Blaine had been watching Kurt rearrange the collar of his jacket for the last five minutes. He smoothed it down before tutting to himself in the mirror and moved it up in an arch, turning to the side to look at it from different angels.

"Kurt, for the love of God, please stop playing with your collar! You look fine," Blaine exclaimed, dragging a hand through his curls.

"I'm sorry," Kurt blushed, looking at Blaine's reflection in the mirror. The slave was perched on the edge of the bed, fully dressed and ready to leave, "I'm just nervous."

Blaine looked at the floor, "Sky makes you nervous?"

Kurt nodded, swallowing and smoothing down the creases in his jeans one last time.

"Don't I make you nervous?" Blaine bit his lip, not looking up.

Kurt frowned, "Blaine..."

"I still get butterflies when I'm with you," Blaine revealed quietly.

"Honey, I..."

"Am I boring now?" Blaine asked, still not looking up from the carpet.

"No, God no," Kurt shook his head, "Blaine you could never be boring," he turned around and walked towards the bed where the slave was sat.

Blaine sighed loudly, "Whatever, Kurt. I'm gonna go and find Kathy. I'll see you later."

"No, Blaine," Kurt grabbed his arm, "Please."

"What? This Sky guy is obviously a lot better than me if you put so much effort in for him," Blaine grumbled, his cheeks red with embarrassment.

"Blaine," Kurt said softly, "Do you really think I'd ever let him see me in sweatpants without feeling uncomfortable?"

"What are you talking about?" Blaine's eyebrows pulled in.

"I'm talking about the fact that I trust you, I feel comfortable around you. Yeah Sky makes me nervous, but you do too. Just in a different way."

"I do?" Blaine relaxed, looking Kurt in the eye for the first time since George left.

"Of course," Kurt nodded, "With Sky it's like...I'm scared, and my stomachs all tight and my hands get really sweaty."

Blaine laughed and grabbed Kurt's hand, entangling them together, "I don't mind."

Kurt blushed and squeezed Blaine's hand in return, "You make me nervous too. But it's...warm," he screwed up his features as he tried to explain, and Blaine kissed the tip of his wrinkled nose.

Kurt blushed even redder and hid his face in Blaine's shoulder, "I can completely be myself around you, because I know that you'll accept my weirdness and make me feel better about it. With Sky I'm constantly scared I'll say the wrong thing and....and I'd much rather be curled up on the couch with you in pyjamas."

Blaine smiled at him, "We can later."

"Err...I don't know, Sky will probably stay the night. I can't just make him leave when he's here to comfort me and..."

"Win bonus points from you so you'll marry him," Blaine finished bitterly. He sighed. "It's fine, I'll sleep in the slavery tonight," He shrugged, "Just...have fun," the slave forced a smile.

"I doubt it," Kurt replied, "I'm really sorry about...the timing, just everything. I'm sorry. But you have no need to be jealous."

"It's not your fault," Blaine shook his head, "Don't be sorry."

Kurt smiled softly, "I love you."

"I love you too," Blaine replied, kissing Kurt's cheek before he moved to leave.

"Are you still not coming with me?" Kurt asked, looking in the mirror one last time.

"First of all, stop worrying. You look breathtaking and Sky's going to fall at your feet. Secondly, be yourself because who you are is pretty freaking awesome," Blaine winked and watched with satisfaction as Kurt's face lit on fire with his blush, "Thirdly...No, I don't think I can watch Sky drooling all over you without beating him go a pulp. I'm sorry."

"That's probably wise I'll...I'll just miss you," Kurt admitted.

"I'll miss you too," Blaine frowned, "I guess I'll...see you tomorrow then...maybe."

Kurt nodded, chewing his lip as Blaine left.

oxoxoxoxo

"Kurt, I don't even know what to say. I...Come here."

Kurt accepted Sky's hug without a moments hesitation, "It's okay...I'm, I'm okay."

"I'm so sorry," Sky whispered into Kurt's hair, he rubbed the Prince's back softly.

Kurt let out a breath, "I'm glad you're here." And he was, Sky was a nice guy to have around.

"I'm glad too. Do you want to see him?" Sky asked gently.

And suddenly Kurt wanted to get as far away from Sky as possible. With Blaine it was easy to forget for a while and get lost in Blaine's eyes and toothy smiles. But this was weird and different and a huge stabbing reminder that everything was definitely not okay.

"Kurt?"

Not okay. Nothing was okay.

"Hey, shh," Kurt was suddenly crushed against Sky's chest, "Don't cry."

Kurt paused and pulled away, wiping his eyed and blinking in surprise when he found tears rolling down his cheeks, "Oh...Oh I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Sky gave him a kind smile and cupped the blue-eyed boy's blushing cheek.

Kurt's breath stuttered, Sky's strange eyes staring into his own.

"Do you want to see your Dad?"

Kurt blinked, trying to get Sky out of his head and failing miserably, "Err..."

"We can go up to your room?"

"Um..."

"Whatever you want is fine."

"I...I don't..."

Sky laughed, "You okay?"

Kurt took a step back and tore his eyes away, "Fine."

