Blaine stared up at the ceiling over his bed.  Why had he never noticed that small yellow stain in the ceiling before?  What could have caused it?  Where did it come from?  How come he never dusted the ceiling anyhow?  There were a few random strands of abandoned spider webbing in the corners and they really should be taken care of.

This is what Blaine thought of as his clock went tick-tick-tick to let him know that he wasn't falling asleep and given how deeply involved he had become now with the state of his ceiling, he was sure sleep wasn't going to be coming any faster than he was hoping for.

He needed it though - a good night's sleep.  Three days now.  He wondered if his interest in the ceiling was a sign of impending insanity.  He had to be losing his mind at this point.  There was no way someone could go so long without a proper night's sleep and not lose their mind.  

Had he always had a popcorn ceiling?

“Oh my god!” Blaine threw his covers off and sat upright in his bed, leaning over as he rubbed his temples.  “Come on, come on…. there's only a few more days left until school is back in session and I need to get back into a routine.”

Oh great.  He was talking to himself now.

“Take a pill!”

He lifted his head, eyes jumping around.  Was that a voice in his head now?  Oh no, no, no… this was bad, this was very, very bad.

“In fact, take two.”

He looked towards the door and squinted.  Eventually the recognition part of his mind caught up with him and he registered the voice as Kurt's - calling from his bedroom.  

Kurt might be used to not sleeping properly, but Blaine wasn't, and he didn't want to start popping pills to help with it like most of his school peers did (alternating with energy drinks and caffeine during the day in some kind of wretched cycle).  

He slipped off the bed and grabbed his bathrobe, pulling it on over his pyjamas as he slunk out of his room and crept towards the door a few feet down the hallway.

“Kurt… are you awake?”

He heard a muffled noise… was it a chuckle?  Blaine wasn't sure of anything right now - except that his ceiling needed attention.  Inside he could hear Romeo's panting and then some soft footsteps on the carpet before the door opened up in front of him - Kurt standing in its wake, wearing his own pyjamas complete with a zip up hoodie and oversized wool socks.

“Stop being mad at me.”

Kurt arched an eyebrow at Blaine's greeting, or rather, lack thereof.  Blaine could barely form a coherent thought right now and was actually surprised he had formed a sentence, even if it was much more blunt and simple than he was used to speaking.

“I'm not mad at you.”

“Oh… good.”  Blaine exhaled and slumped a little.  His eyes were fixated on Kurt's left ear - didn't that many piercings hurt?  How did he sleep on all that metal?

Kurt rolled his eyes, shook his head, and grabbed Blaine by the elbow, pulling him into the room and Blaine just let it happen.  He let himself be pushed back on the bed and let Kurt crawl up beside him and rest his head down on his chest, piercings pressing into Blaine's skin through his pyjamas.  A blanket was pulled up, Romeo made a small grunt, and then, Blaine miraculously fell asleep.

By the time he awoke, the sun had passed over Kurt's east facing window and Kurt's warm body had been replaced with Romeo who gave Blaine a big lick to the face to welcome him back to the world of the living.

And god did he need that sleep.

Still in his robe, he sat up and looked around.  If Romeo was here, Kurt couldn't be too far away, and he saw the other man sitting at the edge of the bed, reading through a book Blaine couldn't identify from his point of view.

“Hey…”

Kurt snapped the book shut and looked over his shoulder back at Blaine, “Hey.”

“Sorry… I didn't mean that you had to… and I… well I needed the sleep so thanks.”

As he had the night before, Kurt rolled his eyes at Blaine and shook his head dismissively.  “It's fine.  I couldn't sleep either.”

“I think I got used to you being there.”

Kurt nodded and set the book on his dresser off to the side before turning around to face Blaine, pulling his legs up onto the bed and crossing them.  He was still in his pyjamas and hoodie, still in those same hideous wool socks, and now Blaine noticed the dual layer of pyjama pants he was wearing too.  “I was wondering…”

Blaine perked up and looked at Kurt expectantly.

“... if you could take me to the gym today?”

A broad smile stretched over Blaine's face and he nodded quickly.  “Of course!  Do you think you'll be okay with it?”

Kurt took in a small breath and nodded, “Yeah… I want to try anyhow.  I'm getting tired of smelling the same smells in here and seeing the same things and they changed my morning aerobics show to some sports show that I can't stand so I need to do something…”

Blaine was elated.  He knew this was a big step for Kurt, even if Kurt himself was trying to downplay it.  “Sure.  The best time to go is right after lunch.  There's usually, at most, only one other person down there.  Most of the time it's completely empty.”

Kurt nodded, and Blaine could see the relief in his eyes.  “Sure.  Sounds good.”

“We could go to the pool too if you want.”

Kurt shook his head, “Never been a fan of public pools… it's just a cesspool of feces and urine and bacteria.”  He shuddered.  “Besides, I don't have anything to wear.”

“They chlorinate the pool pretty good….” Blaine noted, but he realized that Kurt not wanting to shed his layers was probably going to be a bigger barrier to overcome than the idea of sharing a big tub with everyone in the building.  Blaine hadn't even seen Kurt's arms in weeks.  “... but yeah.  When you put it like that, I can understand.”

The morning was a blur of watching re-runs of Friends on TV, pancakes, and pre-reading books and texts for their upcoming courses.  Kurt's required reading was insane and Blaine was always ahead of his work, so both immersed themselves in bulky, overpriced textbooks for a couple hours.  When it was time to go to the gym, Blaine didn't know what to expect, but Kurt still in his layers wasn't it.

“You'll overheat….”

Kurt shook his head, “I'll take it easy.”

