Phone Calls And Texts: Reconnecting - AllesandraQ (2024)

Blaine stares at his English essay, wondering how he got stuck on this. He was supposed to write eight pages on Macbeth and how it can be applied to modern works of today. He’s barely been able to write more than two pages before hitting the delete button to erase half of it.

Luckily, it’s not actually due until next Tuesday, and tomorrow it will be Friday, so it’s only four days away. However he wants to get this done and out of the way, because it’s the last of his homework. Then he’ll be asking for extra credit assignments. The teachers at McKinley have gotten used to him asking for those, to the point that every Friday, most of his teachers have something set out for him when he comes up to their desk to ask for them.

It’s been a couple days since Sectionals, and now it’s December. Based upon last year’s experience with McKinley, he’s going to get so much homework that his only spare time will probably be for Glee.

"Come on," he mutters, tapping the edge of his keyboard. His brain can’t seem to concentrate.

Then he hears his cell ring, and without looking away from the screen, Blaine reaches over, and answers it distractedly, “Hello?”

A pause of silence, then… “Blaine?”

Suddenly his brain is no longer struggling to find words to write. Blaine straightens in his chair at the sound of a familiar voice he only just talked to a few days ago at Sectionals. “Kurt?” he squeaks out, then winces at the squeak and swallows. “Hi,” he says softly, glad his voice is cooperating. Now.

Kurt.

Kurt is calling him.

There’s a shuffling like sound on the other end, then the sound of something… a door, closing. “Hi,” Kurt returns, “You sounded distracted when you picked up. Bad timing?”

Blaine shakes his head fervently, then closes his eyes. He can’t see you shaking your head.

"Uh yeah, fine. Just stuck on my Macbeth essay," Blaine explains, trying to contain the jittery feeling in his stomach. The same one he had a few days ago when he talked to Kurt.

"Just like how you got stuck on your Hamlet essay last year?" Kurt asks, and Blaine hears another sound, like a thump.

"Pretty much, " Blaine murmurs, trying to figure out what Kurt is doing. Much more interesting than his homework right now. He looks at his clock. It’s almost midnight. "What’s.. going on over there?"

"Just got out of work. I had two classes earlier, and I felt I needed to work a little bit more at Vogue, you know?" Kurt answers, a sort of neutral tone to his voice. "Stopped at that twenty four hour grocery store to pick up a couple things. "

"How was your day?" Blaine asks softly, glad to have Kurt talking to him. He remembers the Sectionals phone call with clarity, and the fact that Kurt is calling him again, is wonderful. He just wants to be able to talk to Kurt. Like Kurt said, they are best friends, and while they aren’t together right now, they were friends first.

"Stressful," Kurt quips, and Blaine thinks he hears a smile. Somehow though, Kurt is still Kurt even when his tone of voice is just so… careful and neutral. Something that Blaine isn’t right now. "Doesn’t help that Rachel is being well… Rachel."

Blaine huffs a laugh. “I’m not surprised.”

"I didn’t mean to call so late," there’s the sound of something shutting and then maybe Kurt walking, a soft tap like sound. "It just sort of happened? Besides, it’s the weekend now, so I know you don’t have class and I figured you would be up late to try and finish any homework that’s not due until the middle of the week."

"Close. Tuesday."

"As I said."

Blaine can’t stop smiling but he tries, he tries very hard to keep his voice as careful as Kurt’s. “Was work just as stressful?”

"Actually less stressful. Who knew that dealing with fashion people was less stressful than dealing with Rachel Berry?"

Blaine can’t help it, he bursts out laughing, and ends up dropping the phone. While still laughing, he bends down to pick it up. “Sorry, dropped it.”

"I thought you would be on speaker."

"Wasn’t really looking at the phone when I answered," Blaine explains, "plus Mom has scary hearing when it comes to hearing a cell phone ring past ten pm."

"I almost forgot about the ten pm rule."

"Which is why we always called each other right before then," Blaine recalls wistfully.

There’s silence on the other end for a minute, and Blaine fears he may have gone too far. While it’s okay to talk, and be friends while talking, clearly he needs to steer clear away from anything that sounds like when they were dating.

"I mean, uh, I remember when we uh had a- had a lot of long, late night talks after we first met," Blaine rushes at warp speed to get the words out. "Didn’t Burt say something about late night phone chats too before you transferred to Dalton and we no longer had those majorly long calls?"

The silence drags on for what seems like forever, and Blaine’s wishing he didn’t screw this up, but then Kurt lets out a light huff and little laugh. “Yes, he did. We seemed to do that from the start.”

"We just connected like that," Blaine muses, then cringes, thinking he may have done it again. He mentally sighs at how fragile this is right now.

"Yeah," Kurt’s voice goes quiet like now, no longer neutral and sounding just as wistful as Blaine feels right now, "we did."

There’s another minute of silence, then Kurt clears his throat. “Maybe you should play some of your Roxy music. It helped you last time, remember?”

Blaine nods, biting his lip, worrying it a little. “Yeah, I’ll do that. Thanks. I should go then, get this finished.”

"Yeah," Kurt murmurs. "Good night."

"Night."

Kurt sets his cell phone on his night stand and sinks down on his bed.

He closes his eyes, trying to contain the emotions running through him from just one phone call. It was like how he felt during that call in Thanskgiving.

He didn’t know what possessed him to call Blaine just now, and while it felt a bit awkward, he was glad he did. He liked hearing his voice, he missed hearing Blaine’s voice.

Maybe he’ll get some decent sleep now, it’s been eluding him for a bit.

Blaine never thought he’d be happy for a Glee rehearsal to be over with, but he is. It’s Monday. Glee rehearsals on Mondays after school are always an hour longer than necessary. It doesn’t help that it seems to take everyone ages to just stop and finally work on the dancing or the singing. Most days he loves Glee, and he loves the New Directions. But after having to deal with most of them throughout the day and play peacekeeper at lunch, he didn’t want to spend much time with them.

He only talked to Tina for a few minutes, declining the invite that Marley, Unique, and Tina made to him to go to Breadstix, and with much relief escaped to the parking lot.

Once he got in his car, Blaine noticed it was almost 6pm. By the time he got home, dinner would be ready and he couldn’t skip it even if he wanted to. He was starving. After dinner he would do a last day review over his homework, and then get ready to work on what was given to him today.

Before he could start his car however, his cell rang.

Blaine sets his school stuff in the passenger seat, and answers by the fourth ring.

Probably Tina, he muses. “Tina, I said thank you for the invite, but I do have to head home.”

There’s silence on the other end. Blaine realizes it’s not Tina, and why didn’t he look at his caller id?

“Tina invited you to something?” He hears Kurt finally respond. Blaine can hear the sounds of people in the background.

Blaine blinks a couple times, stops mentally berating himself for not checking who it was first before answering, then finally finds it in himself to answer. “Yeah, Breadstix. But rehearsal ended late, so I need to get home for dinner.”

“Should I hang up then, so you won’t be late?”

“No,” Blaine says quickly. “Don’t hang up. I can talk for a few minutes before I start driving.”

A pause. “All right.”

“Are you still in class?”

"It ended about ten minutes ago. I’m at the nearby coffee shop right now. Figured I would get myself and Isabelle coffee before I go into the office.” Kurt’s voice is still so careful, and it makes Blaine’s stomach tighten. “That is if this line can go any faster than a snail. I only have ten minutes to spare before I’m late,” he adds, the careful neutral tone being replaced by Kurt’s usual snarky tone.

“Never had to wait long in the Lima Bean,” Blaine muses.

“Thankfully.” Another pause. “So did you finish your essay?”

Blaine smiles at the question. “Yeah. After I put on some music, I got done in an hour. I only did about two revisions on it since then, probably added a page more than needed.”

“No surprise there… oh look two people just served and the line went up. I may actually get my coffee.”

Blaine laughs, noticing Marley as she walks past with him with Jake. She notices him as well, and waves. He waves back to her.

“Still your usual, or have you changed it since you got to New York?”

“My usual. I see no reason why I should change it. I know what I like, and I stick with it.”

“Yes you do,” Blaine murmurs. “It’s part of that charm of yours, makes it hard to not fall for—” Blaine automatically cuts himself off, leaning his head against his steering wheel, as he realizes what direction his words were going to take.

Kurt’s clearly making an effort to call, and if he keeps doing… this… will they even be able to repair their friendship? When will they be able to talk without it being awkward and having to dance around each other and not worry about crossing a line.

“Blaine. I can hear your mind running,” Kurt eventually says, his voice soft. Soft, but careful. Always careful.

“I keep… I keep saying the wrong things don’t I?” Blaine says after a moment, wincing at the emotion in it.

Silence again, and Blaine feels his stomach tighten in dread.

“Not exactly,” Kurt finally responds and Blaine’s stomach loosens up. “Maybe it’s me in this case…”

“It’s both of us,” Blaine counters.

Another pause. “I can live with that.”

“I’m glad you called though, I always am,” Blaine admits.

“I’m glad I called too…oh, I’m up.”

“I should let you go then,” Blaine murmurs.

“You don’t want to be too late getting home for dinner,” Kurt says lightly, and Blaine doesn’t want to hang up. He wants to keep talking to Kurt. But he can’t talk to Kurt and drive at the same time.

“No, I don’t. Have fun at work.” He glances at his watch and yeah he’ll definitely be about ten minutes late getting home for dinner, but it’ll be worth it.

Kurt sighs as he heard the other end click. The barista looks at him impatiently, so Kurt rattles off his and Isabella’s coffee order quickly. Meanwhile, his stomach feels all jittery again. But it’s not a bad jittery. His heart had been jumping all over the place during that call, and at that one point he wished he was there with Blaine.

His dad was right. They both screwed up, and things went wrong fast, and it hurt because things weren’t supposed to go bad or wrong between them. Neither one of them can seem to find a way to say that yet, but if they keep talking to each other like this, they will.

He hears his order called, and he grabs his coffee. He has to get into a mindset for work, so he needs to think about this later.

Which he will.

It doesn’t take long to get a cab (which is a miracle in itself) and while he’s in traffic, Kurt decides to text Blaine, knowing he won’t answer as he’s driving.

Sorry I made you late getting home. Hope your mom won’t be too upset.

It’s not until much later, when he’s home, and about to fall asleep when Kurt hears the familiar buzzing sound of a text.

Ten minute lecture from Mom. It was worth it.

Blaine has a problem.

He has nothing to do in his own study period.

So pretty much he’s just been revising homework that’s due in two or three days.

Blaine nearly starts when he feels his cell buzz. Thankfully, it was on silent, so it didn’t get the attention of anyone else.

And also a good thing: study period.

Blaine glances around, nobody is paying attention, and he takes his cell out of his pocket to see who texted him.

