Blaine chewed his food slowly, a smile twitching at the corner of his lips. “I got a call from an old friend of mine. He flew into Lima today.”

“That’s wonderful,” his mother, Patricia, smiled. She took a long sip of her wine.

“Anyone we know?” his father asked.

“Julian Ira.”

Blaine said the name quickly and shoved a large piece of food into his mouth. His parents were bound to find out eventually. He figured telling them now would be better than having them find out for themselves later. Besides, they were pressed for time tonight so the questions wouldn’t last long and they’d settle for simple answers. Quick and easy, like peeling off a band-aid.

Patricia’s fork fell with a clatter. She stared wide-eyed at her son. His father froze, a piece of steak halfway to his lips. Blaine stared nonchalantly at his plate while he chewed. After what seemed like an eternity his mother cleared her throat and picked up her fork.

“How is Julian now-a-days?”

She didn’t meet Blaine’s eyes.

Blaine shrugged. “He’s studying to be a film student. I guess he graduated early and now he’s working on a demo reel for college. A friend of his suggested coming to Lima to shoot it.”

When his mom didn’t respond his father cleared his throat. “Our company’s annual hunting trip is coming up next week, Blaine. Ernie suggested this year we make it a sort of father-son event.”

Blaine bit his tongue. His father wasn’t asking him if he wanted to go, he was telling him he had to. His hunting trips lasted days, sometimes even over a week.

“Sounds great dad, but I’m not sure I can afford to miss that much school.”

“Nonsense,” Wade waved his hand dismissively. “You’re an honor student who hasn’t missed a day of school in your life. One look at your transcripts could prove that. There’s no reason they wouldn’t allow you to skip a couple days of class.”

“I’d be missing out on a lot of work.”

“Don’t make me laugh. You could make it all up in one night if you wanted to. You’re a smart kid.”

Blaine sat down his fork. He had strong a feeling his father wouldn’t have even brought the hunting trip up if he hadn’t mentioned Julian. Suddenly he didn’t feel much like eating.

“Your father has a point, sweetie. You’re in all AP classes and you just said the other day how easy it was for you. I can call the school Monday and talk everything over with an advisor. They can give you all the work you’d be missing so you can do it in your spare time up north.”

If it had only been an invitation before, now it was set in stone.

“May I be excused?” Blaine mumbled.

Wade eyed his son from across the table. “Not until you thank your mother for her offer.”

Blaine bit his tongue in an attempt to smile and muttered a quick thank you.

“Oh, dear we better get ready now or we’ll be late to the party. Blaine darling, do me a favor and have the dishes washed before we get back?”

“Sure mom.”

Blaine gathered the plates as his parents got up from the table. His father gazed at him pointedly before leaving the kitchen, but he pretended not to notice. He knew his parents wouldn’t take Julian coming back lightly but he never thought his father would whisk him halfway across the state to keep them away from each other. Blaine’s stomach churned. Going up north would mean being apart from Kurt too. Kurt was already up in arms over Julian as it was. How was he going to feel when he explains that now he’ll have to leave town for a week because of him?

Suddenly Blaine’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He loaded the last of the silverware into the dishwasher and glanced over his shoulder before checking the message.

On my way.

Shit, between pissing Kurt off and dinner with his parents he completely forgot that Julian was coming over tonight.

Parents leaving soon, park around corner.

Blaine stuffed his phone back into his pocket - face first so the lit screen wouldn’t show through the fabric of his clothes if it went off again- and headed into the living room to wait for any last minute instructions from his parents before they left. The excitement he felt when Julian had called him earlier gradually returned. He began moving around the living room, lighting the fireplace and turning on lamps. Despite how upscale as his parent’s house was, it certainly could feel foreboding. His father insisted on using only floor and table lamps as their primary source of lighting, not because he felt it would be some cheaper way to live, but simply because he thought it looked sophisticated. Blaine thought it looked primeval.

