Chapter 35, eh? That's kind of awesome. I've also reached 25 chapters for Give Me Strength, and 100 in the 2013 collection of song drabbles. ONE HUNDRED!

Thank you to everyone who continues to read this. I get new favourites and follows every week, and I am so thankful for that. You guys are amazing. Thank you.

More thanks need to go to IThinkILeftMyCoatOutside for getting the tone right in the middle, and to paddyofurniture for coming up with the amazing alphabetti spaghetti suggestion when I got really stuck in the British/America stuff. I love you.

A short A/N. Like, what?! Enjoy!

Story so far...

After Blaine's disappearance, and Kurt's two days of misery, the broken-hearted boy returns, and the pair of them manage to patch up the misunderstandings. They emerge stronger and even more in love than they were before.

-*T&C*-

"Sir! Sir, are you alright?"

Blaine looked up as soon as he walked in the door. Usually, his room was empty in the mornings before school. Now, sixteen pairs of eyes looked at him, waiting for his answer and desperate to know that he was okay. He looked at Henry, who had run over as soon as the door had opened.

He smiled at him. "I'm fine, thank you."

Dan came up behind his boyfriend. His face was a mask of worry as he watched his teacher and mentor hobble over to his desk. "Sir, you're limping."

"We should probably move from here some time."

Blaine had Kurt cuddled into his side, arms around his body. They had turned the television on and flicked to a channel showing reruns of last season's Next Top Model. Kurt was still sitting on his feet, but now his head rested on Blaine's - on his boyfriend's - shoulder. He sighed contentedly when he felt Blaine's lips on his forehead and heard him whisper, "no we don't."

By the end of the next episode, Kurt was surprised to find himself on Blaine's lap. He was obstructing his view but that didn't seem to be bothering him. Kurt shivered as he felt laboured breathing against the back of his neck, wriggling down into Blaine's close hold.

"Blaine, we need to-"

"I need you," Blaine growled. He kissed hungrily up Kurt's neck, pausing to bite at his pulse point. All of Kurt's blood rushed south. He pulled away, quickly grabbing the remote to mute the television.

Blaine's puppy eyes widened. Kurt pecked him softly on the nose. "In a minute. But we need to talk."

Blaine stiffened. "This sounds like the break-up speech."

Kurt shook his head firmly and kissed Blaine again. "Never. I've only just got you back." He pressed a confident kiss to Blaine's lips and pulled away. "Have you eaten?"

Blaine looked sheepish. "Not since Sunday."

Kurt's eyes bugged. "I meant tonight. Jesus, Blaine, I…" He leapt off his boyfriend's lap and dashed into the kitchen. There was a series of loud bangs as he threw cupboard doors open, frantically searching for something for his boyfriend to eat. Blaine stood up, amused, and went to lean on the doorframe, just watching.

"I'd be happy with just you, you know."

Kurt's eyes turned to him and suddenly popped once more. "Water!" he screeched. He fumbled a glass from a cupboard and shoved it under the tap, filling it to overflowing before handing it over quickly. A lot of it splashed on the floor. Blaine tried to suppress a chuckle.

"I'm sure a couple of minutes wouldn't've made much difference."

Kurt paid him no attention. He was back to scooting around inside the cupboards. He pulled out a tin of alphabetti spaghetti with a whoop and pulled himself back to standing, using the counter to help him. Kurt had rolled his eyes when Blaine had insisted on buying the kiddy food that Luke had been talking about; why was it that Blaine was obsessed with everything British even though he'd never been across The Pond? Now, he was close to thanking some deity he didn't believe in.

He emptied the can into a saucepan and put it on the stove, reaching for the bag of sliced bread on the counter and feeding a slice into the toaster, all whilst being watched by Blaine.

"I love you."

Kurt stopped frantically preparing food and looked up. Blaine was looking back at him so simply, his glass of water clutched in his right hand, his left holding the doorframe above his head. For the first time, Kurt noticed the dark circles around both his eyes, and the stubble that was starting to grow on the very bottom of his chin. He looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, whilst at the same time completely at peace with everything. As Kurt's eyes travelled south, he couldn't help but notice the dirt sticking to the bottom of his trousers; he wondered why he hadn't noticed it before.

"I love you too." Kurt pushed the heart stopping truth of his words out through his eyes, reassuring Blaine. He stepped forwards to take his hands, awkwardly holding them around the glass. He led Blaine to the table and sat him down, not once taking his eyes off of him. "I love you too."

He walked back to the stove slowly, stirring the pasta, eyes constantly flicking back to Blaine, who appeared to be alternating between sipping water and checking out his backside. The rush and panic had seeped away, and all that Kurt was left with was a shard of concern piercing his battered heart.

The toast popped up, pulling Kurt from his reverie and he found a plate, pulling the toast out with a pair of tongs and, after deciding the pasta was at a suitable temperature, spooned it on top. He placed the plate carefully in front of Blaine with a knife and fork, then took his now empty glass to refill it.

