It started to seem that as suddenly as Blaine Anderson had dropped into Kurt’s life, he had started to drift away. Kurt didn’t notice it so much as first, or maybe he just didn’t want to acknowledge it. If he had to sit down and think, put a finger on the time and date, then he would have to say it started the day Kurt got the call from Tom Hardy about developing a fitness program for Celebrity Fitness chains all over California and New York.

After that phone call, the three men left Kurt’s studio to go back to the house so Kurt could make Nick his promised cupcakes. With a strange, cloudy look in his eyes, Blaine had pulled Nick aside and whispered in his ear. Kurt turned when he reached the patio door in time to see Nick’s face fall; his expression, Kurt thought, looked concerned and a little disturbed. The rest of the afternoon, Nick seemed distracted, pulling out the notepad he kept in his pocket and jotting things down secretly while he worked some more with Barbra on the texture of Midge’s hair.

Kurt didn’t want to ask Nick about it. He didn’t want to force Nick to break his friend’s confidence. Nick and Blaine had been besties way longer than Nick and Kurt had, after all.

That night Kurt could tell Blaine was distracted. Kurt pulled out every trick he had in his arsenal to make Blaine submit, and it had worked, too, but with rather less than spectacular results. But the day had been long and eventful. Kurt figured Blaine was simply tired. Besides, sex couldn’t be life changing every time. A rut every once in a while could be expected.

Blaine accompanied Kurt to the meeting at Celebrity Fitness the following day. Thad, Blaine’s agent, had agreed to take Kurt on as a client, as did Wes, Blaine’s lawyer.

Blaine remained quiet, standing politely by as everyone present fawned over Kurt. No one really went out of their way to address Blaine, but Blaine didn’t act too perturbed. Kurt tried not to let it bother him. This was, after all, Kurt’s moment in the spotlight. He deserved it. But the more that Kurt thought about it, the more Kurt worried. Blaine wasn’t usually accustomed to sitting on the sidelines. Even if he hadn’t been a big television star, playing the wallflower wasn’t in Blaine’s nature. The entertainment magazines had pretty much confirmed what people already knew; Sing’s days were numbered, and its headlining star, Blaine Devon Anderson, had no immediate projects to fall back on. Blaine didn’t want to release news about his potential upcoming album until he had most of the tracks done.

Kurt tried his hardest to concentrate on the proceedings, but throughout the whole meeting, Kurt watched Blaine looking a little dismissed, sitting in the corner, mostly texting on his phone or looking things up on his iPad. Occasionally, he would glance up at Kurt and give him a reassuring smile, bright and sincere, even blow him a kiss before returning to the screen in front of him.

Even so, Kurt’s heart sank. It almost hurt to see him like this. He didn’t want to lose Blaine. Not now. Not ever. If this was the price for his success, he would give it all back. But in the back of his mind, his dominatrix seethed at that thought.

He shouldn’t have to give up success in order to keep Blaine.

Kurt felt torn.

For the next few days, Blaine spent little time in his recording space in Kurt’s studio. If that wasn’t odd enough, there were frequent secret escapades off to his old house. Kurt felt certain that Blaine thought he had him fooled, but Kurt had had a cheating boyfriend once before. He knew the signs. Blaine had told him on numerous occasions that he needed to meet with Kevin and some other cast members from Sing to discuss the meeting with the studio execs and the demands they wanted to make – demands he had yet to fill Kurt in on.

One afternoon, Kurt drove to the old house in search of Eva’s therapy ball from Blaine’s game room. Kurt hadn’t realized until then that some of these so-called ‘meetings’ included Sebastian…more specifically, just Blaine and Sebastian alone. Kurt saw Sebastian’s silver sports car and his dominatrix went into overdrive. He grabbed out an emergency blade he kept in his glove box and slashed the two front tires of Sebastian’s car, before climbing back into his Honda and speeding away for home.