His cell phone went off again, this time with a message from Kurt. Blaine decided against telling him about Julian’s visit tonight. If Kurt knew Julian was stopping by then he’d want to come over too, which was completely out of the question. It had been two years since Blaine saw Julian and he didn’t want to mess it up by having Kurt scare him away with his -although well intended- possessive attitude. And as selfish as it seemed, Blaine wanted to spend their first time together again alone. They had so much to catch up on and reminisce over, Kurt would only feel left out. Besides, Julian was different. Maybe even a little too different for Kurt to warm up to. At least at first. If Kurt wanted to meet Julian then they’d have to take baby steps, for both Kurt’s sake and his own.

Blaine glanced towards the hallway and took out his phone again. He was in the middle of replying to Kurt’s message when Patricia glided into the room fumbling with her earrings.

“Honey could you help me with these?”

Blaine nearly jumped out of his skin. “Y-Yeah, sure,” he stuttered, shoving his phone into his pocket.

Patricia spared him a small smile and gestured toward his pocket. “Better be more careful with that thing. You know how your father gets when he catches you using it.”

With a curt nod Blaine moved behind his mother and carefully took the small golden clasp from between her fingers.

“He wouldn’t be so testy if he thought I was messaging a girl,” he muttered, gliding the clasp into place behind her ear.

“Oh sweetie, you know it’s not like that. Here, do the other one too, you know what little patience I have for these things,” she passed him a second earring over her shoulder. “Your father is a simple man. He just likes to know your attention is grounded to the family when you’re home.”

When her second earring was fastened she turned to her son and cupped his cheek in her hand. “Between you and me, I think he’s jealous of your friends. You two used to be so close when you were younger, now you barely speak to each other. I swear it’s like you’re complete strangers.”

Blaine’s lips molded into a small smile against his will. As much as they wished it were true they both knew his father’s resentment wasn’t fueled from Blaine’s social life.

“Go finish getting ready, mom. You’re late enough as it is.”

Patricia patted her son’s cheek and turned to go upstairs. Blaine watched her walk away; her curly black hair bouncing lightly off her shoulders. The resemblance between the two was striking. Blaine’s skin tone, his hazel eyes, soft nose, short stature, and unruly hair had all been given to him by her, as had his musical talent. When he was younger he could have sworn he shared her bright smile too, but now he couldn’t be sure. It had been a long time since she truly smiled.

“Mom,” Blaine called to her when she reached the staircase.

Patricia turned back to look at her son.

“Yeah, sweetie?”

“You look beautiful.”

The comment caught her off guard. For a brief moment she was reminded of Blaine when he was a little boy. Every time she got ready for a party Blaine would turn it into a huge deal. His fascination for the dresses and jewelry she would wear was endless. He stuck around just long enough to pick out what accessories to wear with each dress then ran off before he had a chance to see how she looked and hid his face under the pillows on the couch. He refused to look at her until she was about to leave because he said he wanted it to be a surprise, even if he’d seen her in the same dress a million times before. And when he did see her his eyes would grow as big as saucers and he’d give her the largest smile before jumping up and down excitedly on the couch, shouting that she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in his life. Patricia would laugh and tell him no, the glitter of the dress and jewelry is what made her beautiful, but he insisted that it was the other way around. Because he had the prettiest mother in the entire world and any dress she wore would make her look beautiful because she was an angel and angels have a soft glow that puts everything into a better light.

But like most boys as he grew older his interests turned to things other than her dresses. Sometimes he would tell her to change her necklace or suggest a certain pair of shoes to wear, but that was it. There was no more hiding until she was ready to go. There was no more excitement. For a while he swung by her bedroom to tell her how good she looked before she had all her make up on so she wouldn’t interrupt him while he was playing video games. Nowadays he barely spared her a glance before she left for the night, pausing only to shout a quick goodbye over his homework.

Patricia’s eyes welled and she tilted her head to the side, tightening her lips into a heartfelt smile. Blaine grinned at her from across the room. His eyes showed no more excitement than they did during dinner and he stood perfectly calm, but his smile held just as much admiration for her as it did when he was little.

“Thank you baby,” she sighed, careful not to sound too teary, and made her way up the staircase.

-----

“What’s gotten into you now?” Wade gruffed.

Patricia stood over their bed and eased the contents from her purse into an expensive clutch. “Blaine told me I looked beautiful,” she smiled.

Wade slipped on his blazer, musing over the idea before turning to her seriously. “What does he want?”

