From Blaine:  My parents have left the building.

From Kurt:  See you soon.

Kurt gathered up his gym bag and headed over to Blaine's.  He was relieved that he didn't have to face Blaine's parents until tomorrow.  The last time he had spoken with them had been when he and Blaine had called off the engagement.  Although Blaine said they knew about them getting back together, and were happy for them, Kurt had trouble believing it. In the end, though, they always seemed to be willing to do whatever was needed to make Blaine happy (including letting him transfer to McKinley, which in retrospect seemed like a ridiculous thing for his parents to agree to), so hopefully if they were convinced that Kurt made Blaine happy, they'd give him another chance. 

Kurt had found himself wondering more than once how things would have been different if Blaine hadn't come to McKinley.  They still could have seen each other after school and on weekends, and then maybe Blaine would have held on to his Dalton friendships, and not felt so alone when Kurt moved to New York.  Of course, there was that whole mess with Hunter and the Warblers on steroids, but maybe if Blaine had stayed, Dalton wouldn't have recruited Hunter.  And if Blaine was never in the New Directions, he wouldn't have been in the bus crash.  Then again, if he hadn't transferred to McKinley, maybe the Warblers would have beat the New Directions fairly, and they would have been the ones going to the invitational, not the New Directions, and none of them would have been in the bus crash.  Unless the Warblers' bus crashed….

Kurt shook his head as a bicycle whizzed past him, startling him out of his reverie.  There was no changing the past.  Blaine had been in the crash, he did get injured, and he still wasn't healed – that's why he had to have surgery tomorrow.  Any other issues would have to wait.  Tonight was for Blaine.

Kurt took the elevator up to the third floor and let himself in, immediately spying Sam's blond head poking up over the top of the couch.  He toed off his shoes and came into the living room.  Blaine was curled up against Sam, fast asleep, his curls sticking every which way. 

“Hey, Kurt,” Sam said softly.  He was scrolling on his phone with one hand, the television showing yet another episode of Friends softly in the background.  He nodded towards Blaine.  “Sorry about this.  The doctor gave him something to relax him tonight, and I think it kind of knocked him out.”

“Medicine tends to do that to him.”  At least Sam wasn't going to accost Blaine with vaporub.  Kurt had never really figured that one out; apparently Blaine had forgiven Tina, so he let it go, too, but it still made him squirm to think about it.

Sam went to get up, but Kurt waved him back.  “Don't move, he looks so comfortable.”  Kurt looked around.  “Do you need anything?”  Sam shook his head.  “I'll check to see if he's packed yet.”  Kurt wandered into Blaine's room, finding a neatly organized overnight bag on his desk.  He also noticed that the piles of books on the wheelchair had been relocated.  Kurt knew how reluctant Blaine was to go back to using the chair, but hopefully it wouldn't be for long.

Kurt went into the kitchen and poured two glasses of juice, bringing one over to Sam.  “Thanks, dude.”

He sat down in the armchair next to the couch and stretched his feet out on the ottoman.  “Everything go okay today with Blaine's parents?”

“Yeah.  I think Bill and Tammy got the message.  They really tried to give Blaine some space, you know, not take over everything.  Let him take the lead at the meeting with the doctor.  Blaine was feeling pretty good about it, I think.”

“Nice work getting them to stay at a hotel.”

Sam smiled.  “Blaine's too polite to ever take them up on that offer.  But luckily for him, I'm not.  Anyway, I think they understood.  They really are good people.”

“They are,” Kurt agreed.  He noticed that Sam and Blaine had on matching gray t-shirts with “I heart NY” on them.  “I assume they are responsible for your new shirts?”

“Yup.”  Blaine stirred, and Sam looked at Blaine fondly, stroking his fingers through Blaine's messy curls to calm him.  As Blaine settled back down, Sam looked up to find Kurt watching him, and grimaced.  “Shit, I'm sorry.”

“You're not doing anything wrong, Sam.”

“How can you be okay with this?” Sam asked, his voice small.

Kurt pulled his legs up under him, and considered Sam's question.  “You really want to know?”

Sam nodded.

“First off, as far as right this minute goes, Blaine's nervous.  You comfort him.  He trusts you.  I'd be a horrible person to deny him anything right now that could make him feel better.” 

“He trusts you, too,” Sam said.

“Not in the same way.  I mean, I hope we'll get there, but we're not there yet.”  Kurt remembered what Blaine had said yesterday about Kurt coming to the hospital with him.  Blaine was scared to rely on Kurt.  Kurt thought that Blaine was really trying not to be, but there was still some hesitation there.  He didn't blame him.  “The last time something bad happened to Blaine, I couldn't handle it.”

