"Are you okay?" Blaine asks once Kurt returns to their dorm room. He leaps off the bed and rushes over to Kurt. He reaches out to touch him, obviously noticing Kurt's red, tear-filled eyes, but for some reason he reconsiders the action and drops his hands. "Kurt?"

"I'm okay," Kurt sniffles.

"If you were okay, you wouldn't be crying. What happened? Did you leave him? Did he say something to you? Was he mean?"

"No, it was fine, please I just-"

"Kurt-"

"Blaine, please I just need some – some space for a little while."

Blaine backs away looking hurt, almost rejected, but he nods all the same.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"No, you're fine. I just need to breathe."

"O-okay. Do you want me to go to the library or something? I can go see David and leave you alone."

"No, I want you to stay."

"…You want space, but you want me to stay?"

"I just need to know you're still here," Kurt admits, tears welling in his eyes once more as his arms wind around his middle.

"Of – of course I'm here," Blaine assures him, taking the slightest step forward again.

Kurt stands at a loss. He's fighting every instinctual bone in his body from throwing himself at Blaine. He wants to be held, wants Blaine's scent all around him, wants it all.

He's torn between that and keeping very far away.

Away from temptation.

Because with Blaine near, it'd be so easy to let those words slip out…those three little words he just can't help but feel.

"Kurt, I'm right here."

Kurt loses it. He bursts into tears and launches himself at Blaine, whose arms come around him in a second, no hesitation whatsoever. Kurt breathes him in. The familiarity of Blaine's arms, the feel of his hair, the scent of his skin, it's all so perfect.

"It's okay," Blaine coos into his ear. Kurt's suddenly reminded of a time when he felt confined and broken, a time when Blaine held him when he cried, a time before this all became so complicated.

"I know you don't want to anymore," Kurt says through his tears, "but can you – can you…hold me? Like – like you used to? When we-"

"Come here," Blaine says softly, dragging Kurt over to his bed. He urges Kurt down on the bed, ignoring the shoes still on his feet. They both crawl onto the bed and Blaine cuddles up behind him. "This okay?"

"Tighter," Kurt whispers, pulling Blaine's arms around him, begging for just a tiny bit more security than he had five minutes ago.

"I'm here, I'm here," Blaine keeps repeating, holding Kurt as close as physically possible.

"I've missed this so much," Kurt can't stop himself from saying.

On the next second, he wants to smack himself for admitting such a thing. He expects Blaine to tense, expects Blaine to pull away, expects to be abandoned.

But none of these things happen.

"Me too," Blaine breathes against the back of Kurt's neck. "A lot."

But – but…oh god. Kurt doesn't even understand what his pulse is doing right now. He doesn't understand what anything means. He just knows that he's here, that Blaine's here. He can feel Blaine's forehead nuzzling the nape of his neck.

And Kurt knows he's completely in love with him.

So if he had so much trouble holding the words back, why can't he just say them?

Kurt wakes later that evening. He's still curled up on Blaine's bed but the room is quiet and the arms that held him so securely earlier had disappeared.

The door opens.

"Hey," Blaine says with a small smile when he sees Kurt rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Hi," Kurt yawns. "Where'd you-"

"You missed dinner," Blaine explains. Only then does Kurt see the small, plastic container filled with salad in Blaine's hand. "I brought you this and one of those little fruit bowl things you like so much."

Kurt tries hard to not think too long on the fact that Blaine knows his eating habits so well. He sits up and smiles as Blaine walks towards him, offering the salad and the fruit bowl he pulls from his bag.

"I didn't want to wake you." Blaine seats himself on the end of the bed.

"Thank you."

They sit in silence as Kurt eats his dinner but Kurt does notice that Blaine doesn't take his eyes off him. It's very odd, eating when someone is watching you that intently, but he ignores the strange behavior in favor of his growling stomach.

"You okay?" Blaine asks once Kurt is pretty much done with his food.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kurt nods.

"Didn't seem fine earlier," Blaine says quietly.

"I'm okay now."

"But you were crying."

"I'm fine, I promise. Drew just – he just said a few things that I think I needed to hear."

"About what, though?"

"About…me."

Blaine looks hard at Kurt, as though he knows Kurt is keeping something from him. Kurt can tell he wants to press for more information but he also knows Blaine; he knows he won't dig too deeply for fear of overstepping his boundaries when it comes to Kurt. Blaine finally nods, though his jaw seems tight.

"As long as he didn't hurt you."

"He didn't," Kurt assures. "He was actually very diplomatic about the whole thing. He understands that you can't force attraction when it doesn't exist."

"Good."

"Why are you so concerned?"

"Because if he – because I," Blaine growls in frustration at his inability to phrase his words properly. "Because you're my best friend. And if anyone hurts you in any way it's my job to make sure it never happens again."

"You're sure that's the only reason?" Kurt's voice is soft, barely audible even in the silence of the room. He glances over at Blaine to see his eyes go wide in either fear or shock, possibly both, and notices how his breath hitches in his chest.

Blaine swallows.

"Yes."

Kurt nods in reply.

They avoid the topic for the rest of the night.

But Kurt doesn't think that's the end of it.