Hey guys, it's me again! I'm excited to bring you this next chapter so early. My new year's resolution was to write more and to write everyday, and it seems to have payed off so far since I got this done in about a week. I did cheat a little bit because part of this chapter came from one of the 3 versions of the last chapter that I wrote, which is probably also why this chapter is up so early. Anyways, I really hope you like this chapter because I really enjoyed writing it.

Warning: smut

The next few weeks passed in a similar fashion to that Monday. Kurt went to school and continued reading through his book whenever he had the time, and Blaine went to work and continued grading the seemingly never ending pile of student's assignments and tests and making lesson plans when he wasn't. It was late in December, close to finals and winter break, when Kurt finally, finally found a spell he thought could help his dad.

It happened on a random Sunday when Kurt was at the hospital visiting Burt. His father's condition had remained the same as always, with no improvement that anyone could see. Kurt still went to the hospital almost daily though, to talk to both the doctors and his father. He talked about everything with his dad, from little things like the grade he got on his history quiz to Blaine being his soulmate. He happened to be gushing about Blaine (again) when he found the spell.

"Dad, I really hope you'll like Blaine. I mean, yes he's a vampire and yes he's an Anderson, so I'd understand your hesitance, but he is so kind and cares about me and he has done absolutely nothing to ever make me think that he'd hurt me. I've told you that he saved my life, right? I think I did…" Kurt trailed off and turned his attention to the book in his lap. The thing had to be thousands of pages long, and with multiple spells on each page, there was no way he would find the one he was looking for.

Kurt sighed, but continued his reading nonetheless. His eyes threatened to drop shut more after every word he read. Without realizing, he had begun to read out loud in his fatigue with a sleepy voice. "Healing fire gives the user the ability to…," he trailed off, yawning. He shook his head to try to clear it of the tiredness and continued reading. "... gives the user the ability to heal the wounds of himself or another… person…," Kurt's eyes finally drifted shut as he read the words aloud. Though, he didn't stay sleeping for long. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed, springing awake and sending the book flying off his lap. He quickly picked up the book and continued to read the passage. "Healing fire can be used to treat ailments of all kinds, including physical, emotional, and mental!" His voice sped up and he became more and more excited as he continued. "The fire is completely harmless and can be created by any person with magic and a pure soul! Haha!" He looked up and took his dad's hand. "Dad, this could work! Oh! I gotta go find Blaine. We need to start practicing right away!"

With a quick kiss to his father's forehead, Kurt was off. He ran out to the parking lot, ignoring the shouts of doctors and nurses not to. He sped home, not caring how many laws he was breaking. When he reached Blaine's apartment in record time, he burst through the front door and raced to the living room where he knew he would find the man. As he suspected, Blaine was right where he left him an hour or so ago, grading homework on the couch. The vampire's head flew up at the noise his soulmate was making as he came in.

"Blaine!" he shouted before reaching the room. "Blaine! I think I found it!" Kurt rounded the corner and found himself in the living room. His grin split across his face from ear to ear.

"Found what, Kurt?" Blaine asked, setting his papers aside. Kurt smiled even wider, if possible, and sat down on the couch next to Blaine. Only then did he notice the book Kurt was clutching. "Oh my gods, do you mean…?"

"Yes! I found something I think will help my dad," he said excitedly.

"Well?" Blaine pressed. "Come on, out with it! What did you find?" Even though Kurt's father would probably hate Blaine, he couldn't help but feel happy and excited that they may be close to healing him. If Kurt was happy, Blaine would be too.

"It's called Healing Fire," Kurt explained while opening the book to the earmarked page. He turned the book so that Blaine could read it. "It says that it can cure any ailment, whether it be physical, mental, or emotional, and that any pure-souled person with magic can create it."

Blaine read the rest of the information about the healing fire, and his excitement for Kurt diminished the more he read. "Kurt…," he trailed off with a frown. "Did you read the rest of this?"

"No… I- I read the beginning and got really excited and came home immediately. Why? What does it say?" he asked worriedly.

"It says that the spell to create it is very powerful and requires an experienced magician, and that someone can only create it once, meaning that you'd have to keep it lit for an extended period in our case," Blaine sighed. Kurt frowned and frantically read the passage, seeing what Blaine had just said. He felt like he was going to burst into tears. He'd only had magic for a few months, there was no possible way he could create the fire with so little experience, right?

"No," Kurt said shaking his head. "No. I can do it! I will do it, just you watch." A determined look fixed itself upon his face before he got up, snatched the book from Blaine, marched to his room, and slammed the door behind him. Blaine sighed. It was good that Kurt was determined to help his father, but Blaine feared that he'd hurt or over exert himself in the process.

