"Is there such a thing as caffeine poisoning?"

Blaine glanced up from the thick book he was reading looking puzzled. "I don't think so, why?"

"That's your fifth cup of coffee, that can't be healthy."

"Well, stop buying me more coffee then." He took another swallow of his coffee. "I need caffeine to get through these books, who knew demons could be so boring."

Kurt scanned the index of a leather-bound book he had just opened. "You've taken this really well you know – the existence of demons." He added at Blaine's frown. "If I hadn't seen one, I wouldn't have believed they were real, it would take a lot of convincing and evidence for me to believe it."

Blaine shrugged. "I trust you, so I believe you."

Kurt returned his smile as Blaine went back to his book. They had been at their usual coffee shop for a good part of the day reading the books they had taken from Ms. Price's office but still hadn't found anything about counter-curses. There was plenty of information on curses, the different types and their effects, but so far, nothing on reversing them – maybe it couldn't be done.

"Kurt?"

"Yeah?" Kurt replied, without looking up from his book.

"Instead of trying to get a counter-curse, do you think it's possible to just find the demon that cursed you and make it undo the curse?"

Kurt looked across the table at Blaine, frowning slightly as he thought about what Blaine had just suggested. "How could you force it to reverse the curse? Threaten it? Torture it?"

"I'm not sure." Blaine admitted. "But I'm not having any luck with finding another way to cure it, are you?"

Kurt shook his head, sighing as he closed the book in front of him which was of zero use to him. "I've had enough of this for today, let's go back to Dalton."

Blaine downed the last of his coffee and stacked his books, stuffing them back into the bag whilst Kurt got to his feet and pulled on his coat.

"I still can't believe we're going to be performing Pink at Sectionals, are you sure you didn't have to bribe Wes?"

Blaine laughed as they stepped outside and Kurt couldn't help smiling at the sound. "Believe it or not, but Wes actually likes 'Raise Your Glass'. I'm more surprised that the council have gone with a duet, we've never done a duet for a competition before."

The council had recently announced which songs they would be performing at Sectionals – Pink and Hey Monday's 'Candles'. Kurt had put his name down on the audition list for singing the 'Candles' duet with Blaine who, as the elected lead soloist, didn't have to audition. Kurt shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat when a chilly wind blew up.

"I hope you get to sing the duet with me." Blaine told him as the long, sweeping tree-lined road into Dalton came into view.

"You want to sing a break-up song with me?"

"It's not just a break-up song, and of course I want to sing it with you, your voice is amazing!"

Kurt glanced over at him, squinting slightly as the sun suddenly came out from behind a cloud. "So, you don't just want to sing it with me because you want to dump me?"

Blaine stopped dead and Kurt, his brain finally catching up with his mouth, blushed a deep red.

"Kurt, are we-" He licked his lips nervously, "are we dating? Because I didn't think we were, what with the curse and everything."

Kurt ducked his head. "I didn't mean to say that, it just...slipped out." He shook his head. "But no, we can't date, if we do there's a risk that we could fall in love and you know what the curse says, you know what will happen to you."

"What if it's too late for that?" Blaine whispered.

Kurt snapped his eyes up to Blaine's face. "What?"

"I'm in love with you, Kurt."

Kurt's heart leaped and his breath caught. The urge to throw his arms around Blaine and never let go, to say the words back to him, was overwhelming, but he couldn't. He took a step back, shaking his head. "No," He said under his breath, then louder, "no, Blaine you- you can't, we can't. You have to-"

"Have to what? Stop being in love with you? It's not possible."

Kurt's breathing was haggard. "But, you'll die." He blinked back tears.

Blaine just looked at him steadily. "We are going to cure you of this curse, Kurt."

"That could be impossible to do! Or it could take years! The curse could kill you before then!"

"What's life without a risk?" Blaine said with a small smile. "Besides, do you think I could just step out of your life, cut myself off from you, and stop loving you? Even if I moved to the other side of the world I would still love you."

Kurt squeezed his eyes shut against the tears, he heard Blaine move toward him and suddenly his arms were around him and Kurt dropped his head onto the shorter boy's shoulder, nuzzling against his neck as he returned the embrace.

Blaine hesitated when he reached Kurt's room. If he knocked on the door he risked someone hearing and coming to investigate, but he couldn't think of another way to let Kurt know he was here.

"Duh, Blaine." He muttered, mentally smacking himself on the forehead at his own stupidity as he pulled out his phone and sent a text to Kurt letting him know he was outside his room.

He had to wait a few minutes until the door opened and Kurt let him in. "I was sleeping." Kurt informed him, sitting down on his bed.

Blaine nodded at his adorably rumpled bed hair. "I noticed."

Kurt scowled at him, raising a protective hand to his hair. "What do you want, Anderson?"

Blaine's grin widened. "Anderson is it?"

He expected a smart response but Kurt surprised him. "I'm more snarky when I'm tired." He frowned. "Speaking of tired, you better hurry up with whatever you decided couldn't wait until morning as I have to be up early to do my skin and hair."

"Sorry, this probably could have waited but I wouldn't have been able to tell you in public so I decided to just come and tell you now when I knew we were guaranteed privacy."

Kurt was fiddling with his hair, trying to get it to sit in a tidy style. "Is this something about my curse?" He asked, brushing some hair back off his forehead.

Blaine reached over and pulled Kurt's hands away from his hair. "Leave the hair, it looks adorable like that. Yes, it is about the curse. I was looking through one of those books after Wes had gone to sleep and realised something, to be able to persuade the demon to undo your curse we'd have to summon it which is something we can't do as I don't understand half of what the chapters on summoning are talking about, but Ms. Price could probably do it for us."

Blaine could tell what Kurt was thinking so he hastened to convince him of what he was sure was their only option. "I know you don't want to tell anyone else, especially someone who is a stranger to you – a slightly mad old stranger at that. But, I do think she can be trusted and you can meet her and judge for yourself first, but I think this could be the only way we could hopefully cure you by."

Kurt said nothing at first, just bit his lip gently, his eyes on Blaine, and then he nodded. "Ok, we'll give this a try, I trust you."