Kurt wasn't sure what Blaine was waiting for, but he knew he was waiting for something.

And whatever that something was, it was keeping him away from Kurt.

Kurt had never been the most patient of men, but for Blaine, he'd wait forever.

Blaine was worth it, even if he didn't believe it.

He loves me. He loves me. He loves me.

That night, Kurt's confession of love was Blaine's blanket. For once, he didn't mind the cold that much.

I wonder if he ate today.

Maybe I should bring him some food and another coat.

Would he accept if I offered to let him to come over for a nice shower?

No, he won't. We're still waiting.

But, for what?

Blaine counted the days. Five. Four. Three.

He loves me. He loves me. He loves me.

"Still nothing, kiddo?"

Kurt sighed into the phone, staring out the window. It wasn't snowing that much anymore, lately. That was good. "Nothing yet, dad."

"I'm so sorry, Kurt. I can come back to New York and talk to him again, if you want..."

"No," Kurt said firmly. "This is the way he needs it to be. This is what he wanted. I don't understand it, but..."

"But you'll wait until he comes around anyway," Burt said from the other end.

"I'll wait as long as it takes, dad."

Blaine smiled for the first time in what it seemed like ages. He sat at the box office and impatiently stared at the clock every time he had nothing to do.

Were the hands moving backwards or was time suddenly passing a lot slower?

Kurt had been thinking a lot. Actually, he had done nothing but think since he last saw Blaine.

He called his publicist and his agent. They both had been emailing him and calling him non-stop since he had suddenly announced he was taking a break. They wanted him back on stage. They wanted him back on the covers of magazines. They wanted to take him to Los Angeles to try his luck in Hollywood.

"No," Kurt answered firmly. "No more magazines. No more gossip. No more parties. I want to do my job on stage and then come home and have a simple life with the man I love. In a few years, I want to get married and have a couple of kids..."

"Wait. I didn't know you were seeing anyone! When did this happen?" His publicist asked, scandalized that she had been left out of the picture.

Kurt's heart thumped in his chest. "It hasn't happened yet. But it will. I know it will."

He hung up the phone feeling a little of the weight lifted off his shoulders, but the void in his heart was yet to be filled.

He loves me. He loves me. He loves me.

Blaine made a quick stop before going down the steps to the subway station.

Couch. Yoga pants. Reality shows. Take out.

Kurt wasn't proud to say those things were part of his routine every night now. He didn't have energy enough to put on some nice clothes and go eat somewhere nice instead. He hadn't really left his apartment in a week.

He hadn't really left the couch, either. He didn't want to sleep in his big, empty bed alone.

When the door bell rang, he assumed it was the doorman bringing up his food order. He grabbed some cash and walked to the door, counting it to make sure it was enough to cover a tip.

He certainly wasn't expecting to see Blaine standing there, shifting his weight from foot to foot, nervously.

"Blaine..." he whispered, breathless as his heart leapt into his throat.

"Hi," Blaine said shyly. "I, uhm. These are for you."

Kurt hadn't noticed the little bouquet of beautiful red roses Blaine was clutching in his hands like a lifeline. He accepted them with a wide smile on his face.

"They're gorgeous," he muttered, burying his nose in them. "Thank you."

Blaine cleared his throat. It was endearing how nervous he was. "I got my first paycheck today."

"You did? That's wonderful, Blaine," Kurt said warmly.

"Yeah," Blaine started picking on a loose thread on his coat. "So, uhm, I was wondering if you'd let me take you out... on a date."

Happiness started bubbling inside of Kurt. He felt like dancing, laughing and screaming all at the same time. "Really?"

Blaine nodded, hesitant. "I can't really take you to one of those fancy places you're used to, but I remembered you had fun when we went bowling and I thought maybe you'd be okay going somewhere... less fancy?"

"I'd go anywhere with you," Kurt answered and he was rewarded with Blaine finally looking at him in the eyes and smiling tentatively. "Why don't you come in?"

Blaine followed him into the kitchen, where Kurt grabbed a vase and filled it with water to put his roses in.

And then it hit him.

He turned around, frowning. "Blaine... Did you wait until you got your paycheck to come back?"

Blaine bit his lip. "Yes?"

