No one stood up Kurt Hummel.

As he rapped his knuckles against the door, he put on a brave face, but doubt nagged at the back of his mind.

Something wasn’t right.

He knocked on the door furiously for a few minutes before sending Blaine another text.

No answer.

He had waited at the Lima Bean for 45 minutes and Blaine hadn’t showed.

So Kurt pushed tentatively at the front door, finding it was open. He walked into the long entrance hall and called for Blaine again.

“Blaine?” his voice echoed emptily.

After ascertaining that Blaine’s parents weren’t home, he decided to check the bedroom. Maybe he was listening to music and couldn’t hear the door.

He took the stairs three at a time and walked to the end of the upstairs hallway where he knew Blaine’s bedroom was.

The door was open.

He peered in and saw Blaine lying on the bed, curled up on his side.

Kurt’s immediate reaction was anger. Blaine had slept through their date? Not acceptable.

But then he became aware of the position of Blaine’s body. It was familiar.

He was curled up into himself, his knees tucked up under his chin and his arms around his legs. His head was tucked deep into his chest and he didn’t stir when Kurt called his name softly.

“Oh Blaine.” Kurt instantly softened when he realized what had happened.

He stepped slowly into the room and crossed to the side of the bed that Blaine was facing.

Kurt looked at his face; his eyes were cast downwards, fixed on Kurt’s shoes.

“Blaine...” Kurt tried again.

This time, Blaine finally looked up at him.

Kurt almost wished he hadn’t. He didn’t recognize the face in front of him.

Blaine suddenly stretched his arms out, reaching for Kurt.

Kurt ached. He could feel the waves of need radiating off of Blaine and he couldn’t bear it. His outstretched arms reminded Kurt of a small child; needing to be picked up, asking only to be loved.

He quickly embraced Blaine, laying down on the bed beside him, wrapping his small frame up into his arms.

He cringed guiltily to himself. He had been sitting in the Lima Bean tapping his foot angrily while Blaine had been here, needing him.

Blaine latched onto him immediately. He gripped at his shirt fiercely, as if it was some sort of desperate lifeline. He buried his face deep into Kurt’s chest and let out a stifled sound that was half moan, half whimper.

“Shhhh. You’re okay.” Kurt whispered into his ear, running his fingers over the dark curls.

It wasn’t that Blaine cried; no, he just clung to Kurt like he couldn’t think of anything else to do.

And so they stayed like that, curled up on top of Blaine’s covers, unmoving, silent, because anything else would have been too much. It would have pushed him too far.

After what seemed like forever, Kurt felt Blaine’s body begin to unwind. His knees slowly pulled away from his chest and his arms loosened their hold on Kurt ever so slightly. It was when his body had finally relaxed that Kurt ventured to speak.

“You should have called me. I would have come sooner.”

Blaine looked up at Kurt with a pained expression on his face.

“I couldn’t. I tried.” He choked out, his voice cracking. And then,

“I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it’s okay. I came for you, didn’t I?” Kurt replied soothingly.

Blaine nodded stoically.

After another considerable period of silence and holding, the two finally untangled themselves from each other.
Blaine cleared his throat and then went about as if nothing unusual had happened at all. He pulled on his shoes while sitting on the edge of the bed, and buttoned his sweater.

Kurt watched him and felt a sweeping sadness settle in his stomach.

He knew how the rest of their day would go. They would get in the car and Blaine would turn on the radio, singing along happily to whatever Top 40 happened to be playing.

They would sit in the Lima Bean and sip their usual, discussing Glee club and their history homework and Rachel’s latest ugly sweater. Kurt wouldn’t say a word about the scary thing he had just witnessed because it would shut Blaine right down again.

He had tried, the first, second and third times that this had happened, to talk to Blaine about it.

But he had immediately shut down, lips pressing together in a thin line and curling his body back up into himself.
So Kurt had stopped trying, because it only made everything worse.

But he was afraid.

Afraid because this thing, this thing that had a grip on Blaine always paralyzed him. He had said so himself. He had tried to call Kurt, but he just couldn’t.

What if one of these times, Kurt came too late? What if it took him longer than 45 minutes to figure out what had happened to Blaine? What if he walked up to his room didn’t find Blaine curled up on his bed but in another position entirely?

But of course Kurt didn’t say any of this as he continued watching Blaine tie up his shoes. When Blaine looked up and grinned at him easily he pushed down all the dark thoughts warring with each other in his mind. He didn’t mention any of it.

Instead, he returned the fake smile and said,

“Ready to go for coffee?”