(*)

As the week came to an end, Blaine realized that his fear was coming true. In the three days since Kurt had found a spell to help his father, the vampire had barely seen his mate. Kurt came out once a day for food, always at Blaine's insistence, but that was it. He could hear the boy chanting the same words over and over for hours everyday. After every time, he would hear Kurt groan, curse, or sometimes shout in frustration before immediately doing it again.

By Wednesday, he'd had enough. Kurt hadn't talked to him and had barely come out of his room since the day he found the spell, and when Blaine heard something being thrown against the wall and Kurt start crying, he knew he had to do something.

"Kurt?" he said, knocking lightly on the boy's closed door. "Kurt, sweetheart, can I come in?" He barely heard the mumbled "yes" before he was in the room. The sight of his mate's red, tear stained face made Blaine's heart hurt. "Oh, sweetheart," he murmured. A broken sob from the boy was all it took for Blaine to rush over to the bed where Kurt was sitting and gather him into his arms, rocking the younger boy and whispering words of comfort into his ear.

"I - I- I," Kurt choked out in between sobs.

"Shh, deep breaths, baby, deep breaths. There you go, breathe with me."

"I… I just don't understand, Blaine," Kurt sniffled. "Why can't I do it?" he cried.

Blaine sighed and rubbed his hand up and down Kurt's arm. "I don't know, honey, I really don't, but I don't think you should be so hard on yourself. You've barely eaten anything, I know you haven't been sleeping or showering, and it looks like you haven't moved in a while. You're missing school around one of the most important times of the year, too. I know how important your dad is to you, but you need to take care of yourself if you want your magic to work," he said softly.

"I know," Kurt whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, I understand."

"It's just…" he trailed off with a sniffle, "I really want this to work. No, I need this to work."

"I know," Blaine whispered. "And I know you'll make it work somehow. If there's anything I've learned about you, it's that you're stubborn and determined when it comes to things that matter. There is no doubt in my mind that you'll figure it out soon. But Kurt," he paused, "If you want that to happen you need to relax and take care of yourself. Your dad would be heartbroken if he saw you like this." Kurt frowned but nodded.

"I know," he sighed. "You're right." Kurt sniffled again before closing his eyes and laying his head down on his mate's shoulder.

"How about I go draw you a bath and make you something to eat, hm?" Blaine said, rubbing Kurt's back soothingly.

"Okay," Kurt sniffled. He let Blaine lead him to his en-suite bathroom where the older man began filling the bathtub before helping Kurt out of his clothes.

"Is this okay?" he asked as he unbuttoned Kurt's shirt. The man in question nodded his head in response. Since the makeout incident with Blaine's fangs, the two had been increasingly more intimate as time went on. They hadn't gone past heavy making out, always stopping when things got too heated. Still, Kurt was becoming more and more comfortable with the intimacy and thought he was okay now with Blaine seeing him naked. Blaine continued to tenderly strip Kurt of his clothes, only stopping when the boy was only clad in his underwear. By then, the tub had filled up most of the way. Blaine shut off the taps before turning to Kurt.

"You wanna get in and tell me if it's okay?" He asked. Kurt nodded before ridding himself of underwear and stepping into the warm water. "Good?" Blaine asked when Kurt said nothing. Kurt nodded yes, and Blaine took it as his cue to go. "Okay. I'm gonna go make you something to eat then," he said. Before he could get up from his seat on the edge of the bathtub, Kurt grabbed his wrist to keep him from leaving.

"Join me?" he asked in a quiet voice.

Blaine gaped at the boy for a moment, but eventually nodded his agreement with a small smile, figuring Kurt didn't want to be alone and needed comfort at that moment. He quickly shed his clothing, adding to the growing pile of clothes on the floor. When he was fully naked, Kurt moved from his position in the bath so that Blaine could get in behind him. Blaine carefully slid into the bath trying not to splash the water around. As soon as he was settled, Kurt slid back and leaned against Blaine so that his back was fully pressed against the vampire's chest. He then rested his head on Blaine's shoulder and sighed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, closing his eyes.

"What for, sweetheart?" Blaine asked, rubbing his mate's shoulders in what he hoped was a comforting way.

"For just being a mess. For shutting you out. I didn't mean to do any of this, but the need to get the spell right just consumed me and made everything else seem unimportant."

"Kurt, my sweet boy, I already told you that you don't have to apologize. I understand."

"Thank you," Kurt whispered.

"I have an idea," Blaine said after a few minutes of silence.

"What's that," Kurt asked, opening his eyes and looking at Blaine since the first time he got in the bath.