After that, Kurt stopped speaking to Blaine. He stopped sleeping in their room at night. He claimed to have an overwhelming load of work to finish, and spent late evenings into the early morning in his studio. Afterwards he would return to the house to shower, and then start straight for making breakfast. Kurt didn’t touch Blaine…wouldn’t kiss him. Unwilling to deal with anymore heartbreak, he froze Blaine out entirely.

Blaine realized with chagrin and regret that Kurt knew he’d been hiding something.

His gorgeous angel…his beautiful and fierce black swan, had shut down on him entirely.

The time to come clean was long overdue.

Blaine was an epic failure at keeping secrets, even for an actor, especially not from his dom and one true love. But Blaine couldn’t surprise Kurt without keeping a few secrets, and he had hoped this one would turn out to be a doozy.

Blaine had had a spark of inspiration while watching Kurt’s meteoric rise to success. First, the clothing line, and then the fitness club, and Blaine just knew that Isabelle Wright had more exciting opportunities in store for Kurt.

Kurt had arrived. Here he was, large and in charge, realizing every dream he ever had.

Blaine couldn’t be prouder.

Kurt had taken everything that life threw at him – the hate, the ridicule, all the attempts to force him to bow – and he stood tall in its midst and came out triumphant.

Blaine’s beautiful black swan was conquering the world.

Kurt’s overwhelming success had Blaine terrified.

Blaine wanted Kurt to be successful. He wouldn’t deny Kurt anything. But in this new life, where everyone made demands of Kurt’s time, where did Blaine fit in?

He felt guilty for thinking that Kurt’s newfound fame would tear them apart, but even now, he missed his dom. He missed their nights alone when they could spend the entire evening playing, whole spans of time where a creative Kurt dominated Blaine, took control of his body, broke him, made him submit. The house with all its occupants and the tiny space in the studio didn’t exactly offer them much room.

That was when the perfect idea hit him – hit him so hard he had to move forward with it immediately.

He couldn’t implement it himself though. He didn’t even know where to start. Thank God Nick had been in the right place at just the right time. Blaine filled him in immediately on the details and sweetened the deal with Nick’s all-time favorite line – spare no expense.

When all was said and done, Blaine had planned a special night for him and Kurt together; a huge unveiling, as it were. But Kurt had stopped talking to him, barely looked at him. Blaine’s dom had disappeared on him, and to say Blaine felt desolate at the thought of his lover, his dom, his best friend deserting him would have been a gross understatement.

Every piece of Blaine hurt – his body ached for Kurt, his soul burned. He felt lost and abandoned.

Blaine knew he could explain, knew he could make things right, but he didn’t even know how he would get Kurt out to his old house for the reveal. So in an act of utter and complete desperation, he did the only thing he could think of...he stole Kurt’s favorite Alexander McQueen sweater, told Dave where he was headed, and ran away quickly before Kurt could throttle him to death.

It didn’t take Kurt long to notice the absence of his beloved sweater, which he kept hanging in a special garment bag, in his closet, in the exact same spot since he had bought it. It was the first thing Kurt had bought for himself after he sold his first couture gown.

“Blaine Devon Anderson!” Kurt roared as he marched through the house. “Give me my sweater!”

Maybe Blaine was playing games, but Kurt certainly was done with them.

Dave chuckled from his seat on the sofa.

“He’s not here,” Dave answered, not lifting his eyes from the sports section of the paper.

Kurt turned steely eyes on him.

“Then where is he?” Kurt glared until the sensation of heat prickling Dave’s skin forced him to look up, hazel eyes matching Kurt’s stare.

“You know where he is.”

Kurt rolled his eyes with exaggerated anger. Dave shook his head. He dropped his paper on the cushion beside him, stood quickly, and headed Kurt off before he could storm out the door. Dave took Kurt’s arms and stopped his forward momentum. Kurt glanced away in frustration.

“Let me go, Dave,” Kurt muttered angrily, knowing he probably couldn’t get by his mountainous friend unless he released his grip.

“No,” Dave replied firmly. “I need you to take a second and calm down before you run off stubborn and half-cocked like you always do.”

“You don’t understand,” Kurt argued.

