December 20

When Blaine opens his eyes, his arm is wrapped tightly around Kurt, and he can just see through the space between Kurt’s shoulder and his jawline, the soft blue of the ocean.  The sky is a light color too, indicating that it’s still fairly early in the morning.  He plants a kiss on Kurt’s neck.

Kurt is in bliss.  Dreaming about Blaine and him and their best dressed little girl with the dark curly hair, he smiles despite being deep in slumber.  He feels safe and comfortable.  It isn’t until he feels a kiss on his neck that he slowly opens his eyes, blinking at Blaine.

“Morning.”

“Morning.  How’d you sleep?”

“Amazingly well.  Did we really just sleep all of yesterday evening and last night away?”

“I could sleep the rest of this vacation away in this bed, wrapped around you.”

“I could be alright with that.”

“I am all for it.  But can I take my belt off?”

“You can take a lot more than your belt off.”

“Is that a request?”

“Maybe.”

“As you wish.”

Blaine untangles himself from Kurt and rolls onto his back, taking off his belt, which has been digging into his side all night.

Kurt rolls onto his back, sighing contently.

Blaine wiggles around, deciding that he’s still not comfortable enough, and sits up, pulling his shirt off and then stretching.

“So, what are we going to do today?”

“What is there to do?  We could relax on the beach or something.”

Kurt reaches over and ghosts his fingers across Blaine’s torso.

Blaine smirks, and leans back, propping himself up on his elbows to look at Kurt.

“We should go look for sea glass.  Or shells.”

“That sounds great!  You shouldn’t wear a shirt, though.  It’s warm enough.”

“Is that a request?”

“That’s one of my famous orders.”

“Ooh, yes sir.”

“Get up.  I want to get to the beach before there’s more people.”

Blaine gets off of the bed and stands there, staring at Kurt as he bites his lip.

Kurt swings his legs out of the bed.

“I... am going to check out the bathroom.  Take a shower, complete my skincare ritual...”

“Kurt, have you never been to the ocean before?  The air isn’t going to let whatever it is that you do to your skin, do what it’s supposed to do.  The second you step outside it’s going to go right back to how it was before.  Besides.  If you take too long in there, I’m just going to go out there alone.  And shirtless.”

“But my skin... I’m still taking a shower.  I spent most of yesterday on a plane and then I fell asleep when we got here.  You’d better still be here when I come out.”

“Totally going for a swim while you’re in there.  I know how long I have.  It’s plenty of time.”

“That sounds like a challenge.”

“Meanwhile, I’ll be outside in the ocean, you know... shirtless and whatever.”

“You can be so mean at times.”

“You’re wasting valuable beach time.”

“Ugh, you’re impossible.”

Kurt walks over to his suitcase and digs in it, pulling out a smaller bag and disappearing into the bathroom.

Blaine grabs his own suitcase, setting it on the chair and digging until his finds a pair of swim trunks, which he promptly changes into.  He peeks out the door, realizing that no one is out there yet, and steps outside.  Inhaling ocean air, he then lets out a huge sigh and heads down to the water.

Kurt finishes in the bathroom in record time and wraps his towel around him, opening the bathroom door and peeking out.

Blaine is in the ocean for a total of ten seconds before he realizes the he didn’t bring a towel outside with him.  He swims for a few minutes and then decides to head back inside.  It's still morning so, it's cold to him when he’s walking.  Soaking wet and practically covered in sand, he steps back into the hotel room.

Kurt grins when he notices that Blaine isn’t in the room and steps out of the bathroom, walking over to the patio doors and looking out.  He sees Blaine walking back and smirks.

"Look at you."

“Look at you.”

"What about me? Is it the sand?"

Blaine hooks his thumb in the waistband of his trunks.

Kurt’s fingers play with the top of his towel.

“Maybe.  What about me?”

"Oh, you... it's definitely the fact that I know what’s under that towel."

“Really now?  Well, I really want to go to the beach so you’re just going to have to wait.”

"Not fair."

“So fair.”

Kurt turns on his heels and marches back to the bathroom, pausing to dig his swim trunks out of his suitcase, and disappears behind the doors to change, smirking over his shoulder.

Blaine follows Kurt as he walks away, leaving wet footprints in the carpet.

When Kurt is changed, he comes out of the bathroom, smiling.

“I guess you already got to see it, but... ready to go?”

"That depends on what you mean by go."

“I mean, let’s go to the beach.”

"Oh, fine."

Blaine pouts a little and turns toward the door.

“Awww, don’t pout.  We’ll have fun!”

"There are a lot of shells out there."

“That’s what makes it fun!”

"The sea glass is my favorite.  Its just so cool how the ocean turns regular glass into that."

“Oh, I know!  It looks so beautiful!  I hope we find some.”

“We will.  And if we can’t, then we’ll go someplace that we can.”

Blaine turns and looks at Kurt, walking backwards and almost beckoning the other to follow closer.

Kurt feels a goofy grin spread across his face.

“‘Kay!”

He follows Blaine.

The sand is still cool, but it’s starting to warm up outside, and Blaine’s hair is starting to dry in it’s frizzy mess.

“C’mon.  The ocean is awesome.”

“Race you to the water!”

Kurt takes off running before he finishes speaking.

Blaine follows, laughing as he jogs through the sand.

“Should I just let you win?”

Kurt slows down, panting.

“Probably.  I’m not as fit as I used to be.  Sitting in an office does that to you.”

“You could box with me.  Though, it’s not really boxing as much as it is just hitting a punching bag with boxing gloves on.”

“Sounds like fun.  For you.  Maybe not so much for me.”

“It’s not that bad.  I mostly do it when I’m upset.”

“I figured.  Good stress relief, then?”

“Basically.  Punching things makes me feel better, I guess.”

“Fascinating.  Oh, the water’s a bit cool.”

“It’ll warm up when you swim a little more.  Come on.  You can see all the way to the bottom, even out there.”

Blaine reaches for Kurt’s hand.

Kurt takes Blaine’s hand and smiles as they walk out into the ocean.

“It’s incredible!  I’ve never seen anything like this!”

“Isn’t it?”

Once they’re out far enough, Blaine drops down into the water, pokes Kurt and treads water away from him.

“Tag.”

Kurt stares after Blaine and starts laughing, following after Blaine as fast as he can.