Coming to Ohio in a couple days, little brother. CA.

Cooper’s coming? Blaine blinks in surprise, then grins. He could use his brother. He talked to Cooper once since… since the break up, and strangely, Cooper never tried to steer the conversation back to him.

Awesome, he texts back, and seconds later he gets another text. But it’s not from Cooper.

Are you in your study period?

Blaine pauses, and then remembers that Kurt memorized his school schedule before he left for New York.

Yes.

A minute later-Only been in NYADA for a little over a week and I feel lonely.

Blaine frowns.What about Rachel,he sends.

Just as that one goes, he gets another text from Cooper.

Good. Get ready for some brother stuff!

Blaine wants to laugh, but won’t disturb the silence in the hall. Stoner Brett did that once and got a math book thrown at him by Tina.

Another text from Cooper- Be last message before I get there. See you soon little brother!

Right after that is Kurt’s answer.Don’t get me started on Rachel. Or Brody.

Blaine frowns..Brody… the guy that was with them at Callbacks.Causing trouble?

He looks up and around the study hall to make sure no one is watching him, although he would have heard something by now if they were. No one was. Everyone was busy trying to finish their homework that was no doubt due next period.

Blaine glances back down just as Kurt sent a text.Nothing to get worked up on. Just Rachel being Rachel and Brody is a part of that. How is it going today?

Slow. Fight in the hallway got two hockey players and two football players suspended. I’ve got nothing to do really in study hall… all my homework is done.

Suddenly Stoner Brett starts laughing, and it happens. But this time it’s not Tina that does it (Blaine knew she was in a middle of a Current Events paper that she had been struggling to write and is due tomorrow) but it’s one of the Cheerios who throws a book at Brett, causing the teacher, to get in the middle.

Blaine feels the familiar buzz of a text and looks at Kurt’s text.

No surprise there. Anyone snap yet?

Blaine bits his lip to prevent a laugh from coming out.

Yes. Being broken up now. Nice timing.

It doesn’t take long for Kurt to send a response.

As always.

“Hey.”

Blaine’s voice is his usual soft and Kurt does his best to focus on not getting plowed by someone in one of these NYADA hallways.

“Hi,” Kurt murmurs. “I know you’re busy, probably on your way home.”

“Just about to get to my car.”

All about the timing. Which also means—

“I only have a couple minutes,” Kurt adds, regretting that he called Blaine while he was moving from one class to the next. A part of him deep down thinks he does on purpose, to limit the time they talk to each other, in case….

In case one of them messes up.

“I just wanted to say hi.”

It had been a couple days since they texted each other during Blaine’s study hall. Which is another reminder he could have texted.

“It’s okay,” Blaine replies, sounding just as happy to talk to him for two minutes as he would if he could talk to Kurt for two hours. “Everyone from Glee should be coming into the choir room soon.”

“One thing I don’t miss.” Kurt expertly dodges a student racing down the hallway as if she was on fire. Plenty of experience in dodging people.

He almost hits another student after he dodges her, and they exchange scowls before moving on.

This time there’s a pause from Blaine. “Oh?”

Kurt wonders if he said it wrong. If he made it sound like… “Too many voices, always talking over the other. Always tended to get louder that way than it did when we were singing.”

“Yeah,” he hears Blaine murmur. He then hears Sam, and figures Sam came in. “So what class are you going to?”

“Dance.”Joy.

"Always a favorite of yours,” Blaine says softly, and Kurt can hear the teasing underneath it. Kurt’s own heart clenches, and he’s unable to stop himself from inhaling sharply from the memory. He remembers those moments in the car together after glee dance rehearsals, Blaine always teasing him when he would start winding up about how dance rehearsals were. And that teasing would lead to…

NO. STOP.Why is he doing this to himself?

“Kurt?”

Kurt snaps out of his thoughts and he realizes he’s at the door. But he doesn’t want to hang up yet. Even though he just heard a couple more voices in the background. Another student mutters something as they squeeze past him into the class room, giving him a dirty look while doing so. “Uh yeah, I’m here, but I have to go.”

“Okay.” Kurt has to bite his lip against the softness in Blaine’s voice, the slight sadness in it.

A part of him is angry with that, because Blaine was the one who chose to end it when he visited New York…

But you played your part too, Kurt’s own conscience whispers as he places his cell back in his satchel.Don’t forget that. So some of that anger is towards yourself too.

Kurt leans against the door frame, forcing himself to breathe and calm his thoughts. Who knew repairing a friendship would be so difficult? He knew it would be a little hard after all, but it feels like he's balancing on a tight rope right now.

Blaine wants to take the that pitcher of water on the dinner table and dump it on Cooper’s head.

A weekend vist has turned into over a week long visit.

And as much as Blaine loves Cooper, he loves his sanity more, and having Cooper around for more than forty eight hours is pretty much insanity.

Yet, he won’t take that pitcher of water and dump it over his brother’s head. Because: (a) His mother would get upset, (b), It would get the carpet wet, and therefore make his father irritated, and (c) It’s not polite.

All he can say is thank you that dinner is pretty much over, and Cooper is leaving in an hour. An HOUR.

His relationship with his older brother is better through email, phone calls and texts than it is face to face. Maybe when he’s older it’ll be more managable.

Just as Blaine gets excused from dinner and Cooper, he hears his cell phone ring as he heads up the stairs to his bedroom. Blaine forgets his manners and finishes running up the stairs and pretty much barrells into his bedroom, to get to his phone. Stupid house rules, he thinks darkly as he gets his phone on the fourth ring.

“Kurt?” He asks hopefully, once again not looking at the caller ID.

“Yes… why are you so out of breath?” Kurt asks. Blaine can hear the curiosity clear as day.

“Dinner just ended. I was coming upstairs—”

“Ah so I called a minute early,” he hears Kurt mutter. Blaine blinks. Wow… he and Kurt really did have their schedules down pat didn’t they? “No comments about the sound of dogs running up the stairs?”

“Mom is occupied by Cooper.”

“Nice. So it sounds like you survived his visit.”

Blaine huffs. “Barely. I missed him so much I forgot what he was like.”

“Restrained yourself then?”

“Barely.”

“KURT!”

Blaine winces as he hears Rachel’s voice bellow Kurt’s name. Kurt sighs, and talks away from the phone to Rachel. His name is mentioned as Kurt muffles the phone, but he can hear Rachel’s tone of voice in whatever she says, and it’s not pleasant. Blaine winces. He didn’t hear the words, but he can imagine them.

“Sorry about that,” Kurt comes back on the phone.

“Not a problem,” Blaine tries to say in a easy tone, but knows it doesn’t work. “I know she’s mad at me, probably as much as you are.”

“Still not her place,” Kurt says firmly, “and… it’s getting easier. So I’ll be talking to her later.”

“I don’t want you—”

"You’re my best friend Blaine,” Kurt says firmly, “and even though I’m mad, we are best friends and we’re going to fix this. You and I were best friends first, so she’s going to have to accept it. Or deal with it.”

Blaine blinks at that, and for the first time since they started talking to each other, he does have hope that things can be worked out.

That he and Kurt can be saved.

Friendship first, his mind whispers.

“Thanks,” Blaine swallows.

Silence on the other end. But it doesn’t… it’s not bad.

“Yeah,” Kurt finally responds, almost sounding as stunned as Blaine feels right now.

Hope.

There’s nothing much else for either of them to say, so the call ends with a faint ‘later’ from Kurt.

It’s two in the morning.

Kurt stares up at his ceiling, trying to sleep.

He hasn’t texted or called Blaine since the other day.

He glances at his cell phone on his night table.

He can’t do it now either.

Restless. He feels restless.

He didn’t expect that.

Blaine hasn’t talked to Kurt since the last call… and it’s a few days away from Christmas.

Kurt hasn’t called. He sent a text though, saying his schedule is a bit crazy so not a lot of personal time.

He wonders if Kurt is trying to put a little bit of distance between them since that last call.

Blaine hasn’t gotten the courage yet to call Kurt himself. Courage. He texted that to Kurt once.

In a small way, he’s glad he hasn’t talked to Kurt right now.

He might end up blurting out the news about Burt to him, and Burt wants to tell Kurt in person. He’s still surprised he knows. He’s not part of the Hummel family really, yet Burt told him.

Until then, the few times Blaine and Burt crossed paths, (One of those was at the garage with Cooper) it had been very civil. In fact Burt didn’t seem angry with Blaine, just… disappointed.

Join the club.

But after a very warm run in, where Burt got Blaine to talk a little bit more than just polite answers to questions, Blaine found out. And he also found out that Burt… wanted to bring him to New York when he went to visit.

Right now he’s just waiting on an answer from his mother. Long ago, Burt quickly figure out that it was Mrs Anderson that made a lot of the decisions, and her word was the final word. If she said no, there was no way one could go to his father. If it was his father that said no… well sometimes you could get lucky with his mom.

Because once Burt does tell Kurt…Kurt will need some support. And Blaine wants to be there to do that, and also just to spend some time with Kurt, face to face, and maybe do that ice skating Kurt talked about in the sectionals call. It might help.

So when he went downstairs to get something to drink and realized his mother was talking to Burt, he changed his mind and headed back upstairs, thinking he could get the drink later… when he finds out whether he can go or not.

Blaine finds himself staring at his bookcase, trying to figure out which book he should read (Either way it’s one he’ll be reading for the one hundreth time) when there’s a knock on his bedroom door and his mother enters. She stares at him for a minute, and Blaine does his best not to look… well too hopeful.

“You can go,” she says, the right corner of her mouth quirking upwards just before Blaine pushes off from his bed and hugs her.

It’s been a week since his dad told him about the cancer.

He think a good outlet will be the Adam’s Apples, even with Rachel’s so called dire warnings. He’ll make another stop or maybe talk to Adam. He didn’t care. Rachel’s gotten worse, especially in regards to him talking to Blaine. Things went from good when she came back from the cruise with her dads, then worse when she found out that Blaine had visited, but then her disgruntlement with Blaine disappeared when Kurt told her about Burt.

But the sympathetic side of her didn’t last long and old Rachel returned.

Hopefully Rachel will get taken down a peg, and if it doesn’t happen any time soon, Kurt’s in the right mood to do it. And viciously if need be.

They may be friends, but he’s not gonna hold back much longer. The fact that he’s actually doing so is strange enough as is.

But he’s still going over the visit with Blaine and his Dad. It was great to see Blaine again. To get some assurance from him about his dad, that Blaine would keep an eye on Burt for him, even though he had Carole.

He can’t lose his father, not yet. Not ever, really. A little unrealistic, but Kurt is allowed to be when it comes to his Dad.

To sing with Blaine and skate with him was wonderful too, a way to get away without going too far.

The rest of the visit felt like their phone calls. So careful. And at time cautious.

