Kurt wondered if either of them would make the return trip.

As soon as the train doors were closed behind them, Burt pulled his son into his arms and reached out to grab tightly onto Blaine's shoulder. Sue excused herself saying she couldn't take all the estrogen coming from their group hug. As she left for her room, she reminded them to be in the dining car promptly at 5pm to start their strategizing. Burt smiled weakly at Kurt and Blaine.

“I'm so proud of you boys. I love you both.” As much as he wished none of them were here, Burt knew they had to move forward from this point if one of them was going to win the Games and come home. “I'll give you some time to process everything. Meet me in the dining car when you guys are ready.”

Kurt was finally alone with Blaine for the first time since that morning. Already it seemed like a lifetime had passed since they sat together on Blaine's front porch. “What were you thinking?” Kurt immediately started in on Blaine.

“I'm going to keep you safe.” Blaine's response confirmed Kurt's suspicions that he had no intention of coming home. He had that stubborn look on his face that Kurt usually associated with choosing songs they wanted to sing together when no one was around.

“I don't want to be safe if it costs you your life.” Kurt was finally letting himself break down. There were no cameras here to see him cry. “How am I supposed to come home without you?” His body shook as the tears finally came. He let Blaine hold him, needing the security and safety he always found in Blaine's arms. Wishing they could stay like this forever.

“Kurt, listen to me. There's so much waiting for you back home. Think about your family and Rachel. They love you and they need you to come home. My father couldn't care less if I survive the Games. He's probably trying to decide whether to bet on me or against me right now. If you're not there, I have nothing in 12.”

“But you didn't have to volunteer! I would have tried to win. To come home to you.” It was an empty promise. Kurt knew the reality that the tributes from 12 hadn't made it some since his father's Games. But he didn't understand how both of them dying in the Games was supposed to be any better.

“Against Finn? Could either of you choose your own life over each other?” Blaine loved Finn like a brother, but he knew that the taller boy would have been an easy kill for one of the more vicious tributes who probably would have made the gentle giant suffer. It's good entertainment after all.

“So I'm supposed to choose myself over you instead? How is that any easier?” Just thinking about it, Kurt felt like his heart was breaking.

“That's just it. It doesn't matter what you choose, Kurt. I've already chosen you. It didn't matter whose name got drawn. As soon as they called yours, I made up my mind that I was coming with you.” Blaine knew that he'd have a hard time convincing Kurt to accept that he wasn't planning on making the return trip. But he also knew that he was going to do everything in his power to get Kurt home. And right now that started with a chat with Burt. “I need to go talk to your dad. You should grab Sue and meet us in the dining car. Neither one of us is going to win the Games without their help.” Kurt nodded and left to find Sue.

Burt hadn't bothered getting up to turn the light on. He'd been sitting in the dining car as it got steadily darker trying to gather his thoughts. He'd been remembering each pair of tributes he had mentored over the years. Each pair he'd failed. He knew Kurt was strong. Maybe not as physically strong as Finn, and definitely not like the Career tributes from 1 and 2, but he had a mental strength that Burt had always admired. Mental strength, compassion, and a survival instinct. They were admirable qualities, but they weren't how you won the Games. More often than not, they just made you a target for a more vicious and drawn out death at the hands of the career tributes. Burt knew his son's instinct was to protect others, not cause harm. How was he supposed to take a life? Especially now that Blaine was involved. Burt hadn't wrapped his head around that yet either. He'd come to know Blaine like a third son over the past few months, and as far as he knew Blaine possessed the same qualities as Kurt. A strong protective instinct, which is what drove him to volunteer in the first place, and something Burt could only describe as charisma. Blaine always seemed so articulate. So passionate and full of life. Now that was something that could be useful in the Games. Maybe not so much in the arena, but in the Capitol where gaining sponsors could mean the difference between life and death. Maybe that was his strategy. To move the crowd and use his people skills to advance him in the Games.

