Kurt pressed his fingertips against his lips and closed his eyes, taking a moment to relive the kiss - his kiss. His first kiss.

He groaned to himself recalling Blaine's lips pressed against his own and his arms around his body. Kurt could have lost himself then and there, thank goodness they had that meeting planned and the need to be somewhere else.

Now he stood outside by one of the wells in the courtyard, having excused himself from talking with Rachel about her self proclaimed 'amazing' plans for new courier routes. He pulled up a bucket of well water and used the cool liquid to wash his face and cool himself off. He needed to.

"Hey dollface. What's got you all hot n' bothered?" a voice called behind him. He turned and his gaze went flat when he saw it was Santana. She was in full armor, as always. He often wondered if she slept in it or actually let her guard down when Brittany was in bed with her.

"Nothing Santana. I just needed to wash up." He turned back to the bucket and made a show of it to convince her, drawing up his sleeves and dipping his hands in the frigid water with a wince.

"Oh please." She leaned up against the well beside his position. "You might have taken up the job, but we all know I'm the best one around for reading people, and you have either been getting some booty call or have been thinking about some booty call."

Kurt made a nervous cough and glared at Santana, "YOU can't speak to a superior officer like that Santana. And it's not true. It's ridiculous.."

"Right." She returned the glare. "What's ridiculous is you getting so defensive about something you're claiming isn't true when if you weren't actually thinking about it you'd laugh it off and wouldn't turn so red in the cheeks."

Kurt blinked and put a hand to his cheeks, which confirmed how flushed they were. He looked over his shoulder and off to both sides, making sure they were out of earshot of anyone else. "I kissed someone this morning."

Santana looked at him straight on and then tossed her head back in a laugh. "That's it?! Oh my goodness, and here I thought you might have actually had something interesting to tell me."

Kurt slapped a hand to the side of the well, "Santana!" His voice was a growl as he replied to her, "Not all of us are libido led pretentious... "

His hand was covered by Santana's palm before he could continue. "Save it. I'm actually happy for you. Maybe now you'll loosen up enough to get that stick out of your ass."

He slowly pushed her hand out of the way of his mouth, "Sorry to burst your bubble, but it won't be going any further than that kiss. I like the stick up my ass."

Another laugh erupted from Santana, "Oh my... I know you swing that way but I didn't think you were so kinky about it!"

Kurt responded with a roll of his eyes.

"That being said - why would you stop at a kiss? What makes you too good for a little passion?" Suddenly Santana's face went from mocking to serious and she looked at Kurt with curiosity.

Kurt sighed and looked at his reflection in the water. Blaine had called him beautiful. Was he? He didn't see that in his face. "I'm not. He's just not right for me."

Santana rolled her own eyes now, "Not good enough for you?"

"No... he's... very good." Kurt replied. Too good. Blaine was gorgeous and intelligent, and what he didn't know he learned quickly. He knew what to say and how to say it, and damn could he kiss. Not that Kurt had any frame of reference for that.

"Then what?! Don't leave me hanging here honey."

Kurt searched in himself to find the answer and finally dragged out a response, though as he said it, he recognized how weak of an excuse it was. "He needs to stay here..."

Santana was about to automatically reply when recognition hit her and her eyes lit up. She moved her face in closer to Kurt's and hissed, "You have the hots for the prince!"

Kurt winced and quickly looked around again to make sure they were still out of earshot of anyone. "Yes... do you understand now why it can't be?"

Santana let out yet another laugh and clapped her hands together. "Oh come on! He's a prince and you're kind of a prince. Brittany is going to love this!"

"You can't tell her!" Kurt shouted and then caught himself, lowering his voice back down, "And I'm not a prince."

Santana waved a dismissive hand, "Oh you would have been if Lima hadn't been overrun. Whatever, and you know I don't keep anything from Brittany. She'll want to help you plan the wedding anyhow."

Kurt groaned and moved his hands up to hide his face with them. "Santana... there will be no wedding. We kissed. That's it. And it was a mistake."

"Did it feel like a mistake?"

Kurt dropped the hands from his face and looked at Santana who had once again taken on her serious face. "What?"

"I said - Did. It. Feel. Like. A. Mistake?"

Kurt thought for a moment. He knew it was a mistake. He couldn't stay here. But how did it feel? "It felt... perfect." Kurt admitted.

