Blaine jolted up in the middle of the night, the sky still black outside. He was trembling slightly from a nightmare which he tried to instantly forget. Kurt stirred at the sudden movement and lifted his head from the hard mattress to look at Blaine through his tired, heavy eyes.

“You ‘kay?” he asked gruffly.

“Bad dream” Blaine mumbled, turning his body away from Kurt’s so he was lying on his side. “Sorry” he whispered before closing his eyes again and trying to ignore Kurt’s sigh from behind him.

He didn’t hear anything for a few moments so he let himself try to relax into sleep, but then he felt Kurt’s torso slowly pressing against his back, Kurt’s arm winding across his waist and holding him securely.

“I’ve got you,” Kurt whispered against his neck, his nose nuzzling in Blaine’s hair. “Go back to sleep”

The next time Blaine opened his eyes, soft sunlight was seeping through the broken window down onto his face. He shuffled a little and winced at the pain which had returned to his leg. Kurt’s arm was still sprawled across his stomach, but he was lying on his back with his mouth slightly gaping as he slept.

Blaine gazed down at him, bringing a careful finger up to brush a piece of hair from Kurt’s forehead.

I wish we were somewhere else, Blaine thought, anywhere but here.

Blaine lay his head back down, his arm falling back across the top of the mattress behind Kurt’s head and he closed his eyes, letting himself drift back into a gentle sleep.

Kurt lifted his tired eyes, looking immediately over at Blaine and sitting up. He pulled his arm off of Blaine’s stomach slowly, dragging his fingertips over the skin where his jacket had risen in his sleep.

I wish you’d stop being so blind.

Kurt sat up and pulled the blanket off of them both, his attention settling on Blaine’s wound. He untied the bandage and picked up his bag, taking out another tube of cream and a clean bandage. He began to work some cream onto the wound when Blaine jolted upright, snatching his leg back with a pain filled yelp.

“Sorry” Kurt mumbled, holding his thigh back into place as his gentle finger worked back over the wound.

“No...” Blaine objected, wiping his face sleepily. “I just...didn’t know what it was.” He started. “Thanks”

“Anytime” Kurt promised, smiling at him lazily before finally adding the bandage to his leg and tying it up more securely that the previous time. “You tell me if it starts to hurt, okay?”

“Okay”

“Good.” Kurt smiled, sitting back onto his heels at the end of the mattress. “Oh and Blaine?”

“Yeah?” Blaine asked, his head falling back onto the mattress, eyes sliding shut.

“Next time you have a nightmare...wake me up” he finished softly.

“Oh.” Blaine started, licking his lips. “O-okay. Okay.”

“I’m gonna go take a look around now its morning, don’t leave the house.” He insisted. “Take a look downstairs and see what food or supplies you can find.”

As Kurt headed for the doorway, Blaine sat up.

“Kurt?”

Kurt stopped and turned around. His arrows on his back and his bow in his left hand.

“Yeah?” He asked, eyes scanning Blaine’s leg for a second to make sure he wasn’t in pain.

But when Kurt answered, Blaine just began to haul himself up, finding himself on his feet a few moments later with Kurt stepping towards him to offer him help. When he stepped off of the mattress, Kurt’s hand was on his hip, keeping him steady until he stopped wobbling on the spot.

“What is it?” Kurt asked, searching his eyes.

Blaine reached out and cupped his neck with one hand, his other going to brush along the side of Kurt’s hair line, tugging his head downwards an inch. Blaine leant forward and gently closed his eyes, sucking in a breath before kissing Kurt’s forehead sweetly. When he pulled away, Kurt kept his head down and eyes closed, his hand still rubbing softly on Blaine’s hip.

“I meant it, Blaine” Kurt whispered, dragging his head up and looking Blaine in the eyes.

“Meant what?” Blaine asked, frowning.

Kurt smiled a little sadly. “Just...think about it, alright? I’ll be back soon”

He left swiftly and Blaine waited until he heard him leave before he walked over to the doorway and rested his head on the wood there.

Blaine reached the bottom of the stairs about 15 minutes later when he heard the cannon.

He grabbed his knife from his boot and ran as much as he could with his leg. He found out pretty quickly that if he just powered through it, it’d be a lot more beneficial to him. He reached a small clearing where a town square clearly used to be when he heard Santana’s voice.

“I’ve missed you Kurt...haven’t seen you around...” she said patronisingly. Blaine swallowed the lump in his throat at the sound of Kurt’s name and edged around the side of a building to look at the scene. He saw Santana stood with Kurt against a wall, she was cornering him completely, and his bow was armed in front of him with no room to lift it.

“Yeah, well I’ve had better things to do” He replied bluntly, seemingly unfazed by her.

“That’s funny, because I don’t see you with Mike or the others” She ran her fingertip across his jaw, and he snapped his head out of the way.

“It’s only Mike and Tina anyway.” Kurt spat. “Puck and Rachel died at the Cornucopia”

“Oh I know. I took her out of the way” Santana said triumphantly, turning and taking a step back before turning straight back to Kurt. “Now, why don’t you come back with me and we’ll go find those two from 2” she grinned at him.

