Cooper found his brother making breakfast on Saturday morning. Their parents were nowhere to be seen, so he took the opportunity and immediately started his interrogation about Kurt.

“Morning, Blaine. How was your late night phone call?”

“Morning, Coop. Breakfast will be in a minute…” Blaine purposely didn’t answer Cooper’s question. He wanted to know how long Cooper would bother him about Kurt until he realized Blaine wouldn’t tell him anything.

“Avoiding the topic? It’s not gonna work. Sooner or later I’ll get what I want…”

“You’re ridiculous.” Blaine set the table, put a plate full of pancakes on it and poured coffee to cups. Alison and Daniel came downstairs together, surprised the breakfast was waiting for them they sat by the table and joined their sons.

“This is delicious. Where did you learn cook like this?” Cooper truly believed by this point his brother wasn’t his brother. The man sitting next to him was so different from the Blaine he knew.

“It’s not my cooking skills. It’s a secret recipe.”

“And how did you get this secret recipe?”

“It’s Kurt’s mother. She used to make him pancakes every Saturday…”

“You met his family? Not fair, Blaine! How come we didn’t have a chance to be introduced to him?” Blaine just shook his head. Why Cooper had to be so irritating?

“I haven’t met his family…”

“But his mother…”

“His mother is dead, Cooper!” Blaine was close to a rage he had been in last night after his father’s comments. Now it was Cooper who was getting on his nerves.

“Oh…”

“Yeah, oh. Why do you always have to poking your nose into everything? It’s none of your business! You don’t know me at all. You have no idea what I’ve been through, especially since Kurt is in my life. He is not my boyfriend, I told you yesterday. So stop it!” Blaine let his fork fall from his hand. He took a deep breath and threw his head back, fixing his gaze on the kitchen ceiling. Cooper watched how every visible muscle on his brother’s body tensed. He wished their relationship had been better. The time when Blaine had considered him a friend was just a distant memory. No matter how much he tried to be closer to him, Blaine always put up the walls.

“I’m sorry, Blaine. I didn’t mean to upset you. I would like to find out more about him because he seems to be very important to you and it’s like…It’s like you said. I don’t know you at all, but I want to. We’ve all made mistakes along the way and situation this family is in right now isn’t ideal, but we could make it work. Yesterday I had a feeling you were willing to give us a chance…I guess I was wrong.”

“You weren’t wrong. I just don’t want to talk about him. Your nagging was frustrating. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m sorry.”

“I understand. You don’t trust me enough to tell me what’s going on…”

“No. It’s not that…He is really important to me. He helped me realize who I am. He still helps me and amazes me every day. And every time I talk about him or think about him, I remind myself I can’t have him and it hurts. I wasn’t used to share my life with you and it takes some time. So don’t give up on me, just give me a time.” Cooper jumped from his chair and rushed to hug his younger brother.

“Of course I give you a time. I’ll give you all the time in this world. Just don’t shut me out. I miss my little brother…I swear, I won’t pry about anything. You tell me if you don’t wanna talk about something and I’ll accept it, okay?”

“Okay. Now let me be, because you’re crashing my ribs.” Daniel started to laugh. Alison was just shaking his head thinking about how many outbursts Blaine would need to have until he got everything he’d been keeping for himself out.

“I like the melody you were playing yesterday, honey. What was it? It didn’t sound familiar.” Alison decided to focus on less painful discussion.

“It was the last thing I composed before graduation. It popped up in my head yesterday. I’m glad you liked it.”

“Maybe you could play us some more today…” Daniel said and Blaine responded with wide smile.

“I would love to.”

It was Sunday evening. Blaine was sitting with his parents in the living room. They were surrounded by silence since Cooper had left two hours ago. It wasn’t an awkward type of silence. This one was comforting. Alison was reading some magazines, Daniel was studying some materials for his work and Blaine was typing on his laptop, engaged in chatting with Nick. Alison finished her reading and her sight fell at her son. He seemed to be relaxed and she dared to think happy. Something she hadn’t seen for years. Soft smile appeared on her face. Blaine had finally found his way home.

“Maybe we should meet for lunch tomorrow before I go back to Pittsburgh.” Blaine closed his laptop, ready to head to bed. “I mean, if you don’t have anything planned.”

“That’s a great idea. Where would you like to go?” Daniel let his son choose the place on purpose. He wanted Blaine to feel good around them. He really appreciated Blaine’s attempt to spend more time with them.