"After finals and exams are over and school's out for winter break, I think we should take a much needed little vacation. The Anderson's have this great little cabin on the lake that I think you would like. It's pretty secluded and really pretty in the winter."

"Okay," Kurt smiled.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I haven't been to a lake since… gosh I don't know how long. My dad used to have some fishing buddies up near Michigan, so we went to see them a lot during the summers. I've never gone during the winter though."

"I have, just once. A little while after I was turned, Xavier took me up there and let me know I could use it whenever I wanted. You know, if the ice is thick enough, we could probably try to skate on it," Blaine said.

"Really?" Kurt asked in an excited voice.

"Yes. Would you want to do that?"

"That would be amazing, Blaine."

"Then it's settled. I'll call Xavier tomorrow and let him know we'll be up there."

Kurt smiled. "I can't wait," he said. He paused before speaking again. "We still have to get through finals thought," he said with a fake pout. Blaine laughed and kissed it.

"It won't be that bad," he said, trying to be reassuring.

"Says the one who doesn't have three tests per day for the next few days."

"How about I help you study each night, then?" Blaine propositioned.

"That would be great."

"Okay. Besides, my test isn't going to be hard. And I'm letting you guys make a cheat sheet since I know you can't really study for a math exam."

"That's one less thing to study for, then," Kurt sighed.

"What do you have first?"

"On Monday I have French, which I can pass in my sleep, English, and Government. I just need to study for the last two, really."

"Okay, we can get started with those later then. By the way, I managed to get the work you missed these last few days from the rest of your teachers, so you should probably start working on that once we get out of here."

Kurt pouted again. "But I don't wanna do homework," he said.

"What do you want to do then?" Blaine asked.

"I bet I can think of something," Kurt said suggestively before turning around the best he could and pressing a kiss against Blaine's lips. Blaine let out a surprised yet pleasured moan at the feeling. He brought one of his hands up to cup Kurt's face gently as he kissed back rather hungrily, capturing Kurt's top lip between his own.

Over the past few weeks, they had spent a lot of time "practising" as Kurt had called it, and Blaine was able to successfully keep his fangs from coming out on their own will, no matter how turned on he got. This time, however, he felt himself losing control more quickly than ever before. Maybe it was the fact that they were both naked and wet and the more they "practised", the more sexually frustrated Blaine felt himself becoming. He was happy and willing to wait for his mate to be comfortable for them to go farther than kissing, but he prayed to the gods that Kurt would be ready soon, or else he felt like he would explode.

His wishes seemed to be miraculously answered when Kurt broke off from the kiss and slid his hand from where it was resting on Blaine's chest to below the water, dangerously close to Blaine's rapidly hardening cock.

"Can I?" he asked nodding toward where his hand was slowly but surely inching closer and closer to their destination.

"Kurt, wha-" Blaine breathed, looking incredibly confused by the turn of events. Misinterpreting Blaine's expression, Kurt quickly withdrew his hand from the water and sat back on his heels.

"Do you… do you not want me to?" he asked in a quiet voice, a hurt and confused expression on his face

"No!" Blaine exclaimed, reaching out to hold Kurt's face in his hands. "No. I definitely want you to. I was just surprised that you wanted to, is all."

"Oh," Kurt said, a small smile gracing his lips. "Okay." He started to push Blaine back to the position he was in previously, but the older man stopped him before he could do so. "What is it?" Kurt asked, the same hurt expression passing across his features again.

"How about we dry off and take this somewhere else?"

"Oh. Okay."

Kurt got out first and grabbed a towel off the rack by the tub. After Blaine had gotten out and let the water start to drain, Kurt used the towel to quickly but gently dry off his mate, avoiding the man's erection for the time being. Once he was done, Blaine grabbed a clean towel and did the same. He tossed the towel onto the pile of clothes for later once he was done drying Kurt's body before he pulled the younger man into a quick but heated kiss.

"Bedroom?" he asked. Kurt nodded his head with an eager expression. Blaine took his hand and led him back to his bedroom. Kurt sat on the bed before sitting back against the headboard without being instructed to. Blaine smiled and followed behind him, crawling up to the boy and greeting him with another kiss.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," Kurt smiled back.

"Before we do anything," Blaine started, "I need to know what you're comfortable with."

"I don't want… everything. At least not yet," Kurt replied with a blush. "But I'm okay with somethings."

"Like?"

"Like… just touching, I guess. For now."

Noticing some hesitation in Kurt's voice, Blaine asked, "Kurt? Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Yes, yeah I'm okay with it," he said. "I want to do this with you."

"Okay. If you're sure."