But he felt it was getting better.

Step by step, so to speak.

His cell buzzes from his spot on the couch.

How are you doing?

It’s Blaine. Kurt glances at the time. Glee should be starting soon.

I’m doing fine. Just thinking, he replies.

I thought so,came a reply. Then moments later:I finally got Cooper’s Christmas present.

Kurt arches an eyebrow.What was it?

An open ended ticket to LA for a week.

Kurt stares at the text, and he thinks his jaw is hanging a little bit.

Cat got your tongue?

Generous,he finally finds a way to answer. Then;Also a bit jealous.

It’s for two.

Kurt blinks.Pardon?

He sent two open ended tickets. There’s about a two minute wait before the next text. Cooper says Merry Belated Christmas. You could use some sun too.

Kurt can’t keep himself from laughing at that.

“Carol said he has an appointment to check some things out tomorrow,” Blaine tells him two days later. “She sounded a little bemused that she was telling me this.”

Kurt had no doubts that Carol was. But at least she was cooperating with telling Blaine. It seems a little strange, to have his ex-boyfriend giving him reports about his father’s health, but asking Finn to do it would mean only getting answers he doesn’t really want. Or Finn would end up getting information about something else entirely.

“Also, she’s says hi. And that you need to call her.”

Yeah, he hadn’t done that since Christmas. “I’ll make sure to do that.”

“Good, because as nice as she is, she’s a little scary at times.”

“Like Finn?”

“He can’t help it Kurt, he’s so tall. It kind of comes with that.”

Kurt grins, then his smile fades a little when he sees Rachel. She stops as she sees him, smiles brightly at him, then scowls when she notices he’s on the phone. Kurt scowls right back. Rachel rolls her eyes, flips her hair like the Queen she imagines herself to be and stalks towards her bedroom.

Yup, they aren’t talking to each other tonight either. As long as he doesn’t have to hear her practice her notes…

“Kurt?”

“What? Sorry… got distracted. What did you say?”

“Nothing. You just went silent after I mentioned Finn was tall.”

“Oh,” Kurt closes his eyes. “Yeah. His height can be a disadvantage.”

“Tell me about it,” Blaine grumbles.

“You are not that short.”

“Shorter than you.”

"By like a couple of inches. Although if you let your hair fly free from that gel, we might match in height.”

Blaine makes a noise, and Kurt laughs. God it feels so good to laugh like this with Blaine, over the phone.

Blaine’s in the middle of Mr Schue’s history class (and wishing it would end) when Blaine’s notices his cell lights up. Instead of using a silent buzzer, he got an alert that makes the phone light up when a text comes in. Useful for when he's in class.

He glances around, and back at Mr Schue, who’s back is to them, which is perfect. He taps his phone and the text appears.

Rachel’s getting worse. I didn’t think that was possible.

Blaine types out his response quickly and sends it, before looking up to see that Mr Schue STILL hasn’t turned around.

A couple minutes later;

Can I claim it as justifiable? If I do it that is.

Blaine sighs.Kurt. She’s your friend.

There are times I wonder why.

What did she do now?

Too many things, Blaine. TOO MANY THINGS.

It’ll be fine soon enough. This always happens between you and Rachel.Blaine was remembering the student council race. Kurt and Rachel got nasty to each other, and then things were fine. Well, once Rachel dropped out.

It’s a couple minutes before Kurt replies.

All I know if showing interest in a school choir is wrong, then what the hell were we doing in high school? Wasting our time?

Blaine blinks. There’s a school choir at NYADA and from what he’s gathering from this text, Rachel’s trying to dissuade Kurt from joining it. Blaine frowns. What the hell happened to Rachel?

He texts that thought to Kurt.

Not entirely sure. But if she keeps this up, I’m challenging her. No throwing it this time.

Blaine remembers the Defying Gravity diva off Kurt told him about when they first became friends. Oh boy.

Somehow, for the next fifteen minutes Kurt and Blaine text during his history class without Mr Schue noticing.

Blaine mulls over calling Kurt.

It’s been almost a couple of weeks since Christmas, and every point of contact between them right now (except one) has been started by Kurt. They talked yesterday, mainly about Burt, but other stuff did get talked about.. a little.

Which is a good thing. Blaine’s been trying his best to keep his distance and let Kurt be the one to choose when to text or call.

Right now though, Blaine needs Kurt.

He’s trying not to freak out. His parents are being calm, while they try to get ahold of Cooper. Or his agent. So he needs to keep calm.

Blaine steps out of the living room and heads upstairs, tuning out his parents arguing with whoever it is they currently got a hold of. Once he gets to his bed, Blaine sends a text.

Need to talk. Can I call? Busy?

Blaine bites his lip as there’s no answer after two minutes, then practically five minutes go by and he’s tempted to call Sam or Tina so he can talk to SOMEONE. Just as he’s about to dial Sam’s number (Tina wouldn’t be any help, she’s more self absorbed than Sam and Kurt can be combined), his cell rings. For once, Blaine checks and it’s Kurt.

"Hi," Blaine says quickly.

"What’s wrong Blaine?" Kurt asks, and Blaine hears the background sounds of a coffee shop. Definitely a coffee shop.

"I hope I’m not interrupting anything," Blaine says quickly, "I just really needed to talk to someone, and—"

"Blaine, you’re not interrupting anything," Kurt says calmly. "What’s going on? You sound a little nervous."

"There was an accident at the movie set where Cooper is filming," Blaine blurts out, his heart racing a little as he’s now thinking about what the piece of brief news said when it came across the tv. "My parents can’t seem to get ahold of Cooper, and the entertainment websites haven’t been able to say anything except that there was an accident, a couple people hurt, but they haven’t named any names, and—"

"Blaine."

Blaine cuts himself off as Kurt says his name in a sharp tone.

"Breathe," comes the next thing from Kurt.

Blaine inhales, then exhales, trying to do what Kurt says. This is stupid, he thinks. He’s over-reacting.

"Sorry," he hears Kurt murmur, then; "Excuse me Adam."

That building panic inside Blaine that was starting to recede now that he had someone to expose his fears to was replaced by an extreme curiosity, and Blaine wonders if he perhaps did interrupt…something.

"If you’re with someone, I can call—"

"No," Kurt says firmly, and suddenly Blaine doesn’t hear the background noises, like Kurt stepped to a corner or something, but not outside. He would be hearing traffic.

"You said a name, Kurt, I am interrupting—"

"Nothing important," Kurt interjects firmly. "Coffee and conversation is around pretty much twenty four/seven, hardly on the top of list of things that are important. Helping my best friend keep calm because he’s worried about his brother, is."’

Blaine finds himself falling silent.

"Blaine, are you still there?"

"Yeah," he murmurs.

"How do you feel right now?"

"Fine. Sort of." More like stunned. With a dash of fear lurking in the back.

"Okay. Are you near your computer?"

"Yeah."

"TMZ, as much as it sucks, usually has the best up to date information, especially if the movie was being filmed in the United States. It is, right?"

"Yes."

"And most likely, if your parents are trying to get ahold of Cooper, no doubt your brother is trying to get ahold of them."

Blaine nods. His laptop on, he goes directly for TMZ, and starts looking for recent information.

"They have an article about the accident," Blaine murmurs….

"If the worst has happened—"

"It would already be out," Blaine finishes, the fear that was lurking in the back getting smaller and smaller.

"Exactly," Kurt says softly, and Blaine swears that Kurt is smiling.

"No names," Blaine goes on, then suddenly he stills as he hears the faint ringing of the phone downstairs.

"I’m sure he’s fine, Blaine," Kurt says in a sort of weird mix of soft and firm tone of voice. "And knowing Cooper, if anything did happen, something minor happened to him and he’ll still be fine, because face it, this is Cooper."

Blaine laughs for the first time since he heard the news pop up about it. “Yeah.”

There’s a knock on the door, and Blaine turns to see his mother with the downstairs phone.

"It’s Cooper. He’s fine," she says quietly. "His car… not so much," she smirks this time. "Always hated the thing anyway."

"I heard that," Kurt speaks up, and Blaine nods at his mom, who then leaves. "So he’s okay?"

"Yeah he is….thanks." Blaine sighs, realizing he’s usually more put together but knows he’s been off on that lately a lot more than usual.

Then again break ups can do that to a person, especially when you’re rebuilding things with the person you hurt.

"No need to thank me. You needed a friend to talk that fear away in your head. I know what that’s like. It’s always present when it involves family."

"I saw him today with Carole," Blaine says softly, knowing Kurt needs to hear it. "He looked okay. He’ll be fine Kurt, you know it. "

"Thank you," Kurt says softly.

Silence falls again, but this time it’s not uncomfortable. It’s…nice.

"I should let you get back to your coffee and conversation," Blaine murmurs, trying his best to squelch another feeling trying to form.

Kurt huffs. “It’s probably cold by now anyway. And the conversation was okay, just not—” Kurt trails off. “But yeah I should go. We’ll talk later okay.”

"Yeah."

"And Blaine?"

Blaine pauses. “Yes?”

"If you want to call me, call me. You don’t need to ask in a text. I’ll answer, I promise."

There’s something there in those last two words. Blaine heard those two words loud and clear, and he decides then that yeah they are definitely making progress.

Sadie Hawkins dance.

God, he so doesn’t want to do another one of those.

Blaine sighs and drops his head on the table, allowing himself a moment because the classroom is quiet, and there’s no one around to see it.

He knows Tina and the Glee club know a little about what happened at him at that Sadie Hawkins dance he went to. Kurt told him that he only told Glee a basic rundown before they went to prom. He swore he didn’t go into any of the details that Blaine ultimately revealed to Kurt (he revealed most of what happened later) and Blaine believed him.

This shouldn’t be a problem. So Tina wants to do a dance where the girls don’t have to wait for a guy to ask them. There’s nothing wrong with that.

But for Blaine, it’ll always be a problem for him, no matter how much he’s been able to move on from it.

His cell rings, and Blaine doesn’t move his head from the table, he just reaches into his satchel, takes out his his phone and hits answer. “Yeah?”

“Did you put me on speaker? You sound muffled.”

Kurt.

Blaine doesn’t move his head but he takes Kurt off speaker and brings the cell up to his ear. “You’re off speaker now.”

“You still sound muffled.”

“Because I’m laying my head on my desk, trying not to be a selfish teenager.”

“What’s going on?”

Blaine sighs. “Sadie Hawkins Dance.”

“What?”

Blaine appreciates the hushed sound in Kurt’s voice.

“Tina. She wants to do a Sadie Hawkins dance.”

“But—”

She’s already going to Principal Figgins with the request. He’s not going to say no just because one student has a bad history with it.”

“Does Figgins even know?” Kurt sounds really annoyed now.

