He caught sight of Rachel, who frantically waved at him from her booth in the corner. She was surprisingly alone. As he walked over, he noticed that she was fidgeting with a cup of coffee in her hand, “Rachel?”

She smiled at him gratefully, “Oh Blaine, I’m so glad you came! I was afraid you were going to show me up!”

“No, you said we needed to talk. Plus, I had to get away from my apartment.” Blaine mumbled the part, vaguely remembering the way Mark looked at him when he had left his apartment; he would deal with that situation when he got home.

“Oh, well here’s your coffee!” Rachel explained, shoving a warm cup into his hands.

He looked at the drink awkwardly, “Uh, thanks Rachel. But I could’ve gotten my own drink…”

“No way Blaine, I ask you to come for coffee; the least I could do was buy you coffee.” Rachel said, waving her hands at him in dismissal. She took a sip of her coffee just as Blaine was about to sit down “Whoa, what are you doing?”

“Well I was going to sit down so we could talk… was I wrong in doing so?” Blaine asked, returning to his standing position.

Rachel smiled as brightly as she could and grabbed Blaine’s hand, “Come on, they have this really nice patio out back. We’ll be able to talk in private back there.”

-0-0-0-0-0-

Kurt sat outside in a rather comfy lounge chair, curled up in himself and sipping quietly at his coffee. Rachel said she would only be a couple of minutes; she had to grab something from inside.

“See, isn’t it so nice?” Rachel asked from behind him.
He started to answer when another, very familiar, voice answered instead, “Yeah… it’s kind of cold though, don’t you think?”

“Don’t be a baby,” Rachel teased. Kurt tensed as he felt a pair of eyes settle on the back of his head but he didn’t dare turn around.

“Uh, Rach-.” Blaine heard the door shut behind him. He tried to open it again but it wouldn’t budge.

Kurt sighed and continued sipping on his coffee; he didn’t dare look over at Blaine so he let the awkwardness ensue. He just stared straight ahead. Blaine was the first one to break the silence, “Can I- Can I sit down?”

“Yes.” Kurt replied, listening to Blaine breathe a sigh of relief as he sat down on the lounge chair opposite of the tall blue-eyed man.

Blaine set his coffee down on the table and just stared at it in silence. There were so many thoughts going through his mind at the moment, so many questions he wanted Kurt to answer. But instead he just continued staring past Kurt, hoping that at any moment Rachel would save him from his awkward silence. Then again, this was probably her reason for wanting to go to coffee with him.

“Your acting is coming along very well, I’m glad you’re the last Phantom during my production of the show.” Kurt admitted, trying to get the conversation going.

Blaine smiled just a bit, “Well, it helps to have a good director telling me what to do.”

Kurt laughed slightly and set his coffee down on the table, “I’m sorry about the other day, I was just extremely upset. That Mark guy really knows how to push my buttons.”

“Yeah,” Kurt couldn’t help but notice that Blaine’s stare became very dark as he avoided Kurt’s eyes, “Mark tends to do that to people.”

Kurt frowned slightly, “You look a bit down Blaine, is anything wrong?”

“Ah no, I’m fine.” He replied; Kurt could tell from the lack of eye contact and smiles that this definitely wasn’t the case.”

“I’ve known you for a long time Blaine. I know when you’re lying to me.” Kurt said, making a motion to grab Blaine’s hands.

Blaine hesitated but quickly pulled away; his face screwed up in disgust, “Yeah, well five years of not seeing someone really changes a person.”

Kurt sighed and faced Blaine fully now, “You still hate me for it, don’t you?”

“I could never hate you, Kurt.”

“Blaine-.”

“So where are you and Connor going on your date?” Blaine spat out, the venom that was laced within his words verbally slapping Kurt across the face.

“Oh…” Kurt said, realizing that Blaine had obviously heard what went down between the two in the auditorium, “yeah, I don’t know about that.”

Blaine scoffed, “Yet another heart you’re going to break.”
Kurt frowned, “Stop it.”

“Stop what? Telling you the truth? Letting you know that even though you’re an oblivious fuck, you still manage to break everyone’s heart.” Blaine snapped, instant regret filling his stomach when he realized just how much he was letting Kurt have it.

“Stop it!” Kurt yelled out, covering his ears, “Just stop it! I know alright, I’m a horrible person and I don’t know what I want.”

Blaine’s cold exterior instantly melted when he saw how much pain he was putting Kurt through, “Hey look, I’m sorry. I’m- I’m just angry is all.”

Kurt sniffed, “You have every right to be. I hurt you Blaine, and I can never take that back.”

Blaine stood up and walked over to Kurt, pulling him into a hug, “Its fine Kurt, I’m not one to hold a grudge. I was over that long before we met each other again.”

Of course Blaine was lying, and Kurt could see right through him. He always could even after all these years, but he chose to ignore that feeling just so that he could feel the warmth of Blaine’s hug. They stayed in a comfortable silence while simultaneously running through a list of long speeches in their heads. Blaine lifted his to speak but Kurt just silenced him, “Blaine I-.”

“Maybe you should let me speak first?” Blaine asked.

Kurt shook his head, “No, I think I should talk first.” Blaine nodded his head and let Kurt continue, “After all these years, my romance skills have pretty much been flushed down the toilet. But I’d like to give this romance thing a second chance.”

“That’s good,” Blaine said, his face hiding his disappointment very well, “it’s about time you jumped back on the band wagon.”

“No Blaine, I don’t think you understand.” Kurt said; he dared to look Blaine in the eyes while he tried to convey as much emotion through them as possible.

“What don’t I understand?” Blaine asked curiously.

Kurt picked up Blaine’s hands in his own, turning them both over and pressing a slight kiss into each palm, “I’ve missed you so much Blaine.”

Blaine let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. It was like the world had stilled and everything that was important was happening here and now. He looked down at Kurt’s hands holding his, tracing a pattern of infinity into his open palm, “Kurt, I-.”

“Just- just please think about this. I just can’t handle it if you- if you rejected me.” Kurt was babbling; his words were now consisting of incoherent strings of ‘Oh Gods’. He was basically hyperventilating.

“Hey now, it’s okay. Don’t worry Kurt, I could never reject you. Just- could you give me time to think?” Blaine asked as he removed his hands from Kurt’s firm grasp.

“Okay.”