Slow Fade

Chapter 11

Kurt felt crushed. He truly cared about Blaine so much and to see him in such obvious misery made Kurt feel like he wanted to hug him. He was also incredibly confused and really couldn't comprehend why Blaine had reacted so severely, and he wondered if he had done something wrong. The entire evening he spent wondering about Blaine and his weird mood change and after a restless night, he knew what he had to do.

"Blaine?" Kurt said into the phone when it stopped ringing.

"Hi Kurt," Blaine said pleasantly, not sounded upset at all.

"Are you okay?" Kurt asked hesitantly.

"Look Kurt," Blaine replied carefully. "I'm sorry for what I said and what I did yesterday. It was—a bad day for me, and I didn't mean it."

"Oh good," Kurt breathed. "You really scared me."

"Like I said I'm sorry," Blaine said regretfully.

For a moment Kurt wanted to ask what had been bothering Blaine but he didn't want to pry, so he changed the subject completely. "I just have to ask," he said. "Are you willing to go to Ohio?"

"I haven't been back in Ohio since I graduated from med school," Blaine said looking out the window of the private jet.

"It hasn't changed at all, believe me," Kurt replied.

"I remember being so happy to move to California," Blaine said. "It was so nice to finally be in a place where people don't turn their noses down at you just for being gay."

"I know what you mean," Kurt replied honestly. "High school was my own personal brand of torture, I swear half my wardrobe was stained from the slushies."

"Slushies?" Blaine asked, raising an eyebrow.

"At my school they used to throw slushies at the unpopular people, and since I was gay and in glee club I think I got it the worst," Kurt replied.

"If you could see them now they would probably regret picking on a celebrity," Blaine commented.

Kurt laughed and it turned into a snort. "I actually had that happen! One time one of my former bullies sent me a letter apologizing for high school and they had the audacity to ask for my autograph."

"Really?" Blaine's eyes sparked with amusement. "Did you give it to them?"

"I did actually," Kurt remarked. "But I think it probably ended up on e-bay."

"I would have told them take a hike," Blaine said. "Off a cliff."

"I had actually written out a witty retort that included some of that," Kurt said. "But my publicist thought that would reflect badly on me, so I took the high road."

Suddenly they heard the sound of the wheels going down and their conversation ceased as the small plane went in for a landing. Minutes later they had touched down successfully and the pilot taxied the small craft towards the terminal.

"Welcome to Toledo, Ohio. The local time is 4:30pm and the current temperature is 20 degrees. Thank you for flying with us," the pilot announced over the loudspeaker.

"So why did we fly into Toledo instead of Columbus?" Blaine asked curiously. "I didn't even know they had an airport."

"I always fly into Toledo because the airport is so small that is easy to avoid paparazzi, and besides Toledo is way closer to Lima than Columbus is," Kurt replied.

Everything went very smoothly from that point on. It took a relatively short time for them to exit the plane, get their luggage and find their rental car. Soon after that they were cruising down I-75 and made it to Lima in a little over an hour. As they drove through town Kurt pointed out different places to Blaine such as the high school, Breadstix, and The Lima Bean. After awhile they finally pulled up to the Hummel-Hudson house and Kurt put the car into park.

"Ready?" Kurt asked, looking at Blaine.

Blaine smiled and nodded and together they grabbed their luggage and walked to the door. Kurt reached for the handle and turned it easily and led Blaine into the living room.

"Kurt? Is that you?"

Kurt looked up and smiled when he saw his stepmother. "Hi Carole, good to see you."

The woman quickly hugged Kurt but before she could say anything else Burt entered the room. Kurt found himself hugging his father in an instant. No matter how old he grew he always felt like a little boy when he was in his father's arm. For a split second he wondered why he ever moved away, but common sense always reminded him of how much better it was for him to be away from conservative Ohio.

"How was your flight?" Burt asked

"Uneventful," Kurt replied, before turning to Blaine. "Dad, Carole, I would like to introduce you to Blaine Anderson."

"So you are the pretend boyfriend," Carole said, hugging Blaine quickly.

"Guilty," Blaine admitted, smiling faintly.

Burt studied Blaine hard for a minute before holding out a hand to shake. "Kurt told that you were his doctor, and now you are part of this whole crazy scheme."

Blaine nodded.

"This whole situation bothers me," Burt said. "It's not that I don't trust you, I just don't know you. So what exactly are your intentions with my son?"

Dad!" Kurt exclaimed in embarrassment.

Blaine looked at Burt straight in the eye before answering, "I consider Kurt a friend, and I would never do anything to consciously harm him or his career."

Burt looked at him and nodded, "Fair enough, let's eat."

Later that night Kurt stood outside staring up at the stars, and rubbed his hands together for warmth. The meal had gone well and Kurt found that conversations flowed and that Blaine fit in well with his family. It also reminded Kurt strongly about just how his feels for Blaine were starting to change. He really cared for the young doctor, so much that it actually physically felt like heartache sometimes. Kurt had been falling for Blaine for weeks now, and the truth was the Kurt had finally reached the point of no return. He was in love with Blaine Anderson.

Blaine had a great personality, was easy to talk to, and incredibly handsome, and truthfully Kurt never stood a chance. At the same time Blaine bottled up his own emotions sometimes and Kurt couldn't tell if the feelings were platonic or completely reciprocated. Now that they were pretending to be boyfriends it made it so much easier for Kurt to imagine a reality where it was real. At the same time he feared it could never really happen the way he wanted it to.

Suddenly Kurt heard the door open and he turned to see Carole standing there holding a thermos. She made her way towards him and held out the thermos to him. Kurt took it and took a sip of the hot chocolate inside.

"I know something is bothering you," Carole said. "You only come outside when you have something on your mind."

Kurt turned and looked at the woman who had become such an amazing mother to him in the time she'd been married to Burt. She could never replace the mother that Kurt lost as a child, but Carole had truly become a great confidant and sounding boards whenever he needed it.

"It's Blaine," Kurt said at last.

"You have feelings for him," she said matter-of-factly.

Kurt's eyes widened and Carole held up a hand to calm him. "You didn't make it obvious, I'm just great at reading people," she said. "Want to talk about it?"

Kurt sighed and took another sip of the warm drink, before speaking. "Blaine was my doctor and from the start he was always so kind while remaining professional. Now he's a good friend, the best even, and I feel as though he knows me better than anyone. I can tell Blaine anything, and the days I don't see him are days when I don't want to get out of bed. I don't know when I fell in love with him, it just happened. And now I'm terrified that he could never return those feelings."

Kurt paused for breath and realized that he was rambling the way he always did when he was nervous.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Carole said, smiling gently. "That man looks at you like you are the only one in the room, your father even noticed that."

Kurt looked at her confused and skeptically, but she continued. "I'm not saying that I know for sure what is in Blaine's head, but I do know that he cares for you. And Kurt never lose hope."

"Thank you," Kurt breathed, shivering slightly from the cold.

"Another thing," Carole said. "Tomorrow we have family coming in for the party, and sleeping arrangements are going to be tight. I was going to have you share your old room with Blaine since of course the rest of the family thinks you two really are an item."

Despite the chilly weather Kurt felt face flushing, "I better go let Blaine know."

The truth of the matter was making the media believe in his relationship with Blaine was easy, but the real test would be to convince the rest of his family it was real. And Kurt didn't know if he was up to the task.