“I’m going to get you!”

“Oh, we’ll see.”

Blaine ducks under a small wave and swims out further.

Kurt swims after Blaine, determined to catch him.

Laughing Blaine slows down, treading water and pretending that he’s trying to get away.

Kurt manages to reach Blaine and reaches out to poke him.

“Gotcha!”

Blaine laughs and pushes toward Kurt, engulfing the other in his arms.

“Now who’s got who?”

“H-hey!  Not fair!”

“So fair.  Since tickling doesn’t work well under water, I’m going to do this.”

Giving Kurt a peck of a kiss on his chin, Blaine smirks.

Kurt raises an eyebrow at Blaine and ducks his head, giving Blaine a feather-light kiss on his collarbone, trying to still keep his head above water as he does so.

“Hey now, watch it.  You’re going to restart what you almost started earlier.”

“And what was that, Blainey?”

“Maybe I’ll just turn the tables on you.”

“You know that will never work.”

Blaine leans in and kisses lightly down Kurt’s neck.

“I... have... to... try...”

Kurt’s eyelids flutter closed as  he tries to control his breathing.

“You... won’t... win...”

“I... might... be... winning...”

Blaine kisses back up Kurt’s neck, and trails his nose along Kurt’s jawline.

Kurt twists his head and captures Blaine’s lips with his own.

Dropping his arms slightly, Blaine’s hands trail down Kurt’s torso and around to his back as he returns the kiss.

Kurt cups Blaine’s face in his hands as he kisses the other, starting to smirk.  Suddenly, he pulls back and attempts to dunk Blaine underwater.

Blaine doesn’t see the dunk attempt coming, and though he could easily stop it, he instead lets Kurt push him underwater, but not before shooting him a sarcastic, ‘that’s not fair’ look.

Kurt giggles and starts swimming away immediately.

Blaine surfaces and shakes his head, smirking and swimming after Kurt.

“That’s cheating.  You knew I was going to win.”

“You weren’t going to win.  I was going to win.  I was being nice to you and ending it before I won.”

“You didn’t even try.”

“Au contraire, Blaine.  I was trying.”

“Lies.  I don’t believe you.”

“I’m hurt that you don’t believe me!”

“I’m hurt that you didn’t try harder.”

“Maybe I’ll try harder once we get back to that comfortable bed?”

“Is that an invitation?”

“Maybe it is.”

“Well, I’m taking it as that.”

Blaine starts swimming toward the shore.

Kurt grins and swims after Blaine, anxious to kiss him again.

Blaine lets a wave wash him up onto the shore, and he jumps up before he can get a sand rash.

Kurt stumbles onto shore, helped along by a wave.

“Help me up?”

“How could I not?”

Blaine leans down and gives Kurt a kiss, and leans away, trying to use the kiss to pull him along.

Kurt leans with Blaine, trying to get up and failing.

“I am going to have sand everywhere...”

“I told you the shower was pointless.  We’re just going to have to take one together.”

Blaine smirks and holds his hands out to Kurt.

Kurt rolls his eyes and reaches up to grab Blaine’s hands.

“Shut up, I like being clean.  But having a shower together sounds great.”

Blaine pulls Kurt to his feet.

“Doesn’t it?  Nice... hot... water.”

“It’ll be so hot and steamy...”

“The mirror’s gonna get all fogged up.”

“We’ll just have to do each other’s hair, then.”

“Kurt, are you going to try and change my font?”

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.”

“I think I might go to the front desk and ask for some gel.”

“Nope.  No gel for you.”

“Oh, it’s not for me.”

“Pardon me?”

“If we’re doing each other’s hair, you know, I thought I’d play around.  It’s only fair.”

“Oh, god, what am I getting myself into?”

“I just sort of wanted to see the look on your face, actually.”

“Evil.”

"President.  I think the title of President automatically comes with the connotation of evil."

“Machiavelli much.  Better to be loved or feared?”

"I think I'd rather be loved, actually."

“Then you’d better start acting lovable.”

Blaine glances at Kurt and tries to hide the smile that wants to spread across his face.  He wraps one arm around Kurt’s waist and leans over, leaving a peck of a kiss on the other’s cheek.

“Kay.”

Kurt tries and fails to keep a straight face.

“You’re adorable.”

“Lovable?”

“That too.”

Kurt gives Blaine a peck on the lips.

Blaine smiles softly up at Kurt.

“Have I told you lately that I love you?”

“You may have mentioned it once or twice.”

“Well, I do.  Just in case that wasn’t clear.”

“I love you too.”

“So, we forgot to look for shells and stuff.”

“We did.  But we have a week.  And I really want a shower.”

“So do I.  We might have to share a towel though.  I didn’t look at how many there were.  I was distracted.”

“Lucky for you, I know there’s 4 towels in there.  One, I’ve already used.  So there’s three left.”

“So, if I hide two of them, then we’ll be forced to share one.”

“I guess so.  And now you’re going to go do that, aren’t you?”

“Yes.  But, it’s okay.  You can have the towel.  I’ll air dry.”

“Whatever you want.”

“Or, whatever you want.”

“We’re never going to get anywhere with this”

“Your present, you tell me what you want.”

“I want us to go have a shower together.”

“Lead the way.”

“Very well.”

Blaine falls behind Kurt a bit, following him.

Kurt walks back through their room and to the bathroom, turning to grin at Blaine.

“Ready?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Kurt smirks as they walk in the bathroom and he demonstrates the large walk-in shower.

Blaine walks into the bathroom behind Kurt, not really having paid any attention to it the night before or this morning.

“Plenty of room for two.”

“Why yes.  Yes there is.”

Anxious, Blaine bites his lip and lets his eyes trail down and then back up, admiring Kurt.

“Are we showering or admiring each other?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Blaine grabs the complimentary shampoo and conditioner, and the cute little bar of soap, drops his sandy swim trunks on the floor and steps into the shower, watching the sand start to wash down the drain.

Kurt follows after Blaine, half smirking.

Blaine dumps entirely too much shampoo into his hand, and turns toward the showerhead on his side of the shower.  He’s unable to resist the urge to sing, and breaks out into song.

“Hey I just met you

and this is crazy

but here’s my number

so call me maybe”

Kurt bursts out laughing as he washes his own hair.