Burt was startled out of his thoughts when the overhead light flickered on. Blaine walked across the room and sat down facing him. He looked determined. “Kurt went to grab Sue, so I only have a few minutes to talk to you privately.” Blaine's voice had a quiet urgency to it, so Burt simply nodded for him to continue. “I grew up in the Capitol. I was raised on the Games. You see them differently when there's never been a chance of your name being called. I know what the audience is looking for. What sponsors are looking for. We can use that. If we work together, you and me, we can get Kurt to the end.” Blaine's voice rose a little as he spoke, and Burt's first thought was that this kid could sell a glass of water to a drowning man. Charisma. And passion. Blaine could have the Capitol audience eating out of the palm of his hand.

“You're right about the audience kid. The sponsors just want a good show. But you know my son as well as I do. He's not capable of taking a life.” Burt didn't want Kurt to suffer the nightmares he still faced even decades after his own Games. But it wasn't possible to win the Games without getting your hands dirty.

“Leave that to me. Once training starts, I want Kurt to focus on survival and defense skills. I don't want him trying to take on the other tributes. With any luck, they'll see him as an easy kill and worry about taking out the bigger competitors first. I know how to fight. I'll have Kurt's back in the arena.” It took a moment for Burt to identify what he was feeling. Hope. Blaine was giving him back the hope that he lost the second Kurt's name had been drawn. And it didn't feel like false hope. In an already unprecedented series of events, why couldn't Kurt stand a chance if they all worked together?

Their little pow wow was  interrupted by Sue and Kurt's entrance. Blaine moved so Kurt could sit next to him at the table, taking his hand as he sat down. Sue gestured at their clasped hands, “so tell me about this little romance you've got here. Preferably in a way that doesn't bore me.”

Blaine looked at Kurt who was wearing a shy smile. “We met the day I moved to 12 with my father. Kurt was walking by the train platform and stopped to help us unload our bags. We talked the whole way to my house.” He shrugged as if the beginning of their story was boring and unimportant compared to where they were now.

There was more to the story than that, but Kurt didn't blame Blaine for withholding some of the details.

Kurt hadn't actually been walking by the platform. He was a few streets over when he'd heard shouting and a pained cry, like someone had been hit. He ran over to the train just in time to see Blaine's father shove him from the train car where he tripped backwards over a suitcase and landed hard on his back. “We're stuck in this hole of a District for the next 5 years because of you, you ungrateful little shit!”

Blaine's father had been poised to kick him in the ribs when Kurt popped out from around the corner. “Do you guys need a hand with your luggage?” He stepped forward and offered Blaine his hand, pulling him to his feet. Blaine's father stormed off stating he needed to meet with the Mayor. Kurt helped Blaine gather up their suitcases and they started in the direction of town. Blaine seemed too embarrassed to speak, so Kurt decided to just be blunt. “Your dad's a bit of a jerk. At least he's keeping with the image of a Head Peacekeeper. He'll fit right in.” In an effort to start conversation with the boy, Kurt asked Blaine questions about himself, and told him all about growing up in 12. Not that there had been a lot of excitement in the District, but he felt like he needed to keep talking. They kept up their conversation the entire walk, learning a bit about each other. Kurt was impressed when he learned that Blaine had been able to sing in front of actual Capitol crowds. He had always dreamed of being able to perform, but there was no place for entertainment in 12. He told Blaine how he loved music and would love to someday be able to perform for a crowd.

“If you ever need an audience, I'd love to hear you sing.” Blaine realized that sounded a bit forward and he stumbled to elaborate. “I, uh I mean...What I meant was…”

Kurt cut him off. “I got it. And that'd be great! I'll bring my friend Rachel. She's pretty talented as well. You can meet my step brother that way too. You can give us all tips straight from the Capitol.” Blaine let out a laugh that stopped abruptly. They had reached Blaine's new house. His father was already on the porch with the Mayor.

“Took you long enough. This is Mayor Figgins. He wanted to introduce himself. I didn't realize you would be taking the scenic route or I'd have told him not to waste his time waiting around.” Blaine dragged the suitcase up the porch steps and shook Figgins' hand with a polite “nice to meet you.” Figgins returned the sentiment, and told Blaine's father he would arrange a meeting with the rest of the Peacekeepers first thing in the morning. He acknowledged Kurt with a nod as he left. Blaine thanked Kurt for his help in a defeated voice as he followed his father into the house.