“Probably, it’s in my file. He would have seen it when I transferred here. ” Then again, this school bumped down to junior instead of making him a senior. So he's given up trying to understand Figgins and this school. He’s glad he’s a senior now, but things would be less complicated if he had been able to be a senior when he transferred. “I don’t want to make it a big deal though.”

“Blaine-“

“No, I don’t want to make it a big deal. This makes Tina really excited,” Blaine sighs and finally sits up. His neck was cramping anyways, and his mother’s voice about etiquette and manners was starting to get loud in his head.

Kurt makes a harumph like sound, and Blaine, for the first time since the meeting started, smiles. He also hears Kurt mutter something about Tina, and then he hears Rachel in the background.

“Damn it, look I don’t want to end this now, especially with you feeling like this, but I have to go. I WILL call back later okay?”

“Yeah.”

Kurt does call back later. It’s right after dinner is over.

“Don’t get involved,” Kurt says simply when Blaine answers.

Blaine closes his bedroom door. “I’m class president, Kurt.”

“I know. But you can still hand over the duties of the dance to others. You’ll probably have to attend it, but you don’t have to get involved with it.”

Blaine mulls that over. “That’s…”

“Great? Awesome? Fantastic? I’m right, aren’t I?”

“I’m not going to tell you that you’re right.”

“Why?”

“Because it’ll go to your head, and your hair is tall enough as is.” Even though Blaine loves Kurt’s hair. He always did. Especially running his fingers through it…

“But I am right.”

“Doing my homework now.”

“I’m riiiiiiight,” Kurt sings.

Blaine sighs. “You’re right.”

“Of course I am.”

“Of course you are,” Blaine agrees, because in this instance, Kurt is.

They end up having a couple long conversations by text the next day, as both of them were in positions of being unable to talk on the phone. Blaine started worrying about the whole not getting involved bit, with how it looks and all that, but in the end he was able to get over that. So by the time Tina comes to visit him by his locker, Blaine’s feeling better. He explains that while he has his trepidation’s with Sadie Hawkins, he won’t try to stop the dance from happening, but he won’t participate in the planning either.

Then after a visit with Principal Figgins with a short explanation about what his exact involvement will be with the dance, Blaine feels a thousand times better.

Then Kurt calls when he’s at his locker.

“Nice timing,” Blaine comments as he takes a binder out of his locker.

“As always. Everything work out?”

“Yeah. I told Tina, and she understands.”

“Good.”

“Thanks,” Blaine murmurs. “I’m sorry for all this though.”

“Sorry for what?”

“First the Cooper thing, and now this… it’s like—”

“It’s like a friend helping out his best friend,” Kurt cuts in. “Just keep this in mind when I call you at two in the morning freaking out about something, okay?”

Blaine smiles. Kurt’s two am freak out calls were special ones, and Blaine had to make sure to keep his phone on vibrate because of the house rule. “You’ve done that plenty of times, Kurt,” he murmurs, “I never minded when you called.” Especially when those freak out calls (Blaine remembered four of them in a space of one week after Kurt did his audition for NYADA) then turned into calls that were… very enjoyable.

Made having those tissues on his bed even more essential.

“Ohhh…” Kurt’s drawn out response clearly tells Blaine that Kurt’s mind must have went the same direction as his did. “I— uh— well—” Kurt pauses and clears his throat. “Well, I think I have to go.”

“Okay.”

Kurt hangs up the phone on his end, and glances at the mirror in his bathroom, seeing his face has turned a deep shade of red. Well that’s not unusual. Damn his fair skin.

How did a phone call that was supposed to be about making sure things were okay turn into something else entirely by the end?

How does this keep happening?

Kurt sighs. He thinks the universe just like screwing with him and Blaine. Plain and simple. Working on their friendship, becoming best friends again, was the priority. Kurt wanted to repair that first, and they are. Each phone call and text confirms that.

Then… something keeps making their conversations veer off that course, and Kurt’s not sure what’s going on.

Kurt smells food coming from the kitchen, and his stomach rumbles. However he’s not leaving this bathroom until he no longer looks like the shade of red that his favorite pair of jeans is

Blaine listens to Kurt talk about NYADA , and the school choir that he’s sort of a part of, but not quite. He knows that the guy that Kurt has had coffee with (and probably more than once, and he tries very hard not to get jealous) when Blaine had called Kurt, stressing about Cooper, is the guy that runs the school’s choir. Kurt doesn’t talk about him really, just the fact that Rachel disapproves of the choir.

Kurt’s getting more stressed out over Rachel and her boot lickers (what Kurt calls them), trying to find his own way in NYADA, plus add on his dad’s health, and Blaine can tell Kurt is actually moments away from snapping.

Rachel might be that target too. Blaine’s actually happy he’s not in New York to witness that. He’s been witness to Kurt and Rachel’s falling outs and they are not pretty. Nor comfortable to be around.

“Blaine?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ve been talking too much.”

Blaine grins. “No you’re not.”

“Are you even listening?” Kurt sounds annoyed now.

Blaine rolls his eyes. “School is getting more stressful with Rachel’s antics, her boot-lickers, and the fact you feel a little unsure of your place. Plus your dad isn’t being full of the information you want when you do call him, and having to rely on Carole and me to fill you in isn’t helping.”

Kurt goes silent and for a moment Blaine wonders if Kurt decided to just hang up.

“Oh,” he hears some rustling in the background. “Okay, you were listening.”

“I always listen to you,” Blaine says softly.

“You do sound a little distracted though,” Kurt comments. To others it may seem Kurt ignored what Blaine said, but Blaine knows Kurt. It’s just been filed away for later.

“Just perusing my homework. Most of it’s actually done. Just looking over what I didn’t finish.” Blaine hears a slight ding on his laptop and notices an IM from someone in New Directions. Sam. He glances at the message, and quickly replies. “And of course working out things with New Directions… now…”

“I still can’t believe you joined the Cheerios,” Kurt mutters. “You and Tina… just nuts. How’s Marley doing?”

Blaine found out that while he and Kurt talked about whatever that popped up in their conversations, Kurt still found a way to find out about New Directions through other sources. Blaine found out Kurt knew about him joining Cheerios when a couple days ago Blaine got a text after the end of practice that said: I warned you about the Cheerios when I was in Dalton.

“She’s getting better—” Blaine frowns as he sees another IM pop up, this time from Tina, saying Sam had major information and Blaine needed to pay attention. Blaine mentally growls at the interruption. “As far as I know, since most of us have been split up with the club being disbanded,” Blaine says as he replies to Tina’s message with a LATER. “I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to her really, but Unique says she is.”

Blaine sees an IM pop up again, again from Tina, and normally, he would respond. But he’s talking to Kurt, and he’s not in the mood to deal with whatever drama Tina and Sam may have cooked up now. He closes the IM box, and signs out of his chat program. He feels guilty doing this, and the manners that were driven into him by his parents make him itch to sign back in again. But he forces back the urge to do so. He can be rude for one night.

“So have you joined that choir?” Blaine asks.

“Kind of,” Kurt murmurs. “I mean… they all seem nice, and Adam… well they seem nice and it seems to be really fun.”

“You could use some fun, Kurt,” Blaine says softly.

“So could you. I mean, come on, your soul is going to need it now that you’re stuck with the Cheerios,” Kurt counters.

“I’m having fun now.”

“Talking to me?”

“Because I’m talking to you.”

Blaine hears a slight huff and he grins in response, knowing Kurt’s smiling now.

They talk for about another ten minutes, before Kurt decides to go, and the conversation ends on a good, light note.

Kurt nods to something that Adam says, and then takes out his phone to text Blaine, knowing he should be at the end of Cheerio’s practice now.

If I see that sign of Rachel’s one more time I’m going to light it on fire, he sends.

If I have to deal with her boot-lickers one more time, I’m going to light their boots on fire,he sends a few moments later.

And he has no idea where this fascination with setting things on fire has come from lately, but his thoughts are valid.

Ten minutes later, after Kurt has left the campus and is on his way to a coffee shop when he gets a response.

First Rachel’s sign. Now shoes. Are you turning into a pyromaniac?

Kurt grins.Those shoes are a crime against fashion. Plus Rachel’s sign is asking for it.

A few minutes later,Don’t get arrestedshows up on his phone.

Kurt watches Rachel stomp off, and all that tension he’s been feeling is fading. He leans against the counter, and looks up at the ceiling. He counts to ten slowly. Doesn’t even wince when he hears a door slam.

He enjoyed the look on Rachel’s face when he admitted to throwing their diva off in Glee. That just felt so damn good. It felt great letting it all out there.

He’s going to beat her, and enjoy it the entire time.

Blaine finds himself waking up at two am for some reason and he turns to see his cell flashing on his night stand.

He forces himself to reach over and pick up his cell, and when he’s able to focus, he notices a text from Kurt, sent two minutes ago.

I challenged Rachel earlier tonight.

Blaine rereads the text twice, and all his sleepy brain could think of was

Uh oh.

I beat her.

Blaine smirks at the text. He was waiting for it. The Midnight Madness thing as it was called, was set up last night.

Things okay now?He sends as he leaves the school and heads towards his car.

Yeah. Feels like we’re actually friends again.

That’s good.

How’s Cheerios?

Don’t be mean.

ROFL. Regretting it now aren’t you?

Yes. But there might be a chance to get New Directions back together.

Oh?

Sam thinks The Warblers cheated.

Kurt winces at that text. He feels an ache for what the Warblers have become. Blaine, the Warblers, helped him heal when he needed it, and ever since his senior year, the Warblers became something else entirely. And now they are cheating? Low blow.

How do you feel about that?Kurt knew that Blaine was probably taking this hard. The Warblers were there when Blaine needed them too, and then they turned on him.

A few minutes go by before there’s a response.I don’t know.

Need to talk? Well, besides this?

Later? Are you free later? About to get in the car.

Kurt did have a thing planned with Rachel- things have gotten extremely better since Midnight Madness but she cancelled on him to do something with Brody.

I’ll be free, he sends.I can call you in about two hours if you like?

Cooper’s visiting again. I’ll call you when I escape to my room.

At least he’s no longer questioning on whether he can call. Kurt’s glad about that. Okay.

Call Carole by the way.

Kurt just talked to Carole yesterday…

Nothing serious.. now I’m at my car. Call her.

Kurt exhales, glad it’s not serious. Could be just another update about a doctor’s appointment.

“I’m not happy,” Blaine declares when Kurt picks up the phone.

There’s silence on the other end, and Blaine realizes perhaps he shouldn’t have started the call like this. It’s 9 at night, and it’s been five hours since they spoke by text.

He now knows why Sam and Tina were all intent on talking to him a couple nights ago when he and Kurt were talking. It’s been a crazy few days on his end, and apparently also on Kurt’s end.

