A/N: So here's chapter 23! This will mainly be Klaine fluff ^^ I love that. But the next chapter won't be as fluffy... heheh *wink wink* Anyway, I hope you enjoy and make sure to review, I read them all!

Chapter 23: Where have you been?

Blaine of course stayed in Kurt's apartment for a while longer. He was lying in Kurt's safe arms while Kurt was resting his chin on top of Blaine's head, giving him tender kisses time after time. It was something they had both missed: having a warm body close to them. And not just some body, eachothers bodies.

"Kurt, I just… I need to say something." Blaine said and got up from the comfortable position, turning around and looking at the man he was in love with.

"Okay, tell me." Kurt said with a small smile on his lips.

"I just want you to know that… I can't move fast forward. Though I still love you and trust you, I'm still a little hurt. And though this is really nice and it's very easy to get carried away by everything, I don't want to do that. I want to take this slow. Is that… do you think you can understand that?" Blaine asked and bit his lip.

Kurt looked at him with nothing but love and understanding in his eyes, also a bit of guilt… actually, a lot of guilt.

"Of course, Blaine. We can take things as slow as you want them to…" he smiled sadly. "I'm so sorry I hurt you so badly."

"No, I don't want you to start feeling guilty again, that's not why I'm saying this." Blaine said and cupped Kurt's face in his hands. "I just wanna make sure that you still love me back and that you understand that we need time to work on this."

"Blaine." Kurt said and rolled his eyes but not able to keep the grin off his face. "I love you, okay? I want this. I want you, all of you." he said truthfully.

Blaine's face lit up and he smiled before planting a kiss onto Kurt's lips.

"Oh my god, I love you, I love you, I love you…" Blaine sighed against his mouth and kissed him again. Kurt giggled against his mouth before pulling away.

"But now I need to make sure you want this, Blaine. Because it would mean that you're gonna have to hide away with me again and a lot of lying to your mom. Which I hate the idea of, I don't want you to lie to everyone but… it's the only choice if you want this, if you want me."

"Okay, first of all: we don't need to hide away. You live in a city three hours away from Lima, I think we're safe to do anything here. Which means hold hands, have dates and stuff without being afraid to get caught." Blaine began with a smile. "And second of all: yes, I hate lying to my mother. But I think she'll come around, eventually. She just need some time, maybe a month or two. When she's over all this, then I'll tell her I'm seeing you again and maybe she won't like it but it won't be half as bad as it was, um, the last time." Blaine finished.

"Only if you're sure." Kurt mumbled.

"Absolutely sure." Blaine grinned.

"Okay." Kurt said with a smile. "I believe you."

Blaine looked at his watch as he drove home, school had just ended. He sighed deeply and parked the car outside the school to meet up Tina, he hadn't been talking to her a lot lately. He waited in the parking lot for everyone to run out. Just five minutes later the first couple of students left the school, eventually Tina did too. Once she saw Blaine's car she waved and ran up to him, Blaine stepped out of the car to hug her.

"Hi!" She said and pulled away. "Where have you been?"

"With Kurt…" Blaine said and looked down at his feet. He didn't even have to look at her to know that her jaw had dropped.

"With Kurt?!" She echoed.

"Yeah… I drove to his apartment." He said and finally met her gaze.

"Blainers, get in your car and explain it all to me." She said simply and sat down in the passager seat. Blaine rolled his eyes with a smile and stepped inside the car as well. When both doors were closed he started talking.

"I spoke to Mike yesterday, he caught me crying in the bathroom… I was a little overwhelmed by everything. I've taken a lot of crap lately. Anyway, he told me that I might need answers before I can move on, I realized that he was right. I mean, I have these questions which were spinning around in my head like crazy so I decided to ditch school and drive to his apartment to get some answers."

"And then..?"

"And then I found out he had moved out. So I called him and after a lot of convincing he gave me his new adress, so I drove there. He has moved to Indiana, so after a three hour drive I finally got there and started talking to him."

"Wasn't it… awkward?"

"Yeah, at first it was… but I was just kind of pissed. But eventually I got my answers and after a lot of talking, and I mean a lot, we realized we still loved eachother. So we wanted to give us another try, but we both agreed on taking it slow." Blaine finished.

