Chapter 13

"What?!" Kurt shrieked, Santana ripping the phone from her ear with a curse a few blocks away. Muttering under his breath, Kurt started to pace as his hand ran through his hair, tugging on it sharply as his breath grew ragged.

Everyone in the room startled when Kurt screeched, Rachel grabbing Alice to take the young girl from the room as she started to cry from the shock. Sebastian and Elliott watched Kurt closely the latter trying to gnaw his way through his bottom lip while the former squeezed his hand comfortingly.

"Fuck," Kurt yelped, running his hands through his hair again and throwing his phone across the room, Sebastian diving to miraculously catch it before it shattered into a million tiny pieces. Passing the phone to Elliott he stood and grabbed Kurt by the shoulders, spinning the designer to look at him.

"Kurt, Kurt! Calm the hell down," He yelled, shaking the blue eyed man slightly as Kurt's ice blue eyes turned onto him. Elliott flinched at the coldness they held but Sebastian was left unnerved.

"Calm down? You want me to calm down? Blaine is missing. Missing Sebastian as in no one knows where he is. As in he could be lying dead in a ditch somewhere for all we know. As in someone could've kidnapped him."

A smirk took over Sebastian's face. "Told you that you still loved him," He muttered still holding Kurt's shoulders tightly.

"Fuck you," Kurt growled yanking away from him and resuming his pacing.

"I offered that years ago Sweetheart and you knocked me back," Sebastian snickered, ignoring Kurt's glare. "Now you simply don't know what you're missing."

"Herpes?" Kurt shot straight back, his own smirk growing instantaneously as Elliott burst out laughing, Sebastian glaring at both yet still tucking Elliott tightly into his side where they had fallen onto the couch, Kurt pacing yet again.

Sebastian shook his head with a sigh, "Look Hummel, I tried the nicey nice approach…"

Kurt snorted ungracefully, "Yeah, when exactly? You don't know what a nice approach is."

Shooting him a dirty look, Sebastian groaned, "Sort out your shit already Hummel and go and find your man."

"Yeah, well how am I supposed to do that when a) he's not my man and b) prior to my earlier explosion he's missing Seb," Kurt barked.

"Kurt god damn it! Just think. I've heard you say it before yourself! You know Blaine better than anyone else, even after all of this time, so just think Kurt, where is he?" Sebastian leapt up from his seat standing toe to toe with Kurt as their glares intensified.

"Oh my God."

"No, no do not start with the excuses again," Sebastian grumbled, not noticing the look of realisation filtering onto Kurt's features.

"No, Seb, you don't understand." Kurt murmured, his hands shaking as he ran them over his face, his blue eyes clouded with tears as they caught Sebastian's once more. "I know where he is." With that, Kurt was out the door like a shot, completely forgetting to even grab his jacket on his way out of the door.

Sebastian blinked in shock for a few minutes before grinning. "Halle-freaking-lujah," He crowed collapsing back onto the couch beside a giggling Elliott with a sigh. "If we ever get like them just end me ok?" Rolling on top of Elliott, he tickled the man's sides before bending his head down to capture his lips in a sweet kiss. "Mmmm, I really love you, you know?"

"I love you too Bas," Elliott whispered, eyes twinkling.

Sebastian smirked softly, capturing his lips again. "You know, Ally will be out like a light and there's a reason I got Rach noise cancelling headphones for Christmas."

"But what about B? He's still missing," Elliott murmured, gnawing at his bottom lip slightly until Sebastian placed a thumb on his chin slowly prizing his lip from between his teeth, the taller of the pair's expression softening as he looked down at his lover.

"Mon amour," He whispered, bending to place a slow, sweet kiss to Elliott's lips, "Believe me when I say that if Kurt says he knows where he is, then Blaine is in the best hands possible."

"Trust you to be here of all places," Kurt raised his voice slightly, his face tilted up to stare into the branches where he could just about make out a pair of hazel eyes watching him cautiously. Walking straight up to the tree trunk, Kurt's head tilted right back until his eyes met Blaine's glare in the soft light of the street lamps.

The honey eyes flashed with amusement that anybody but Kurt would have missed and he frowned slightly, watching Blaine's eyes rake up and down his body, the hilarity in them growing. Glancing down, Kurt groaned when he noted that he was still wearing his tightest black jeans and his best fitted black waistcoat with his startlingly white Henley underneath. Glaring up into the branches, he watched a small laugh form on Blaine's lips.

