Chapter 8.

Kurt blinked a few times; glancing at his alarm clock, he saw that he’d woken up 5 minutes before it’d go off. He looked at his mum’s star and smiled. The feeling of Blaine’s arm tightly around him, the two of them lying like spoons, still on top of the sheets, the way they’d fallen asleep. This was something he could get used to.

Blaine shifted as Kurt’s alarm went off and rubbed his eyes, blinking a few times. He didn’t remember stick-on stars on his ceiling, and it took him another second to realize that he was still in Kurt’s house, in Kurt’s room and in Kurt’s bed. And another second to realize the same Kurt was wrapped in his arms. He felt himself blush.

“Morning.” Kurt said as he felt Blaine stir beside him.
“Morning, did you sleep well?”
“I did. Just too short.” Kurt turned to meet Blaine’s eyes, “Do you want breakfast?”
“I...er...i should go home. I’d like to change before school.”
“Sure.” Kurt said, but he couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
“Come pick me up on your way to school?” Blaine suggested. Kurt nodded and smiled as Blaine pecked his lips before he got out of bed.

Kurt fixed himself breakfast and texted Santana that he couldn’t pick her up because his dad had the car. He swallowed roughly as he thought about his dad. No news was good news, right? He told himself that his dad would call him tonight, and started to get ready for school.

The weather today was quite soft considering it was already October. As Kurt walked his way down to Blaine’s house, anxiety filled him. He had no idea yet how this new situation was going to work. Blaine had told him he’d wait but would he also be alright with pretending nothing was going on?

He knocked on Blaine’s door and someone, who he figured was Blaine’s mum, opened the door. He could see who Blaine got his eyes from and the slight curl in her hair let him know that Blaine must look more like his mum than his dad. “You must be Kurt,” she smiled, “Blaine’s almost ready. Do you want to come in?”
Kurt was about to reply when he noticed Blaine coming down. “Ready,” he smiled,” let’s go.”

They walked down Blaine’s street, Blaine slipped his hand in Kurt’s again like he had last time and Kurt smiled but the anxious feeling didn’t go away. No matter how much Blaine could usually make him feel at ease, nothing could relax him now. “We could take the bus?” Kurt pointed out but Blaine shook his head and said, “Let’s just walk. We’ve still got time.”

It actually wasn’t that far, and the few reasons why Kurt did not usually walk were that Santana liked to be picked up by car, and that if he didn’t have it he’d usually take the bus to avoid walking on his own. But with Blaine by his side he didn’t mind at all. Besides, it was a nice walk and considering the soft weather it really wasn’t all too bad. “Do you walk this way every day?”
Blaine nodded, “It helps me think.” He smiled sadly, “I did a lot of walking last week.”

“Blaine, I’m really..”
“Kurt, don’t. Everything’s okay now.” Blaine squeezed Kurt’s hand and looked at his troubled face, planting a kiss near his temple. As they turned onto their school’s street, Kurt released his hand out of Blaine’s. He felt horrible for doing this but realized that there was no other way. He turned to Blaine and felt his heart sink in his stomach, “I, er,” he looked at his hand and back to Blaine who nodded, “I know. I know. The Santana thing. It’s okay, Kurt.” he smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
They walked the last bit to school in silence, “I’ll see you at Glee club.” Blaine said as he walked off. Kurt felt cold inside, he couldn’t stand the thought of Blaine hurting.

If Blaine was completely honest he didn’t really like being cast as ‘the other person’. Admitted, it wasn’t exactly like that but he couldn’t help but feel like it. Still, neither could he imagine not being with Kurt. He had figured that if he had to lay low in school to help Kurt (and Santana) out, he’d do it.

However, it hadn’t stopped him from teasing. A few times when he’d seen Kurt, and the hallway was considerably deserted, Blaine had brushed his hand against his. It wasn’t just for the tingly feeling it gave him but also for the fun of knowing what it did to Kurt. “You’re horrible”, Kurt’s last text read, and he chuckled.

When it was finally time for Glee club again, he saw that Kurt was already seated with the other guys. He smiled as he entered the room and tried to follow the conversation. As usual they were talking about Nationals. He made his way to his seat and as he passed Kurt, he let his hand brush swiftly over Kurt’s leg. He had to keep himself from laughing when Kurt let out a choked gasp. The other boys all turned to look at Kurt, confused for a second but then they continued the conversation as if nothing had happened.

When Glee was over, Blaine once again made his way out of the choir room as soon as. He’d noticed how Santana had slid her arms around Kurt’s waist and hadn’t liked it. Just because he was pretending to be okay with it didn’t mean he had to see it. So he ended up at the bus stop, knowing that Kurt would have to walk this way anyway. His assumption hadn’t been wrong, he saw Kurt was walking down and, to his relief, Santana wasn’t with him.

