Blaine couldn't bring himself to move from his seat at the end of the bed. He just wanted to sink back under the comforter and cry. Or scream. Or scream and cry at the same time. He wasn't even prepared to leave in a week, but tomorrow. It was too soon...too soon to be ripped from his Kurt.

When Kurt showed up, all thoughts of L.A. and table readings and tours flew straight out the window. Kurt, in an all too delicious pair of indigo skinny jeans, knee high combat boots, and an amazingly tailored emerald green shirt stood at Blaine's threshold, bearing a single white rose.

Blaine was speechless.

"Oh, Kurt." Blaine took the rose delicately from Kurt's fingers. "It's beautiful."

Kurt blushed, moving closer to take Blaine in his arms.

"You're beautiful," Kurt whispered against Blaine's ear. "And I'm so happy I'm here."

Blaine's heart lodged in his throat. Kurt held Blaine tight, feeling him tremble slightly in his arms.

"Blaine?" Kurt looked around, for the first time noticing the dark room. "Are you alright? You're sitting in the dark. And you're shaking." Kurt rubbed soothing circles into Blaine's back, kissing him lightly on the forehead.

"I'm just...so happy that you're here, too." Blaine took a deep breath, inhaling the soothing scent of vanilla that always settled like a mist around them when they were in each others' arms. Blaine held Kurt at arms length. "You look amazing. Where in the world did you get that shirt?"

Kurt rolled his eyes upward, biting his lip as he tried to hide a smile.

"I...made it," he confessed. "Last year. Do you like it?"

"I love it." Blaine held Kurt close, not wanting to let him go. Telling Kurt that he loved his shirt was the closest he could bring himself to saying 'I love you'.

Blaine decided to put off the self-pity until the last possible moment, when he would have to tell Kurt he was leaving...and he would need to say good-bye.

Kurt chose to go to The Chart House, so that they could eat with a view of the water. No sooner had the appetizers and drinks been ordered than the barrage of questions began.

"What's your favorite color?"

"How many siblings do you have?"

"What was your favorite subject in school?"

"What is your favorite Vogue cover?"

"Favorite musical?"

"Favorite ice cream flavor?"

"What t.v. show would you be on if you weren't on your own?"

"Did you read Patti LuPone's new book?"

"Of course I did, you psycho."

On and on, until salads were moved aside, barely touched, and the entrees went cold. They stayed at their table until the dinner rush moved along and it was just the two of them, sitting on the same side of the table, arm in arm, watching the waves roll, some of the spray showering the glass as the tide moved in.

"Tell me something about yourself that I don't already know." Blaine didn't want this dinner to end. He didn't want the night to end. If the silence stretched on too long, Kurt might be tempted to ask Blaine to leave and go back to the hotel, and Blaine wanted to live off of this moment for as long as he could.

Kurt screwed up his face slightly, looking off into the water as it churned and frothed outside the large picture windows.

"Okay, okay." Kurt sat up straight, crossing one leg over the other, biting his lip as he tried for as long as possible to delay answering the question.

"I sing..." Kurt started.

Blaine scoffed.

"Well, I knew that," Blaine said. "You just won't sing for me."

Kurt glared at him pointedly.

"I sing," Kurt repeated, "in a community college choir."

Blaine raised his eyebrows.

"Oh my God, Kurt." Blaine smiled. "Well, tell me. When's your next concert? I need to come see you?"

Kurt leaned back a little, appraising Blaine with amused eyes.

"You would drive all the way down here, from L. A., to watch me perform with thirty other aging community college students?" Kurt shut his eyes and shook his head as if the idea was too ridiculous to imagine.

"Of course I would," Blaine pouted. "I would do anything to hear you sing."

The sincerity in Blaine's voice quieted Kurt's incredulous laughter. Kurt felt the intensity of Blaine's gaze on his skin and blushed.

"It wouldn't matter anyway," Kurt continued. "The next event our choir has planned is our annual scholarship competition, and I'm not competing, so I'm not singing."

"Scholarship competition?" Blaine leaned in and pulled Kurt closer to him, smiling as Kurt relaxed into his side. 'It's that easy,' Blaine thought, nuzzling into Kurt's hair and inhaling his comforting scent of vanilla.

"Mm-hmm," Kurt hummed. "Every year some of the students in the choir compete for a scholarship so that they can attend 'real college'," Kurt added air quotes for emphasis. "The amount varies every year, and is based on our ability to raise the funds ourselves, so it's very competitive. There was a brawl a few years ago with regard to illegitimate raffle tickets. It was quite scandalous."