“Do you know that little restaurant near Dalton? It’s not something special, but I loved going there. It’s not too far from your work, dad. And I can pick mum up from her office on my way there. What do you say?”

“It’s settled. Pick me up at 12:45.”

“Okay. I’m going to bed. Goodnight.”

“Tell Kurt we say hi.” Alison couldn’t help herself. She had to tease him a little bit.

“Goodnight, Blaine.”

An hour later, when there was no material for Daniel to read, he went upstairs to his bedroom. As he was passing Blaine’s room, he noticed the light was still on in there. He knocked on the door.

“Come in.” Blaine was lying on his bed, his phone next to him. He wasn’t tired and was thinking about going for a walk, when his dad entered his room.

“I saw the light on…” Daniel said, not sure why he had knocked on the door in the first place.

“Kurt wants to see the shirt. Could you take a picture when you are wearing it and send it to me?”

“Of course. I’ll wear it tomorrow. You can take a picture…Goodnight, Blaine.” Daniel was one foot on the hallway when Blaine’s voice stopped him.

“Dad, I’m sorry. I haven’t apologized so far, but I need you to know that I’m really sorry.”

“Blaine, you haven’t done anything wrong. There is nothing you should be sorry about.” Daniel had had a bad feeling the whole weekend. He knew what he had told Blaine on Friday evening wasn’t enough to make thing better out of the blue. It would take a lot of time to build the relationship, he’d always dreamt about, with his younger son. He had sworn to his wife he would do his best to be as supportive and loving as was possible. The thought, that Blaine could blame himself for how things between them had turned out years ago, stung him right to his heart.

“I was distant. I should have said something…”

“You were a kid. It was my responsibility to treat you right and I wasn’t. Don’t you dare think otherwise.”

“I’m adult for a few years now. I have my share of fault. I’m glad I finally did something about it this weekend. And I hope we are good now although I realize we need some time to get to know each other…I’m sorry it took me so long to do something.”

“It’s okay. It’s over now…” Daniel looked at Blaine, leaving his son with the assumption he wanted to say more. And he did want to say more, but he considered it overstepping. Making Blaine uncomfortable was the last thing he was about to do.

“What is it?” Blaine asked.

“What?” Daniel was torn from his thoughts.

“There is something more. What is it? You have that face Cooper always has when he is keeping things for himself. He got it from you.”

“Well…I’m gonna ask you something. And you don’t have to answer if you don’t want. It’s just my curiosity…” Blaine smiled and encouraged his father to go on.

“Why did you decide to bring up the issue this weekend? Why now? I mean, I’m glad you did. I was just wondering what made you do it…”

“Kurt.” Daniel wasn’t surprised at all. He was getting more intrigued by Kurt every day.  

“I guess I owe him a lot. He seems like a really good person.”

“He is. He is amazing, dad. I could talk about him all night…”

“I wouldn’t be opposed the idea…” Blaine didn’t hesitate for a moment. His dad was willing to listen to him and he was all for the opportunity.

“Why are you standing by the door then? Sit down…”

It was after midnight when Blaine finished his talking. Daniel was moved by how much of his life Blaine had just shared with him.

“I’m sorry you didn’t have your chance with him. He would be happy to have you. Everyone would be happy to have you, Blaine.”

“I don’t think there will be someone else for me. Tom was perfect and I hurt him because there was Kurt all the time.”

“Maybe if you had stayed with him longer, there would have been chance for Tom to replace Kurt. I know you like Kurt a lot. But don’t throw your love life away for someone you can’t have. You deserve a partner who will love you and support you, a partner you could live your life with…If you can’t make it work with Kurt, find another Kurt…What if Kurt found someone in New York? He wouldn’t have so much time for you anymore…He will be your friend but you’ll hardly have something more with you in Pittsburgh. You hate your job. You told me on Friday. Why don’t you go to New York?” There was so much on Daniel’s mind. He tried to communicate all his thoughts and feelings with Blaine, but wasn’t satisfied how it sounded. He honestly didn’t know what would be the best for Blaine. Try to chase after Kurt or forget about him. He was sure of one thing. If Blaine were with Kurt, Kurt would send him on a right track as for his carrier. He would make him compose and perform again. He probably would make him nevertheless, but if he were his boyfriend, things could move faster.

“I can’t. I need to do something with my life, find out what I’m gonna do. Following Kurt won’t solve my problems. I’m broken, dad. I need fix so many things, I don’t know, where to start. I have to be myself. I’m not good enough for him right now.”

