He closed his laptop and sighed at the mess of papers and textbooks scattered across all surfaces of his usually immaculate room. The whole week had been crazy. Classes, assignments piling up, deadlines for papers looming, and rehearsals for Jesse's musical, 'From Ohio To The Stars,' as it was now called, which was actually going to happen. And it wasn't even really all that bad. It was just... a lot. And Jesse, who was in charge of, well, everything, was rather demanding.

Kurt got up from his chair, stretching his arms above his neck to relieve some of the tension between his shoulder blades. He hadn't slept more than four hours a night all week and it was beginning to get to him.

He was just rummaging through the refrigerator in the hopes of finding something that looked like it hadn't been bought in a different century when he heard his phone ringing in his room. Contemplating for just a second whether or not it could be important enough to forgo food for another few minutes, he closed the door to the fridge with his hip and hurried off to his room. The phone, of course, was buried under a mile of course work and by the time he had unearthed it, the ringing had stopped.

Quickly, he checked his missed calls. Blaine. Of course, he should have known. He always picked the most impossible times to call. He hit the call-back button and made his way back to the kitchen while he waited for Blaine to pick up.

“Hey.”

“Hello,” Kurt answered. “Sorry for not answering before, I was in the kitchen.”

“Are you busy right now? Should I call back later?”

“No.” Kurt leaned against the counter, shifting the phone to his other ear. Blaine sounded... cheerful as ever on the surface, but Kurt could read him well enough by now to tell that there was something wrong. “I'm all yours. What is it?”

“Oh, nothing, really,” Blaine assured him. “I was just wondering... are you doing anything tomorrow night? I thought maybe we could... do something. If you're free.”

Kurt sighed. “I can't, I'm sorry.”

“Oh. Okay. Yeah, you probably have rehearsals, I didn't even think about that.”

“Well, yes, there's that...”

“I could meet you after. What time will you be done? I could still come over and – ”

“I kind of have a date after rehearsal. With Patrick,” Kurt interrupted.

“The musical guy?”

“That's the one.” He'd told Blaine about Patrick before, since he'd been out with him a number of times now. And he liked him. He liked him a lot. Patrick was another actor in Jesse's musical, two years older than Kurt, tall, handsome, voice like a dream. And the first guy ever who'd made it past date four. It looked rather promising.

“Oh, yes, all right,” Blaine said. “I was just... I just thought I'd call and ask, just in case, but if you already have plans, that's okay, I don't – ”

“Blaine, what's wrong?” Kurt interrupted again. “Come on, this is me. I can tell there's something you're not telling me.”

Blaine sighed, apparently debating whether or not to tell Kurt the real reason for his sudden desire to spend yet another Friday night on Kurt's couch rather than with his boyfriend. Which, now that Kurt thought about it, was rather odd.

“Why don't you have plans with Luke tomorrow night?” Kurt asked. “Everything okay with you guys?”

“Luke's busy tomorrow,” Blaine answered. “Like he was busy last Friday night and the entire weekend before that and,” he sighed, “I think he's avoiding me and I don't know what I've done wrong.” Blaine had definitely dropped the cheerful facade now and there was a bitterness in his voice that made Kurt's heart ache.

He had seen them – Blaine and Luke – together a number of times before the end-of-term stress started keeping him busy. Lately, though, he had only ever seen Blaine alone and they hadn't really talked much about boyfriends or dating on these occasions. Kurt was ready to admit that he'd been the one to avoid the topic, a little tired of describing his growing line of first-and-maybe-second-dates-and-then-nothing, or his lonely nights at home with nothing but the TV and his roommates for company, to his friend in an actual relationship. Not that Blaine had ever been anything less than supportive. And he had never flaunted his relationship, he had never done anything to make Kurt feel bad about the fact that he couldn't make it work with anyone for himself. Still, with all his failed attempts, he hadn't really felt comfortable talking about it anymore.

“I'm sure he's not avoiding you. Maybe he's just busy. He likes you, I've seen you guys together often enough.”

“Yes, I know.” Blaine didn't sound entirely convinced. “It's just that lately... I mean, yeah, I guess I'm just overreacting. I don't know.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Kurt asked carefully. Blaine liked to share every good emotion with the entire world, but tended to close himself off when he was hurting. Kurt wasn't going to let him do that now.

“There's really nothing to talk about,” Blaine said. “I'm just feeling a little... whatever. It's nothing.”