Blaine chuckled silently. Blaine kissed the top of Kurt's head, delighting as stray hairs tickled his nose. He kept breathing Kurt in, hoping that somehow he could take that scent home with him.

Of course, the only way to do that, would be to take Kurt home with him.

"Why don't you want me to hear you sing?" Blaine asked quietly.

Kurt sighed.

"Because this..." Kurt gestured to all of him, "is just a disguise I wear. It keeps me sane, and strong. In a way, it keeps people at bay. But when I sing, that's when people get to see the real me..."

Blaine imagined the real Kurt must be a sight to behold.

"If you did that," Kurt said, "if you saw the real me, then you'd know everything about me...and you wouldn't have a reason to come back."

Blaine could hear Kurt's voice tremble, clouded with tears he was fighting to keep away. Blaine held him tighter, refusing to let go, even when the waiter brought the check.

The whole drive back to the hotel, Blaine kept glancing at the dashboard clock, watching as the minutes ticked away. He felt like he wasn't driving them to their quiet little bungalow retreat, but to an ominous black hole that was going to suck away their time and leave them with nothing. He thought that if they could just keep moving, keep doing other things, then he could somehow make time slow down, and he could keep Kurt longer. He suggested dancing, karaoke, or even another late night movie make-out session, but Kurt seemed eager to go back to the hotel. Since Blaine found it hard to say no to Kurt, he relented.

When he got Kurt back to the hotel, Blaine grabbed him up in his arms, swaying a bit as if they were dancing. Kurt smiled and rested his head on Blaine's shoulder.

"Hmmm," Kurt purred. "I like this. We should always find time for dancing."

Blaine sniffled a bit. He didn't realize he was humming. He didn't know when he had started singing, quietly, almost to himself.

"You think I'm pretty, without any makeup on...
You think I'm funny, when I get the punchline wrong...
I know you get me, so I let my walls come down...come down..."

Kurt looked down into Blaine's face with a wistful smile.

"Are you trying to tell me something, Anderson?" Kurt said with an affectionate giggle.

Blaine wrapped his arm more securely around Kurt's waist, holding Kurt's hand in his and resting his head on Kurt's shoulder.

"Before you met me, I was alright...
But things were kinda heavy, you brought me to life...
Now every February, you'll be my Valentine...Valentine..."

Kurt's smile fell slowly as he listened to the words. He knew the song well, but the way Blaine sang it sounded different, sounded strangely sad.

"Let's go all the way tonight...
No regrets, just love...
We can dance until we die, you and I...
will be young forever..."

"Blaine?"

A knot in Kurt's chest bloomed, crowding out everything but the rapid thrumming of his heart.

"You make me feel like I'm livin' a
Teenage dream, the way you turn me on
I can't sleep
Let's run away and
Don't ever look back,
Don't ever look back..."

Kurt wanted to look into Blaine's eyes, find the answers to his questions, but Blaine held him so hard against him, they were almost one person as they swayed and move. Kurt's breath hitched in his throat, and he knew.

Blaine was leaving.

"My heart stops, when you look at me...
Just one touch,
Now baby I believe...
This is real,
So take a chance and
Don't ever look back,
Don't ever look back..."

"When did you find out?" Kurt asked, looking over Blaine's head to the wall ahead of him.

"My agent called me this afternoon," Blaine replied softly.

Kurt pulled away a bit to look into Blaine's honey colored eyes, so much sadder than Kurt had ever seen.

"Wh-why didn't you tell me? Over dinner?" Kurt sniffled now.

"Because, I didn't want to ruin the evening."

Kurt nodded.

Kurt led Blaine to the bed, and sat him down. Kurt linked their hands looking down at their laced fingers. Blaine watched as Kurt rubbed a thumb over his knuckles, one at a time, feeling over the ridges and bumps on the back of Blaine's hand.

"I know I don't have the right to ask anything of you," Blaine said, "but..."

"Just ask me, Blaine." Kurt's solemn voice broke Blaine's heart.

Blaine swallowed, fighting to catch Kurt's gaze, but Kurt wouldn't look up into Blaine's eyes.

"Be with me, Kurt." Blaine pulled Kurt's hands to his mouth and kissed them. "Completely. Make love to me. Let me see you. All of you."

A tear rolled down Kurt's cheek, curling down his skin to rest on his chin. Another joined it quietly. And then another.

"I'm still not going to sing for you," Kurt said with a tiny nod.

Blaine pulled Kurt to his feet and held him.

"I'm going to take a shower," Blaine said, squeezing Kurt in his arms. "Would you join me?"

Kurt nodded again.

