Blaine arrived down at the dining hall for breakfast to find Kurt sitting by himself at the end of their usual table, pale-faced and swirling coffee around a cup. His stomach was churning too much to eat so he got himself a coffee and joined Kurt. "How are you feeling?" Blaine peered concernedly into Kurt's eyes.

"Sick with nerves." Kurt admitted.

Blaine nodded, taking a sip of his coffee."Me too." He met Kurt's eyes. "I meant everything I said last night; I'll be here for you no matter what happens, Kurt."

The corners of Kurt's mouth tilted up into a smile. "I know, it took me a while to realise that, but I know it now."

Blaine reached for Kurt's hand and squeezed it gently.

"Finally!"

Blaine and Kurt spun round in their chairs to see Wes and David sliding into seats across from them, huge matching grins on their faces as they watched the two boys in front of them.

"What?" Kurt asked them.

Wes nodded at their clasped hands which lay on the table.

Blushing, Blaine slid his hand down onto his lap, avoiding the eyes of the two grinning boys across the table as he took a gulp of coffee.

"No need to hide it from us, we've been waiting for you two to get together for ages." David said, tucking into his breakfast.

Blaine coughed nervously, the blush spreading down his neck as he continued to drink his coffee to give him something to do other than squirm under Wes and David's gaze.

Wes sighed disappointedly. "Still not going to speak?" He turned to David. "Fine, we'll leave them alone to their romance that they are determined to hide."

"See you later, lovebirds!" Winking at them, David got up and he and Wes moved to sit with the rest of their friends at the other end of the table.

"They're never going to stop teasing us, are they?"

Blaine shook his head, setting his coffee on the table.

Kurt stared into his coffee, the blush rapidly disappearing from his face and his cheeks turning pale again and Blaine knew he was back to thinking about tonight. Before Blaine could try and offer some words of comfort – though admittedly he couldn't think of many – Kurt stood up.

"I'm going to class now; I'll see you in English later." Scooping up his coffee, he left the hall.

Kurt tried to pay attention in his classes, but his thoughts always ended up drifting to the demon summoning. He chewed over the whole thing so much during his first class that by the time it was over and he was walking out the door into the crowded corridor, he felt sick with apprehension and he couldn't remember a word the teacher had said during class. He walked slowly to English, his eyes downcast and his teeth worrying at his bottom lip.

Blaine entered the classroom with Trent not long after Kurt had sat down at their usual desk. Blaine was laughing at something Trent had just said but it sounded strained and it didn't reach his eyes, which usually lit up to a brilliant, shining hazel which was almost like liquid gold when he laughed.

Blaine sat down next to him and Kurt just smiled tightly at him – he felt as if he would be sick if he opened his mouth. Blaine understood and they sat in silence whilst they waited for class to start. Trent glanced over his shoulder at them once, looking concerned, clearly noticing the silence and their tense faces, but he didn't say anything, for which Kurt was grateful. Trent knew when it was better to not ask them what was wrong and when to not interfere, something that some of their other friends, such as Wes, had failed to master.

Kurt and Blaine spent the entire lesson in silence. When the bell rang and the class began to get their feet, Blaine slid a folded piece of paper torn from his notebook across the desk to Kurt. Kurt looked up at him curiously, but Blaine just flashed him a brief smile before swinging his bag onto his shoulder and leaving for his next class. Kurt quickly gathered his things together and followed his classmates out the room. When he was in the corridor, his feet automatically taking the familiar path to his next class, he unfolded the sheet of paper and smoothed it out to see a single word in Blaine's handwriting in the centre.

'Courage.'

Kurt smiled and slid the paper into the pocket of his blazer, the tight knot in his stomach had eased, and he was able to walk to his next class with his head up.

Blaine knocked on Kurt's bedroom door after dinner. He had gone down to the dining hall and sat with the Warblers but had eaten next to nothing. He had left after almost twenty minutes when Kurt hadn't shown, knowing Kurt would be in his room, too apprehensive to face dinner.

The door opened to reveal Kurt – he had changed out of his uniform and was wearing jeans and a hoodie, the simplest outfit Blaine had ever seen him wear, and a testament to how nervous he was.

Blaine closed the door behind him and took up his usual spot on Kurt's desk chair. Some of his homework was spread across the desk, Kurt had obviously tried, and failed, to use it to distract himself. Switching his gaze over to the bed, Blaine watched Kurt pull his legs up until he was sitting cross-legged, and pick up a piece of paper that was lying on the bed next to him.

Kurt examined the paper silently for a moment before holding it up so Blaine could see. "Is it silly that this helped?"

It was the sheet of paper Blaine had written 'courage' on and given to Kurt at the end of English.

"It was supposed to help, even if only a little." Blaine told him with a small smile.