“Don’t give up on yourself, Blaine. You are amazing. Don’t give up on your love whether it’s with Kurt or Tom or someone else and don’t give up on you music. Whatever you need, let us know and we’ll help you. Your mum, Cooper and me, we are here for you. We’ve always been, but we didn’t show it so I’m telling you now. Whatever and whenever, okay?”

“Thanks, dad.”

“You want to go with me to theater? On Tuesday? What about your skype date with Blaine?” It wasn’t that Rachel didn’t want Kurt to go with her. She was just utterly surprised. It was the beginning of Kurt’s fourth week in New York and she had already learnt his schedule. Tuesday evening was dedicated to Blaine after pool Monday when they only text to each other due to Blaine’s obligation in the bar.

“Blaine can’t tonight. He has some other plans for evening. He’ll call me about midnight. We should be back by then.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

The whole week went in similar fashion. Blaine would cancel their skype appointment because of another plan and call Kurt between eleven and one in the night. They would talk a little, but in behalf of their work in the morning, the phone calls didn’t last more than fifteen minutes. Kurt never asked what the other plan was and Blaine never mentioned specifics. On Friday evening Kurt stayed home. He and Lucas had agreed to finally have a conversation longer than few minutes. They communicated via email but it wasn’t enough for Kurt. He needed his best friend’s opinion on something and actual talk with immediate feedback was way better than exchanging emails.

“What do you think about long distance relationships?” Kurt asked Lucas after he logged in.

“Wow. Nice to see and hear you, too. I had a good day, thanks for asking…” Kurt impatiently shook his head.

“Just answer the question, Luke. I have a lot to discuss, we can be polite another time.”

“I never really think about it. They might work as well as they might not. Why?”

“I want to be with Blaine. And it’s not possible for us to be together on the same place right now, but maybe someday it will be possible. So I think we should try a long distance for a while and see how it will work…I would like to talk about it with him next week when I’ll be in Pittsburgh.”

“Kurt, don’t get me wrong, but what makes you think he would like to have a long distance relationship with you?”

“He wants to be with me. I’m sure of it. Something happened between us and…Nick was right. About us in the cabin. I mean, we did things…But we didn’t talk about it because I was leaving in a few days.” Kurt saw how his friend put his head to his hands and took deep breath. He knew Lucas well and he only made this gesture when something was wrong.

“You should have talked to him about it. He is a free man. He may be dating someone now.”

Kurt heart skipped the beat. He hadn’t thought about it. He had been convinced Blaine was his and he was Blaine’s even though they hadn’t said anything official. 

“What do you mean?”

“Kurt, do you know where Blaine was on Monday?”

“In the bar, with you.”

“And on Tuesday? Have you had your skype dates this week?”

“No, we haven’t. He had some plans. But he called me after…Luke, what’s wrong? I can tell something is out of place. Just tell me.”

“Blaine wasn’t in the bar on Monday. He wasn’t with us at all this week…” Kurt was shocked. Why would had Blaine lied about pool Monday?

“What do you know, Luke?”

“I saw him with Tom on Monday. They were sitting in a coffee shop near my office. I worked after hours and when I went to the bar, I saw him there. He didn’t show up in the bar. I was hanging out with Nick and Mathew all week, but Blaine didn’t come once. I’m sorry, Kurt. I don’t say they are dating again. I’m just saying, they are meeting for coffee and you two have some unresolved issues you should definitely talk about.”

“Hello?” The sleepy voice was heard in the phone.

“Kurt? Hi. It’s me, Blaine. Did I wake you up? I’m sorry…I usually call at this hour, I didn’t suppose you would be sleeping.”

“Oh. Hi. I had a headache. I went to bed early…” Kurt wasn’t lying. He just wasn’t saying the whole truth either. His headache had been caused by amount of tears that had fallen from his eyes after he had ended the skype call with Lucas. He felt betrayed. Despite they had never said anything about it, he had never doubted, there had been something between them.

“Are you sick? I let you sleep, I’ll call you tomorrow…”

“No. Please, don’t hang up. How was your week? We haven’t had a chance for a proper talking.”

“It was fine. Nothing big happened.”

“Did you hang out with guys? How are they?” Kurt didn’t have strength to ask him directly if he was seeing Tom again.

