“So this is me swallowing my pride, standing in front of you, saying I’m sorry for that night.” ~Back to December; Taylor Swift

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When Blaine awoke the next morning it was to two things; the vibrating of his cell phone and the smell of breakfast. He sat up slowly; squeezing his eyes shut to adjust to the light streaming through the curtains of the window and checked the time: 9:46. Blaine looked at his cell phone and found another text from Kurt but decided to ignore it until he could actually phone him or had enough time to hold up a conversation. Blaine’s feet hit the carpeted floor as he swung his legs over the bed and dragged his sleep-slow limbs to the bathroom.

Looking in the mirror, he saw that the swelling on his cheek had evened out a little and the shades of purple were starting to fade into obscurity. Blaine splashed some cold water on his face to wake himself up and after drying his face he made his way to the kitchen. Jason was standing in front of the oven wearing a white wife-beater (Blaine tried to ignore the tragic irony) and a pair of blue striped linen pants. He was pushing bacon around on a skillet and his face lit up when he turned and saw Blaine.

“Morning, sunshine,” he said with a smile. Jason leaned down for a kiss and Blaine was happy to oblige. He wrapped his arms around Jason’s neck and pressed his lips harder against Jason’s. Just as his tongue was skimming over Blaine’s bottom lip, Jason pulled away. “Morning breath,” he mumbled against Blaine’s lips with another light peck and he wasn’t positive as to whether he meant that Blaine had it or that he, Jason, did.

Whichever Jason meant, Blaine skimmed his tongue over his front teeth, ignored the statement and set the table. When Jason came over he put a bowl of scrambled eggs and a plate of bacon down on the table. Blaine scooped himself some eggs and took two pieces of bacon and just kind of stared at his plate. It’s not like it was unusual for Jason to make breakfast for him, in fact he almost always did, but something was just… strange. Jason stared at Blaine in bewilderment and Blaine met his gaze.

“Are we ever going to talk about this?” Blaine suddenly blurted out without realizing. Jason raised an eyebrow. “Talk about what?” He asked with honest confusion in his voice. Blaine shifted uneasily in his chair.

“Talk…” he began, “talk about the fact that you slapped me across the face last night.” He ended in a whisper and refused to meet Jason’s gaze by dropping his head and staring at his lap. Jason put his fork down slowly and sighed, folding his hands on the table.

“Listen…” Jason said slowly in his tone of voice that always made Blaine feel at ease. “W-what I did yesterday… It was stupid. I-I didn’t mean to… to do that to you, Blaine.” He stammered. “I… I love you. You know that, right?” Blaine barely nodded. Of course he knew that. There was no one he’d rather be with than Jason but the way the words rolled off Jason’s tongue sounded insincere to Blaine’s ears.

“Can I ask why?” Blaine mumbled. He pushed the now-cold eggs around on his plate as Jason rolled thoughts around in his head.

“Well…” He began, sitting back in his chair. “I was just… I was really mad. And not just at you, Blaine, at a lot of things, I—“

“Was it something I did?” Blaine interjected weakly. It was barely heard, he said it so quietly. Neither of them was sure how it had gotten so tense between them so quickly, when just days before there was nothing wrong. “Blaine…” Jason mumbled. “No, it’s not like that,” he stood up and walked over to where Blaine was sitting at their table. Blaine looked up and met Jason’s soft blue eyes and felt his heart lift high in his throat.

“Blaine, it was a mistake,” he said sternly, kneeling down so he was eye level with Blaine’s hip and staring up at him. “It was a mistake I never intend to make again. I was angry and I wasn’t thinking and it was the first thing that came to mind because I was too pissed off to think properly. I would never hurt you, Blaine. Please tell me you know that. Please.” He was almost begging now and Blaine was staring down at him and felt a smile spread across his lips.

“Of course I know that.” Blaine said slowly and Jason smiled too, a big toothy grin that made his eyes shine. He leaned up and kissed Blaine softy and sweetly. “Good. I’m glad,” Jason said honestly and stood up fully. He sat back down in his seat and finished eating breakfast before taking their dishes into the kitchen and leaving them in the sink. Jason walked to their bedroom to change for work and Blaine just sighed deeply. He really did love Jason but he couldn’t help but wonder if things might be different if he’d never slapped him. Blaine didn’t want to dwell on it, though. If Jason said it was a mistake than he believed him. He accepted his apology and all he wanted now was to push the memory to the deepest corners of his mind and not think about it anymore.