“Doesn't sound like nothing to me,” Kurt replied. “Rehearsal ends early tomorrow because Jesse has to go to Ohio for the weekend. I'll be out by eight. Meet me there?”

“Oh, no, Kurt, don't cancel your date. I don't want you to do that. I shouldn't even have called, I'm sorry.”

Kurt shook his head even though Blaine couldn't see it. “I don't know if I want to go, anyway,” he lied. “I'm pretty tired after this week. I could cancel and we could watch a movie instead. You won't care if I fall asleep on you.”

“Are you sure?” Blaine asked. “I don't want to ruin your night just because I think I might get dumped.”

“Oh, Blaine. Is it really that bad?”

“Looks like it.”

“What happened?”

“I don't... Nothing happened. Seriously, don't cancel your date. I'll be okay.”

“And I'll be meeting you tomorrow at eight.”

“Kurt...”

“Blaine. Don't argue. This has already been decided. You're not going to spend your Friday night all by yourself.”

“You're making me sound kind of needy,” Blaine half-complained.

“No, I'm making me sound like the guy who's going to hang out with you tomorrow night,” Kurt disagreed. “Besides, Patrick has some big paper to write over the weekend and I wouldn't want to keep him up too late anyway.” Okay, that was another lie. Patrick didn't have any papers due and Kurt had, in fact, been looking forward to this date all week. But Blaine was his best friend and he knew he wouldn't be able to enjoy himself anyway, knowing that his friend about whom he cared deeply was spending the night all alone and miserable in his dorm room.

“Kurt... are you really sure about this?”

“Blaine,” Kurt sighed. “Ask me that again and I'm bringing Jesse to hang out with us.”

“No,” Blaine responded quickly. “No, don't. I believe you. You're sure about this.”

“Now he gets it.” Kurt smiled. “I'll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay,” Blaine agreed, and then, after a pause, “and, Kurt? Thank you.”

“Always,” Kurt answered, before hanging up to finally find himself something to eat.

“Was that Blaine?” Rachel asked, walking into the kitchen, nose buried in a book. She had mastered the art of reading-while-doing-a-million-other-things over the past month, because spending every free minute running from audition to rehearsal for some school project to another audition, the only time she had left for actual studying was the time normal people used to eat, go to the bathroom, do laundry or clean the kitchen. Rachel did it all at once. She'd been walking into walls a lot for a few days, but now she seemed to have developed some kind of radar and was mostly accident-free.

“Yes, that was Blaine,” Kurt said. “How did you know?”

“You had Blaine-voice.” Rachel shrugged.

“And what is that, exactly?”

She finally put the book down, giving him a surprised look as if she hadn't realized he was actually there before. Kurt decided he'd have to talk to her soon about such things as sleeping patterns and taking breaks. “It's the voice you use when you talk to Blaine,” Rachel explained as if it was something he should have known. “Do we have food or are we all out?”

“I was just looking,” Kurt said. “I think we have cheese. Everything else looks rather untrustworthy.”

“Can you go to the store? I have this chapter to finish...”

“I already went twice this week,” Kurt complained. “It's your turn. Or Jesse's. I don't care.”

“What's my turn?” Jesse asked, poking his head around the door frame.

“Food. We don't have any. It's your turn to go buy some,” Kurt explained.

“Can't we just order in? I'm rewriting the end of the second act and I really can't – ”

“That would solve the problem for tonight, but what do we do about breakfast?” Kurt pointed out.

“Go to the cafe next door?” Jesse suggested. Rachel was just nodding absentmindedly, her head already back in the book.

“Oh, do whatever you want,” Kurt gave up, pushing past Jesse and Rachel to get back to his desk. “I have a paper to write.”

“Chinese?” Jesse called after him.

“All right,” Kurt called back. He'd worry about breakfast tomorrow.

**

Of course, rehearsal ran late on Friday. Kurt should have known. Jesse was a perfectionist and not even the fact that he had to be at the airport in a few hours to catch his flight could make him end rehearsal on time just this once.

Kurt hated to keep people waiting. By eight, Kurt felt himself getting restless, checking his watch every few minutes. By 8:20 he couldn't keep his legs still anymore, pacing up and down while he waited for the others to get through this final scene so he could say his one and only line he had in this act. But Jesse kept finding things wrong with everyone's deliveries (except his own) and oh god, at this speed he would still be here by midnight. And Blaine was waiting outside in serious need of cheering up, not needing to feel more neglected than he already did.

