"When are you going to learn that I'm not going to answer anything you ask me about today and just stop asking questions?" Kurt returned, reaching behind him to the backseat to grab what looked like a gym bag. "You'll see. Just be patient."

"I thought we established on the day we met that patience really isn't my strong suit."

Kurt didn't reply, and Blaine followed as he locked the car and led the way into the building. The door was unlocked, something that made sense because surely Kurt wouldn't have brought him here if it wasn't, but this begged the question of why a high school was unlocked on a Saturday. Although, there were a lot of things suspicious about this situation. What was in Kurt's gym bag anyway? Toilet paper? Were they going to TP his old school as a sort of post-grad senior prank? Were there bottles of lighter fluid and matches? Were they going to commit arson? That actually seemed like a possibility, given that fire was potentially life-threatening, as Kurt said their first stop would be.

By the time they reached double doors and stepped into the gym, Blaine had just given up trying to figure this all out entirely. Especially when he realized that the room wasn't empty. A few dozen cheerleaders all turned around to stare at the two boys who'd entered. "Cheerleaders? You do know I'm gay, right? I'm sure this would be the perfect first date for a straight guy, but—"

Blaine was cut off by the aggressive voice of a middle-aged woman in a tracksuit. "Porcelain. You're late. And not in uniform."

"My apologies, Coach. This entire day is a surprise date for my friend Blaine here, so coming here already in uniform would have given it away. Don't worry, I'll go change quickly and be right back." He then turned to Blaine. "You can sit on the bleachers if you want."

And then he was gone.

The coach was still standing in front of him, looking him up and down. "I'm sorry, I tuned out the second Porcelain opened his petite mouth to excuse his unacceptable behavior. Who are you?"

"Blaine," he answered immediately, afraid of what the woman would do if he hesitated. When Kurt said this would be potentially life-threatening, he didn't expect it to be because of a 50-year-old looking woman.

"Not anymore. Your new name is Chia Pet, so named because of your short stature and the outrageous hair on your head. Go have a seat."

Blaine walked away, not really sure what else to do, and settled down on the bottom bench of bleachers. It was only a minute or so later that Kurt walked out, completely decked out in red and white cheerleading uniform. And okay, yeah, maybe now Blaine could appreciate the whole cheerleading thing more, because Kurt's shirt rode up just so and the flawless, creamy skin of his stomache was showing just enough to make Blaine shift in his seat.

"Will you watch my bag?" Kurt asked, setting it down by Blaine's feet.

He looked up at the boy, mystified. "Are you going to explain this situation to me? If you graduated, how are you still on the cheerleading squad? And why didn't you ever mention that you were on it in this first place? And how does this qualify as a date? Don't two people usually spend time together on a date? How is that going to happen with you waving pom-poms and doing herkys while I sit on this bench doing nothing?"

"Oh, calm down." Kurt replied, rolling his eyes and placing a hand on Blaine's shoulder, leaning down to close to his face and making eye contact. "I told you this wasn't part of my plans; I had to rearrange them a bit. Coach Sylvester called me and told me to come to practice today to teach the new Cheerios some of our old routines. Apparently, I'm her favorite, and none of her other former cheerleaders can 'move their tiny little hips quite like I can,' her words not mine. As you can probably tell from meeting her, when Coach Sylvester tells you to do something, saying no isn't really an option." He paused, then smiled mischievously, crouching down even further to whisper into Blaine's ear. "Besides, from the look you gave me when I walked in, I don't think you'll mind watching me dance for a couple hours."

Kurt straightened up, and with a wink, he strutted over to the group of girls in short skirts. Blaine watched as he started grabbing some girls by the shoulders or waists, leading them to stand in a certain formation. He would teach them a set of movements, eight count by eight count, then slowly add them all together, repeatedly shouting, "That's great; from the top!" Coach Sylvester just stood off to the side with a scowl on her face, scrutinizing the girls' moves. The more they added on to the routine and the more fluid it got, Blaine decided his best course of action was to take Kurt's bag and place it on his lap. I mean, honestly, how was he supposed to control himself when Kurt was in the front of the room, gyrating like that? Then he'd turn around and watch the team do it, and see a few of them doing a specific hip movement not quite right, so he'd show them all again, in slow motion, to make sure they fully comprehended the mechanics of it.