“But that wasn't your fault-“

“It doesn't matter, it's in the past now anyway.  But it still happened. All I can do is show him, this time, that I can be there for him, and that we're going to be okay.”

“You will.  You both will,” Sam said confidently.

“I think so, too.”  Kurt paused, and pulled the throw blanket from off the back of the chair and onto his lap.  He drew his knees up against his chest and tucked the blanket around his legs.  He wondered if Sam was interested in this part.  “There's more to it, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“There shouldn't be any reason why two guys can't touch each other like you guys do, gay or straight.  Girls who are friends do that all the time.  But you know as well as I do that that's kind of the minority opinion.”

Sam looked down at where his hand rested on Blaine's waist.  “I know, it's weird.”

“But it shouldn't be.”  Kurt huffed, not sure how to get his point across to Sam without doing more harm than good.  “You know, in high school, even before I came out, no one touched me.  The guys, especially, kept their distance.  It only got worse when they knew I was gay.   Even the normal things boys were allowed to do with each other, I was denied.  No one ever gave me a friendly pat on the back, god forbid a slap on the ass.  Instead I just got shoved into lockers.”  Kurt looked at Sam, catching his eye.  “Because they didn't want to catch the gay.” 

“Kurt…”

“You were never part of the problem, Sam, you know that.  And by the time you and I started to get to know each other better, I had Blaine.”  Kurt smiled, remembering.  “You know how during the proposal, Blaine said that he took my hand a moment after we met?  It's really true.  Blaine touched me right away.  It was such a change.”  It had felt so good, having someone to be physical with, just to bump shoulders against in the choir room, occasionally hold hands with in the hall, not to mention what they did together when they were alone.  But it had still been just the two of them, in their own little bubble of safety and touch.  How was Sam so different?

“You're not afraid to touch Blaine, Sam.  Even though he's gay.”

“No, of course not.”  Sam sounded almost offended.  “Why would I be afraid to touch him?  He likes it and I like it, that should be all that matters.”

Kurt could practically hear Blaine saying the same words.  “I couldn't agree more, Sam.  But a lot of men wouldn't want to be so physically affectionate with another guy.  They wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea about the two of you.”

“Why would I mind if people thought Blaine and I were together?  I'd be proud to have him as my boyfriend,” Sam said, a little wistfully.

“As well you should be.  But it's not really in the cards, is it?”  Kurt said hesitantly.  He didn't think so, but he wouldn't mind hearing it from Sam.  As much as he wanted to be okay with the two of them cuddling their hearts out, a tiny piece of him was just a little bit worried, sometimes.

“No, it's not.”  Sam frowned, but then got a mischievous look on his face.  “I did kiss him, once.  A real kiss.”

“Oh?”  Now there was a story he'd like to hear, Kurt thought, willing himself not to think about it too hard.  Sam did have awfully nice lips.

“It was a good kiss,” Blaine mumbled into Sam's chest.

“Oh, so sleeping beauty awakes?”  Kurt laughed.  He moved over to the couch, on Blaine's other side.  “How much of that did you hear?”

“Mmm.  The proposal was true.  Cuddling is good.  Sam is awesome and so are you.” Blaine blindly reached out for Kurt, then turned over and gave him a sleepy hug.  “Hi.”

“Hi yourself.”  Kurt held him gently, stroking his back.  Blaine was warm and relaxed, nuzzling into his neck.  “So am I going to hear about this kiss, or will I just be left to my imagination?” 

Sam pulled his arm out from under Blaine and stretched, then folded his hands behind his head and leaned back.  “There's not that much to tell.  It was last winter, during a snow storm.”  Kurt internally breathed a sigh of relief.  At least it wasn't too recent.  “We made this huge fire, and we were just hanging out.  I was tired of wondering, so Blaine took pity on me.”  Kurt pushed his flicker of jealousy aside to marvel at how calm Sam was about the whole thing.  As if he wished he could have made it work with Blaine, not that he was disgusted at himself for even considering it.  Which, of course, being Sam, he never would be.

“Wasn't pity, dummy.  You're hot.”  Blaine yawned and then snuggled back down on Kurt's chest.  “I'm tired.”

“I know, sweetie.  Want to go to bed?”  Kurt asked.

Blaine nodded.  “Bed.  Good.”  They roused Blaine enough for him to brush his teeth and put his pajamas on, while Kurt and Sam did the same.  Kurt set two different alarms for way too early in the morning, knowing it was not going to be a pleasant moment when Blaine woke up, happy pills having worn off.   Finally everyone was ready.  Kurt slid under the covers, pulling Blaine after him.  Blaine closed his eyes, sighing, then opened them back up.  “Wait.”  He sat up.  “Sam, where are you going?”