Frowning he sighed softly, "You're going to make me come up there aren't you?"

Blaine shrugged and abruptly turned away to look into the distance once more, Kurt huffing in annoyance and folding his arms as he continued to glare up into the tree. "Up to you, but I ain't coming down anytime soon," He called so Kurt could just about hear him.

Growling in frustration, Kurt uncrossed his arms and wiped the palms of his hands on his jeans. "For the love of god, at least speak properly Anderson," He hollered.

"Don't have to you ain't my Mother."

Kurt groaned, knowing full well that Blaine was now doing it on purpose as he studied the tree carefully, slowly reaching up and swinging himself onto the first branch, feeling Blaine's eyes boring into him from high above. Knowing that Blaine was up there made Kurt feel a lot safer than he knew he should have felt, but he knew in his heart of hearts that the slightly younger man was there to protect him if he were to fall. At one point in high school, Kurt had been sure that Blaine was half monkey from the ease and speed at which he'd scaled up and down the trees on the Dalton campus, or when they'd gotten lost on a hiking trip with Finn and Sam during the summer before he left for New York.

Feeling his footing slip from underneath him, Kurt heard a sharp gasp from up above as he righted himself and paused for a moment before carrying on with his quest to reach Blaine. Looking up, he spied Blaine now fully leaning off of the tree trunk ready to fly down through the branches if he was needed; somehow managing to pull off a glare at the same time as looking extremely overprotective.

"Be careful," Blaine breathed out slowly, leaning back against the trunk once more, his eyes trained solely on Kurt as the designer started to move again.

"Well, this has just proved that I'm not as agile as I was at sixteen," Kurt huffed; finally reaching the set of branches below the ones that Blaine was resting on.

"How did you know where to find me?" Blaine whispered, Kurt wincing slightly at how broken he looked momentarily before the shields evidently descended once more. "No one's ever found me before." Sighing, Blaine offered Kurt a hand and helped pull him up onto the branch that he was on before leaning back once more, pulling one leg up to his chest and letting the other dangle freely into the abyss below.

Kurt shuffled forwards slowly one leg either side of the branch until he could lean forward, folding his hands on Blaine's bent up knee and resting his head on them eyeing his ex-boyfriend carefully. Smirking slightly, he quirked an eyebrow, "Blaine, I-"

"Know me better than anyone else yeah, yeah I know."

Kurt laughed softly, leaning forwards and pecking Blaine's curls gently where they peaked out from under his navy beanie. Settling his hands back on Blaine's knee he leaned his chin on them once more, swinging his feet back and forth where they dangled.

"So, are you going to tell me what's wrong then?" Kurt queried, smiling sadly at Blaine.

Blaine simply shrugged, fuelling Kurt's frustration. "I'm fine Kurt," He mumbled, avoiding Kurt's eyes as he attempted to stare off into the lights in the distance again.

Kurt tilted his head with a slight smirk managing to see Blaine's face more clearly at the new angle and more importantly, at the way in which his amber eyes were darting everywhere but to Kurt. "Well hello there twitchy."

Glaring, Blaine snapped a hand over his right eye, somewhat losing the effect of his glare. "What are you doing here Kurt?"

Smiling Kurt squeezed Blaine's knee gently, "Looking for you. I would have thought that much was obvious." Grinning, he lifted his head to stare directly into Blaine's confused amber orbs, "You're driving them all nuts you know? I think Santana might actually be out for blood by this stage." Kurt's grin grew at the ghost of a smile that flickered across Blaine's features. "Plus, San said something about a doctors appointment?" Kurt watched the smile instantly drop from Kurt's face and instantly had a battle raging inside of him both of elation that he had managed to get to the root of the problem so quickly and of fear of what could be so wrong that Blaine had felt the need to disappear. "I was going to try Battery Park first, because you tend to torture yourself far too much for anyone's liking…"

"It was closed," Blaine grumbled, still trying to avoid Kurt's eyes.

"I know that's why I headed here, the next best place. I really don't know why climbing trees has always given you that release that you need when something happens that screws everything up."

