Blaine knows that if there's one thing that can be said about him, it's that he always tries to learn from his mistakes. That's why this time he doesn't rush into things. He doesn't call Sam or Tina or even Kurt himself, but instead spends the rest of the night making sure that the tracking data hasn't been tampered with and that Kurt did actually step outside his radius. He makes several phone calls to people who keep asking him if he ever sleeps, and it all takes several hours, all that time taken away from his normal sleeping schedule – but he has to make sure before he starts making any speculations.

And even after that, after he's made sure that this time the tracking data is correct, that there are no unaccountable blips on it; even after that he refuses to speculate too much. There must be an explanation. Kurt will probably explain it all to him the first thing tomorrow, and Blaine won't accuse him of anything. Not this time.

He still sits in his dining room late into the night, staring at the tracking data and massaging his temples. Even Perry gets tired of it eventually and shuffles into the bedroom on her own, and Blaine can hear the dramatic way she flops down next to his bed all the way to the dining room. It brings a small smile to his lips, but that smile doesn't warm him like it usually does.

He startles awake some time later, nearly knocking over the chair he's sitting on in the process. His neck hurts from falling asleep at the dining room table, and his laptop is still open in front of him, the screen gone into sleep mode probably hours and hours ago. Blaine takes his time rubbing his eyes and stretching his shoulders, and it takes him a while to realize that the reason why he woke up in the first place was the sound of his phone bleeping with a new text message.

He grabs his phone and opens the message on the screen, trying to blink the last remnants of sleep from his eyes and make sense of the words.

From Kurt:
Morning! No need to pick me up today – I woke up early and am already at the office.

As Blaine stares at the sentence, his phone beeps again with another message from Kurt.

From Kurt:
Also, you should hurry, or I'll give the coffee I picked up for you to Sam. I'm just saying. :)

That's it. Completely ordinary messages with no mention of Kurt being outside his radius last night, and Blaine can't help but frown down at his phone. He would send Kurt an answer or even call him, but it's late and he should be on his way to the office already. He puts his phone down, looks around the apartment, and notices that Perry has moved to the kitchen and is staring at him from the floor with accusing eyes, as if she's reminding him that she hasn't gotten her breakfast yet.

"I'm sorry, girl," Blaine sighs as he gets up to do his morning chores. "I guess I'm a bit distracted today."

Kurt isn't on the 21st floor when Blaine finally makes his way into the office, and Tina tells him that he went downstairs to the storage room to get some files from evidence. There's a takeaway cup of tepid coffee waiting for Blaine on his desk, a post-it note with the words "I couldn't bear to give this to Sam after all" on top it, and Blaine can feel his whole chest constrict under a sudden weight as he reaches for the cup.

He tastes the coffee as he leans against the back wall of the room, and even if the drink is almost cold by now, it's still exactly the way he likes it, like it always is when Kurt gets him coffee. Blaine has to put the cup down after a few sips, though, because his nerves are already making him jittery enough and he doesn't need to add caffeine into that mix.

When he looks up after a few minutes of staring at the floor, lost in his thoughts once again, he can see the glass doors opening on the other side of the office space, Kurt slipping in and waving the files he's holding to Tina. Blaine watches as Tina says something to Kurt, gesturing towards the upper level of the office, and Kurt looks up, meeting Blaine's gaze across the room.

He smiles at Blaine, gives him a small wave and then turns around to sit behind his own desk.

Blaine stands still, looking out into the office, his stomach in knots. He was so sure that Kurt would come talk to him, that Kurt would be the one to acknowledge whatever happened last night, but Kurt is already opening the files he brought with him and starting to go through them, leaning back in his chair and twirling a pen between his fingers. As if nothing is out of the ordinary.

Blaine drags his hand through his hair (not as gelled as it usually is because he had other things in his mind this morning), pushes himself away from the wall and walks to the small landing outside his office.

"Kurt?" he calls out, loud enough for Kurt to hear it.