“I mean I’m not happy with the Warblers.”

There’s a sound like Kurt just exhaled.

“Well you haven’t had reason to be happy with them in a while,” Kurt points out.

“Still.. to go this route?”

“So it’s been comfirmed?”

“I’ll send you the video Sam got of Hunter freaking out.”

“Hunter?”

“New Warbler. He tried to get me to transfer back.”

Kurt pauses. “When was this?”

Blaine actually didn’t tell Kurt that. “Uh a bit ago.. before.. before we started talking again.”

“Did you want to?” Kurt’s voice is quiet now.

“I was tempted, ” Blaine admits. “With everything going on, I was tempted.”

“But you didn’t.”

“But I didn’t.”

“Good,” there’s.. something… in Kurt’s tone with that word that kind of sits in Blaine’s mind. “I’m glad.”

“So am I.”

Sadie Hawkins… finally proving the Warblers cheated… their disqualification. The next week and a half is crazy. Blaine feels a bit a heartsick at that, they were once his safety net. The Warblers were there when Blaine needed that safety net, needed that cocoon, needed that fresh new start, and it made him heartsick and sad a little to see what has happened to them. It’s like they became the twilight zone Warblers since he left them.

Then the fact that they needed to raise money to get to Regionals took hold, and things got busy. Especially when Tina brought up the calender idea and… well, not everyone was crazy about it, but apparently they were going to go through with it.

In between these events on Blaine’s side (as well as him trying to keep his promise to Kurt about Burt) and all the stuff that was going on Kurt’s side, the two of them got to talk in their spare moments about a dozen times. A good portion of them were texts, and Blaine called Kurt about four times. A couple times it looked like he interrupted Kurt with someone else, (probably Him, and once again Blaine worked hard to keep his jealousy at bay because he had no right to feel it honestly, but how could he not?), the third one went like an hour long and only ended because Kurt had to get to class, and then…

Then disaster struck.

Rachel answered when Blaine called two days ago.

If it was possible to get frostbite over a phone, Blaine thinks he would have gotten it. While Kurt and Rachel’s friendship had gotten better (For some reason one of them being defeated seems to bring them back on a even keel), Blaine’s relationship with Rachel doesn’t look like it’ll be improving any time soon.

It was short, and it was definitely not sweet. Rachel was testy. Blaine forgot his manners and was testy in return, and when Kurt finally got on the phone, the call ended up being short because both of them wound up being testy to the other.

They tried talking to each other a couple more times after that, but somehow the work they both have done to repair their friendship, had taken a major step backwards.

All Blaine could think was Rachel’s accusations about the break up, was probably still alive in Kurt’s head, as it was in his, and it was most definitely the cause of the tension between them again.

Kurt stares at the cell phone on his night stand and his fingers itch to dial Blaine’s number. Yet, he knows it would not be a good thing to call Blaine. Not with the things he overheard Rachel say to Blaine before he could snatch his phone away from her, echoing in his head.

Kurt sighs. He’s never been afraid of confrontation before. Yet, why is the thought of one that is very much needed between him and Blaine making him so hesitant?

It’s been three days

Three days with nothing. No texts. No calls. And it’s… hard. It’s hard not talking to Blaine.

Kurt wonders if that gut feeling he’s been having about their next talk being a confrontation is also something Blaine’s been feeling and that’s why there hasn’t been any communication.

Because their next talk… who knows what might happen?

Kurt groans and sinks down into his couch. He’s being a coward about this and he is NEVER a coward. He hates feeling like this. And Blaine isn’t a coward either, so why the hell is he hiding as well?

No longer feeling wary, Kurt’s now mad. He knows Blaine’s schedule, and he full well knows Blaine is at home.

He dials Blaine’s number, and as he does, he gets back up from the couch. Standing still for this is not an option.

He hears the click of an answer and he doesn’t wait for Blaine’s greeting.

Just for the record, you broke up with me,” Kurt snaps out, ” so why the hell am I tiptoeing around all of this? You broke up with me, I should be the one that’s completely miserable.”

There’s silence on the other end for too long. Then Kurt jumps right back into it without waiting for a response, because damn it, he’s going to say it. “We both knew us being in other states was going to be hard! We both knew it. And you were the one that pushed me here in the first place! I knew I needed to go Blaine, and you know, I tried like hell to make us work—”

“By being a distant jackass?” Blaine interrupts. “By not taking calls, or not paying attention during our skype dates, or not paying attention to anything that was going on? At all?”

“Distant?! Distant! I was distant? Who was the one that cancelled our last three skype dates before you sprang your surprise visit on me?” This time Kurt’s yelling. No one else is here, so he’s yelling and it feels good. “Who was the one that ended our last few phone calls with nothing more than a bye? Blaine, do you remember the whole being distant thing during my senior year?”

“I also remember something else happening then!” Blaine’s not being quiet either, and it’s a bit startling, because Blaine never yells.

“Oh don’t bring that up!” Kurt doesn’t want to remember Chandler. God that was such a stupid thing. “You’re so freaking good with the whole being distant thing, that I should have seen the signs when it started happening again!”

“And I remember what you said in Ms Pillsbury’s office after all that, and guess what Kurt? IT STILL HAPPENED. You got so damn,” Kurt blinks because another first for Blaine. They’re both angry and yelling, and Blaine surprises Kurt by swearing, and it’s all just so surreal, “occupied with everything that I knew you would get occupied with. New friends, job, new city, everything, and I was getting left behind, JUST LIKE I KNEW I WOULD.”

“So if I was supposedly being a distant jackass, you decided to just return the damn favor by being one too? AND THEN COME TO NEW YORK, BRING ME ROSES, SING ME TEENAGE DREAM AND THEN f*ckING BREAK UP WITH ME?”

“BECAUSE IF I DIDN’T DO IT YOU WOULD HAVE DONE IT!” Blaine yells right back.

“SO WHAT, THIS WAS YOUR WAY OF BEING NOBLE AND FALLING ON YOUR SWORD?”

“BETTER THAN HAVING IT SHOVED THROUGH YOU BY SOMEONE ELSE. BECAUSE I WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HANDLE IT IF YOU HAD DONE IT!”

“AND YOU THINK I HANDLED IT JUST f*ckING FINE?!” Kurt snarls.

“OF COURSE THE f*ck NOT!”

“YOU DON’T THINK BEING APART WAS HARD FOR ME AS WELL? I’M SORRY BLAINE OKAY? I GOT SELF ABSORBED, AND THAT HAPPENS WITH ME. I WAS FINALLY OUT OF LIMA BUT I WASN’T COMPLETELY HAPPY BECAUSE YOU WEREN’T THERE BESIDE ME, SO I HAD TO DO SOMETHING TO TAKE MY MIND OFF THAT, AND I LET MYSELF GET SUCKED IN WITH EVERYTHING ELSE, AND BY DOING SO I NEGLECTED YOU AND OUR RELATIONSHIP, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU HAD TO DO THE SAME. I HURT YOU, BUT YOU HURT ME JUST THE SAME!”

“I KNOW I DID AND I HATE THE FACT THAT I HURT YOU. IT SUCKS OKAY? I MESSED UP KURT, I MESSED UP SO BAD AND I HATE THAT I DID THAT. I DIDN’T INTENTIONALLY HURT YOU OR US I WAS JUST TRYING TO—-I WAS JUST TRYING TO—” Blaine’s voice breaks then, and Kurt’s stomach dips as he hears the crack, and he knows Blaine is crying now, because he’s crying.

A sob escapes Kurt and he sinks down to the ground, barely noticing he’s now against the couch. He’s clutching the phone to his ear, and his heart aches as he hears Blaine cry, and he can’t stop crying.

He’s so glad no one else is here to see this. Because he thought he was done crying about this, but apparently not.

“I messed up too,” Kurt admits through his sobs, surprised he can get the words out, not caring that he sounds like a little kid. “I know I did, and I’m sorry Blaine, I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I did what I did, I really don’t, and I’m so sorry.” Kurt’s unable to get any more words out, as more sobs escape.

All he can hear on the other end is Blaine taking deep breaths in between sobs, and he swears he heard him say something, but not much is said as they both seem to clutching their phones to their ears as they cry.

Kurt’s not sure how much time passes, but his crying eventually eases to a stop and he just hiccups a couple times. On the other end, he hears Blaine’s own breathing and a couple hiccups too. He feels tired now too. But he also feels… he doesn’t know, it’s hard to put a word to it, and he wonders if Blaine feels like this too.

He doesn’t need to wonder really. He knows Blaine is feeling this too.

“Blaine?”

He hears Blaine hiccup again, and then a whisper, “Yeah?”

He wants to say so much. SO MUCH. He needs to say something. “I—” he hiccups, “I’m exhausted.”

There’s a pause, a hiccup, and then something like a giggle. “Uh huh.”

“Call me tomorrow okay?”

“I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Blaine looks at his phone, willing it to finish charging so he can actually do what he said he would do.

And that is call Kurt.

Because they didn’t actually talk to each other the next day.

Or the day after.

Or the day after that.

And now the not talking has gone on for almost the fourth day, but Blaine isn’t going to wait until tomorrow to call Kurt.

Blaine had his reasons for the not talking to Kurt. And it’s not like Kurt hasn’t tried to contact him. According to his mom, Kurt called the land line three times… each time Blaine wasn’t at the house. Blaine did try to get through to Kurt on the house phone, but each time wound up sending him to Kurt’s voice-mail, which he dutifully left messages explaining the predicaments.

Said predicaments?

He lost his charger. Then he found his charger, then lost his phone. His finally found his cell phone this morning, but his mom borrowed his charger because SHE lost her charger. Which like never happens. Then there was the calender shoot to put together. Because they had to scramble fast to raise money for Regionals, because the Warblers got officially disqualified for using steroids. So things got a little rushed and harried, and then there was Sam with his body issues (And that was like a good portion of the day) and Blaine doesn’t even think that situation is done and over with, but now he’s home and he’s charging his phone.

It’s been an exhausting few days, he’s tired from all the stuff that’s been going on, it’s almost eight o’clock, and he just wants to lie down on his bed and sleep. Yet he’s not.

Because he’s GOING to talk to Kurt tonight. No ifs, ands or buts. And no last minute craziness stuff either.

As he waits, he sees a message from Tina pop up and it’s about Sam. Of course.

Blaine is polite, but firm in his response back to Tina, then he signs out his messenger. Just as he does, he hears a buzz, which means his phone has finished charging. He reaches over and unplugs it, then hits the power button.

Just as his phone turns on, it’s ringing and Blaine answers.

“Kurt?”

“Yes.”

“How did you know?”

“I didn’t, just took a shot,” Kurt says quietly. “I got your message earlier today about charging your phone.”