Patricia laughed, “Maybe he just wants to make his mother feel good.”

“I think he wants to take your mind off what he said earlier, or have you forgotten?”

Her face fell.

“How could I?”

Wade adjusted his blazer at the hems with a quick flick of his wrist and crossed the room to the mirror.

“I thought we were free of this problem when he transferred.”

“He did say Julian was just visiting, darling. Maybe things will be different this time.”

“Julian,” Wade snorted with disgust. “You better keep an eye on your son, Patricia. If I catch wind of him acting up or sneaking out in the middle of the night to do god knows what I’ll personally see to it that he never leaves this house again.”

He grappled with his tie, frustration settling in. With a small smile Patricia turned him from the mirror and silently offered to do it herself. Her husband grunted a small thank you and let his hands drop to his sides as she worked.

“Everything will be alright darling, you’ll see. Julian will be gone before you know it. Blaine said he was only here to work on some project in Lima, didn’t he? That, and with you taking him on your hunting trip there’s a chance he won’t show up at all.” Wade rolled his eyes but his wife held a stern finger to his lips before he could speak. “Remember what you promised me? If he ever showed up again we’d let Blaine handle him on his own. It’s up to him if he wants Julian around or not. Blaine’s changed so much since Cottingham sweetie; he’s grown away from his old friends, it’s possible he’s grown away from Julian as well.”

She finished fixing his tie and grabbed her clutch from the bed. Wade bit his cheek in an effort not to put too much stock into his wife’s words.

“We’ll see about that.”

------

Blaine paced the living room, phone in hand. Kurt had suddenly become persistent on coming over tonight to apologize for snapping at him earlier but Blaine wouldn’t have it. He insisted that he had way too much homework to catch up on and that they’d talk tomorrow. By the way Kurt’s texts were coming in faster and with shorter messages Blaine knew that he was becoming angry all over again, but he was finding it hard to care at the moment. His parents would be leaving any minute now and Julian was probably already waiting around the corner for the all clear.

I’m sorry, Kurt. I’ll come over tomorrow okay?

Blaine heard his parent’s footsteps coming down the stairs. Phone still in hand, he crossed the room swiftly and pressed his back against a bookshelf next to the archway so his father wouldn’t see him.

“Blaine, honey,” his mother called. “Could you-”

His phone vibrated in his hand with a reply from Kurt. Blaine tuned out his mother and read it quickly.

Fine.

The closet door opened behind him. He knew if he left their conversation at that Kurt would refuse to let him go to his house tomorrow. With Julian coming over Blaine wasn’t sure if he’d get a chance to talk to Kurt again tonight before his parents came home. He typed out a quick ‘I love you’ and shoved his phone into his pocket at the same time, praying the auto-correct would be in his favor and their discussion would be over for now.

“Did you hear your mother Blaine?” Wade called sternly from the hallway when his son didn’t respond.

Thinking quickly, Blaine met them by the door. He took his mother’s fur coat from the rack and held it open for her. “Sorry mom I was in the bathroom. What do you need?”

Wade shrugged on his own coat and fiddled with the sleeves. His glared at his son suspiciously.

“Oh thank you dear. We’re going to be out late tonight so you’ll need to iron your blazer yourself. I won’t have time to do it in the morning.”
“That’s fine mom, I’ll do it.” Blaine kissed his mother on the cheek and opened the front door for her.

Patricia plastered a rosy kiss on her son’s cheek and went out to the car. Wade hung back just long enough to allow her to get out of earshot before turning to his son.

“Bathroom huh,” he said, looming over Blaine, “Funny, I don’t recall hearing the toilet flush.”

Blaine stared at his dad steadily.

“I was fixing my hair.”

Father and son locked eyes in an intense silence, Wade daring his son to blink. When Blaine didn’t give in he nodded brusquely and continued out the door.

“No friends,” he said sharply.

Blaine watched his parents pull away and shut the door. Almost immediately there was a knock on the other side. Suddenly he felt like he might get sick. Between shopping all day, having Kurt upset with him, and putting up with his father, he didn’t know how he was going to pull this off. Nonetheless, he painted a grin -only half forced- onto his face and turned the handle.

