Blaine tried to pour cat food with one hand and hold his phone in the other as he held a conversation with Wes on the other end while he was at work.

“Well what do you want me to do about it from here?  He listens to you better anyhow!”

Since the incident, which they didn't know much more about, aside from the doctor telling them that Kurt had some kind of a traumatic experience and to ensure he took it easy before she gave Blaine a prescription, Kurt had refused to leave the apartment at all.  He smoked with the window open in his room despite Blaine's open fear of getting in trouble with the condo board, he refused to go to his appointments, and he gave the entryway a wide berth.  Now Wes was calling Blaine to let him know that Kurt was sulking in his room and wouldn't go to his check-up.

“Just… just call the doctor.  See if they'll do a home visit or know someone else who will.  Shit!”

Cat food was spilling everywhere.

“Look.  I need to go Wes.  I'll deal with it when I get home.  Bye.”

He shoved his phone into the back pocket of his pants and sighed, kneeling down to scoop up the spilled cat kibble and put it into the little dishes.  He'd deal with it.  Yeah right.  Kurt was too big to force into anything and Blaine felt so bad for him he didn't want to put Kurt out of his comfort zone.  Obviously, whatever had happened had been bad, and had hurt Kurt in some way.   When Blaine had filled the prescription for Kurt, the pharmacy clerk had raised an eyebrow but gave him what turned out to be yet another bottle of pills and some cream.  It made Blaine wonder.  

But he wasn't going to ask.  When and if Kurt felt comfortable enough to tell them, or one of them anyhow, he'd tell them.  Blaine didn't want to force it.  Blaine was sure Kurt had been forced to do enough in his lifetime.

“Wes having trouble with your mutt?”  Sebastian asked.  He was sitting down at a desk that was shoved awkwardly in the corner of the supply room, rooting through a bottomless box of receipts and forms.

Blaine shook his head, “No… my roommate.”

“Right… the one you ran out on me for.  Sounds like whatever issue he was having, he's still having it.”

Blaine rolled his eyes.  Understatement.  “Yeah.  Anyhow… Wes can watch him tomorrow night so if you want to finish our date…?”

Sebastian selected a few choices papers from the pile and set them on the desk.  “Blaine, I've got to say, I really don't like having to schedule dates based on when your friend is available to take care of a roommate that I'm beginning to think would be better off living with family given how high needs he appears to be.”

Blaine stood up and stepped over to Sebastian, reaching over to take one of his hands, “I'm sorry Seb.  I'll make it up to you.  He's just having a rough time and really needs the support.  He doesn't have any family to go to.”

Sebastian sighed, setting the box aside with his free hand and then pulling Blaine into his lap.  “I'm just jealous.  I'd like to have you all for myself.”

Blaine grinned and took the rare opportunity of being alone with Sebastian to spend a few minutes locking lips with him until he needed to get back to the floor to feed the cats.  “You know Sebastian, you could always come over and I'd make you dinner.  You could meet my friends then.”

“Maybe…”  Sebastian murmured, getting back to the paper sorting with a noncommittal tone.

Blaine huffed, setting the dishes on a tray, “You're going to have to meet my friends and family at some point… and you know I'd be okay with meeting yours.”

“Oh Blaine, my parents are in Europe on a six month tour… and most of my friends are back in France still.” Sebastian tutted as he entered numbers into the large, outdated calculator on the desk.

“Well… how about just meeting some of the people on my side then?  It would make seeing one another a lot easier…”

Another sigh from Sebastian, who paused to look up and over at Blaine, “I'll think about it alright?”

Blaine smiled.  That was the most he had ever gotten out of Sebastian which meant he was working his way up to a yes finally.  “Alright.”

That was the most interaction he had with Sebastian that day, having to run around to feed and bathe animals, help organize a shipment, and sweep out kennels.  By the time he got back to the supply room, Sebastian had left for the day and Blaine was exhausted.  Just once it would have been nice if Sebastian stuck around so they could grab a coffee together after work.

Oh well.  He had two men and a dog waiting for him at home.

Romeo always bounded up to greet Blaine when he came in the door, but dutifully returned to Kurt's side, wherever it was, afterwards.  Today was no different, and once Romeo and Blaine had said their hello's, Romeo retreated to the dog bed now positioned in front of the couch where Kurt was sprawled out on. Blaine had a sneaking suspicion that part of Romeo's attachment to Kurt was based on the fact that Kurt would slip Romeo bits of meat from his own plate when they ate despite Blaine trying to keep Romeo away from people food.  

“Where's Wes?”

“On the shitter.”

“What're you watching?” Blaine asked as he came up behind the couch and set his hands on the back of it, trying to figure out if he'd seen the figures on the screen before.

“Mmm… I don't know.  Wes decided it was his turn to pick a show since I apparently have shitty taste in entertainment according to him.”

“And you made me have to reschedule ANOTHER appointment today.” Wes added on as he walked back in.  “You're going to get Blaine and I in trouble.”

“Whatever mama-bear.”

Blaine snickered as Wes gestured around, “Why am I a mama?  Why isn't Blaine the mama?  He's the one who cooks and cleans and everything!”

Kurt lazily looked up and over at the pair standing behind the couch, eyes flicking thoughtfullly from Blaine to Wes.  “Stereotypical much?”

“Oh for…. whatever.  I'm done here today.  See you tomorrow.” Wes grumbled as he retreated to the doorway.

Kurt looked back to the screen, and shook his head, “God… the hillbillies on this show… just like the bean town I came from.  At least this means I can change the channel.”

Blaine smirked a little, while Wes shuffled back towards them, “What was that?”