Sky laughed again fondly, taking Kurt's hand in his own, "Come with me."

Sky lead Kurt a little further along the corridor and into a random empty room that happened to be a study. Sky tugged Kurt over to the loveseat that they both sat on, Kurt laughing nervously when their knees bumped.

"I...I know this is a bad time but I'm going completely crazy," Sky blurted out, making Kurt jump slightly.

"What is it?"

"Have you even thought about marrying me?" Sky chewed his lip and stared at Kurt intensely.

Kurt gulped, "You're right. It's a bad time."

"Oh...Yeah, yeah I'm sorry," Sky sighed and looked away.

oxoxoxo

"Blaine, Hey how's-? Oh."

The slave had walked straight forward and pulled Kathy into a tight hug.

"What's going on?" Kathy hugged him back and kissed his cheek softly, "You okay?"

"Yes...No...I have no idea," Blaine replied, "Everthing's just so...urgh."

Kathy sighed gently, rubbing Blaine's back, "I'm sorry. Wanna talk?"
Blaine nodded solemnly, "Please?"

Kathy sat cross-legged on the grass and Blaine lay down, resting his head in Kathy's lap with a gentle sigh as she run her hand through Blaine's curls.

"What's going on Blainey?"

"Sky's here. He's here right now," Blaine's voice came out scratchy and grim, "Touching my Kurt."

"Your Kurt?"
"Yes my Kurt. He's mine."

"Okay, okay," Kathy allowed, "So you're jealous?"

"Like you would not believe," Blaine groaned, hiding his face in her knee, "I hate feeling this way, especially because it's so stupid. I know Kurt loves me, but...I just can't help it."

"Being protective isn't stupid."

"Urgh."

Kathy laughed lightly, Blaine's head bobbing on her lap with the movement, "It's okay. It'll all work out," she said, playing with his dark curls.

"No. No it won't be. What are my options? Kurt marries Sky and I'm never going to be with him again...The King dies and the governors ship me off to work for some asshole?" Blaine grumbled, "Nothing is going to be okay."

"The king will be fine, you and the Prince will convince him that the right thing to do is let you be together, the governors will agree and you'll live happily ever after," Kathy replied.

Blaine snorted, "This isn't a story Kath, it's real life."

oxoxoxoxo

"I can go...."

"No, no please don't. I'm sorry, that was rude I'm just...I'm...," Kurt sighed loudly and shook his head, "Of course I've thought about it."

Sky nodded slightly, "It's fine. It's okay, I shouldn't have said anything."

Kurt bit his lip, "I'm sorry. I...I have every intention of marrying you."

Sky's head snapped around to stare at Kurt, bewildered, "Really?"

"Y-Yeah...eventually. It's just...right now everything's so..."

"No, no I get that, I do," Sky was grinning wildly, and he glanced down at his hands, before looking back up to Kurt and leaning forward, pressing their lips together softly.

oxoxoxoxo

Kathy was quiet for a second, and Blaine relaxed concentrating on her delicate fingers running through his curls.

A sniff startled him and he looked up to see a stream of tears falling silently from Kathy's eyes.

"Wh-What's wrong?" Blaine sat up quickly, making his head spin a little.

Kathy shook her head, "You can't...You can't leave me."

"What are you talk about?"

"You can't go and work for someone else, you're my best-friend. I can't imagine being here without you," Kathy hiccuped through tears and looked away.

"I thought you said it was all going to be okay?"

Kathy shook her head, "You're right, this isn't a story."

"You'll be fine. Kurt's still here, and Kate we're...we're kind of a makeshift family don't you think?"

Kathy's eyebrows pulled in, "Yeah...Yeah I guess we are...Wow how did that happen?"

"I have no idea. But I'm glad it did."

"I've never had a family before, not that I can remember," Kathy blushed and bit her lip.

"Me either."

"I can't believe I had a crush on you," Kathy screwed up her nose.

Blaine's eyebrows shot up, "Why what's wrong with me?"

"Nothing. But now you're like...my brother or something, it's weird."

Blaine laughed, "I really liked you when we first met too."

"Really?"

"Hm," Blaine nodded, "But I was really confused about the whole Kurt thing..."

"I know you were, I wanted to hit your head against a tree," Kathy teased.

"What? Why?"

"You were driving me crazy! Moping around all the time, geez. I just wanted to tell you to stop sitting on your butt and go and do something," Kathy admitted, "I didn't know why you were moping around in the start, but I knew there was something."

"You're right."

"About what?"

"I need to do something, I can't just sit here."

oxoxoxoxo

Sky was still grinning when he pulled away, looking ridiculously proud of himself.

Kurt felt sick.

"Sorry, I just had to do that."

Kurt licked his lips and forced a laugh, "Er, can we go and see my Dad now?"

"Yeah, right of course," Sky stood up and held out his hand for Kurt to take and helped the Prince to his feet.

"I hate that room but at the same time I feel guilty not being there," Kurt admitted as they exited the room.

"It's okay, I'm here now. I'm not going anyway."

Kurt's stomach gave a painful jolt.