Both men stood there in stunned silence. It had been at least two minutes since either of them had said anything and the last words that had been said still hung in the air.

Blaine was the first to talk. “Love?”

“I meant loved like…in the past.” Kurt answered quickly, trying desperately to cover up his mistake. Why did he have to have such a big mouth?

“Wow…” Blaine breathed out. This was all too much. He didn’t believe Kurt’s cover up for an instant; Kurt never made mistakes like that, and Blaine knew it. “Kurt…I…” Blaine sank down and sat on the edge of the hospital bed. There was another thick silence as both men tried to find the words to say to each other. It wasn’t awkward though, just reflective. Blaine darted his eyes around, not really taking in any of his surroundings – he’d seen them hundreds of times anyway, seeing as there wasn’t much else to look at while he waited with Drew. Oh god, Drew. Blaine had been waiting for Kurt to admit he still loved him for so long. And now, when Kurt finally did, they were in a hospital room with Blaine’s unconscious boyfriend.

Blaine could sense that Kurt was backtracking and probably about to apologise. So Blaine stopped him before he could. “Is that why you sang that song?” He asked quietly and calmly.

Kurt sighed. He knew it was no use lying to Blaine. So he decided to be honest. “You know it was.” He said quietly, avoiding looking at Blaine. He saw Blaine nod out of the corner of his eye before he looked up at him. “Blaine. You have to believe that I’m not going to threaten your relationship with Drew. Well, not unless you want me to.” Kurt laughed nervously causing Blaine to smile slightly.

“Kurt, there’s no need to be worried about this.” He said in a voice only slight louder than a whisper. He turned to smile at the taller man. “In all honesty? I…still love you too.” Kurt’s head flew up to look directly at Blaine. “After everything we went through together…all the arguments and obstacles we overcame…I didn’t just stop loving you. I couldn’t and I still can’t.” Blaine sighed. “That probably doesn’t make any sense, I’m sorry. My mind is kind of all over the place right now.”

“No…no, it does make sense. Don’t worry.” Kurt smiled a little before sighing. “But you’re…with Drew.” Kurt looked down, thousands of locked away memories suddenly flooding to the foreground of his mind. Kurt felt himself drifting back to his time with Blaine. All the time they’d spent laughing and crying, comforting and fighting. Everything from the day they met at Dalton to the day they split up. All the good things and all the bad things. Kurt hadn’t realised when he’d started crying, he just felt a tear drop from the tip of his nose and onto his shirt. He snapped out of his own mind and wiped his cheeks with his sleeve. “I’m sorry.”

Blaine – who had been watching and analysing Kurt’s face the whole time – smiled sympathetically. “Don’t be. We’re seeing each other again after years of having no contact at all. It’s bound to bring back memories and…feelings.” Blaine decided it was only fair for him to show his vulnerabilities too. “You know, I still can’t listen to Teenage Dream…or Blackbird. If they come on the radio, I immediately switch stations.” He blushed as he spoke, trying to make Kurt feel better.

Kurt laughed a little, relieved that this wasn’t just one-sided. “I do that too.” He said quietly.

The atmosphere in the room lightened as both men started laughing. They sat and traded stories about their new lives. Kurt told Blaine about New York and James and his new fashion line (joking that he could make Blaine a bowtie to fit with his new range). He told Blaine all of his dating horror stories, including all of Rachel’s annoying attempts to set him up with random dancers from her various different shows. Blaine listened, of course, and nodded along. He laughed at the right points and gasped at others. Blaine ignored the irrational stab of jealousy he felt at picturing Kurt with other men.

Then it was Blaine’s turn. He recounted his life in San Francisco flawlessly. He told Kurt all about his gigs at bars and restaurants. He said about how, even though he’d worked hard and had ‘climbed his career ladder’ to some extent, he still had a lot of work to do before he didn’t have to work two jobs to pay the bills. He’d carefully skated around any mention of his life with Drew. He didn’t exactly know why, but he did nonetheless. That was until he could avoid it no longer.

Kurt smiled at Blaine’s story. “What about you and Drew? How did that happen?” He asked, taking a sip of his water. (They’d taken a trip to the water cooler while they caught up.)

Blaine froze. Not in shock or alarm, but simply in thought. “Oh…well…he asked me to coffee after hearing me play at a restaurant. I told him I was busy.” Blaine had edited the real reason from everyone, only he knew it. “But he didn’t give up. He kept coming to my gigs and shifts at work to ask me out…until eventually, I gave in and said yes.” Blaine shrugged a little. He’d started to realise something as he was speaking, but he ignored it with all the energy he had. He just didn’t want to deal with that just now.