Blaine grunted slightly, turning his head away from Kurt, but the blue eyed man still saw the tears he was trying so desperately to hide.

"Why can't I have things go my way Kurt? For once, why can't I be the one that gets everything that I ever dreamed of and more?" Blaine croaked out, his eyes whipping round to meet Kurt's, the designer reeling with the depths of the emotions they held.

"I don't know Bumble Bee. I wish I had all the answers you wanted and more, but I don't, I'm sorry," Kurt whispered, his own voice cracking and his own tears threatening to fall as he soothingly rubbed his thumb over Blaine's knee, tipping his head slightly to kiss the bare skin of the rip that had obviously been created on Blaine's journey up the tree.

Blaine took a shaky breath, his eyes meeting Kurt's. "I just, I wish everything could've ended up the way we planned it in high school, you know?" Kurt nodded gently against Blaine's knee, humming a silent response, "Life just, it's so much harder than I ever thought it would be Kurt. I am so freaking tired of being sick. I am so sick of having to miss days of my job or of having to sit there for hours on end while I'm prodded from each and every different direction by yet another new doctor who thinks they have the freaking answers. They never do." Blaine's voice broke and Kurt instinctively pushed his knee down, shuffling forwards until he could envelope the shaking man in his arms, Blaine's face falling unconsciously into the spot where his neck met his shoulder, his cold nose nuzzling gently against Kurt. "Most of all, there is the biggest regret ever in my life. I miss you. I miss you so much that it hurts Kurt. It hurts to see you. It hurts to breathe the same air as you, to be in the same room and know that everything is just so messed up and it's never going to be the same again. I miss you Kitkat."

Kurt drew in a sharp breath and snapped his eyes closed, the nickname that had haunted his dreams for years reappearing on the lips of the boy that had haunted his dreams for years. Visions of the first time Blaine had called him 'Kitkat' all the way back in Dalton dancing across his vision, right up until the night that he had left for New York, the last time that he had heard it in the flesh. Blaine's face was still buried into the crook of Kurt's neck, the bakers tears spilling down the designers neck and running on to his clothes as they cradled each other close high in the branches of a tree in the city that they had always believed would be theirs.

"Bumble Bee, speak to me," Kurt whispered, stroking his fingers through the soft curls on Blaine's head, ghosting lightly over the small bald patch that was a constant reminder of how ill he truly was. Kurt's other hand tucked Blaine's beanie safely into the hood of the amber eyed man's grey hooded jumper with the other, before bringing it round to rub soothing circles on Blaine's back. "What's brought all of this on, huh?"

Feeling Blaine shake his head gently, Kurt sighed softly, pressing a kiss to his head and rocking them back and forth carefully and softly humming 'Blackbird'. Kurt sighed softly as he felt Blaine finally relax completely against him, the younger man's body still shaking slightly as the tears continued to course down his face.

"Kurt?" Blaine whispered fifteen minutes later from where his head was still resting on Kurt's shoulder, one of Kurt's hands absentmindedly running up and down his back, the dark haired man's body essentially caught in between his ex-lover and the tree trunk.

"Yeah, B?"

"I'm scared Kurt," He murmured, his voice cracking once more.

"I know B, I know," Kurt mumbled, pulling Blaine even closer than he already was.

"I don't want to die Kurt."

Kurt whimpered faintly, running his hands through Blaine's light curls as the younger man sighed softly against his shoulder. "You…you sound so defeated Blaine."

"I think…I think maybe this time I am."

Inhaling sharply, Kurt pulled back to look into Blaine's crushed eyes and sad smile.

"But, you know, that's…that's okay. I mean, hell at one point they told me I wouldn't live to see my eighteenth, so I've done damn well to get even this far in my life."

Kurt started to shake his head violently, a hard, determined look flowing into his eyes as his jaw set with purpose. "No. No you cannot give up Blaine Devon Anderson and more to the point you will not give up. I just got you back into my life Bumble Bee and I can't lose you again. I'm not sure I would survive it."

Blaine shot Kurt a weary smile, "You would," He muttered, certainty in his voice as he laid a hand on Kurt's cheek, capturing Kurt's eyes with his own. "You're strong Kurt. You've always been the strong one," He blushed softly.