Honestly, the whole "not planned" thing is starting to seem like a lie to Blaine. Kurt probably asked the coach to come and help out just so he could have and excuse for Blaine to see him move like that. Show off.

He scoffed aloud, shaking his head and looking away. He turned his attention back to see Kurt bounding toward him. "Hey, you. I see you've taken guarding my bag very seriously."

Blaine glanced down at the bag strategically placed in his lap and laughed nervously. "Yeah, wouldn't want to screw up the one thing you gave me to do."

"I'm glad you're so concerned for my belongings." Then Kurt was reaching down and unzipping the bag, shoving his hand in it and searching for something.

"What are you looking for?" Blaine asked, coughing awkwardly and Kurt's hand moving all around just over his lap.

"My water bottle. I gave the girls a 5 minute break before we try it with the music, something that Coach was vehemently against, but I insisted. God, I can't find anything in here. It must be at the bottom."

His hand was getting dangerously closer to the thin fabric separating Blaine's body from him. Blaine was looking down, watching carefully, and the second he saw the bottom he grabbed Kurt's wrist. "How about you just sit down and rest for a second? I'll find it for you."

"Okay," Kurt said, drawing the word out and making it sound like a question. He sat next to Blaine and quirked an eyebrow, watching as he procured a water bottle from the bottom left side of the bag.

"Here you go."

"Thanks." Kurt took the bottle and opened it, taking a large drink before recapping it. "I could have done that, you know."

"Yes, but you…your hand was…and the bag is…" Blaine trailed off, gesturing to the placement of the bag, not sure exactly how to word what he was trying to say. It was embarrassing enough as it was.

The taller boy looked down at the bag, seeming to finally realize its location, and looked up at Blaine with an awkward expression. "Oh, God. I'm sorry. I didn't realize…It just didn't click in my brain. You should have stopped me sooner."

Blaine found it odd that Kurt didn't suggest moving the bag, as that was the obvious solution. Was he aware of Blaine's predicament and just didn't want to call him on it? That would be great, but as Blaine looked at him, it appeared that Kurt genuinely hadn't thought of that. And the way he was floundering at their situation gave Blaine even more pause. It was interesting how confident Kurt was until things took a turn for the sexual.

"It's fine, really." They both looked away, cheeks tinged pink. Blaine spoke again, dying to break the tension. "So, uhh…what song is the routine to?"

Kurt looked at him with a smile, confident once more now that they were back in comfortable territory. "What did I tell you earlier about asking questions? You'll just have to see."

Blaine laughed, amused at just how far Kurt was taking this whole "surprise" thing. I mean, honestly. He was woken up at 8am by none other than Kurt himself before being whisked off to a high school for cheerleading practice. That was enough surprise for one day.

By the time he stopped internally ranting at how annoying it all was, Kurt was gone, taking his place back at the front of the formation. Everyone stood in their opening pose, and Kurt nodded to a kid sitting next to a boom box.

When the notes began pouring out of the speakers, Blaine thought he couldn't have been more surprised. He'd reached his limit. Anything else was just expected simply because it was unexpected. But then, he realized as the vocals started that that was most definitely not on the track; that was Kurt.

"Come on, boy, I've been waiting for somebody to pick up my stroll."

His jaw dropped and, yeah, Kurt definitely should be given every solo from now on until the end of time. The style of the song was different than Kurt normally sang, he could tell. Kurt had lowered his voice and added a certain…something to it. It wasn't that it was raspy, that wasn't the right word. It was more…dirty.

"I want somebody to speed it up for me then take it down slow."