"I can't believe it. Why is it so hard for you to understand that I don't need you to...?"

Blaine interrupted him, taking a steadying breath. "Kurt, I lost everything. Everything. The only thing I have left is my pride. I can't lose that, too."

Kurt stared at him. They were separated by the breakfast bar and the distance seemed much too wide to Kurt. He just wanted to pull Blaine into his arms and never let him go.

"I couldn't come back empty-handed. I couldn't just come here and ask you to love me without offering you anything in return," Blaine continued. "And I know that some flowers and a cheap dinner won't be enough... but it's the best I have, Kurt."

Kurt sniffled. The tears filling his eyes were making his sight blurry. "Do you think you'll ever love me back? That's the only thing I could ever want from you, Blaine."

Blaine sighed helplessly. He smiled a bit. "I already do."

Kurt was sure his heart had just exploded in his chest. He covered his mouth with his hands as he cried and laughed at the same time. "Really?"

"I love you so much," Blaine said, simply, sincerely.

Kurt couldn't take that distance between them anymore. In a few strides, he was ready to launch himself at Blaine, but the other man took some steps backward, with his hands raised in front of him like a shield, suddenly looking paler.

"No, no, wait. No," he mumbled anxiously. Kurt stopped in the middle of the kitchen and his pain must have been clear in his face because Blaine hurried to add, "I'm dying to hold you and to kiss you again, Kurt, but I..." He looked uncomfortable and ashamed like never before. "I... I haven't showered since I left and I... I probably smell really bad and look even worse and I... I don't want you to touch me when I'm like this."

Kurt's heart broke a bit at that. His smile softened. "Would it be okay if you just took my hand?"

Blaine's face had reddened while he was talking and he nodded slowly now, taking the hand Kurt was offering him.

"Come with me," Kurt didn't wait for Blaine's reply, he tugged at his hand and started guiding him down the hallway towards his bedroom.

They entered his bathroom, the biggest one in the apartment. Kurt opened the cabinet above the sink and grabbed Blaine's toothbrush, handing it back to his owner. Then he turned towards the tub and started filling it with warm water.

The door bell rang again before either of them could say anything. Kurt smiled at Blaine, who was just standing there, watching him. "I'll be right back."

The doorman was smiling at him with his bag of take out in his hands when Kurt pulled the door open. "Your food has arrived, Mr. Hummel."

"Thanks," Kurt said, reaching for it.

"I hope it's okay that I let your, uhm, usual visitor come up. It's not like he gave me much opportunity to stop him," he muttered in a disparaging tone of voice. "I can call security if you need me to escort him back out to the street."

Kurt blinked, looking at him incredulously. "Whoa, you really are an asshole."

The doorman quirked an eyebrow. "Pardon me?"

"You've been doing nothing but making unpleasant comments about Blaine since the night I invited him in," Kurt said, as his patented bitch face made its comeback.

"Well, I'm sorry, sir. It's my job to be concerned about your safety, as well as everyone else's in this building," he answered, still disgustingly false and polite.

"You should be concerned about your own safety, because the next time I hear you talking about Blaine that way, I'm gonna get you fired," Kurt assured him with a fake smile of his own. "And you'll probably need surgery to get my Gucci shoe out of your ass. Have a good night, jerk."

And without saying another word, he kicked the door closed in the doorman's face.

Kurt took a moment. That probably shouldn't have felt as good as it had.

He left the bag with the food on the kitchen counter, glad he always ordered way more food than he could actually eat, and went back to the bathroom, where Blaine was still brushing his teeth. He rinsed his mouth when Kurt walked in and smiled at him.

"Feeling better?" Kurt asked, dying to kiss him anywhere Blaine allowed him to.

"A bit," Blaine admitted. "Who was at the door?"

"Just the doorman bringing some take out I ordered," Kurt shrugged and moved to check on the tub.

"I hate that guy," Blaine muttered. "He always looks at me like I'm garbage."

"He's a douchebag," Kurt grabbed his favorite coconut-scented oil and poured a bit into the almost full tub. "I'm thinking about moving to a different building anyway."

Blaine seemed surprise. "Really?"

"I want a smaller, less ostentatious apartment. I don't need three guest rooms," Kurt explained, then glanced at Blaine expectantly. "What do you think?"

