Chapter 4 :

Kurt's morning consisted of nurses taking his blood pressure and Doctor Hendricks checking up on him and telling him that he would have to see a therapist later that and if things continued to look as good as they did, he'd be able to go home by tonight. Breakfast was bland and tasteless and the morning only started to look up when Blaine arrived.

"Hi," he greeted with a bright smile.

Kurt pushed the rest of his breakfast tray away and grinned at Blaine. "Hi."

Burt was stood up and looked at Blaine with a silent question that Kurt did not understand. Whatever it was, Blaine nodded and jerked his head towards the door. Burt glanced back at Kurt, "You okay? I'm going to go get some coffee for myself."

"Sure," Kurt said, feeling uncomfortable about the silent exchange but he was glad to get some time alone with Blaine.

"Hi," Blaine said again when he sat down next to Kurt's bed. "How're you feeling?"

"Like I've forgotten everything all over again," Kurt said with a small laugh. "All of yesterday is a blur at best. But I guess I'm not as clueless as I was before."

"Mm, Burt must have filled you in." Blaine said with a smile but he looked hesitant for some reason.

Kurt dismissed the look for the moment and nodded. "He didn't tell me everything but I've got the basics; college, job, where I live. Although – I don't think he mentioned who I lived with." Kurt racked his brains in case the piece of information had slipped his mind sometime during his sleep.

"Well you'll meet him soon enough." Blaine said. "He'll be coming by later."

"I was wondering about that," Kurt admitted. "Your roommate wakes up from a coma, the least you could do is go and visit him, right?"

Blaine was silent and Kurt took the opportunity to study his face. Now that he felt more awake and aware than he had yesterday, he could look at Blaine closely and see how exactly the years had changed him. He'd grown into his body in the best ways possible. His chest and arms were broader than Kurt remembered, the muscles accentuated by the simple gray t-shirt he wore over dark jeans, a plainer ensemble than what Kurt remembered but it looked no less perfect on him.

Kurt's favorite part about this Blaine though, was his hair – it was loose and curly but somehow managed to not turn into the untamed mess it had back in high school whenever Blaine didn't gel it down. The look suited him.

He hadn't realized how hard he'd been staring until Blaine broke the silence with a slightly embarrassed, "What?"

His cheeks flushed, Kurt shook his head quickly and said, "Nothing, sorry. I was appreciating how well the years have treated you."

Blaine bit his lip and returned Kurt's tentative smile but he still looked uncomfortable. Whether it was because of embarrassment or something else, Kurt couldn't tell but it was really starting to bother him. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"Kurt, I think there's something you should know," Blaine said in a low voice.

Something akin to worry started to churn inside Kurt's stomach but he nodded and said, "Okay."

There was a pause where Blaine just stared at him, Kurt's nerves growing with every second until Blaine finally took a deep breath and said, "We're not together anymore."

For a moment neither of them said anything. Kurt blinked and Blaine held his breath as his words settled around them, sinking into Kurt's reality - this reality.

"W-what?" he managed to ask finally.

"We broke up in college," Blaine said in a gentle voice. "It was mutual."

Kurt took a few shaky breaths and looked away from Blaine's eyes. He felt stupid now for not once thinking about how ten years might have changed things between them. Breaking up just hadn't seemed like a possibility. Blaine had been acting just as Kurt would have expected him to act in the situation except now that he thought about it, he wondered how he hadn't found it weird how Blaine hadn't said a single cheesy romantic thing to him since he'd woken up.

Tears prickled behind his eyes. Kurt blinked them away, not wanting Blaine to see. "Are you seeing someone else?" he asked.

"Not right now, no." Blaine said. Another pause followed and then, "We're still best friends, Kurt. Nothing's changed that. Nothing ever will." He reached out to touch Kurt's hand but unlike all the other times Kurt had let Blaine take it, he pulled it away.

"I – I think you should leave, Blaine." Kurt said quietly.
Blaine stood up and Kurt could feel his gaze on him for a moment before he said, "I'm sorry."

"I am too," Kurt said, not looking at him.

"I'll come by later?" it was phrased as a question, as if Blaine was unsure whether or not Kurt would want him there.

Kurt finally looked up at the familiar, warm face of this boy who he was still achingly in love with. His first boyfriend, his first love, still his best friend. Always his best friend.

He smiled. "Yeah. Okay."

"Why are you here again?" was the first thing Kurt asked when Sebastian entered his room.

"I wanted to check up on you," Sebastian said. "I brought flowers," he grinned and held up the selection he'd chosen himself.

Kurt didn't look flattered, just irritated. "Look, I appreciate the gesture and I know you said we were friends but this really isn't a good time and I don't want to see you right now."

Sebastian didn't flinch at the harsh words; he had spent a sleepless night in anticipation of seeing Kurt again in the morning and he couldn't leave in two seconds, his patience had been tested enough this past week.

"How are you feeling?" he asked much to Kurt's annoyance.

"Not a good time." Kurt repeated.

"It's a simple question," Sebastian said. "A one word answer will do." Anything will do.

"Sebastian, please leave." Kurt said.

"What's wrong?" Sebastian tried again. He knew what was wrong, he and Blaine had spent the night talking about how to break things to Kurt and Sebastian knew exactly why Kurt was upset but he couldn't give Kurt leisure time to come to terms with his and Blaine's break up. Doctor Hendricks had met him outside and said that Kurt would be cleared to go home by tonight; there was no way Sebastian could keep the fact that they lived together hidden for much longer. So he stepped closer to the bed and prompted again. "You can tell me."

"You're the last person I want to talk to about this," Kurt said.

"Why's that?" Sebastian asked, taking a seat despite the frustrated way Kurt grit his teeth. "You had no problem talking to me yesterday."

"I know it's hard for you," Kurt said looking at him with narrow eyes. "But I just woke up with ten years of my memories wiped. The least you could do is not act like a jerk."

"I'm not acting like a jerk. I'm just asking you a question. I want to help."

"Well you can't." Kurt said with a stubborn jut of his chin. "And I want you to leave so please leave." Sebastian didn't budge from his position. "Sebastian. Leave."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I just got here."

Kurt stared at him long and hard for a moment before he sighed and gave up. "I liked you better when I was drugged," he said, looking away.

"Well you should learn to like me sober," Sebastian said, sitting up in his chair. "Because we're going to be spending a lot of time together."

Kurt, despite clearly not wanting to, turned his head to fix him with a curious stare. "Why?"

Sebastian gave him a smile, ready with his explanation for the moment. "Because we're flatmates."