His hands instantly shot to his face. He was met not with a smiling face, but with a blast of harsh light from a video camera.

“My how you’ve grown,” a smooth voice said from somewhere beyond the light.
Blaine fumbled back into the house, trying his best to blink away the red spots from his vision.

“Be careful with that thing, Julian.”

“I forgot how sensitive your eyes can be,” the other boy chucked, “I’m used to your house being dim so I wanted to make sure I had enough light to capture your reaction properly. But apparently someone finally figured out how to screw in a light bulb.”Julian shut the camera off and let himself inside. “I would say I like what they’ve done with the place but it doesn’t look like anything’s changed much. Except for you, of course.”

Blaine pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut in a final attempt to focus them. When they opened again Julian was standing mere inches from his face.

“I’m waiting,” he purred.

The boys stood nose to nose, neither one daring to speak. As he breathed in Julian’s scent a thrill shot down Blaine’s spine and his insides turned upside down. His knees quivered in a strange way and his mind went blank. He excused it as an involuntary reaction. After all, some of his fondest memories were filled with this scent. It was like breathing in a different time, a different place, one that he had almost forgotten and yet wasn’t his to forget. Julian was here, against all odds, and nothing else mattered anymore.

Not being able to stand it much longer, Blaine gave in to his excitement and threw his arms around him, squeezing tightly.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” he grinned. “I’ve missed you so much.”

Julian broke the embrace and shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, examining Blaine coolly. Blaine took him in at the same time. His black hair -although mostly hidden by the hood of his jacket- stuck out stylishly, and his dark eyes were just as piercing as he remembered. Even with the rugged five o clock shadow, Julian was as beautiful as ever.

Blaine’s stomach turned when he realized that Julian was staring intently into his eyes. He tried not to blush. Julian’s gaze always made him feel like a child trying to sneak something past his parents.

Blaine cleared his throat awkwardly, “You look great.”

Julian snorted and began wandering around the house.

“I wish I could say the same about you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Blaine laughed, close at his heels.

“Well your hair needs a good washing for starters,” Julian played absentmindedly with the light switch in the kitchen. “There’s no excuse for that much gel.”

Blaine ran his hand over his head self-consciously. “Oh come on, you know how much product it takes to tame it. Besides, I need it to look nice for-”

“Secondly, you’ve lost too much weight. Not that you had much to begin with.” Julian crinkled his nose in disapproval as he ran his eyes over Blaine once again.

“I haven’t lost it, I’m just toned. It kind of comes with the Warbler package. We don’t sit still much.”

Blaine followed his friend as he moved to the living room and examined the pictures on the fireplace with little interest.

“It would also do you wise to wipe that lipstick off your cheek. Who are you trying to fool?”

With a soft smile Blaine shook his head and scrubbed at his face gently. Nothing got past Julian. He watched his old friend move leisurely around the living room with his hands in his pockets. The bored expression on his face made it seem as if he wasn’t taking in anything at all, but Blaine knew better. Julian was looking for something.

He stopped at a picture of Patricia and let out a slow whistle.

“Mommy’s looking hot as ever. Perkier too. Were the implants Wade’s idea or was it some meager attempt on her part to look more like those secretaries of his so he’d want to fuck her sometimes too?”

Blaine shrugged and looked at the floor, making Julian snort.

“Figures,” he breathed. “Now we know where you get your low self-esteem from. Anyway, from the way you keep shifting your body toward the staircase I assume your bedroom’s still upstairs.”

Blaine felt the blood rise to his ears. Julian didn’t miss a beat. In two quick strides he was at Blaine’s face again, searching for some sort of sign.

“I knew it,” he breathed, as if he had been saving some judgment until this precise moment.

That nervous feeling stirred in Blaine’s stomach again.

“Knew what?”

“You’re not leaning toward the stairs because you’re anxious, you’re doing it out of habit. How many guys have you had standing in your living room, just like I am now, examining your house and asking questions they don’t care to hear the answer to, just waiting for you to motion towards your room like you’ve been doing, so they could fuck you?”

Blaine’s jaw lazed just enough in surprise to part his lips slightly.