"Says you," Kurt chuckled dryly, tears stinging his eyes again as he rested his forehead against Blaine's, keeping their intense gaze. "Mr I have to do everything by myself and protect everyone in my life even at my own expense," Kurt mimicked a small smile flitting across his face. "Nah Blaine, by comparison I'm extremely weak and terribly selfish babe. I never deserved you but…"

"I'm always yours, you know?" Blaine cut in, his stare unwavering as he scanned Kurt's ever emotional eyes.

"Yeah, yeah I do," Kurt grinned as Blaine breathed a small sigh of relief. "I lost sight of that for a while, but you are mine Blaine Anderson you have been since you were fifteen and I stopped you on that staircase." Kurt pressed feather light kisses to Blaine's face, smiling at the way his face crumpled up underneath his lips, his nose scrunching up adorably as Kurt pressed a kiss to the tip of it. "Even when you were kissing Rachel or singing that god awful song to that boy with the god awful hair in the Gap store," Kurt wrinkled his nose in disgust revelling at the squeaky laugh that flowed from Blaine's lips.

"Kuuuuurt," He whined as Kurt laughed freely for the first time in what felt like years. "We were having a moment Kurt, did you have to bring that up?"

"To see the sheer embarrassment on you face at the mention of the 'Gap attack' baby?" Kurt quoted with his fingers, his eyes rolling lovingly as Blaine chuckled again, "Of course I did."

"Oh and Kurt?" Blaine blushed slightly, linking his fingers with Kurt's nervously, "You deserve the stars, the moon, hell the whole universe."

"Mmmmm, only if the giver is you," Kurt mumbled against Blaine's lips before capturing them in a short, sweet kiss that meant more to them at that moment than any other kiss could have.

"And people say I'm the corny one," Blaine teased, his eyes twinkling and his body feeling lighter than it had all day, "Also, possessive much?" He grinned raising an eyebrow as he leant back against the tree trunk once more.

Kurt quirked an eyebrow and moved forward so Blaine was pinned in place again, "With you? Always." He chuckled, tickling Blaine as the younger man was left breathless with laughter, squirming but safe in Kurt's arms.

Leaning forwards, Blaine captured Kurt's lips with his own, tugging the blue eyed man so that his thighs were over the top of Blaine's, the two of them as close as they could physically get given their current location. "You take my breath away Kurt."

"Hey that's my line," Kurt whined pulling back with a playful glare.

Blaine chuckled softly, humming under his breath.

"What are you singing?" Kurt whispered tilting his head and scrunching up his nose when he didn't recognise the tune.

Blaine blushed slightly, "It's a song by 'The Script' parts of it fit us I guess. I had it on repeat for somewhere along the lines of six to eight months after we first broke up." Blaine grinned, "I think it actually drove Santana, Britt and Dad a little mad," He shrugged slightly, ignoring Kurt's amused glance, "Either that or they were about to kill me before anything else did."

"Sing it to me?" Kurt murmured pecking Blaine's lips gently again as he nodded.

"If the truth is you're a liar

Then just say that you're okay

I'm sleeping on your side of the bed

Goin' out of my head now

And if you're out there trying to move on

But something pulls you back again

I'm sitting here trying to persuade you like you're in the same room

And I wish you could give me the cold shoulder

And I wish you could still give me a hard time

And I wish I could still wish it was over

But even if wishing is a waste of time

Even if I never cross your mind

I'll leave the door on the latch

If you ever come back, if you ever come back

There'll be a light in the hall and the key under the mat

If you ever come back

There'll be a smile on my face and the kettle on

And it will be just like you were never gone

There'll be a light in the hall and the key under the mat

If you ever come back if you ever come back now

Oh if you ever come back if you ever come back."

Blaine coloured scarlet, burying his head in Kurt's shoulder once more, "And that is all you're getting because well, we're sat in a tree Kurt, it's not exactly the most favourable environment for singing."

Kurt smiled, pecking the curls tickling his neck gently, "Yet unsurprisingly you sounded fantastic as per usual. You know I would've been straight back had you told me what was going on right?"

Kurt felt Blaine nod and closed his eyes momentarily as Blaine's eyelashes fluttered against his neck. "Yeah, that is exactly why I didn't tell you."

"I figured," Kurt murmured, "Want to know what song always reminded me of me and you, still does actually?"

