Blaine slept in, and then took his time getting out of bed. It was nice having a relaxing Sunday stretched out in front of him.

Throwing on some shorts and a t-shirt, he wandered to the kitchen. There was coffee made, and he poured a mug, carrying it out to the balcony.

He thought Kurt was still sleeping, so he was surprised to find Kurt also on the balcony. He had a mat on the floor, and he was doing yoga, the morning light washing over him.

“Oh, I’m sorry Kurt. I didn’t realize you were out here.” Blaine retreated back a step.

Kurt waved at him, and then towards the armchair, indicating Blaine should sit down.

Not wanting to make a big deal of it, Blaine sat down, sipping his coffee and looking out at the view. But his eyes kept being drawn back to Kurt.

It was obvious he was very experienced in yoga, as he moved from pose to pose without hesitation. At times, there was a tightness in his body and his expression, as he tried to do a pose that was challenging, but he stayed with it, his breathing deep and even. Kurt was not one to give up easily.

It must have taken years of hard work for Kurt to make it to the top of his profession and stay there so many years. Blaine knew that he got into NYADA, and just completing that program was hard enough. Then he had been in roles that were vocally and physically demanding, back-to-back, for years.

Blaine’s eyes traced over Kurt’s body, wondering about it. Was he damaged permanently from the accident, besides his voice? Was he scarred? And how had he been affected by the coma? He was weak, likely his muscles had atrophied from lack of use, and he needed to work to get them back. But his body was still slim, and his complexion looked healthy.

It took Kurt sitting down in the other armchair to shake Blaine out of his thoughts. He glanced at him. “What do you want to do today?”

Kurt reached over and grabbed his tablet. “I’d like to go for a walk, get a change of scene.”

Blaine was surprised. “Are you concerned about being recognized?”

Shrugging, Kurt typed a bit. “Nah. I’ll dress down and wear sunglasses and a hat. Works every time.”

“How about the zoo? They apparently have a new baby penguin.” Blaine had been meaning to check it out sometime.

Kurt took a few minutes, considering. “Well, as long as we can take it slow and I can sit down on benches to rest frequently.”

---

“Did you ever hear about the gay penguins at this zoo?” Blaine looked over at Kurt. They were on a bench, watching the penguins walk around, jumping into the water.

Kurt just shook his head. He was avoiding using the tablet unless really needed, not wanting people to look at him strangely.

Blaine gave him a little smile. “It was before I moved to New York, in the late ‘90s. There were two male penguins that were performing mating rituals, but no sex acts apparently. But they were seen treating a rock like an egg. So the zookeepers gave them an egg that had been abandoned, and they raised the baby girl penguin, named Tango, together.”

Smiling at Blaine, Kurt just shook his head. “Bullshit.” He mouthed the word, but it was totally clear what he meant.

Laughing, Blaine pulled out his phone, and tapped on it. He showed Kurt the website for the children’s book, ‘And Tango Makes Three’. “The book was pretty controversial, as you can imagine.”

Kurt nodded and passed Blaine’s phone back. He got up and pointed towards the small snack hut nearby selling ice cream.

Blaine walked with Kurt to the hut, and ordered the ice cream Kurt pointed to, and one for himself. Walking slowly, they ate the ice cream and enjoyed the atmosphere of the zoo. Lots of families, lots of trees, watching the animals…it felt good to just enjoy those simple pleasures.

After a few minutes, Blaine urged Kurt to sit on another bench. This one was a little distance from the pathway, and no one was nearby.

“Kurt, can I ask you about something? It’s kind of a sensitive subject.” Blaine wasn’t sure if he should ask this, but he was curious.

Turning towards Blaine, Kurt took off his sunglasses, and nodded.

Blaine bit his lip. “Can you remember the accident? How did it happen? Besides the coma and your voice, were you injured from it?” The news had only mentioned a car accident and focused on the coma. Very few other details were given.

Sighing, Kurt pulled the tablet from his messenger bag, and took a while typing. “Adam and I were fighting, like we were so often around that time. I left in the middle of the night, going to drive to New York to stay at my apartment there. I was emotional, and the road was a bit icy. “

Blaine nodded, encouraging Kurt to go on.

