"There you go Kurt, just take it slowly, there's no need to rush," Blaine soothed as Kurt was sat up in bed, trying to swallow his first mouthful of real food in over a week. It's only a small portion of mashed potatoes, but it's a start. Blaine rubbed Kurt's back in encouragement as Kurt winced at the feel of the food sliding down his throat and over his stitches, which were finally starting to dissolve.

"This sucks," Kurt huffed, the pain still evident on his face.

"I know, but it's a start," Blaine tried to sound upbeat, but it's hard to be when his partner is in obvious discomfort.

"Ok, I can't do anymore," Kurt sighed, falling back against his pillows after a few more mouthfuls.

"That's ok, you made a good start," Blaine grinned, pressing a kiss to Kurt's forehead, laughing at the way Kurt's nose scrunched up.

"You're scratchy," Kurt said in response to Blaine's week long growth adorning his chin and cheeks.

"So are you," Blaine grinned back, rubbing his finger along the curve of Kurt's jaw, his nail catching gently on his stubble.

"Yuck, I hate being scratchy, at least you can pull it off," Kurt huffed.

"Hey, I happen to like your scratchiness," Blaine grinned, leaning down to press a kiss to Kurt's lips, "But if it makes you feel any better, would you like me to do something about it tonight for you?" Blaine asked with that look in his eyes.

"Please," Kurt answered, pushing himself up slightly to meet Blaine's lips, "But why tonight? Why not now?"

"Eager are we?" Blaine asked with a wink, "No, I would love to do it now for you, but I have meetings today"

"With who?"

"The lawyers. We're meeting and mostly talking about the barber shop, then I'm meeting with the construction worker who's going to be renovating the shop and then after that I'm meeting a friend of mine to just go over the plans for the shop. He owns a shop so I want to make sure that I've got the layout set right. Designing the floor of a barber shop is a lot different to the floor of a salon," Blaine explained.

"Sounds like a busy day for you. I'm sorry I can't be there," Kurt said quietly.

"Hey, stop apologising for something that is out of your control," Blaine whispered as he pressed another kiss to Kurt's lips. Kurt moaned softly, bringing his hand up to thread in Blaine's hair. Blaine smiled at Kurt as he pulled away, Kurt's hands remaining in Blaine's hair, pushing his curls off of his forehead.

"You're getting very curly sir," Kurt stated, tugging at a thick curl above Blaine's left temple.

"I know," Blaine replied, nuzzling into Kurt's touch.

"And scratchy," Kurt said again as he ran his hand down Blaine's jaw.

"As you keep pointing out," Blaine laughed, pressing a final kiss to Kurt's forehead before standing up from where he was sitting on the bed, "I hate to leave you, but I really should get going, I have a couple of clients this morning before my meetings start and I have a feeling that they wouldn't appreciate it if I was late,"

"I don't think they'd mind, your clients love you," Kurt grinned.

"It's not that, it's the fact that I've been so hard to get an appointment with over the last month given your circumstances and all of the meetings regarding change of ownership and what not," Blaine shrugged as he pulled his shoes on.

"Be sure to apologise to them on my behalf,"

"Hey, what did I tell you not ten minutes ago," Blaine asked, pointing his other shoe at Kurt.

"Not to apologise for things out of my control," Kurt repeated with a smile.

"Exactly, besides, they were all very concerned when they heard that you were in hospital,"

"Then you can have the pleasure of telling them that I ate my first spoonful of mashed potatoes this morning,"

"My boyfriend, the over-achiever," Blaine grinned. Kurt felt his heart flutter at the word boyfriend and heat rise up his neck, almost a year together and Blaine was still able to make him blush by using that simple word.

"You love me," Kurt replied.

"That I do. I'll see you tonight,"

"And you'll help me with this?" Kurt asked, gesturing to his chin.

"And I'll help you with that," Blaine grinned as he blew Kurt a kiss and left the room. Kurt couldn't help the excited bubble of laughter that burst from his throat, only causing him to wince a little bit.

00000

"Kurt, I'm home," Blaine called out, opening their bedroom door many hours later, finding Kurt sitting up in bed and watching TV. Kurt glanced over at Blaine and smiled, turning back to the TV. It was then that he snapped his focus back to Blaine.

"There it is," Blaine laughed.

"You shaved," Kurt exclaimed.

"No, I was shaved," Blaine corrected with a wink, moving to sit on the bed next to Kurt.

"And you cut your hair," Kurt exclaimed again, his hand moving up to run through Blaine's shorter curls.

"Again, no, my hair was cut," Blaine huffed a laugh at the playful swipe Kurt took at him.

