Just one picture and it nearly changed everything.

Kurt was humming Blaine’s latest Dalton single under his breath (“Teenage Dream,” sung for a potential new love interest on the show), when he got home from school and logged into his computer. He didn’t immediately log into Twitter – Blaine had his email now and they used it instead . It made talking a lot easier since they weren’t restricted by the number of characters they could use.

He opened his email and scanned his inbox, but there was no email from Blaine. Kurt shrugged it off – after all, Blaine was busy filming. Kurt wasn’t worried – Blaine hadn’t gone without a message to him of some kind since the first day they talked. His phone buzzed and he glanced down at it.

A text message from a phone number he didn’t recognize. He opened it up warily, and sighed with relief. It was Blaine. Kurt had forgotten – of course Blaine had his number. Kurt had called him once. A thrill went through him at the fact that Blaine had actually saved his phone number. Then he read the text.

Kurt, it’s Blaine. I’m going to call you five minutes. It’s important. Please answer.

That didn’t sound good at all. Kurt bit his lip as the next five minutes crawled by. His heart pounded – what could Blaine be calling to talk to him about?

The phone finally rang and Kurt jumped. He sighed and then answered it. “Blaine?”

“Hi,” Blaine said.

“What’s going on?” Kurt couldn’t stand the no knowing. Blaine sighed. “Blaine?”

“Are your parents home?” Blaine asked instead of answering him.

“No,” Kurt answered, bewildered by the question. “They won’t be home for about an hour.” Carole usually got home first, on the day shift at the hospital. Burt was later, always trying to get that last car done for the day. “Seriously, what’s going on? You’re freaking me out here.”

“Someone saw us on Sunday,” Blaine finally told him. “At the airport, when we were saying goodbye.”

“What do you mean ‘saw us’?” Kurt wanted to know, his voice quiet, his heart still pounding his chest.

“There’s a picture, Kurt,” Blaine exhaled loudly into the phone. “A picture of us hugging is on the cover of Us Weekly.”

“Oh, no.” Kurt wasn’t stupid. He knew he had to keep his friendship with Blaine quiet, or the media would be all over them. They were already dying for some kind of confirmation that Blaine had a boyfriend. Kurt didn’t want to spend his time dodging paparazzi and reporters.

“Here, go to this website,” Blaine said, rattling off a web address. Kurt typed it in with shaking fingers. The cover popped up right away and there they were. Blaine was definitely discernible, but the picture had been taken from a bad angle. Kurt’s face was barely visible, but they were definitely hugging and there was a definite lack of space between them.

“Well, you can’t really see my face,” Kurt commented, staring at the picture. “I don’t think they know who I am.”

“Maybe not, Kurt,” Blaine began, sounding distressed. “But they’ll figure it out and, God, I’ve just made your life a living hell.” Kurt couldn’t help it – he giggled.

“Okay, I think you’re being a little dramatic,” Kurt replied. “You can’t see my face. How bad could it be?”

“Have you been on Tumblr yet?”

“No,” Kurt answered, pulling up his account as he talked.

“Well, I’ve seen Jeff’s,” Blaine kept talking. “It’s not pretty, Kurt.”

“They haven’t figured out who I am though, right?” Kurt asked as his dashboard loaded. Their picture was on every blog he followed, of course, and speculation was running rampant. Kurt swallowed passed the sick feeling rising in his throat.

“I take it you’re looking now,” Blaine said when Kurt went quiet.

“Yeah,” Kurt murmured. “Even still, Blaine, they don’t know who I am, and they won’t know. I’m not about to tell them.”

“But you shouldn’t have to deal with this, and it’s all my fault,” Blaine muttered. “I never should have…”

“Blaine, no, don’t,” Kurt stopped him. “Please don’t say what I think you’re about to say.”
Because if he was, Kurt wouldn’t be able to handle it. It was hard enough being in love with a boy who was thousands of miles away… if Blaine said they couldn’t talk anymore…

“Why would you put yourself through this when you don’t have to?” Blaine asked.

“I should think it obvious,” Kurt replied quietly. They fell silent. He was shocked he’d actually said that out loud. Oh, God. What if it was too much? What if he’d really scared Blaine off this time?

