Kurt knew the look that Blaine wore in an instant. Guarded, ashamed, self-pitied, and repressed memories. But what had happened next was not what Kurt had expected. Well, so soon. Blaine scribbled away on the notebook quickly and then handed it to Kurt. "It's a lot to write."

Kurt thought for a moment. Then he smiled at Blaine. "Then I'll go make some dessert. I think chocolate cake is needed," said Kurt as he put his hand on Blaine's shoulder before he rose to his feet. That action had taken Blaine by surprise.

Kurt walked into the kitchen where he took out a cake pan, vegetable oil, eggs, flour, sugar, chocolate, and all the other things he needed to bake his from-scratch cake that had once been popular in District 8. About a good twenty-five minutes into the baking, Blaine had come out of his room and entered the kitchen, his eyes on his feet and his hand holding out the notepad with three pages filled out front and back. Blaine was a fast, but neat, writer.

"I come from District 1," it began. Kurt found this surprising. District One was so...well, not where Kurt was expecting Blaine to be from. "In District 1, high class and acting as if you're high class is important. Even the Peacekeepers there expect it form us. Basically, District 1 is Capitol-Wannabes. Nothing more. But there, the Peacekeepers had everything against me and my family. For one, I'm gay. Of course society in general looks down upon that, but everyone knew. And for another reason, my family is built on a low income and strong-willed people. We only have manners towards those who we like. My brother Cooper is the main reason that my family has such a bad reputation. I mean, we might as well have been living in District 12. So one day, I was starving. I may have even been close to death...so I stole some fruit. I was in so much pain that I wasn't even thinking. And when the Peacekeepers saw me...and when they tried to stop me, I snapped. So when one of the Peacekeepers grabbed at me, I hit him and knocked him out. I was soon arrested and instantly taken away. I was separated from my family, got my tongue cut out, and was muted to slavery. I miss my family so much...I even miss singing. I used to be a good singer. But whatever. Is that what you wanted to know, master?"

Kurt felt incredibly pitiful for Blaine. He was right. The Capitol was so unfair. Kurt sighed and just as he thought about just pulling Blaine into his arms and hugging him until Kurt didn't feel so pitiful anymore, the timer on the oven went off. Kurt took out the plate and grabbed two square ceramic plates, cut two even pieces, and handed a plate to Blaine, motioning to the dinner table for Blaine to sit down. Blaine immediately knew that Kurt meant to sit down at the table, so he walked over and sat down.

As always, Blaine sat down and waited for Kurt to sit down and take the first bite.

Kurt sat down in the chair next to Blaine. And just as Blaine looked over, Kurt gave him a soft and comforting smile, which immediately caused Blaine's cheeks to blush a dark red. Kurt saw and couldn't stop himself from giggling. Kurt had handed Blaine a glass of milk and sat his own in front of his plate as he sat the two forks down between their plates. Just as Blaine reached for one, Kurt did the same, causing their hands to swiftly touch. The shock that had passed between their fingers caused them to both quickly pull away. Kurt cleared his throat and banished away his thoughts as he grabbed his fork and began eating.

Beside him, Blaine slowly grabbed his fork and began taking small bites of the cake. With what he had left of his tongue, he could taste hints of the cake's strong chocolate flavor. But not even the faint taste of goodness could keep Blaine's mind off of Kurt. Kurt didn't question Blaine's explanation of how he became an Avox--which is just what Blaine had been hoping for. But he couldn't help the feeling of dislike towards the fact that he was being pitied.

When the cake was all gone from their plates and the glasses were empty, Kurt cleaned up for them. Blaine remained where Kurt had left him, wishing he had been giving orders to at least help out.

While Kurt began cleaning the dishes and glasses, he froze for a moment and looked over at Blaine, motioning him over. "I have an idea," he called out to him.

Blaine got up, pushed his chair in, and walked into the kitchen.

