A beeping signalling that he was getting another call sounded over Kurt's laugh and Blaine grumbled in annoyance. "I'm going to have to go, Kurt, someone else is trying to call me."

"We've been talking for almost an hour anyway, I should go and get dinner started, Rachel will be home soon."

"I'll pick you up at six-thirty tomorrow night," he said just as the beeping stopped.

"See you then!" Kurt said cheerfully before hanging up.

Blaine checked his phone to see that whoever had been trying to call him had left a voicemail message. He pressed the button to listen to it, hoping it wasn't George inviting him out tonight. It turned out to be from Charlie, not George, and he sounded oddly subdued and serious as he asked Blaine to call him back as soon as he got the message. He scrolled through the contacts to Charlie's number and dialled it, still puzzling over the tone of Charlie's message.

"Blaine," Charlie answered his phone on the first ring, "you got my message, good."

"Yeah, what's the problem?" Blaine asked, frowning.

A heavy sigh came down the line. "Someone managed to get photos of you and Kurt leaving the theatre together the other night and they have been printed, along with some choice words, in numerous magazines and posted on several media websites."

Blaine gripped the phone tighter, numbness spreading through his body like poison. "What do the photos show?" he asked, slightly panicky as he had a sudden, vivid flashback to standing by the theatre's backdoor, holding Kurt's hand as he leant in to kiss him.

"Just you and Kurt walking up to the car and getting into it, but whoever took the pictures has been quoted claiming that you two had been ‘getting cosy' while watching the show."

A small parcel of relief burst inside Blaine; at least the photos didn't show anything that couldn't be passed off as friendship. He and Kurt weren't ready to share their relationship with the world. "Well, whoever they are quoting is talking rubbish, because Kurt and I were not ‘getting cosy'." Now he was over the initial shock of learning about the photos, he could feel anger bubbling up inside him. Why did people feel the need to make up shit about him? Couldn't they just give him a bit of privacy for once?

"Blaine, you and this Kurt guy..." Charlie's tone was hesitant. "Are you- are you dating?"

"I-" Blaine felt himself blushing. "Yes, we are," he admitted, knowing there was no point in denying it.

There was a short pause on the other end of the line and then Charlie said, "I'm happy for you, kid, but I would advise you against going public with your relationship for the time being, although I think you've already decided not to do that anyway."

"Yeah, we have, we don't particularly want to share our relationship with the world."

"Ok, well you'll both just have to be careful while out in public. It sucks, but it's either that or be pestered constantly by paparazzi and reporters about something really personal." Charlie sounded apologetic. "Anyway, I'll let you go. I just wanted you to know about this so you can be prepared should anyone ask about it and you best make sure Kurt knows about this as well. They have nothing, so you can easily get away with saying you and Kurt are just friends."

Blaine nodded even though he knew his manager couldn't see him. "Thanks, Charlie."

"No problem, Blaine. Talk to you later."

When he hung up Blaine immediately dialled Kurt's number.

Kurt picked up after a few rings. "Missing me already?" he teased.

"Someone got pictures of us leaving Rachel's show together and they've been given to magazines and media websites along with false information hinting that we are dating," Blaine told him. There was no point in beating about the bush.

For a long moment there was silence except for the hum of the connection and the pounding of Blaine's heart.

"What?" Kurt eventually spluttered out. "How?"

Blaine shrugged and started to run a hand through his hair before dropping it back onto his lap when he remembered that that wasn't the best thing to do with gelled-down hair. "I don't know how they got them. My guess is it must have been luck that they spotted us." He tugged at the hem of his shirt in frustration. "All they have is speculation that we are maybe dating, but you just needed to know in case anyone mentioned it to you."

"Yeah, it doesn't matter, really," Kurt said. A loud clattering noise followed his words.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to make dinner," he replied. "It's hard when someone keeps calling me though."

Blaine took the hint. "I'll let you get back to it then."

"See you tomorrow!"

Kurt sighed as he twirled slowly in front of the full length mirror in his dressing room, admiring his suit jacket and shirt. He had made both articles himself and had only just finished them last night, but not even how well they had turned out and how good they looked on him could lift his mood.

Blaine had left New York four days ago on a small national tour to promote his new album, which had been released the day before he left, and Kurt missed him already. As soon as Blaine had found out his finalized tour dates - along with when he would be doing interviews and album promotion for various magazines, radio shows, and TV shows - he had sat down with Kurt to see if he could join him at any point during the tour. To their disappointment, they were both too busy and their schedules clashed, so they were forced to settle with phone calls, texting, and Skype for the period Blaine was away - almost a month. Kurt knew that Blaine would have to go away for lengths of time touring both nationally and internationally, but that didn't make him feel any less depressed about it. What didn't help was that they had only been dating around a month and were still in that honeymoon stage of wanting to be with each other all the time.