Kurt looks up from the files and lifts his eyebrows in question, and even Tina glances at Blaine over her shoulder.

"Can you come here for a moment?" Blaine says, gesturing towards his office.

Kurt nods, puts the files down on his desk and gets up. Some of the other agents look at him as he walks through the office, and Blaine cringes internally – he can imagine what they're thinking. The team has seemed fine after the speech Blaine gave when they arrested Gilbert, but sometimes it still feels like conversation suddenly stops when Blaine walks into the room, or like some of the agents are paying a bit too much attention to the interaction between him and Kurt. No one has said anything bad about Kurt since the speech, no one has given him any hard time, but two of the younger agents did ask for a transfer after Gilbert was arrested, and Blaine knows that the office gossip is still there, just simmering beneath the surface.

And since he's the leader of his team, the only thing he can see is the surface. He can only keep guessing about what's happening behind it.

Kurt jogs up the stairs to the upper level and stops next to Blaine. "Is this about the case?" he asks with a smile. "Because I think I may have an idea about that. Natalie was always more of a fence than a person who digs up information, so I'm thinking she probably has an accomplice inside the company who –"

"It's not about the case," Blaine interrupts. He can see a few agents staring at them from the corner of his eye. "Can we... Let's go into my office, okay?"

"Okay?" Kurt says, confused, but he does follow Blaine into his office.

Blaine closes the door behind them and even considers drawing the curtains all the way over the glass wall, but that would just raise more suspicion, so he lets them be. Kurt is looking at him with his eyebrows raised, and Blaine doesn't really know what to say when Kurt seems to have no idea what this is about.

"I... I got a call from the Marshals last night," he starts, crossing his arms over his chest nervously.

Kurt sits down in a chair, looking up at Blaine in confusion. "And?"

"You do know that you stepped outside your radius last night?" Blaine asks, the knots in his stomach tightening.

Kurt blinks, and then his lips turn up into a sheepish grin. He lets out a laugh and leans back in his chair. "Oh god, I didn't realize they would actually call you about one step. I'm so sorry, Blaine."

Blaine sighs, his arms falling back down from his chest. Kurt is laughing; obviously it was nothing. "Yes, they even call me about one step," he confirms with a small smile, making a move to sit down as well. "Otherwise I wouldn't have probably even noticed it. What were you doing out there anyway?"

"Oh, there's this really nice restaurant that's right outside my radius, and I've been dying to go there." Kurt shrugs. "I was basically just enjoying the view and inhaling the smell of good food. I must have gotten caught in the moment and taken a step too close, that's all."

Blaine stops, his body freezing mid-movement.

He knows that there actually is a restaurant right where Kurt crossed the perimeter, he checked it himself last night. But the area is still definitely not a part of Kurt's usual walks; Kurt has described his routes to him more than once, has even asked Blaine to accompany him a few times, and Blaine knows what areas of the city are the dearest to Kurt. The street where he was standing last night for a long time is definitely not one of those areas.

There's more, too – the tone of Kurt's voice, the bright grin still playing on his lips, and the way his eyes are shining a little more, his movements even more controlled than usually. Blaine has seen it all before, from surveillance cameras and during undercover missions, has watched Kurt use the same small gestures and expressions around dozens, probably even hundreds of people – but never around himself. Never in front of Blaine.

Blaine takes a step back, a shiver running up his spine. "You're lying to me."

"What?" Kurt frowns. "Of course I'm not lying to you, Blaine. I really do want to visit that restaurant. Actually – you should come with me. That way I wouldn't break any rules and –"

Blaine takes another step away from Kurt, his back colliding with the wall behind him. The knots in his stomach are so tight that he feels like throwing up. "And now you're trying to con me?" he asks, his voice breaking on the last word, his hands suddenly starting to tremble. "I thought you said you wouldn't lie to me?"