"You still have your voice right? Like, they didn't take away your vocal chords?" Kurt knew it was a stupid question to ask, but it just came out.

Blaine nodded his head. "Mmhm," he murmured as if to give proof.

Kurt may have only got to hear a hum of an agreement, but he liked how Blaine's voice seemed. Not high-pitched, not rough, and not low-pitched. It was...perfect. "So you could hum along to me singing!"

Blaine's eyes read his realization, followed by a big, toothy and cheeky grin. He was excited.

"You can hum along to this one song that's in my head all the time. It's a really old song though."

Blaine just nodded vigorously.

Suddenly nervous, Kurt leaned his weight on his hands on the edge of the kitchen sink, head hung low away from Blaine. Blaine could only see the side of Kurt's face. And from what he saw, Kurt looked suddenly focused.

Kurt cleared his throat and began to sing. "Hey sweetie, well I need you here tonight. And I know that you don't wanna be leaving. Yeah, you want it, but I can't help it. I just feel complete when you're by my side. But I know you can't come home 'til they're singing la lalala lalala. If you can wait 'til I get home, then I swear to you that we can make this last." Blaine hummed the 'lalala' slowly and soft. "If you can wait 'til I get home, then I swear, come tomorrow, this will all be in our past, and it might before for the best. You know you can't give me what I need and even though you mean so much to me, I can't wait through everything. Is this really happening? I swear I'll never be happy again. And don't you dare saw we can just be friends. I'm not some boy that you can sway. We knew it'd happen eventually. If you can wait 'til I get home, then I swear we can make this last. If you can wait 'til I get home. Then I swear, come tomorrow, this will all be in our past and it might be for the best," By now, Blaine had been humming a background melody that made the song sound more acapella-ish and beautiful that it originally was.

Blaine's voice was amazing. Kurt couldn't get over it. It made him want to cry for the fact that Blaine really can't use that voice. Even though Blaine was only humming, Kurt saw it to be so achingly beautiful.

Now that the song was over, Kurt and Blaine had been staring at each other. There was something in Blaine's eyes that Kurt couldn't identify. It literally frustrated him. And all of a sudden, Kurt stared at Blaine's lips, wondering what it would be like to kiss them. Would they be soft? Smooth? Rough? Dry? Wet? Kurt quickly looked away and dismissed those thoughts. Just because he's the only guy you're associating wit doesn't mean you have a crush on him, Kurt told himself.

"You have an amazing voice," Kurt whispered.

Beautiful, Kurt thought as he watched Blaine's cheeks redden.

Blaine grabbed the notepad from the counter where Kurt had sat it down at along with the pen that was placed with it. He wrote carefully and then handed it to Kurt for him to read. "Yours is beautiful. I never hears such an amazing voice before."

Kurt smiled a big grin before he saw the time. "We need to get to bed. We have a big day tomorrow."

Blaine tilted his head to the side, a curious gaze glazed over in his eyes.

"We're going to the Tribute's training building to help some of the stylists out with fashion stuff for tomorrow night's ceremony where we get to see all of the Tributes all dolled up."

Blaine raised his eyebrows in worry. "We?" he mouthed.

Kurt nodded his head. When he saw the increase in worry on Blaine's face, Kurt somehow knew exactly what Blaine was worried about. "Look, don't worry about it. When we're in the presence of others, just act like...how any Avox would act. You'll just be carrying my fashion sketch books and will also be carrying my fabric swatch box." Kurt walked over and stood before Blaine, his body facing his as he put a hand on Blaine's shoulder, somehow more between the neck and shoulder part this time where Kurt got to faintly touch Blaine's skin. "It's just for the morning, alright?" He looked genuinely concerned and warm towards Blaine with how his voice was sounding. Almost like Kurt's voice was suddenly soothing and so inviting.

Instead of leaning into Kurt's touch like he wished he could, Blaine just nodded his head, sighing as if he was relaxed somewhat.