Blaine sat crossed legged on his bed, staring into space. His eyes were unfocussed and his mind was drifting as he tried to avoid thinking about Kurt again. The house was silent, Cooper having left a little earlier, and his phone was across the room, tempting him. He kept glancing up, thinking he'd have heard a noise, but nothing showed on the screen.

He leaned back, sighing. The week had gone past, and he'd done his best to avoid Kurt, but it was hard when the guy was in most of your classes. Every time he caught a glance he'd look away. He could see Kurt biting down on his lip, almost raising his hand to wave, but they both always walked past, saying nothing, like they were just two strangers passing in the night.

When he was Silver he didn't look into the faces in the crowds, so scared he would see Kurt and catch his eye. He couldn't help but wonder if he was there though, even when he was fighting Panther, his mind wandered. 

As he stared at the ceiling, trying to keep his head clear, his mind kept asking the same questions, wondering what Kurt could be doing. Would he be somewhere with Sebastian, trying to slow down the fight of who is Silver? Maybe he was at home, sitting on the couch, simply listening to the sound of the rain pattering against the window, head rested back against the top, just as Blaine always did. Maybe he was even letting his mind wander, wondering what Blaine was doing in that moment. Even though the thought hurt slightly, he smiled at the idea that he was on Kurt's mind.

Blaine shook those thoughts away and got back to the nagging feeling in the back of his mind. Panther's words were still rotating in his head, stuck on permanent repeat, as he tried to get a grasp on what they meant. He hadn't seemed to be there to do anything more than talk, which seemed suspicious considering how Acid and Smash had always acted first before even saying a word. There was something too calculated about his words.

Panther had made the point clear though: he was just a show to everyone. They didn't have to love him, they could all hate him to no end, wish that he would stop, but they could keep watching. They didn't have to fight for him; they could just watch and say they saw.

And yes, the quips about being lonely were nothing more than things to tease him and make him angry, but they hit him still. It hit him how much he was hidden from the world, from his family and friends. He'd grown used to it over the years but nobody had ever cared, and he never had before until...well until Kurt came around and grabbed him by the heart, a whirlwind crashing through his system and opening him up to sunlight. With Kurt it was like taking the first breath and feeling oxygen finally coming into your lungs. It was the first sight of grass when you were almost frozen by winter.  It was opening your eyes when all your life you’ve had them closed. 

Blaine stood and crossed the room, picking up his phone. He pressed the button to display the screen but nothing showed just as he'd known it would be. He sighed, setting it back down, and rested his forehead against the wall, wishing he could empty his thoughts.

Kurt stared into space, his eyes unfocussed, his mind wandering. His fingers tapped absently against his leg.

"Silver's been awfully quiet this week," Sebastian muttered, bringing Kurt out of his head. He was sitting across from Kurt, phone in hands, turned over and over in his lap, watching him through narrowed eyes. His hands clenched around the phone.

"Mmm," Kurt mumbled indistinctly, yawning.

Sebastian was still looking at him suspiciously. Kurt shifted from his seat on the couch, picking up his phone from the coffee table. Almost on instinct he started to enter Blaine's number but he stopped himself quickly, a sad feeling spreading through him from the tips of his fingers until it struck him in the heart. It kept coming back to him. He’d forget for a little and then suddenly the world was lonely again. A tidal wave crashing down. He bit down on his lip and played with the phone, trying to seem casual.

"He hasn't had much to go on," Kurt said, keeping his voice light.

He could see Sebastian taking that in and scowling out of the corner of his eye. "Right," he muttered, sounding annoyed.

The room was silent and they both stared at their phones. Kurt swallowed, wanting to fill the silence with something. There was tension in the air, and Kurt knew that both of them were hiding something from the other, although of course Kurt knew exactly what Sebastian wasn’t telling him. Sebastian was sounding less suspicious himself though than before. Still, there was something to his voice that sounded like he knew something and he was trying to hold it over Kurt. Whatever it was, he couldn't know.

His mind flickered back to Blaine. What was he doing? Could he have been planning something? Trying to find a way to stop Sebastian and Acid and Smash-and now Panther-from hurting anyone? 

Kurt set down the phone, clasping his hands together to keep himself from fidgeting. It felt wrong not being able to talk to Blaine. What if something happened and he needed Blaine to know? He lifted his head slightly and glanced at Sebastian, slouching in the chair across from him. He was doing this to protect Blaine. He just had to remember that.