Jason walked out of their bedroom and grabbed his keys off the table, kissed Blaine on the lips and said goodbye. After Blaine changed from his pajamas as well (into a pair of dark skinny jeans and a grey button-down shirt), brushed his teeth and had a quick shower he finally sat down to look at his text from Kurt. It was just a simple “good morning!” and an invitation to get coffee later that afternoon. Blaine smiled in spite of himself and called Kurt.

He picked up after two rings. “Hello!” His voice rang through the receiver. “Hey Kurt,” Blaine said, the smile on his face still there. “Sorry I didn’t call you earlier, I was just caught up with something else.”

“That’s fine, I was doing stuff anyway. So, do you wanna meet for coffee? Or lunch or something?”

“Sure,” he said. “Do you want me to pick you up? There’s a great little coffee shop 10 minutes from my apartment.”

“That would be lovely, thank you.” Blaine scribbled Kurt’s address onto a sticky note and went to his car when he finished his conversation with Kurt. He wasn’t sure why he wanted to get to know him so badly but something about him intrigued Blaine. Whether it was his blatant sarcasm or his striking good looks, he wasn’t entirely sure but Blaine rationalized that is was a probably a combination of the two that made him want to get to know Kurt better. As he pulled up into a small parking lot in front of a row of condos, he saw Kurt waiting for him, leaning against a blue Ford Fiesta.

He smiled when he saw Blaine pull up and gave a little wave before climbing inside the passenger seat. “Hey,” he said happily and Blaine smiled at him.

“How are you?” he asked, buckling his seat belt as Blaine pulled out of the parking lot. “I’m alright,” he said quietly. “And yourself?”

“Not bad. I’ll probably be better when I have caffeine though.” He answered and rolled down his window slightly. “Where exactly is this mystery coffee shop?” Blaine chuckled lightly. “Not much farther, I swear.” Just as he said this he pulled his car around a corner and into a parking lot for the coffee shop. He found a parking space and turned off his car. Kurt turned and gave him a semi-unreadable look.

“’Great little coffee shop’? Blaine, this is Starbucks.” He quipped and Blaine just gave him a smile. “What? Starbucks is great. I didn’t mean to imply that is was local or something.” Kurt just rolled his eyes, unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car. Blaine followed suit, holding the door open for him as he walked inside. He suddenly hoped that damn bruise on his face wasn’t as obvious as it still felt but chose to ignore it for his own sake; though he truly hoped Kurt wouldn’t ask him about it again.

“What would you like?” Blaine asked and Kurt grinned. “Paying, are you? My my, you are chivalrous.” Blaine laughed and rolled his eyes. “No need to overanalyze it, I’m just being a nice guy.” He shot back and Kurt asked his to order a grand� non-fat mocha while Blaine ordered himself a tall French roast. He paid the barista and found Kurt sitting at table and checking his phone. He placed the paper cup in front of him and Kurt looked up at Blaine.

“Thank you,” he said and Blaine took the seat across the table from Kurt. For a while they just simply sipped their coffee and made awkward eye contact with each other since they still considered one another to be strangers. All they truly knew about each other was their occupations, names and phones numbers and the strong belief that they were both gay. Kurt, however, confirmed his suspicions within 5 minutes of knowing Blaine when he told him who Jason was. Blaine on the other hand, now knowing Kurt’s job and a fair approximation of the way he dressed, could only assume that he too was gay. Blaine was still trying to come up with an appropriate way of asking when Kurt broke his train of thought.

“Are you all right? You look like you’re doing too much thinking for…” he checked his watch, “10:30 in the morning.” Blaine chuckled a little and took another sip of his coffee. “Sorry.” He said.

“No need to apologize for thinking. It’s not illegal yet.” Kurt teased.

“Okay, I’m just going to be super honest, and it’s going to be kind of weird since we’ve only known each other for like, sixteen hours.” Blaine came out with and Kurt just raised an eyebrow and sat back in his chair, appearing to be listening. “I’m listening.” He confirmed and Blaine nodded.