Ah, that was when he borrowed Tina’s phone. He doesn’t like borrowing others cell phones, just in case they might miss a call, but he was desperate.

“So I figured you would have it on soon enough. When I didn’t get a call at six or seven, I told myself to call at eight.”

“I am so sorry about—-“

“Blaine, don’t apologize,” Kurt cuts in. “Stuff happened. You told me in messages what was going on, I talked to your Mom, and I called Finn a few times to see if I could catch you.”

Funny. Finn never mentioned that. Blaine frowns.

“Of course out of the four times I called him, he only answered twice. He sounded annoyed and distracted, so no doubt he forgot to tell you.”

Right. Blaine sighs. As much as he and New Directions are getting along better now, he’s not one hundred percent sure about Finn sometimes. Of course it’s Finn, you never know with him, so Blaine prefers to think Finn forgot.

“Been a bit busy I take it.”

Blaine groans and flops onto his bed.

Kurt laughs at the other end. “How bad?”

“Well the only thing major at the moment is Sam.”

“With that Calender shoot thing?”

“Yeah. I already talked to him for most of the day today about it, I’ll talk to him again tomorrow.”

“You’re taking on a lot, Blaine.”

“I know, but…I can’t help it.”

“I know, it’s part of who you are. Sam’s lucky to have a friend like you. I know I am too.”

Blaine stares up at his ceiling. “Our friendship has always been different,” he tries to say it casually, but it doesn’t work.

There’s a minute of silence, and Blaine knows it’s a minute because he counts the seconds. Then when Kurt talks, his voice is very soft, but he can hear the emotion.

“We became friends at an important time in our lives. You and I met at exactly the right time and moment, and I always thought I was lucky to meet you. I know at the time I was grateful to found a friend like you. I mean we barely knew each other, and things happened that never would have happened. I opened up to someone that was a stranger to me at the time, and you came to my school to help me with a bully after knowing me, what? Two days?” Blaine’s inhales at the rush of words coming from Kurt, as if it’s something that’s been building for days and it probably has. “Our friendship became an anchor for me in one of the most turbulent times in my life, and I’ll always be grateful for it. I don’t know what my life would have been like if we hadn’t met at that staircase, and I don’t want to think about the possibility that it might not have happened. I meant it during Thanksgiving, Blaine. You are my best friend, and no matter what happens between us, you always will be.”

Blaine swallows, and he feels his eyes starting to tear up. He really doesn’t want to cry. Not again.

“What’s uh.. what’s uh bringing…” Blaine’s trying to form the question in his head. What is bringing about all this candor all of a sudden? But he can’t voice the words in his head.

“Why am I saying this now?”

“Yeah,” Blaine chokes out.

“Because. I don’t know what happened. We were always open with each other in the past, and somehow our communication went all to hell,” Kurt’s voice is now shaky, like how Blaine feels. “So since these phone calls are our way of fixing that, I figured I’d be open and say it. Because it needed to be said. Because it’s true.”

“Just so you know—“Blaine swallows, “our friendship, everything between us, is an anchor for me as well.”

“I know.”

“Good.”

Kurt sets the bag of groceries on the counter as he answers his cell.

“We’re done.”

Kurt grins at the sound of relief coming from Blaine. “No more calender shoot?”

“No more calender shoot.”

“No more long talks with Sam?”

There’s a pause. “Maybe the occasional one here and there. I don’t know how he can think that about himself.”

Kurt can. No one is ever one hundred percent happy with themselves, and deep down they all think that people only like or appreciate another for one thing and one thing only.

“It’s not that hard,” Kurt says softly. “But the good thing is he has friends that are willing to show him different.”

“Yeah.” Blaine sighs. “Something else was going on though. Finn and Coach Sylvester.”

Kurt blanches. “Oh god don’t tell me—”

“What? Oh… oh! No. Nooooo. Nothing like that… oh I hope nothing like that. But whatever it was Artie was part of it or something.”

“I’ll have to see if I can find out from Finn.”

“Do you really want to find out?”

Kurt tilts his head as he puts away his favorite box of popcorn. “I’ll cut him off if need be.” He smiles at Blaine’s laugh.

“Only a couple weeks until the end of January,” Blaine says, definitely sounding tired now. Kurt hears the sound of a door shutting and thinks that Blaine’s in his bedroom. “Then two weeks until the wedding.”

Oh right, Mr Schue and Miss Pillsbury. Getting married on Valentine’s day. Cliche and romantic.

“Are you going?”

“Yes. Well I hope so. I put in the request to have a couple days off so I can go.”

“It would be nice to see you.”

Kurt’s heart stutters at the softness in Blaine’s voice.

“It-it would be nice to see you too.” Easier this time too, Kurt thinks. He was grateful for Blaine’s company during Christmas, after the bombshell from his father. This time however, they’ll be seeing each other under different circ*mstances.

“I miss you.”

Kurt closes his eyes, and suddenly this call has gone from casual to emotional. And damn it, he misses Blaine too. “So do I.” He misses just being with Blaine, seeing Blaine.

Kissing.

Kurt rolls his eyes at his own thoughts, but it doesn’t hurt thinking that now. He opens the fridge to put in the juice, closing it and then heads over to the couch. “You know, I never thought I’d be in New York without you. We talked about it so much, both of us coming here.”

“Then McKinley,” Blaine says dryly. “And I go from being a senior to a junior, because of the credits requirement. I would repeat what my mother said, but it’s in Filipino and definitely not fit for anyone’s ears.”

Kurt finds it hard to picture Blaine’s mother actually doing that. “Your mother never struck me as someone who would be impolite in another language.”

“Piss her off. She’ll insult you in three different languages, then add in Gaelic for good measure. She had Principal Figgins in a daze for two days.”

Kurt blinks. “She knows Gaelic?”

“You can thank my father for that. He taught her. Someone in the family had to learn Gaelic, since neither of his sons wanted to.”

Kurt winces at Blaine’s tone, but wisely stays away from that. “Blaine, your parents—”

“I know.”

“Seriously—”

“I know.”

It’s a couple days later, the fifteenth, when Blaine calls him. This time Kurt is going through his closet, and doesn’t hear it. So when Rachel taps his shoulder, he starts, but saves himself from any embarrassment.

“It’s Blaine,” is all she says before pushing his cell at him and strides out of his bedroom.

Kurt frowns. It’s Saturday, and it’s the day for glee club rehearsal. Or what it generally turns into: Glee Club Invades A Home And Stays All Day. “Blaine?”

“I needed a break.”

He certainly sounds like it.

“Where are you?”

“Home. Everyone decided to come here for the day. Right now Sam, Jake and Ryder are setting up the air hockey table in the gaming room.”

Also known as the basem*nt that got refurbished a few years back. “So it’s the Anderson’s turn to have their home invaded.”

“Yes.”

“How’s your parents taking it?”

“Dad’s hiding in his study. He looked quite alarmed at how many of us there were, and Mom is making sure everyone has enough to eat.”

“And you need a break.”

“I didn’t realize how loud we all can get,” Blaine says plaintively. “Now I know what Burt and Carole were talking about when we all went there.”

And Mercedes’s parents.”

“And Santana’s parents,” Blaine adds.

“Mike’s, Tina’s…” Kurt muses. “Yeah, we’re pretty loud. I think Dad even said watching us made him exhausted.”

“I am going to apologize to every glee club parent I see in the next few days.”

“BLAINE! WE NEED A FOURTH!”

“Gotta go,” Blaine says in a forlorn voice.

“I’ll call in twenty minutes to rescue you.”

“Thank you.”

“Always.”

It’s on the nineteenthwhen they decide to Skype. They had two more phone calls, plus multiple texting marathons, and at some point one of them said they should Skype.

“Have you been doing something with your hair?”

Kurt blinks, and then leans away from the monitor’s camera, and Blaine knows he’s looking at the mirror he saw in there a long time ago. Moments later he’s looking right back at him. “Uh, no? Just the usual styling.”

“It’s just… you look good, your hair looks good…” Blaine’s unable to keep the words back. But he misses Kurt’s hair, that’s how much he misses Kurt. He misses running his fingers through it, messing it up, especially during their moments.

He hopes he didn’t go too far, but with the smirk from Kurt, it’s clear he didn’t. Which means, things are definitely getting better.

“Of course it is. And you look good.”

Blaine’s stomach flutters at the way Kurt’s voice kind of… deepens when he says that.

Kurt excuses himself from Adam, getting a smile and a nod from him. He takes about ten steps away from their coffee table to answer his phone.

“Hey.”

“Busy?”

Kurt glances at Adam sitting at their table. “No. I have a few minutes.”

“Finn gave us an assignment.”

“About?”

“Divas.”

Kurt grins. “Really?”

“Guys can be divas.”

Kurt sniffs. “Of course they can be. Although people would like to use the term divo, but whatever. Guys can be divas.”

“Now I have to show the guys just that.”

“I’m sure you’ll get the point across, you’re good at that.”

“Mind if I run some things by you? You have the time?”

Kurt glances back at Adam again, bites his lip in consideration. “Yeah. Just let me put you on hold for a minute okay? Need to take care of something real quick.”

“Okay.”

“Santana’s back.”

Kurt raises an eyebrow at the look on Blaine’s face. The diva assignment started the other day, and Blaine invited Kurt to a Skype chat. Kurt expected something about costumes or whatnot, and while he saw a couple costumes in the background, he mainly saw Blaine looking stressed.

His hair was not as gelled as it normally was, so some of the curl was coming out and he just looked… good, and what was it that Blaine said?

Kurt had to mentally shake himself to get back to the topic. “Sorry? Santana.”

“Yeah.” Blaine sighs. “Sam and Brittany.”

Kurt winces. “Okay. Has anyone died yet?”

“Not yet. But it fits with this assignment huh?”

Kurt nods, and then finds his eyes travelling over Blaine again when Blaine decides to just fall backwards on his bed. Blaine’s dressed down- jeans, t-shirt and loafers. Add in the slightly messy hair and Kurt’s just not able to stay on track.

He needs a shower.

“Uh, so you picked out your outfit yet?”

Blaine props himself up on his elbows and looks directly at the screen. “Yeah.” He sits up and moves the computer until the camera lands on the outfit and Kurt bites his lip.

“Want me to try it on? Make sure it doesn’t look.. silly? I mean it’s for the assignment and it’s about letting out our inner diva but—” Blaine’s voice trails off.

Kurt coughs, swallows. “Try it on,” he encourages, happy his voice sounds normal. “I’m sure it’ll look fine.”

Shower.

After.

“What is going on with you and Adam?”

Kurt frowns at Rachel’s question, not even looking up from his laptop. “What are you talking about?”

“Your movie date with Adam two days ago? Adam said you left the movie about halfway through, then came back about fifteen minutes before it ended.”

Kurt shrugged. “Had to take a call. Movie was not that interesting anyway.”