"Only if you sing it," Blaine grinned, pulling back as a mischievous look sparkled through his eyes and Kurt groaned. "Hey, you mentioned it."

Rolling his eyes, Kurt smiled leaning his forehead back to Blaine's once more.

"How much longer will it take to cure this

Just to cure it cause I can't ignore it if it's love, love

Makes me wanna turn around and face me but I don't know nothing 'bout love

Come on, come on

Turn a little faster

Come on, come on

The world will follow after

Come on, come on

Cause everybody's after love

Well baby I surrender

To the strawberry ice cream

Never ever end of all this love

Well I didn't mean to do it

But there's no escaping your love

Come on, come on

Jump a little higher

Come on, come on

If you feel a little lighter

Come on, come on

We were once

Upon a time in love."

"You always did have hold of my heart even when I didn't want you too," Kurt mused, Blaine staring at him with his big eyes, wide with the childlike wonder that Kurt had yet to find in anyone else over the age of six, one hand gently cupping Kurt's cheek. Turning his head, Kurt kissed Blaine's wrist, feeling the shorter man shudder at the sensation. "You still wear it?" He gasped suddenly, pulling away from Blaine but grasping his wrist as the golden bowtie connecting a silver chain that lay there glinted in the moonlight.

Blaine shuffled nervously trying to pull his arm out of Kurt's grasp before nodding slowly. "I promised that I'd never take it off and I meant it, just like I still have my tattoo," He whispered almost inaudibly, "The bracelet now just sits among other random jelly and bead ones on a daily basis that only come off if I'm elbow deep in cake mixture or something." Trying to shrug nonchalantly, Blaine could feel his heart thumping in his chest and knew Kurt could too simply from the look the man was sending his way.

Locking eyes with Blaine, Kurt gently pushed his thumb under the bracelets, hearing his own shuddering gasp and feeling Blaine's shudder of discomfort when he felt the raised skin there. Kurt blinked repeatedly attempting to keep the tears from forming in his eyes. He evidently failed though when Blaine used his spare hand to cup Kurt's cheek, his thumb stroking gentle patterns.

"Blaine, I…"

"They're from years ago Kurt," He cut in, his golden eyes glinting as they caught on Kurt's watery ones once more, "I was in a really bad place in my life. In a slightly psycho way though, as Tana calls it at least, I am thankful to them." Blaine saw the alarm rise in Kurt's eyes and shook his head rapidly. "No, not like that. I meant in the way that they technically brought Santana and Dad back into my life, and they helped Sam figure some things out too, including that he needed to talk to someone and not let things get to the stage I was at." At Kurt's confused look Blaine shrugged slightly, "He was really missing his family and Stevie was pretty ill. Thankfully the kid recovered pretty quickly and Dad got it organized so that Sam's family started to visit at least once a month."

Nodding thoughtfully Kurt sighed softly. Picking up Blaine's wrist, he kissed gently around the area at the top of his forearm where the bandages that covered his PICC line were wrapped. "I really missed a lot while I was being an idiot, huh?"

Blaine's hand slapped over Kurt's mouth, a slight glare etching onto his features. "You missed a lot sure, but you weren't being an idiot Kurt, you were hurt, and with every god damn right to be."

Kurt sighed again, "Okay then, fine, we were both in the wrong." Blaine grinned happily and surged forwards to capture Kurt's lips with his own, making Kurt giggle softly in the process. "Now can we please get out of this tree? My ass has gone numb, and god knows how long you've been up here."

Blaine chuckled dryly, swinging down to the next level before watching Kurt slide down with a protective glance, "Truth be told I lost all feeling in my ass hours ago."

"Muppet," Kurt murmured, shrieking as his foot slipped out from under him and closing his eyes expecting the ground but greeted by the warmth of Blaine's arms and a smirk on his face. "Oh shut it," He glared, wriggling out of Blaine's arms to place his feet firmly on the grass again, Blaine's chest rumbling with laughter where Kurt leant against it.

"Can I say something stupid?" Blaine questioned, pulling his beanie back on and winding his arms around Kurt's waist, placing them in the back pockets of Kurt's jeans and pulling him close as Kurt's own wrapped around Blaine's shoulders, playing with the curls sticking out of the back of the bottom of Blaine's hat.

