it X_X Just accept it for what it is and hope the next one's better...
And FYI, the horrible virus I got showed itself in the way that anytime you open anything on your computer, it'll say it's infected. Ex: iTunes is infected! Firefox is infected! Because it's acting like a FAKE ANTIVIRUS! D: I figured it out pretty quickly that they weren't actually infected, but the problem is, you can't open any damn programs, and thank the LAWD that my brother is a computer genius. So...watch out for that one, folks! Love you all and sorry again for all the bull you had to put up with from me ;_;