“Did you take your pills?”  Blaine asked, setting two plates down on the table as Kurt poured them both coffee.

“Yeah.  Did you make sure to print your essay?”

“Oh!  Right!”  Blaine spun in place as soon as Kurt reminded him, gave him a peck on the cheek and hurried off to the bedroom to grab his essay.  He had printed it, but just forgotten to put it into his bag.

“I already put in your sugar.”  Kurt noted when Blaine returned to the table.

“Thanks.”

This had become their mornings.  It wasn't that different from what they had done before, but now Blaine could kiss Kurt freely, and did he ever.  No more holding back or worrying about that Kurt would think he was crazy.  He had never been so grateful as he had been on Christmas day when Kurt had made that first move and made everything easier.

And it was easy.  Being with Kurt was simple.  There was no forced conversations, and he didn't feel like he needed to fill the silence with anything.  He wasn't bored when Kurt talked, unlike his dates had been with Sebastian, and Kurt initiated kisses just as much as Blaine did - another thing Sebastian hadn't done past their first date.  

Oh sure, there were bumps.  Like the first time Blaine had gotten too comfortable and called Kurt “baby” when they were making out.  Kurt had pulled away and brought his knees to his chest, rocking in place for a moment in some kind of self-soothing motion before he explained.

“Please don't call me that… fuck… when you're on the streets, no one calls you by your name… it's always baby or honey or sweetheart… and that's if they think they're being nice… otherwise it's all whore, or trash, or cunt… no matter whether or not you have one of those.”

Blaine had just nodded and pulled Kurt into his arms, apologizing with whispers and soft kisses until Kurt became pliant and relaxed again.  

Blaine still had a hard time imagining Kurt in those situations, but he never made the mistake of using a pet name again.  Kurt was always just Kurt to him, and likewise, he was only ever called Blaine - except of course when he was a doofus or dork.

Like when Blaine had decided to bring flowers home to Kurt as a surprise - and it did surprise Kurt when he took the roses into his hands and smelled them suspiciously.  

“Don't you like them?”

“I just… no one has ever gotten me anything just because before… even growing up.  We didn't have the extra money for it really.”  Kurt looked them over.  “Plus I don't think many people would say that I'm a flower kind of guy.”

“Oh… well… I just wanted -”

“That doesn't mean I don't like them doofus.” Kurt snapped before Blaine could even get the chance to doubt himself or his gift, then finding a vase up high in the cupboards and placing the flowers very delicately into it with water.  Blaine caught him more than once just sitting and staring at the flowers after that, until Blaine had to insist they throw away the wrinkled, dead husks.

After that he got Kurt fresh flowers every week.

Then when Kurt went in to get his tattoo done, Blaine had initially offered to hold his hand through it, but had to escape to the washroom when he saw the needle going at Kurt's skin.

“You're a dork.”  Kurt stated on his return, still laying lazily on the bench, stomach down, as the woman turned colouring book tattoo artist chuckled and continued work on Kurt's new tattoo.

“How can you stand that though…?”

“I have developed a high tolerance for pain… and it's not really that bad.”  Kurt said softly, reaching to take Blaine's hand anyhow.

The new tattoo was definitely better than Kurt's old branding mark, and Blaine was even allowed it see it on occasion, and then allowed to trace it over with his fingers when the redness around it had gone down.

“Do you like it?”

Kurt nodded, pulled his T-shirt on over his undershirt.  It had still been months since Blaine had seen Kurt completely shirtless.  “I don't feel like I belong to anyone but myself now.”

“You should have never had to of felt that way…”  Blaine had replied, wishing the boy in front of him hadn't had to experience all that he did.

He did like the tattoo though, especially how masterfully the artist had covered up the old CK that had been on Kurt's shoulder blade.  Now all that could be seen was a feather breaking apart into birds that were flying away in all directions.  

“Why that one?”  Blaine had asked when Kurt had settled on a design.

“Reminds me of a song…” Kurt hummed softly before breaking into a tune, “One day I'll fly away…”

“...Leave all this to yesterday….” Blaine finished off and smiled as Kurt looked at him with a mix of surprise and amusement.

Really, Kurt shouldn't have been so surprised that Blaine knew his musicals.

Kurt had gotten in the habit of sleeping without his hoodie, though he still kept everything else at night.  It was a special time for Blaine because it meant he could appreciate even more of Kurt's skin, making sure Kurt knew just how much he liked it.

“I don't understand how we can use the same soap and you end up with skin like this…”

“Different skin types?” Kurt offered.

“And you smoke.”

“I'll quit when I'm damned ready.”

Blaine was still working on that one.

Wes said they might have well been married for years the way they interacted, while he was just coming out of the honeymoon period of dating with Rachel and regularly stopped by to escape.

“She is so demanding…”  He said in exasperation towards Kurt and Blaine one evening, “... how am I supposed to make her happy?  She expects dinner that's gourmet, healthy, and delicious?  It's not a possibility!”

Kurt snickered and Blaine just shook his head.  He didn't even try to understand his sister and his best friend's relationship.  