Sue looked unimpressed by Blaine's brief statement of how they had met. Even Burt was surprised. Just minutes ago he had been thoroughly impressed by Blaine's ability to use words to evoke emotion and his potential to turn a crowd to his favor. Now the boy seemed to be struggling with some painful memory that prevented him from talking about it.

Kurt picked up on Blaine's discomfort and continued the story. “Well, I didn't have many friends at school, so it was great spending time with someone besides Rachel and Finn. There's not a lot of fun when you're the third wheel all the time. Blaine was immediately popular. He was from the Capitol so everyone wanted to know what it had been like to grow up there. And his personality is just so enthusiastic, people couldn't help but be drawn to him. He told me what it was like being gay in the Capitol and I remember wishing it was so accepted in 12.” Kurt smiled as he remembered how he felt when Blaine first told him he was gay. He'd never had a crush on someone where there had even been a chance of it being reciprocated. Kurt looked at Blaine and squeezed his hand tight, grounding him like he always did.

With that, Blaine seemed to have gotten his second wind. “I'd never met anyone like Kurt before. He was so passionate, original, and strong. I think that's what made me realize I was in love with him. He told me how he lost his mom when he was little and how he was bullied at school, and I admired how he chose to focus on the good things in his life. Like his family. And how he found an outlet through music. There's not really an opportunity to make a living with it in 12 like you can in the Capitol, but he still pursued it because it was an escape. The first time I heard him sing, well, I couldn't not fall in love with him after that.” There was that spark again. It was like a light switch. Burt had seen firsthand how just a look and a touch from his son had brought back the confident, dapper Blaine who had won all their hearts. It was then that he realized that the two of them were a package deal. All this time he'd thought it was Blaine who healed Kurt and helped him become whole again after dealing with so much pain growing up. But now he saw that they healed each other. He kicked himself internally for never once questioning Kurt about Blaine's life in the Capitol or his relationship with his father. He wondered just how much he really knew about the brave young man sitting across from him.

Sue seemed to have seen something as well. Burt recognized her scheming face as he poured tea for everyone. “We can work with this. I've been through the Games enough times to know that the audience just wants to be entertained. No one has ever volunteered from 12, so that makes you stand out. Blaine grew up in the Capitol, so they'll see him as one of them. And they'll eat this star-crossed forbidden lovers thing right up. I've been saying for years that the one thing the Games is missing is a little sex!”

Burt choked on his drink and laughed as both boys immediately turned red and dropped hands. He forgot that they weren't used to Sue's bluntness. “Don't mind Sue, kids. She's still bitter that the Capitol wouldn't let her marry herself.”

“Your resentment is delicious Hummel. But this isn't about me. It's about getting these love birds some sponsors and hopefully we can get one of them home alive after this is over.” There it was again. The not so subtle reminder that in order for one of them to win, the other one has to die. Burt remembered how broken Kurt had been when his mother died. Losing Blaine might not be something he could come back from. But it had to be better to have him alive and broken than dead in the Games, right?

The rest of dinner passed without incident as Sue kept gathering information about Kurt and Blaine's relationship. They never missed a beat in their responses, and any time one of them paused, the other jumped in and finished telling the story as if they shared a single brain. Before any of them realized how late it had gotten, the train was slowing down as it approached the Capitol. Blaine jumped out of his chair and dragged Kurt down the hall to the rear car of the train. The back wall was an enormous window that stretched from floor to ceiling. Kurt got his first look at the Capitol and saw the crowd that was waiting for them. “Follow my lead,” Blaine whispered in Kurt's ear as he faced the crowd with an excited smile and waved to them. Kurt could hear them cheering as he did the same. It was a rush to hear the crowd shout their names, although he noticed they yelled much louder for Blaine. Sue was right. He was one of them. The first Capitol son to participate in the Games. This audience was his.