"I'm sure," Kurt insisted. "I've been wanting this for a while now, actually. I just didn't...know how to tell you. And when I was ready to tell you we always ended up doing something else or you were busy."

"Kurt, you know you can tell me anything, no matter what we're doing," Blaine said. "The things you want are important to me and you can always tell me, okay?"

"I know, I know. Now will you just shut up and kiss me?"

"Gladly."

Blaine surged up and captured Kurt's lips in what immediately became an intense and heated kiss. Kurt moaned and, even though he had gone soft during their conversation, found himself instantly hard again. As Blaine moved to lay his body against Kurt's, Kurt felt himself blush at the feeling of Blaine's own hardness against his hip, causing him to moan into the kiss again.

Never would Kurt have thought that he'd be doing this before he left Ohio. He always expected to meet his soulmate in New York, when he was older and in college. He didn't even think he'd be ready to do something like this until at least college, but Blaine made him feel so ready. Blaine, loving, warm, beautiful Blaine was nothing he'd ever expected, but everything he needed. If he wasn't so young and their relationship wasn't so new, Kurt would almost go so far as to say he loved Blaine. But that would be ridiculous, right? Sure they'd known each other for almost five months now, but Kurt had spent 3 and a half of those months too terrified to even look at Blaine sometimes. But in the last month and a half that they'd been together, Kurt realized that nothing in his life had felt so right before. Nothing had ever made him feel so happy and loved as he felt with Blaine. He could easily imagine himself spending the rest of his life with this man and never getting tired of him, and if that wasn't love, Kurt didn't know what was. He didn't want to say this to Blaine yet, but he knew it probably wouldn't be long before he did.

Caught up in his thoughts, Kurt didn't notice Blaine moving around his until he felt a hand wrap around his cock. Blaine had laid himself over Kurt so that their dicks were aligned before he grabbed them both with one hand and stroked, working his hand up and down their shafts, eliciting moans from both men.

Kurt broke off their kiss to moan again loudly before bucking his hips up to try and get more friction going. Blaine continued to kiss Kurt, first moving across his jaw with open mouthed kisses and then moving down to the boy's pale, delicious neck and gently sucking the skin there, knowing he'd probably leave marks.

"Blaine," Kurt moaned. "More, please…"

"Like what?" he asked after he stopped sucking marks onto Kurt's neck. "Tell me what you want."

"Just touch me," Kurt said with a breathy moan.

"I am touching you," Blaine smirked.

"Blaine," Kurt whined, his voice sounding wrecked and so incredibly sexy that Blaine couldn't not give him what we wanted.

Blaine let go of their cocks and slid down Kurt's body slightly. After placing his hand on Kurt's hip, so close to where Kurt wanted it, Blaine made a trail of open mouthed kisses from Kurt's jawline to his neck, and then to the sensitive nipples on his chest. He gently licked one bud, looking up from underneath his eyelashes to gage Kurt's reactions.

The boy looked positively wrecked at this point. Beads of sweat had begun to form on his forehead and neck, and his eyes were closed in pleasure. His chest was rising and falling rapidly with his breaths. Blaine stopped his ministrations for a moment just to be able to take in the image. The fact that he caused that made him impossibly harder against Kurt's thigh. Knowing his mate would be getting impatient soon, he licked over one of his nipples again before taking it into his mouth and sucking while at the same time grasping the boy's erection with his hand. The sucking wet heat on his nipple and the firm grip on his cock made Kurt's back arch, launching him slightly off the bed.

"Did you like that, my love?" Blaine asked with a small laugh.

"Yes," Kurt exhaled, his voice sounding impossibly more wrecked than before.

"Good," Blaine said before diving straight back in and continuing his previous actions.

"Blaine-" Kurt gasped. "Close… I'm close."

Hearing this, Blaine doubled his efforts. He switched his mouth to Kurt's other nipple and used his free hand to continue teasing the one he just let go. The hand on Kurt's dick tightened its grip as he stroked harder and faster, causing his mate to make the most delicious noises that Blaine ever had the pleasure of listening to. Without realizing it, he also started grinding his own dick against Kurt's hip.

When Kurt came, it was with a gasp that sounded suspiciously like 'Blaine'. The older man continued to stroke Kurt through his orgasm, only stopping when he could sense that the oversensitivity was getting to be too much for the boy. Basking in the afterglow and trying to catch his breath, Kurt noticed Blaine still hard against his hip. He put his hand on the man's shoulder, telling him to stop his movements.

"Let me?" Kurt asked. Blaine searched his face for something before nodding eagerly and flipping their positions so that he was the one laying down with Kurt looming over him. "You're gonna have to guide me through this," Kurt laughed. "I mean, I get the general concept, but you need to let me know what you like, okay?"