“You’re right,” Dave countered. “I don’t. All I do know is that the two of you seem to attract drama like honey attracts flies. And whatever you’re angry about has been stewing for days so I know it’s not about a sweater.”

Dave sighed, but he wouldn’t release Kurt. He stared into Kurt’s eyes, watching the fire cool beneath his own soothing gaze.

“Kurt,” Dave said, rubbing Kurt’s arms gently, “Blaine loves you.”

“Then why is he leaving me?” Kurt barked back, tears threatening to fall.

Dave stepped back in shock.

“Did…did he tell you that he was leaving you?”

Kurt’s anger ebbed some more. He fidgeted with his clasped hands sheepishly.

“No…” he started, looking anywhere but Dave’s eyes. “But he didn’t have to.”

Dave dropped his head.

“Kurt, you know what I’m going to say, right?” Dave raised his eyes a touch, a small smile crinkling the edges.

Kurt deflated, his need to argue dissipating in the light of his friend’s quiet rationale.

“That I should talk to him?” Kurt supplied. “That I should give him the benefit of the doubt?”

Dave nodded.

“I have watched that man walk around here like a kicked puppy for days,” Dave said, looking Kurt fully in the face again. Dave swallowed hard. “You did a bad thing, Kurt.”

“What?” Kurt huffed out a frustrated breath. “Being angry at the almighty Blaine?”

Dave shook his head, his expression bordering on anxious. He had never even thought of talking to Kurt about the particular aspects of his relationship with Blaine, or the lifestyle he seemed to favor past the job he took.

“For denying your sub.”

The sound in Dave’s voice froze Kurt’s blood. He looked back at Dave with disbelief. Never in a million years did Kurt imagine he would hear Dave say those words.

“Isn’t that what you said a good dom never does, Kurt?”

Kurt’s eyes went wide. His mouth dropped. His cheeks glowed red. He felt shame heat every inch of his frozen body.

“Look,” Dave released Kurt. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously with his hand, shuffling uncomfortably from foot to foot. “I don’t really know anything about…” Dave gestured vaguely with his free hand, “…doms and subs and how that all works. But I know that after you got that job, you changed. You became a different person than the one I knew…”

Dave dropped down onto the couch. Kurt sat beside him, putting a reassuring hand on his knee, silently prompting Dave to continue. Dave put a much larger hand over Kurt’s and squeezed gently.

“You guys have a…special relationship…” Dave said, trying as hard as possible to be delicate. Kurt smiled at Dave’s blushed, wondering what exactly Dave thought he and Blaine did when they were alone together. He would have to ask him someday…maybe when they were all tipsy and couldn’t be held accountable for the questions or the answers. “It’s complicated…and…and different…with layers…”

Dave turned and looked at Kurt, his eyes pleading with Kurt to stop him from having to explain in more detail. Kurt smiled and nodded.

“You shut him out, Kurt,” Dave chastised gently. “And you know how he feels about being abandoned.”

Kurt dropped his head into his hands.

“Shit!” Kurt breathed out sharply. “How could I be so stupid!?”

“Yes,” Dave said, patting Kurt lightly on the back. “Stubborn and stupid. So go find your man and fix this.”

Kurt stood, running his hands down his pants to straighten the wrinkles. He looked down at his sage friend.

“How did you get so good at that?” Kurt asked. “Solving our problems?”

“I don’t know,” Dave shrugged. “I think that the things you guys fail to see are sometimes really obvious to me.”

“Really?” Kurt challenged, crossing his arms over his chest. “Like what?”

“Like the fact that you’re both being a couple of drama llamas and you really just need to sort this out. So go find your man, have some crazy sex like you always do, and then come home and go back to normal, okay?”

Kurt dissolved into a fit of high-pitched giggles as Dave slunk back across the couch to hide behind his newspaper again.

“Okay, Dave,” Kurt sang, grabbing his keys and heading towards the door, “I’m going to find Blaine and have some crazy sex now!”

Dave blushed furiously as he sank into the couch, sighing in relief when he heard Kurt’s car pull out of the driveway.