“It’s hard to look right

At you baby

But here’s my number

So call me maybe”

Blaine smiles as Kurt sings, and rinses the shampoo out of his hair.  He adds conditioner.

“Hey I just met you

and this is CRAZY

but here’s my number

so call me maybe”

“You’re incredible.”

“Kurt, we’re in here to shower, not admire each other.”

Blaine rinses the conditioner from his hair, and reaches for the little soap, getting it wet in the water.

Kurt sticks his tongue out and stands patiently, the water running over him, looking expectantly at Blaine.

Blaine raises an eyebrow.

“What?”

“I need soap.”

“It’s in use right now.”

Blaine proceeds to lather himself up.

“I really can’t stay...”

Kurt seems to reconsider.

“It’s too warm for that song.”

Blaine smirks.

“It’s gettin’ hot in here

so take off all your clothes”

“Nice.”

Blaine beams at Kurt and turns back toward the water, rinsing the suds off of the bar of soap before turning to hand it to Kurt.

“You needed this?”

“Finally.  Thank you.”

Kurt sticks his tongue out at Blaine and begins to wash himself.

Blaine stands in the water, letting it rinse him off.  He peeks over his shoulder at Kurt.

Kurt is facing the opposite wall, so he doesn’t see Blaine sneak a peek at him.  He hums absently as he rinses off.

Blaine smirks to himself and remains on his side of the shower, humming a counter-melody with Kurt as he finishes rinsing off.

Kurt grins when he hears Blaine harmonizing with him.

Turning off his faucet, he raises his eyebrows at Kurt.

“I didn’t hide the towels.”

“I guess we get our own towels, then.”

“I can get you a towel.”

Blaine steps out of the shower and picks up a towel from the rack, tossing it to Kurt, and then grabbing another.  He presses it to his face for a second before peering over it.

Kurt quickly towels himself off, wrapping it around his waist and glancing over at Blaine.

Blaine takes his time drying off, catching Kurt looking at him.  He hides a smirk and quickly wraps his towel around his waist.

“That was efficient.  And boring.”

“It didn’t exactly go the way I thought it would when I thought it up.”

“You’re the one who was so strict about the admiring thing.”

“Point taken.”

“I’m gonna go lay down on that super comfortable bed.”

“I’m coming too.”

“Kay.”

Blaine leaves the bathroom, and walks the short distance to the bed, sitting on the edge and looking at Kurt.

Kurt follows to the bed and sits down beside Blaine, staring at the wall.

Blaine’s lips form a thin line as he bites the inside of his lower lip.  He looks away from Kurt.

“I’m hungry.”

“Oh, me too.”

His statement is a lie, and Blaine plays with a string on the comforter on the bed.

Kurt glances sideways at Blaine and stands up.

“I’m going to get dressed and look through the directory for where we can get food.”

“Okay.”

Blaine looks up at Kurt before turning and putting his feet up on the bed, leaning back into the headboard.

Kurt digs through his suitcase for clothes to wear, puts them on and grabs the directory, flipping through it.

“Want to order room service?”

“Whatever you want to do.”

“Okay... I’m ordering a sandwich.  What do you want?”

“Um... actually I’m not that hungry.”

Blaine waves off the lunch offer, scrunching his nose a little and shaking his head.

Kurt raises an eyebrow and goes to the phone to call room service, sneaking glances at Blaine every so often.

Blaine folds his hands in his lap and closes his eyes as he continues leaning on the headboard.

Once Kurt orders, he walks over to the desk and sits, looking between the door and Blaine.

“Are you okay?”

Blaine opens his eyes and looks over to where Kurt is sitting.

“Hmm?  Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure?  Okay...”

“Mhm.”

Blaine’s eyes drift to the window and he stares outside at no particular point.

When Kurt’s sandwich arrives, he sits at the desk with it, and slowly eats half.

“Last chance, I’m full.  Want the other half?”

Blaine shakes his head.

“Nah.”

Kurt frowns and pushes the plate away from him, starting to get concerned about Blaine.

“What else is there to do around here?  Since I’ve never been here before.”

“Oh, um...”

Blaine makes a thoughtful face and looks at the ceiling like there’s a tourist map painted there.

“You can go parasailing, rent jet skis, boat rides, there’s horseback riding on the beach.  I think there’s a lighthouse somewhere, too.”

“Oh.  Okay.  Maybe I’ll go find the lighthouse.”

Kurt walks across the room to the patio doors.

“... want to come?”

“Of course.”

Blaine offers a soft smile to Kurt and swings his legs off the side of the bed, heading toward his suitcase and digging out some clothing.

Kurt waits patiently at the door, staring at Blaine in concern.

Going through his things, he tosses his phone into the suitcase and picks up his wallet, feeling weirdly spacy at the moment.  He turns to Kurt, the same soft smile in place.

“Shall we?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Feeling distracted, Kurt turns and walks out, looking in both directions for any signs of the lighthouse.

Blaine tucks his hands in his pockets and walks a few steps behind Kurt, staring at him for a moment before looking at the ground.

“I’m not really sure where it is.  I just have a vague memory of it being here when I was a kid.”

“Oh.  Well, I guess we could walk around a bit.  I don’t really want to get covered in sand again, though.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Kurt starts walking in a random direction.

Blaine follows half a step behind Kurt, finding things to look at that aren’t Kurt along the way.

“It’s, uh, really turning out to be a nice day...”

“Hm?  Oh, yeah it is.  It’s nice and warm, how you like.”

“Yeah.  It’s nice to finally be somewhere that’s warm.  No cold, wet, eughy snow anywhere.”

Blaine shrugs.

“I still love the snow.”

“I still hate it.”

Blaine is suddenly even more silent.

Kurt falls silent and continues walking for a few steps.

“What all have you eaten in the past couple of days?”

Glancing up, Blaine’s face is confused.

“What?  I don’t know.”

“It’s just... I haven’t seen you eat.”

“Oh.  I’m just not hungry yet today, that’s all.”

“I don’t remember seeing you eat yesterday either.”

Blaine shrugs again.

“I don’t remember.”

“You need to eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know.”

“You can be honest with me.”

“I’m just not hungry.  I don’t have any other explanations.”

“Okay.  Fine.  Let’s just keep going.”