It's been such a precious thing for him, so important; to know that Kurt wouldn't lie to him, that he may avoid certain topics or let Blaine draw certain conclusions, but he wouldn't outright lie to him. Except Blaine knows the signs, knows how to read Kurt, and he can tell when Kurt is telling the truth, when he's himself, when it's just Kurt and not the con-man inside of him.

And that's not happening right now.

Kurt's frown deepens, but it's like a mask, like a beautiful act covering up the truth, and Blaine is surprised at how hard it hits him – how painful it is to realize that Kurt is lying to him, after all they've been through and after all the progress they've made. His insides are twisting and turning, and he wraps his arms around himself, trying to keep himself together, staring at Kurt because he doesn't know where else to look.

"Blaine. What are you talking about?" Kurt stands up slowly, tilting his head, and god, even that innocent gesture looks so different now, and it is different, it's different from all the other times Kurt has tilted his head at Blaine. "I'm not lying –"

"Stop it!" Blaine exclaims. He glances towards the closed door and lowers his voice. "For god's sake, Kurt, stop lying to me! Do you think I don't know your tells? Do you think I can't see it when you're lying to me? When you're trying to con me?"

Kurt stares at him, and suddenly the mask melts away from his face, the unnatural brightness disappearing from his eyes, as if he realizes what's happening. In a flash his expression is honest again and so desperate, so scared and surprised.

"Oh god. Oh my god. Blaine, I swear I didn't..." he starts, horrified.

"You said you would never lie to me," Blaine can't help but say, tightening his arms around himself, his body feeling cold. "And I was so sure that we were actually working out. That this partnership was starting to work out, for both of us, and I even felt like..."

He snaps his mouth shut, realizing what he was about to say, what he was about to confess. Kurt looks both terrified and incredulous, as if he can't believe what's happening, and Blaine takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself, even if it feels like something they've been working on for a long time is crumpling right in front of their eyes.

"I thought we were friends," he continues, his own voice sounding thin in his ears. "I trusted you, Kurt, and I thought you were starting to trust me too, that if you couldn't tell me something you would at least tell me so and not come up with lies."

"Blaine, I'm so sorry," Kurt says, taking a step towards him, his hand reaching out for him. "I just... I didn't realize I was..."

"You didn't realize you were lying to me even though you said you wouldn't?" Blaine says wearily. "I don't mind you not telling me everything, Kurt. I get that. I get that you can't trust me completely yet, I get that I screwed up at first with that Gilbert case –"

"Blaine –" Kurt starts, taking another step, his eyes wide and pleading.

"– but when it comes to our deal, to your radius, to the very rules that have made this partnership possible... Your first instinct is to suddenly lie to me." Blaine pauses, dragging his hand down his face. "You know, there are people in this office who think that you've been conning me the whole time. They think you're just using me to get out of prison, and I've been so happy ever since you took this deal because at least I know that they're all wrong. I know that you're not using me, that you trust me at least a little and won't lie to me. But you just did, and I... I don't know what to think anymore."

Kurt swallows and looks away. It's such a small thing – just one step over the perimeter, one little lie to cover it up – but at the same time it's not. There are no small, irrelevant things when it comes to Kurt. Blaine has trusted Kurt, has fallen in love with him and believed that things are working out for both of them. This is like a step backwards, to the times when Kurt was just another case and Blaine was just another agent. Except Kurt has never been just another case, and Blaine has always, ever since the Songbird file landed on his desk, tried to do what's best for Kurt because he knows that Kurt is better than the cons and lies and stolen paintings.

He thought they were friends now. That Kurt was willing to give him a chance.

"Why?" he asks after a moment.

Kurt's head snaps up. "Why what?"

"Why did you lie to me?"

Kurt opens his mouth and closes it, opens it again and closes it again. "I..." he finally starts, hesitating. "I don't know. I just... It just happened."

Blaine sighs. "I know you have things you don't want to talk about, Kurt. And if this is one of them, you could've just... You could've just said so, and I would've trusted you."

Kurt looks at him. "But?" he ventures, sounding almost scared.