Kurt had felt confident and self-assured when he left Dave and the house, but the closer he got to Blaine’s, the more a feeling of cold trepidation started to seep into his skin. What if Dave was wrong? What if Blaine was cheating on Kurt? Kurt had done the wrong thing by ignoring Blaine for sure, but Kurt couldn’t survive having his heart broken…not again.

Blaine’s sports car was the only car parked in front of the house when Kurt arrived, and Kurt silently thanked the spaghetti god in the sky for small favors.

Kurt took a moment to look at the house and sighed. For as big as the house was, it screamed ‘bachelor pad’. The thought of this being Blaine’s bachelor pad made Kurt physically ill. It reminded Kurt that in his past Blaine had brought all of his conquests here – Sebastian…Mia…even himself. And who knew how many others. Kurt had never thought to ask.

It had never concerned him before.

Blaine opened the door for him before Kurt even turned off the engine. Blaine eyed Kurt as he stepped out of the Honda, standing straight, standing tall, trying his best to look confident.

“I…I didn’t think you would come,” Blaine stuttered, standing aside to let Kurt breeze by. Kurt’s heart melted at the sight of Blaine – a little hunched over, eyes glued to the floor, hands restlessly reaching for Kurt then pulling back.

“Dave stopped me before I left,” Kurt said with a small smile. “He wanted to talk about…something…”

Kurt watched Blaine carefully close and lock the door behind him. Blaine looked Kurt over quietly, starting with his slightly damaged coif, to the long pale column of his neck, along his shoulders, down the fabric of his meticulously tailored shirt tucked into form fitting, stylish slacks. Blaine smiled at the outfit. Kurt made most of his own clothes, regardless of his obsession with high fashion, but Blaine preferred the clothes Kurt made more. They were eclectic, often daring, and a huge part of what made Kurt an original.

Kurt leaned in toward Blaine’s silence.

“Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?” Kurt asked, trying to sound nonchalant but quietly begging for a confession, a question, a rant, whatever Blaine wanted. The anticipation made Kurt’s heart stop in his chest.

“No, not anything major,” Blaine said, trying to diffuse the tension with small talk. “I…I just wanted to talk with you about plans…for this house.” Blaine looked up and around, as if inspecting the ceiling. “I know you asked me a while ago what I wanted to do with it.”

Kurt nodded, breaking away from their awkward stance to walk across the living room floor.

“And what did you come up with?”

Blaine watched Kurt move. Kurt twirled around the hard wood floor in lazy circles, recalling the many nights of slow dancing spent in this room, with the dim light on Kurt’s glowing skin, and whatever romantic melody they chose to play wafting through the air.

“I want to keep it…” Blaine said, swallowing hard. “You know, for sentimental reasons.”

Kurt smiled, running his hand along the reflective surface of the piano.

“Sentimental reasons?” Kurt asked with a suggestive glint in his eye.

“Yeah,” Blaine continued, trying to find a way to phrase his next thought correctly. “I’m hoping to use it as kind of an…escape.”

Kurt’s head snapped up, his blue eyes immediately turning icy and hard. Blaine took a hesitant step backward.

“I knew it!” Kurt said sharply. “I knew you were doing something shady behind my back!”

Blaine was taken aback. He knew Kurt might be confused, maybe upset, but he hadn’t expected such an immediate and harsh reaction.

“No…” Blaine raised his hands defensively. “No, Kurt. You don’t understand…”

“All those so-called ‘secret meetings’,” Kurt said, stalking back over to him, emphasizing the words with his hands.

“Kurt…”

Kurt’s face grew red as he backed Blaine against the wall.

“And all that time you spent alone with Sebastian!”

“How did you…” Blaine’s brow furrowed in confusion as Kurt bore down on him. “I was going to tell you!”

Kurt reared back and slapped Blaine, hitting him hard in the face. Blaine’s head whipped to the side, his hand reaching up to cup his bruised cheek, and when he turned back, Kurt was infuriated to see a fire simmering in Blaine’s eyes.