The silvery haired man paced in front of them, his hands held behind his back, nodding his head and moving his lips as though he were murmuring but not actually speaking. He kept his eyes straight and his head up. His features were set and his brow furrowed, his expression a grave sort of serious. 

Standing along the wall were Acid, Smash, and Panther. They were lined up like soldiers, all waiting for news.

Suddenly, he stopped pacing and turned to them briskly. For a moment he just stared at them, his eyes squinted, when a grin slowly twisted his lips. He clasped his hands together, smirking at them with excitement that he seemed to be holding in, bouncing on his feet like he could barely contain it. "It's all to be ready," he said happily, his voice low, "so soon." His eyes snapped around the room and stopped on Acid. "The real fun will begin."

"How do we plan on finding him, though?" Panther voiced.

The man swiveled around to stare at him, pointing a finger at him. "Yes!" he shouted with glee. He turned around with a sharp laugh and looked at the other man standing behind the desk. "Yes!"

The second man sighed. "We have information," he said, speaking around him.

The silvery haired man spun again, practically jumping in the air. "Yes!" he squealed again, clapping his hands together. "And we'll use this to squash Silver Spark!" 

"You know who he is?" Acid asked with impatience.

The man stared at her, scowling. "Of course we know who he is," he shouted. His arms folded over his chest and he started pacing again, his expression flickering between bitter hatred and excitement. "We have our ways," he said, as if someone had asked him a question. He nodded again, moving his fingers as if trying to grasp something. "We have our sources," he laughed, stopping again. "And we can end him!"

"You've got a name, then?" Panther said.

He shook his head violently, waving his hands around his face. "No, no not a name but information," he said. "We know where to find him."

"What if we've got it wrong?" Acid sneered, folding her arms over her chest.

He looked at her, stopping in his tracks. His head tilted and for a second he just stared, but then the twisted grin crossed his lips again and he nodded. "Well, does that matter? What are a few incidentals?"

Blaine folded his arms over his chest, sitting down on the bed again. Then he stood up, stared at his phone, and sat back down.

He couldn't shake Panther from his head still. He replayed the conversation in his head again, thinking about how Panther had been standing, how easy it would have been to fight Silver. Those claws seemed to glint silver-bright in his mind. They were so sharp he could have gotten something out of it...It all felt wrong-planned, he had realized. Something was off and he could feel it. There was something off-putting about it all and it was tugging at his mind. 

You could tell me, and they'd never know and you could walk away from all of this.

His words seemed teasing, like there was more to them, hiding under the surface. 

Blaine twisted his hands, staring towards the door. Cooper was still gone and the empty house was completely silent, his thoughts able to scream louder than ever. Maybe he was just being paranoid? He shouldn't be worried. Acid and Smash had tried to lure him before, it wasn't new. They were trying to shake him up, that was all. Nothing to worry about.

He looked down at his phone again. Nothing. He had to stop expecting Kurt to call him. Every time he dared to hope he was just let down again. He wasn’t doing anything more than torturing himself and he knew it. Blaine sighed and collapsed on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Part of him wished that the suit would alert him to something so that he could go out and clear his head. It had been pretty quiet though that week-no sign of Acid or Smash or Panther, nothing suspicious happening which seemed more suspicious than something happening...

No. He wasn't going to let his anxieties get the best of him. He closed his eyes and tried to relax. Things were fine. He'd be fine. Kurt would be fine...

"You know, staring at your phone isn't going to help," Kurt muttered.

Sebastian glared across the room. "Yeah, and you laying there is?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "We can't just will things to happen," he replied, staring at the ceiling. "Things will happen when they happen."

"Of course," Sebastian said, settling back into the chair.

Kurt glanced at him, something in his stomach sinking. That wasn't like Sebastian to just take things as they were. His voice was too absent, careless-fake. He swallowed, holding his phone tightly in his hand. 'Something is wrong....something is wrong....Blaine...'

"What?" Sebastian sneered.

He shook his head. "Nothing, just...thinking," Kurt lied. He looked away, staring at the ceiling again, chewing on the inside of his lips. "I'm sure things will happen soon," he said cautiously. 

There was a pause before Sebastian said quietly, "I'm sure they will, too."

Something was wrong.

