Blaine tightened his arm in the crook of Kurt's elbow. "I take it back. We should have waited for Puck to come into school on Monday. Or we could have called Puck. He could have driven us to your Dad's or something."

Kurt glanced at Blaine, his hair catching in the yellow glow of the streetlights as they walked. "It'll be okay. We're only a few blocks from my house now. Besides, it's nice to be outside again."

Blaine ducked his head, pulling up the hood of his borrowed sweatshirt. "Kurt, I'm not kidding. I don't like this."

Kurt's fond amusement rankled at Blaine's nerves. "Blaine, we're not in Lima Heights. You look ridiculous. It's only 8pm. There are lights on in the houses, cars are driving up and down, people are still out."

"That's what I'm worried about," Blaine muttered. "I think that woman walking her dog is following us."

"Blaine..." Kurt sighed, his voice exasperated, "Stop it. I'm nervous enough without you imagining things."

A couple of late evening joggers passed them in the opposite direction down the sidewalk, their undercurrent of emotions fleeting and unassuming, but Blaine couldn't help but tense. He let his senses follow them for longer than he usually would have, needing to know that they had passed unnoticed.

Nothing.

Blaine shook himself. Maybe he was being paranoid... He had to snap out of it. He couldn't let his doctors think he was anything other than the picture of health. He wasn't under any delusions; as soon as he was back with his parents, he was going to be subject to the full spectrum of tests as they all frantically tried to work out how he was still functioning.

Wait.

Polite confusion.

Insistence.

Realisation. Worry, determination, concern, surprise, panic, shock, decisiveness-

"Hey, you two!"

Kurt didn't register the shout as quickly as Blaine, who had been halfway to turning around before the male jogger had even called over.

The couple were standing with the dog walker, who already had her phone out. The man was already walking back toward them, his girlfriend hanging back, unsure.

Kurt swore under his breath, and Blaine could feel every muscle tensing under his hand.

Uncertainty... uncertainty...

Recognition.

The man faltered slightly, raising his hands in a placating gesture. Kurt's hand slipped down and grasped tightly into Blaine's own, a gesture the man did not fail to miss.

Fear.

Protectiveness.

Worry.

"A lot of people are out looking for you boys." The stranger's eyes flicked between the frozen pair, before his gaze settled on Blaine. "Your parents are really worried, Blaine."

Kurt jerked, flashes of defensiveness running through him. Blaine was fixed in place upon hearing his name. It suddenly made it all far too real. This man, this complete stranger, knew his name. He knew his name because he had heard it on news reports, and from gossip and speculation.

"Blaine, it'll be okay. The police are on their way." The other jogger called to them, her kind smile completely bypassing Kurt as it fixed on Blaine.

And then all the emotions came into horrible focus, and Blaine could see everything stretching out before him. The couple, the woman, the old man peeking out from behind his twitching curtains in the house two doors over, they all had the same undercurrent of poisonous, misguided feeling.

Hostility.

The shock of the intense, deep-seated emotion unstuck Blaine's feet from the pavement. Not because it was directed at him, but because it was directed at Kurt.

He could already sense Kurt's indecision, wondering whether to just wait for the police to arrive. They would have to explain themselves to the authorities eventually.

Except Blaine was starting to doubt if they would be given the chance.

The moment seemed to freeze, extending longer with every breath.

Kurt's hands tightened on Blaine's, beginning to register what Blaine was feeling. He might not be able to sense the others, but he trusted Blaine.

One beat, two... Blaine saw the panic in the man's eyes a split second ahead of time.

"No! Wait!"

They were already running, feet pounding against the pavement. There was shouting behind them, and was it Blaine's imagination, or could he hear sirens?

Kurt took a sharp left, nearly wrenching Blaine's arm out of the socket as he pulled them down what Blaine could only hope was a shortcut to Kurt's house. He tripped, his feet slipping in his borrowed slightly-too-big shoes.

They stumbled out into an adjoining suburban street, breathing hard. "This is insane," Kurt snapped, whirling around to get his bearings. "Is anyone following us?"

Blaine shook his head, attempting to tamp down on his frantically beating heart, trying but failing to focus as his head spun. "I don't think so... No, no there isn't. I guess that guy decided to leave it to the police."

As if on cue, a soft swell of sirens permeated the evening air.

"Okay, come on, we're really close to my house. Let's just get there, and away from the moronic do-good-"

Blaine only had a split second warning before a hand clamped down on his wrist, wrenching him backwards and away from Kurt. His already scattered senses shattered at the unwelcome touch, at the overwhelming certainty of the stranger that what he was doing was right.

"Hey! Get off him!" Kurt's yell shot through the air, and Blaine twisted as he was shoved into another pair of strange hands.