By 8:35 they were finally, finally done, and just had to wait around for Jesse's last notes on their performance, laced with a lot of praise for himself and a lot more really unhelpful advice for everyone else. Okay, that wasn't entirely fair, Kurt thought. Jesse did have a lot of experience, and the chance to actually put on his own musical had made him... grow up, in a manner of speaking. He was actually becoming rather good at all of this, at being encouraging instead of a complete jerk.

“...and this is a video I have made of myself acting out all of your more crucial scenes. I encourage you all to study it carefully over the weekend. Learn from the best, so to speak,” he said, holding up a DVD. “There's a copy for every one of you in that box over there. Get one before you leave.”

Okay. Maybe he hadn't yet given up on his jerk-like ways completely. But people didn't change over night, did they?

Breathing a sigh of relief, Kurt quickly went to gather all his things, sending Blaine a quick text with an apology and the promise to be out in a minute.

“You sure you can't do tonight?” a voice behind him asked and he spun around quickly.

“Patrick. Hi.” He couldn't help but smile. “No, no, sorry. I really can't. It's... it's just a friend thing, you know?”

“Yes, you mentioned that,” Patrick answered, and dammit, he really was good-looking with his dark hair and green eyes, and the way that shirt was clinging to his chest in all the right places... “But we're still on for coffee on Wednesday, right?”

“Of course,” Kurt confirmed, taking a step closer so he could wrap his arms around Patrick's neck. “I'm really looking forward to it.”

“Yes, me too.” Patrick touched their foreheads together briefly before closing the final distance to plant a soft kiss on Kurt's lips. “I'll call you.”

“Not if I call you first,” Kurt replied, not even caring about the horribly clich�d line as he felt Patrick's arms tighten around his waist. They kissed again, a little longer this time.

Kurt was the one to pull away first, sounding a little breathless as he spoke. “I should... I should probably get going. My friend...” he gestured toward the exit.

“Right. Your friend.” Patrick let go of him, a grin breaking across his face as he held up his copy of Jesse's DVD. “Don't forget to grab a copy of this masterpiece before you leave. You can always show this to your friend in order to cheer him up. Should be hilarious, I have no doubt.”

Kurt laughed. “Oh yes, I'm sure it's going to be a collector's item in a few years. Hang on to that, someone might pay you a fortune for it one day.”

“See you, Kurt,” Patrick said smiling at him warmly, and then he was gone.

Kurt stared after him for a while, mentally cursing the fact that he couldn't be in two places at once, because then he could be there for Blaine and keep kissing Patrick all night. With a frustrated sigh, he hoisted his bag over his shoulder, heading for the exit himself.

Blaine was sitting on the steps in front of the small theater, completely absorbed in his game of Angry Birds and only looking up when Kurt stopped right beside him.

“Sorry,” he said. “Did you get my text? Jesse just wouldn't stop talking and I never expected to – ”

“Hi,” Blaine interrupted. “Yes, I got your text, and don't worry, it's okay, really. It's not your fault.” He put his phone in his pocket and got up quickly, the smile not quite reaching his eyes. “You didn't have to hang out with me at all tonight and you're still making time for me. I didn't mind waiting.”

Blaine seemed tense and sad and not at all like he was okay, and Kurt had no choice but to wrap him in a tight hug. “How are you doing?” he asked into the collar of Blaine's coat as Blaine's arms came up to circle around him and hold on tight.

“I'm doing okay. I'm just... I don't know.”

Kurt nodded, letting go of Blaine so he could look him in the eyes. “You want to go for coffee somewhere? Or is it too late for that?”

Blaine attempted a grin. “It's never too late for coffee.”

“I knew you were going to say that,” Kurt laughed, taking Blaine's arm as they made their way down the street. “There's a nice place a few blocks from here. Let's go there.”

“Lead the way.”

**

“So, what's going on with you and Luke?” Kurt asked as soon as they were settled at their table, coats hanging over the backs of their chairs and hands wrapped around their coffee mugs.

Blaine sighed. “We broke up.”

Kurt gasped. “Oh my god, Blaine, I'm sorry. When? What happened?” He had gathered from their conversation the day before that things weren't going too well at the moment, but he had figured they had just hit a rough patch and it would all be okay if Blaine had someone to talk it over with. The two of them had seemed so... good together. Well, they had when he'd last seen them. Despite the fact that Kurt had never really warmed up to Luke, he had been willing to like him for the fact alone that he made Blaine happy. Now, however...