Panther drew one long finger along the desk, right next to the melted hole that Acid had created so long ago. He traced absently in the wood, the claws leaving thin lines in it. 

"How much longer?" Acid sneered.

The silvery haired man bounced on his heels, staring at his phone. "Soon."

"I'm losing patience for this," she said bitterly.

The man turned around and shook his head sadly at her. "Stick around," he said softly, his voice dangerously low. The twisted grin played around his lips, a look that could make your skin crawl as his crazed eyes bulged. "The real fun will begin soon." 

She folded her arms, looking around at the others while the man stared at the clock.

"Okay!" he said suddenly, jumping in place. He grabbed onto the phone with excitement, rubbing his hands together and looking around the room. His eyes lit up and in that moment he looked perfectly insane. He gave a loud shout of laughter. "Things are going to begin!" he announced, a ringmaster starting out the show. Speedily his fingers moved over the keys of the phone.

The sun was starting to set, painting the sky with bright yellows and oranges as though a brush had been stroked across the sky. Kurt had always love sunsets. When he was younger he used to sit in front of the window and watch the sky change, a symphony of colour, as the sun sank lower and lower before it disappeared. It was beautiful, but today almost out of place. Kurt stood at the window, his arms folded carefully over his chest, staring out, trying to ignore the reflection of Sebastian in the glass.

There was a soft buzzing and he glanced behind him. Sebastian looked down at the phone in his hand, a small, secretive smile twitching at the corner of his lips. His eyes scanned the phone excitedly, the grin growing as he read on. Kurt swallowed, wishing that he could tell what it said. Part of him told him to voice the thought, ask who it was, but that seemed too obvious. 

"Is it Silver?" Kurt asked anyways, still feeling jittery. 

Sebastian lifted his head and smiled gently at Kurt. His stomach dropped even more, worry taking over his thoughts. "No," he said simply, blinking. "No word on him."

Kurt turned away from the window, watching Sebastian who looked back steadily, blinking at him innocently. Something was definitely wrong. Something bad was going on. His throat felt tight and he moved away from the window towards the other side of the room. 'Don't get too close to him. Don't say anything stupid.'

"Things have been really weird lately," Sebastian said casually. "Don't you think?"

He kept his back to Sebastian, fiddling with a picture frame. "I guess so," he said carefully.

The couch huffed as Sebastian stood up. Kurt walked a bit farther, towards the hallway. His hands moved over whatever he could find, trying to look busy. His heart started to beat faster, a hummingbird in his chest. 

"Things have been quiet this week with everything," Sebastian continued. The floor creaked as he moved across it. "Right?"

Kurt lifted his hands and ran a finger over the shelf, looking at nonexistent dust on his finger, trying to mask his worry for distaste. His free hand moved casually to his pocket-his phone wasn't there. With a jolt he realized it was on the couch. He could fight Sebastian, he was sure of that. Still, if something did happen to him, if there was more going on beyond what they knew of...He would need to warn Blaine. 

"Yeah," he said, nodding.

"That's good though, right?" he said. "Keep your precious Silver Spark safe?"

Kurt swallowed, still moving. "Well the guy gets enough trouble already," he said. His voice was failing him now. His heart jumped inside his chest. He needed to warn Blaine. That was all he could think of as he stalled.

"Of course," Sebastian said, and he could hear the smile in his voice.

He needed to get to the couch. He needed his phone. He needed to call Blaine...

"How's the boyfriend doing, then?" he asked.

Kurt froze. The question was casual enough, but Kurt could hear it in his voice-taunting him, baiting him. His hand balled into a fist and he stared at the wall, breathing heavily. He wouldn't let Sebastian hurt him. He could fight him off easily and grab for his phone. Kurt tried to judge where Sebastian was behind him. If he could just get in a good hit, duck a blow, then dive for the couch, he could run for his room. It would only take a minute to explain. Blaine would be safe. Sebastian would be fired and hopefully locked up. Things would be alright. Blaine would be-

Something behind him clicked. Kurt turned his head.

Sebastian smiled at him over the barrel of the gun. He was close enough that one or two more steps and he'd be touching it to Kurt's forehead. 

"Sebastian," Kurt said slowly, staring down the barrel.

He shook his head, laughing shortly. "Don't try it," he said softly. He held the weapon with a steady hand, perfectly calm as Kurt's heart raced. "I'll know that you're lying." He smiled again, shaking his head. "I know everything, Kurt."