“Not an escape for me, Kurt,” Blaine said calmly, almost purring. “I would never come here without you. I want it as an escape for us.”

Kurt’s temper cooled a bit.

“What do you mean,” Kurt asked, his eyes narrowing as he spoke, “an escape for us?”

Blaine grinned wolfishly.

“You weren’t the only one doing a little remodeling.” Blaine took Kurt by the shoulders and led him to the bedroom.

Kurt huffed out a frustrated breath.

“I’m not going to fuck you, Blaine,” Kurt said.

“We’ll see about that,” Blaine muttered with a sly smile curling his lips.

Blaine stopped Kurt at the door. He reached past him for the knob, and turned it, pushing the door open.

Kurt poked his head curiously inside, and gasped. He stepped inside the now unfamiliar looking room. He walked slowly, mouth agape, eyes wide and smiling.

Blaine had remade the entire room into a playroom for him and Kurt. Kurt had gone to a few BDSM clubs that had individual rooms for customers to use, but he had never seen anything like this. The walls had been painted a deep purple – much deeper than the orchid colored walls of Kurt’s bedroom – and overlaid in black to look like lace. There were wooden brackets along the wall, each holding a different toy, a different instrument – most of them from Kurt’s own collection. Kurt looked over each one, in most cases with a brand new counterpart hanging alongside it. There were so many lining the walls of the room that he actually almost blushed. He went over each item one by one - different whips, crops, paddles, cat of nine tails, chains of almost every size link, rope, and a wooden cabinet filled with vibrators, dildos, cock rings, prostate wands, and various other toys he had only thought of using before.

Kurt giggled as he walked through Blaine’s completely transformed bedroom. The only familiar piece of furniture Kurt could see was the monstrous bed, but this, too, had a new, specially made frame of much stronger wood, the posts embedded with metal hooks and rings, and above it hung a gigantic mirror.

Kurt didn’t know whether to laugh out loud or kiss Blaine hard on the mouth. He wanted to lean towards kissing, but he abstained in favor of talking.

 “Are you kidding me?” he exclaimed with a mixture of joy and awe. “Who would you even hire to…” Kurt caught the look in Blaine’s eyes and realization hit him.

“Nick?”

Blaine nodded.

“Yup. He was scared to death that he wasn’t going to get this right. He stressed out so much, I almost felt bad for asking him.”

Then it all made sense, the look of dread on poor Nick’s face when Blaine whispered in his ear, how uncharacteristically quiet he had been, the constant jotting down of frantic notes in his notepad.

Poor Nicky. Kurt owed him some more cupcakes for sure.

Kurt ran his fingertips over a rack on the wall holding an assortment of collars and leashes.

“Well, that would explain the over-abundance of toys.” Kurt smirked, noting that there was a collar in almost every shape, size, and color, not to mention spiked, o-ringed, leather, vinyl…the list went on and on. Kurt turned back to Blaine who was watching him hopefully.

“Why did you do this?” Kurt cocked an eyebrow at his sub. Blaine ducked his head, smiling.

“Because I miss this,” he replied bashfully. “Our sex life at home is great and all…but I miss being with you…like this.” Blaine gestured at the room with both hands.

Kurt lowered his eyes, worrying a spot on the floor with the toe of his shoe.

“What about Sebastian?” Kurt’s voice fell to the floor, almost a whisper, but Blaine caught it. He sighed.

“Kurt…” Blaine moved forward, hands outstretched, trying to explain, “…Brad…he had my house bugged.”

Kurt looked back up at him, eyes wide.

“Wh-what are you talking about?”

“That picture in the magazine…of you on the patio…”

Blaine motioned for Kurt to follow him back out to the living room. Kurt watched Blaine walk to the piano and pick up a rock that rested on the lid. It looked heavy, but Blaine picked it up with one hand as though it weighed nothing. He handed it to Kurt. Kurt inspected it, noticing how unusually light it was. He peered closely at it. He saw the lens mounted in it, and through the lens he could see the small camera inside.