"Why toast and pasta?" Blaine queried. He picked up his cutlery and began to eat.

Kurt handed Blaine the refilled glass and then sat down opposite him. "I wanted to fill you up."

Blaine looked up, his eyes sparkling as he swallowed. "I want that too."

Kurt gasped and pushed his chair from the table, standing quickly and turning to face the window. He gripped on to the counter next to the sink. As he squeezed his eyes tight shut, he tried to stop his tears from falling.

"Kurt?"

He refused to turn around. He only spoke when he heard Blaine settle his cutlery on his plate. "Don't you dare stop eating." His voice was thick and forced, as if he had a month's worth of tears just waiting to erupt. When he heard Blaine picking up his knife and fork again, he dropped his chin to his chest and let out a shaky breath.

"Two days, Blaine. Two days without so much as a text to let me know you were okay; alive! I've been worried absolutely sick out of my mind. Have you any idea what it felt like ringing around all of our old friends and admitting that you'd left? But I did it because I cared, because I couldn't bear the thought of anything bad happening to you and I just needed to know that you were alright. Have you got any idea what it felt like when you walked away? Fuck! How can you? And then you walk back in and cover everything up with fucking innuendos, as if we can just cut these last two days out and pretend they never happened. Shit."

Blaine gulped down his last mouthful. It stuck in his throat uncomfortably. Kurt rarely swore. He only usually let a curse slip in the middle of sex. To hear him this worked up... He was still bent over the sink, and when Blaine saw his shoulders vibrating with jerky movements, he wasted no time in leaping up and wrapping his arms around him.

"Hey... Hey, it's alright."

"It isn't alright though, is it?" Kurt's words were choked out like they weighed a tonne each. He didn't sound angry anymore, just broken. Broken and exhausted.

Blaine wrapped his arms around him more closely and pressed a single, firm kiss into the back of his head. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Honestly, I am. I'm so, so sorry."

And that was all it took for Kurt to fall back into Blaine's arms, sobbing.

Blaine held him close, shushing him and passing him as much warmth as he could. He hated to see Kurt upset, but to know that he was in such a state because of him... It tore him apart. He closed his eyes and hugged Kurt closer still, breathing in his scent to fill his mind and all that he knew. This was where he was safest. This was where he should never have left. A shard caught in his throat as he thought of what Kurt must have had to endure over the last couple of days.

Finally, Kurt's sobs slowed enough for him to be able to look at Blaine, albeit through a haze of yet to be shed tears. "Where have you been?" he asked, carefully. "I tried everywhere I could think. I rang up all of the New Directions, and yes that includes my brother. I tried Greg and he had no idea where you were, either. Where were you?"

Blaine blushed and looked down. There was a few seconds of silence, then a fat tear slid its way down Blaine's unshaven cheek.

Kurt caught it with his finger, kissing the skin where it had travelled. "It can't be that bad? Did you just get a hotel or something?"

Blaine moved forwards and nuzzled up to Kurt. He hooked his head under Kurt's chin, then rested against his neck; he couldn't look at him whilst admitting this. "I didn't go anywhere. I... When I ran away, I just ran. I had no idea of where to go, what to do. I ran and ran and when I stopped it was getting lighter. I s-spent the night on the streets."

Kurt pushed him back, horrified. "You did what?!"

"And last night too. I had money on me, so I guess I could have gone found somewhere to stay. But I didn't think. My head was all over the place. I missed you so much. I never what to remember those nights and please, please don't make me."

There was such pain in his eyes that all Kurt could possibly do was hug him close and kiss him deeply. So he did. He held Blaine and kissed him and let him know that everything was going to be alright.

Blaine pulled away panting, his watery eyes now dark and blown. "About what I said earlier..."

"Is that why you were away, sir? Did you break your leg?"

Blaine blinked up at Daniel. "Uh, something like that."

The Warblers are back! I'm sort of in love with those little guys. Keep an eye out on my blog for spin-offs in the future. I'll be delving into their stories more, as well as looking at what happened to the New Directions after graduation.

Now, I know you might hate me for this but I have to say it. I have exams coming up in less than five weeks. They're big and scary and I need to get as much revision done as I possibly can. I love writing this story. Love love love it. But if I want to take a creative writing course at uni, I need to get higher than the D I'm looking at at the minute. So hiatus time. I may be back next week, or I may not. Please go to my blog for more information, as I don't want to bore the people who know because of reading Give Me Strength. I have a long post on there which will explain everything.

So, until next time, I love you all. If you want more of my writing, please feel free to check out my other stuff; I'll still be uploading a 2013 drabble every day that I can, and I have other shorts on here such a Night Air and All You Want. I'm also working on a fanvid at the moment which should be live on YouTube (RainyorSunnyEnding) within the next couple of days.

Happy Gleeing, and I love you all.

-* Don't forget to check out luspeak. wordpress. com for updates, deleted chapters and spin-offs! *-

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