"About what?" Blaine asked, confused.

"About a smaller apartment, silly," Kurt rolled his eyes fondly. "Maybe in a quieter neighborhood. Closer to a park. You look like the kind of guy who will want to have a dog, eventually."

"You..." Blaine was apparently having trouble finding his words. "You... want that? With me?"

"I thought that's what people in love do? Make plans for the future?" Kurt tried to make it sound like a joke, but there was an edge of nerves in his voice, as if he was afraid he'd pushed Blaine too far.

Blaine smiled sweetly, feeling moved. "I think your plans sound wonderful to me."

Relaxing visibly, Kurt stood up from where he had been crouching next to the bathtub. "Voilà! Your bath is ready."

Blaine looked at him the way only men who are deeply in love can look at someone. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Kurt beamed. "I'll go get some of your clothes. I'll be right back."

Kurt allowed himself to do a little happy dance once he was out of Blaine's sight. He was back. He was safe. He loved him back.

There wasn't anything else Kurt could ask for.

When he went back to the bathroom a few minutes later, Blaine was already submerged in the warm water. His eyes were closed and a contented smile graced his lips. Kurt loved how the simple things made Blaine happy. He wanted to be more like him.

"What do you say..." Kurt started saying, as he sat on the edge of the tub and Blaine opened one eye to peek at him," if we save that date for tomorrow night and we just stay home tonight?"

Blaine's hand found Kurt's, wet and soapy, and squeezed gently. "I think I'd like that. Staying home."

Kurt's heart threatened to jump right out of his chest. Blaine was home.

He was dying to kiss him, but he wanted to wait until Blaine felt comfortable enough for that. Instead, he grabbed his bottle of shampoo and showed it to Blaine. "May I?"

Blaine bit his lip, hesitant to let Kurt touch his grubby hair. "Are you sure you want that? I..."

"Blaine," Kurt said firmly, arching an eyebrow. "Let me wash your hair."

"Okay," Blaine nodded.

Kurt smiled as he worked on Blaine's curly hair. He scratched at his scalp lightly and Blaine moaned in pleasure, throwing his head back against his hands. It felt so intimate and so familiar to be like this, even though they hadn't done it before, even though they had been apart for a while. They fell right into that feeling, where they were natural together.

Once Kurt was done with his hair, Blaine scrubbed himself with the exfoliating loofa to ensure he rid himself of any vestiges of living in the streets, even if most of it was in his head. He looked at Kurt apologetically, who just smiled at him and leaned to kiss the top of his head (he considered it a victory when Blaine didn't pull away).

"What do you say if you move to the shower to rinse all of that off?" Kurt proposed. He handed Blaine a towel and walked to the shower to adjust the spray.

He wasn't expecting to feel arms wrapping around his waist from behind and a face burying against the crook of his neck, but he couldn't deny it didn't make him feel amazing. He raised his hand over his shoulder to tangle his fingers in Blaine's wet hair and hummed in contentment.

"I'm so happy you're back, Blaine…" he murmured softly.

"I love you," was Blaine's answer softly breathed into his ear and it warmed Kurt all over. "I love you so much."

Kurt turned around in his arms and cupped his face in his hands, looking into those beautiful hazel eyes. "I love you, too."

They moved forward at the same time, knowing they couldn't wait one more minute. Their lips crashed together and they immediately sighed in relief into the kiss. Blaine's arms tightened around Kurt's waist and Kurt pulled him even closer, until their bodies were glued to each other. It felt wonderful, even if Kurt's clothes were getting soaked. Kurt wondered if that was what it felt like to drink a glass of water after wandering lost in a desert for days.

They clung to each other as if they were afraid the other would slip away. They had missed this: the slick slide of mouths and tongues and the taste of each other they couldn't get enough of. If it weren't because they needed to breathe eventually, they wouldn't ever have pulled away.

Blaine rested their foreheads together. His eyes were bright with tears and Kurt nuzzled against his cheek, needing to feel him closer.

"I missed you. I missed this," Kurt whispered.

Blaine dropped a kiss to Kurt's nose. "I missed it, too. I don't think I know how to live without you anymore," he smiled and looked at him in the eyes. "I'm pretty sure I'm addicted to you."