"You can, but I don't even think you know how to say something stupid," Kurt laughed, one eyebrow rising up slightly.

Blaine took a deep breath, his eyes darting around before landing back on Kurt's. "Erm, okay then, I'm kind of glad we spent those years apart."

Kurt's hand instantly stilled from where they had been twirling the curls, his face becoming deadpan, "Okay, clearly I lied and you can say incredibly stupid things."

Blaine's eyes widened in fear, his arms tightening around Kurt, "No, no Kurt, that's not how I meant it to sound. Of course I wasn't actually glad about it. It killed me inside on a daily basis."

Sensing Blaine's rising panic, Kurt pulled him closer resting his forehead to the shorter man's, "Hey, hey relax, I'm not going anywhere. Not this time. No matter how many stupid things you say."

"Now who's stealing lines?" Blaine smiled nuzzling Kurt's nose with his own, Kurt breathing a sigh of relief when Blaine visibly relaxed into his arms once more.

"I just meant that we both had a hell of a lot of growing up to do, or growing down I guess," At Kurt's inquisitive look Blaine smiled softly, moving his hands to capture Kurt's waist, rubbing slow circles into his hips with his thumbs. "We weren't ready for what we were. We were just kids Kurt. Our relationship grew up far to fast for us to keep up, hell we were like an old married couple so to speak before I even turned seventeen," Kurt snorted remembering the scheduling of their make out sessions, Blaine thinking of the same thing judging by the sparkle in his eyes. "That doesn't lessen how much I loved you then and how much I love you now but it's true Kitkat and you know it. We needed to actually live our lives together, not get stuck in a rut and end up resentful of each other by the time we were in our early twenties."

"Hmm, I guess I see your point Bumble Bee. But Blaine?"

"Yes Kitkat?" Kurt felt his heart thrum in his chest and a small smile curve up onto his face, the nickname having always sent him into a tailspin.

"Can we start where we left off? I mean mid-twenties, that's older and wiser isn't it?"

Blaine laughed loudly, grabbing Kurt's face in both hands and crashing his lips down on Kurt's, pulling back when they were both panting softly, "There is nothing in this world that I want more."

Grabbing Blaine's hand, both men gasped at the feeling of their fingers slotting perfectly together once more. Swinging their hands, between them as they headed for the park exit, Kurt side eyed Blaine, a beam filling his face when he saw the happiness practically exploding from the man.

"You know that we're going to have to talk about what actually happened today at some point right?"

Blaine stiffened and sent Kurt a slightly sheepish look, "Can we erm, can we leave that for another night though?"

Slinging an arm around Blaine's shoulders, Kurt pecked his forehead, grinning as Blaine's arm found a home around his waist, as they kept moving. "Of course baby, but mark my words it will happen."

Blaine groaned softly as a chuckling Kurt continued to lead him out of the park.

"Where the hell are they?" Santana grumbled, still pacing as she glared at Sebastian who was lying half asleep on top of Elliott on the couch, the blonde man running his hands repeatedly through his boyfriend's hair. "You better not have been lying when you said that Kurt would know where he was or so help me god Smythe."

"You'll castrate me yada yada yada," Sebastian yawned, snuggling into Elliott, "Fun killer, I had plans for tonight." Elliott chuckled lightly as Santana hit Sebastian over the back of his head with a pillow, everyone else watching on with interest, the only fully alert one surprisingly Alice as she played with a pair of Kurt's sunglasses from where she was sat with Dani and Sam on an armchair.

The door suddenly crashed open, two giggling people falling through as the entire room turned to the doorway. Blaine paused momentarily, blinking wearily at the people gathered in the living room before Kurt suddenly grabbed the zip of his hooded sweatshirt and started to yank him through the apartment.

"Hi, yeah, can't talk have to go," Kurt muttered, dragging the now laughing Blaine through the throng of roommates and friends that had gathered.

"Oh," Alice muttered breaking the silence as Sebastian and Sam instantly cracked up with laughter.

"Oh indeed little one," Sam snickered softly, burying his face in her soft baby hair.

"Seriously, what the…" Quinn muttered a stunned look still overtaking her features.

"Well, I think it's safe to say that they're missing up for lost time Quinnie," Sebastian sniggered, dodging Elliott's flying hand.