Important A/N: I recently found out that a beloved family member of mine has a tumor in her body and she has a great chance of catching cancer. Things became really emotional these past few weeks and I couldn't update last week. That's why I CAN'T thank y'all enough for reviewing/reading/favoriting! I've never experienced a death in my family before so this is a very scary situation and I teared up at the amount of support I've been getting from y'all so far. Cyber hugs!

Chapter 3:: Soft, Fragile, Hope

White Swallows. Blaine couldn't help but chuckle whenever he came down to visit his favourite gay bar in Brooklyn. Nestled comfortably between rows of thrift shops and a sketchy-looking groceries store, the Rated-R-named bar had already caught the eye of the hazel-eyed man when he had first bought his penthouse apartment down at the heart of Manhattan.

With a beach house at Long Island and a penthouse in Manhattan, having a quick drink with his best friend at White Swallows was just enough to help Blaine during his exhausting days at work and at home.

Clinking their glasses of beer with a laugh together, the two friends downed their drinks before opting to tell each other about the mishaps of their own days. How Blaine almost tripped and fell in the front lobby of MountCrest Publishing and how his best friend had to hail a taxi amidst a heavy downpour of rain in the city.

Their innocence prevented them from ever guessing that a horrible danger was about to lick its way through their lives and Blaine's eyesight was the cost to pay for it.

"You almost fell today?!" Blaine's company cackled with laughter, her glass of beer now almost empty. "That's fucking hilarious, Blaine!"

The man pouted, "It isn't funny, okay? I was mortified and worst of all, I had a cup of coffee with me when it happened and I was just glad to not spill it all over the floor or—oh my God, on somebody!"

"So, tell me, Hazel Eyes." The woman leaned towards her half-drunk friend with a raised eyebrow. "Is this some tactic you have? Ya know, potentially spilling coffee on perhaps... a hot gay guy? That would be a hilarious way to meet the one person you'll eventually get to call 'the love of you life'!"

Blaine snorted, "Course not! Why would this—" He lifted his fingers to make quotation marks. "—'hot gay guy' want to have a relationship with someone who spilled hot coffee over his clothes?! I could be responsible for giving the man scars for all I know..."

"But scars are sexy," the woman smirked and Blaine rolled his eyes.

"And that is a sign that we really need to get you home now. It's..." he checked his watch. "12.35am now and I also need to get up early tomorrow for another meeting with Graham—"

"Ugh, meeting this, meeting that. When did you become so boring, Anderson?" She crossed her arms.

Blaine laughed, "Shut up and grab your things. I'll drive you home."

By the time they paid everything and gathered their things, they walked out the back door which led to the gay bar's parking lot. The midnight sky was glooming and with the bright Moon above them, Blaine and his best friend began their journey towards the man's navy BMW.

But they never got to reach it.

"Where do you think you're going, you two?"

The eerie, foreign voice made them both turn around and—

"NO!"

Blaine sat up in his bed, his scared body lost in a hurricane of sweat and he felt his heart race. Unlike just a few moments before, his vision was now completely pitch black and it solemnly reminded him of his blindness.

Blind. Never thought I'd be identified with that word...

The man could feel the rustled sheets over him as his enhance hearing allowed him to hear the loud crashing waves out on the beach. He groaned as he knew that it was the same nightmare for nine days now. The nightmare that truly happened six months ago. He still remembered it vividly and as much as he tried to forget it, it continued to haunt him everyday.

"Blaine, are you okay? What's wrong?"

The man heard the masculine voice from the other side of his bedroom door and he suddenly felt his heart stop. It's Kurt.

Kurt had promised to take him down to the beach soon and Blaine, being afraid of getting lost, desperately wanted to get out of the house for a while. He needed fresh air, the cool breeze, the warmth of the sun on his face and he needed Kurt—

Woah, Blaine. Need Kurt? What's really going on with you? The man may be nice, sweet and all but he could never like a monster like me. If I wasn't blind, I would've treated him so badly right now. No one could ever like me. No one could ever like a monster.

"I-I heard some shouting from your room. Sure you're alright?"

Fuck, he really cares about my well-being?

"I-I'm fine, Kurt! Nothing to worry about!"

He heard a faint "okay", some shuffling of footsteps before it all faded to silence. It was then that it finally hit him.

He really needs Kurt. He needs someone—other than Santana—who could be there to help him and protect him from the dark. He needs someone who can assist him in finishing his novel. And he needs someone to bond with.

Kurt, a walk down the beach surely does sound like a great idea now.

Kurt was worried. He knew what he heard. And it didn't sound like Blaine was okay. But then he remembered what Santana had told him yesterday.

He may be blind and all but he hates it when people take pity on him and he hates it even more when people think that he's too fragile to be by himself.

He felt his phone ring in his pocket and he fished it out, raising a curious eyebrow at the caller ID while he trekked down to the kitchen where Santana was busy starting on breakfast.