“Wow. Quite the…uh…quite the fairy tale.” Kurt said through a thick layer of sarcasm.

Blaine laughed. “Everything’s a fairy tale, Kurt. It just depends on how you tell it.”

They stayed like that for a few more hours; trading stories about everything and anything they thought of. Both Blaine and Kurt felt increasingly at ease with each other. All the awkwardness had disappeared and – though neither of them realised it – they seemed to have transformed into their teenage selves. The more they talked, and laughed, the closer they moved together. Like magnets.

After a while, Blaine fell asleep on the chair in Drew’s hospital room. Kurt watched the shorter man with a smile. He loved how Blaine still looked exactly the same when he slept. The gentle breathing, the slight twitching and even the incoherent mumbling. Kurt remembered it all. He lost track of time while he watched Blaine. But it must have gotten late. It was 9pm when Kurt had arrived to the hospital. He knew that much. ‘So it must be about…1am.’ Kurt thought.

Just then a nurse came in to check on Drew. She jumped a little when she saw Kurt and Blaine. “Oh.” He said, causing Kurt to break out of his daydream and look up. “Didn’t anyone tell you? Visiting hours ended at eleven.”

Kurt sighed and smiled. “Oh, sorry. We’ll head off then.” He said politely. Kurt waited until the nurse had left the room before he turned to Blaine and shook him gently. “Blaine? Blaine, wake up.” He shook him a little harder until Blaine woke up.

Blaine – in Kurt’s opinion – was absolutely adorable when he’d just woken up. And that hadn’t changed either. Blaine sat up straighter in his chair and rubbed his eyes until he could focus on Kurt. He groaned a little and looked around; the memory of where he was, and why he was there, suddenly hit him.  “Is everything okay? Is Drew okay?” He asked urgently.

Kurt ignored the jealousy he felt when Blaine asked him that. “Drew’s fine, Blaine. I mean…there’s been no change.” He did his best to smile. “But we’re being kicked out. Apparently we stayed 2 hours longer than we should’ve done anyway.” Kurt started collecting his things.

Blaine stretched out his arms and nodded. “Oh. Alright.” Blaine began collecting his things as well.  But, as he did, his mind drifted back to the house he was going back to. His family would ask him questions which he didn’t want to deal with right now. He imagined his father’s reaction. His father would probably find some way to blame Blaine’s sexuality for the accident. Some reason about how, if Blaine wasn’t gay, Drew wouldn’t have gone to the reunion with him and therefore he would still be happy and healthy. Blaine thought of his bedroom; tainted with memories of both Drew and Kurt. He sighed. Blaine really didn’t want to go back there right now.

The sigh caught Kurt’s attention. “Everything okay, Blaine?”

Blaine nodded unconvincingly. “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”

Kurt rolled his eyes and placed a hand on his hip. “Oh, come on. I know you better than that, Blaine. Now spill.”

Blaine licked the front of his teeth behind his lip as he thought. “I just…I don’t want to go home.”

“Because of Drew? You wanna stay here with him?” Kurt interrupted.

Blaine instantly felt guilty; should that be why he was reluctant to go home? “Uh…no. Not exactly.”

Kurt immediately understood. “Oh. Dad stuff.” He sighed. Kurt remembered when Blaine had first told him about his relationship with his dad. Both of them had cried; Blaine in relief of having told someone, Kurt because he couldn’t imagine someone hurting his Blaine. Kurt looked up at Blaine. “You don’t have to go back there tonight. Shoot Sophie a text and tell her that you’re staying with me. I’ll make up the couch in my old room and you’ll sleep there.” Blaine started to protest. “No, shush. You shouldn’t be alone tonight, Blaine.”

Blaine felt his heart warm and, before he knew it, a soft smile stretched across his face. “Thank you, Kurt.”

They gathered the remainder of their things and left the hospital. Blaine said a quick goodbye to Drew before he left, kissing his head gently, and then leaving with Kurt. He couldn’t think about what was happening – he’d feel guilty if he did. As they drove back to Kurt’s parent’s house, neither man spoke. Both of them thinking about what the other could be thinking about. Blaine looked out of the window and thought over what had happened. What was Kurt wanting to happen? And, also, what did he want to happen? The debate about whether he should break up with Drew came back. He had tried to ignore it for as long as possible, but tonight had definitely confirmed it. He wasn’t in love with Drew, and he still had feelings for Kurt.