"But instead you lied to me. You tried to con me." Blaine takes a shuddering breath. "Do you understand how... How hurtful that is?"

"I'm so sorry," Kurt whispers. He extends his hand towards Blaine, his fingers trembling, but Blaine can't reach back, not right now. It stings too much.

"Can you just... go now?" he says in a quiet voice.

Kurt's hand drops down.

"Tell Tina what you were going to tell me about Natalie Arrow," Blaine continues. "We've still got a case to work on. I just... I need to think."

Kurt bites his lip but nods, walking slowly backwards to the door. He reaches for the handle and stops, lifting his eyes one more time to look at Blaine. "I didn't mean to..." he starts.

"It's okay," Blaine says and gives Kurt a polite smile, the one he hides behind when things go wrong for him and he has no idea what to do, when Cooper doesn't call him back and his superiors refuse to trust his skills. When someone breaks his heart and he tries not to let it show.

Kurt immediately turns away from him and presses the handle down. "I'm sorry, Blaine," he says and then slips out the door.

"I'm sorry too," Blaine says to his back.

The door clicks closed behind Kurt. Blaine watches through the glass wall as Kurt straightens his posture and then slowly walks down the stairs, going straight to his own desk, smiling at Tina on his way. Tina seems to smile back at him, as if she doesn't see how strained Kurt's smile looks like, how tense his shoulders are, and Blaine has to look away.

He usually thinks the glass wall of his office is quite nice – because of it he can see to the lower level of the office space from his own office, can watch how Tina and Sam tease each other and see how the awkward flirting between two of the probies is progressing. It also helps in other ways: his team can see when he's busy, they can catch his attention without making the trip to the upper level, and of course it just makes his office feel a little more spacious, a little more open to everyone.

But now the glass wall gives him a straight view to Kurt's desk, to the way Kurt is completely focused on his files with his fingers tapping a nervous rhythm against the surface of his desk, and Blaine hates it, he hates that he made Kurt look like that, he hates that Kurt made him feel like this, he hates that Kurt lied to him and that everything's a mess when things were going so well just less than twenty-four hours ago.

---

They keep working on the case for the next couple of days, and Blaine and Kurt act perfectly neutral around each other, only discussing the case and anything related to it. There are no inside jokes, no invites to lunch, no private meetings in the conference room where they make sense of the case and compare stories about different crimes over Chinese take-out. Even Tina and Sam seem to notice there's something wrong – Blaine catches both of them looking at him and Kurt in confusion more than once, but they don't ask about it, as if they can sense how fragile everything is.

Blaine still drives Kurt home at the end of day, just like he did before, but the car rides are so quiet that it's almost suffocating. Kurt stares out of the window, only speaking when he gets out of the car in front of his loft and says, "Thanks for the ride." When they stop at red lights, Blaine often opens his mouth to say something, anything to break the oppressing silence, but what could he say? He can't say that it's okay when it clearly isn't, when Kurt flat-out lied to him about something that Blaine should've reported to his superiors but still didn't. He wants to ask for reasons, but he can't do that either, not when he has always been so careful about giving Kurt the chance to tell him himself, and he's not going to stop that now, not even after what happened.

He wants to say he's sorry, swear that they can just forget about it and go back to the way things were, but he knows he can't. Not yet. Not with Kurt sitting next to him inside the car, completely shut off and feeling more distant than ever before. Blaine has to wait for Kurt to be ready, for Kurt to make the first move, just so he can be sure that Kurt still wants whatever it is between them to work.

The purely professional, all-business-and-nothing-else way they're around each other is probably what the relationship between an agent and a CI is supposed to be like. Blaine has read the manuals and case books; he knows that agents aren't supposed to get attached to their criminal informants, and that they should always remember they're dealing with a former criminal who could turn against the Bureau at any possible moment. But Blaine has always thought those manuals and pieces of advice were completely ridiculous, and following their rules would be an insult to both him and Kurt.