“Had to take a call?”

Kurt sighs and looks up at Rachel. “Yes. And we haven’t had many dates Rachel. Three actual dates.” And he’s been unable to one hundred percent enjoy any of them. Adam’s nice and everything… but…

She places her hands on his hips. “That’s because you’re constantly taking calls when you are with him. Even during your coffee outings.”

“It happens. Calls come, they take priority.”

“Adam’s not going to wait much longer.”

Personally, Kurt has no idea what Adam’s waiting for.

“I like Adam, Rachel. But if he’s complaining to you about me taking my friends’ calls, then that’s between me and him. Not you.” Kurt frowns. “Why is he complaining to you?”

“He’s not. I’m complaining. Adam’s great, Kurt. Stop leading him on.”

Kurt sighs. “I’m not leading him on. We’re not serious, Rachel.” So whatever Adam is waiting for… Kurt doesn’t know, nor does he have the patience to figure it out. He’s not a mind reader. His messenger lights up then, and it’s a message from Blaine. Time to Skype. He gets up from the couch. He holds up a hand to stop Rachel. “We’re not talking about this because there’s nothing to talk about. Meanwhile, I have something to do. Excuse me.” Kurt steps past Rachel, and heads into his bedroom, pulling the privacy curtain when he does.

“So I got the time off. I’ll be at the wedding.”

Blaine grins, as he gets into his car. “Great. Do you want me to let Miss Pillsbury to know or are you going to let her know?”

“I told Finn I got the time off yesterday, so he’s most likely told her. At least I told him to tell her….” Kurt sighs. Blaine hears some voices in the background, and what sounds like a piano. Blaine’s come to recognize the different background noises during his calls with Kurt. So he’s at NYADA right now. “I guess I’ll call her just in case.”

“Won’t hurt.”

“I know. It’ll be good to see everyone.”

“I’m sure.”

" I’m sure you’ll look like you usually do when in a suit. Irresistible,” Kurt teases and Blaine has an automatic reaction.

He’s been having those lately. Last night’s Skype call had a bit of teasing from the both of them, and when it ended, Blaine made a beeline for the shower.

Lately their calls, even their texts, have taken on a different life. It’s like that big blow up they had over the phone just sort cleared the air and made things easier. Things have progressed so easily. And it’s giving Blaine hope.

“You rock a suit pretty nicely yourself.” And a pair of jeans…

“I was thinking…”

“What?”

“Well for the reception, how about we sing something together? You know the others will.”

“Really?” Blaine grins.

“Yeah. Come on, no one does a duet better than us. And no doubt others will do a duet.”

“Ahhhhh.”

“What?”

“You know what,” Blaine says teasingly. “You just want to show off.”

“Of course I do. And who better to show off with than you?”

“You’re making me blush.”

“You look cute when you blush.”

Now Blaine knows for sure his cheeks are turning a little red.

“Now, I have to go as I know you have to drive home. We’ll talk later.”

And most likely take another shower after said talk, Blaine thinks.

Blaine has a headache.

It started right before glee started, then it got worse when Unique, Tina and Kitty got into an argument.

They haven’t started yelling yet, but Blaine gets the feeling that one wrong word may light that flame.

"Dude, I don’t know how to get them to shut up," Jake mutters from his spot, just a couple feet away.

"Just let them air it out," Blaine murmurs. It’s bound to run out of steam. It HAS to run out of steam at some point.

"It’s getting annoying," Jake adds.

"No more annoying than your debate with Sam and Artie the other day," Blaine comments.

He hears Sam choke back a laugh and Blaine can feel the stare at the back of his head.

"It was a legitimate debate," Jake insists.

"No it wasn’t," Ryder speaks up then. To his right, Blaine feels a nudge at his side, and then sees Sam’s hand place two aspirin on his clipboard. He flashes a smile to Sam, who nods and goes back to doing whatever he is doing with his guitar. Blaine grabs his bottle of water and downs the pills.

"Can you ladies please put a stop to this.. whatever it is you’re arguing about," Finn says as he comes into the room, "I got…"

Blaine ends up only hearing half of what Finn says, as hears that faint buzz of his cell. Attention diverted, he takes his cell out of a his satchel, and notices a text.

You remember that jacket you wore during the Michael Stand Off?

Blaine remembers everything from the Michael Stand Off.

Yeah,he types.What about it?

Just saw one like it. Brought back memories. Fond ones.

Blaine raises an eyebrow in confusion. Good memories? He didn’t think anyone had any actual good memories of that Michael Stand Off.

Oh? Can you clarify since the main thing I remember is taking a rock salted tampered slushie to the face?

Kurt doesn’t reply back after a couple minutes, so Blaine decides to pay attention to what’s going on in the choir room. He looks at Sam, and Sam sighs, giving him the quick rundown. Blaine spends about ten minutes getting the girls to make their peace with each other, then being the peacemaker between Ryder, Jake and Artie, then helping Finn take control of the rest of the glee’s session.

By that time, an hour had gone by and Blaine was at his locker when Kurt replied.

Sorry. Rachel crisis. Anyway, you took that slushie for me. Something I will always remember.

Blaine smiles, and a minute later another text comes through.

I also remember being terrified about long term damage and wondering if using a shovel on Sebastian’s face would have been far too much.

Blaine grins.

So the jacket brought back those memories?

Nope. I wound up remembering what happened before the Stand Off.

Blaine patiently waits for more as he knows there has to be.

In the car. When you showed me how you looked with the hood part on.

Blaine mouth goes dry as he remembers what happened after that.

Make out session in the back seat.

They were almost late picking up Santana.

He swallows. Oh…

As I said, I have fond memories of that jacket. You still have it?

Blaine’s not sure. But he’ll make a point of going through his closet really carefully to find out.

Oh, have to go. I’ll call you later. Tonight.

Blaine tucks his cell back in his satchel and lays his head against the locker, which at that moment felt nicely cool against his skin.

"So I see you still have the jacket?"

Blaine grins, enjoying the look on Kurt’s face. He would prefer to see it in person, but he’ll take a Skype call for now.

"Went looking for it last night, but found it this afternoon." It still fits nicely.

"So my memory serves me correctly."

"How so?"

"You look hot in it."

Blaine feels his cheeks warm. “You uh, uh said that before.”

Kurt nods. “Just being honest.”

"Part of your charm," Blaine says lightly.

"What can I say? I got lots of things that are part of my charm."

Yup. Plenty.

Blaine really wishes his mind wasn’t going in these directions, as they were supposed to just be friends.

However, Kurt isn’t helping the matter and Blaine even wonders if Kurt realizes what he’s doing.

A part of him doesn’t really care though. The same part that still holds out hope.

Kurt frowns as the cell goes to the fourth ring, knowing if Blaine doesn’t pick up then the voice mail will.

Blaine doesn’t pick up, thus another round of phone tag begins.

"Just returning your message. Figured you’d be able to pick up as it’s only five. Call me."

For two whole days they’ve kept missing each other. Even the timing for their texts were off.

Kurt goes into the kitchen to look over take out menus, as Rachel will be back soon and he’s getting hungry. Just as he narrows it down between three places, his cell rings.

Blaine.

"Hello stranger."

"Been busy," Blaine sounds tired. "I didn’t hear the phone ring, I was in the shower."

"Glee?"

"Gym. Did a work out on the punching bag."

Kurt’s mental warning system dings. “What happened?”

"Nothing major," Blaine assures him. "It’ll get sorted tomorrow, promise."

It doesn’t completely reassure him, but Blaine doesn’t sound upset, so Kurt will leave it alone and NOT think certain things about Blaine in the shower.

Wedding is only seven days away.

Suddenly it’s a long seven days.

"Kurt?"

Kurt shakes his head. “Sorry.. I’ve completely forgotten what I was calling about.”

"Now there’s a first. Got distracted?"

Yes. You. In a shower.

Kurt bites back a groan as the image of Blaine’s back, followed by other parts of his ex boyfriend’s body flashes through his head.

"Uh…I think I’ll have to call you back later." Was his voice sounding normal? No pitches…

"You okay?" Blaine asks, sounding very amused, and Kurt wonders if Blaine knows.

"Yeah, fine.. just I’ll call you back okay?"

"Okay. Later."

Kurt sets the cell on the table and makes a beeline for the bathroom.

As the date for Mr Schue’s wedding gets closer, the calls, texts, and skype chats between Kurt and Blaine continue to take on a new life.

Blaine lost track of how many times each one of them has had to abruptly end a call, or a skype chat, then get in contact a couple hours later in the past four days.

The thing is, most of the time, when they talk it starts out normal. The usual. Asking about each other’s day, hearing gripes, groans and moans about things not going right, or Kurt going on about NYADA and Blaine feeling envy about it.

Then somehow it goes from casual to throat drying, lip biting, feeling fluttery in the stomach (Well, he’s feeling fluttery in the stomach, the heart, the toes…), and distracting.

Blaine’s been taking more cold showers these days.. last time he took so many was during the first couple months he and Kurt dated.

Blaine shakes his head as he walks down the stairs to get something to eat. There had been no glee after school today, so Blaine got home early. No one was home. As he entered the kitchen, his phone rang.

He checks the caller id this time, and sees it’s Cooper.

“Hey Cooper.”

“Hey little brother.”

“Where are you? Still in Las Vegas? Did you get the part?”

“I’m back in L.A. And no. But I got an audition for a movie tomorrow, and the role is amazing. How are things?”

“Good.”

“What about with Kurt?”

Blaine stares at the contents in the fridge, debating about what exactly he should tell Cooper.

“Blaine? Silence does not mean good things.”

It’s going fine… better than fine.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Hmmm. Maybe I should pop on over to New York…”

“No!”

“Oh come on!”

“No, Cooper. Just.. NO.”

“I was just thinking of saying hi!”

“You can never just say hi!”

“I wouldn’t do anything wrong,” Cooper protests. “He’ll be happy to see me, I’m sure.”

“Cooper….”

“Only teasing, little brother. Although it makes me want to go there now.”

“Cooper.”

“Man, you got the firm Cooper down pat. Spend way to much time with Mom, little bro.”

“Better Mom than Dad,” Blaine mutters.

Cooper’s unusually quiet on the other end for a minute. “Blaine…”

“Sorry. That was uncalled for. Dad and I are fine. It’s just…”

“Dad.”

“Yeah.”

There’s a sudden beep in Blaine’s ear, and he pulls the cell away to see who’s calling in and sees Kurt’s number.

“Coop, it’s Kurt on the other line. I’ll talk to you later okay?”

“Sure, little bro. Later.”

Blaine waits for Cooper to hang up and he switches over to Kurt.

“Rachel’s fretting.” Kurt announces in that way of his, when he thinks something is very doom and gloom.