Kurt Hummel was shaking his ass in front of the group of girls and singing low and dirty. And if that wasn't enough to make Blaine come in his jeans he didn't know what was. Thankfully, that didn't actually happen. He had to muster every ounce of self-control he had left to prevent it, though.

"Just say the word and I'mma give you what you want."

At the end of the first chorus, Kurt stopped and motioned for the random kid running the music to stop it. He told the group that he wanted them to do it again, but this time he'd be walking around to watch. The thing was, when the music started over and Kurt began slowly walking around, singing along again, he caught Blaine's eye from across the gym. There was an evil, mischievous glint to his eyes that told Blaine that even though he seemed uncomfortable when things went sexual, he knew exactly what this was doing to him. Instead of just strolling around the girls normally, observing their dancing to be sure they were doing it right, Kurt was slinking across the floor, singing straight at him.

Suddenly, that aggressive voice rang out again for the first time since Blaine sat down. "Stop it, stop the music!" The music cut and she narrowed her eyes, glaring at every one of the cheerleaders, then settling on Kurt. "You've taught them sufficiently enough for me to take it from here, Porcelain. Now kindly get out of my auditorium. The eye-sex you're having with Chia Pet is exhausting to watch and not turning me on in the slightest."

Blaine paled (as if he could stand to lose any more blood in his face, most of it was already shooting south anyway) and turned his attention back to look at Kurt, who seemed to be having the opposite problem; his face had changed to match his uniform.

Without a word, and without making eye contact, Kurt grabbed the bag off of Blaine's lap and quickly spun around and disappeared into what Blaine assumed was the locker room. He discreetly crossed his legs while trying to calm himself down before Kurt came back. The only problem was, now that he'd seen him move like that and heard him sing like that, his brain didn't seem willing to process anything else. He looked around the room desperately trying to distract himself when duh. He was in a room full of girls in tight crop tops and short skirts. If that wasn't a turn-off he didn't know what was.

He smiled triumphantly to himself as Kurt re-emerged, dressed again in his white button-down, black vest, sinfully tight black jeans and knee-high black boots. The outfit hadn't fazed him earlier, but after the things he'd just watched Kurt doing, the entire ensemble just put his mind right back in the gutter.

Well, shit, this isn't any better than the cheerleading uniform.

Kurt smiled nervously (and if that wasn't the cutest thing Blaine had ever seen him do) and made his way over to Blaine. "Ready to go?"

"Where to?"

"You will just never learn, will you?"

Blaine laughed as they started walking out of the gym. Without even really thinking about it, he laced his fingers with Kurt as they walked down the hall. He felt the jolt of surprise from Kurt at having his hand held, but the other boy didn't pull his hand away either, so he took that as a good sign and counted the move as an accidental victory. That is, until Kurt asked, "What are you doing?"

"Holding your hand," Blaine replied, trying to keep his voice even and not show just how insecure he really was about it.

"Eager, are we?"

"If I don't get to know anything about anything that we're doing today, the least you can let me do is hold your hand. Besides, with you gyrating in front of me for the past hour and a half or so, you're lucky I'm only holding your hand and not mauling you."

Okay, that second part was definitely supposed to be only in his head. That was just a thought, right? Blaine prayed to whatever eternal being might be in the sky laughing at him right now that maybe he'd only imagined saying that out loud. It wasn't that the comment itself was inappropriate; it was that he was making it to someone on the first date. That's something you say later on, when you're in the relationship already. Dropping that now? Not so much first date etiquette. Unfortunately, when Kurt gave a surprised squeak and stopped in his tracks, he knew it was too late. Oh, well. At least he hadn't let go of his hand.

"I'm sorry," Blaine spluttered. "I didn't mean to say that. Let's just pretend that I didn't. We're going to just ignore the fact that my brain-to-mouth filter is apparently not working."