Kurt chuckled and was about to answer when he noticed the thick steam starting to fill the bathroom. "Oh, your shower! Come on, get in!"

Blaine reluctantly moved away from Kurt's embrace to unwrap the towel he had around his waist, but he stopped. He bit his lip, thoughtful.

"What is it?" Kurt asked, sensing something was wrong. He stroked Blaine's cheekbone softly.

"I…" Blaine took a deep breath, as if he needed to build up some courage to say what he wanted to say. "Would you… would you maybe shower with me?"

Kurt grinned at him and leaned for another kiss, much quicker this time. "Honey, we've had sex plenty of times before. You can ask me to shower with you. It's okay."

Blaine blushed, but rolled his eyes. "Fine. Shower with me, please."

"Sure," Kurt ushered Blaine into the shower before taking his clothes off, dropping them on the floor carelessly. Blaine was already under the water spray when he joined him, hugging him from behind and kissing his shoulder.

Blaine sighed, enjoying the warmth of the water falling over them and the warmth of the body resting against his. "This is nice."

"Very nice," Kurt murmured.

"I could get used to this…"

"You'd better get used to this," Kurt smiled against his shoulder before moving to nibble gently on his earlobe, eliciting a soft moan from Blaine.

"Kurt…" he threw his head back, his mouth searching for Kurt's.

"I haven't slept in my bed since you left," Kurt confessed against his lips. "I just… I couldn't be there without you."

Blaine was suddenly aware of Kurt's cock against the crease of his ass, half-hard and so tempting. He pressed his ass back, trapping it between their bodies. "I couldn't sleep much without you, either."

It started slowly, mostly as a need to feel each other, to really convince their bodies that they were together again. Kurt began thrusting against Blaine's ass as Blaine arched his back, tilting his head to kiss Kurt's jaw.

The water falling on them made it all so slick and perfect that Kurt just couldn't stop. His hands started wandering over Blaine's stomach and chest and he tried not to think about how much weight he had lost again. There would be time for him to get plenty of calories into Blaine. He didn't want to think about the days they had spent apart. He wanted to live in the moment they were sharing now.

"Touch me," Blaine pleaded brokenly. "Please, Kurt, I need you to touch me…"

Kurt wrapped his fingers around the full length of Blaine's cock without giving it a second thought. He stroked him in time with his thrusts and buried his face on the crook of his neck. Blaine's moans were echoing against the bathroom walls, sending shivers down Kurt's spine. He knew they wouldn't last long. It was overwhelming how close they were, how much touching each other pushed them over the edge.

Kurt's cock somehow ended up slipping between Blaine's asscheeks and Kurt groaned against the other man's shoulder. It was so good and not enough at the same time. He wanted to drag Blaine to their bedroom and kiss every inch of him and not stop touching him and pleasuring him until the sun came out and they both fell asleep, exhausted but happy.

It only took the tip of Kurt's cock brushing against his entrance for Blaine to shudder and start coming. Kurt followed almost immediately, painting his back with white spurts that were washed away by the water falling over them in a matter of seconds.

Blaine turned around and his arms, feeling weak but contented, and sighed against Kurt's skin. They simply held onto each other, coming down from their highs, and enjoying having the other back, until the water started getting cold.

Finally, Kurt kissed Blaine's neck and rubbed his hand up and down his back. "Come on, baby. Let's get out."

Blaine complied, although he seemed half asleep already. Kurt chuckled as he helped him out of the shower and wrapped him in a towel before putting one on himself. He toweled Blaine's hair with a third one and then guided him out of the bathroom, not caring about the mess that they had left behind. He would pick up the clothes and all of that in the morning. Now, he just wanted to be with Blaine.

They slipped under the blankets in Kurt's bed together, shifting closer like magnets that couldn't keep apart. Blaine put his head on Kurt's chest and sighed, happily. This was where he belonged. This was where he needed to be.

"Are you hungry?" Kurt asked, threading his fingers through Blaine's curls. "I bet the food I ordered is pretty much cold now, but we could put it in the microwave…"

"Don't wanna move," Blaine muttered sleepily. "Just wanna stay here with you."

Kurt smiled, feeling happier than he had felt in years. "I can do that."

They were both asleep before they even finished intertwining their fingers together.