“Kurt… are you afraid of me seeing something?” Blaine tipped his head to the side inquisitively as he looked at Kurt, hoodie over his layering of a T-shirt and tank top with sweatpants over who knew what.

Kurt shrugged up his shoulders, “No.. yes… I don't fucking know…  Can we just go?”

Blaine sighed and nodded, walking slowly out with Kurt behind him.  He didn't move too quickly just in case Kurt needed the time to adjust to new surroundings, but miraculously, he didn't hear so much as an increased in Kurt's breathing as they made their way down the stairs and through the hallway to the workout room on the main floor.

Blaine offered Kurt a smile as he pushed the door open and surveyed the equipment, thankfully finding no one else around.  This was the perfect time.

“Okay… I'll just… go on the treadmill.” Kurt uttered as he walked towards the item in question and played around with the settings before he began an uphill walk.  Blaine nodded and went to the elliptical, occasionally glancing over at Kurt to make sure everything was okay.

Kurt did take it easy, spending most of his time on the treadmill as Blaine finished his cardio and then went onto the weights and then onto the punching bag where he lost himself in boxing the bag into oblivion as he pictured Sebastian's head on it.  His parents had bailed him out until the trial which was who knew when.  Everything in the courts was delayed.  A call to the cops who had been at the apartment a few days ago had been fruitless as they didn't seem to know anything more than he'd been told.  At the very least though, there was a standing order to stay away from both Kurt and Blaine with a minimum radius.  It meant Blaine could go back to work once school started and not have to worry about Sebastian being there.  

“You're more sweat than man.”  Kurt's voice rang up from behind him and Blaine landed another set of punches before turning around, bringing his forearm up to swipe the sweat off his brow.  “Didn't know you did that.”

Blaine smirked a little, “Took it up in middle school… after I got beat up.”

He hadn't told Kurt about that incident, it seemed so minor compared to what Kurt had experienced, but he could see that Kurt's interest was peaked by the statement so Blaine expounded.  “After a Sadie Hawkins dance where I went with another boy.  We were beat up by a few of our classmates.  I changed schools after that.”

“Huh… didn't know that about you.” Kurt admitted, eyes scanning over Blaine's face with such thoroughness that Blaine glanced off to the side under Kurt's scrutiny.

“I don't talk about it much.  Rachel always figured I was a wuss for not fighting back then… and my parents still get choked up about it.  Wes knows.  I met him at Dalton where I went after I got hurt.  He's the one who suggested I take up boxing.”

Kurt's brow furrowed a little and Blaine couldn't help but grin at the way the wrinkles in his bunched up forehead enveloped his eyebrow piercing over the top.  It meant he had put on some weight even though Blaine couldn't see it on his body anywhere else with all the layers.  “Wes boxes too?”

“Oh no.  Wes abhors any form of violence… but figures it would be therapeutic for me… and it has been.  Though up until the other day I've never actually hit another person before.”

“Really?  Because you did a pretty nice job of it.”

Blaine chuckled, “Yeah.  You want to try?”  He slipped off one of his gloves and held it out to Kurt who looked at it curiously, hesitating for a moment before taking it gingerly in his hands.

“Okay…”

Blaine helped Kurt put on and lace up both gloves, guiding him in slow motion as to how he should hit the bag in front of him, how to breath when he did it, and how to stand.  After a few poorly timed hits, Kurt managed to pound into the bag really well and then after that Blaine could safely say he was a natural as he hit the bag perfectly over and over again.

“God my arms fucking hurt now.” Kurt admitted after they had left the gym and were walking up the stairs.

Blaince laughed, “Yeah… takes awhile for your body to get used to that… but I always like the burn.  It felt good somehow.”

“I get that.” Kurt said, following Blaine into the apartment as he opened the door.  “I'm going to shower…”

“Yeah… you sweated through all your layers…” Blaine said, glancing down to the dark marks coming through the hoodie under Kurt's arms and down his chest.  

Kurt shrugged and wandered off to the main bathroom, the sounds of the shower starting up following.  Blaine retreated to his own room with the en suite bathroom and doing the same thing.  Thank god for apartments and nearly limitless hot water.

When they were both washed up and smelled a lot less like sweat, Kurt suggested a lazy afternoon of watching more TV and reading more books.

“I have a better idea.” Blaine prompted, holding a hand out to Kurt.  As he had with the gloves, Kurt needed a moment to look at the hand suspiciously before taking it and letting Blaine lead him into the music room where Blaine immediately sat on the piano bench and patted the space beside him for Kurt.

“I don't know Blaine…” Kurt mumbled, looking around the room as if he'd never seen it before though Blaine knew well enough he'd been in here lots - just not with anyone else.

“You don't have to play or sing if you don't want to… “ Blaine said, looking up with the best begging eyes he could manage, finally achieving a huff of acceptance from Kurt who sat himself down on the bench beside Blaine who grinned in triumph and let his fingers glide over the piano keys before the music hit him and he began playing.

And much to his own surprise, and maybe even Kurt's own, it was Kurt's voice who started singing along to the notes being played, filling the room with his angelic countertenor resonance.  Blaine kept playing, so long as Kurt would sing for, until his fingers cramped up and Kurt's voice began to crack from overuse.  They stopped, and Kurt let his head tip to rest on Blaine's shoulder.

“Can we go somewhere before school starts?”

Blaine blinked a few times and glanced down at the chestnut and pink hair on his shoulder, making sure that the question actually came from Kurt before responding.

“Yeah… of course.  Where do you want to go?”

“Somewhere… quiet.”

Quiet.  Yeah.  Blaine could do that.