Blaine wasn't sure what he expected the home to look like, but the three story wooden house with ornate shutters, and a porch donned with a rocking chair and flowers somehow fit the image perfectly.

The wood of the house was a warm colour with age cracks and rain stains so perfectly imperfect that it just screamed lived in. The lawn was neat and well kept, with an oak tree that stood the same height as the house; underneath it purple flowers bloomed sweetly.

The house was charming and Blaine fell in love with it instantly.

"It's gorgeous," he breathed out before he even realized the words were coming out of his mouth. But they rang with truth, his honesty palpable as he stared wide-eyed at the dwelling. Kurt smiled his wistful smile, not showing his teeth as Blaine's words wrapped around him, pulling at an emotion he had managed to ignore for some time.

"My dad and my mother built it together," he said with an almost indiscernible edge to his voice. Kurt glanced at Blaine but the hazel-eyed boy didn't notice, never taking his enamoured eyes off of the quaint house.

"That's amazing," Blaine said in awe, not picking up Kurt's emotion.

"Yeah," Kurt agreed. "You should have seen the condition it was in when they first bought it; I still can't believe it took them less than a year to fix."

Blaine tore his eyes away from house to look at Kurt, who was now staring at the dwelling with a faraway look in his eyes and another emotion Blaine couldn't quite place.

"Whose idea was it?"

"To renovate?" Kurt asked, his eyes never wavering as they took in his home. "Mother's, of course. The best ideas were always hers."

Blaine paused, debating whether or not to comment, Kurt's emotion slowly becoming clear. "Were?" he finally asked, a lump quickly forming in his throat.

Kurt nodded, blinking and finally breaking eye contact with the house, looking to the floor instead. "She died when I was eight."

It was grief.

"Oh," was all Blaine could think to say before he mentally punched himself in the face and continued on so he didn't sound like the world's largest most insensitive prick. "That must have been terrible," he continued, his voice quieter than he'd expected. He imagined that it got picked up the morning breeze and kissed against Kurt's soft cheek, his skin soaking in the sincerity so that he knew Blaine meant what he said. "I'm sorry."

Kurt looked at Blaine; his incredible eyes alight with deep pain that burned like a flame. It sparked something in Blaine and once again he started speaking before he even realized he had words to say. "It's not true what they say," he started. "That time heals all wounds. Sometimes it just buries them, pushes them deeper into you until the pain becomes so deeply rooted in your soul that it becomes a part of you. You forget it's there but you never stop feeling it."

Kurt cocked his head, his wide eyes boring into Blaine's as if he could see everything there was to see in Blaine. And maybe he could. His stare was really intense, made even more disconcerting because Blaine couldn't distinguish his emotion. Kurt's face was glass; save for the inquisitiveness in his eyes that had yet to leave Blaine's.

"I know," Kurt finally said, blinking and breaking eye contact. "I know." The second sentence was like a whisper, an after note, or an echo that was playing in Kurt's head so loudly it just had to be released into the world. Blaine didn't think Kurt had realized he'd said it, for the amount of emotion in the two words tore at Blaine's heart strings.

Then, as if a switch was turned on, Kurt perked up and smiled; all signs of distress suddenly gone from his appearance.
"Come on," Kurt said with an encouraging smile, pulling Blaine gently with their still linked arms. "I want to give you a tour before everybody wakes up."

In shock from the sudden transformation Blaine didn't hesitate and let Kurt drag him up the steps and onto the wooden porch. Blaine was barely coherent when Kurt whipped out his keys and it was only when the door was finally being opened that Blaine snapped back to reality.

"Hangman's tree," he said with awe.

Kurt just chuckled and pushed the door open more, gracefully shoving Blaine inside before shutting the door behind them.

--------_O_-------

The house was cozy. As soon as they stepped inside, Blaine dropped the duffel bag and guitar onto a worn red rug. To the left of the door was a coat hanger that had multiple jackets hanging off of it, and to the right was a closet that Blaine assumed was for shoes.

Kurt kicked his Doc Marten's off and a motion for Blaine to do the same. Following Kurt's direction he untied his ratted laces and gave the shoes to Kurt who opened the closet, which was indeed for shoes, and placed Blaine's sneakers amongst the mass of shoes as if they belonged there.

Blaine wasn't wearing a jacket, but he wore a big black hoodie that was beginning the process of what felt like heatstroke in the gentle heating of the house.

"Can I take my hoodie off?" he asked tentatively, not sure what the etiquette de-heating oneself was.

Kurt looked like he was about to laugh. "You're about to move in," he said, shaking his head. "Get comfortable and do what you want. You're right though," he said after a moment's thought. "It is pretty hot in here. Jeff was probably meddling with the AC again don't worry about it."

Blaine nodded mutely, staring at Kurt as the pale boy watched him with a smirk.

"Well?" Kurt nudged when Blaine made no movement. "You going to take it off or..?"

Blaine snapped back to reality blushing slightly. "Right yes, okay." He turned, though he felt awkward as he did so, and pulled off the hoodie, shaking it out and folding it over his arm as he turned back around. Now he wore a red Dalton t-shirt and jeans. His hair was a mess and his socks felt sweaty—he probably smelled disgusting, and wow, Blaine thought he might actually want a shower more than a bed. He felt gross.

"Show me the house!" Blaine said dramatically deciding not to comment on his need for hot water. He waved his hand in the air in an aristocratic manner, and broke into a big grin when Kurt rolled his eyes and pointed to Blaine's feet.