"Okay," Blaine said with a nod. "Give me your hand," he said, holding out his own. When Kurt complied, Blaine licked his mate's palm before guiding his hand to his erection. All this time, Kurt had felt too sheepish to actually look at his soulmate's cock until now. It wasn't until he took it in his hand and looked down that he realized how big it was. Kurt had tried watching those movies before and the actor's huge dicks always instilled a little bit of fear in him because honestly, how on earth was that supposed to fit? Blaine wasn't necessarily pornstar big, but he was much bigger than Kurt was expecting. He thought about the future and the fact that, if they continue doing this, that may be inside him one day. He felt both a little scared and a little excited at the thought.

"You okay?" Blaine asked, noticing Kurt didn't seem focused.

Kurt nodded his head and shook himself out of his reverie before focusing back at the task at hand. He took Blaine's cock into his hand and started stroking before looking him in the eye to silently ask if he was doing it right.

"Tighter," Blaine pleaded.

Kurt tightened his grip slightly before asking, "Like this?"

"Gods, yeah, just like that, baby," he gasped, throwing his head back on the pillow and bucking his hips up slightly. When his breathing became quick and shallow, Kurt stroked Blaine faster, knowing he was close. He leaned forward to press a kiss to Blaine's lips as he continued pumping the man's cock.

Blaine suddenly broke off from the kiss with a gasp. "Kurt-" was all he managed to choke out before he was coming. He curled in on himself and bit Kurt's shoulder as the younger man continued to stroke him through his orgasm, just like Blaine had for him.

"Gods," Blaine breathed once he calmed down.

"Was that good?" Kurt asked anxiously.

Blaine nodded with a smile. "That was incredible, my sweet boy, thank you," he said before pressing a sweet kiss to the boy's lips. Kurt smiled in reply.

"Good," he said. "It was good for me too."

"Good. I'm glad."

They looked at each other before bursting out laughing at how awkward they felt suddenly.

"We should clean up," Kurt said, looking disdainfully down at his and Blaine's come covered stomachs.

"Okay," Blaine said. "I'll be right back." He got off the bed and went to the bathroom before quickly returning with a wet washcloth. He gently cleaned his mate first and then himself. He threw the cloth onto the floor next to the bed before sinking back into the covers and dragging Kurt down to him so they could cuddle.

"While I appreciate the washcloth," Kurt started, "We're taking a shower tonight or before school tomorrow. I don't want to walk into school smelling like sex," he said, scrunching up his nose in disgust. "Puck does it a lot and it is definitely not a good smell."

"I think you smell fantastic," Blaine teased.

"Oh shush," Kurt laughed, playfully hitting Blaine's shoulder. "You may think so, but my friends will probably go ape shit and ask me questions about it all day, which I would rather not have to endure," he pouted.

"Okay," Blaine laughed. "Shower after dinner?"

"Sure."

They smiled at each other lovingly. Kurt allowed himself to relax into Blaine's embrace and cuddled up to him, and it wasn't long before he found himself drifting off into the arms of his soulmate.

(*)

Later that night, Kurt awoke to a cold bed and a delicious smell coming from the kitchen. He rummaged around in Blaine's closet before he found some clean clothes that he thought would fit him. He dressed quickly and left the room. He found Blaine where he suspected he would be, in the kitchen cooking something.

"You know," Kurt said, coming into the room, "You should let me cook sometime. I haven't been able to really cook for you yet."

"I know," Blaine said without turning around. "But I like cooking for you and you looked so peaceful that I didn't want to wake you up."

"Fair enough, but tomorrow this kitchen is mine," he said, pointing his finger dramatically at Blaine.

"Okay," Blaine laughed.

"Good. So, whatcha makin'?" Kurt asked, coming fully into the kitchen and peering over Blaine's shoulder.

"Just some pasta."

"It smells delicious," Kurt said.

"Thanks," Blaine replied. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, he spoke again. "So I called Xavier when you were asleep," he said.

"And?"

"He said that the lake cottage is ours for the rest of the month, but that we would need to go into town to buy groceries and other little things."

"That's okay," Kurt said. "I was kind of expecting that we'd need to anyways."

"Gods, I can't wait. I think you're gonna love it, Kurt. It's such a beautiful place," Blaine gushed.

"Mmm, then I can't wait either," Kurt grinned, pressing a kiss to Blaine's cheek. "How much more time do you think you'll need to make the food?" he asked.

"Um, maybe ten minutes? I just started."

"Okay. I wanted to get started on the homework that I missed."

"It's all in my bag," Blaine said. "I put it in a purple folder. My bag is still by the door, I think."