“I don’t remember the actual accident, which is probably a good thing. They say I broke my leg and hit my head... that’s what caused the coma. My leg feels a bit sore now, and there are a few scars from the broken glass, but they are pretty faded. Now I just feel weak and like my body isn’t really my own.” Kurt shrugged. “But it's starting to come back.”

Putting his arm around Kurt’s shoulders, Blaine drew him close to his side. He did it without thinking, just wanting to comfort Kurt. And Kurt sunk into it, relaxing against Blaine, and letting his cheek rest against his shoulder.

They stayed like that for a long time. Blaine liked having Kurt close like this.

Eventually, Kurt pulled back and typed on his tablet again. “I’m lucky I wasn’t injured worse, or killed. I need to appreciate that and make the most of what I do have. I need to find what I can do next for a career.”

Blaine admired his spirit. Kurt wasn’t one to wallow in what went wrong. To lose his voice was horrible, but he was still alive. Still able to do so many things. “Well, if I can help you in any way, let me know.”

“It will take some soul searching to figure out what is next. I’ve been so focused on a singing career for so long, I haven’t even been aware of the other possibilities.” Kurt blinked slowly.

Thinking about what he knew about Kurt, Blaine threw out some ideas. “I unpacked all your stuff, so I’d say I know you fairly well from that. You seem to be very interested in fashion, music, pop culture. And you write very well, and very fast, on that damn tablet.”

Kurt smirked at Blaine. “Are there any jobs that involve typing fast on a tablet?”

“No idea.” Blaine smiled back. “Hey, another thing you could look at is those boxes of personal items I put in the office cabinet. They are packed full of old pictures, letters, all that kind of stuff. I never looked at it thoroughly. Maybe you could organize it, put it into a scrapbook, and see if any old interests come to mind.”

---

The next Friday night, they ordered in Chinese food and ate while watching a movie. Blaine was glad to have the weekend off. He was coming to the end of the project with the hoarder, and it had been very emotional. Drinking a couple beers was taking the edge off.

“Hey, want to see what I’ve been working on?” Kurt nudged Blaine’s shoulder.

Blaine nodded. He had been curious about Kurt’s past, but wouldn’t violate his privacy uninvited.

Kurt grabbed a scrapbook and settled close beside Blaine.

Opening the book, Blaine flipped to the first pictures. There were pictures of Kurt in high school, part of a singing group. “So, is that where you got the singing bug?”

Kurt nodded, looking fondly over the pictures.

Blaine caught the look. “Are you in touch with any of your old friends?”

Typing on his tablet, Kurt soon replied. “No, not for a long time. We grew apart, got busy with our own lives.”

Flipping through some more pages, he saw Kurt at NYADA, doing some of his early performances, and then some small off-Broadway productions. “Amazing to think that was all ten years ago.”

Looking through more of it, there were pictures from many of Kurt’s performances over the years, with behind the scenes pictures of other cast and crew. He noticed a few faces repeating often.

“Who is that?” Blaine pointed to one man sitting close to Kurt in a picture. He looked vaguely familiar.

Kurt typed. “Nate Robinson.”

Blaine looked at Kurt questioningly. “Wasn’t he your director in several productions?”

Nodding, Kurt looked up, meeting Blaine’s gaze before looking away. “We were close friends until I got serious with Adam. He didn’t like him, and we ended up arguing about it.”

Giving Kurt a raised eyebrow, Blaine was quiet.

Kurt closed his eyes. “Yes, he turned out to be right about Adam.”

“You did great work with him.” Blaine said softly, turning the page.

There were a lot of pictures of Kurt with Adam. Happy, couple pictures in the beginning, vacations and parties. But over time there were fewer pictures, often together at red carpet events, looking distant from each other even if they were holding hands for the picture. Blaine didn’t bother commenting. He had his share of failed relationships in the past too.

Blaine nudged his shoulder. “How do you feel about this? Looking through it all?”

Sighing, Kurt closed the book and put it on the coffee table. “I think the next step is to go public. Make a statement or something. Although what am I supposed to say? Hey, everybody! I’m not in a coma!”