Blaine stared down into his coffee, taking a while before he answered. “I don't know what happened, actually. Everything was going great... until it wasn't. At least... I kind of convinced myself it was going great. There was... stuff, though. He'd been avoiding me for a while and then he called me yesterday, after I had spoken to you, and said he wanted to talk. He came over and we... broke up.” He shrugged his shoulders, index finger of one hand tracing patterns over a coffee stain on the table top. “I should have expected it after the past few weeks, but it was still... It still sucks, you know?”

Kurt reached across the table, taking Blaine's hand into his own. “Of course it does. I'm so, so sorry, Blaine. I thought you guys were... I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do for you?” God, this was difficult. What did you say to someone who'd just had his heart broken? Sorry just sounded so lame and he couldn't even say he knew what it felt like and it would be okay, because he'd never been there himself, had he? Not like this.

“He said...” Blaine paused, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth while trying to put it all into words. “He said he really liked me, but that we just... that it wasn't right. He said he didn't feel like I really wanted to be with him and that what we had wasn't enough. For him. So... we shouldn't see each other anymore and move on and he really hopes that one day, we can be friends.”

Kurt looked at him incredulously. “He blamed you for the breakup? He broke up with you and told you it was your fault? Didn't you say he was the one who had been canceling your dates for weeks?”

“Yes... no. Not really. I don't think... I think he was right, in a way. I think when he started to keep his distance... I don't know. I guess he expected me to chase after him, or something. Maybe I should have. I should have at least wanted to, I guess.” Blaine leaned back in his chair a little without letting go of Kurt's hand, running the other one through his hair that looked like he'd been doing that a lot tonight. “I wish I'd gotten the hint. I liked him. I did. You know I did.”

Kurt nodded, squeezing Blaine's hand to signal him that he was there, he was listening.

“I liked the way things were,” Blaine continued. “It was easy. It was... I always thought he was the kind of guy I could fall in love with. He's smart and he's funny and we like a lot of the same things. The thing is... thinking about it now, I don't even know if I ever wanted to fall in love with him. Like, I think I was holding back, and I don't even know why. I had this really good thing in my life and I screwed it up.”

Blaine fell silent again and Kurt waited. He got what Blaine was saying. He'd spent enough time with Blaine to know this about him. It was one of the big differences between them. They were both romantics at heart, but for Kurt, it had to be real or nothing. He had spent too much time making up epic romances in his head, only to be let down. If he didn't feel it, he didn't go for it. Blaine, on the other hand, created romance as he went, craving every experience, but really committing to someone scared him because deep down, he didn't trust himself very much.

It took Blaine a while to start talking again and Kurt just sat holding his hand, no other communication necessary between them for the moment.

“I feel like I don't even have the right to be upset about this, because he was right, I wasn't being fair to him. I knew what he wanted and I knew that I didn't want that, not yet anyway. But I always thought 'maybe some day,' and I really thought, maybe even with him, some day. I just... I did like him, I really, really did. And I didn't want to break up with him. I... He wouldn't even give me a second chance. I asked. He said it was no use.” He broke off, shaking his head slowly and looking so heartbroken, Kurt felt tears well up behind his own eyes.

He tugged at Blaine's hand, slipping out of his chair. “Let's get out of here. Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“My place,” Kurt answered, helping Blaine into his coat before putting on his own. “Rachel's probably out cold by now after her rehearsal and study schedule this week and Jesse is going to Ohio tonight. So, you're coming with me right now and I'm going to feed you ice cream and make you watch movies with me and,” he touched Blaine's wrist lightly, making him look up and into his eyes, “my shoulder's going to be right there next to you all night, in case you want to cry on it. Okay?”

Blaine nodded, a slow smile that warmed Kurt's heart spreading across his face. “I'd like that. You're... Thank you, Kurt.”

**

Jesse was still at home gathering his things when they got there. Kurt decided to ignore him and the way he was singing show tunes quite loudly while he was packing and instead settled Blaine on the couch before going into the kitchen to make them some tea.

He was no longer sorry he'd had to reschedule his date with Patrick tonight. As much as he had been looking forward to it, as much as he really liked Patrick, he needed to be here for Blaine right now. Kurt didn't have a lot of experience with being dumped – the only guy who had ever broken up with him was Ted and it had been more like a mutual agreement, deciding to just be friends instead. Ever since then, it had been Kurt who had been doing the... well, not breaking up. You didn't 'break up' with someone after one or two awkward dates. But ever since then he had always been the one to initiate the 'I don't think this is going to work out' talk. Just to be on the safe side.