"Hey, Graham!"

"Kurt, how are you? Has Blaine been alright with you in his house so far?"

The concerned tone in his boss's voice made Kurt pause. The first question Graham had asked made him think about a lot of things.

I have a crush on Blaine and I can't stop thinking about him! He's been really nice to me so far and sweet Gaga, I think I'm gonna—

"I'm fine. Blaine's been good to me so far and today, we're gonna start working on his novel together."

An exasperated sigh filled his ear, "Oh that's great! I know that Blaine isn't exactly—"

"—fond of having a stranger in his home? Yeah, I know."

"Exactly, so it's good to hear that everything's alright then."

"He's still hesitant towards me but I think he's starting to accept my presence here. He said he wanted to walk down the beach sometime soon with me—"

"Oh, Kurt. You have to do it!"

Graham's sudden voice made Kurt frown. "Wait, do what?"

"Take a walk down the beach with him. He's been deathly afraid of leaving his house ever since the accident and Santana and I have always tried our best to get him out. He needs to live, Kurt. He needs to start reliving his life and of course, I know that he's still damaged and hurt by what happened but I think that walking down the beach with him is a great idea."

The concern in Graham's voice caused Kurt's lips to form a smile, "You're a really a good friend to Blaine, aren't you?"

"I try," Graham muttered.

"Alright, I'll ask him if he wants to go today."

"Great! Now I wish you guys the best of luck with the novel and hope to hear more from you, Kurt."

"Thanks, Graham." Kurt beamed. By the time he hung up, he was already in the kitchen and he almost gasped when he saw a smirking Santana before her, a hand on her hip.

"Nice pyjamas, Hummel." She chuckled.

The man looked down at his outfit and cursed inwardly at having forgotten to change before heading down in the first place. Oh great!

"So this is where you live, Brit?"

The blonde woman looked at Quinn who'd asked the question while she unlocked the sloppy door to her untidy apartment in Brooklyn. Quinn knew that it was already Sunday which means that she should be home preparing her daughter for her first day of school tomorrow and with Puck almost always out of the house all day, she already has a lot on her plate. But when her eyes fell upon the poor-quality furniture, the untidy pile of newspapers and magazines on the coffee table and the unwashed dishes in the kitchen, Quinn knew that her Brittany was under dire financial strains.

"Yup, this piece of dump's been my home for years now." Brittany deadpanned as she welcomed her guests into her apartment, throwing her fall jacket onto a counter as she closed the front door behind her.

"I thought you were studying to become a professional dancer back in Lima, Brit." Rachel half-smiled as memories of Brittany's hilarious yet nonsensical one-liners back in glee club flashed in her mind.

"Parents couldn't afford the tuition so I picked up a job at waitressing at Breadstix after my freshman year and college just wasn't affordable anymore so... here I am now. A waitress at some restaurant in Manhattan. Some American dream, huh?"

Rachel and Quinn innocently chuckled before looking back at their friend, both grateful at their reunion after several years. "Hey, if you want, Brit, you could move in with me and Kurt. We have an extra bedroom in our apartment and you can stay as long as you want," Rachel suggested.

"K-Kurt?" Brit's eyebrows shot up. "How's he doing now? Is he doing fine?"

"Yeah, he's great and he's off in Long Island for the next three months on a temporary job. You wanna meet him?"

Brit half-shrugged, "I missed seeing his ridiculous bowties, knee-high boots and his perfect hair. I really do miss that unicorn."

While Quinn smiled at Brit's past nickname for Kurt, Rachel stepped forward. "So whaddaya say? Move in with me and Kurt? Besides, Kurt won't be home for a long while so there's much more room for us girls!"

Brit grinned at Rachel's enthusiasm—something that used to annoy her and Quinn back at McKinley—but she shook her head. "I-I don't want to intrude—"

"Nonsense, you're moving with us and that's not a question. I hate seeing you so lonely and always struggling with your bills. Plus, we'd get to catch up even more."

"Yeah, Brit. We've missed you," Quinn supplied. "Still can't believe we've all been living in New York all this time and we never once encountered you."

She sighed, "Okay, fine. But I also have to pay a part of the rent, Rachel. It's the least I can do..."

"Yeah, that's fine. Now how does a Starbucks mocha latte sound?"

Quinn felt her heart warm when she saw the grateful smile on Brittany's face while she said, "That sounds lovely."

Santana had been alarmed when Blaine emerged from his bedroom—adorably still dressed in his Hogwarts-themed pyjamas—to come down for breakfast that morning. She had always brought the food to his bedroom and she never once suggested him to sometimes at least have meals down in the dining room. And she knew that Kurt's presence was slowly drawing the blind man out of his world of darkness. It was then that it suddenly occurred to her.

Kurt's the one.