“No. Actually I spent every day with an old friend. It was fun. We needed to catch up a little, but we had a great time together. What about you? Something interesting happened in New York?” Kurt’s eyes were filling with tears. Blaine was hiding Tom and it wasn’t a good sign. Disappointment in Blaine for not telling him everything was more heartbreaking than the fact he might be dating Tom.

“Nothing…Blaine, I’m sorry. I really don’t feel good. I should go to sleep.”

“Of course. We’ll skype tomorrow, okay? I have plans in the evening but since it’s Saturday, can we log in at noon?” Plans, plans, plans…Kurt’s head was pounding. Plans with Tom.

“Sure.”

“I hope you’ll get better soon. Goodnight, Kurt. I miss you a lot.”

“Goodnight.” And the line went dead.

Next few days were confusing for Blaine. Kurt was distant. He barely responded to Blaine’s texts, their phone calls were quick, skype dates non-existent. Kurt didn’t laugh, his voice sounded tired, sometimes he made a bitter remark indicating he was mad at Blaine, but when Blaine asked him about it, Kurt ignored it and changed the topic. Blaine had no idea what he had done wrong. He apologized hundred times in texts, in calls, in emails, but Kurt didn’t seem to notice. On Wednesday his frustration doubled its size, when Nick got the text saying Kurt wasn’t going to visit them as he had planned. Mathew and Lucas got the same text as well. Only Blaine was kept out of the circle.

Kurt didn’t feel good about himself. He was hurting Blaine, but couldn’t help himself not to do it. He loved his work, but it wasn’t enough. For the first time since he moved to New York he regretted going there. He missed Blaine, missed his voice, his laugh, his reassuring words…He could have that, but he made excuses to cut their conversation short, because he was mad. Mad at Blaine, that he wasn’t telling the truth, mad at Lucas, because he had told him about Tom, mad at himself for being a coward hiding behind ignorance and silent treatment. Everything was falling into the pieces…

“Kurt, we are going and that’s it. You’ve been moping here for a week. I don’t know what happened because you refuse to talk about it, but I’m not leaving you home on Friday night. We don’t have to go clubbing, but we are meeting my friends in the coffee shop. There is an open-mic tonight. It will be fun.” Kurt didn’t want to go anywhere. He thought about telling Rachel to back off and go to the hell, but she had been really patient with him so far. And he was tired. Snapping wouldn’t help him. Rachel was ready to give him a piece of her mind, he could see that in her expression and dealing with her diva wasn’t on his list of favorite activities. One cup of coffee wouldn’t cause any damage. Hopefully, the young artists performing tonight wouldn’t suck.

“Fine. Let me change to something suitable for coffee shop.”

“Don’t take long. They are waiting for us…” She yelled after him as he closed himself in his room.

Rachel was ecstatic on the way there. Being in a better mood, Kurt would definitely search for the reason, but right now he was glad, she was satisfied and didn’t irritate him about his condition. They walked into the coffee shop and Rachel grabbed his hand and led him to the table near a little stage. He was too deep in his thought to notice who was sitting there.

“Finally. What took you so long?” Kurt raised his head and fixed his gaze from floor to the speaking person.

“He needed to change. You know, proper outfit for coffee shop…” Rachel answered with big grin, waiting for Kurt to get from the initial shock.

“What are you doing here?” The question earned him the laughter.

“Oh my god, Kurt. Where are your manners? This is the second time in week you being rude to me.” Lucas shook his head, pretending being offended.

“Glad to see you, man. We thought we could pay you a visit, when you canceled your trip to Pittsburgh.” Nick stood up from his chair and gave him a hug.

“Okay, welcome hugs after the performance. This one’s just finished. It’s about to start. Sit down.” Mathew pulled Kurt on the chair. Kurt looked from one to another, still comprehending what was going on. They were here. Without Blaine. Blaine probably didn’t want to come after how Kurt had treated him. He didn’t blame him. He would have done the same. Guys sent him big smiles, apparently without knowing something wrong was going on between Blaine and him.

“You should turn to the stage. You’re gonna love this.” Rachel whispered to his ear and Kurt turned around. The world stopped. His eyes met the warm hazel ones and didn’t leave them until Blaine finished his last song. Blaine got a big applause, according to guys the biggest in the evening, and as he was nearing their table, Kurt abruptly stood up and rushed out of the shop.

“What the hell?” Lucas was completely lost. Rachel shrugged her shoulders and Mathew and Nick were silent, exchanging confused looks. Blaine - without an explanation - ran after Kurt.