Kurt ran his thumb over the word inked on the paper. "Well it did, thanks." He lifted his gaze from the paper to Blaine's face. "You always manage to make me feel better, even through a handwritten word."

"I try my best."

A smile spread across Kurt's face. "There you go again."His smile softened. "You're amazing, Blaine."

"Is it too sappy of me to say that you're more amazing?"

Kurt shook his head. "Come here."

Blaine got to his feet and walked over to the bed. Kurt pulled him down next to him, wrapping an arm around his waist.

"You're more amazing." Blaine whispered into Kurt's ear, pulling him against his chest.

Kurt lifted Blaine's wrist to look at his watch, sighing when he saw the time. "We have almost two hours."

Blaine looked around Kurt's room and spotted the latest issue of Vogue on his bedside cabinet. "Why don't we spend that time doing something that will take our minds off it?" He reached for the magazine and held it up to show Kurt.

Kurt sat up and took the magazine from him, pulled Blaine down until he was curled against his side, wrapped an arm around him, and flipped the magazine open. "I feel like I'm always the one being cuddled against you, it's your turn."

Blaine smiled and snuggled closer to him as he settled down to read the magazine.

Kurt stood back and allowed Blaine to knock on Ms. Price's office door. There was the sound of footsteps, and then the door cracked open. When Ms. Price saw who it was, she threw the door open and beckoned them inside.

The office was in darkness, save for the flickering light of a few candles placed strategically around the room. All the office's furniture had been pushed to the perimeter of the room and a five pointed star had been chalked on the floor with strange symbols, similar to those carved on the box the demon had come out of, drawn in the points of the star. The demon box sat on the desk next to a few small pouches, a vial of some dark coloured liquid, and a large open book; Ms. Price stood next to these objects.

"Are you ready?" She asked, adjusting her dusty shawls.

Kurt glanced over at Blaine, who took his hand and whispered. "Courage."

Kurt looked over at the History teacher and nodded. "I'm ready."

She peered down at the book for a moment then turned to face the pentagram, scooping up the pouches and vial. With her eyes focused on the centre of the pentagram and her usually dreamy face focused, she began to chant in a strange, coarse language that made the hairs on the back of Kurt's neck stand up. Still chanting, she uncorked the vial and threw its contents into the centre of the pentagram, and then opened the pouches and tossed their contents to the same spot. A large, dark red flame erupted at this spot and, with a few last words, Ms. Price threw the demon box into the flame. The flame began to crackle with an unearthly blue in the centre and it spat upwards a couple of times, and then something began to move around inside it.

Suddenly, the flame was gone, replaced by a demon that Kurt immediately recognised; he inhaled sharply and gripped Blaine's hand.

The demon's eyes swept the room, finally narrowing on Ms. Price. "Why have you summoned me to this world?" It asked in a voice that echoed around the small room.

Ms. Price spat something at the demon in the same language she had chanted in earlier and held up another, larger pouch the same dark red colour as the demon's body and with more of the dangerous-looking symbols embroidered on it. The demon faltered, taking a step back and Ms. Price met Kurt's eyes.

Taking a step forward, Kurt spoke loudly, just managing to keep a nervous waver out of his voice. "I was the one who wanted you summoned here. I need to ask you about a curse you put on me four years ago."

The demon cackled when its eyes landed on Kurt. "Ah yes, I remember you. You released me from the prison I was trapped in, which I should have thanked you for, but unfortunately for you, I was feeling extremely angry and resentful so I took it out on you."

Kurt licked his dry lips. "So, you cursed me."

The demon cackled again. "Death will find all who look upon you with love, it may come after moments, it may come after years, but all who love you shall perish, and I shall begin tonight."

Kurt's palms began to sweat and he clutched tighter at Blaine's hand.

"Something about this is a little odd." Ms. Price stepped forward, frowning. "A curse as powerful as that can't usually be cast by a demon that has been imprisoned for years – it would be too weak for a curse like that."

"But it did curse me, my Mom died that night just like it said." Kurt pointed shakily with his free hand at the demon.

Ms. Price glared at the demon. "Tell the truth about the curse and if it's real I command you to take it off him!" She shook the embroidered pouch at the demon threateningly.

The demon hissed angrily before turning to face Kurt again. "The curse on you is fake, I knew you had no knowledge of the demon worlds and I was angry so I took advantage. I sensed the upcoming death of someone in your house and that made me choose that particular curse. But yes, the old bat is correct; I was too weak to actually curse you."

Distantly, Kurt was aware of Blaine saying his name, of Ms. Price shouting something and the demon hissing a reply, of her raising her arm and throwing the contents of the pouch at the demon, the sound of a screeching cry, and the demon vanishing leaving a cloud of acrid smelling smoke behind.

The curse was fake. Four years pushing people away: his Dad, Mercedes, Rachel... Four years of saying cruel things to people that he didn't mean. Four years of not being the true Kurt Hummel. All for nothing.