To his surprise, Kurt chuckled at him and gave his hand a squeeze, smiling that fond smile again, but with a hint of the trademark Kurt Hummel sass. "Is your mind just constantly in the gutter? First, my embarrassing 'screaming my name' comment on Thursday over coffee. Then, my bag in your lap in the gym earlier. And now, my 'gyrating,' as you call it? Are you planning to pin me down and take advantage of me when I least expect it in the backseat of my car, Blaine Anderson?"

Now that was just not fair, Blaine thought to himself. Kurt had seen the double meaning in his comment, too. He'd also realized the bag placement earlier. And he was the one who breathed in his ear about how much Blaine was not going to mind watching Kurt dance for a little while. If Blaine's mind was down in the gutter, Kurt's was right there with him.

But Blaine decided to let that slide, instead saying, "You're the ones with all the plans today, remember? If there's going to be anything happening in the backseat of your car it will be because you planned it that way."

"Well, you'll just have to wait and find out if that's on the schedule or not, won't you?" Kurt winked at him for the second time that day before tugging on his hand and continuing towards the exit doors, leading them to the car.

Blaine let go of Kurt's hand when they were getting closer to the car and put distance between them, walking in a huge circle to get to the passenger side door. When Kurt looked at him funny, he shrugged with a smug smile on his face. "Just in case the backseat rendezvous was actually in your plans, I don't want to be assaulted. I'm not the kind of guy who just throws himself around on the first date, you know."

For a split second Kurt seemed shocked by his statement, before settling into the joke. "That's not what I heard."

"Oh, really?" They were both in the car now, Kurt pulling out of the parking lot. "Then what do they say about me."

"I don't reveal my sources."

Blaine was completely clueless as to where they were going at first, but after 10 minutes, the path started to seem familiar and he felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He turned to Kurt with wide eyes, and when Kurt glanced at him for a second, concern spread across his features.

"What? What's wrong?"

"I know where we're going," he replied quietly, staring down at his hands.

Kurt hesitated a moment before asking, "Is there a problem? We can go somewhere else, I just really like this place—"

"No, no, it's fine." Blaine paused, unsure of whether he wanted to share this information, open that portal. Then again, he had promised that this would be first date conversation. "It's just…my mom used to bring me here, when I was little."

Instead of immediately latching on to the subject of Blaine's parents, Kurt smiled softly. "Mine did too. That's why I like it."

They were silent the rest of the way, and Blaine felt a tug at his heart when they pulled into the parking lot and he saw the all-too-familiar sign, albeit worn down after the years.

Lima Arboretum

Before they got out of the car, Kurt reached over and opened the glove compartment, taking out some kind of booklet. When Blaine looked at the cover as they were walking in, he saw that it read "Lima Arboretum Trail Guide." Ah, so Kurt came here often, if he'd just had one of those ready to go in his car. Despite the fact that Kurt already had one, Blaine grabbed another guide from the stand by the doorway before they started on the first path. Call him sentimental, but he wanted a memento of his first date with this beautiful boy.

"Hey," he said, reaching towards Kurt's own copy and then comparing it with his, "why is mine different from yours?"

Kurt tore his wrist out of Blaine's grasp and held the guide back at his side. "Because mine is from 2002," he replied without further elaboration. They neared the first fork in the road, so Kurt unfolded his guide and started looking over the map.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, so Blaine asked, "Did you want to go right or le—"

"Do you mind if I lead the way? We can go exploring later, it's just that there's this place that I really wanted to take you and—"

"Kurt," Blaine laughed, reaching for his hand again. "It's fine. You're the one with the awesome plans. Lead the way."

They smiled sweetly at each other before Kurt led Blaine to the right, keeping their fingers intertwined and palms pressed together. Blaine decided that he liked this flustered side of Kurt. He was nervous, and the more Blaine saw of that, the more he fell in like with this man. It hinted at the fact that there was more to Kurt than just his hard, confident exterior. He had secrets and insecurities and a past just like Blaine, just like anyone else. Kurt was just as troubled as anyone, carrying just as much baggage.

