Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any of these characters… if I did, Karofsky wouldn't exist anymore, Jesse wouldn't have been such an asshole (albeit one I believe legitimately fell for Rachel), and there would be a LOT more Blaine.

A/n: So I wrote this chapter twice; the first version just wasn't that good, and it ended up with Blaine and Kurt fighting in front of Wes and David… I just couldn't do that to them. I like where this one went much better, even if it is a little shorter than the original version of this chapter. Enjoy!

Blaine wasn't sure what had possessed him to ask Kurt that question; he wasn't even positive that Kurt was gay, because he knew appearances could be deceiving about things like that. Blaine was so caught up in thinking about how inappropriate and ridiculous his question had been that he almost missed Kurt's response. He shook his head, sighing.

"Sorry… I didn't catch that," Blaine said, hoping that Kurt would repeat himself.

"We chose to be just friends. You had feelings for someone else…"

Blaine sighed, closing his eyes. Given the things he'd noticed about Kurt since he'd woken up, Blaine had sort of hoped that there was something going on between him and Kurt. "So I'm with someone else? Where has he been?"

"No… you're single. It didn't work out." Blaine raised an eyebrow, even more confused now than he had been before.

"But… if I'm not with him…" Blaine shook his head, trying to sort it all out. It was starting making his head ache again. "Why aren't we together?" Blaine watched as Kurt seemed to think about how to respond to his question. Blaine shifted his weight, wincing as pain shot through his broken leg for a moment. He ended up moving so that he was leaning his weight against the bed right next to where Kurt was sitting. He did his best to turn himself so that he would be able to see Kurt's face when the other boy spoke, hoping that it would make it easier for him to figure out what Kurt was saying.

"We were both new to all of this… we chose not to ruin what we already had." Blaine reached out and put his good hand on Kurt's knee.

"What if we took things slow?" Blaine asked. He wasn't sure why, but Blaine felt like there were butterflies in his stomach the entire time he was sitting there with Kurt; it only seemed to get worse the closer he and Kurt got to one another.

"Blaine…" Blaine looked at Kurt, watching as tears started falling out of the other boy's eyes.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to upset you. We don't have to…" Blaine began, shifting so that he was moving further from Kurt and moving his hand away from Kurt. He was surprised when Kurt leaned in and pressed a kiss against his cheek, just barely missing his lips. The other boy's words were mumbled and all Blaine could pick up was a low murmur that he couldn't really understand.

"Kurt… I can't understand you. These things don't work very well."

"I want to be with you, Blaine… but I'm afraid you're going to hate me…" Blaine shook his head. So many things were confusing him now; there was too much to think about, too much that he no longer understood.

"So the nurse said no to you going outside. It's too cold…" Blaine turned his head as best he could so that he could see Wes, but the Asian boy wasn't far enough in the room for him to see. Blaine couldn't be sure if the boy had just trailed off in the middle of his thought or if he was still talking and Blaine just couldn't hear him, at least not until Wes asked a question. "Is everything okay?"

"It's fine. Just give us a minute, Wes…" Blaine slowly reached out and put a hand on Kurt's shoulder as he spoke. He waited a moment, hoping that the other boy was leaving them alone; Blaine couldn't hear the boy's footsteps or the door to know whether or not he and Kurt were alone. "Kurt, why would I hate you?"

"One of them went to my old school, Blaine… what if they were looking for me?" Blaine turned away from Kurt, thinking about what Kurt was saying. He didn't feel angry; Blaine didn't really feel any emotion about what Kurt had just told him. With the exception of frustration, confusion, and the strange feeling in the pit of his stomach when Kurt was around, Blaine hadn't really had to deal with any emotions since he'd woken up a few days earlier.

"Then they fucked up?" Blaine suggested, not sure of what else he could say to that question. For some reason he found not knowing what to say incredibly frustrating. Kurt just seemed to find it funny, and that made Blaine smile. "Kurt, I don't hate you. I don't know why I would for that…" Blaine did his best to wipe away the trails of tears from Kurt's eyes, leaning in to press a kiss against the younger boy's cheek. "The only thing I feel… Kurt, I think I'm in love. With you." Blaine watched Kurt's face carefully, trying to figure out what the other boy was thinking. He could tell that Kurt wanted to say something, that he was at least whispering something to himself. "Kurt… don't do that… I can't tell if you're trying to talk to me or not."

"I'm just trying to wrap my head around what you just said…" Blaine closed his eyes, shaking his head slightly.

"You don't have to say anything… I guess I just misunderstood." Blaine did his best to stand up again, leaning most of his weight on the crutch so that his leg wouldn't start hurting again. "Maybe you should just go… I think I'm going to get some more sleep."

"Blaine, that wasn't what I meant… Gaga, do you know how long I've been waiting to hear you say that?" Blaine closed his eyes, shaking his head until he felt a hand against his back. "Come sit down… you probably shouldn't be on your feet this much." Blaine let Kurt help him back the last few steps towards the bed until he could sit down again. He didn't even protest as Kurt helped him lift his broken leg back up into the bed and started propping it up on the pillows there before he hit the button to make the bed lean back a bit further.

"Will you stay with me?" Blaine asked.

"Of course… I'm not going anywhere right now." Blaine shook his head as he saw that Kurt was moving towards the recliner he had vacated a few minutes earlier.

"Will you sit here?" Blaine used his good hand to motion towards the large empty spot on the bed to his right, smiling hopefully at the younger boy who smiled and quickly moved to the other side of the bed to oblige. It was a little cramped, but Blaine didn't mind because it meant that Kurt was right next to him "I really do think I'm in love with you, Kurt. I don't know how else to explain what I'm feeling."

"I've been in love with you for a long time, Blaine. But we said we weren't going to let things get out of hand… that we were going to take things slow, try to stay just friends for a while." Blaine glanced down at his hand, which Kurt had taken in his own and started gently rubbing.

"So you're saying that you don't want us to be together?" Blaine asked.

"I'm saying that I think we should stick with our original plan. You didn't even remember my name, Blaine. You need time to heal, to think about things. Besides, once you get out of the hospital it's going to be a while before we can see each other again… I can't drive to Toledo very often, and I have to go home and visit my family. Carole's already starting to think that she's going to have to bribe me to get me to come home for the weekend."

"Kurt… don't overthink this so much. I'm just saying that I want to be with you. I'm not saying we have to start dating or anything. We can wait." Blaine gently squeezed Kurt's hand.

"We can text when you go home… talking on the phone probably won't work so well."

"I don't have a phone… I think it's in evidence or something," Blaine replied.

"We can get you a new one." Blaine looked up, smiling at the sight of his mother in the doorway. "Besides, you have a computer at home… there's always instant messaging." Blaine turned his head so that he could see Kurt's face, noting the slight smile there.

"We'll take this slow… I'll see you as much as possible, and we'll figure things out as we go." Blaine nodded slowly.

"Okay. Slow is good."