Blaine was only ten years old, but he was convinced his world was ending. At least, that's what it felt like at the time.

He stood outside in the dark, holding his mom's hand as they both cried, watching flames shoot out from the roof of their Lima, Ohio home. His dad was nearby talking heatedly with a police officer. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but gauging from the wide range of flailing arm movements and hand gestures, it wasn't small talk about the weather.

Through his tears, Blaine watched the fire fighters at work all around him. Their trucks had arrived maybe 30 minutes ago, but it was hard to remember the exact timeline when everything seemed to happen at once.

He was sleeping soundly, arms wrapped around the Batman stuffed toy Kurt got him for his birthday last year. Then, all of a sudden, he wasn't…

Smoke alarms filled the Anderson household, prompting Ethan and Vanessa Anderson to bolt out of bed. They were the kind of parents who practiced safe exit strategies with their sons, but never actually thought they'd need to use them. Since Cooper was already at college, they only had to grab their youngest son and get him safely out front.

Blaine awoke with a start when his mom burst into his room, yelling for him to get up and go with her. He was so confused he didn't hear the smoke alarms until they were halfway down the stairs.

It was only when he and his mom were standing outside in front of the house that Blaine actually realized what was going on. He saw the flames on the roof, moving in the night like they were dancing.

Fire. His house was on fire.

He stood there watching the flames for what felt like forever, but must have only been a few minutes.

"BLAINE!"

He whipped his head around toward the familiar voice of his best friend and saw Kurt running at him full-speed, Burt Hummel walking behind him.

Kurt flung his arms around Blaine and buried his face in Blaine's neck. Blaine instinctively wrapped his arms around Kurt, calming his friend down even though his house was the one that was on fire. He rubbed slow circles on Kurt's back, whispering that it was okay. (Even though it really wasn't… his house was on fire.)

For some reason, Blaine forgot about the fire for a fraction of a second and his mind raced back to a similar situation a couple years ago. There wasn't a fire then that brought these two boys together in Blaine's front yard in the middle of the night. No, it was something much worse.

Kurt's mom passed away after losing her fight with breast cancer. It happened in the middle of the night and Kurt begged for his father to let him see his best friend. Wanting to offer his son as much comfort as possible, Burt phoned the Anderson household at 2 am and explained to Vanessa why he was calling so late.

By this time, Blaine was awake from hearing his mom's voice in the hallway. He wandered out of his bedroom, eyes squinting from trying to adjust to the overhead light. Blaine watched his mom hang up the phone and put a hand up to her mouth, unable to completely block the sob that escaped her throat. "Mama?" Vanessa spun around to see her youngest son looking at her with a worried look painted all over his still-sleepy face. She ran over to him and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Hey, buddy. That was Mr. Hummel. He's going to bring Kurt over for a little bit right now, okay?" Blaine's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It was the middle of the night – surely it was too late for a play date. Vanessa's face crumbled. "Kurt's mommy died, Blaine." Blaine's eyes went wide and tears started forming. "I'm so sorry, sweetie. I'm so sorry. But I need you to do something for me, okay? I need you to be strong for Kurt right now. Can you do that for me?" Blaine nodded, though the rest of his small body shook from trying to hold back from bursting into tears.

Vanessa gave a small smile and wiped some escaped tears from her son's eyes. She sniffled, "That's my good boy. Now come on, let's go wait for the Hummels outside, okay?" Blaine nodded again and slipped his hand into his mom's.

Minutes later, Kurt was running across the Anderson's front yard and launched himself at Blaine. "BLAINE!" Kurt was already sobbing and wrapped his arms around his shorter friend in a tight hug. Blaine pulled his friend in as tight as possible and looked over at his own mom in panic. She had tears in her eyes as she nodded her head at him, silently indicating that he was doing everything right. Vanessa turned to Burt and put a reassuring hand on his arm.

Blaine shook his head at the memory then snapped back to the present and watched Burt put a reassuring hand on Vanessa's arm. The two grown-ups turned away from their sons to talk quietly about the reality of the situation.

The boys stood holding each other for awhile until Kurt pulled away so he could look Blaine in the eye. "Oh, gosh, I'm sorry, Blaine. I just got so scared that you were hurt or something." Kurt wiped tears from his face and gave Blaine an apologetic look. Blaine offered a small smile in return and shrugged. He wasn't hurt. Not on the outside, at least.

Kurt couldn't return the smile. Here they were, in the middle of the night, standing in their pajamas near the street. Blaine's hair was sticking up even worse than usual and he looked like he was about to fall apart. Kurt sighed and ran his hands through Blaine's hair to smooth down the curls. On any other night, Kurt would have teased Blaine about his more than disheveled state. But not tonight.

Not tonight.

Blaine closed his eyes and leaned into his friend's reassuring touch. His small frame released a deep breath and then slumped forward a little bit. Blaine was on the shorter side for his age anyway, but tonight he looked even tinier as his body involuntarily closed in on itself.

Kurt snaked an arm around Blaine's waist and Blaine leaned his head onto Kurt's shoulder. They stood like that for awhile, watching the firefighter's bustle around them. Hoses were carelessly dragged across Vanessa's meticulously planted flowerbeds. Chunks of burnt roof were tossed about the lawn.

By this time, Ethan had finished talking with the police officer and had made his way over to his wife and Burt. He shook Burt's hand then put his arm around his wife's waist as she molded herself to his side and leaned onto his shoulder. They chatted for a bit and Burt couldn't help but sneak a peak at their sons and notice they were intertwined much the same as the married couple standing in front of him.

Ethan and Vanessa were called away by the fire chief who needed to ask them some questions. Burt shook Ethan's hand again and gave Vanessa a hug. He watched them walk away, then turned his attention toward the boys. He smiled a sad smile. He was sad for Blaine and his parents because they were good people and no one – especially them – should have to watch their own home burn. But he smiled because Blaine had Kurt.

Burt had always known Kurt was – well, special. He didn't get it a lot of the time, but he didn't question it. Kurt was his mother. He was kind. He was caring. He was compassionate. Burt knew Kurt would probably grow up more sensitive to the world than other boys and he hoped to God that his son would find someone equally as brave as him to share his life with. Maybe he already had.

Blaine snuggled into Kurt's side just a little closer, causing Burt's heart to break just a little bit more. Those boys were best friends, hopefully for life. They've already had to deal with stuff few boys their age would ever experience and he just hoped that they would be strong enough for the challenges Burt knew they faced ahead.