He'd never been more certain of this than when Kurt stopped in a small clearing over-looking the man-made lake in the arboretum. The area was off-trail, so they were alone. Blaine let go of Kurt's hand and turned slowly in a circle, marveling at the beauty around him. In the beginning of summer, there were still some brightly colored blossoms sprinkled across the ground and running all over bushes like Christmas string lights. They were surrounded by tall trees forming a circle around them, and effectively becoming a canopy to block them from getting too sunburned but allowing a nice sun-kissed glow to form over the time they would spend there. Blaine had a feeling it would be a couple hours.

"It's beautiful here," Blaine said, finally turning to smile at Kurt.

At his words, Kurt visibly relaxed, looking relieved and heaving a sigh. He looked around, too, but his eyes had a different air to them. As opposed to Blaine's expression of wonder, Kurt's was wistful, almost sad. "I know."

Once again, he didn't elaborate, but Blaine had a feeling that if he was silent long enough, he just might. So that's what he did. He dropped to the ground and settled himself down on a nice patch of grass, clear of rocks or burrs or ant piles or stray weeds.

When Kurt didn't make a move to join him, Blaine patted the ground beside him, gazing up at the boy.

"Not yet. I just…give me a second."

Blaine had no idea what was happening, or how to handle the situation, but just before Kurt turned away from him and started towards the water's edge, he could have sworn he saw tears forming in his eyes. He wanted so badly to know what was causing Kurt to suddenly have an explosion of emotion like this, but he knew better than to push it. If he went too far, pried for information that Kurt didn't wanted to divulge just yet, the whole thing they were starting would crumble. So instead, he chose to wait patiently, knowing that when Kurt was ready, he'd come sit next to Blaine and explain.

Five minutes later, that's exactly what he did.

Kurt sighed, spinning to face him. "I should tell you…"

As he trailed off, Blaine took his golden opportunity. "I've got baggage, too."

He smiled slowly at the reference, and just that little joke seemed to give Kurt the nudge, not push, he'd needed to begin.

"Like I said, my mom used to take me here when I was little," he started, settling in next to Blaine and leaning against his side.

"Like my mom."

Kurt smiled, the action small and not quite meeting his eyes. "Yeah. Just another thing we have in common I guess." He paused. "When was the last time she took you here?"

"I guess around the time I was 13. She decided it was time for The Talk, and thought that a familiar place with a good connotation would be the best place to do it. Of course, back then she was warning me about the dangers of getting a girl pregnant. Not really the most effective sex talk for a gay boy." Blaine glanced at Kurt and realized that there were actual tears on his face now. They weren't flowing, it was just light rain on his face, and Blaine felt bad at how beautiful he thought Kurt looked when he was crying. He slipped a hand around the boy's waist and asked, "What about you?"

"I was 8." Kurt took a shuddering breath but continued. "It was really nice. We came here, like we always did. This was our special place." Blaine got a bad feeling at the way Kurt referred to this place as their special place in the past tense. "It was the winter when we came, and we were the only two crazy enough to venture to an arboretum in the dead of winter in Ohio. She brought a blanket and set it down over the snow and we sat down, right here." He gestured to where he and Blaine were currently sitting. "Most people think the spring is the best time to come here, because everything is so full of life and bright and fun." He took a deep breath and wiped at his eyes, choking out a bitter laugh. "I guess it's fitting that we came when we did, then. When everything is dead. I appreciate the poeticism of it all."

He ducked his head and let out a sob, placing his head in his hands. Blaine immediately circled his arms around him and pulled him close. It was obvious now how the story ended. Blaine was more than shocked at Kurt's complete break-down, something he never thought he'd see.

"She took me here to tell me that it was her time. When you see all the movies about it, they make it seem like cancer gives you at least a year or two, if not several months. That's not the case with ovarian cancer. It's a silent killer. You don't really know you have it until it's already spread so badly that you're lucky if you live for another couple months. That's what happened to my mom."