“On a scale of one to—”

“Twenty.”

Dude,” Blaine mutters. “Gotten out of the loft yet? You might want to escape that. Like.. now.”

“Already outside. How much time have you been spending with Sam and the guys?”

Blaine shrugs. “Decent. Unavoidable really… why?”

“It’s coming back around.”

Blaine frowns. “What is?”

“You talking fratty.”

“I am?”

“Part of our talk last night was you slipping into frat speak most of the time.”

"Why do I feel like I should apologize…?”

“Don’t. It’s cute when you do that. Just like when you rap. Remember Perfect?”

Blaine remembers Perfect. He also remembers Santana afterwards. Kind of hard to forget what she says. Her words are designed to stick in your head for ages.

“Yeah.”

“Normally it’s not there, but every now and then you get into the frat speak and the gangsta,” Blaine smiles at the drawl in Kurt’s word of gangsta, “actions and it was really hot at times.”

As per usual, Blaine finds it hard to form a response, but he’s saved when he hears Rachel calls Kurt’s name.

“Crap, she followed me,” Kurt sounds mildly panicked now. “Talk later, okay?”

Yeah,” Blaine’s able to croak out before the call ends. He leans against the counter, wondering what he did to deserve this.

Kurt was able to escape Rachel by ducking into the bathroom of the small cafe that he had gone into while talking to Blaine when originally escaping. He leans against the door, mainly to prevent her from trying to get in, because it being a men’s bathroom won’t stop her, as well as to figure out what the hell he is doing.

Well really, it’s more like what the hell are they doing to each other?

Because…

Kurt lets out a groan of frustration. He and Blaine were best friends first, and right now that’s all he wants with Blaine, all he can take to work on, and yet…

This stuff being said by both of them is maddening. How many friends actually have to take showers to cool down after talking? Not many, yet only Kurt and Blaine could have the most complicated friendship out there.

They can’t just normally talk to each other, can they? Nope, they gotta make it complicated and hard.

They were doing fine with regular every day talks, then that blow up happened, and then the talks went differently. As if some sort of barrier was smashed through and now their minds are telling each other to go ahead and just SAY WHATEVER, even if it makes things complicated.

Kurt sighs. The thing was, even when he was first crushing on Blaine way back then, things were never really complicated between them.

No, the complications came after they break up, which is probably normal.

But then, how many people keep in touch with their ex? How many people go out their way to answer a call, or wait impatiently for a text from said ex? How many people actually flirt (and that is what they are doing, Kurt admits to himself) with their ex? Even though they want to just remain friends?

HOW MANY PEOPLE?

Well, apparently two. Him and Blaine

It’s the day before Mr Schue and Ms Pillsbury’s wedding, and Blaine feels…

A whole bunch of things. Kind of hard to pin it to just one thing.

Because…

Kurt is here.

Next to him.

In his passenger seat.

Last time they talked was last night.

And the only thing he can remember from their talk last night, well clearly, (other than agreeing to pick Kurt and Rachel up) was the last thing Kurt said to him before the call ended. (Because his cell died just seconds after that. Because for some reason he forgot to charge his phone. Because apparently the universe likes f*cking with him.)

I miss kissing you.

Blaine forces down the sigh, and the words that want to spill out. But he won’t.

Because Rachel’s in the back seat.

Damn, Kurt looks good. Just.. good. Hot. His hair is styled in just a way that makes Blaine want to reach out and mess with it.

“Flight go okay?”

“It went okay.”

“For you Kurt. I had to deal with that man’s knees in my back,” Rachel complains.

“For like ten minutes Rachel.”

“It felt longer.”

“Everything feels longer when it’s you,” Kurt mutters.

“What was that?”

“You heard me.”

“I want you to repeat it.”

“Why repeat it if you heard me?”

“Because.”

“Because. Oh yes, that’s a compelling reason, Rachel Berry.”

Blaine does his best not to smile and just concentrate as Kurt and Rachel bicker. He’s dropping Kurt off first then Rachel. Which might make the second half of this drive very very quiet.

They stop bickering just as Blaine pulls up at the Hudson-Hummel house.

“I can take it in,” Kurt says as Blaine gets the suitcase out and closes the hatchback. As he does, he looks up to see Burt coming out of the house, while Rachel has moved to the front seat.

“I don’t mind—”

“I know, Blaine. But I can do it,” Kurt grins. Blaine stares at him wants to either hug him or kiss him, but that’s taken away from him as Kurt hugs him.

He closes his eyes and just wraps his arms around Kurt, wishing he could just stay here.

“Hello boys,” Burt greets warmly as they pull apart. “Seems like I just got in minutes before you two did.” He glances in the car. “Hello Rachel.”

She waves to him, as she’s apparently on her cell at the moment.

Burt grabs Kurt’s duffel bag, as Blaine hands Kurt his suitcase.

“I’ll call you later, okay?” Kurt says softly as Burt starts to head back inside.

“Okay.”

Blaine gets back into the car, glances at Rachel, then starts to back out of the driveway.

Maybe this part of the drive won’t be so bad, Blaine hopes. He’s good at hoping, has had a lot of practice at it.

It’s not bad. It’s just silent.

However there’s this… thing that’s hovering around them. Rachel looks like she’s dying to say whatever is building in that head of hers.

Question is, will Blaine survive what comes out?

Blaine’s mind wanders between that and remembering what Kurt looked like when they arrived. Now he’s tense with something else.

Rachel’s fidgeting something fierce by the time he pulls into her dads driveway. He helps her get her luggage out as well, then when he closes the hatchback he notices how she’s staring at him.

Here it comes.

“You look happy. So does Kurt.”

Blane blinks. He wasn’t expecting that.

She sighs, and pushes some of her hair back, looking impatient now. Clearly he wasn’t responding the way she wanted. “I was wrong to be against the two of you talking again. I was wrong being such a rotten friend to you as well, because we are friends. You know you were my favorite when you came to New Directions.”

Okay…. Blaine can’t help but smile now. Yes, he figured that out the moment Rachel kept latching onto him for duets. Which was probably behind some of Finn’s resentment. “Like to play favorites do you?”

“Of course. To only those that deserve it. But the thing was I hated him seeing so depressed and mopey, and he wasn’t any better when we went to see you all perform Grease. I hated seeing that. He shouldn’t be like that. But when I talked to Tina, she said you were like that too, and I’ll admit, I was glad. I wanted you to suffer like he did.”

“I did, Rachel.” Blaine suffered a lot for his stupidity.

"I know. And that made me kind of spitefully happy.” Rachel shrugs. She doesn’t even seem regretful about it. But that’s Rachel for you. “And of course seeing Kurt unhappy was hard for me, because it just it made me unhappy. I don’t like being unhappy. You can’t be unhappy while trying to live your dream.”

Basically, Kurt and Blaine’s drama interfered with Rachel’s happiness, and she wanted them to stop being miserable. Well Kurt primarily, because she had to live with him. Typical Rachel Berry logic.

"And I thought his friendship or whatever it is that’s going on with Adam,” Blaine mentally winces at the name and surge of jealousy, “was helping. Kurt was smiling more, looking less stressed. But I find out it’s not Adam. It’s you. Your phone calls, your texts, the skype chats. It was talking to you again that made him happy. And I guess I can see it’s making you happy too?”

“It is.”

"Good. Kurt being that mopey is not something I want to deal with again. I mean I can handle a little mope, because it’s good for experience and you can use it for future roles you know? Last time he was like that though was… well before he met you actually.” Rachel beams as they start to walk to her front door. “So I’m glad you two are able to be friends again. Only you and Kurt could do that and make it work.”

Blaine is taking this for what it is. A Rachel Berry way of saying sorry and that they were friends.

"Oh, I better go in now.” She pulls Blaine in quickly for a hug, then grabs her suitcase. Blaine waits for her to get inside before he gets back in his car.

Just before he starts, he calls Kurt.

“You survived,” Kurt greets him.

“Yeah. She… apologized.”

"Seriously? Did she use the words I’m sorry?”

“No. But.. she did it her own way.”

“Feeling dazed?”

“A little.” Blaine admits.

“Usually the case when one talks to Rachel Berry.” Blaine hears someone call out Kurt’s name.

“I better let you go. Later.”

“Definitely.”

Kurt steps outside, not caring that it’s a bit cold. Everyone is here at the church. Except Blaine.

Blaine is pretty much the person he wants to see.

They spent hours on the phone last night, and then just for a short bit this morning.

Kurt’s anxious to see him, even though he saw him yesterday.

Anxious and also… admittedly a little… horny.

He always hated that word.

But there it is.

Even being in the same town didn’t curb the pent up whatever it is between them in their calls. It was there. Ever present.

Now being in the same vicinity of Blaine, Kurt couldn’t just keep it out of his head. Breathe, he thinks. Take a moment to cool off.

Because his mind kept going back to Blaine.

Blaine looked great yesterday, and no doubt he’ll look great today. It took Kurt every bit of self control he had to remind himself that he and Blaine are friends, and that he should not kiss him at the airport.

Kurt heads to the car he borrowed from Dad and Carole and grabs his jacket. Tina had called Blaine, and he said he should be arriving soon. He woke up to a flat tire, so that had to get taken care of first.

He grabs his coat, and shuts the door just as a blue Prius parks right next to him.

Kurt’s stomach tightens, his mouth goes dry and his mind blanks when Blaine gets out the car. When Blaine turns, their eyes meet. Kurt just stands there as Blaine look down, then his eyes travel back upwards, resting at one spot before meeting Kurt’s eyes again.

“Nice bowtie,” Blaine shuts the door and comes over to Kurt. “Looks better on you than in the picture you showed me.”

Work, mind. Work, voice. WORK.

“Nice tie,” Kurt manages to get out. Damn, damn, damn, he looks good. Better than good.

“Waiting for me?”

“Maybe.” Oh that’s a little better.

Blaine smirks, and the self control that Kurt prides himself has just about snapped.

“Oh screw it,” Kurt mutters and using Blaine’s tie, pulls him in. He gives in to need, the want, the restless desire inside of him and kisses Blaine.

Right there in the parking lot of a church.

In between two cars.

Where anyone can see.

Blaine doesn’t protest, in fact just kisses him right back, arms wrapped right around him.

“We should go inside,” Blaine says in between every breath they take. Heavy breaths. Kurt sets his forehead against Blaine’s, not wanting any space between them. He angles his hips just against Blaine’s and smiles at the little gasp that comes from Blaine.

“The car. That’s inside," Blaine adds.

“Okay.” That’s an inside he can work with.

Blaine opens the passenger door, (which Kurt has no idea how since their hands were all over each other) and they both fall into the back seat of the Prius. Kurt has only the smallest amount of common sense to close the door, and then goes diving back into Blaine’s mouth.

Home.