Still, he knew what it felt like to have your heart broken. Growing up as the only openly gay kid in all of Lima, every crush he'd ever had had ended in heartbreak by default. It was a horrible feeling and it must be even worse for Blaine right now, because this hadn't just been some crush. He had been together with Luke for months. He had taken a chance with someone, he'd been happy, and now he was sitting in Kurt's living room with a broken heart.

They were in college. They were both still looking, trying, experimenting. Having your heart broken was all part of the experience of growing up, Kurt knew that. He still couldn't stand seeing Blaine like this.

Deciding that this was an emergency, Kurt emptied the kitchen cabinets of all the chocolate and cookies he could find and carried them over to the coffee table, setting them down next to the ice cream they had picked up on the way home.

“What's all this?” Blaine asked, giving him a small smile from where he was seated on the couch.

“Comfort food,” Kurt explained, heading back to the kitchen to get the tea ready. He knew that cookies didn't really cure heartbreak, but he also knew that Blaine liked them and Blaine was going to have everything he liked tonight. Putting away the tea bags, he decided on hot chocolate instead. It seemed... a more cheerful drink than tea for the occasion.

When he carried the mugs over to the living room a few minutes later, Blaine had left the couch to rifle through the DVD collection, focusing on the musicals.

“Anything you'd like to watch?” Kurt asked.

Blaine shook his head. “I don't really know. It's difficult to find one without people breaking up or dying in it and I don't really want to see any of that tonight.”

“Do you want to talk?” Kurt asked, sitting down on the couch, not quite sure what to say, but willing to do whatever it took to make this hurt a little less for his best friend who didn't deserve to look so sad.

Blaine walked back over, dropping into the seat next to Kurt, accepting the mug Kurt offered him, staring down at it with a look of surprise on his face. “You made me hot chocolate?” he asked, his voice soft.

“You looked like you needed it,” Kurt answered, spreading a blanket over Blaine and himself.

“But you never make hot chocolate. And the last time I ordered some at the caf� next door you gave me a thirty-minute speech about healthy nutrition.”

“I just...” Kurt gave a little shrug. “I wanted to make you feel better.”

“Kurt.” Blaine turned his head to look at him and Kurt felt something move deep inside his chest at the slight shaking in his friend's voice.

“Hey guys, I'm heading out. Oh, and, Kurt? You forgot your DVD,” Jesse interrupted, suddenly standing in the middle of the living room with a gigantic suitcase next to him, tossing a DVD case at Kurt's head.

“Oh, yes, thanks Jesse,” Kurt replied absentmindedly, catching the object before it could hit him in the face and dropping it on the coffee table. “Have fun in Ohio.”

“Thanks, I will. Remember: next rehearsal's on Tuesday. You did really well today, but don't get complacent just because I told you that. You'll improve so much, if you spend the weekend studying that DVD. By the way, I'll only have my cell phone off for the flight. If you need any acting or singing advice after that – ”

“Jesse,” Kurt cut him off. “I'm sure I'll be just fine, thank you. Don't you have a flight to catch?”

“Oh, sure. I don't want to interrupt your date, I'll be going now.”

“Does it look like we're on a date?” Kurt answered, rolling his eyes. “This is Blaine. You know him. You've met him several times. My best friend, Blaine?”

“Of course,” Jesse exclaimed, his face lighting up in recognition. “How are you doing, Blake?”

“Fine,” Blaine answered, not even bothering to correct Jesse anymore.

“Are you sure? You don't look so good...”

“You can go now, Jesse,” Kurt said, giving him his sternest look.

“Right. See you next week,” Jesse replied, and then he was finally gone.

“Sorry about him,” Kurt said, turning back to Blaine. “I'm pretty sure he knows your real name too, he's just... Jesse.”

Blaine attempted a small smile. “I actually think he's pretty amusing, if you don't have to live with him.”

Kurt smiled back at him, the two of them settling into companionable silence while they were sipping their hot chocolate.

Kurt felt like he should be saying something, anything, to cheer Blaine up, but nothing really came to mind. In all the time he had known Blaine (and even before then), neither one of them had ever been in a situation like this. It sucked. And there wasn't anything he could do but offer food and company, and somehow it didn't seem like enough.

“Do you think there's something wrong with me?” Blaine finally asked. “If I couldn't make Luke feel like I cared about him enough, even though I really wanted to?”

“No,” Kurt replied quickly, shaking his head firmly. “There is nothing wrong with you. Don't even think that.” He set down his own mug, scooting over until he was kneeling close to Blaine on the couch and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, pressing his cheek against Blaine's dark curls. “The guy is an idiot for dumping you. It's his loss.”