"Wow… And Mike was the one who got you to do all that?" She asked in disbelief.

"He has his moments. And I owe him a huge thank you." Blaine said with a smile.

"Woah, I just… I'm happy for you, Blainers. It's so good to see you smile again."

"It feels good to smile again, Tina." He said and kept on smiling. "I hated being miserable."

"Yeah, I hated seeing you that way."

"Well, but it's over now." He said and put a hand over hers. "I'm sorry I was such an ass to everyone."

"You had the right to be, I guess." She shrugged and smiled. "I still love you, you know."

"Yeah, thank god." He mumbled and kissed her cheek. She giggled.

"I love you too. But I gotta go home now, my mom is waiting. We're gonna have Asian Dinner, don't ask." She rolled her eyes and got out of the car. "See you tomorrow?" She asked and closed the door after Blaine gave her a nod. After that Blaine drove home, he kind of felt like he was walking on clouds again and he was gonna hold onto that for as long as possible.

"Where have you been?" His mom asked later that day. Blaine looked up from his meal and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked, surprised.

"I know for a fact that you ditched school. called, he was concerned and wondered if you were okay since you didn't show up today." She said, her voice calm.

"I… um…" Blaine mumbled. "I didn't feel well so I stayed home."

"Really? Because I forgot my phone so I drove home around lunch to get them and then both you and your car were gone."

"I was going to the store to buy some painkillers." Blaine shrugged.

"We've got plenty of them already, in the kitchen. Stop lying to me, Blaine. You know it wont work." She sighed and rubbed her temples.

Blaine looked at her, she looked tired. Of course she was, she was working way too hard and she was dealing with way too much. And Blaine didn't make it any better by lying to her, but he had to, because the truth might hurt her even more right now.

"Fine. I was seeing my therapist. I needed to talk to her about stuff and… I ditched school to do that. I'm sorry, I know it was wrong but it was important." Blaine lied.

"Really?" His mother said in disbelief and studied his face expression. Eventually she sighed again.

"Fine, I believe you. Now, finish your dinner." She said.

"Yes, mom." Blaine said but honestly, he didn't feel like eating. Blaine wasn't a liar and he never lied to his mother but lately… he was doing that too much. But Kurt was worth it, Kurt was worth anything. He loves Kurt and if his mother won't accept that then he need to lie to her.

He ate about half of the food on his plate before he excused himself from the table and went up to his room to text Kurt, something he had missed doing.

Hi.

Woah, I almost thought you wouldn't text me tonight :)

I will never not text you as long as we're together, Kurt.

Then I suppose you will text me forever.

Forever…

Yeah.

I like that. Forever.

Yeah :D but it works, right?

I feel bad, Kurt. I never asked you about how you like your new city, work etc. Tell me!

It's not much to say, Blaine. I liked being a teacher at McKinley but honestly, moving out here made me realize why I became a teacher. I didn't become one because I wanted to educate or because I loved it. I became a teacher because I wanted to change things. I was so stupid that I thought I could actually make McKinley High free from bullies. I can't, I don't have that power.

But it was a great thing to do, to try I mean. But… I don't want you to do something that you hate.

Who said I hated it? I kinda like it, I just don't love it. My dream is Broadway, Vouge… but that won't happen. I don't have the money to do that. But it's okay, you know why? Because now I can sit back and watch you succeed in life and do all I can to help! :)

That's sweet but… I still want you to be happy.

I am, I'm so happy, Blaine. You make me happy.

Fine, I believe you. But after gradation, we will move to New York and share an apartment (if you want to) and while we're there we can chase both our dreams :)

Are you kidding? I'd love to go to NYC! And if we share it then I think I can afford it.

Then we got a plan!

Let's talk about this when it's actually time for it, Blaine.

Sorry, I just got excited.

That's so adorable.

I know I am.

Goodnight, Blaine.

Goodnight, Kurt.

I love you.

I love you too.

With that Blaine put his phone away and felt some of the guilt disappear. Things were sort of back to normal, sort of. But it was enough to make him fall asleep with a smile on his face.

TBC