He stopped appraising his outfit and stared at his reflection, his posture slumping further when he imagined Blaine standing next to him and saying the compliments about his outfit that he had told Kurt on Skype yesterday afternoon before he had to rush off to do sound check for his show that night. He raised a hand and tugged the collar of his shirt aside to reveal a deep purple and blue mark fading to yellow around the edges on his collarbone. He lightly traced a finger over the result of Blaine's goodbye, his pulse jumping and his lips curving up into a smile at the memory.

There was a knock on the door and he spun away from the mirror just as Taylor entered the room.

"Nice outfit," she said, nodding approvingly. "Is that the one you-" She broke off with a smirk. "Good thing your shirt covers that or you would get another lecture from the make-up team."

Kurt glanced down and blushed, tugging his shirt back into place so his collarbone was hidden again.

"Anyway," Taylor said, a smirk still playing about her lips, "I just came to check that you were ready. You've been cutting it a little fine these last couple of days."

"I'm ready," Kurt told her, assuring himself as much as he was assuring her. He really wasn't in the mood to do a show today, not when Blaine was currently in a hotel in Florida and they could be Skyping each other.

Rolling his shoulders back, he inhaled deeply and straightened his posture from miserable to upbeat and ready for the show, before following Taylor out into the corridor.

Ten minutes later he was on stage and welcoming both his studio audience and the viewers at home to the show with a cheerful smile on his face and enthusiasm in his voice. He managed to keep thoughts of Blaine and what he was doing right now out of his mind for the whole show - a feat he was proud of - and he doubted anyone watching would have guessed that his heart wasn't into the show as much as normal.

He paid for it when he got home, though. On top of missing Blaine so much that it hurt, he now felt guilty that his performance at work was slipping and that he wasn't enjoying it as much anymore. He was letting down his viewers, Taylor and the rest of his producers, all the crew who worked on the show, and the show's guests. He groaned as he closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the couch; he hated disappointing people. Sure, they might not be aware that he was letting them down yet, but the longer he went without seeing Blaine the worse he would become, and then they were bound to notice.

His phone rang, jolting him out of his gloomy thoughts. Wriggling around on the couch to pull it out of the pocket of the tight jeans he was wearing, his heart skipped - this was the time Blaine normally called on days he had a show. He glanced at the screen once he had finally managed to extract the phone and his face lit up in a smile at the name displayed on it.

"Hey, honey, how's Florida?"

"Disgustingly hot and humid," Blaine groaned and Kurt felt his bad mood evaporate at the sound of his boyfriend's voice. "Being outside is like walking through hot soup."

Kurt lifted his legs up onto the couch and curled up, leaning against the arm rest. "You're not outside too often though, are you?"

Blaine stifled a yawn. "Not really, but the venue I'm playing at tonight is an outdoor one."

Kurt made a sympathetic noise. "Just make sure you drink plenty of water."

Blaine chuckled and Kurt frowned - Blaine sounded a little off. "Ok, mom." Kurt heard him shuffling around on the other end of the line. "How's everything back in New York?"

"Fine, work is the same as always, Rachel's show is still going strong, although she did freak out yesterday when someone near us in a coffee shop started coughing. She insisted we moved to sit at the other side of the café and she took a bunch of vitamins when she got home, panicking that she would get ill and it would affect her voice." He rolled his eyes at the memory of Rachel's recent drama queen moment.

Blaine laughed again. "Sounds like typical Rachel. It doesn't really matter if she falls ill though, doesn't her understudy just take over her role until she's well again?"

"Yeah, but Rachel wants to avoid that ever happening. She wants to be belting out her songs to an awestruck audience at every show and she hates the thought of someone else stealing her spotlight. And I pity the poor soul who would have to listen to her rant and complain about being too ill to do a show."

"Wouldn't that be you seeing as you live together?"

Kurt suddenly realised what sounded off about Blaine. "Blaine, are you getting enough sleep?"

"What?" Blaine sounded startled by his question. "Yes, of course I am."

Kurt pressed the phone closer to his ear, his forehead creased with concern. "Are you sure? You sound tired."

"I'm sure, doing a tour like this isn't the most relaxing experience, but I'm fine."

"Ok," Kurt said slowly, still a little worried, but knowing there was no point in pressing the issue.

They talked until Blaine had to leave to go do his sound check.

"I'll Skype you tomorrow night around nine," Blaine said. "I only have an acoustic show and signing at a record store and an interview on a TV show tomorrow."

"Ok, I'll talk to you then."

"I miss you," Blaine said softly.

Kurt slumped back against the cushions. "I miss you, too."