“Come on Blaine, you can tell me,” Julian whispered darkly. He clamped his fingers tightly over Blaine’s chin and turning his face slowly from side to side. “We’re best friends, aren’t we? Best friends don’t keep secrets from each other.”

Blaine swallowed hard. He had no reason to be this nervous. Julian was right, he was his friend; the closest friend he ever had. So why did he have the feeling that Julian was one wrong answer away from attacking him?

“One,” he said hoarsely, “Only one.”

Julian held Blaine’s face still and scanned his features carefully. Blaine stared steadily into his eyes, trying to figure out what exactly he was up to. He felt his body stiffen in the thick silence that fell over them. Julian cocked his head to the side and squinted as if he were trying to figure out a riddle. When he concluded that Blaine wasn’t lying he removed his hand and continued his one sided tour of the house. Blaine exhaled deeply through his nose and eyed him with caution. Julian seemed upset, and Blaine knew only too well what happened when he got upset.

“I would have been ecstatic if you had said ten. Proud if you said seven,” Julian opened doors and spared each room an uninterested glace before slamming them closed again. Blaine stood idly by the staircase, safely out of arms reach.

“Happy if it were five. Content with three,” he crossed the room to the staircase, stopping only to breathe into Blaine’s ear. “But one? That concerns me.”

Reluctant, Blaine followed him up the staircase and into his bedroom. He cleared his throat anxiously.

“Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

Julian paced Blaine’s room for a few minutes in silence. He glanced over his bookshelf, shifted through his closet -snorting harshly when he saw his Dalton blazer, and rummaged through his nightstand drawer. His investigation finally ceased when he came to Blaine’s dresser.

“Ah, here we are,” he whispered, eyes blazing, as he picked up a picture of Kurt. “You see Blaine; I don’t care if you’re a whore. After running off to that all boys school I didn’t expect anything less of you. But love? That surprises me.”

Julian streaked his thumb over Kurt’s face as he spoke. He studied his face thoroughly.

“I sensed something was off from the moment I saw you. But it wasn’t your hair, or your weight, it was him.”

“His name is Kurt.”

“Kurt.”

Julian raised his eyebrows and echoed the name, letting it swish around in his mouth before allowing it to settle on his tongue. Blaine’s palms began to sweat. He didn’t like the way Julian said Kurt’s name.

“And how did we meet Kurt?”

Blaine sat on the edge of his bed. Julian kept his eyes glued to the picture, and for a brief moment Blaine wondered if he had blinked since he spotted it.

“We met at Dalton. He was a transfer student.”

At that he tossed the picture down and sat next to Blaine, making Blaine flinch. Julian’s weight on his bed didn’t feel right compared to Kurt’s.

“So he wasn’t the reason you left?”

Blaine ran a hand through his hair and glanced at the picture on his dresser.

“No, he was the reason I stayed.”

A dark shadow grew over Julian’s features. With one swift movement he pushed Blaine onto his back and swung his leg over his pelvis, straddling the Warbler at the hip. Blaine gasped in surprise and made to push him off, but Julian was faster. He grabbed his wrists and pinned them tightly to his sides.

“Remind me again Blaine Anderson,” he loomed over Blaine dominantly, their faces a breath away from touching. “Why you left.”

A strong waft of burning leaves and musk filled Blaine’s nostrils. Even with Julian on the verge of exploding right now he couldn’t stop the trickle of excitement from pouring down his spine when he breathed him in. Because with the scent came the memories, and with the memories came the hurricane of emotions that defined their relationship. It was like some sort of sick aphrodisiac for his soul.

Blaine prayed Julian wouldn’t notice the bark of goose bumps that coated his skin and said as firmly as he could muster, “You know why I left.”

Julian’s eyes studied his with a dying intensity and Blaine knew that he wouldn’t push the subject any further. No matter how badly Julian wanted to discuss it, they both knew tonight was not the night.

He released Blaine’s arms and sat up.

“I suppose so,” he cooed, brushing a few strands of hair from Blaine’s eyes.

“Tell me about Kurt.”

“Why don’t we talk about you for a change?” Blaine muttered.

“Don’t tell me you feel guilty talking about your little play toy while another man’s on top of you.”