Blaine walks with Kurt, looking up at the other when he thinks he won’t get caught.

After a few more steps, Kurt stops again.

“This is the craziest thing I’ve ever done.”

Stopping when Kurt does, Blaine looks up.

“...Looking for a lighthouse?”

“Running away and going on an expensive vacation paid for by my boyfriend.”

“Oh.”

“I just... I’ve never done something like this before.  And all I can think about is how I’ve disappointed my father.”

Blaine is quiet, hands still in his pockets.  He tries to make himself smaller and as a result, seems to be tucking his chin downward.  

“I am... enjoying it... though.”

“...Maybe doing this was stupid.  I mean, your dad certainly isn’t going to be happy with me because I stole you for Christmas.  And everyone else is going to be angry too.”

Kurt looks at Blaine.

“I can deal with everyone.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that I feel bad.”

“Please don’t feel bad.”

“Easier said than done.”

“Suddenly I don’t really want to go see that lighthouse.”

Blaine takes a deep breath and bites his lip, nodding.

“I think I just want to relax.”

“Okay.”

“You’re seriously not joking when you say whatever I want, are you?”

Blaine shakes his head.

“Okay, fine.  I want you and I to go out for dinner tonight.”

“O-okay.  We can do that.”

“Good.  So, let’s go back and relax, I guess?”

Nodding, Blaine turns around, waiting for Kurt to start walking again.

Kurt turns around and starts walking back towards their room, confused about what was going on.

Blaine tries to stop himself from feeling guilty about taking Kurt away from his family on Christmas, and the fact that everyone is going to be mad at him when they get back.  He walks with Kurt back to the room.  Once they arrive, Blaine steps forward and opens the door for Kurt to go in first.

“Thanks...”

Kurt walks in, kicks off his shows and walks over to the bed, sitting on the edge.

Blaine closes the door behind himself as he enters the room after Kurt.  He also kicks off his shoes, but he just sort of stands there, trying to decide where to sit for a minute.

Kurt stares at Blaine expectantly, then shimmies back on the bed, sitting against the headboard.

Blaine crawls onto the bed, collapsing down into the fluffy down comforter with a sigh.

Kurt smiles and hesitates before draping an arm over Blaine.

Blaine smiles at Kurt’s touch, right into the blankets that partially cover his face.

Kurt closes his eyes and tries to drift off to sleep, but something keeps bugging him.

Blaine’s eyes are closed, but he’s nowhere close to sleep.  Though, he is very comfortable.

Kurt cracks an eye open and glances at Blaine.

Blaine appears to be sleeping, except for the fact that he’s chewing on the inside of his lip.

Kurt quietly slips off the bed and walks over to the desk where his phone is sitting.

Blaine keeps his eyes closed and listens to Kurt walking.

Kurt stares at his phone and debates whether or not to check it.

Blaine is actually having trouble staying awake, and starts to drift to sleep.

Kurt glances back at Blaine.

Blaine sighs in sleep.

Kurt relents and turns on his phone, waiting as all of the messages flood in.

Kurt, I found out how to text on this phone Finn got me.  Can we talk?

Kurt, I haven’t heard from you

Are you okay, Kurt?

I’ve called and been ignored.  I’m not really happy about this, Kurt

You may be an adult but I’m still your father.

Answer me, Kurt

KURT HUMMEL IF YOU DON’T ANSWER ME I’M GOING TO KILL YOU WHEN I SEE YOU

Kurt.  Elizabeth.  Hummel.  YOU ANSWER ME!

Fine, I thought we were best friends

Your dad’s worried sick

Finn’s worried sick

I’m worried sick

Butts

Okay, I thought that would get a response

I’m mad at you

Dude, I know you’re on this super awesome trip or whatever, but Rachel and your dad are going nuts

Could you just reply, like, once?

Could you let me know you’re okay, dude?

Kurt, come on

Rachel just texted me freaking out and saying that I should text you

Why aren’t you answering people?  I know we’re not on the best of terms, but really, you shouldn’t ignore your friends...

Okay, I get it, you’re ignoring me too

Hey, Kurrrrrrrrrrrrt, there’s gonna be this awesome party New Years Eve at my place.  You and your boyfriend are invitedddddddddd

Why aren’t you answering me?

Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurt

K fine I thought we were friends.  You’re not invited anymore.

I WAS JOKING YOU’RE TOTALLY INVITED, JEEZE MAN JUST ANSWER ME

Kurt?

Hey Kurt!  I just got a text about Chandler’s New Year’s party.  Are you and Blaine going to be there?

It’d be really cool to catch up and get to know Blaine.

He seems really cool, btw.

Kurt?

Okay, well, when you get a chance, let me know about the party!

Kurt, where are you?  Rachel’s worried sick.  I’m pretty worried too, actually

I mean, we know where you are.  But why won’t you answer anyone?

We get it.  You had some magical reconciliation with Blaine (Rach told me the story) but still you should talk to people

Please answer me

We’re friends, right?  Why aren’t you answering me?

So.  Word travels fast in the city.

I heard Blaine went after you, back to Ohio.

How’s that going?

I mean, I noticed that neither of you are back in NYC.

Don’t forget that you can always talk to me about anything.

I’m here for you if you need me.

But, good luck in whatever’s going on.

Blaine is sleeping, though not heavily enough to sleep through the incoming text message blasting sound coming from the direction that Kurt had gone in.  He listens as several more messages come in, wondering why Kurt turned his phone on in the first place.

Kurt frowns as the multitude of messages flood in, amidst several emails and voicemails.  Glancing over at Blaine, he tries to decide whether to actually look at the messages or not.

Blaine suddenly feels the need to sneeze, and he absolutely cannot hold it in.  The sneeze escapes, and he looks up, glancing back and forth and then at Kurt, like he’s been caught doing something bad.

“Bless you.  You’re awake?”

“Guilty.”

“This probably doesn’t look good.”

Kurt is holding his phone.

Blaine looks at Kurt expectantly.

“I really have no explanation.  I just wanted to see what kinds of messages I was getting.  I wasn’t going to reply to any of them.”

“It’s okay, really.  I know there are a lot of people out there, back in Ohio and New York that are worried about you.  ...I am the bad guy here.  I’m going to have to spend the next forever convincing them that I’m not a jerk.”

