Okay, so Kurt wasn't heartless, he didn't actually kick Blaine out, he just asked Blaine to do little things to "help" so that Blaine would be too distracted to paint.

"I think you should take a bath, Blaine." He said finally. "You're covered in paint, I can finish up here... there's not much left to do."

He laughed to himself as Blaine tried to wipe blue paint off his chin.

Oh, Blaine... he was so cute sometimes.

...............................................................................................................................................................................................................

"Wow, this place looks great." Finn said a few days later when he walked in and saw the finished product.

"You think Blaine will like it?"

"He'll love it." Finn said before raising his eyebrows. "What was that look?"

"What look?"

"That look, you made a face."

"I didn't make a face..."

"Yes you did, I saw you... it was like a..." Finn's eyes widened a bit. "You like him."

"Like who?"

"You like Blaine!"

"I do not, I mean... I like Blaine, but I don't like Blaine the way that you're hinting at."

"Don't lie to me, Kurt. I saw the face you made."

"I didn't make a face! Stop saying that!"

"You did! You made it right after you said Blaine's name, it's the same look Mike gets when Tina enters a room!"

"You're crazy."

"And you're in denial."

"I am not in denial, now stop mentioning it."

"Okay, fine... I won't mention it anymore." Finn said before smirking. "Knock knock."

"Finn..."

"Knock knock!"

Kurt sighed. "Who's there?"

"Cleopatra."

"Cleopatra, who?"

"Cleopatra... Queen of denial." Finn smiled proudly.

"Oh my gosh, how old are you?" He sighed. "You're the most annoying brother on the planet."

"You love having me as your brother."

"Not when you do stuff like that."

"Come on, Kurt... who are you trying to fool here? Me? Or yourself?"

"I'm not trying to fool anybody, I'm telling you the truth, I don't have feelings for Blaine."

"I knew it all along, I totally called it in the car when we were going to Burt's shop."

"Enough! It wasn't cute the first time you said it, and it certainly isn't cute now."

Finn shrugged before smiling and leaving the room.

Ugh, Finn... he had no idea what he was talking about. Sure, Kurt loved spending time with Blaine, and sure, the thought of losing Blaine terrified him, but... not because he loved him or anything like that.

He just cared about Blaine a lot.

Not in a love sort of way.

No, certainly not in a love sort of way.

And Blaine certainly didn't love him.

No, no, of course not.

Blaine was clingy, sure... but that was just because Kurt was the first friend Blaine ever made.

That's why he became so attached to him.

Blaine said it himself, he didn't have anyone back home, he felt alone.

Plus Blaine said merpeople loved to cuddle.

So that was why Blaine followed Kurt around all the time.

Kurt was the first person he ever got close to, the first person he ever trusted.

That was why he would sometimes rest his head on Kurt's shoulder or sit extremely close to him.

Merpeople loved to cuddle. Kurt was the first person Blaine felt comfortable enough around to cuddle with.

That was it.

That was all.

There was nothing more there.

Nothing at all.

Even if there was, Kurt couldn't act on it now.

He only had a year, less than a year now, to figure out what he had to do to keep Blaine human.

If the two of them started dating, if things got romantic between them, it might ruin everything.

Sure, he'd have Blaine for a year, but after that, he'd lose him.

Maybe something horrible would happen to Blaine.

And for what? So they could date for a bit?

No, he wouldn't allow himself to get distracted by such a thing.

If they were constantly kissing Kurt might get too distracted to figure out what he had to do to keep Blaine human.

He might fail.

He couldn't let that happen.

It made much more sense to spend this time focusing on keeping Blaine with him, once he succeeded and Blaine got his voice back, then maybe he would tell Blaine he loved him.

They'd have plenty of time to be each other's boyfriends once they knew that Blaine was safe from the sea witches.

Not that Kurt wanted Blaine to be his boyfriend.

Not that Kurt wanted to tell Blaine he loved him.

Because he didn't.

He didn't love Blaine.

He wasn't falling in love with Blaine.

Nope, not at all.

...............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Kurt groaned in his sleep when he felt something poking his shoulder, opening his eyes slightly and glancing up.