"Okay. Thank you," Kurt said. He kissed Blaine's cheek one more time before going to find the bag.

He was able to work on what he'd missed the past few days for about 15 minutes before Blaine was done with dinner. He took a break to eat and talk with Blaine while they watched tv. Blaine didn't have a dining room or a proper table to sit at, which is why they always ate on the couch in the living room. It worked out well for them since they could just relax and cuddle while watching tv after they were done eating. Today, however, Kurt chose to try and finish the homework and in class work that he had missed the last three days from not going to school so he could work on the spell to heal his father.

After he and Blaine were done with dinner and the dishes were put away, Kurt got started on his work. There wasn't much really; teachers were reviewing for the exams more than they were teaching new material at the moment, so it's not like Kurt was struggling too hard to understand anything. As he worked his way through the small pile of work, the only thing he didn't understand was the homework from Blaine's class.

Blaine had moved his own work to his bedroom where he had an actual desk instead of using the coffee table like usual so that he could give Kurt space to lay out his textbooks and papers and whatnot.

"Hey, Blaine?" Kurt called into the room with a knock on the doorframe. Blaine turned around in his chair to face the boy.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Could you help me with this?" Kurt asked, waving the paper in the air. "I'm kinda confused."

"Sure," Blaine said with a nod. "What is it?" Kurt walked over to Blaine and showed him the paper.

"It's from your class, but I don't remember learning any of this."

"That's because you didn't," Blaine said after looking over the assignment. "I taught this on Monday. Hold on, let me get my notes and I'll help you." Kurt nodded as Blaine left the room for a minute. During the time he was alone, he allowed himself to finally fully take in Blaine's room. He really hadn't seen much of it the first night after he was attacked or earlier that day because he was preoccupied both times, and he felt too weird to go into Blaine's room alone any other time. But as he looked around now, the only way he could describe the room was just very Blaine.

The queen bed had a deep navy duvet and pillows and white sheets underneath. The curtains on the small window were the same color. On the nightstands on either side of the bed, one of which had a lamp and an alarm clock, were framed pictures. He couldn't make out the one farthest from him, but the one he was near was a picture of Blaine, Nick, Jeff, and Wes all smiling and wearing the same blazer and looking a bit younger than they did now. Kurt smiled at the picture; he recognized the blazers after a moment as those of the Dalton Academy Warblers, meaning that this was a picture of Blaine in high school.

"Okay, so," Blaine started as he walked back into the room, knocking Kurt out of his thoughts. "These are my notes from this section. Do you just want to read over them or do you want me to teach it to you?"

"Can you teach it to me?" Kurt asked. "I'll understand it better that way."

"No problem," Blaine smiled. He sat on the edge of the bed before patting the space next to him, inviting Kurt to sit there. As soon as the boy sat down, Blaine got started on his mini lesson. He held the notes in between the two of them, pointing to different things and explaining as best he could without the presentation he had on his computer at school. As Blaine talked, Kurt did his best to pay attention, but found himself getting very easily distracted by Blaine's lips, his neck, his eyes… pretty much everything. Even though he didn't pay too much attention, he still got the gist of the section.

"That's pretty much it," Blaine said as he finished. "Do you want to do the homework and then let me check it to make sure you get it?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kurt agreed. Blaine patted his thigh before getting off the bed and going back over to his desk to continue working.

"I'll just be in here if you have any questions," he told Kurt.

"Okay. Thank you," he said before leaning down and giving Blaine a kiss on the cheek.

"No problem," Blaine smiled. Kurt smiled back and left the room. He went back to the living room where his math textbook was. The problems were written out on the paper Blaine had given him, but he knew they were from the book and decided to look there and see if he could read the section to better grasp it before doing the work.

He managed to finish the problems in less than an hour, which was probably a record for him. He went back to Blaine's room to find the man in pretty much the same position as he left him in.

"Hey," he said after knocking on the doorframe to announce that he was there.

"Hey," Blaine greeted. "You done?"

"Yeah." He walked the few feet over to the desk. "Can you check it for me now?"

"Of course." Blaine held out his hand for the paper, and Kurt gave it to him before sitting on the bed and waiting for him to be done. Blaine had gotten the key from his notes and was using that to check Kurt's answers. After a few minutes, he handed the paper back to Kurt with a smile. "Looks good to me," he said.

"Thanks," Kurt said, taking the paper. He glanced at the clock on Blaine's bedside table to find it reading 10:45. "I think I'm gonna get ready for bed."

Blaine dropped his pen onto his desk before stretching his arms above his head and sighing. "Yeah, I probably should too," he agreed.