“I’ll take care of it.  I promise.  You’re not a jerk and I’m going to make sure that they know I had a choice in the matter and I chose to come with you.”

“They’re still going to hate me.”

“They won’t.”

“Your dad isn’t going to be happy.  Rachel’s going to be mad too.”

“I.  Will.  Deal.  With.  Them.”

“Okay... okay.”

Blaine looks down at the blankets, trying to sink into the bed.

Kurt looks down, feeling awkward.  Sliding his phone discretely into his pocket, he bites his lip.

“I’ll be right... back...”

He nods towards the bathroom door.

“Okay.”

Blaine’s response is muffled by the blankets, but he watches Kurt head for the bathroom.

Kurt walks into the bathroom and locks the door, sitting down against the wall.  He stares at his phone for a bit.

*Incoming call*

~”Well, hello.”~

~”Hey Wes.  I... I need to ask you something.”~

~”It must be important if you’re whispering.  What can I do for you, Kurt?”~

~”What’s significant about Blaine not eating?  Anything?”~

~”Oooh, he’s not eating?  That’s interesting.  What did you do to him?”~

~”N-nothing.  I haven’t done anything.  What... why wouldn’t he be eating?”~

~”See, when something is really bothering him, or he’s really upset about something, he doesn’t eat.  When Eli broke up with him, he didn’t eat for a really long time.  I seem to remember that happening since then too, at least once.  He doesn’t realize that he’s not eating, because he doesn’t think about it.  He’s focusing on whatever’s making him upset.  Let’s see... you left for Ohio when?  Saturday morning?  Bright and early?  Chances are, he hasn’t eaten since then.”~

~”......................oh...”~

~”Yeah, that day he broke his hand when he followed you from the coffee shop and then realized he was stalking you... when he punched the trash can?  I know he didn’t eat for a couple of days then.”~

~”....................................I... didn’t know...”~

~”Well, why would you?  It’s not like he goes around saying, ‘Oh, I haven’t eaten for a week.’  He just says he’s not hungry.  And tends to agree with just about everything people say.  I lived with him for like, three years.  You pick these things up after a while.”~

~”Thanks for letting me know.  I think I’m going to go talk to him.”~

~”Of course.  Tell him I said hello.  Oh, and Kurt?  Don’t be a stranger.”~

~”Yeah. Sure.  Of course.  Bye.”~

~”Bye, Kurt.”~

Kurt hangs up and just sits for a minute, leaning his head against the wall.

Blaine rolls over onto his back and stares at the ceiling.

Kurt gets up, unlocks the door, and leaves the bathroom, going back to the desk and sitting there.

Blaine looks over at Kurt, just for the sake of looking at his boyfriend.  The tiniest hint of a smile twitches onto his lips.

“Is everything okay?”

Blaine glances away.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be okay?”

He glances back when he’s finished speaking.

“I don’t know... just... you seem off...”

“Oh.  What do you mean?”

“You seem upset about something.”

Blaine looks to the ceiling like he’s thinking.

“Oh.”

“Is it about me leaving for Ohio?”

Blaine swallows, shaking his head the tiniest bit.

“What?  N-no.  I’m not... upset.  I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“....Yeah.. yeah.”

“Alright...”

Kurt turns and stares down at the desk.

Blaine turns his head to face the wall, swallowing again.  In his own little way, this is like hiding from Kurt.

Kurt frowns, facing away from Blaine.

“I love you.”

Blaine’s almost successful in sounding normal, but his voice betrays him at the very end.

“Love you too.”

Kurt says it as quickly as he can, his voice catching.

At Kurt’s response, Blaine sits up and looks over at where the other sits.

“What?  What is going on?”

“Nothing.  Nothing’s going on.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Blaine bites his lip and pulls his knees to his chest.  His right hand clenches and unclenches absently.

“Can you see the clock from where you are?”

“Huh?  Oh.  Yeah.  It’s five after one.”

“Okay.”

Blaine suddenly gets off of the bed and heads to his suitcase, grabbing a pair of gym shorts.

“I’m going to go to the gym.  Or something.”

“Okay.  I’m going to relax on the patio.”

Blaine nods in response and isn’t even out the door before the tears start to fall, but luckily he’s facing away from the room at that moment.  He heads across to the other building and into the door that’s marked as the hotel’s gym.

Kurt watches Blaine leave.  As soon as the door closes, he squeezes his eyes tightly shut, trying to stop the tears from falling and failing.  Getting up, he walks to the patio and sits on one of the lounge chairs, staring out over the ocean.

Blaine uses the restroom in the joke of a gym to change into his shorts, not even bothering to fold his other clothing before he exits and tosses it at the wall.  Using someone else’s gloves was gross, but using a hotel’s was disgusting.  And, he saw the punching bag, but not the gloves, anyway, so he decided just to go without.  He didn’t even bother stretching at all and just started punching, right through the tears that continued to fall.

A few minutes into sitting on the chair, Kurt suddenly lets out a loud sob and just lets himself cry for several minutes.

It’s about a half hour later that Blaine finally comes back to the hotel room.  His hands hurt, and his face is tearstained.  He’s still wearing the gym shorts, and he carries his other clothing in his arm.  Pushing open the door, he looks for Kurt.

Still sitting on the lounge chair outside, having grabbed the latest edition of Vogue to read through again, Kurt is so focused that he doesn’t hear Blaine.

Blaine drops his clothing on the floor near his suitcase, closing the door at the same time.  He spots Kurt’s feet on the lounge chair outside and heads in that direction.  Hugging his arms to himself as he gets to the door, he doesn’t announce his presence until he speaks.

“...Hey.”

Kurt jumps when he hears Blaine’s voice but doesn’t turn to look at him yet.

“You’re back.”

Blaine notices that Kurt is just sitting there reading Vogue, and wonders to himself what’s going on.

“Yeah.  I am.”

“Did you have fun?”

Kurt still isn’t looking at Blaine.

Blaine looks at his split open knuckles.

“I guess.”

“You weren’t gone very long.  Was it busy?”

“No.  I was the only one in there.  I just... had to stop.”

“Because...?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“Okay.”