"Well sweetheart, then I guess I have got to find me some armor with some lace on it so I look good as one of your bridesmaids." She winked and walked off, leaving Kurt exasperated. Why did all the women have to have the last words?!

"This is absolutely ridiculous... I need to fix this..." He spoke to no one in particular.

A couple hours later he was in his room, waiting for the inevitable knock on the door. It was time for supper and it was Blaine's turn to be the host in his room. Kurt had avoided going over there and now that supper had come and gone, he expected Blaine to come see what was going on. Kurt would have to tell him then.

The knock came and Kurt took in a breath and reminded himself to keep breathing. He went to the door and pulled it open slowly, a bouquet of fragrant flowers greeting him instead of a face.

"What...?" He asked and pulled the door open fully, finally seeing Blaine behind the oversized bouquet.

"I didn't know what kind of flowers you liked... I should have asked... but I got this mix from the market this afternoon for you." Blaine spoke bashfully and held the bouquet out to Kurt who took them slowly, looking at the mix of blossoms and then at Blaine again.

"Quinn took me with her to get some supplies. She told me you liked to collect herbs and flowers like she does... for medicinal purposes... but I thought it might just be nice for you to have something beautiful to look at..." Blaine babbled on in Kurt's stunned silence.

"If you don't like them though, I'm sure there's someone we could give them too. I just wanted to get something for you and I didn't know what. The woman at the flower stand helped me decide. She said this mix included all the major flowers and told me what each of them symbolizes..."

Kurt glanced back down at the flowers, his hands trembling ever so slightly, "What..." his voice lowered, "What do they symbolize?"

Blaine beamed and pointed at each of the flowers in turn, "Friendship, purity, beauty, hope, and... ah... true love." He whispered the last one and Kurt looked down at the simple five petalled flower associated with that. It was the most simple of the bunch, but carried the weightiest meaning.

Kurt looked back up at Blaine, "They're beautiful... thank you." He looked around the room for somewhere to put them or something to put them in, settling on the empty glass he had used for a drink of water earlier. "No one has ever gotten me flowers before..." He tucked the flower stems into the glass and set it in the centre of the table.

Blaine kept by the door, "When you didn't come for supper... I thought it might have been because you were busy... and then... " He turned his head away and Kurt realized that now he had rejected Blaine twice, and all the strength he had gathered to push him away this evening cracked under the weight of his heart.

He stepped over to Blaine and put a hand on each side of Blaine's face, turning it towards his own and seeing the hint of water ready to break from his eyes. "I'm afraid."

Blaine blinked and the tears in his eyes washed away, "What? Of what?"

"Of you. Of falling for you." Kurt admitted quietly, his hands running down over the stubble starting to grow on Blaine's cheeks as he moved his hands onto his shoulders.

Blaine's mouth turned up into a slow, delicate smile. "Well can you not? I'd be a lot less of an emotional wreck right now if you could man up a little bit."

They both erupted into laughter and Kurt took Blaine's hand and led him to the table where they both sat.

"I had this whole wonderful speech planned out about how I couldn't stay here and how you needed to be a strong independent leader and now I have nothing... You just had to go and get me flowers..." Kurt smiled and reached out to take one of Blaine's hands.

Blaine laced his fingers with Kurt's and smiled, "You told me the reason you could care for others is because your family took care of you. If that's true then being an independent leader would be detrimental for me... I need someone to care about me and I need someone to care for on a personal level, not just my people."

Kurt smiled softly and looked at their hands together, fitting together so perfectly. "I'm the one who's supposed to be teaching you things..."

Blaine brushed his thumb over Kurt's palm slowly.

Kurt continued, "You need to know that I need to go slowly... I obviously don't know what I'm doing and it's just not in my nature to jump headfirst into things without looking and planning."

Blaine's face lit up and he squeezed Kurt's hand gently, "Does this mean you'll stay?"

Kurt squeezed back, but his smile was more sombre, "It means I don't know. I can't promise you anything based on two weeks of knowing you."

Blaine exhaled slowly and nodded, "Well it's a good thing I got that flower that means hope then too..."

"I know it's late, but since I'm clearly not following my usual plans anyhow tonight, perhaps we can sneak off to the kitchen and get a late supper?" Kurt suggested.

Blaine stood up and kept Kurt's hand in his, "It would be my pleasure."