"Asshole," Kurt replied.

"But all laughing matters aside, what do you think?" Blaine asked.

"It looks good. You look good Blaine," Kurt smiled, moving to press a kiss to Blaine's newly smooth cheek, "Who did it?"

"You know my barber friend I was telling you about, down in Brooklyn," Kurt nodded, "Well I met with him this afternoon, he invited me down to go over the layout of my shop and see how his works. He offered to cut my hair and give me a shave, to show me the full experience,"

"He did a good job," Kurt smiled again, his hand still running through Blaine's soft curls.

"He did, it didn't quite feel the same as when you do it though,"

"I bet, no kisses," Kurt smirked.

"No kisses," Blaine nodded in agreement as he leaned in for a kiss.

"I kind of like this though," Kurt added.

"Like what?" Blaine asked, amusement obvious in his tone.

"You coming home after having your hair cut. Me not knowing when you have had it cut, or how it's going to look. You just turning up and surprising me. It's making my stomach go all swirly," Kurt gave Blaine a small smile before kissing him again.

"Why Mr. Hummel, does this get you going? Me turning up with freshly cut hair that you knew nothing about," Blaine grinned at the blush quickly forming over Kurt's cheeks as he nodded.

"You know what else gets me going?" Kurt whispered softly into Blaine's ear.

"I do," Blaine grinned, leaning in to pick Kurt up in his arms, he laughed at the giggle that escaped Kurt's lips as he moved them across the room before delicately placing Kurt down in his barber's chair, "I most certainly do," Blaine finished as he picked up the chair's headrest and attached it in place, encouraging Kurt to lie back as he repositioned the chair. Once Kurt was lying almost flat and the chair had been raised to Blaine's height, he picked up his black cape and threw it over Kurt, before moving to the bathroom to heat up a few towels and mix up his shaving cream.

Kurt sighed in content as Blaine placed a hot towel over his face, the smell of the shaving cream slowly filling the room. He felt Blaine place another, dry, towel on his chest before moving to sharpen his razor on the leather strop attached to the back of the chair.

Kurt shivered slightly as the, now warm, towel was removed from his face, but that was quickly followed by Blaine covering his facial hair with the shaving cream. Despite the ever present pain at the back of his throat, Kurt felt himself relaxing for the first time since he'd got out of the hospital. Every stoke of Blaine's razor seemed to lull Kurt closer to sleep.

Even with his eyes closed, Kurt could still see Blaine's face, tight in concentration as he expertly moved the razor over Kurt's skin, but still relaxed enough to smile every time Kurt made a noise of contentment.

Blaine's fingers were feather soft and his movements slowed as he began to reach Kurt' throat, not wanting to use too much pressure or too much and disturb the surgical site. Even though it was an internal injury, even the slightest touch to the outside of Kurt's throat could cause a bolt of pain to shoot through him, and Blaine really didn't want that to happen.

Kurt felt his body get heavier and his mind become cloudy as he drifted closer to sleep, eventually it was Blaine removing the cape that made him open his eyes.

"All done," Blaine smiled softly down at him, leaning forward to press a kiss to Kurt's smooth cheek.

"Thank you," Kurt smiled, followed by a yawn.

"You're very welcome, now let's get you to bed," Blaine said as he picked up Kurt, carrying him back to bed.

"Wait," Kurt whispered, grabbing Blaine's wrist before he moved away to change.

"What's wrong?" Blaine asked, his voice showing a hint of concern.

"Nothing," Kurt smiled, easing Blaine's worry, "Nothing," he repeated again, "I just want you here, but without this on," Kurt whispered as he sat up, his hands moving to unbutton Blaine's shirt before pushing it off his shoulders and discarding it to the floor, "And without these," he continued, his hands moving to the button of Blaine's pants, undoing it, shortly followed by his fly.

"Are you sure?" Blaine asked, now sitting on the bed in nothing but his underwear, Kurt's hand skimming up his neck, rubbing at the newly short hair there.

"Yes, I'm sure. It's been over a week and I just really want to feel you," Kurt said, his eyes darkening as they met Blaine's. Blaine shivered in anticipation before nodding.

"Ok, just let me know if I hurt you,"

"You won't," Kurt reassured him, his thumb rubbing over Blaine's cheekbone, before moving and pushing back though his hair, "The stitches are dissolving now which means that it's mostly healed. You won't make me do any damage to them,"

"Ok," Blaine whispered, moving to straddle Kurt's lap, leaning down to catch his moan his with his lips.

"I missed you," Kurt whispered into Blaine ear.

"I miss you too," Blaine replied, rolling his hips to keep in rhythm with Kurt.