Blaine turns back inside and avoids sitting on the bed, so that he doesn’t have to pay for a comforter because he got blood on it.  He goes into the bathroom and stands at the sink, waiting for the water to warm up.  Once it does, he puts his hands into it, wincing at the stinging sensation.  He’s unsuccessful in keeping the mess in the sink, and instead, there are little splashes of red water all over the white countertop.

Curious, Kurt gets up and walks after Blaine a moment after he leaves.  Standing in the doorway of the bathroom, he furrows his brow, seeing the splashes of red.

“What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re bleeding.”

“Thanks for noticing.”

“Harsh.”

“Yeah, well.”

Blaine shook his hands over the sink, looking for something to dry them on that wouldn’t be a huge deal if he ruined.  Not finding anything, he turned to the other side of the bathroom, looking there too, hands held palms up in front of him.  A frustrated look appears on his face.

Kurt frowns.

“What’s gotten into you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re being short.”

“I don’t have much to say.”

“Oh?”

Blaine looks at the floor and, hands still out in front of him, pushes past Kurt and to his suitcase.

“Y-yeah.”

“Why don’t you talk to me?  Do you know why I do the ‘make you tell me what’s wrong’ thing?”

Blaine is carefully digging through his suitcase and glances at Kurt in response, then back to the clothing.

“It’s so this doesn’t happen.”

“So what doesn’t happen?”

“Me being completely confused about how you’re feeling.”

“It doesn’t matter how I’m feeling.”

“Yes it does.  We’re together.  We need to talk about our feelings with one another.”

“You wanna talk about feelings?  How about the feelings I had when you didn’t give me a chance to explain?  Yeah, we’ve been through this already but, Kurt, it’s still killing me.  I... chased you through the airport.  I... almost... got arrested trying to sing to you cause you ran away and I needed you to understand.  You randomly did some thinking and texted me after I’d already made my mind up about going back to New York, and I should have gone back.  I should have.  But I can’t stop myself.  I need to be around you.  I hate when you won’t talk to me, and when there’s... stuff... between us that I can’t control.  You wanna know how the gym was?  It was great.  I punched a punching bag with no gloves on for a half hour.  Then, when I came back, you didn’t even look at me.  Oh, and yeah, don’t worry about how everyone’s going to hate me when we get back.  You’ll take care of it.  Cause that’s going to stop your dad from coming after me with a shotgun, or Rachel from pregnant-hormone-murdering me.  Kurt, I don’t have a lot of people, and they’re all related to you now, the ones I do have.  I should have made you stay in Ohio.  And I should have gone back to New York and just waited.”

“I don’t know what to say, Blaine.  This whole vacation so far has just been... weird.  I thought we had figured things out from Friday night, but apparently not.  I hate it.  I hate there being tension between us and I hate it when you bottle it all up inside.  I’ve been asking you all morning if you were okay and you’re only just now talking to me?  It bugs me that you couldn’t talk about this with me.  I gave you opportunities.  And while we’re doing this, we could have avoided all of this had you just been a little bit more patient when I was talking to my friend.  Then we would have gone up to your apartment together and you wouldn’t have ended up in the arms of Eli!”

Blaine shakes his head, still looking down at the suitcase.

“Yeah, because I was super interested in standing around, listening to some guy talk about getting the gang together and boy bands.  Right.”

“He’s my friend!  We were catching up!  The way friends do. So what if I liked to hang out with my friends before I met you?”

“Sorry I came along and took away your hanging out time with your friends.”

“You’re the one I like hanging out with the most, though!  Why are we even fighting about this?”

“I don’t know.  I can’t think.”

“That would be because you haven’t eaten in a week.”

Blaine looks up then, the look on his face almost confused.

“What?”

“You’re not eating, Blaine.  And W- I know that because you don’t eat when you get upset.”

“I eat.  Just because I’m not hungry right now doesn’t mean I don’t eat.”

“What have you eaten in the past two days?”

Blaine glances away, obviously thinking about Kurt’s question.

“...I don’t know.  What difference does it make what I ate?  I don’t remember things like that.”

“You’re scaring me, Blaine.  You need to eat.”

“I’m not anorexic, Kurt.  I eat.  You’ve seen me eat.  Just because I’m not hungry right this second doesn’t mean I’m in some kind of trouble.”

“I haven’t seen you eat since I found you in the airport.”

“What are you talking abo-”

Blaine cuts himself off as he suddenly realizes that Kurt is right.

“Why are you being so defensive?”

Kurt crosses his arms across his torso, staring at Blaine.

Blaine’s eyes stare into his suitcase as he tries to come up with something to say.

“Please talk to me?”

It’s a whole minute before Blaine says anything, and when he does, his voice in almost in a whisper in order to hide the emotional exhaustion he’s feeling.

“I should have gone back to New York.”

“That’s all you’re going to say?  Fine.  I should have stayed in Ohio, if that’s how you feel.”

Blaine finds a t-shirt and pulls it over his head, not saying anything in return.

“I think I’m going to go out for a walk alone.”

“Oh.”

Still not looking at Kurt, Blaine nods and motions to the door as though he’s presenting it.

Kurt swallows hard and walks past Blaine and out the door, not looking back.

Blaine looks at the door as it closes, and swallows the knot in his throat.  He is too tired to cry, and he glances around the room, the silence starting to get to him as he stands there.  His eyes land on his cell phone, which is turned off and tucked in the mesh lid section of his open suitcase.  Kurt had a lot of people worried about him.  Maybe Blaine had some messages too.  He powers his phone on and listens as Kalamazoo plays over and over and over until he stops it.

Blaine.  Anderson.  You.  Are.  So.  Dead.

Oh, so you’re not answering me either?

You stole Kurt

His father’s freaking out.

I’m freaking out

Finn’s freaking out

Why aren’t you answering me?

I hate you

I can’t believe I spent all Saturday with you

Horrible person

You are a horrible person

Dude, this is Finn

Rachel asked me to text you.  Is everything okay?

You’re not answering?

I guess we’re not really friends, anyway...

Seriously, I want to get together if you’re going to be in town.

I fly in on Tuesday and I’ll be there for two weeks.

Blaine?

Okay, well, I guess when you get this, let me know.

Hey, Blaine?

Hello?  Are you there?

Rachel wanted me to text you.  Apparently you’re not answering anything?

What’s going on?

Blaine?