“I said I'm changing the fucking channel.  You going to send me to my room without dinner for that mom?”

“No, no.. the other thing.”

Blaine furrowed his brow.  Wes had that crazy look in his eyes like he did whenever he had an all consuming idea.  It was always very good or very bad… but never inbetween.

“What?  These hillbillies?  Yeah…. they're just like the town I came from… Hey!  Don't you go fishing for information out of me.  Fuck that noise.” Kurt grunted and looked back to the screen once again.

Blaine looked at Wes, eyes asking and getting a shake of the head back from Wes in response as the asian man dashed out then as if he were late for an appointment he just realized he had.

“So… did you just watch TV again all day?”

Kurt shrugged, drawing his legs up as Blaine wove around the couch and sat where Kurt's feet had been while the boy changed the channel to something animated.  “Periodically I went to foul up the bathroom and then Wes gave me shit for smoking in my room again even though I did it by the window and using the fan…. oh!  Add Monopoly to the list of games that I've destroyed Wes at too.  He just doesn't take the risks he needs to on that game.”

Blaine chuckled and waited.  It would only take a couple minutes.  Kurt would slowly gravitate towards him until Blaine was once again used as a pillow to Kurt's head.  Since that night they had found him in the stairwell, Kurt inexplicably and, apparently, subconsciously sought out that connection.  The first few times it had freaked Blaine out.  It completely went against everything he had come to know about Kurt, and he wasn't prepared for it, much less knew if it was alright to allow.

But Kurt would fall asleep like that, and Blaine knew that for whatever reason, he was the one able to make Kurt feel at peace.  They didn't talk about it or acknowledge it.  Blaine knew that he would probably just get told off if he did anyhow, and since it was the only way Kurt was able to fall asleep now (a dramatic shift from how easily he had fallen asleep before the incident), Blaine didn't want to force Kurt away and have him unable to sleep on his own.

Even though he was everything BUT on his own with Blaine and Romeo always there.

In addition to being used a pillow for his names, every night Blaine would go to his own room, complete his nightly ritual, and then climb into his own bed.  After a few minutes Kurt would show up in the doorway, looking like he was lost.  Blaine would pull back the blanket and held up an arm, giving Kurt the permission he was silently seeking to climb in and use Blaine as a means to induce himself into sleep.  Wes didn't know, since he hadn't been around to see the new behaviour aside from the night of the incident, and Blaine sure as heck wasn't going to tell Sebastian who was already jealous of Blaine's friends for getting to spend time with Blaine.  

What he didn't know couldn't hurt him right?

As expected, Kurt had moved around and let his head flop like a weight on Blaine's lap, still watching the show absently.  It wouldn't take long, a few strokes of his hair and he'd soon be out like a light.  Blaine would have to crawl out from under him in order to check on the supper he'd put in the oven, and then wake Kurt once it was ready, but he figured that since Kurt had gone from sleeping away most of the day to not being able to sleep without help that a little nap before dinner was probably in order.  The sleeping pills still sat unused in the cupboard, and given how many drugs Kurt's liver had to process before he came here and even now to help with the addiction and depression, Blaine didn't see any reason to suggest those as an alternative to his lap.  It definitely wasn't an inconvenience to him and it actually helped mellow him out at the end of a long work day.

Just as Blaine was moving Kurt carefully so he could check on dinner, his phone went off.  

“Hey Wes.” Blaine answered, having seen the caller ID.

“I'm fucking brilliant!”

Blaine furrowed his brow, “You left… not even ten minutes ago and you called to let me know that?”

“I just got home.  I went online.  I found him right away.”

“Huh?”

“Kurt!  He's from Ohio!”

Blaine's voice dropped to a whisper as he skirted over to the kitchen, “What?  How'd you find that out…”

“He said he came from a bean town… to anyone else that might have just meant a small town… but then I remembered when I went back to Ohio to visit my family and saw the missing persons posts in the grocery store… He's from Lima, Ohio. Lima… like the bean.”

“Shit…”  Blaine peeked around the corner of the kitchen, making sure Kurt was still away and asleep.  “You are brilliant Wes.”

“I checked Ohio and the name Kurt and he was the first one to pop up.  His last name is Hummel… the hair and height and eye colour all match up and there's pictures of him and everything.  He's only a month younger than me.”

Blaine took in a slow, steady breath.  “What about family…?”

“Mm… just has a contact number to report information.  Should I call?”

Blaine pressed his lips together, trying to think as quickly as he could, “I… maybe we should wait Wes… what if family isn't good for him and then we've totally alienated him and he runs off or something?”

“I actually was thinking the same thing Blaine… but… man… this is huge.  He came from a town only a couple hours away from Dalton.  What are the odds?”

It was pretty uncanny.  Inside, somewhere in the back of Blaine's mind, the word ‘fate' flashed and he gave his head a shake to get the thought out.  “Crazy… look… let's not tell him we know.  I don't want him to get upset that we've been snooping.”

“Gotcha man.  Still… I feel better right now than I did when I completed my last essay for anatomy.”

Blaine chuckled, “Yeah… and that took you days to work on steady.”

The finalized the call and Blaine remembered that he needed to pull the food out before it burned anymore than it already had, setting it atop the stove to cool while he went to wake Kurt.  Though instead of rousing him, Blaine just looked down at him, wondering what had happened so close to where he had grown up that could have made him take such a dramatically different path than Blaine had.  What would have happened if things had been different for Kurt?  Or even for Blaine?  Would they have crossed paths?  Would they have noticed each other?

Would it have mattered?