Kurt's the person Blaine's yearning for since high school. How the man has been so kind, gentlemanly and soft-hearted towards Blaine ever since his first day. And the funny thing is that Kurt doesn't know that he's slowly helping Blaine heal.

Santana suddenly felt a bulb light up in her head as a great idea made her smirk evilly.

If Blaine's too scared to let Kurt in, I'll make sure he will.

"Camping."

Kurt and an even more confused Blaine looked up from their positions in the blind man's study. They had finally begun working on the novel together and Blaine had to admit that Kurt was a really intelligent and well-rounded man. Kurt's suggestions on how to continue the mystery-suspense novel really opened Blaine's eyes up (no pun intended) for the possible scenes that were to come within the story. While they were working on the novel, Kurt had a tape recorder with him to tape Blaine's thoughts on how the book should end and they would debate on how to continue it.

"I'm sorry? Did you say... camping?" Blaine finally asked, confusion still etched on his face. Kurt could only stare at Santana with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, I did, Professor Deaf." The Latina rolled her eyes, "You two should go camping for just one night out on the beach together. It could help with getting more inspiration for your book. Plus, you two get to bond more and Blaine, you'll be able to finally get out of this house for a while."

"What? That's absolutely the worst id—"

"Let's do it."

Both Santana and Blaine—using his enhanced hearing to face the location of Kurt's sudden voice—faced the newcomer, the woman with a grin and the man with a what-the-fuck stare.

"See, both me and Kurt agree that you guys should go out there and—"

"San, you do realize that I can't see, right?" Blaine just had to point the elephant in the room and the Latina sighed.

"Yes, Captain Obvious. I can see that and I truly believe that this'll be a good experience for you, Blaine. I trust Kurt and I know that he'll never let anything bad happen to you out there. Besides, I know the perfect spot out on the beach by the end of the woods where you can set up tent."

"I-I don't know—" Blaine tried to reject her idea but Kurt wasn't having it.

Dad used to teach me how to camp in the wild back when I was young. As much I still hate getting my clothes dirty out there, I'm perfectly able to go with Blaine. Kurt thought. Sweet Gaga, I forgot to call Dad yesterday and tell him about my new temporary job!

"Blaine, I'll be there to hold your hand every step of the way when we leave the house. I won't let anything bad happen to you."

The blind man knew he was going to lose his battle and so he just sighed in defeat. "Alright, but not tonight though. Soon, we'll do it soon. Just... not tonight."

"I understand," Kurt nodded in agreement, hoping that he didn't push him into agreeing to something he didn't feel comfortable.

"Look at you, Blaine. You're slowly coming out of your shell. I know that you're still hurting but this is going to be good for you. Promise." Santana stepped forward to place a supportive hand on the man's shoulder, earning her a sigh from the man. "I'm proud of you, Blaine."

The man's lips curved into a small smile. "Gee, thanks Mom."

Santana and Kurt burst into a fit of laughter and before long, the Latina left to give the two men privacy to continue working. Kurt couldn't believe it. He was helping his idol finish the next instalment of the Into the Darkness novel series and Blaine Anderson was actually supportive of his own suggestions!

Holy crap, this is so—

"You'd r-really w-want to do this f-for me?"

The unexpected question made Kurt look up from his notebook and he smiled. Seeing Blaine so cornered and hesitant sometimes made him look like an adorable sweet little puppy.

"I want you to start living again, Blaine." Kurt exclaimed. "You can't always stay in here forever. You have to get out there and enjoy life outside your house—"

"But I'm blind," Blaine looked down with a saddened expression. "Won't that be a little burdensome for you to have to hold my hand every single second when we go out?"

"Hey, don't be like that." Kurt reached over the desk to place his hand over Blaine's, his heart unexpectedly skipping when he felt the warmth that radiated off his superior's skin. "I'm perfectly okay with holding your hand all the time—"

"Promise me you won't let anything bad happen." Blaine interrupted him as memories of that awful night revisited his mind. He didn't want anything like that to happen again. He never wanted to go through that again. And putting all his trust on Kurt seemed very daunting and scary.

You have to learn to trust again, Blaine. You can't maintain anything in life if you can't trust.

"I promise with all my heart, Blaine." Kurt leaned in, his fingers gently interlocking with Blaine's to further prove his point and he felt the blind man relax under his touch. "You can trust me."

Blaine could only nod slowly, silently wondering what he just got himself into. He hasn't left this prison aka his home in such a long time and he desperately wanted to trust Kurt with this. But deep down, he still wanted to shrivel up like a scared armadillo and hide in a corner away from all his insecurities, troubles and struggles. He wanted this nightmare to stop. He needed someone to help him get out of this dark dungeon of darkness.

Okay, Kurt. He sighed while his mind grew defeated against his brewing thoughts. I'll try.

A/N: There's a reason why Brittany's been part of the story so far—and it'll shock you ;) And at rough times like nowadays, I'd really love to hear what you guys have to say about this!