Blaine sighed. “It's my loss too, though. I had something good going with him and I drove him away.” There was anger now beneath the pain and Kurt, still holding on to him, wished there was a way to just absorb all of it into his own body and leave Blaine free to be the happy, confident side of himself he liked to present to the world.

“Blaine, no.” He hugged him tighter, the need to protect and shield him from every bad feeling in the world so strong he found it hard to breathe. “He could have fought for you. He could have talked to you about it if he felt like something was wrong. You deserve someone who won't just give up when things are difficult. You deserve everything. And I know you're hurting right now, and, god, I wish there was something I could do to make this less painful for you. But I just want you to know that you are amazing and wonderful and I know, I just know, that you will have it all one day. There's no one in this world who deserves it more than you.”

He pulled back when Blaine leaned forward to put down his cup, settling back into the couch empty-handed. “What if I just can't do it?” He rubbed a hand across his face, staring at the ceiling as if fighting back tears.

“Can't do what?”

“What if I just... can't be a boyfriend. What if I can't fall in love the way I'm supposed to? Because... I wanted to, with Luke. I knew how he felt about me and I wanted, I really wanted to feel the same way about him. I was... happy, you know? But it wasn't... I didn't... Like I said, he was right. We didn't want the same things, and maybe I'm just afraid... I'm afraid that maybe I can't even want those things.”

Kurt was quiet for a minute, studying Blaine's profile, thinking about all those months – almost a year now – he had known Blaine, watched Blaine, learned about Blaine.

“I know that's not true,” he finally said. “I know you, you're my best friend, so I can say this with some authority. Everyone likes you as soon as they meet you, and do you know why that is? It's because they can see that you care and that you're one of the kindest people they've ever met. And I don't know why it didn't work out between you and Luke, but it's not because you're incapable of loving someone. Maybe it just wasn't the right someone.”

“If it wasn't right, then why does it still hurt so much?” Blaine wanted to know, voice tight with angry, unshed tears.

Kurt was searching his brain for something to say, to come up with an answer to that question, but honestly, what was there to say? Breaking up hurt. It just did. You didn't need to go through it to know that. It was the pain of rejection and not-good-enough and being unloved and alone. And it didn't seem right to him that Blaine had to go through this. So, instead of answering, he pulled him into his arms again, held his shaking body, let him cry quietly into one of his favorite sweaters.

Blaine ended up spending the night again, the two of them moving into Kurt's room some time after midnight. Kurt lay awake long after Blaine had gone to sleep. He didn't feel tired yet, so he settled for holding Blaine instead, stroking a hand through his curls again and again until he could feel him relax in his sleep.

His phone vibrated on the night stand around 1am and he picked it up to find a text from Patrick.

I missed you tonight. Hope your friend is doing ok.

Kurt smiled, carefully letting go of Blaine so he could text back.

He just needed someone to talk to tonight. Thanks again for understanding. I missed you too, see you next week.

Patrick's response was almost immediate.

Of course I understand. Can't wait to see you again. Sweet dreams.

Feeling almost stupidly happy all of a sudden, he put the phone away and lay back down on his side so he was facing Blaine who was now sleeping peacefully, no longer looking sad while he was dreaming. That was good, wasn't it? Kurt wanted nothing more than to keep him this way, keep every trace of sadness away from Blaine's face forever. He almost felt guilty now for feeling happy about Patrick's text just a few seconds ago. Because Blaine still wasn't.

Kurt adjusted the blanket around them, pulling it back up over Blaine's shoulders so he wouldn't get cold, before rolling over onto his back, staring at the ceiling in the dark. He felt Blaine move, curling into his side, his head coming to rest on Kurt's chest. He wrapped an arm around him almost automatically, willing to give his friend all the warmth and comfort he needed from him tonight.

He wondered when they had gotten to that point in their friendship at which he was hurting when Blaine was hurting. He just couldn't stand seeing him like this and he hated Luke for breaking Blaine's heart, for making him cry. He just didn't understand how it was even possible. How could anyone ever want to hurt Blaine?

A surge of protectiveness ran through him again and he tightened his arms around his friend. He knew this wasn't going to be the last time it happened to either of them. Love was amazing and the best thing in the world, and it could hurt like a bitch, too. That was just a part of it. But, he thought, at least neither he nor Blaine would ever have to go through the pain of it alone as long as they had each other.