Kurt broke away from the embrace and looked at Blaine, embarrassment evident all over his features. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you here. I haven't been here since that day; I should have known it would hurt to be here without her. I just didn't expect…"

"A complete and total meltdown?" Blaine offered.

The taller boy smiled a little. "Yeah. That."

Blaine paused for a moment, considering. He kept stroking Kurt's arm, trying to decide what to do. He wanted to return the way Kurt opened up to him by telling him about his own parents. It only seemed fair, after all. And he had promised as much. But he didn't want to subtract from Kurt's own story. Right now was about Kurt and his mother's death, not about Blaine and his parents' abandonment. Then again, when someone was sad, wasn't it a good strategy to distract them from their own problems? Surely, listening to Blaine's could do that. Besides, he could see how mortified Kurt was at crying like that, and he was fairly certain that if he was really honest in his telling, he'd break down too, and maybe Kurt wouldn't feel so bad.

"I can return the favor, you know. If you want."

He didn't need to elaborate, Kurt knew what he meant the moment he said it. Kurt nodded in agreement and patiently awaited Blaine to begin, staring into his eyes.

Though, to be honest, Blaine wasn't sure where to start. Thinking back to how he'd gotten Kurt to open up just a short while ago, he got an idea. Quietly, he sang, "I should tell you, I'm disaster. I forget how to begin it."

Kurt laughed, something Blaine hadn't thought would be possible again for the rest of the day. "After not hearing you sing for a year, I'd forgotten how good you were."

Blaine smiled a thanks to the compliment, now feeling ready to start. "You said you were waiting to move out, and you were surprised that I'd moved out so early…I didn't move out. I was kicked out when I was 14, the night I came out to my parents." Kurt gasped softly, but made no other sound. "Judging by your reaction, I'm guessing your own coming out went a lot better."

"That's a story I can share later. Right now we're discussing yours."

"I'm holding you to that." Blaine nudged Kurt lightly with his shoulder before going on. "It was hard when I first realized I was gay, because I knew right off the bat they weren't going to take it very well. My dad was always ranting about how homos didn't belong in the military and fags—"

"Hey," Kurt reprimanded softly, batting him on the arm.

"Sorry, it's his words not mine. He said…they shouldn't be allowed to teach in schools, influencing the children of America. So before I even knew what gay was, I knew it was bad. It took years after the first time I got really turned on by a guy to accept the fact that who I am is okay, and I shouldn't feel ashamed. I have Laurel to thank for that. Since I didn't have any brothers or sisters, I didn't think I had anyone to turn to until our annual family reunion in 2006, when I was 12. She was 19, a sophomore in college, and she was going on about all of the interesting things she was learning in her classes, specifically her political science class. They were talking about civil rights, which lead to the discussion of gay rights. Dad, of course, was pretty adamantly against it. As was the entire rest of the family, except for Laurel. They didn't know I was listening, I was a kid; I hid around the corner and listened in as the adults had their 'grown-up talk.' But despite the fact that everyone was attacking her, trying to get her to 'see the light,' she wouldn't budge. She stood up for gay rights when she didn't have a single gay person in her life, that she knew of. That was the first time I didn't feel so completely alone.

"So after dinner, I asked to speak to her in private. I confided in her, telling her everything I was feeling. At the time, I didn't know there was another side, people who thought being gay was okay. Laurel talked to me for hours that night, and held me while I cried."

As if on cue, tears sprang to his eyes, and he shook his head, suddenly finding the grass at his feet to be extremely fascinating.

"Two years later, I had finally mustered up the courage to come out. I thought, 'This is it. Now or never, Blaine. Quit being such a fucking coward and show these strangers who you really are.' On September 23, 2008, I told my parents to please stay after dinner, because there was something I really wanted to tell them. I'd barely even gotten the words out before my dad backhanded me across the face."