“Or you could be more dramatic. Go to some big society function and pull off a mask and watch everyone freak out.” Blaine chuckled.

Kurt did his almost silent laughter. “It would be even worse if I did that and everyone shrugged and said ‘Who the fuck is that?’ If no one cared.”

“Well, you had an agent back then. Could you contact her and see what she recommends?” Blaine was impressed that Kurt was considering even doing this.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Kurt typed. “Although I was hoping to have more of an idea of my future. “

Blaine moved closer to Kurt, and put an arm around his shoulders. Kurt leaned into him. Blaine wrapped his other arm around Kurt, giving him a hug.

It felt good, holding Kurt. Blaine ran his hand slowly up and down his back, in a comforting way. Kurt had been so strong, for so long.

Shifting a bit closer, Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine. Pulling back a little, he looked over Blaine’s face, taking in his large dark eyes and his full lips, and he leaned forward, lightly touching his lips to Blaine’s.

Blaine stilled, hardly daring to breathe. He looked at Kurt’s big eyes.

Cupping Blaine’s face, Kurt kissed him again, harder. Blaine gasped, sinking into the kiss. His heart was pounding, and he couldn’t seem to catch his breath.

Pushing on his shoulder, Kurt urged Blaine to lie back on the sofa, until they were lying flat, exchanging kiss after kiss. They were hot, intense. Blaine’s hands were on Kurt’s back, pulling him in closer.

As quick as it started, it stopped. Kurt pulled back, sitting up on the sofa, running his hand over his face.

Blaine sat up beside him, looking over at Kurt, feeling confused.

Kurt just gave Blaine an apologetic look, patted his shoulder, and left.

---

Blaine woke up to a call on his cell. Groggily, he fumbled around on his bedside table until he found it.

“Blaine, you’re famous.” Sam’s voice sounded far too cheerful for this early in the day.

Yawning, Blaine tried to make sense of what Sam had said “Famous? What?”

Sam chuckled. “Well, not really famous since it’s just your picture and not your name. But Kurt’s in the picture too.”

Sitting up, Blaine tried to wake up. “OK, start again from the beginning. What picture? Where?”

“I was on set and the make-up artist was chatting with some other people and I heard Kurt’s name getting mentioned. They were all talking about how there’s a rumor going around that he’s not in a coma anymore.” Sam finally talked straight.

Hopping out of bed, Blaine yanked some clothes on. “Shit, really? Did you say anything?”

Sam laughed. “Not about knowing him or anything. I just asked what they were talking about and she showed me a picture of the two of you on some website.”

“Fuck! I gotta go, Sam. Don’t tell anybody about this.” Blaine hung up and went to find Kurt.

Kurt was doing yoga on the balcony again.

“Kurt, grab your tablet and come into the kitchen. We have to talk.” Blaine went back to the kitchen, pouring out two coffees and setting them on the table.

“Is this about last night? Because I wanted to apologize…” Kurt was standing in the doorway, watching as Blaine walked around the kitchen, agitated.

Sitting down, Blaine sighed. “No, not about that. Can I borrow your tablet for a second?”

Eyebrows raised, Kurt passed it over.

Blaine did a search on Kurt, and immediately three pictures came up. One of them talking on the bench, one of them hugging, and another that was a close-up of Kurt’s face when he had the sunglasses off. The headlines of various stories mentioned the coma and Kurt’s name. He passed it back to Kurt.

Sipping his coffee, he watched Kurt’s face as he looked at the pictures and clicked on some of the stories. From the quick glance Blaine had at the search, it looked like the stories were pretty speculative, but the picture was clear enough that Kurt could be identified.

Blaine was clear in the picture too, so any friends who saw it would recognize it, but he wasn’t known that widely otherwise.

“So, should we contact your agent, and see how we can handle this?” Blaine asked eventually.

Sighing, Kurt nodded.

---

“Melissa Sampson, please.” Blaine asked, when the agency phone was picked up.

“Who shall I tell her is calling?” The woman was cool and professional.

Blaine swallowed. “Blaine Anderson for Kurt Hummel.”