“I thought you preferred walking?” Kurt smiled as he reached Blaine.
Blaine nodded and said, “I do,” a faint blush played on his cheeks, “I was, er, waiting for you.”
“Ah were you going to apologize for those unwanted sexual harassments...?” Kurt crossed his arms.
“Who said they were unwanted?” Blaine’s eyes sparkled and it made Kurt’s tummy flip, “just wondered if you wanted to walk home together?” Kurt smiled and nodded.

The whole first few streets, Kurt had kept his hands in his pockets. Blaine knew why, he wasn’t stupid, and considering it wasn’t cold at all, it didn’t take a genius to figure it out. He tried to swallow away the bitter feeling that came with the knowledge, but it hadn’t gone completely away.
“You okay?” Kurt asked him, probably having noticed his sudden change. Blaine nodded and swallowed again before he asked, “Have you heard from your dad yet?”. He saw something flash in Kurt’s eyes and realized he actually wasn’t supposed to know about it. After everything they’d talked about last night, Kurt had actually never told him why he’d been so upset in the first place. He quickly added, “I, er, I saw your dad’s note yesterday,” as to explain.
“Oh.” Kurt said, looking down. Blaine felt guilt wash over him, he felt stupid for bringing it up now, “No. he hasn’t called yet”, Kurt sighed, his shoulder slumped, his head hung low. Blaine could see it was really eating him up. Encouraged by Kurt’s hands that had left their pockets, he grabbed Kurt’s right hand and lifted it to his face, planting a kiss on the back of it in a comforting way. “I’m sorry,” he said, his words soft. Kurt laced his fingers with Blaine and mumbled a humble “thank you”.

Blaine’s body filled with warmth. It was Kurt who had laced their fingers, Kurt who thanked him for more than just this small moment right now. When they reached Blaine’s house, Kurt slowed down, not wanting to say goodbye to Blaine. Whenever he was with Blaine he felt at ease, Blaine relaxed him, with him nothing was tense and everything felt right.

Blaine turned to him, his expression waiting for Kurt to say something. “Could you, would you... I mean, would you mind keeping me company tonight? I mean, I know I’ll end up stressing myself out, waiting for my dad’s call when I’m on my own. I’ll drive myself insane.”
“Kurt, you’re welcome to stay at my house?”
Kurt shook his head, “I can’t. I’d love to but I can’t. Dad will most probably call the house and not my cell. I have to be there.” His voice sounded more hoarse and desperate than it had all day.
“Then I’ll come with you. I just...let me go get some stuff and tell my mum, okay.” He pecked Kurt’s forehead before rushing inside.

**

Kurt was much more aware of everything with Blaine around. If it were anyone else, that would put him even more on edge, but not with Blaine. He always seemed to notice immediately when Kurt was about to lose it and with a simple gesture - a peck, his hand brushing Kurt’s cheek or his thumb stroking Kurt’s back - the tension would leave Kurt’s body. It was quite a comforting feeling to Kurt, especially on a night like this.

Kurt was a good cook. After his mum had died he kind of needed to be. His dad usually worked late in the shop, so Kurt had to prepare dinners. He hadn’t minded though, he preferred cooking himself over having to guess what the big, black, burned stuff was in his plate whenever his dad cooked. However, now he really didn’t feel like cooking –and under different circumstances he would have loved to cook something for Blaine, but right now he was too busy staring at the phone, so they ordered pizza.

Blaine didn’t mind being here, any time with Kurt was time well spent, but he hated feeling like he couldn’t do anything. He’d been softly stroking Kurt’s back as they sat in the sofa, the tv was on but Kurt was staring at the phone, and he had noticed how the tension in Kurt’s shoulders had slowly disappeared, but that was about all he could do.

“I’ll get it,” Blaine said as the doorbell rang; pizza boy. As he came back, Kurt wasn’t on his spot on the sofa anymore but on the phone. Everything about him was tense and Blaine wanted to hold him, wanted to hug him and kiss him, but he decided against it, Kurt deserved some privacy. He made his way into the kitchen and set the table. It took him a few tries to find the right cupboards but eventually it was all set. When Kurt walked in, his face was pale and Blaine ran straight to him and grabbed his hands. Their eyes met and Kurt opened his mouth.
“Kurt you don’t have to.” Blaine said, understanding how hard it must be.
“She’s alright,” Kurt said, and Blaine let out a small sigh of relief, “she had a heart attack but she’s stable now.” Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt and kissed him lightly, “It’ll all be okay. I promise,” he said and kissed him again.