“I want to get to know you,” he announced suddenly but Kurt’s expression didn’t falter. “I don’t know, I… I just like you even thought I don’t know you. Like, at all. I don’t mean this in a creepy way or something like that, and if that’s how it’s being conveyed, I apologize. But y-you just… I don’t know, you…” he stopped to think about what to say next for a moment. “You intrigue me. I guess. I don’t really know how to explain it. You’re just so self-confident. We don’t even know each other but you talk to me like we’ve known one another for years.” Blaine sighed. “Stop me if I’m being too weird.” He glanced up at Kurt, somehow expecting him to be appalled by what Blaine admitted but he was just happily sipping his coffee, appearing to be concealing a grin with the rim of his cup. “It’s not weird. I daresay I’m flattered by it.” Kurt replied coolly and Blaine mentally sighed with relief. “To be honest, I was trying to come up with a way to say just that.”

“I’m glad.” Blaine said. “Maybe I would’ve said it a bit more eloquently than your little spiel, though.” Kurt added as an afterthought and Blaine rolled his eyes. He wondered if Kurt spoke to everyone this way or if it was somehow a defense mechanism, though against what Blaine was unsure. He didn’t want to jump to any more conclusions about Kurt than he had already made so he decided to let it go.

“Should we just ask each other questions or something? Or should we actually go about the lengthy process of legitimately ‘getting to know each other’?” Kurt asked honestly and Blaine thought about it for a minute. While he truly did want to slowly reveal secrets about Kurt he also really wanted to know him better now. “You decide.” Blaine answered and Kurt took another sip of coffee.

“How about a little bit of both? We ask each other a few things and we leave the others for when we know each other better.” Blaine nodded and thought about what would be too intrusive to ask for such a short time knowing each other. Kurt was thinking the same thing just as Blaine posed his first question.

“How old are you?”

Lame.

“I’m twenty-two; what about you?” Kurt answered. “I’m twenty-three.” Blaine replied.

“Where are you from?” Kurt asked.

“Chicago. My parents split up when I was twelve and I moved in with my mom when she moved there. I came to Ohio when I was 18 for college. You?”

“Lima,” Kurt said. “I moved to Westerville after high school before I wanted to be out of the city but I didn’t want to be too far from my dad.” Blaine cocked his head in confusion. “He had a heart attack when I was in 11th grade and I was too worried it might happen again to be too far from home.” Blaine just nodded in understanding not wanting to pry too hard in case there was something he didn’t want to say about his father’s condition.

“He’s okay now though?” Blaine asked, sipping the last of his coffee and putting the empty cup back on the table. Kurt nodded. “Yeah, he’s totally fine. It only happened to one time but… I still worry about him. My mom died when I was eight and I was just so afraid of losing him too that I –“ Kurt stopped in the middle of his sentence and took a long sip of his coffee. “I’m sorry. Th-that was just a lot to tell a stranger. Am I being to open right now?”

“No, not at all. I-I mean if you’re uncomfortable, then you don’t have to continue but I didn’t think you were being too honest. I’d understand if you wanted to change the subject.” Blaine stumbled over his words slightly as he said them and Kurt just stood up and offered out a hand. Blaine just stared at him for a few seconds in confusion. “For you coffee cup, dummy, I don’t want to hold your hand.” He said and Blaine made a sarcastic gasp. “I’m offended, most people love holding my hand.”

“I’ll take you word for it,” Kurt said as he dropped the cups into the garbage can. “But I’m not single. And neither are you.” Blaine held the door open for Kurt as they left the Starbucks and headed back to their car. “Holding hands is considered cheating now?” Kurt rolled his eyes and leaned against the passenger side door of Blaine’s green Mazda 3. Blaine unlocked the doors and climbed inside, starting the ignition and buckling his seatbelt. “I’m just gonna let this conversation go away before it gets any weirder.” Kurt decided and Blaine nodded. “Good idea.”

They pulled out of the parking lot and Kurt turned to face him in his seat. They continued their round of questions for a little while as Blaine took a scenic route back to Kurt’s apartment. From their conversation, Blaine learned that Kurt’s birthday was June 10th, his favourite colour was red and that he had a step brother named Finn who still lived in Lima with his high school girlfriend named Quinn. Kurt found out that Blaine’s favourite colour was green (he assumed that was why he chose such an outrageous shade for his car), his birthday was January 3rd and that he played lacrosse for a very brief period of time in high school.