“Sebastian knew about this one,” Blaine explained. “He came here and showed it to me. Apparently, Brad had Mia put it out in the backyard. Sebastian had one, too. But when he got back home, his boyfriend Chandler…”

Kurt raised a questioning eyebrow.

Blaine waved his hand dismissively.

“I’ll explain about that later…anyway, Chandler found a bunch more, and microphones, too. They both came over to try and help me find the rest. I ended up coming home late that night because someone slashed his tires.”

Kurt bit his lip, looking quickly down at his feet so Blaine wouldn’t catch his sheepish grin. But Blaine did see it, and he laughed.

“Oh, Kurt.” Blaine crossed to Kurt, and Kurt took Blaine into his arms. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m so, so sorry. I was trying so hard to do something romantic and special, and I messed up. The minute you got upset I should have just told you.”

“No, no. I should have asked,” Kurt said apologetically. “I shouldn’t have been so suspicious.”

Kurt looked meaningfully into Blaine’s soft, whiskey-colored eyes.

“I shouldn’t have shut you out.”

Blaine melted into Kurt’s arms, filling himself for the first time in a while with his dom’s overwhelming warmth and acceptance. Kurt held Blaine tight against him. He never realized how many holes had been punched into his soul when he had stopped being with Blaine until he had Blaine in his arms again, filling them, mending the rifts and bringing him peace. Kurt sighed into the smell of cedar in Blaine’s hair and on his body, the feeling of Blaine’s lightly gelled curls tickling his cheek.

“What about the meeting with Kevin and the cast?” Kurt asked, trying to ease back into their comfortable routine of hugging and talking, which eventually led to kissing and touching, and just being in love. “What were you guys talking about so much?”

“Ah,” Blaine said, looking up into Kurt’s ice blue eyes, “that I can’t tell you.”

Kurt was about to object, but Blaine kissed him, softly and sweetly, the touch of Blaine’s lips against Kurt’s igniting a spark that had lain dormant for far too long. “It’s an honest to God surprise…a good one…and it involves you.”

Kurt rolled his eyes affectionately.

“Okay,” Kurt relented. “I’ll wait.”

Blaine squeezed Kurt tight, resting his head against Kurt’s shoulder. They started to sway, the way they always seemed to sway slowly when they found themselves in each other’s arms, dancing to music that only they heard, that only seemed to start playing when they were alone together.

“So…are we good?” Blaine ventured.

Kurt chuckled.

“Yes, Blaine, we’re…wait…”

Kurt looked down into Blaine’s face, his eyes narrowing to slits.

“Where’s my sweater?”

“I hung it on a hook behind the back seat of my car while I drove down here and now it’s hanging in the closet.” Blaine gestured with his chin in the direction of the bedroom.

Kurt kissed Blaine enthusiastically on the forehead.

“Then yes, Blaine, we’re okay.”

Blaine sighed, his eyes lighting up with the same simmering flame Kurt saw when he had slapped Blaine across the face.

“So…what do you want to do now?” Blaine asked.

Kurt knew what Blaine was really asking for.

Kurt could tease Blaine. Make it seem like he had no clue what Blaine wanted, but he had neglected his beautiful sub for too long.

“Well, we could go try out that new playroom of ours.” Kurt’s eyes drifted slowly in the direction of the bedroom door. Blaine almost vibrated completely out of Kurt’s arms in his eagerness to sprint across the room.

Kurt stopped Blaine just at the threshold, pushing him roughly into the door jam, and claiming his lips, biting as hard as he dared between soft, gentle kisses until Blaine squirmed, rolling his wrists where Kurt pinned his hands together against the wood, whimpering at each possessive bite. Kurt released Blaine, looking down at him with dominant, predatory eyes. Blaine’s swollen lips stayed pursed together where Kurt left them, swollen and red. Blaine’s eyes shimmered with an almost palpable heat, burning with his longing and desire to be owned.

“You know how I want you,” Kurt whispered. He turned and walked away inside the room to the closet, looking for some appropriate armor to wear. Blaine’s heart soared.

Those were the exact words he had been waiting so long to hear.