The woman made a surprised noise. “Oh, just a second.”

A second later, the phone clicked through. “Melissa Sampson.”

“Ms. Sampson, my name is Blaine Anderson. I don’t know if you have been monitoring the news lately, but you may have seen some pictures of a former client of yours. Kurt Hummel.” Blaine tried to keep his voice steady, professional.

She cleared her throat. “I have no comment about that, Mr. Anderson.”

“Wait, wait…” Blaine could tell she thought he was a reporter, and was going to disconnect. “I’m here with Kurt Hummel. Could we connect with you via Skype or FaceTime? It will be a better way to communicate.”

He could tell he caught her off guard. But after a few moments, she agreed, and they made arrangements.

Blaine opened his laptop and connected to Skype. A minute later, a woman in her fifties was on screen. She had a short, blond haircut and large dark-framed glasses. Kurt waved at her.

“Hi, Ms. Sampson. I’m Blaine and you obviously know Kurt.”

“Call me Melissa. Kurt, can you tell me what’s going on?” Melissa was looking over at Kurt, her expression puzzled.

Kurt typed on his tablet. “Melissa, I’ve been out of the coma for about two months, and recovering well. But my vocal cords were damaged in the accident, and I can’t speak.”

Her eyebrows rose at that, and then she nodded. “Kid, you’ve been through a crazy rollercoaster the last few years, haven’t you? Sheesh.”

Sighing, she looked down for a second, looking emotional. Then she looked back up, blinking her eyes rapidly. “First, let me just say I’m so fucking happy you are doing alright. I never thought I’d get a chance to talk to you again, and if I don’t get to see you face to face in the next 24 hours so I can hug the stuffing out of you, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Kurt smiled back, blinking fast too at the tears threatening to stream down his face. He’d known Melissa since he graduated from NYADA. She’d believed in him from the start.

“Secondly, I guess I’m your agent again because everyone’s been calling me about you the last few days. This is quite a story, and now that you have lost your voice as well… we will have to talk about how you want to handle it.” She pulled a legal pad over, tapping a pen on it.

Blaine smiled as Kurt and Melissa discussed it, ready to help out if Kurt had any communication problems. But he was fast on the tablet, and Kurt knew Melissa well. He liked how fast she caught on to the situation and started bringing up good options.

---

Blaine was cooking up some omelets and buttering toast by the time Kurt ended the call. Melissa and Kurt had no problems communicating over Skype, so Blaine had stepped away to prepare some breakfast. He dished up the food and carried the plates over to the table, and refreshed their coffees.

“So, do you feel OK with her plan?” Blaine sat down and dug into his breakfast.

Kurt sipped his coffee, and then he shrugged. He typed a little on his tablet. “I’d rather just have my privacy, but sooner or later, it would end up in the news.” He knew there was interest in his story from the past drama. Better to just get it out there, and let it blow over.

Chuckling, Blaine sprinkled salt and pepper over his meal. “It was kind of funny how she kept suggesting you do an interview, and you kept having to remind her that you couldn’t speak. Imagine doing an interview where you played your tablet messages the whole time.”

Smiling, Kurt could see the humor in it. “Well, I could do a print interview, I guess.”

“Do you really think my name has to get out there? Can’t you just leave me out of it?” Blaine felt a bit uncomfortable about that part of it.

Kurt tilted his head, looking at Blaine. “What? Are you embarrassed of being associated with me?”

Blaine looked down. It was all so confusing. They were friends, and then there had been the kissing last night. Was that just because they were alone together, and a bit lonely? Was there more to it?

To say in news article that they were just friends would still imply that they were more than that. They looked intimate in the pictures, at least good friends, and some may think it was a relationship. And if it got out he was living in Kurt’s apartment, it could be taken as more serious than it was. He just wanted to avoid people speculating.

Sighing, Blaine looked back at Kurt. “No, but everyone is going to think we are a couple no matter what. I like you as a friend, Kurt. And then last night…” He didn’t know what to make of it.

Kurt’s eyes widened slightly, and Blaine could see a flash of hurt, before he looked away. Getting up, he cleared away the dishes. Blaine had cooked, so he was washing up.