“It’s Canada’s national sport.” He countered when Kurt asked him why he would ever choose to join the lacrosse team. “Okay. So what? We’re American, Blaine.” He adjusted his grip on the steering wheel and refused to meet Kurt’s eyes. “I have no better excuse.” He mumbled and Kurt laughed outright. “So, you said earlier that you weren’t single,” Blaine began and Kurt raised an eyebrow. “Girlfriend?” When the last word left Blaine’s lips Kurt honestly convulsed with laughter, so much so to the point where Blaine himself began to laugh as well. By the time they had calmed down, Blaine took the hint. “I assume I’m wrong about that?”

“You certainly are,” Kurt snickered. “I thought my obvious homosexuality was, you know, obvious.” Blaine just looked at the road and said, “I don’t really like to judge people…” and Kurt nodded. “What’s his name?” Blaine asked.

“Alex. We’ve been together for 5 years.” He said fondly and his eyes seemed to become distant. “What does he do for a living?” Blaine asked. Kurt took a deep breath in slowly just as Blaine pulled up to the parking lot to Kurt’s apartment. He found a parking space and killed the engine but still sat in the car waiting for Kurt to answer. Kurt squeezed his eyes shut once and then looked at Blaine.

“He, uh… He’s a marine,” He said slowly and Blaine just let out a quiet “oh” and turned his gaze out of the windshield. “How long as he been gone?” Blaine asked quietly, almost afraid to pose the question. Kurt cleared his throat before answering. “It will be two years in September…” he answered almost inaudibly. “Do you uh… Do you wanna go inside?” Kurt asked him, trying to change the subject and Blaine nodded and unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out of his car. Kurt followed and after Blaine locked his car, they went inside Kurt’s apartment complex.

He had a very nice apartment, (probably from the fact that he was an interior designer, Blaine concluded) and Kurt told him to make himself at home. “Do you want something to drink?” he called from the kitchen. “Even though we like, just went out for coffee.” Blaine chuckled quietly. “Just some water, please.” He called back and Kurt came walking out of kitchen with a glass of water in one hand a glass of milk in the other. He handed Blaine his glass and sat down on the leather couch next to Blaine, bringing his legs up to rest on the cushion next to him. “So are you ever going to tell me how you really got that bruise or am I just going to have to make something up?” Blaine smiled slightly and bit his lip. The images flashed across his mind again and he took a long slow sip of water.

“Blaine?” Kurt asked concernedly. “Are you all right?” Blaine looked up at Kurt’s worried expression and smiled a little. “Yeah, I’m totally fine, I just… zoned out for a second there, sorry.” Blaine mumbled and Kurt just stared, still concerned. “And about the bruise, my um…” he didn’t know how to say it. Blaine had to words in his head but he couldn’t bring himself to say them. It was like he has stage fright or pre-date jitters because he just felt so frozen

Just say it you damn coward. If you can’t say it to someone else, how could you ever admit it to yourself?

“Your um…?” Kurt drawled out, hoping Blaine would take the hint and finish his thought. “My uh…” he took a deep breath and looked at Kurt and Kurt just remained patiently expectant. “Blaine, if you’re not comfortable telling me what happened, I understand. I mean, like you said, we just met yesterday. I’m not expecting you tell me all of your deep dark secrets, and I’m hoping you’re not expecting me to tell you mine.” Kurt placed a gentle hand on Blaine’s shoulder and he involuntarily flinched at the contact. Kurt drew his hand back slowly and stood up, offering to take Blaine’s glass.

“Do you want a refill?” He asked over his shoulder as he walked back into the kitchen. “No, thank you,” Blaine called after him. “I think I’m gonna go home, actually.” Kurt walked back to him empty handed. “Are you sure? It’s only like, eleven. In the morning.”

Blaine smiled slightly and nodded. “Yeah, I have to get home and meet Jason for lunch,” he lied and Kurt just nodded. “All right,” he gave a weak smile. “It was nice to see you, though. Maybe we can get together again some time?” he asked hopefully and Blaine grinned. “Definitely.”