Kurt was already halfway down the stairs, when Blaine forced himself to stand up and leave after him. The shock he was in made everything around him seem miles away, and the furthest point was his best friend.

His best friend who’d just admitted to be in love with him and run out the door before Blaine could say it back. And now there were people around, and he couldn’t say it, even if he could with the mess in his mind. So Kurt had been in love with him all this time? Or was it something new? How could he not have seen it? How was it possible to know someone so well, and not know their heart enough to tell they were in love with you? Blaine was beginning to feel he was simply too blind to see what was right in front of him.

But apparently, so was Kurt. Why did he run? They needed to talk, they could have ignored the others, let them go alone; after all it didn’t matter, it was just some karaoke bar and it wasn’t even their idea. Yet Kurt shot out of the room as fast as his feet allowed him, clearly running away from Blaine.

The walk to the bar was filled mostly with Rachel’s happy chatter, sometimes interrupted by Finn’s grunts of agreement or Santana’s snarky comments. Puck paid attention only to the occasional girls they passed in the street. Kurt and Blaine closed their little group, walking silently with much more distance between their bodies than usually.

They didn’t say a word. Kurt was too afraid to even look at Blaine, who kept his eyes glued to the pavement, completely oblivious to everything that wasn’t his thoughts. He barely even noticed they entered the dingy bar.

Music was blasting from tall speakers and some tone-deaf girl was butchering Umbrella. The group found a table in one of the corners and settled down. Everyone was throwing around their opinions on the current performers, save for Kurt and Blaine. Rachel eyed the boys, sensing something was up. They were visibly upset, but she could bet it had nothing to do with the terrible singer on stage.

They ordered their drinks hardly even knowing what they were doing. Kurt wished he could leave the others and run somewhere far away, so far away he’d be able to forget his humiliation. Why would he ever think it was a good idea? Who takes relationship advice from a seventeen-year-old who’d just learned storks didn’t bring babies a few months earlier? He wanted to make Brittany feel better and ended up fucking up his friendship with Blaine.

He’d never hated himself more than in that moment.

Meanwhile, Blaine’s mind was attempting to overcome the shock and put together a plan to somehow make things better. A peek at Kurt told him his friend was in a bad place. It was so obvious, he had to wonder if anyone else had noticed, but pushed the idea away. There were more urgent matters he had to attend to.

As his eyes were wandering around the room, he caught a glimpse of a piano half-hidden behind one of the speakers on stage. If there was one thing he could try using in his favour, it was music. And nothing from the pages long list was close to what he needed.

The perfect song had been in his mind for months, and somehow now it was more fitting than ever. Blaine found it on the list, but the original arrangement wasn’t what he wanted at all. But the half-forgotten piano in the corner was exactly that.

Rachel was belting out her lines in a duet she’d forced Finn into, when Blaine made up his mind. There was a short line of eager singers signing up for songs, so he hurried that way. His friends looked at him in surprise, as he left the table without a word of explanation.

‘What’s up with him?,’ Puck asked Kurt.

‘Hey, earth to Porcelain.’ Santana tapped him on the arm.

‘What?,’ Kurt looked around, dragged out from his pit of misery without warning.

‘What’s up with both of you?,’ Puck said, his brows pulling together in an expression very akin to concern.

***

Blaine felt a little calmer walking back to their table. He was on the list, the piano was available for him to play it. Now all there was left for him to do was wait patiently.

Everyone except for him and Kurt had had they turn on stage. Even Puck gave in and sang a Van Halen song, playing an imaginary guitar whenever he didn’t have to keep his microphone to his lips. Brittany didn’t pass on the opportunity to show off her spiritual kinship with Britney Spears, and Santana didn’t fail to cheer her on. Neither did she resist the urge to plant a short kiss on her girlfriend’s lips, to Finn, Rachel and Puck’s astonishment. But none of them said anything.

Finally, just as Blaine’s nervousness began to escalate again, the guy managing the stage called him out.

Blaine stood up, glancing sideways at Kurt, who raised his wide blue eyes at him. It seemed a little like he was pleading him to stay with his gaze, unable to choke a word out. But Blaine only gave him a small smile that was supposed to comfort him, and directed his footsteps to the stage. His knees felt a lot like jelly.

It was strange and nerve-wrecking to be on that tiny stage. He’d never had stage fright, he was always completely immune to it. But now he could swear the world would go crashing down on him if he screwed up this one song. God, if he screwed it up, his world would definitely crash down on him, and it would be only his own fault.

He sat down on the stool in front of the old upright piano and adjusted the microphone stand. The bar was suddenly silent, or maybe it seemed that way to him because of the buzzing that filled his spinning head.

‘Hi everyone, I’m Blaine,’ he said to the microphone. Starting without a word of introduction felt wrong. ‘You probably know the song I’m gonna play, but this is a little different. It seems more appropriate to me right now. Anyway, I wanted to dedicate it to the most important person in my life. Kurt, just listen.’

He glanced at his best friend one more time, before placing his hands on the keys and hitting the opening chords.

Kurt couldn’t do anything but stare. The most important person in his life? This was how Blaine wanted to make him feel better? By pointing out how much he fucked up? Guilt was already filling him up to the brim and he felt a meltdown was just minutes away. And then the song started.

Even though Kurt had heard this arrangement only once before, he recognized it even before Blaine started singing.

You think I’m pretty without any make-up on,
You think I’m funny when I tell the punch line wrong.
I know you get me, so I let my walls come down, down.

Before you met me I was alright,
But things were kinda heavy, you brought me to life.
Now every February you’ll be my Valentine, Valentine...

Blaine’s voice was trembling half the song, and Kurt was beginning to get angry with him. It wasn’t Blaine whose life was falling into pieces in front of his eyes. He knew his friend was trying to let him off easy, but singing him a love song in public really didn’t help.

Neither did the sheepish look Blaine gave him from over the keyboard once the last note died. Like he expected him to run up and hug him.

But instead, Kurt pushed his chair back with a loud scratch, turned around and ran out into the street, tears building up in his eyes.