That's why realizing that he and Kurt have fallen into their pattern, into the pattern of stuffy manuals and vague rules, is exactly the problem. Because Blaine has always been too attached to Kurt, and now he just... misses him. He misses the early morning visits when he's still half-asleep and Kurt tries to say no to breakfast but still accepts the invitation. He misses hanging out at Kurt's loft or at his own apartment, misses their late night conversations, misses the way Kurt always smiles at Perry, misses the view of the city from the large window in Kurt's loft. He misses the small smiles Kurt always gives to him, misses the way Kurt gets excited about art and undercover missions, misses those random little stories Kurt started to tell him.

He just misses... everything. And it hurts, but he can't be the one who breaks the silence this time. Kurt was the one who tried to con him after he promised he wouldn't, and a small part of Blaine has to wonder if this was just a question of time, if Kurt has never actually been as invested in this partnership as Blaine. He doesn't want to believe it, and he doesn't believe it – but he can't help but wonder, especially since Kurt hasn't tried to reach out for him anymore and is only walking on eggshells around him, watching his words and his expressions more than ever before.

So Blaine waits.

They do make some progress on the case, despite everything, and five days later they've gathered enough evidence to be absolutely sure that Natalie Arrow and her accomplice from the company are behind the insider trading, as well as a few other older crimes. They have practically everything they need; they only need Kurt to meet with Natalie one last time as Curtis, to hopefully get the final evidence against her, and then they can arrest both her and her accomplice.

Natalie and Kurt have arranged their meeting to take place outside the company's premises, on an empty construction site that the company owns of all places, and Blaine's team is in the van again, close to the site but not too close. The place is rather suspicious, so they're all even more alert than usually, and Blaine has tried to push all the issues between him and Kurt out of his mind for the time being. He can't afford distractions right now.

They don't have cameras this time, only the microphone and tracker Kurt is wearing, and Blaine feels nervous, his hands twitching and his heart beating loudly inside his chest. He normally gives Kurt the whole "please be careful out there" speech before any undercover assignments, usually met with Kurt rolling his eyes in fond amusement, but this time Kurt slipped out of the van without a glance back at Blaine, without a word, and Blaine practically choked on air, the knots in his stomach tightening again.

Blaine is staring at the equipment in front of him, his heart in his throat as they wait for Natalie to appear, when he suddenly realizes that he can't go on like this anymore. They can't go on like this anymore. They need to fix this, they need to talk about everything, honestly and without any pretenses, and find out where they stand. If something goes wrong with things between him and Kurt like this, he doesn't think he would ever...

Sam interrupts Blaine's thoughts, sighing happily next to him. "Man, I love –"

"We know," both Blaine and Tina say at the same time.

Sam startles and looks at them, offended. "Geez, fine." His gaze shifts to Blaine after a moment, and he seems to notice the way Blaine is clenching his hands. "Dude, chill. Everything will be fine."

Blaine pinches the bridge of his nose. "I really hope so. I just... I just have a bad feeling about this."

Tina scoffs. "You've been having a bad feeling about something for the last few days. You and Kurt both have."

"Tina, shut up," Sam snaps. He hesitates and then turns to look at Blaine. "I mean... Everything is alright with you guys, right?"

Blaine sighs, staring at the speakers in front of him. He can hear the soft shuffle of Kurt's feet through the microphone, and his insides are twisting and turning in every way. "I don't know," he finally admits. "It's..."

"She's here," Kurt's quiet voice comes through the speakers.

Blaine straightens his back, pushing his feelings away. "Okay, pay attention," he calls out to his team. "Remember that today's code is 'how thoughtful of you'. Kurt says that and we move in immediately."

Everyone nods and then falls silent, listening to the speakers. There's only background noise for a long moment, but then Kurt's voice is back, sounding like Curtis again and not like himself.

"An odd choice for a meeting place," Kurt says cheerily over the microphone.

There's the muffled sound of heels clicking against a concrete floor, and then Natalie's voice. "Not so odd when you realize that we won't be interrupted here."