"Okay. Good night, Blaine," Kurt said. Blaine stood and wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist. Kurt responded by hooking his arms around Blaine's neck and stepping closer to the man.

"Goodnight," Blaine whispered against his lips before drawing his mate into a chaste yet still breathtaking kiss.

"See you tomorrow," Kurt smiled.

"See you tomorrow."

Kurt pressed another short kiss to Blaine's lips before reluctantly withdrawing from his embrace and leaving the room. He hadn't realized how late it had gotten when he was doing his homework, so it was a little while after the normal time he went to bed. Therefore, he decided to do a shortened and condensed version of his nightly skin routine to save time. He didn't even have all of his normal products anyways; many of them were still at his house since he only brought the ones that he thought he absolutely needed with him to Blaine's house.

After he'd finished with that and changed into his pajamas, he lay down in bed and tried to get settled in for the night. Only, something didn't feel quite right. It might have been the fact that his room felt too cold or that he felt strangely alone right then, even though Blaine was just a few feet away in his own room. Whatever it was, Kurt found himself laying in bed for several minutes unable to fall asleep. He tossed and turned and punched his pillow into a more comfortable shape, but he still had no luck. After a couple minutes of staring up at the ceiling, he came to a decision that he may or may not come to regret in a few minutes. Mind made up, he got out of bed and left his room before walking across the hall and knocking on Blaine's door. It took a second, but Blaine answered the door with a toothbrush in his mouth and a confused expression on his face.

"Kur?" he asked, mouth full of toothpaste. "What is it?"

Kurt looked down at the floor and wrung his hands anxiously as he asked his question. "Um, I- I can't sleep. Could I… could I sleep in here with you?" he mumbled. The confused and concerned look on Blaine's face diminished.

"Of course!" he said, trying not to sound or look too excited. (He failed.)

Kurt smiled sheepishly at him and came into the room when Blaine opened the door wider to him. The older man went back into his ensuite bathroom to finish brushing his teeth and was out and standing back in front of Kurt in record time.

"So um, which side do you sleep on?" Kurt asked.

Blaine shrugged. "I normally just sleep in the middle so I'll take which ever side you don't," he said. Kurt nodded before going over to the bed. He noticed that Blaine had changed the sheets since earlier, which reminded Kurt of the activities that happened there earlier that day. He blushed heavily at the thought of it, but shook his head to dispel the thoughts. Having no preference of which side he slept on either, Kurt just got in on the right, which was closest to where he was standing. Blaine had already turned down the bed before he came in, so all he had to do was lift the blankets and climb underneath. Blaine walked around to the other side of the bed before getting in himself. When Kurt reached over to the bedside table to turn off the light, he finally saw what the other picture was.

"Is this your family?" he asked, pointing at the picture and looking over his shoulder at Blaine.

Blaine nodded with a small smile. "Yeah. That's my parents and my little sister," he said.

"You look like them," Kurt said quietly, studying the picture. His father was tall and shared the same curly hair that Blaine had. Blaine's hair was a little darker, but that could be attributed to his asian looking mother, who was much shorter than her husband. Kurt noticed that her smile was exactly the same as Blaine's. Blaine was in the picture with them, holding a little girl that looked to be eight or nine. She and Blaine had the same beautiful eyes and curly hair.

"I miss them," Blaine sighed.

Kurt turned away from the picture to face Blaine. "I know you told me before that you had to break off contact with them, but you never really told me why," he said.

Blaine sighed again. "It was something Xavier told me I should do. He said that staying in contact with them would cause me more pain than if I didn't."

"How come?"

"If I were to stay in contact with them," Blaine started, "then I would see them grow old and eventually die."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I guess he's right, but it still hurts and I miss them terribly. I haven't seen them in almost a decade. Ariel's your age right now but I haven't seen her since she was little," he said sadly.

"I'm sorry," Kurt said, "I kinda know how it feels. I mean, you know I lost my mom, but I guess that's different. I know she's gone and that I can't see her again, but it's different for you because you know that they're still alive."

"Yeah," Blaine said. "I still keep tabs on them, though. Nick and Jeff see them around town a lot and tell me how they seem and I stalk my sister's Facebook page sometimes when the longing gets to be too much," he laughed.

"I'm sorry," Kurt said again with a frown. "That must be really hard."

"It is," Blaine said. "But over time I've learned to deal with it. It gets better with time, generally."

Kurt nodded in understanding. He turned back to the picture and stared down at it for another moment before reaching up to turn off the lamp.

"Good night, Blaine," he said.

"Good night."

It only took seconds after Kurt's head hit the pillow for him to fall asleep. Blaine smiled down at his mate before laying down and falling asleep himself.