Blaine stares at the messages for a few minutes, particularly Rachel’s messages.  Specifically the one stating that Blaine had stolen Kurt.  His mind starts to wander and he finds himself scrolling through his phonebook for someone to talk to.

Hey.  I need to apologize.

Who is this?

You deleted my number.  Fair enough.

This is Blaine.

Of course I deleted your number.

Now go away and don’t text me.  I don’t want to hurt anymore.

I don’t want to hurt anyone.  I just want to apologize.

Eli, I’m so sorry for treating you like that.  It was very sweet of you to try and surprise me, flying all the way to NYC for Christmas.  I probably wouldn’t have freaked out as much if Kurt hadn’t been on his way upstairs.

I’m not sure I can accept your apology.

You don’t have to forgive me.  

But, can you at least accept it?

I just...

Nevermind.

You just what?

Nothing.

Blaine, I dated you for five years, I know that it’s not nothing.

Are you okay?

Blaine?

It’s nothing.

Blaine... when was the last time you ate anything?

Why does everyone keep asking me that?

Why is what I eat suddenly so interesting?!

Where are you?

I’m in Florida.

You hate the beach.

But Kurt doesn’t.

I’ll pretend I didn’t see that.

Why are you in Florida?

Kurt saw you kiss me.  He flew home to get away from it.  I followed.  We decided to run away for a week for Christmas together and turn off our phones.

Doesn’t seem to be working too well.

I don’t know what’s going on.  I feel like I’m going to implode.

Just breathe.  Eat something.

I’m not hungry.  And I’m considering coming home.  Early.

...Okay...

Blaine, I’m worried about you.

Don’t be.  I’m fine.

Promise me something?

Depends what it is.

Promise me that if you go home, you’ll tell me.  Just so that someone knows.  And promise me that you’re going to eat something.

Fine.

[5 minutes later]

Eli?

Yeah?

I miss you.

And thank you.

You’re welcome.

I miss you too.

By the end of the text conversation with Eli, Blaine is sitting on the floor, leaning against the side of the bed, his knees pulled to his chest.  He scrolls through available flights home.

Kurt scrolls through flight options on his phone as he walks aimlessly through the resort, trying to collect his thoughts.  The only thing he knows is that he has to go home.  To Lima.

Rachel, don’t hate me

KURT HUMMEL YOU’RE ALIVE!

I am going to murder you

Why haven’t you been answering your phone?

Because Blaine and I were trying to have a phone’less vacation.

But things went bad, really fast

I’m coming home

What?

*Incoming call*

~”Kurt!  What’s going on?”~

~”I don’t know, but... Blaine and I... it’s like we’ve lost it.”~

~”I... Kurt... So you’re serious about coming home?”~

~”Yes.”~

~”Just... just let me know which flight you’re on and I’ll be there.”~

~”You’re my best friend, Rachel.”~

~”I love you, Kurt Hummel.”~
~”Love you too... talk to you later...”~

~”Take care...”~

Kurt hangs up and stares down at his phone where the perfect flight is displayed on the screen.  Taking a deep breath, he turns and starts walking back to the room.

Blaine stares at his phone.  A flight from Marathon to Charlotte, and then Charlotte to JFK would be leaving at 5:50.  If Blaine packs now, he can make it.  It was just a matter of leaving.  Leaving Kurt behind.  He decides he can’t do that, and stares at his now-booked flight back to New York.

Kurt finishes booking his flight to Ohio just as he comes to the door of their room.  Walking in, he stops in the doorway, looking at Blaine, frozen.  He doesn’t know how to break it to the other.

Blaine looks up as the door opens, feeling guilty.  He opens his mouth like he’s going to say something, but never does, just letting his lips stay parted as he stares up at Kurt, guilt very apparent in his eyes.

“... What’s wrong...?”

“...Everything.”

“What do you mean?”

Blaine looks down at his knees, still pulled up in front of him.

“I... I just booked a flight back to New York.”

“You did?”

“...I did.  I’m sorry, Kurt.  I’m just... I don’t know.”

“I just booked a flight back to Ohio.”

“You did?”

“... Yes... I just... I’m not going to say it was a mistake coming here with you because it wasn’t.  But I wasn’t prepared for this.  And I really just want to be with my Dad right now.”

Blaine nods and holds in the enormous sob that’s trying to escape.

“No, it’s okay.  I knew it wasn’t going to be... I mean, it’s fine.  I’m going to go back to New York and make sure I’m scheduled in the right classes and take care of some other things.  It’s f-fine.”

“Okay.  I need to pack.  My flight is at 5:50.”

“Yeah.  Me too.  Mind if I change quick?”

“Yeah.  Sure.  I’m going to start packing.”

Blaine gets up, tossing his phone onto the bed, and walks to his suitcase, pulling out a pair of long pants and a long sleeved shirt, and turns, heading into the bathroom, closing and locking the door as he changes.

Kurt stares as Blaine goes into the bathroom and bites his lip, focusing on packing his suitcase.

Blaine changes his clothes, trying to keep himself calm in the process.  A few minutes later, he emerges from the bathroom, gym shorts in hand, and heads for his suitcase.

As Kurt packs, he hums a bit, then sings one line.

“I really feel... like I’m losing my best friend...”

Thankful for the cover of being bent over his suitcase, Blaine is unable to control the tears that fall into his messy jumble of clothing, and he chokes back a sob, regretting that it actually makes a noise in his throat.  He shoves his clothing into the suitcase, not paying any attention to where anything goes.

Kurt quickly packs and straightens up.

“I guess since it’s in your name, you need to check out?  I guess I’ll go find a taxi, then.  I’ll talk to you later, Blaine.”

Blaine nods and hides his face from Kurt by simply looking down as he slowly zips his suitcase.  He mouths the word, ‘Okay.’

Kurt blinks and turns, quickly walking out the door, dragging his suitcase behind him.  He goes to the main entrance of the resort and finds a taxi to take him to the airport.

Blaine spends a few minutes just sitting there on the floor staring at his suitcase before he stands up, grabs his phone from the bed, where he pauses to stare and remember the night before, then turning and pulling his suitcase behind him to the main building, where the clerk behind the desk smiles all too happily at him.  Somehow he manages to get a refund on the remainder of the unused days before everything is said and done, and soon enough he’s hailing a cab and heading to the airport.