"True," Kurt admits. "Well, we might as well get this over with. As you know, I'm very interested in the –"

"Curtis. Can I ask you a question first?" Natalie interrupts.

Everyone in the van straightens up, surprised by the contemplative tone of her voice. Blaine leans closer to the speakers, furrowing his brows, and even Tina lifts her hands away from the keyboard in front of her.

"Sure. Go ahead," Kurt says, and Blaine can hear the barely concealed surprise in his voice as well.

"It's just that I have to make sure about something," Natalie says slowly. "Before we can get on with our business."

Blaine's eyes widen, and he unconsciously reaches for his gun. Oh crap. He knows that tone of voice – and as if in answer, Kurt's sharp intake of breath sounds over the speakers, making everyone jump.

"How long have you been working for the FBI, Curtis?" Natalie says sweetly.

Blaine stands up, automatically starting towards the van door, but Sam stops him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Blaine, stop, he hasn't said the code yet," he reminds in a low voice, pushing Blaine back. "It's Kurt, he can still figure something out."

"You brought a gun to our meeting," Kurt suddenly says over the microphone, his voice sounding more Kurt than Curtis, and Blaine freezes when his mind makes sense of the words. "I forgot that you had a thing for guns."

Natalie laughs. "I know you never liked them, Curtis. Or, well, I suppose I should call you Kurt."

Sam's hand tightens around Blaine's shoulder. Everyone in the van is staring at the speakers.

"You know my real name," Kurt says, his voice surprisingly stable even though there is most likely a gun pointed at him. "How... How thoughtful of you."

Blaine wrenches himself free of Sam's grip and pushes the van door open, not even listening as Tina yells after him, "Blaine, stop, you're not wearing your vest!"

The van isn't parked that far away from the construction site, but Blaine still feels like the distance is too long. Kurt doesn't have a gun, he doesn't have any protective gear or official training for situations like this, and Blaine runs as fast as he can, pulling out his gun from its holster on his way, thankful that he memorized the area beforehand. He can distantly hear Sam shouting orders behind him, probably telling someone to call back-up just in case, and Blaine knows that he's the boss, that he should be the one to stay back and make sure everything works despite the sudden turn of events – but it's Kurt. He can't stay back.

His feet hit the uneven ground of the construction site in a rushed rhythm until he slows down, turns one last corner and skids to a halt. Kurt is standing in the middle of a small open area, his hands carefully raised in the air, and opposite him is Natalie Arrow, the gun in her hands pointing straight at Kurt.

"Drop your weapon!" Blaine orders, taking a step closer as he raises his own gun. Years of experience have made his hands and voice steady, even if his heart is practically hammering against his chest from fear.

Natalie startles a little and looks at Blaine, her lips turning up into a surprised smile. "Oh, so you did have back-up after all," she says to Kurt, her gun staying still. "Hello, agent."

Kurt doesn't turn to look at Blaine, doesn't lower his hands, but he does take a step backwards, closer to Blaine, and Blaine can see how calm he looks, how his hands aren't even shaking. "Please tell me you have a gun as well," he says to Blaine, trying to sound almost bored.

Blaine steadies his gun, a small smile playing on his lips, and steps forward so that he is effectively blocking Kurt. "I do," he says, keeping his eyes on Natalie. "Lower your weapon, Ms. Arrow."

Natalie sighs and cocks her own gun. "His gun isn't the one you should be worried about, Kurt."

"Oh, I know," Kurt replies, and Blaine can see him shrug out of the corner of his eye. "And I'm not the one you should be worried about, not when there's a federal gun pointing at you. He's a really good shot, by the way."

"I'm still not worried," Natalie says. She slowly, deliberately, moves her gun from Kurt to Blaine, and Blaine hears Kurt make a small noise behind him. "I'm a pretty good shot as well," Natalie points out.