"Blaine? What are you doing?" He mumbled, his voice hoarse and sounding groggy from how tired he was. He glanced at the clock. "It's three in the morning..."

Blaine shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he looked down.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly, sitting up a bit more.

Blaine pointed to the hall and scrunched up his eyes and nose, his hands on either side of his face, and Kurt was positive that he would've been making a growling noise to add more to his scary face if he could actually make sound.

"There are no monsters in your new room, Blaine." Kurt said tiredly before yawning.

Blaine gave him a confused look.

Maybe Blaine didn't know what monsters were.

But if Blaine didn't know what monsters were, what scary thing did he think was in his new room?

His eyes widened a bit.

"Blaine? Did you see a sea witch in your room?"

Blaine bit his lip and shook his head.

Kurt let out a sigh of relief before hitting Blaine with his pillow.

Looking back he probably should've known better... how would a sea witch get into Blaine's new room in Lima, Ohio? Hey, he was tired, he wasn't thinking clearly.

"Don't scare me like that!"

Blaine raised his shoulders as if he were trying to apologize.

"You just had a nightmare, didn't you?"

Blaine nodded.

"About sea witches."

Another nod.

Kurt sighed again as Blaine held out his arms towards Kurt, a hopeful smile crossing his face.

"Blaine, you can't sleep in here."

Blaine lowered his arms and frowned.

"You never had trouble sleeping downstairs on the couch... oh my gosh, do you hate the way I designed your new room?"

Blaine quickly shook his head and formed a heart with his hands. Kurt smiled.

"Oh, good... I'm glad you like it." Kurt said proudly. "But you can't sleep in here, you have to sleep in your own bed."

Kurt frowned when he saw the pout forming on Blaine's face.

"But... I suppose you don't have to sleep in your bed alone..." he said slowly, Blaine's face lighting up. "I'm not agreeing to this just yet, I have to make sure my dad's okay with it."

Ugh, why couldn't he ever say no to Blaine?

How was he suppose to explain this to his dad? A teenage boy having a nightmare and not wanting to spend the night alone? That was something most people out grew. But of course, Blaine wasn't most people, he was a merman, and his nightmare wasn't about the boogieman, it was about something real, something that Blaine was afraid of, and for a good reason too.

Of course he couldn't tell his dad that.

Maybe he could get away with tell his dad part of the truth, and just leaving out the stuff about mermen and sea witches... it had worked before, it might work again.

He climbed out of bed and into the room where his dad and Carole were asleep.

"Dad?" He whispered, trying not to wake Carole.

"Kurt? What are you doing up at this hour?"

"Blaine had a bad dream and he's kind of freaking out about it... would it be okay if I slept in his room? Just for tonight?"

"Kurt..."

"Please? It's his first night in his new room, and he's scared, and we'll both be dressed the whole time, it's not like we're going to..."

"Oh, Burt... it's just one night. What harm could it do?" Carole said. So much for not waking her up.

But perhaps it was a good thing, she was on his side.

"Fine, but this isn't going to be a regular thing."

"Thanks, you're the best." Kurt said with a smile before walking into the hall where Blaine was patiently waiting.

"He said yes."

Blaine's face lit up.

"But I'm not doing this every night, you have to get use to sleeping in your room by yourself."

He felt like he was talking to a child. It was kind of weird to be having this conversation with someone who was around his age.

Then again, it wasn't weird at all when you knew the situation as well as he did.

"Goodnight, Blaine." he said, climbing into the bed and sighing as he closed his eyes, ready to fall back asleep.

He froze in his spot however when Blaine suddenly cuddled up to him, wrapping his arm around Kurt's waist and resting his head on Kurt's chest right below his chin.

Kurt opened his eyes again and blinked a few times, surprised.

Merpeople like to cuddle, doesn't mean they're in love with you, he reminded himself.

But it didn't feel like "just cuddling because merpeople do that". It felt... right. Like their bodies just fit perfectly together.

Without even realizing it, Kurt had wrapped his arms around Blaine and rested his chin on the top of Blaine's head.

Oh no.

No.

No, this was not happening.

It couldn't happen.

But it was.

Kurt was falling in love with Blaine.