Julian rolled his hips slowly against Blaine’s. Blaine flushed violently.

“Despite what you seem to believe he’s not just some fuck buddy of mine.”

Julian continued to grind against him with both a small smile and a sneer. Blaine’s breath hitched. Between his aroma and the sensation he thought he might explode. Not even in a sexual way, not really. Sure, Julian knew how to push his buttons, but if there was any chance of Blaine getting hard right now it wouldn’t be born just from lust, but from the thrill of having Julian so close to him again. A couple hours ago the mere mention of the name ‘Julian’ wouldn’t have made him bat an eye. It had been years since the thought of him even crossed his mind. But good lord now here he was, like a crack of lightning across a starry sky, from nothing to a thousand miles per hour, somehow a few degrees more than tangible.

Julian. His Julian. His best friend. His whole past and at one point his entire future all rolled into one. Who wouldn’t feel like exploding?

“You should stop,” his voice rasped.

Julian cocked his head to the side and pressed harder against his groin. “This is who we are, Blaine. This is what we do,” his eyes flashed. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten?”

How could he? This was how they talked. Some guys texted each other, others would drink. Most would chit-chat over video games in the basement, but not them. Just as his aroma acted as a stimulant, Julian’s rhythmic movements set Blaine at ease. Whenever Blaine was stressed Julian would lay him back and grind on him and they’d just talk. Blaine would be lying if he said it was nothing sexual, because that’s what grinding was after all, but above anything it was soothing. Julian used it as a way to get Blaine to open up. They would lay like that for hours on end, Julian rocking his hips into Blaine’s and Blaine playing with the strings on Julian’s hoodie while they talked about anything and everything. Julian on the other hand used it in a slightly different way. When he had something to say he wanted to make sure Blaine heard it, and what better way was there to keep him hanging on his every word than to grind on him? He could emphasize the importance of his words physically; thrusting harder when he wanted to make sure Blaine was paying attention and slowing down to show him when he was listening. In some strange sense it was beautiful, like having someone feel the weight of your words instead of only hearing them.

“Do you remember the first time Wade caught us doing this?”

Julian leaned forward and cupped the sides of Blaine’s neck. He slid his thumbs behind his earlobes and rubbed them in small circles. Blaine closed his eyes and bit back a moan. Julian knew all of his sensitive spots, even the ones he hadn’t told Kurt about.

“We were in the backyard on the trampoline. You were upset. I kept nagging you to tell me what was wrong but you wouldn’t. So I pinned you down, crawled on top of you, and-”

Julian thrust his hips up hard. The sensation of the tickling behind his ears and the pressure on his cock was enough to make Blaine hard. Extremely hard. His breathing grew louder and he couldn’t stifle his moans any longer. Fuck, this was bad. With the holidays just around the corner and all of the extracurricular activates the two had thrown themselves into; there had been no opportunities for him and Kurt to make love. Toss in all the stress from school and perfecting routines with the Warblers and seeing Kurt in those fucking tight pants all the time and you had the perfect combination for Blaine to become a walking landmine -ready to explode at the lightest touch.

Julian chuckled.

“I remember how you freaked out and started screaming. I had to shove my fingers in your mouth to shut you up. And I told you the same thing I’m going to tell you now. Relax!”

Julian spat the word so furiously that Blaine’s heart skipped a beat. His eyes shot open and he flinched, waiting for Julian to strike him like he so often would when he became angry. But no blow came. Instead Julian smiled and continued to rub behind his ears.

“And you did, and you liked it, and you poured your bleeding little heart out to me on that trampoline. Enter the old man. He flipped his shit, remember? Said what we were doing was wrong. Tried to beat it out of you before you got in too deep. Guess that didn’t really work out in his favor. But it didn’t feel wrong back then, did it Blaine? Does it feel wrong now?”

Blaine bit his lip. Yes, it did feel wrong. Julian knew exactly what he was doing to him. He wasn’t trying to get Blaine to open up like before; he was testing his devotion to Kurt. But god it felt so right to have Julian back with him again like this. It was familiar and tantalizing and relieving and Jesus how could he have walked through the front door for all these years and never quite have that feeling of being more at home than he did right now?