Blaine's not exactly fond of guns either, and he will do anything he can to avoid ending up in situations like this - he prefers talking and being sensible, and if Natalie would just drop her gun, no one would have to fire any shots today. That doesn't seem to be happening though, since Natalie only tightens her grip on her gun and keeps it aimed at Blaine.

"Lower your weapon," Blaine repeats, emphasizing each word. "We have enough evidence to put you away for a long time for conspiracy and insider trading, and shooting an agent will do nothing but add a new bullet point to your list of criminal charges."

"That charge list is already quite long," Kurt adds from behind Blaine. "Thanks to me, you know, so you should really just lower your weapon and get this all over with already."

Blaine tries not to smile.

"What makes you think I can't just shoot you both and run? You should know how good I am at running, Curtis." Natalie sneers when she says Kurt's alias's name, and she momentarily turns to look at Kurt, her gun still pointing at Blaine. Blaine could probably shoot her in the leg right there and then, but after that she might still shoot at them, and he can't take that risk.

"Oh please," Kurt scoffs. "I'm the one who's good at running."

Natalie raises her eyebrows. "You're the one working for the FBI."

"Because sometimes you realize you've run enough," Kurt says, his voice even, and Blaine almost looks at him over his shoulder, almost – there's something in Kurt's voice, something barely noticeable but still there, something that makes Blaine's heart beat faster for other reasons than the pure fear and adrenaline that have been pumping through his veins for the last few minutes.

Natalie gives out a laugh. "We'll just have to see about that, won't we?" she says and turns back to look at Blaine.

"No –" Kurt starts, sounding frantic all of a sudden.

Blaine barely has time to realize what is happening when he suddenly feels Kurt's hands gripping at the back of his jacket, pulling him away. He instinctively stumbles towards the movement, trying to keep his own gun steady – but then he hears a shot, and he knows it's not from his own gun.

Kurt yells, and Blaine feels something hit his left side, a little above his belt, making him stumble even more until he trips over his own feet and falls down to the ground, pain exploding on his side. There are more voices, more shouting, someone who sounds a lot like Sam ordering Natalie to put her gun down now, and then there are rushed footsteps, people running past Blaine, but he barely notices them. All he can focus on is Kurt, on finding out that Kurt is okay because he has to be okay, there's no other choice, he has to –

Kurt's face is suddenly above his, leaning over him, and Blaine blinks up at him. Kurt looks okay, thank goodness – he doesn't look hurt or like he's in pain, just paler than usual, and his eyes are searching Blaine's face, wide and scared and worried. Blaine frowns and opens his mouth to say something, but then Kurt presses his hand against Blaine's side, and Blaine gasps, trying to curl away from the pain.

"Oh my god, Blaine," Kurt whispers, pressing more insistently with his hand, forcing Blaine to stay still. "Don't move, okay, don't you dare move, I'm sure Tina called an ambulance already –"

Blaine can feel sweat breaking out on his forehead, his side feels unnaturally warm, and he looks up at Kurt, not really understanding what's going on – shock, you're going into shock, his brain supplies – and then he remembers the gunshot.

"I was hit?" he manages to ask, staring at Kurt confusedly.

"Yes, you idiot," Kurt laughs, but his voice is worried and Blaine could swear there are tears glistening in his eyes. "So stay still, I have no idea how badly you were hit. There's just a lot of blood and I have no idea what..."

Blaine winces, his eyelids starting to close. He hasn't been sleeping that well ever since what happened between him and Kurt, and suddenly he feels tired, like he could sleep for a week. He can hear Tina yelling something in the distance, and Kurt's hand is a steadying pressure against his side. Another hand cups his cheek carefully all of a sudden, the skin so soft against his face that the person the hand belongs to must be Kurt, and Blaine feels his lips turning up into a smile.

He's missed this. He's missed Kurt.

"Blaine?" Kurt asks. His voice sounds scared, but his thumb is stroking soothingly over Blaine's cheek, so it can't be that bad.

"I missed you," Blaine breathes out before he lets his eyes slip closed all the way.