Blaine gripped the knife tighter; he was so close to them. One quick glance at the knife in his hand gave him the idea, and he pulled it back, aiming just like Kurt taught him before throwing it.

As soon as Santana fell to the ground, clutching hopelessly at the knife in her foot, Kurt ran straight past her. He yelled back a “No thanks!” before grabbing Blaine’s hand in his and taking off back towards an alley way. Kurt stopped suddenly around the side of a house and pinned Blaine against it.

“I know” Blaine said immediately. “You told me to stay in the house, I know, but there was a cannon-”

“Who taught you how to throw a knife, 12?” Kurt cut him off with a grin. “Not bad, not bad.”

“Oh, just some guy” Blaine brushed off, laughing himself.

“Just some guy?” Kurt cocked an eyebrow, and their laughter died out quickly, something new, something strange coming between them as Kurt licked his lips subconsciously. “Did you figure it out yet?” Kurt asked softly, pulling his arms back from the wall either side of Blaine’s head and repositioning his sheath of arrows on his back.

“I-no. What did you mean?” Blaine asked, standing up and rubbing the back of his head.

“Doesn’t matter. Think about it.” Kurt brushed it off. “Anyway, come down here, I found something for you. Since you’ve lost your knife now anyway” Kurt took Blaine’s hand and lead him down a couple more alleyways until they reached a small row of smashed in stores.

“Wait here” Kurt said before putting his arm around Blaine’s waist. “Actually no. Come with me.” He nudged Blaine inside ahead of him, the room’s only light coming from the sun through the doorway and smashed windows. Kurt walked through the room for a minute, leaving Blaine in the darkness of an aisle, where he wouldn’t be seen if Santana or another tribute were to walk past.

“Here” Kurt smiled, passing him a gun.

“A gun?!” Blaine exclaimed, pulling his hands back. “I can’t use a gun!”

Kurt just laughed and pushed it back towards him. “It’s not a gun, Blaine. It’s a paintball gun. It’s all they had. But fill it with rocks and it’ll be pretty useful.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Blaine took it, weighing it up in his hands whilst Kurt looked around the shop. He grabbed a couple of pieces of rubble and loaded the gun.

“Don’t shoot. You’ll draw attention, but it’ll work, I swear.”

Blaine looked at Kurt for a long moment.

“What is it?” Kurt prompted.

“Nothing” Blaine answered automatically. “I just...I...never mind”

“Blaine?”

“Don’t worry” He smiled. “Let’s go”

“You’re tired” Kurt commented as they walked back through an alley way.

“So are you”

“We’ll find a house, and you can nap first. I’ll guard.”

“Then we’re switching” Blaine fought.

“Okay” Kurt agreed.

Blaine pushed the door of a house. “This one?” He asked. Kurt shrugged and nodded for him to walk in, closing the door silently behind him.

“This is nicer than the others” Blaine commented. There was still furniture in this house, it was a different part of the town, and clearly the people here hadn’t been targeted as much as the others. Kurt walked into the kitchen and pulled open some of the cupboards.

“There’s more food” Kurt said, dragging out bread, fruit and some cheese. “This’ll keep us going.” He piled it into his bag and walked up the stairs where Blaine had disappeared to.

When he walked into one of the bedrooms, he saw a colouring stuck on the wall. It was a drawing of two children and a house, an adult walking away from it with rain clouds in the sky. Kurt frowned.

“Kurt you have to see this” Blaine gushed; Kurt snapped his attention away from the drawing and carefully took it from the wall, folding it neatly before placing it in the front pocket of his bag. He walked into the room Blaine was in and laughed at the sight of Blaine laying on the bed.

“It’s a bed. An actual bed.” Blaine said excitedly.

“I do not understand this arena” Kurt sighed and walked over to Blaine’s side, kneeling down on the floor next to the bed, his arms crossing on the top. He placed his chin on his arms and Blaine turned over to look at him.

“Hi” Blaine whispered.

“Hey” Kurt replied, smiling at him and turning his head a little bit.

Blaine frowned, and Kurt searched his eyes for a moment. “What?”

“Who died?” Blaine started. “Earlier...when I came outside”

“Oh. I killed the boy from 10. He was coming at me with a trident”

“Oh” Blaine replied, turning to lie on his back. Kurt stood up and nudged Blaine’s hips with his hand until Blaine shuffled across the bed, making room for Kurt to lie next to him.

“What is it?”

“I just...it’s so easy for you to kill someone like that” Blaine responded quietly.

“It’s no different than you throwing the knife at Santana” Kurt pointed out.

“I didn’t kill her”

“Maybe if you had better aim” Kurt laughed, his hand reached over to Blaine’s hip and turned them both until they were chest to chest.

“Tell me about your brother” Blaine said quietly.

Kurt smiled. “He’s 11. He hates training. I’m pretty sure he’s not even gonna bother with training school after this year...” Kurt trailed off. “And he keeps me going. When there doesn’t seem like any reason to get out of bed, he comes in and drags me out”

“He sounds very sweet” Blaine commented.