Blaine undressed slowly, watching Kurt carefully as Kurt stood stoically, staring at the floor. Kurt didn't make a move to remove his own clothes, just looked down at his boots. Blaine was a little confused.

"I'm just...going to get the shower started." Blaine took a last long look at Kurt, and then went into the bathroom. He turned the water on hot, and stepped inside.

He waited.

He thought for a moment that Kurt had changed his mind, and began to wash his hair. He heard the door open. A pale hand pushed the shower curtain aside, and he saw Kurt - beautiful, muscular, amazing, gorgeous Kurt, completely naked and waiting for Blaine to invite him in. Blaine took a moment to appreciate the view of Kurt's unblemished skin. He must have been staring, because Kurt suddenly blushed, a rosy hue that started at his neck and climbed swiftly up his cheeks.

"Come in," Blaine breathed, holding the curtain aside. "Come in."

Kurt stepped delicately over the edge of the tub, and there he was, standing with Blaine beneath the spray. Blaine almost didn't know what to do next. He felt like he was seeing a naked man for the first time. Sebastian, with his numerous hours spent in the gym and his obsession with tanning beds and manscaping, was nowhere near as spectacular as Kurt, without his makeup and his outlandish outfits, or even his carefully tailored clothes. Just Kurt. Beautiful Kurt.

"Could I...can I wash your back?" Blaine stammered as he fumbled with the wash cloth and the shower gel. Kurt looked at Blaine oddly, considering the question a little more than Blaine deemed necessary. In fact, it looked as though Kurt might actually say no. Then Kurt sighed, and turned slowly around, and there it was. Kurt's carefully kept secret. The one that he wore on his skin.

It was a tattoo. Not just a tattoo. It was a glorious piece of artwork; a flock of blackbirds, flying into the distance, all springing from a single word - courage. It covered most of his back, in all the places that the tanks he wore covered completely. The whole thing looked like it had been done in the style of a watercolor painting. It looked bright and colorful - and painful. Blaine inspected it carefully, reaching out to touch it reverently with gentle fingers. The first touch made Kurt shudder. Blaine looked it over and over, following the flowing line of the script with his fingertips, coming up close to look at the detail. That's when Blaine realized that the tattoo wasn't the secret. The real secret was what the tattoo was covering. In rare areas where the skin had not been inked, Blaine could make out old, faded bruises that hadn't entirely healed.

"Oh, Kurt," Blaine gasped, running his fingers along the bruises. Once he saw them, he couldn't stop seeing them. They were everywhere - between the birds, underneath the letters, woven in the colors and the forms.

"What...who..."

"Do me a favor?" Kurt asked, turning his head to look over his shoulder. "Ask me another time?"

Blaine nodded numbly, bringing the wash cloth up and scrubbing Kurt's skin carefully, as if putting too much pressure on it would wash away the beautiful image. Blaine washed Kurt's hair next, massaging Kurt's scalp with firm fingers, the way Kurt had done for him. After Blaine had finished washing Kurt, Kurt took the wash cloth and did the same for Blaine.

Kurt held him and kissed him, lapping tenderly at Blaine's lips and inside his mouth, humming against the movement of Blaine's lips on his. Kurt could feel Blaine's arousal against his leg, and wrapped a deft hand around his length. Blaine reached out to still Kurt's hand.

"No," Blaine said apologetically. "Not like that. Would you..."

Kurt dropped slowly to his knees, his eyes locked on Blaine's, which were melting to that alluring molten gold color that had started to haunt Kurt's dreams. Blaine swallowed as he watched Kurt take him into his mouth, his wet heat surrounding him, fitting over him tightly as Kurt wasted no time sucking hard, slowly working up and down Blaine's shaft, holding Blaine's gaze. Blaine's broken breaths and moans echoed off the tile walls of the bathroom.

Blaine watched Kurt's eyes go from a soft blue to a hard, stormy grey as he continued the tortuous slow pull over Blaine's cock. Blaine could cum - fuck into Kurt's mouth and cum down his throat. He knew Kurt would let him. Blaine wanted something more.

Blaine threw his head back, staring up at the white ceiling, watching the steam rise in soft, translucent clouds around him.

"Kurt, I don't want to cum yet," Blaine said unconvincingly. Kurt giggled around Blaine's erection. Blaine felt the sensation vibrate through his blood.

Blaine grabbed at the slippery walls with his fingertips.

"Kurt, I want you inside me."

Kurt's ministrations stopped. He stood and looked into Blaine's wrecked face. Kurt looked shocked to say the least. He quickly turned off the water and grabbed Blaine's hand. Kurt pulled Blaine from the shower, not even bothering to dry off, locked their lips together, and dragged Blaine to the bed.

