Blaine fell off the map for the next week. He went to school, went home, occasionally went to Warbler practice, did his homework, and slept. He avoided Sebastian in every way possible- the hallways, phone calls, texts- he wouldn’t answer him. He couldn’t. Everything had happened so quickly at Sebastian’s house he hadn’t had time to think it through, but he knew it would be harder for both of them if they continued talking. He also knew how Sebastian had a way of getting into his mind and making him doubt all of his thoughts, so the only healthy thing to do would be to stay a safe distance away.

The other thing Blaine did was turn his phone off so he wasn’t tempted to talk to Kurt. It wouldn’t be fair to Sebastian or himself if he talked to Kurt while he was so confused about his emotions. For almost a year he’d spent every day with Sebastian, he’d shared everything with him, now he felt like he had no one to talk to. It made no difference to his family if he spent every night crying in his room, or if he skipped dinner every day for a week.

Some of the guys from Glee club had heard that Sebastian and Blaine had a fight. Once they noticed the boys not talking they knew it was pretty serious. Wes and David stopped Blaine from going home one Thursday after practice and convinced him to let them take him out for coffee.

Blaine was silent the entire drive there and once they bought him coffee and sat him down Wes tried to ease him into a conversation.

“I know you probably don’t want to talk about it...”

“But we’re here for you.” David finished.

Blaine gave them a fake smile and sipped his coffee. They stared at him sympathetically and he cringed. The last thing he wanted was to be bothered and interrogated at this time, even if it was by his friends trying to help.

“We talked to Sebastian...” Wes said, not really knowing how Blaine would react. Blaine’s face didn’t change, he just nodded.

Is that supposed to help? He thought.

“He really misses you. Like, he’s not mad at you or anything. I think he’s mostly just sad. It’s weird seeing him like that actually...” David rambled on until Wes pinched his arm and he stopped. Blaine’s eyes were watering and it was obvious he was struggling to hold back tears.

“I had to. You wouldn’t understand,” He finally said.

“Is it...about that boy?” David asked. Wes gave him a stern look and David whispered “What?”

“We weren’t supposed to say anything about that,” Wes whispered.

“I can hear you,” Blaine said, “What did Sebastian say it was about?”

“Well. He said there was another guy...”

Blaine shifted from sad to angry. “I can’t believe he is blaming me for this. Look. I appreciate the coffee but none of this is your business, okay? So please. I just need some time to myself. And I’d also appreciate if you didn’t talk to Sebastian about me,” Wes and David didn’t stop Blaine when he got up and left.

His car was back at the school, but he wasn’t really worried about it at the moment. The walk wasn’t impossible and he needed the time alone to think. Sebastian was still the same selfish guy who was blaming everything on Blaine to make himself look better. He was torn between wanting to go to Sebastian's house to confront him and never wanting to talk to him again. To cool off Blaine decided to walk into the closest store he saw, which was H&M.

He walked into the store and mindlessly began looking at clothes he wasn’t interested in. An employee asked him if he would like to go to the men’s section after he spent 10 minutes staring at a rack of skirts. He nodded and she led him down some stairs. She asked him if he was alright and when he didn’t respond she walked away. The truth was that Blaine felt empty. He hated and missed Sebastian at the same time. And among all of his torn emotions was a strange longing to see Kurt- to make things right with him, to see his comforting smile, to have someone to talk to.

Blaine caught his reflection in a mirror and gasped. His eyes were red and puffy, he hadn’t even realized he had been crying. He slapped his cheeks, trying to pull himself together when he saw the reflection of someone else behind him. Two people, actually.

“Hi...uh.. Blaine.”

“Hi,” He turned around to see Kurt standing in front of him with the Amazing-singer girl from Sectionals.

“Whoa,” Kurt said in response to Blaine’s face. Blaine sniffled and turned back around. Suddenly he didn’t want Kurt to see him like this. But Kurt put his hand on Blaine’s shoulder instead of walking away.

“Are you okay, honey?” The girl said. Blaine suddenly broke down crying again. Next thing he knew Kurt was escorting him out of the store and back around the corner to The Lima Bean where he had just been. They led him to a chair and sat him down, handing him napkins for tissues. Blaine was such a mess he didn’t realize that Wes and David were still sitting, unmoved, where they were before. The boys had spotted Blaine getting escorted in and were staring at them suspiciously.

“I’ll be right back,” Kurt said to the girl and walked away. She sat down across from Blaine and dabbed his cheek with a napkin.

“I’m Rachel.”

“Blaine,” Blaine said, blowing into a napkin, “Sorry we had to meet like this.”

“It’s okay. I feel like I already know you anyways,” She smiled.

Blaine looked up, “Really?”

“Sure. Kurt has talked about you. And then we watched you at sectionals. You were incredible, scared me for a second actually. I thought we might lose-” She could tell that it wasn’t the right time for that conversation. “So do you want to talk about it, What's wrong?”

Kurt returned with some toilet paper. “I usually prefer to use these as tissues. Napkins are pretty rough on the skin,” he said, handing the toilet paper to Blaine.

“Thank you.”

Kurt sat down next to Rachel and they shared a concerned look before Kurt spoke again. “Does this have to...is this about the break up?”

“How do you-”

“Facebook.”

“Of course. Um. Yeah. Kind of... It’s just been a rough week.”

“I really hope this isn’t about me, Blaine. Seriously. I am sorry about that call, I over-reacted.”

“No you didn’t. It was a terrible thing for him to do and I’m sorry. And no, this was a long time coming, if anything, that call helped me realize it.”

“Don’t apologize. I feel terrible. I had no right asking you to talk to him in the first place. It was none of my business-”

“It WAS your business, Kurt. You just wanted a safe environment to go to school in. And I tried to help...but he...”

“If I may?” Rachel interrupted, “Don’t feel bad, Blaine. We’re dealing with the bullying situation the best we can at McKinley, and that way Kurt can stay with his friends. It’s kind of a blessing in disguise, what happened. Cause none of us really wanted him to leave.”

Blaine looked at Kurt for reassurance and Kurt smiled. “Yeah, I’ll be okay. I promise. Let’s worry about you now.”

“No. I’m fine. I don’t really want to talk about it. I just-” He looked over and saw Wes and David staring directly at him. They quickly looked away.

Shit. They are going to tell Sebastian.

“Can you give me a ride to my school? My car is there.”

“Sure! I’ll drive!” Rachel said.

They arrived at Dalton a few minutes later and Blaine thanked Rachel for the ride and Kurt for the tissues and got out of the car. To his surprise Kurt got out out too and stopped him from walking away.

“Blaine, seriously. If you need anything call me or something. I really do feel terrible.”

“Okay, I will.” Blaine gave a half smile and watched Kurt get back into the car. He wondered why Kurt had hugged him that one time at Dalton but not at a time like this when he needed it most. Blaine got into his car with the strangest feeling of satisfaction and regret. He’d wanted to see Kurt but he knew that every time he saw him he felt guilty, even when he wasn’t with Sebastian anymore. He turned his phone on, wanting to see if he had any new texts from Wes or David.

Just then his phone vibrated. It was a text from Kurt.

Courage.