Outside the door Blaine was wringing his hands nervously. After he had left the senior commons last night Kurt had proceeded to skip dinner. Blaine had gone up to check on him after but couldn't get any response. After a few minutes he decided perhaps Kurt just needed some time alone, but surely he shouldn't be missing classes?

Kurt rolled out of bed and opened the door hurriedly, going from half asleep to fully alert immediately when he saw Blaine standing there dressed in his uniform with his bag over his shoulder.

"Sorry!" Kurt exclaimed moving back into his room and pulling another uniform out of the closet. "I must have passed out last night and forgot to set an alarm, I'll be ready in just a second, I swear, I—"

"Kurt, it's fine," Blaine said taking one step into the room to try and catch Kurt's eye. The second he did they flashed away, but then Kurt's eyes scrunched in what appeared to be frustration and with a long exhale he slowly brought them back up.

They were clear bags under them that made Blaine sure that whether the "passed out" line was true or not it had not been a dead sleep.

"We have time, I actually came up a little early to check on you. You weren't at dinner last night." Blaine chose his words carefully, statements not questions, giving Kurt the choice to talk or avoid.

As if on cue Kurt's stomach grumbled. He put a hand over it quickly, flushing, "Oh yeah, I guess I forgot. Sorry," Kurt's thoughts drifted to just what he had been so preoccupied with the night before and his eyes fell back to the floor, almost forgetting Blaine was there completely. Almost.

Blaine tried to imagine simply forgetting a meal. He couldn't. It's not really in the nature of your average teenage boy. As he watched Kurt's face cloud over though he decided now wasn't the moment to make a joke of it.

"Not a problem. Just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Kurt's first instinct was to respond with a traditional "I'm okay." To reassure, without offering any new information. To reiterate in the posititive, without ever really considering the question being asked.

He could not put his finger on what exactly it was, but still knew it was something about Blaine, that made him stop himself and look Blaine in the eyes again. It was still a struggle, but he was beginning to think it was worth it, because every time he did so with Blaine he was met with those huge deep golden eyes brimming with emotion, just out of reach.

Like now, they were filled with concern and curiosity, but distinctly lacking pressure or expectation. Maybe that was what made Kurt really able to stop and come up with a real, true response. That Blaine would have let him get away with "I'm okay."

So the question was, was he? Well perhaps it was a little early to think that over, so he went with the next best thing.

"It was a long day. I had a lot on my mind. I…I just am not..quite…used to," Kurt floundered for a minute before he realized he was overthinking it, "….everything, I suppose."

Blaine nodded. It was vague , but it was more than he'd expected. He was trying, Blaine would just have to be patient. And for Kurt, Blaine was pretty sure that wouldn't be a problem.

So with his wide smile he responded "Alright, I'll be right outside while you change then."

As he slipped out the door, closing it behind him, Kurt's eyes widened. He'd already had his shirt all the way unbuttoned. He wasn't supposed—he didn't even think about-. Kurt stopped himself. He'd been turned into his closet, Blaine hadn't said anything, he didn't see them. He couldn't have.

Taking a deep breath Kurt proceeded to put on the rest of his uniform. He wasn't sure last night's…revelation, really counted as progress, but it definitely felt like a step forward. Like he'd broken through a wall.

And now with it out of the way he was standing on a great expanse on unknown territory. He still didn't know where he was going, had no idea in fact. Definitely didn't know his destination, or how to get there. Could be going the wrong way from his first step, was definitely bound to trip and fall and get turned around. But at least now he could move.

Because in the end how different was it, being totally lost in life and being totally lost in a metaphorical wilderness? There really just one option, start going.

Blaine was outside waiting for him. This school was full of new and exciting prospects. The metaphorical woods adventures. The world for that matter it seemed, both metaphorical and physical.

Miss Rowe had once suggested to him that the problem with a lot of people, including psychologists like herself, is trying to solve life's problems head on instead of just living through them to find the answer that will only come when its ready anyway. Kurt had been hesitant to accept the philosophy at first. When he'd struggled to master a move he explained, he finally gotten it by working at it tirelessly, not waiting around for it to "come to him."

Miss Rowe had smiled at that, "Well, wouldn't you know, you have a stubborn side, don't you Mister Hummel?"

Kurt had blushed, "Sorr—"

"Don't apologize, I'm glad to see a little spark in you."

Finishing shrugging on his blazer, Kurt turned the door handle, nodding to Blaine as he stepped out.

No, he didn't know who Kurt Hummel was. But maybe, just maybe, if he tried "just living" for a while, here at Dalton, with all its life, (two boys, Nick and Jeff if he remembered quickly, raced past his door way as he opened it as though reaffirming his point), he could begin to, not find out, but create for the first time.

That's how you start things, one step at a time.

With that thought he almost smiled, not for or to anyone, just to himself, as he fell into step behind Blaine on the way to breakfast.

It wasn't going to be as easy as that, he knew, but how hard could it be to try?

'Pretty damn hard.' A sarcastic, bitter voice inside him replied, surprising him. He wasn't' really sure when he even gained the capacity to be bitter.

Pushing it back he glanced up just in time to see Blaine smiling out, and he wasn't sure why, but it helped somehow. A new voice, still his own but different than before picked up his inner monologue: 'Breathe. In. Out. Step. Right. Left. Repeat. Take it as it comes.'