“Um, I think Rachel's taking my bed tonight, so, the couch?” 

“No way.  I was promised a Sam and Kurt sandwich.  So I won't be too anxious about the surgery tomorrow.”

“You don't seem particularly anxious to me,” Sam laughed, still standing in the doorway.  “And I don't remember any such promise.”

“Kurt promised.”

Kurt shrugged.  “I'm not sure those were my exact words, but it was kind of the gist.” 

Sam grinned and joined them in the bed.  They shifted a bit until everyone was more or less comfortable, Blaine's head on Kurt's chest, and Sam curled up behind Blaine, a hand on his shoulder.  Kurt wondered what his pre-Blaine high school self would have thought about this scenario, back when he just wanted to get through the day without being thrown in a dumpster. Was it weird that it seemed almost normal now?  Kurt lay still for a while, not really sleepy, listening to Blaine's soft breaths and Sam's slight snore.  He squirmed a little bit, wanting to turn over but not willing to disturb Blaine.  Anyway, he was pretty close to the edge of the bed.  If this was going to be a regular thing, he thought to himself, Blaine might need to consider investing in a king sized bed.  Maybe wait until his parents go home for that particular purchase.  “Gee, mom, you know what would really make me happy?  A bed big enough for me to sleep in with Kurt and Sam.”  Even the Andersons' tendency to spoil Blaine had to have a limit, right?

Maybe not.  Not the bed thing, but the Sam thing.  Bill and Tammy had clearly spent a lot of time with Sam, and had to be pretty familiar with the whole Blam concept.  Kurt sighed.  He was nervous about tomorrow.  What if the Andersons were perfectly content with Sam as Blaine's bestie, and not very interested in Kurt coming back into the picture?  And although he was trying not to think about it, he couldn't help but be worried about Blaine's surgery.  He had tried not to focus on it, figuring it wouldn't help to get worked up, but he hated the thought of Blaine hurting, and the million things that might (probably wouldn't, almost definitely wouldn't) go wrong. 

Kurt's eyes flicked open as the light coming in through the door expanded, and he saw Rachel standing there, looking fondly at them.  “Cuddle pile?”  she asked softly.  Kurt felt a wash of affection for Rachel, as she immediately recognized what was going on for what it was, not some kind of crazy sex party, as she had previously teased them about.  “Wish there was room for me,” she said, smiling gently at Kurt.  See, we need a bigger bed, he thought again.

Sam stirred and sat up.  “What time is it?”

“It's only about nine-thirty.  Can you guys really fall asleep now?”  Rachel peered over Sam's shoulder, seeing Blaine still fast asleep. 

“Blaine's definitely down for the count,” Sam said.  “But if Kurt'll stay here, I think I'll get up for a while, maybe watch a movie or something.”  Kurt nodded.  He wasn't going anywhere.  Sam carefully got out of bed, and he and Rachel headed back towards the living room, Sam first closing the bedroom door until just a sliver of light remained.  Kurt thought it was kind of adorable the way they never closed their bedroom doors all the way, like they always wanted to keep an ear out for each other.  Sam and Blaine had a connection that he had never had with anyone.  He had imagined, once upon a time, that he might have that kind of bond with Finn.  Someone to go through life with, no matter what happened.  But that was not to be.

With Sam gone, Kurt shoved Blaine over a little bit, giving himself some more space in the bed.  Blaine blinked his eyes open, his hand coming up to trace over Kurt's cheekbone.  “Kurt.  You're so beautiful.”

That was never going to get old, and Kurt knew it was no less sincere, despite Blaine's medicated state.  How sweet it was to know how Blaine saw him.  “So are you.”  Kurt gave Blaine a gentle kiss, curious to see if he would wake up some more, or fall back asleep.  The latter, apparently.  Kurt giggled to himself.  He refused to be offended that his boyfriend was too sleepy to make out with him, but Blaine was awfully cute, lying there with his lips pursed and long eyelashes fluttering.

Blaine stirred again, his tongue darting out to lick his lips.  “Kurt,” he breathed out.

“Yeah, baby, I'm here.”

“I love you.” 

Kurt felt his whole body hum in response.  “I love you too,” he replied, pushing Blaine's curls back from his face, gazing into those beautiful caramel eyes.  “So much.”

“You'll be there tomorrow, right?  At the hospital?” 

“I will.”  Kurt stroked Blaine's cheek as his eyes drifted closed again.  “It's okay, go to sleep.”  Kurt heard the Friends theme song echoing in his mind  - or maybe it was just playing in the living room again – as he snuggled up against Blaine, holding him close.  “I'll be there for you,” Kurt sang softly, a promise he intended to keep.