His eyes focused just in time to see the male jogger shove Kurt roughly into the side of a parked car. Kurt hit the metal with a warped crash, before hitting the pavement hard, losing his feet in shock.

Blaine's head swam, and he was dimly aware of small hands taking a firm but gentle hold of his wrists. It was the other jogger, the woman. She was trying to project calming emotions onto him, as a parent might do for their scared child, but all Blaine could sense was the pair's protectiveness, their instinct that Kurt was bad.

Everything was so wrong.

"You stay away down until the police arrive, kid. You've done enough damage." The man was pointing at Kurt, looming.

Kurt looked ready to spit nails, but Blaine's attention kept getting swept away by the woman holding him as she soothed, "You're okay now, Blaine, everything's going to be okay. Don't worry, sweetheart, you're safe. I know everything's scary right now, but you're okay..."

No. No he was not okay. Kurt wasn't okay. None of this was okay.

It was getting harder to keep his head above water, above the tidal wave of emotions that were not his own.

Sirens were getting louder, one extra attack on his senses, one step closer to too much.

"Kurt..." Blaine choked out the name, determined not to lose it. Determined not to fall back to how he had been before. No, not like this. Please... keep it together...

Kurt's voice faded in and out, his remarks cutting as he screamed at the man.

More people, so many more people. Too many...

"I don't care, I don't care, okay. Fine, I won't move, just please, please let go of Blaine! You don't understand! Let him go! Please!"

The woman's hands around Blaine's wrists burned at his skin, her cloying good intentions sickening sweet as they pooled in his throat, choking him.

And then there was a lull. Brief, soft, terrifying, a numbing reprise bathed in flashing blue and red lights.

Blaine's eyes connected with Kurt's.

Kurt knew. Kurt could feel Blaine, and he knew. They were already pitching over the edge, unable to pull themselves back. This was just the realisation.

Last time, Blaine hadn't known what was happening. He had felt it building, but not known what it meant.

Until now, he hadn't realised how much of a blessing that had been.

Because this time he knew, this time he understood. This time he could watch as the dawning horror manifested behind Kurt's eyes.

Because this time, Kurt could feel it too.

The woman, and her misguided intentions.

The man, and his fear driven anger at Kurt.

Right thing, wrong thing, what if we're wrong, no this is right.

The police. The rookie who was out of his depth, the lieutenant following orders, his partner, who couldn't give a shit.

Stupid kids.

Other men. Not police, something similar. Full of detached professionalism.

Keep a handle on the situation, can't let it escalate.

And in the middle of it all was Kurt, the one constant in the storm.

Kurt's lips moved, but the world had faded out. Everything crashed together, and Blaine didn't have the strength to hold up to walls anymore.

I'm sorry Kurt...

The dam broke, emotions crashing together to blur into a blinding white noise that infected every one of Blaine's senses.

The sheer pain of it stole Blaine's breath, a curtain of darkness falling across his eyes as his hearing was flooded with static.

He needed the world to stop. That's all, just that one kindness, please.

Focus.

He couldn't, he couldn't focus. It wasn't that simple please please please make it stop.

-my voice-

Voice. Who's voice?

Blaine tried to pull himself out of the freezing tide, tried to focus on his limbs, tried not to drown.

It would be easier to drown.

-I'm here, I'm here, I'm here. I won't let you drown-

It's not that easy. It's never that easy.

-Yes it is. Focus. Focus Blaine, focus!-

Grit, rough under his hands. His hip hurt. Had he fallen?

-I've got you, I'm not letting you go-

Soft hands on his face, a gentle pressure against his forehead.

Emotions crashed angrily around them, but Blaine's couldn't feel them, they weren't in him.

Silence.

Not a drug induced stupor, but a genuine, pure silence.

Blaine opened his eyes in wonder, immediately falling into the pair of bright blue eyes an inch from his own.

Kurt's hands on his face. Kurt's forehead pressed against his own. Kurt's brilliant blue eyes.

Kurt's silence.

"Focus, Blaine. It's going to be okay. I'm here." Kurt maintained a murmured, determined mantra, pulling Blaine through the storm and into its eye of stillness and quiet.

Dimly, Blaine could see people just stopped, staring at them. In shock, disbelief, incredulity, Blaine didn't know what emotion.

He also didn't care.

"Hey..." Blaine croaked, surprising himself at the hoarseness of his voice. Had he been screaming?

Kurt's shoulders slumped, and his face broke into a beautiful golden grin of relief. "Don't you ever do that to me again. Don't leave me, Blaine."

Blaine reached up a hand, oblivious to the world outside their silence. He could still feel Kurt, the other boy's feelings fitting perfectly into the quiet, the only emotions Blaine cared about other than his own. He stroked his thumb over a small cut rising angrily against Kurt's pale cheekbone.

"Never."

TBC