Once school started again, Blaine got wrapped up in a comfortable routine once more.  

6 a.m. Wake up, nudge Kurt to the other side of the bed, go for a run with Romeo.

7 a.m. Shower, get ready.

8 a.m. Make breakfast, watch Kurt blearily come in and go straight for the coffee.

8:30 a.m. Leave to catch Express A to the university.

9 a.m. Classes until…

12 p.m. Lunch and exchanging texts with Kurt to see how his online work was going.

1.p.m. More classes.

3 p.m. Classes done.  Go home.

3:30 p.m. Take Romeo for another run around the neighbourhood.

4:00 p.m. Work on assignments and help Kurt with his.

6:30 p.m. Hit the gym.  Kurt comes along three times a week.

8 p.m. Return home.  Watch TV or work on an item that was procrastinated on.

10 p.m. Bed.

On the weekends Blaine still worked at the humane society while Wes stayed at the apartment with Kurt and Romeo.  Periodically they also now were visited by Blaine's mother who had taken it upon herself to ensure Kurt had a positive female role model in his life despite the fact that Kurt looked like a deer in headlights every time she made an appearance.

Kurt's room, at some point over the course of time, had reverted back to a guest room as his clothing seemed to find its way into Blaine's room since he slept and got ready in there anyhow.  Wes seemed both irritated and amused by that, but kept his opinion, which Blaine definitely knew he had, to himself.

They were kept apprised of the status with Sebastian's trial, but much to Blaine's dismay and Kurt's lack of surprise, the legal system in New York was so bogged down that any progress was still months ahead of them.  Kurt still stayed inside the apartment unless he was going to the gym with Blaine and despite Wes' efforts, no progress was made on getting Kurt out for a walk or even out of the front doors.  Thank goodness for the connected parkade that allowed them to take Kurt to appointments without him having to venture onto the street.

Rachel had even shown up once in late September, mumbling something of an apology to both Blaine and Kurt before slipping them passes to her show.  Blaine watched as Kurt looked longingly at the tickets and then put up his cold front again saying that Wes and Blaine should go and he'd take care of Romeo.

In the end, Blaine set Wes up on a date to go to the show - which Wes was not pleased about despite the fact that he had all but begged Blaine for one of the tickets initially.

They were not without their bumps in the road though.  For example, Blaine had, by the time Thanksgiving rolled around, he had endured no less than ten mornings where Kurt had not only discovered that Blaine was sporting morning wood, but teased him for it.  It didn't seem to matter how Blaine position himself in his pyjama pants, even if he wore briefs underneath, his member had no problem repositioning itself in his sleep and poking Kurt in the side.

At least Kurt found it entertaining though, and wasn't embarrassed like Blaine was when things were the other way around. Blaine wished he had the gall to tease Kurt when he woke up to discover that even through Kurt's layering he could still feel a morning erection.  All that happened to Blaine though was to first get bashful about the situation and then his own penis betrayed him and decided to join Kurt's at attention - which of course Kurt sometimes awoke to and bugged him about even though it was Kurt initially that had caused it.

The first time Blaine saw Kurt without a hoodie on since he had helped him in the bathroom all those months ago was actually because of another issue.  Blaine had failed to realize that Kurt dedicated specific hoodies for sleep and specific hoodies for day wear and had only washed his nighttime ones in the laundry, leading Kurt to protest and stay in bed all day because he had no hoodie to wear outside of bed.  It should have made Blaine irritated, but he actually found Kurt's odd idiosyncrasy endearing and just chuckled his way through it as he rushed a load of laundry with the right hoodies through the washer and dryer in the apartment laundry room.  When he got back, Kurt had had to abandon the bed to go to the washroom and Blaine actually saw his arms for the first time in months when he came back into the room.

“You look so much healthier…”  Blaine openly marvelled as he saw that Kurt had gone from skeletal to filled out and toned.  

Kurt huffed and grabbed a hoodie from the pile, throwing it over himself quickly.  

“You do…”

“Good for me then.”

Yes, Blaine saw the same old scars and burn marks, but with time they had faded and certainly didn't take away from the overall creamy skin that Kurt was blessed with.  He really didn't understand Kurt's need to be so covered up all the time, especially since Blaine had seen him on the streets all on display, then in the hospital, and even nude in the bathroom the one time.   Short of certain nooks and crannies, he knew what Kurt looked like under it all, yet Kurt was freakishly modest, even for Blaine.

Another hiccup in their life occurred during Thanksgiving.  Kurt didn't want to go to Boston so they decided to have Thanksgiving for the family at the apartment, which Kurt seemed alright with - at least until everyone arrived.