A few hours later, Kurt is just settling into his seat on the plane.  He has the window seat, and is staring out the window.  His seatmate hasn’t arrived yet, and quite frankly, he doesn’t care.  He’s content to just stare out the window the entire time and not say a word.

Blaine finally steps onto the plane, entirely too ready for this whole thing to just be over, and just to be back in New York, locked in his apartment, safe.  He boards with a group of others, his eyes glazed over and weirdly wide and unfocused as he finds his seat, sitting down, and not even realizing that his aisle seat means he can’t sleep on the window like he usually does.  He stares at the seat in front of him, not pulling out the Sky Mall that’s shoved in the pocket.  He doesn’t even adjust himself from how he originally sat down.  He buckles his seatbelt and leans back closing his eyes.  He’s not tired, but it sure feels like he’s dreaming.  He can picture himself with Kurt in that stupid bed with the stupid down comforter.  And Kurt’s stupid scent.  That vanilla.  He swears he can smell it.

Kurt is staring out the window when he hears someone sit down next to him.  He doesn’t look to see who it is and simply sighs, humming Teenage Dream absentmindedly to himself.

Definitely sure that he’s having a dream right now, Blaine hears music.  Singing?  Humming?  It’s that song.  He hums along with it.

Raising an eyebrow to the window, Kurt finds himself grinning.  His seatmate knows their stuff.  Perfect harmony.  He blinks once and continues humming.

Blaine almost smiles to himself.  This is so much better than two hours ago.  It isn’t long before the flight takes off, and Blaine is still sitting there with his eyes closed and his head leaning on the back of the seat.

Kurt continues looking out the window, trying to relax.  He can’t bring himself to admit it, but he already misses Blaine.  Soon enough, the flight attendants start bringing around the complimentary drinks.

The flight attendant stops next to Blaine, who cracks an eye open at her as she asks if he’d like anything.

“No, I’m not hungry.  Or thirsty rather.  Sorry.  Thanks.”

Kurt’s head snaps around at the voice, his eyes wide.

“You... you’ve got to be kidding me...”

Blaine stops breathing for a second, glancing over to his seatmate, who has turned out to be Kurt.  He stares wide-eyed and turns to the flight attendant.

“Actually, water, please.”

“A coffee.  Please and thank you.”

The flight attendant hands Blaine a little plastic cup with ice in it and a small bottle of water, then pouring coffee into a cup for Kurt, holding it out for him to take with one hand and the other hand holding out a small container with sugars and creamer packets.

Kurt awkwardly reaches past Blaine, taking his coffee and container.

“Thank you.  Again.”

Blaine nods a thank you to the flight attendant, who is already helping someone else.  He stares at his cup and mini bottle in his lap, feeling incredibly awkward.

“The universe has a weird sense of humour.”

Blaine half-laughs.

“I’ll say.”

“What are the chances?”

“Slim to none.  I thought you’d be long gone by now.”

“This was the best flight for me.”

Nodding, Blaine puts his tray down, and sets his cup and drink on it.  He digs out the Sky Mall magazine from the pocket on the seat in front of him and starts to flip through it, wishing that he were anywhere else.

Kurt turns back to the window, feeling awkward.

Ten minutes go by and Blaine is still looking at the Sky Mall magazine, and very slowly sipping at his water, which he’s poured over the ice.  He staring at a picture of a pen with some buttons on the side and he turns, leaning over to Kurt, his voice excited.

“Kurt, look at this.  It’s a pen, and a radio and an mp3 player.  It even has a built in mic...ro...phone...”

By the end of his little tangent, the light is gone from his eyes and he pulls back to his own seat, closing the magazine and shoving it into the pocket in front of him, nearly spilling his water.

Kurt looks over instinctively, slowly realizing what he’s doing and retreating to his position looking out the window.

“Cool.”

Blaine shakes his head, feeling stupid.

“It’s... yeah.”

“I’m going to try and sleep.”

Blaine doesn’t say anything in response.  Instead, he puts his elbows up on the tray table in front of him, and his face in his hands.  He stays like that for a very long time, until the voice comes over the loudspeaker that the tray tables need to be put away.  He pulls his hands from his face cautiously and quickly downs the water in his cup, twists the cap back on the mini bottle, and puts the tray up.

Kurt puts up his tray, having finished with his coffee a while ago.  His eyes flicker towards Blaine, but ultimately stay focused out the window.

Blaine can hardly wait to get off the plane, and away from this awkward situation.  The aircraft descends and makes its landing, all the while, Blaine is looking away from Kurt and at the floor of the center aisle.

Once they reach the terminal, Kurt hesitates.

“I guess... this is where we separate.  For real.  Merry Christmas.”

Blaine doesn’t look at Kurt, but nods.

“I guess it is.  M-merry Christmas, Kurt.”

Kurt doesn’t stop to think until he reaches his connection gate, settling down on one of the benches and glancing over the crowd.

Blaine is practically a zombie as he finds one of the only seats available in the seating area by his next flight’s gate.  He sits and stares at a fixed point on the floor.

Kurt glances over after a while and sees a familiar figure, groaning at the sheer coincidence of it all.  Just then, boarding is announced for both flights.

Blaine blinks, looking up to spot Kurt just as the boarding call is made.  He stands and gets in line, alternating between looking front and looking over at Kurt.

Kurt tries not to look at Blaine, but he can’t stop himself sneaking glances.  Once or twice he meets Blaine’s eyes and looks away quickly.  As the line continues moving, he soon finds himself at the counter and showing his ID faster than he thought.  A quick glance to his side showed him that the universe was most definitely having fun with him.

Blaine moves through the line, somehow managing to maintain control of his emotions, regardless of the squeezing on his heart.  He stands at the counter, showing his ID, and steps toward the door that leads to his plane.  He bites his lip and looks over toward Kurt, and trying not to run after the other.

Kurt finally relents and turns to meet Blaine’s eyes, holding the gaze as he walks through the door that leads to his plane.  As he walks, he tries to blink away the tears.  He can barely whisper.

“Love you...”

Blaine’s eyes are so full of tears that he can hardly see, and he wills them not to fall as he starts to lose focus on Kurt, who is actually looking in his direction.  Feeling as though it’s his last chance, he tries to speak, but his voice is choked back.

“I love you.”