Julian leaned across the bed and grabbed his video camera. He continued to rock his hips effortlessly as he fumbled with it for a moment before turning it on Blaine, who gazed up at him through a haze of lust and confusion. A little red circle began to blink from the side of the lens.

“Tell me Blaine, what more could Kurt possibly mean to you?”

Blaine allowed himself to wallow in Julian’s thrusts for a moment before composing himself. He propped himself up on his elbows and looking straight into the camera.

“Everything.”

Julian stopped rolling his hips. The smirk on his face dropped but he didn’t lower his camera.

“I was right,” he whispered. “You do love him.”

“More than anything,” Blaine managed to smile.

“Define anything.”

“Well, let’s see,” Blaine clasped his hands behind his head and fell on his back again, staring at the ceiling. “More than playing the piano and singing, more than music altogether, I suppose. More than making people smile and performing. Sports, coffee, fashion, and all that stupid stuff that I can’t help but love. Summer,” Blaine smiled. “Definitely more than summer; and you know how much I love it. Movies and reading. I love him more than all of it I guess. Everything that ever existed and ever will exist, you know? There’s nothing out there that I can’t imagine myself living without more than him.”

Julian lowered his camera just enough to get a good look at Blaine’s face. “Do you love him more than me?”

Blaine furrowed his eyebrows together. “Friendship is a different kind of love, you know?”

“Cut the bullshit and give it to me straight. Do you love him more than me?”

Blaine sat up and lowered the camera from Julian’s face.

“Let’s just say that you’re a close second, okay?”

Julian snapped his camera closed and sprung from the bed, Blaine close behind him, ready for a fight. Screw it. If Julian didn’t like his answer then Blaine would be more than happy to show him the way out. Yes, he wanted him to be okay with it; in fact he yearned for it with every fiber in his being. He wanted Julian to be glad that he found someone like Kurt. He wanted him to be happy that he was finally content with the way his life was going. Hell he wanted him to be happy with his transfer to Dalton and look where that got them. Blaine should have known better than to think that Julian would settle for second best.

But, to his surprise, that’s exactly what he did.

“I’m happy for you Blaine,” he smiled.

“But?” Blaine snapped. There was no way Julian would leave it at that. It was too simple.

“I’m concerned. You’ve let some boy become the center of your universe.”

“And?”

“How can you be certain that you’re the center of his?”

Blaine’s body tensed. His mind went blank. And in that fleeting moment of uncertainly he felt truly terrified.

“That’s what I thought. One more question before I leave. When was the last time you cried?”

Blaine swallowed hard, “When I was twelve.”

A sly smile split across Julian’s face. He shot Blaine a wink and patted him on the shoulder on his way out the door.

“Until next time, Anderson.”

------

The blare from Kurt’s phone seemed loud enough to wake the whole street. Kurt woke with a start and hastily punched the volume button, squinting through the light of the screen to see Blaine’s picture smiling up at him. He answered with a grunt.

“What,” he snapped.

A voice he didn’t recognize answered.

“Kurt it’s Patricia, Blaine’s mother.”

If he was only half asleep before, now he was wide awake. He’d never spoken to either of Blaine’s parents before. It was by mere chance that he saw them when he went to Dalton, but back then he barely considered Blaine to be his friend, so there was no cause for introductions. Since then he had only see them in passing, meaning whenever he would wait for them to leave their house so he could go in undetected. He wasn’t even sure if Blaine had told them about their relationship. Why on earth would she be calling him now? Unless-

“Darling are you there?”

Kurt read the clock on his nightstand. It was three in the morning. His heart jolted.

“Yes,” he shouted, “I’m here! What happened to Blaine? Was he in an accident? Is everything okay?”

“Blaine is… fine, sweetie. Listen, I’m sorry to call you so late but I didn’t know when else I’d be able to get a hold of you.”

She spoke with a quiet urgency, like she was afraid of getting caught. Kurt shook his head, confused. What on earth was going on?

“It’s fine Mrs. Anderson, really.”

“Darling I need you to listen very carefully, it’s important.”

Kurt sat up; suddenly more scared now than he had been a few seconds ago.

“H-How can I help you Mrs. Anderson?”

“We need to talk, about Julian.”