In retrospect, he should have warned Kurt about his dad more.

Blaine's dad was nothing short of invasive - especially when it came to people's personal space, and immediately cornered Kurt and asked him all sorts of questions.  His dad meant well, just trying to be friendly and get to know Kurt, but Kurt didn't know him and certainly hadn't been eased into the situation and fled to the bathroom as soon as he had the opportunity, smoking several cigarettes in succession until the smoke detector went off and they had to explain to the condo maintenance manager that it was just a mistake and they would check the batteries of the alarm to make sure everything was alright.

Blaine's dad laid off a little after that, especially once Blaine's mother took him aside to give him a warning.  When Kurt came back, Blaine's mom and dad sat on the couches with him and had a more laid back conversation while Blaine worked on the meal with his step-dad, and Wes and Rachel tried to one-up each other in conversation on their recent accomplishments.

For her part, Rachel was actually much more tame and polite around Kurt than she had been in the past, though made every possible effort to undermine him.  She suggested her dad didn't use big words around him to avoid confusing him(even though Kurt had yet to receive anything less than a perfect score in his English class), and that Wes shouldn't sit in the same chair Kurt had so that Wes didn't contract anything from him (which Wes politely told her wasn't a possibility).  When she came up to Blaine though and told him that he should probably not wash Kurt's clothes in the same machines as his own, Blaine lost it on her, telling her to leave if she couldn't keep her attitude to herself.

Rachel stayed, more because her mother talked her into it than because she wanted to, and was quiet for the rest of the night.  Kurt told Blaine afterwards that her being quiet actually made her tolerable.

When everyone left, Kurt needed to sleep immediately, citing that “Too many people exhaust him” and so Blaine had to go to bed too.  

Kurt wasn't just having a difficult time with new people, but with the people on his online discussion groups as well.  While he didn't have to attend any classes, some of his courses required him to collaborate with other students online and because Kurt was not having any difficulties with the material in his classes, he got frustrated with those students that did.  He had absolutely no patience for what he considered “those online dumbasses” and regularly complained about the fact that he had to deal with them at all, going so far as to complain via email to his professors and suggest he work independently.

Then of course his professors became the “dumbasses” when they refused the request, citing that even though he was doing his work digitally that learning how to interact with others was a skill he should focus on.

“I'll give them something to focus on…”  Kurt had mumbled.

“What do you even mean by that?” Wes asked, hands lifted up to either side in question.

“Well… I mean they can focus on my fist in their face.”

Wes and Blaine both laughed at that, knowing full well that despite Kurt's positioning, he really was quite harmless, and even if Kurt did have ill intent, he would actually have to leave the apartment to make good on it.

Despite those bumps, things were otherwise okay in the Anderberry apartment.  Kurt went to all his necessary meetings, even though he grumbled about their necessity and Blaine had seen the psychiatrist smiling the last time he had gone past her which meant that maybe Kurt was actually opening up at his meetings with her.  Most days Blaine came home to to the delectable smells of something already cooking in the oven for him and Kurt always kept the apartment spotless.  

Things went so smoothly in fact, that time seemed to slip away from Blaine, and before he knew it December had come and the snow was falling outside their windows.  Kurt complained bitterly about the chill he got whenever he opened a window to smoke and Blaine gently reminded him that this time last year was when Kurt was outside all night, which quieted Kurt in what Blaine hoped was a retrospective moment - but he could never be sure what went on in Kurt's mind.

He did know that he needed to come up with a good Christmas present for Kurt.  The problem was that was Kurt never asked for anything, never looked impressed by anything, and always complained when Blaine brought him home new clothes, saying that Blaine shouldn't be spending his money on him like that.  Blaine didn't even know what Kurt might want.  

In fact, after Blaine had walked through several malls and shops, all he ended up with was a couple bags of new toys and treats for Romeo, a gift card for Rachel, and a new geeky gizmo for Wes - despite his intent on finding something, anything for Kurt.  He only had a couple weeks left too and finals were right away which were going to sap up all his focus.  Blaine needed to figure this out, and fast.

Because, if Blaine could pull off some kind of miracle, he hoped it would make it easier to tell Kurt about his feelings.  He had gone months now keeping them contained, waiting for Kurt to heal, but Blaine found it harder and harder not to lean in to kiss the top of his head when he was sleeping, or tell Kurt that when he smiled it made his heart leap.  Somehow he had managed, waiting for some sign that Kurt might feel the same or at least, entertain the thought, but he knew there wasn't going to be any magical beacon that alerted him to that kind of readiness with Kurt, so Blaine was just going to hope and pray that he was ready when he asked.

Or at least let him down easy.