Kurt lay his body out over Blaine's, kissing him aggressively, his tongue entering Blaine's mouth, competing for dominance.

It wasn't much of a battle. Blaine wanted to be dominated. He wanted to be taken. He loved Kurt so much, it hurt. Every muscle in his body ached from falling so fast for this exquisitely tortured blue-eyed man. The feeling was so immense, he didn't want to express it with something as common as words.

He would give Kurt his heart and his body instead.

When Kurt heard the words from Blaine's mouth, Kurt pounced on Blaine. He wanted this. He wanted it so bad that his hands itched every time he touched this gorgeous man. The dominatrix inside him took over, and he rushed Blaine to the bed. Blaine lay himself out under Kurt like an offering. Kurt felt Blaine's body submit, felt Blaine give himself to Kurt, and a fire inside Kurt's stomach ignited, spreading wild throughout his veins. Kurt tasted Blaine and knew that he could have him, that Blaine wanted Kurt to have him.

Blaine's eyes were Kurt's undoing. Kurt looked into Blaine's eyes and knew he couldn't just take him. Blaine had asked Kurt to make love to him, a concept that had become foreign to Kurt a long time ago. At heart, though, Kurt was a hopeless romantic, hidden by layers that included riding crops, high heels, and vinyl catsuits.

Kurt wanted to make Blaine's experience wonderful...special...so much more than Kurt's had been. Kurt surprised himself by realizing he didn't just want to take Blaine, he wanted to make love to Blaine, too.

Kurt looked at Blaine, taking a deep breath to calm himself. He took a moment to memorize Blaine's face - his swollen lips, his golden eyes, the slight swoop of his nose from the eyebrows to the bridge, the slight stubble dusting his cheeks and chin. Kurt wanted to remember it all.

Kurt kissed Blaine again, sweetly, feeling Blaine's soft lips press gently against his, Blaine's tongue sweeping against Kurt's, asking timidly for entrance. Kurt wrapped his arms protectively around Blaine, holding him securely, gently in his arms. Kurt lay carefully beside Blaine, rolling him slightly toward him. He wrapped them up in the comforter on the bed, and took all of the time he could possibly spend simply touching Blaine - massaging his shoulders, running the pads of his fingers lightly over the defined muscles of Blaine's arms and down his back. Kurt's hands traveled over Blaine's chest, stopping to circle each nipple before trailing down his abs, then around his hipbones, settling on Blaine's ass.

Blaine moaned into Kurt's kisses with every touch of his fingertips. Kurt found the previously discarded bottle of lube on the beside table and liberally coated his fingers. He delicately searched out and found Blaine's entrance, rubbing small circles around the tight ring of muscle, and then pressing smoothly inside.

Blaine pushed back on Kurt's finger, hissing at the burn as Kurt's finger stretched him. Kurt put an arm around him, stilling Blaine's hips.

"No, sweetheart," Kurt whispered against Blaine's lips. "Don't rush this. We have time."

It sounded so simple, but time seemed to be the one thing Blaine was steadily running out of. Time with Kurt.

"Hold onto me?" Kurt requested. "Wrap your arms and legs around me so I can feel you shiver."

Blaine held Kurt tight as Kurt maneuvered between Blaine's legs, letting Blaine enfold him in his embrace. Kurt carefully added a second finger to the first, moving them slowly, stretching Blaine around them.

Blaine writhed with each push and pull of Kurt's skillful fingers, rutting up against Kurt's body and slotting their cocks together. Kurt felt Blaine tremble beneath his touch and moaned. Blaine's hands were everywhere - running up and down Kurt's back, threading through Kurt's hair, reaching for his cock. Blaine's hand found both their erections. He wrapped his fingers around them and began to pump slowly. Kurt arched his back at Blaine's touch, aching for more of him.

"Turn around for me," Kurt whispered against Blaine's neck as he leaned forward to suck a bruise onto Blaine's skin, marking him.

Blaine disentangled himself reluctantly from Kurt and rolled on his side, facing away. Kurt rifled through the drawer of the bedside table and found a condom, tearing open the foil and rolling it over himself in record time. Kurt looked at Blaine, faced away from him, waiting patiently, fisting at the comforter in his anticipation. Kurt slid up behind him, pressing against his back, and felt Blaine sigh.

"Are you ready for me?" Kurt asked, nibbling on Blaine's earlobe, gently teasing him with his tongue. Kurt ran the back of his hand lightly down the skin of Blaine's arm, watching as his skin blossomed with goosebumps.