Blaine choked on a sob, sounding exactly as Kurt had just moments before. "Blaine," Kurt breathed. And Blaine almost hated the sound. He could hear the pity, the sorrow, the horror in Kurt's voice. This was why he didn't tell people. He didn't need other people's tears to tell him how much it sucked.

"I fell out of my chair." He didn't care that his voice was thick, barely audible; he was going to bite back the damn tears and finish. "My dad took advantage of my vulnerability and kicked me in the stomache, again and again. You would think my mom would have stood up for me or at least told him to stop kicking the crap out of me, but she didn't do anything. She just sat in that stupid dining room chair that she paid thousands of dollars to be custom-made and stared at me, like she didn't even know who I was anymore. Dad, dear old Dad, decided to show me mercy and told me to get up, and get out of his house, and never come back again. So I did; I left. I didn't know where to go, or what to do, but thankfully I had my cell in my pocket. I started limping down the street and called Laurel. I was crying so hard I couldn't even talk, partly because of what had just happened and partly because my dad broke eight of my ribs and I couldn't breathe."

"Oh, God, Blaine."

"She seemed to know exactly what happened without me having to say it, and 20 minutes later she was picking me up off the side of the street, taking me to her apartment. She cleaned me up and looked me over before deciding that I was in worse shape than she had hoped, and we had to go to the hospital. That was complicated, given the fact they need a parent's information on all of the paperwork, and how do you explain to complete strangers that it was their fault I was there in the first place? But Laurel, she's a good person. She didn't want to lie, because she wanted what was best for me. So she told the nurses and doctors everything, who promptly called CPS. They wanted to put me in foster care, but Laurel was 21, and family. Despite what you may have heard about CPS, they really want to do what's best for the kids so they placed me with her. After lots of legal shit, I was emancipated from my parents and Laurel became my legal guardian. I haven't seen my parents since the day in court when the papers were signed and everything was finalized.

"Laurel turned her whole life upside down for me. She was a fresh college graduate, she could have gone out and gotten an awesome job in a cool city and had a fun life. Instead, she moved to a house close to Dalton so I could keep going to school there. Tuition was tricky, but after that political science class her sophomore year, Laurel changed her major to poli sci. She earned her degree and got hired at Dalton as a government teacher, which made tuition free for me. That was just one of many sacrifices she made for me. She wanted to go to grad school, but since she had to pay far more on her mortgage in our new house than she did for her apartment, and then all of her bills doubled with the addition of a new person in her life, she just didn't have any money left." Blaine buried his face in his hands and slowly ran his fingers up past his forehead, through his hair. "I'll never be able to repay her for all that she's done for me."

He didn't need to look up to know that Kurt was just staring at him, opening and closing his mouth like a fish, trying to find the right words to say. But in a situation like this, words just fail.

What do you say to someone when they tell you their mom died? And that the exact place you're sitting right now is the place she once sat in to tell them the inevitable?

What do you say to someone when they tell you their own parents caused them serious injury? And they haven't spoken in 4 years?

Blaine finally tilted his head up to see Kurt with tears running down his face, laughing. Laughing?

Kurt caught Blaine's hurt expression and quickly reached out, holding his face in his hands. "Hey, hey, I'm sorry. I promise, I'm not laughing at you. Your story is worse than mine; I couldn't possibly laugh at you. It's just…look at us." To emphasize his point, he wiped away at a fresh tear on its mark to begin racing down Blaine's cheek. "It's only the first date and we're already breaking down and revealing the deep, dark parts of our past we don't tell anyone about."

At realizing just how true Kurt's words were, Blaine couldn't help but let out a light laugh right along with him. "Oh, God, you're right."

"We're a mess."

Blaine paused and smiled, suddenly feeling five-hundred pounds lighter, and said, "Even though I highly doubt all the waterworks were on your agenda for our 'awesome date,' what would you say my chances are that this will end in the promise of a second date?"

And there it was, Kurt's trademark smirk. Before Kurt even opened his mouth, Blaine knew exactly what he was going to say, and they ended up saying it together.

"You'll see."