Chapter 14

Blaine froze in horror. Kurt was storming out, the song making him break down for some unknown reason, and Blaine couldn’t move. Everyone in the bar fell silent, looking from him to the door where the other boy had disappeared, as if they were watching Wimbledon finals.

As soon as Blaine was able to think straight again and force his feet to move, he jumped off the stage and sprinted out to the street. Kurt couldn’t have gone far and there were only two things Blaine could think about: finding him and fixing this. He had to fix this. The idea that his best friend was angry with him for any reason at all was killing him, and the feeling that somehow he was the guilty party was making him sick to his stomach.

The street was almost completely deserted and a quick glance around revealed Kurt a block away, walking fast back towards their motel.

‘Kurt!,’ Blaine called out, his feet barely touching the ground as he ran after his friend. ‘Kurt, wait!’

But Kurt’s pace only quickened, as did the tears streaming down his face.

Fortunately for Blaine, crying incapacitated Kurt a little, making his vision blurry and his step uncertain. They were already halfway back to the motel, when Blaine caught up with him and grabbed his arm to stop him in the spot.

‘Kurt, please, talk to me,’ he pleaded.

The only response was a frantic shake of Kurt’s head and a huge sob.

‘Why? Why don’t you want to talk?’ Blaine was growing desperate.

Kurt wiped his face with the back of his hand and swallowed loudly.

‘Because I have never felt so- humiliated,’ he choked out.

‘What? Kurt, I didn’t mean to-‘ It almost felt like someone was keeping Blaine’s throat in an iron grasp.

‘I know you didn’t mean to,’ Kurt said quietly. ‘I know you’d never do anything like this on purpose. And I feel humiliated because of what I did. I should’ve never assumed... I just want to go back and take it back, and just- forget it.’

He dropped his eyes to the sidewalk, a fresh wave of tears threatening to start flowing. This was the most difficult conversation he’d ever had with Blaine. The thought that it could well be their last made it even worse. He could literally feel his heart breaking.

‘But Kurt...,’ Blaine’s voice failed him.

Kurt took it as a sign that their conversation was over. He walked past Blaine as fast as he could, hoping Puck would be fine with trading living with Finn and Rachel for a room with Blaine. Staying in a closed space together now would be torture.

‘Kurt!,’ Blaine called after him.

‘God, Blaine, just stop, okay?!’ Kurt spun around to face him again. ‘I get it, okay? I was stupid to do that, I was delusional to think you could ever feel this way about me, I get it! You don’t have to tell me that! And Teenage Dream was a really bad song to do that anyway!’

The volume of Kurt’s voice startled Blaine into silence as much as the words. That was the reason he ran out? He thought Blaine didn’t reciprocate his feelings? How could he ever think that? Wasn’t it clear that he loved him back? That he was crazy about him?

It took him a second to realise that not that long ago he wouldn’t have believed it was possible for Kurt to have fallen for him. And yet it turned out that he had.

Kurt was turning away again, but Blaine stopped him before he could take another step forwards.

If there were words that he could have spoken, he didn’t know them. But he didn’t think he needed words. Actions speak louder, after all.

Without a second’s hesitation, Blaine put his hands firmly on the sides of Kurt’s face and crashed his lips against Kurt’s. At first there was no reaction; Kurt’s astonishment rendered him incapable of any. But once his mind wrapped around what was happening, he flung his arms around Blaine and kissed him back urgently, like the boy was going to slip away any moment.

Their lips felt familiar by now, but somehow the sensation was new. Maybe because of the knowledge they were only beginning to fully grasp, maybe because they knew that unlike their other kisses, these kisses changed something. They changed everything.

They broke apart minutes later and Kurt rested his forehead on Blaine’s.

‘Please, tell me it wasn’t a way to shut me up,’ he whispered, suddenly on the verge of breaking down again.

Blaine lifted his head and propped Kurt’s chin up to look straight into his eyes.

‘Did it feel like it was?,’ he asked.

Kurt shook his head. ‘No. I just- I just need to know. You have to tell me exactly what it was.’

‘It was me finally doing something I’ve wanted to do for a very, very long time,’ Blaine said, feeling his eyes were filling up with tears of happiness.

‘Really?,’ Kurt said in a small voice.

‘Yes.’ Blaine leant in to kiss him one more time to prove his words.

When he pulled away, Kurt’s lips were stretched widely, his eyes full of wonder. Blaine smiled in response and took a step back, just to extend a hand to Kurt, who grabbed it eagerly, twining his fingers with Blaine’s without hesitation.

‘Do you wanna go back?,’ Blaine asked, watching their joined hands in amazement. He’d been dreaming about this for months.

‘No. I wanna go back to the motel,’ Kurt said, not even stopping to consider his answer.

‘Motel it is.’

They walked the rest of the way in silence, overwhelmed by the development of the evening. It was just too many feelings at the same time, but they both couldn’t stop grinning like crazy, even though Kurt’s face was still wet and red from crying.

But once the door was closed behind them, it struck them they didn’t really know what was coming next. They stopped awkwardly in the middle of the room, eyeing each other furtively, still holding hands that rapidly became embarrassingly sweaty.

‘So... What now?,’ Kurt asked.

Blaine let out a bark of nervous laughter.

‘I have no idea.’

‘Are we- like- boyfriends now?’

‘Do you want us to be?,’ Blaine answered with another question, impatient to get a confirmation of his hopes.

‘I do.’

‘Then we are boyfriends.’

Hearing the words sent shivers down Kurt’s spine. He’d waited months for them to be reality. Months of doubt and perseverance, and now his life seemed complete. It didn’t matter how hard it had been sometimes to live through the whirlwind of feelings he’d been suffering. The result was astonishing and wonderful, and just what he’d dreamt of. To his overwhelming surprise, it was all worth it in the end.

‘Blaine, can I ask you something?,’ Kurt said hesitantly.

‘Sure.’

‘You said you’d wanted to do that- to kiss me- for a long time... How long exactly?’

He held his breath in anticipation.

‘Since Valentine’s Day,’ Blaine replied firmly. ‘And how long did you- I mean-‘

‘I know,’ Kurt said, his lips tugging up a little at the corners. ‘Since December. Remember the skating rink?’

It took Blaine a moment to understand what Kurt meant and his jaw dropped by a fraction when he did.

‘Oh. And I didn’t notice anything. God, I’m clueless.’

‘I was kinda clueless, too, so-‘ Kurt chuckled. ‘A match made in heaven.’

‘I guess we are.’

This time their lips met halfway in a sweet chaste kiss that was still enough to make them feel like they received an electric shock.

‘Blaine?,’ Kurt breathed against his boyfriend’s mouth.

‘Yeah?’

‘I love you.’

For the first time ever Blaine wanted to jump and scream out of joy at hearing those three little words. But he contained his emotions.

‘I love you, too,’ he said instead.