"This is the foyer," Kurt deadpanned.

Blaine widened his eyes and slapped his hand to his cheeks, making an impressive 'o' with his mouth. "No way!" he said over excitedly. "That is so cool! I've never seen one before!"

"Oh shut up," Kurt scolded with not actual bite to his tone. "I didn't want it to be the only place left out."

"Of course," Blaine nodded mockingly.

Kurt just rolled his eyes, (a habit Blaine figured he'd be seeing a lot), and took a few steps forward going to the right. "Here," he said as they entered a fairly large square room with wooden floors and an impressive TV resting in a TV cabinet, "Is the family room. That," he pointed to a soft plush La-Z-Boy arm chair that was on the furthest side of the room facing the TV, "Is my dad's. And I mean it's his, if you don't want to die don't sit there. Ever."

Blaine nodded in understanding. "This is the main group chilling room. We have a PS3, Jenga, Pictionary, Apples 2 Apples, and Scrabble – of which I am the residing champion. We also have a stellar amount of movies," Kurt pointed towards two cabinets that framed the TV from floor to ceiling. Each cabinet was stocked with movies and Blaine could feel himself smiling.

"That's awesome," he hummed his approval. "Movies are the best."

"I'm happy to hear that. We tend to have a move night every Friday to 'keep the family together.'"

Blaine nodded smiling, "That sounds like fun."

Kurt nodded and moved back out of the room, crossing back in front of the foyer into a dining room. "Dining room," Kurt pointed out. "We don't really eat here much. It's only for special occasions and birthdays and thanksgiving and stuff."

Blaine nodded as they kept on walking. "This is the kitchen," Kurt said with a grand flourish. "It's my second favourite room in the house so disrespect it and I'll disrespect you."

"Of course."

Kurt walked him past the squared granite counter, and the bar stools to a large island with eight bar stools. "This is the usual breakfast/eating place. We're hardly ever here at the same time so I hope you're sufficient at feeding yourself."

"Yeah, I'm adept."

"I'm glad," Kurt said with sincerity. Out of the kitchen they entered the living room that had a massive book shelf and a TV. It was gorgeous, Blaine thought, as his eyes drifted over a window seat set into a very large circular window; just in front of the window seat stood a black grand piano, shining softly as the weak midmorning sun flittered through the window. Blaine's hands itched to play it almost immediately.

The room looked significantly less lived in than the family room but Blaine knew he'd found his favourite room in the house, it was so peaceful.

Kurt showed him where the bathroom was and was taking him up the stairs when Blaine saw a ramp leading down.

"What's down there?" Blaine asked peeking over the railing.

"That's Arties bedroom."

"He gets the whole basement to himself?" Blaine asked slightly surprised.

Kurt shrugged, continuing up the stairs. "I have the whole loft to myself."

"There's a loft?" Blaine asked clearly excited.

"Yeah," Kurt answered. "It's where my bedroom is."

Blaine smiled to himself for a moment before realizing Kurt was at the top of the stairs and he should probably go catch up.

"Everyone's still sleeping so we'll have to be quiet," Kurt said in a whisper when Blaine finally reached him.

"Sure," Blaine replied at the same volume.

Kurt quickly pointed to his left where there was a closed door. "This is Jeff's room," he said. "Next to it is the bathroom. Next to the bathroom is Santana's room, and next to Santana's room is the guest room where you'll be staying."

Without prompt, Kurt walked towards Blaine's room and opened the door, leaving Blaine to follow behind him. The room was nice, a pleasant size with light beige walls and a King sized bed. There was a closet on the right side, and a window on the wall facing the door.

"It's lovely," Blaine said letting out a breath. He knew Kurt was an alright guy, but a part of Blaine was still convinced they'd stick him in a maggot infested room.

"I'm glad you like it," Kurt replied with a courteous nod.

They stood staring at it for a bit before Kurt seemed to remember something. "Right," he said shaking his head. "Stay here."
Kurt left and returned a minute later with a towel and face cloth. "Here," he said as he placed them on the bed.

"Thanks," Blaine replied with gratitude, surprised at how generous Kurt really was.

"So," Kurt said drumming his fingers on his thigh. "You may want to take a shower so I'll leave you to do that and let yourself get settled in. If you need anything just shout, okay?"

"O-okay," Blaine stuttered, surprised at Kurt's hasty retreat. It's not that Blaine needed babysitting but still.

"Okay." Kurt offered Blaine a small smile before leaving his room and closing the door softly behind him.

Blaine took a deep breath and spun around himself, trying to gather his thoughts together. This was amazing. Like seriously amazing, this house was adorable, and there were other teenagers here, and there was no rent! Blaine had hit the jackpot as far as running away goes, and if everybody who lived here was as awesome as Kurt, Blaine could get very comfortable here. But at the same time his parents were distraught looking for him. Thoughts of the phone call made his eyes sting and he wiped at them uselessly, a frown growing on his face. He still couldn't believe he was doing this to them again—

"Shower," he said to himself, shaking his arms and legs out as if that would make the bad thoughts go away. "I'm going to shower."

Stripping himself of his shirt, jeans and underwear, Blaine stood shamelessly naked in "his" room before wrapping the towel around his waist and picking up the face cloth as he moved towards the door.

As soon as his hand gripped the doorknob, he turned the door and opened it, gasping in surprise as a Latina woman stood facing him, a smirk growing on her face as his towel undid itself and fell to the floor before Blaine even had the mind to grab it.

"Wanky."