They said their goodbyes and Kurt tossed his phone down on the couch, wondering how he was going to manage another three weeks without seeing Blaine.

Despite Blaine's assurances that he was getting enough sleep, Kurt became increasingly worried as the days went by. They continued to talk every day, sometimes only managing to squeeze in a brief phone call and several texts when they were both really busy, and so Kurt noticed Blaine's steadily increasing exhaustion. He sounded weary when they spoke on the phone and could often be heard stifling a yawn, and during their Skype calls Kurt could see the dark crescents beneath Blaine's bleary eyes and the pale tinge to his skin despite Blaine's attempts to hide them from him. Whenever Kurt voiced his concern about all of this Blaine would say firmly that he was fine and that he was just missing him. Kurt let it slide until one evening during a Skype call over two weeks into Blaine's tour, when he couldn't let him brush it off anymore. Blaine looked worse than ever: his shirt hung a little loosely on him which had Kurt worrying that he was losing weight, his eyes looked sunken and had lost most of their sparkle, he looked paler than ever, and he was slumped in his chair with his head resting on his hand as if he didn't have the strength to hold it up without support.

Kurt allowed him to chat about how things were going in Los Angeles, where he had arrived yesterday and would be spending the next four days, and to ask about his day before he brought up Blaine's appearance.

"That's it, Blaine I can't stand you passing it off as nothing anymore because you look absolutely terrible and I'm worried." He shook his head when Blaine opened his mouth to interrupt. "No, Blaine, you're exhausted and don't try and deny it."

Blaine stared at his computer screen for a moment before seeming to admit defeat. "Ok, I am a little tired, but it's nothing I can't handle, this tour is just particularly busy, that's all. I have a lot of early mornings and late nights with shows, but it will be easier now I'm in LA and not having to travel for hours."

Kurt watched his boyfriend with concern as he rubbed at one of his eyes with his hand. "Just promise me you'll get plenty of sleep and look after yourself." At Blaine's affirmation, he smiled and said jokingly, "Don't make me come out there and force you to sleep and eat a proper meal!"

"Now there's a good idea." Blaine smiled a little sadly.

Kurt sighed. "If I didn't have to work tomorrow I would be on the next flight out."

"I know you would," Blaine said softly.

Kurt heard a faint noise and Blaine glanced over his shoulder. "I have to go, we're having a tour family dinner tonight," he said, his tone and expression one of someone being forced to go live a nightmare, not go out to dinner.

Kurt forced a smile through his disappointment at not being able to talk to Blaine for longer. "At least I know you'll be eating tonight."

Blaine smiled at that. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Have fun tonight, I wish I could be there."

"Me too." He sighed heavily. "I miss you so much, Kurt."

"I miss you, too," Kurt told him, blinking back tears. He waved his hands at the computer in a shooing motion. "Now go out and enjoy yourself."

Blaine signed out and Kurt shut his laptop down, his throat thick with unshed tears. He missed his boyfriend so much it was a constant physical weight on his heart, like someone had encased it in lead.

He slouched through to the living room where Rachel was watching TV feeling completely and utterly miserable. He dropped down beside her on the couch and after sitting watching the TV in silence for a moment, Rachel spoke.

"Just go out to LA and visit him," she said without looking away from the screen.

"I can't, Rachel, I have work," he reminded her dully.

Now she turned to face him. "Not on the weekend you don't, so fly out on Friday after work."

"Don't think I haven't thought of that," he said, feeling a pang at the memory of a few seconds of mounting excitement at the thought that he might be able to join Blaine in LA for a couple of days until the realisation that it wouldn't be possible came crashing down. "Blaine has shows on both Friday and Saturday night as well as an interview and photoshoot with Teen Vogue on Saturday morning, so we wouldn't get much time together. Plus, I have my brunch meeting with my producers on Sunday morning."

"So cancel your meeting, it's not like you really need to have it, and stay in LA until Sunday night." She threw her hands in the air in frustration when he just blinked at her. "And as for Blaine being busy, isn't a little time with him better than nothing?" When Kurt still didn't react she sighed in exasperation and got to her feet before marching out the room.

She returned a short while later carrying her laptop, which she set down on the coffee table. Kurt watched with a detached curiosity as she switched it on. He honestly couldn't see it being worth it going to LA and he really didn't want to fly over there to end up spending the weekend stuck in a hotel whilst Blaine was busy and only getting to see him fleetingly; that would be worse torture than only being able to call or Skype him.

Rachel was on the internet now, searching plane tickets from New York to Los Angeles. When she pulled her credit card out of her purse and began to purchase one, Kurt sat up.

"Rachel-"

She shook her head and finished buying the ticket. "I'm sick of you moping around here; you're spending the weekend in LA with Blaine."