Author's Note: Hello again! :) How is everyone? I've been trying to prepare a little "present" for the holidays in the form of a oneshot, so if any of you are interested that might be up soon (if I can come up with something to write…). Also, I just wanted to give another HUGE thank you to my reviewers; your comments never fail to make me smile!

As for this chapter, I basically just unearthed a boatload of emotions and tossed them onto my keyboard. And I may have gotten a little teary-eyed writing some of this… but you know… feelings. And lots of fluff.

Anyway, it's not a very long scene, but I felt that this part needed a chapter all its own. I hope you like! I'll have more posted as soon as I can. :)

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the show Glee.

~Chapter 15: Words~

Blaine's first thought was that his whole body felt strange. He blinked, trying to come to terms with why everything about waking up suddenly felt so unfamiliar. And… and where was he?

Then he saw Kurt's face.

It was nice waking up to Kurt.

Blaine smiled. It felt bizarre, detached from his body, almost, and he didn't understand why. Oh, well. It didn't matter to him where they were or why everything felt weird… Kurt was here. That was the important thing. Blaine opened his mouth to speak, but even his voice seemed wrong. "Hi," he managed hoarsely. It was like his throat had been sandpapered.

Kurt burst into tears.

"Kurt?" Blaine asked, his eyes widening in confusion. Kurt. Beautiful, incredible Kurt. Blaine couldn't figure out what had gone wrong, and it scared him.

"Blaine, you unbelievable idiot! Why would you do that to me? Acting like some kind of delusional-"

As Kurt's words broke off into sobs, Blaine blinked in surprise. This was all his fault, whatever it was. His beautiful Kurt was crying because of him, and he didn't know what to do because his memory was all in a haze… He watched Kurt lean forward, his head falling into his hands and his elbows resting along the edge of Blaine's hospital bed.

His hospital bed.

Oh, god.

Blaine raised a hand tentatively into his line of sight, turning it, observing the bandaged skin there as memories of Kurt's shock, of insensitive firemen, and of running into burning buildings flooded his mind. He coughed, an unpleasant reminder of the smoke pressing all around him as the theatre burned to the ground and almost took him down with it.

Oh, god. No wonder Kurt was so upset...

Kurt nearly flinched away as he felt Blaine's hand come to rest gently on his shoulder. His chest heaved with sobs, his thoughts spinning sporadically inside his head. Blaine. Blaine was awake now, and he was here with him. He was going to be perfectly fine. The burns were nothing major, and the doctors were confident that he would recover easily from the smoke inhalation. He was going to be fine. But… but if he hadn't been… then it would have been because of-

"Oh… Blaine…" Kurt choked out finally, tears boiling over again as he lifted his head and stared into Blaine's sleep-heavy eyes.

Kurt just couldn't bring himself to understand the fact that this boy had willingly put himself in so much danger, just for the sake of Kurt's happiness. Undeniably, the rescued photograph was more than Kurt could have ever asked for under the circumstances, and he was thankful to have it to keep. But the simple truth behind what Blaine had risked for him was just… too much.

"Blaine Anderson, you are an idiot," Kurt stated once more, wiping at his eyes and trying to steady his breathing.

Blaine smiled weakly. "So I hear."

Kurt knotted his hands together to stop them from shaking. He knew he was going to have to stop throwing all the aftermath of his panic at Blaine. It had been hours since he had watched that ambulance drive away from the scene of the fire, hours since he had decided exactly what he needed to say to Blaine. And now was the time to say it, and he felt choked and terrified by the weight of it.

Reality could be so very, very heavy, sometimes.

"Blaine?"

As their eyes met, Kurt couldn't help but lose himself for a moment in thought. Here was Blaine, who had rescued him from the bullies at Dalton and thrown him head-over-heels with a charm like nothing he had ever experienced before. Blaine, who had broken down all the walls between the two of them and given Kurt his first real kiss. Blaine, who, under a façade of self-confidence and skin so thick, was truly lost and afraid and just needed someone to care for him. Blaine, who only wanted Kurt to know that he loved him.

I think you know.

Kurt knew. Of course he knew, because who couldn't see what they had? Blaine loved him, and he was willing to do anything to prove it.

Blaine loved him.

"Blaine." Kurt sighed shakily, blinking back tears and biting his lip. He felt ridiculous, sitting here and saying nothing, when all he had to say was really so simple. But was it simple? Words could mean more than anything, sometimes. To Kurt, who had been so hurt by words in the past, and who wanted to say so many things but never could, feared only the substance of it all. He wanted everything he said to have real meaning, and when the stability of his heart was on the line, making mistakes just didn't feel like an option.

So, the other half of the question was… did Kurt know?

He had to know himself.

Blaine was different, and since they had first met, it was as if he was the only thing Kurt could think about. Then he started to become more than that, until Kurt couldn't fathom being apart from him.

Kurt knew Blaine's best qualities. He also knew what the world would see as Blaine's worst faults, but to Kurt they were just the little quirks that added up to make him so wonderful. He was not like anything Kurt had ever believed he wanted; instead, he was so much more and everything Kurt needed.

"I love you, Blaine," Kurt breathed finally, his heart swelling with each word and his eyes filling with tears all over again, in spite of the smile on his lips.

Blaine looked at him for a moment, blinking in surprise, taking in the meaning of Kurt's words. He reached out, grasping Kurt's hand and fitting their fingers together like matching puzzle pieces.

Their eyes met, and Blaine smiled. "I love you, too," he answered, and squeezed Kurt's hand softly.