"Yes," Blaine whispered into the dark. "I want you...now, Kurt."

Those words would never cease to take Kurt's breath away.

Kurt ran his hands from Blaine's shoulders down his back, massaging along the line of his spine, down to Blaine's taut and gorgeous ass. Kurt spread Blaine slowly, latching on to the juncture of Blaine's neck and shoulder and sucking lightly, licking over the area with his tongue as he lined himself up with Blaine's tight hole. Kurt felt no tension, no apprehension in Blaine's body as he slowly started to push in. He wrapped his arms over Blaine's, winding them around his waist as he filled Blaine's body, inch by inch, with his own length.

Kurt felt Blaine stretch around him, his tight heat swallowing him. The squeeze around his cock was so intense, Kurt wanted to cry out. He bit his lip to keep from slamming himself in to the hilt, wanting so badly to take care of Blaine, to never hurt him. Once Kurt had entered him completely, and he felt Blaine breathe out a long, relaxed sigh, Kurt held Blaine tight against his chest, reveling in the feeling of heat radiating from this single point of contact. Kurt buried his head in Blaine's shoulder, kissing and biting across his skin as he waited.

"Kurt?" Blaine panted. "Are you going to move?"

"No," Kurt said, his response muffled as he kissed Blaine repeatedly.

"Um...why not?"

"Because..." Kurt's voice hoarse from straining to stay still. "I want to hold on to this moment forever."

Blaine raised his arms to loop around Kurt's neck.

"Okay." Blaine ran his fingers through Kurt's hair, enjoying being close to him, being filled by him, shutting his eyes and bringing up the image of the man behind him, pale and perfect.

Kurt stayed still, breathing Blaine, remembering the feeling of skin against skin for as long as he could bear. Then he slowly began to move, opting to abandon one moment of perfection for a different one.

With the first stroke inside Blaine, the mumbling started.

"OhmyGod, Kurt..."

Frantic and lustful words started to spill from Blaine's lips, adding momentum to Kurt's controlled movements.

"Yes, Kurt...my God Kurt...oh you feel so good, Kurt...touch me, Kurt...harder...faster..."

Until finally - "Yes, Kurt! There! OhmyGod, there! Please, Kurt! That feels amazing! Don't stop...whatever you do, don't stop!"

Kurt was a blur of movement as he obediently complied. Kurt couldn't resist the allure of that sexy voice that became more breathy and wanton with every stroke of Kurt's cock inside him. Faster and faster Kurt moved, trying his best to pump Blaine's erection in time with his movements.

Kurt's smooth and furious pace of pounding behind Blaine contrasted so sweetly with the erratic and slow pumping of his cock, that Blaine writhed with the sublime torture of it. He didn't know what to do, where to put his hands, what there was left to say. Every nerve in his body fired at once, every inch of his skin tingled, every hair on his body stood on end. The fingers tangled in Kurt's hair tightened. He wanted to stretch out like a cat and curl up into a ball all at the same time. Nothing he might have wanted mattered because he no longer had any control of his muscles. This amazing man had completely disarmed him, undone him, dissolved him. For the short time he knew him, Blaine belonged more to Kurt now in this moment than he had in the numerous times he wished he could say 'I love you'.

Kurt had lost his capacity for speech. He knew Blaine was about to cum. He could feel Blaine's heat closing in around him, squeezing him, begging for his release, and Kurt wanted nothing more in the world than to give it to him. Kurt could feel his own body surrendering, heat exploding through his limbs as he tried to maintain his pace.

"Cum for me, sweetheart," he whispered into Blaine's hair. "Cum for me. I can feel you. Your body wants to. Just let go."

Kurt's angelic voice in his ear broke the last barrier of his wavering control, and Blaine came, spilling over Kurt's hand, his body nearly breaking in two as his muscles tightened, arching his back for him. He moaned and he bucked, all restraint gone. He felt Kurt cum, felt the arm around him tighten, felt Kurt sink his teeth into his shoulder, heard Kurt moan his name.

A buzz of electricity settled in the air; a hum composed mostly of the fervor of their breathing along with some scattered gasps and moans.

Suddenly, Blaine froze in Kurt's arms.

Kurt, slightly disembodied, couldn't understand. A part of Kurt could hear, but couldn't make out the words - a part of Kurt knew, and was shattering from the inside out.

Kurt heard the crying, but he didn't know that the tears were his.

He heard the words, but he didn't realize it was his mouth speaking, until Blaine turned in Kurt's embrace and said almost too quietly, "Kurt...I love you, too."