“Me too.” Blaine’s voice was so low Kurt almost didn’t hear him. “I – me too, Kurt.” Neither of them seemed to know what to say to that. Blaine finally cleared his throat.

“What do we do about this?” Kurt finally felt brave enough to speak.

“Nothing, for now. My agent said I should keep quiet, tell you to keep quiet, and let it blow over,” Blaine answered.

“So we can still… talk?” Kurt wanted to know.

“Yes,” Blaine sighed. “Yes, if you want, we can still talk.”

“Good… I want to.” Kurt felt his worries slipping away. The picture was nothing. No one knew who he was. He and Blaine were fine.

“So tell me about your day, then,” Blaine told him, sounding happier.

Kurt settled back into his chair and did just that.

*

Blaine couldn’t believe it. After all that mess, Kurt still wanted to talk to him.
Kurt cared about him. He’d as much as admitted it. Blaine felt like he was flying. So what if someone snapped their picture. So what if the media outlets were calling every five minutes for a quote. So what?

Nothing else mattered but his and Kurt’s friendship. He needed Kurt in his life.

“So, there was something I wanted to ask you, but I’m not sure I should, considering the photo,” Blaine changed the subject once Kurt was done talking about his day.

“What’s that?” Kurt sounded kind of breathless, and Blaine loved that he had such an effect on Kurt. Hell, if this was the payoff he would get for calling Kurt, Blaine would start doing it a lot more – who needed email when you could talk or text over the phone?

“I was serious about having you out here to visit me,” Blaine said. “Maybe for a couple of days while you’re on school break. You could come watch us film.”

“Blaine, I don’t think my parents would go for that,” Kurt replied. “I mean, they barely know you, and you live alone in LA.”

“You let me worry about your parents,” Blaine told him. “Do you want to come visit?”

“You know I do,” Kurt murmured, and Blaine felt a little thrill go through him.

“Good.” Blaine grinned. “Now when your dad gets home, call me back and let me talk to him, okay?”

Kurt agreed and they hung up a few minutes later. He was ready when Kurt called back and put his father on the phone.

He was going to get Kurt to LA if it killed him.

*

“You sure you want to do this, kiddo?” Burt asked, looking at Kurt. Kurt met his gaze.

“Yes, I do,” he replied. “And you know that you can trust me – Blaine and I aren’t about to anything stupid while I’m there.”

“He lives by himself,” Burt grunted, and Kurt heard the implication in his father’s voice.

“He has a pull out couch, Dad, and you know me. I’m not about to hop in bed with some boy,” Kurt’s face was red and so was his father’s. He really hoped that would be the end of that discussion.

“What about this picture nonsense?” Burt wanted to know. Kurt had been intending to keep his father in the dark on that tidbit – but circumstances had dictated things so that Burt had actually seen the magazine himself.

He’d been less than pleased.

“We won’t be out about in public,” Kurt promised. “No one should have a reason to follow us around or take our pictures.”

“So you’ll just hole up at his apartment instead,” Burt muttered.

“Dad,” Kurt stared hard at his father. “I want to go. This is a good opportunity for me – I can learn so much about the TV business, and Miss Pillsbury arranged for me to get extra credit.” Kurt had called her while Burt had been talking to Blaine – and at this point, Kurt would do anything to get to go.

“Okay, kiddo,” Burt finally sighed.

“Really?” Kurt squeaked in excitement. “Thank you!” He gave his father a hug and then ran upstairs. He had to call Blaine.

Kurt Hummel was going to LA.
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A/N: Two things. First, yes, I am aware that it's probably not legal for the magazine to actually print Blaine's picture given his age, as well as given that Kurt is unidentified in the photo. For fic purposes, they're getting around this because Blaine is legally emancipated (thus making him an adult in the eyes of the law), and because Kurt is unidentified. Also, Us Weekly is not mine in anyway, nor am I affiliated in any way with the magazine.

Second, back in chapters 3-4 several people asked if I had an idea of what picture Kurt would have sent Blaine, and at the time I had no idea. After some fun with blogging pics on Tumblr, I have now decided that Kurt sent him this one.

Also, you can follow me on Tumblr here, if you're so inclined. :D

Happy New Year!