Even though they had gone to bed on separate sides, Kurt and Blaine ended up tangled together in the middle of the bed when they had woken up. Both were slightly embarrassed upon waking, but soon realized that they didn't have a reason to be. The rest of the week progressed in much the same way, only they went to sleep already close and touching instead of on separate sides, just to end up together in the middle anyways.

The rest of Kurt and Blaine's week was pretty uneventful; they went to school and work as normal before returning home and keeping with the routine of having dinner at their normal time before doing schoolwork in Kurt's case and grading in Blaine's before showering (sometimes together, sometimes not) and going to bed. Blaine helped Kurt study for the exams he had coming up the following week and in return Kurt often helped him grade at home.

Exam week for Kurt was extremely stressful despite the fact that he had Blaine helping him prepare for all of his tests. The week was shortened, so there were only three days of school that he had exams to worry about. Monday was probably his easiest day; his first exam was for French class, which was extremely easy for him and set a good tone for the rest of the day. Tuesday was okay; he only had two exams that day but they were for the classes he considered himself worst at, biology and gym (but seriously why did they even have an exam in gym?). Wednesday was probably the worst of the three days. He had Blaine's exam that day, which he thought he at least passed, but before that he'd had a test in psychology that he knew he most likely didn't pass as he missed some important lessons on the days he missed the week before that he never was able to fully understand.

As soon as the dismissal bell rang on Wednesday, Kurt all but bolted out of the building to try and get home and relax as soon as he could. He beat Blaine, for once, and once the older man had got home, the two had a very relaxing evening in. Blaine didn't even want to think about grading his exams. He would do that after his and Kurt's mini-vacation, he decided.

Thursday was essentially a rest day for them, and was spent in pyjamas while being lazy all day. Friday however was a little hectic, for Kurt more than Blaine. That was the last day they had at home before they were to go to the Anderson's cabin up in Michigan. Kurt was more stressed packing for this trip than he usually was. He just wanted to make sure that he had everything he needed for a trip to some place cold, but as everything he had at Blaine's house had been suited for the warmer fall months, he felt he didn't have much of anything he needed. After some frustration and a little arguing (after which they had a very heated make up session) they decided that going to Kurt's house wouldn't be a bad idea, if at the very least to soothe Kurt's nerves. (Blaine thought he had pretty much everything he would need, but Kurt disagreed.) Once the bags were packed and double and triple checked, they called it a day and went to sleep a little earlier than most nights.

The woke up early on Saturday and immediately started getting ready to leave for the cabin. They forgave breakfast for the time being and just relied on coffee for their energy as the moved about the apartment, getting everything ready to go.

"Hey Blaine?!" Kurt called from across the apartment. "Have you seen my boots?!" He was dressed and prepared to leave but for some reason he couldn't find the boots he wanted.

"I'm pretty sure you packed them!" Blaine called back. He was in his room finishing up getting dressed so they could go soon.

"No, I don't think I did!" Kurt responded, searching through the shoes by the door for them.

"Why don't you check again?" Blaine said as he came into the front foyer.

"I'll check, but they won't be there."

Kurt found his suitcase and laid it on the ground before unzipping it and checking its contents. He carefully took out his clothes and laid them in a pile on the floor since he knew he packed his shoes on the bottom of the luggage. As soon as he took the last shirt out of the case, he saw only his boots on the bottom.

"Oh," he said sheepishly.

Blaine chuckled quietly. "I told you they were in there," he said.

"I know," Kurt sighed, taking the boots out. "I'm sorry, I'm just stressed I guess. This is our first trip together and I just… I don't know. I want it to be perfect and I'm screwing things up because of it."

"It's okay," Blaine said, kneeling so that he was level with Kurt. "I get it." He softly kissed Kurt's lips. "Come on," he started. "We need to get going if we want to make it there before 3."

Kurt nodded in understanding before packing his suitcase again (double checking again that he had everything) before putting on his boots and a coat. Blaine, who had already put the rest of the luggage in the car, was standing by the door waiting for the teen.

"Ready to get going?" he asked as Kurt came to the door.

"Yep," Kurt replied, popping the 'p'.

"Then let's go," Blaine smiled.

Kurt grinned back, took Blaine's hand, and together they left the apartment and set off for their much needed mini-vacation.

A/N: thanks for reading! Please don't forgot to review and let me know what you thought. Reviews are like crack to me and might even make me write faster (*wink wink*). Anyways, I will probably have the next part up relatively soon because, like this one was, I have the next chapter pretty much all planned out already. If it's not posted in the next week then it will definitely be posted by the end of January. As always, I'll talk to you guys in the next chapter.