“The sex must be good.”  Kurt said one night after Wes had stopped by to rant and then left.

“What?!”  Blaine had looked at him completely blindsided by the statement.

“That's the only reason I can think of.  According to this one website I read, a lot of flaws can be overlooked if the sex is good.”

“Why are you looking at websites … that tell you about….”  Blaine was confused and couldn't even put why into words.

“I was just trying to figure out how Wes and Rachel work is all.”

“Ah.”

In early February, Kurt's social worker set up a meeting with them all which had Kurt on edge and smoking up almost a full pack of cigarettes in anticipation.  Mostly because no one knew what the meeting was about other than the one year mark was getting closer and Kurt was sure he was going to be cut off from funding since he was apparently doing okay.

“How am I going to pay for school and everything?  This is insane… I just…”  He rambled between puffs. “... I just don't know how I can be expected to be okay…”

“Calm down Kurt…”  Blaine rubbed Kurt's shoulders as he tried to ignore the acrid cigarette fumes and calm him down before the meeting, “You know no one is going to kick you out of here and I won't let them stop you from going to school.”

Well, he was mostly right.

“We'd like you to be a poster boy for the program Kurt.”  The social worker explained, drawing a look of absolute disgust and incredulousness from Kurt.  “Compared to a lot of people who enter rehabilitation, you're a total success story.”

“Let me get this fucking straight…. I still smoke, I'm afraid of the streets, I'm caught up in a case against a former trick that's going no where and I'm a success story?  What the fuck kind of program you running?”  Kurt spat.

“One that isn't properly funded or supported.”  The social worker said plainly.

“Fuck.  The answer is no.  I don't want to be on posters anymore, especially not those kind of posters.”

“That's fine.  I'll let my superiors know.  I really didn't think you'd go for it.”

“Then why the fuck would you ask?”

“My superiors wanted me to and I'm just doing my job.”  She tutted, pulling out some papers which she then set in front of Kurt.  

“What're these?”

“Scholarship forms.  Your grades are fantastic and you qualify for a number of scholarships and bursaries.  If you're not going to work you need to supplement your funding somehow because it will start to taper off once we hit the one year mark.”

“Fuck.  I knew it… they're going to cut me off… they're going to…”  Kurt shook his head and started searching his pockets for a cigarette in front of Blaine who just reached out to take his hand and hold it in place.  

“Not cut off Kurt… taper off.  The government thinks that's the best way to get rehabilitated persons back into the workforce.”

“But I'm in school!”

“And they don't pay for regular citizens so they don't really think they should pay for you either.”  

“Fuck….”

“I'll help him apply for the scholarships.”  Blaine offered, taking the pamphlets and tucking them into a folder he had ready for anything they got from this meeting.

“Thank you Blaine…. really Kurt..”  She looked at him intently.  “You have the potential to get a good amount of support from those bursaries I included in there.  Maybe even more than what the government was providing you with.”

“Yeah… and what happens when I'm out of intro courses and they get tougher and my grades drop…”  Kurt grunted, holding onto Blaine's hand tightly in lieu of having a cigarette.

Blaine interrupted there, “Well… actually Kurt… intro courses are designed to fail students to filter out the ones who are ready for college and the ones who aren't…. The courses actually get easier after you're done the intro's…”

“Wait, what?”  Kurt perked up, “And I'm STILL beating you and Wes for GPA?!”  

Blaine chuckled and nodded.  The way Kurt felt competitive about that was adorable.  

“Hell yeah!”  Kurt whooped and even the social worker cracked a smile.

“Anything else we need to know?” Blaine prompted the woman across the table.

“No.  That's it for now.  But happy belated birthday Kurt.”

Kurt's brow furrowed, “What?”

“Since you won't even share the date of your real birthday, your papers have it set for the beginning of the year.”

“We should have a party.”  Blaine offered with a grin to Kurt, who looked absolutely distraught by the idea.

“Let's not.”

“Just a small one… with Wes and my mom?”

“It's not even close to my real birthday.”

“Well let me know when it is close if you won't tell us the exact date so I can make sure I get you something.”

“You already spoil me.”

“Well….”  The social worker snapped her binder closed. “... with that I'm off.  See you in a couple weeks.”

Blaine saw the woman out and then came back, finding Kurt rubbing his hands together - one of his nervous twitches.

“You alright?”

“It's May twenty seventh.”

“Huh?”

“My birthday… May twenty-seventh.”

Blaine took a moment to let that sink in and then stepped over and wrapped his arms around Kurt.  “Thanks…”

“What?”

“For telling me.  It means a lot.”

Kurt shrugged in his hold, but leaned up against Blaine and breathed him in.  For whatever reason, Kurt seemed to like the way Blaine smelled even though Blaine was convinced that Kurt was the better smelling one of them.

“Can we have a party for you then?”

Kurt snorted against him and shook his head against Blaine's chest, “No.  Just a quiet night in please.”

“With cheesecake?”

“You'd better fucking believe it.”