“He is. He’s my little monkey.” Kurt smiled. Blaine just hummed a little bit. Kurt reached out and stroked his jaw. “Blaine,”

Blaine looked at him.

“I want you to know how brave it was. What you said in your interview. I’ve never seen anything so brave in my life. I hope that, when you get back to District 12...you can show people that you’re stronger than any of them. That being gay doesn’t stop you from being able to win something like this”

“Thank you” Blaine whispered quietly. His eyes dropped and he swallowed shakily. Only his parents knew he was gay, he never really expected to come out to such a large audience. He never expected Kurt to remember either.

“Hey” Kurt nudged Blaine’s chin with his finger. “Hey” he repeated.

“Is that why?” Blaine asked slowly. Kurt frowned, confused. “Is that why you teamed up with me? Because you...you pity me?”

Kurt dropped his head and fisted his hand in Blaine’s jacket.

“I’m not pitying you, Blaine.” He said firmly, forcing his eyes up to Blaine’s. “I admire you, and your bravery.”

Kurt smiled and laughed a little bit under his breath.

“What?” Blaine asked tightly.

“Bravery.” Kurt repeated, smiling at him like Blaine should understand what he was so giddy about. “Courage.” He trailed off. Kurt’s hands came to his jacket, unzipping it until a simple gold broach was revealed, engraved with ‘courage’.

Kurt unpinned it from his shirt and fastened it onto Blaine’s.

“Here. You should have this.” Kurt said as he zipped up Blaine’s jacket over the top.

“Kurt I can’t take this” Blaine looked at him through watery eyes.

“You can. I’m not taking it back.”

Kurt smiled at him, not missing the way that Blaine didn’t even try to fake a smile back, his finger just grazed over the broach again.

“C’mere” Kurt said finally, reaching his arms around Blaine to pull him closer. He found himself leaning over Blaine and cuddling him as Blaine lay on his back and began to sob gently into Kurt’s shoulder. Kurt pulled away and sat further up the bed, shuffling against the hard mattress until his back was resting against the wall. He tugged Blaine up with him.

“Come here, Blaine”

Blaine dragged himself up to Kurt’s chest, his head resting there with his arm lazily slung across Kurt’s stomach. Kurt’s fingers stroked his hair softly and the other hand rest on the small of his back, rubbing small circles.

“You’re okay, it’s alright” Kurt said softly.

“I’m sorry” Blaine sniffed.

“Shhh, I understand.”

“I’m just a bit...I’ve never-” Blaine stuttered.

“I know.” Kurt breathed, brushing down Blaine’s hair once more.

That was all they said. Kurt continued to stroke Blaine’s hair and Blaine just stared at a small bug crawling up the opposite wall until it disappeared into one of the cracks a while later. Blaine moved to sit up next to Kurt against the wall.

“Hi” Kurt smiled at him.

“Hi” Blaine returned, his head leaning back against the cold wall. He sniffed and wiped his nose with his jacket sleeve. “Sorry”

“Don’t sweat it” Kurt replied.

“Since...” Blaine started, and then he dragged the ring off of his finger stiffly, toying it between his index finger and thumb. “Since you gave me your token...I want you to have mine” He placed the ring into Kurt’s palm. “Please” he added, once Kurt looked like he was about to object.

Kurt nodded softly and placed it onto his finger.

“Thank you, Blaine. It’s beautiful”

Blaine just nodded and smiled, letting his eyes close. He let out a shaky breath.

Kurt leant forward a little bit, and then paused before leaning forward a little bit more, as if he were figuring something out. Finally, he ran his finger along Blaine’s neck and then leant forward just that tiny bit more until their noses were brushing together, he could feel Blaine’s breath against his lips but he couldn’t bring himself to open his eyes. He didn’t want to see if Blaine was about to pull away terrified or anything possibly worse.

Blaine waited until Kurt made the next move, he didn’t want to jump the gun and be the idiot in the situation and he didn’t want to scare Kurt away. But soon enough, Kurt leant forward and brushed their lips together briefly, waiting until Blaine reacted by tilting his head forward and pressing their lips together again. It was sweet, and Blaine wasn’t really sure if it was happening or if he hadn’t quite woken up yet, but then Kurt was opening his mouth a little bit to take Blaine’s bottom lip into his mouth and Blaine reached for Kurt’s waist to pull him closer. He let Kurt lead the kiss until he realised he wasn’t breathing, and he had to pull away to rest his head back against the wall.

“Blaine, I-I’m sorry...I-” Kurt immediately stuttered, snatching his hand away from Blaine’s neck. He blushed and bought his hand to his head and closed his eyes.

Blaine reached up and took his hand away from his temple and leant forward again, kissing him quickly, just a simple press of their lips together to show Kurt that it wasn’t a mistake and it wasn’t Kurt taking advantage.

Kurt smiled into the kiss, his fingers entwining with Blaine’s as they pulled away again.

“I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to do that” Kurt smiled.

“It took you long enough” Blaine laughed.

They looked up at each other, both of them grinning and their hands still entwined, and right then in that moment, everything seemed okay.