The rest of the afternoon and then the evening passed in a comfortable haze of happiness for Blaine. He and Kurt scanned the latest issue of Vogue, sprawled out on his bed next to each other; they danced along cheesily to Kurt's forever expanding music collection; they shared a vegetarian pizza for dinner ("No, Blaine, we cannot get extra cheese, some of us want to keep our waistline"); and played various board games with the rest of the family. This culminated in all of them laughing hysterically when, during a particularly competitive game of Pictionary, Finn's attempt at drawing a television looked more like some kind of giant squid.

"That isn't even rectangular!" Kurt snorted, tilting his head to see if it looked any less ridiculous from a different angle. It didn't.

"Yeah, well, it was hard to capture on paper, man." Finn defended himself.

"I'm sorry but how can someone not draw a box-shape with a screen?"

"Kid, I have to hand it to you, you're worse than me at this game." Burt interjected, shaking his head fondly.

"If you turn it upside down it sort of looks like a—"

"It looks like a demented squid, Finn!" It was Blaine's turn to snort at Kurt's comment; it definitely had a marine-animal-ish quality to it.

"Well, I'm going to call it a night and go marvel at the incredible artist I have for a son." Carol laughed, getting up off the couch and picking up their empty plates.

"Shut up!" Finn retorted, though he, too, was grinning as he followed his mom out the room. Burt stood up too and rubbed his hands together.

"I'm gonna hit the sack too," He said, putting the discarded game on the coffee table. "Do you have everything you need, Blaine? Toothbrush? Pyjamas?"

"He can use the spare one and borrow a pair of mine." Kurt answered for him, hugging his dad goodnight.

"Shall I go grab Blaine the spare blanket? The air mattress is in the under-stair closet..."

Kurt gave his dad one of his 'bitch, please' stares and Burt chuckled, raising his hands defensively.

"Ok, ok, I was only kidding. See you in the morning." He headed up the stairs but couldn't resist turning around and adding, "Try to keep the noise down,"

Blaine tensed on instinct at the obviously suggestive comment but Kurt merely rolled his eyes and pulled Blaine down the stairs. He found Blaine a pair of pyjamas in his bottom drawer (the pair that Blaine always wore when he hadn't brought his own for whatever reason) and then disappeared into the ensuite to do his night time skincare ritual.

Blaine inhaled deeply as he pulled the top over his head, breathing in the smell of detergent and something so unmistakably Kurt. He sat down on the bed and smoothed his hands over the top of the duvet. Less than 24 hours ago he'd been terrified and alone in his house with just his thoughts for company and then Kurt had turned up and made it all better; swept in and saved him, like he always did. Because Kurt had saved him. No matter how many times Kurt tried to convince him it was the other way round and that it was he, Kurt, who had been struggling with bullying and self-acceptance, who felt lonely and isolated from his friends, Blaine knew better. Sure, Blaine probably had been a positive influence on Kurt's life, at least back then, but it was Blaine who had actually needed saving, even if he didn't know it at the time. In fact, it was his own lack of comprehension that he hadn't been truly happy, that his smiles were becoming steadily more and more fake, that the boy who seemingly had it all together was actually slowly crumbling from the inside out, it was for that exact reason that Kurt had saved him. His life had been amazing before Kurt came along, but that didn't mean he'd been truly living it.

The bathroom door opening snapped Blaine out of his thoughts and he quickly grabbed the spare toothbrush and walked passed Kurt to brush his teeth. When he returned, Kurt was already in bed on his usual side, the thought causing Blaine's stomach to jolt stupidly. Get a grip, Blaine, he reprimanded himself, sliding in next to Kurt, you're just friends now.

He reached over to turn the lamp on the bedside table off and when he turned back, Kurt had moved closer and snuggled into his side, sighing contentedly in the darkness. Blaine lay there silently, feeling his breathing synching with Kurt's and just when he thought he was asleep, he heard Kurt's murmur of "Night, honey,"
Blaine didn't answer, just nuzzled closer to Kurt, and fell asleep moments later.

*

Kurt woke suddenly, his eyes opening as the mattress underneath him shook weirdly. He lay there, confused, until a tiny whimper broke the silence. He rolled over slowly and felt his chest tighten when he took in the sight in front of him. Blaine was curled into a ball, his legs tucked into his chest and lying so far over on the other side of the bed that he was half hanging off it. He was clearly trying his hardest to muffle the gut-wrenching sobs coming out of him, so much so that he was physically shaking with the effort, which explained why the bed was shaking.

Kurt didn't even think before shifting himself closer and wrapping himself around Blaine's body which seemed even smaller than usual in his curled-in state. He stiffened instantly, his red eyes opening in surprise and then...fear?

"S-sorry!" His voice sounded strangled, and he was still crying as he spoke. "I-I d-didn't mean t-to wake y-you up."

"What's wrong?" Kurt asked softly, ignoring Blaine's apology and sliding one hand up and down his side soothingly.

"I-I just...nightmare..." Blaine mumbled.

"You had a nightmare?"

"Just a s-stupid d-dream about—about the sh-shooting..." He dissolved into more sobs and Kurt clutched him tighter.

"That doesn't sound stupid to me. Why didn't you wake me?"

"Y-You don't want—you shouldn't have t-to deal with m-me." Blaine muttered so quietly that if Kurt hadn't have been so close he wouldn't have heard him.

"That's ridiculous, Blaine."
"S'not. Y-you don't deserve to g-get your sleep disturbed ag-again just 'cause—just 'cause I'm being st-stupid." He suddenly seemed to realise something and struggled out of Kurt's arms, hanging further off the bed in his attempt to move away and fumbling until he fell off completely with a painful-sounding thump. "I-I w-woke you anyway. G-God, I'm s-so sorry, Kurt. I-I'm such a f-fucking nuisance. I'll go sleep on the c-couch. I'm s-sorry, I'll—"

As Blaine talked himself into a frenzy, somehow managing to stumble to his feet and start shakily moving to the door, swaying slightly as if he felt dizzy, Kurt swiftly got off the bed and managed to grab his arm before he made it too far. He spun him round so that they were face to face.

"Blaine Anderson, you listen to me right now!" He said, his voice rising to a dangerously possibly-Burt-waking level. "You could never, ever be a nuisance. Do you hear me?" Blaine only dropped his head further, his whole body sagging as if he wished nothing more than to sink into Kurt's carpet and never be found. He probably did.

"No." Kurt continued, grabbing Blaine's face and forcing him to look into his eyes. "No, you listen to me. Don't you ever worry about confiding in me, Blaine, don't you dare. If you're hurting I want to know about it because I love you and I want to do everything in my damn power to make it better, ok?"

Blaine was frozen, seemingly overwhelmed.

"Ugh," Kurt let out a frustrated groan. "Come here, you stupid, self-depricating, deluded person." He pulled Blaine to him, more to support him as his legs gave out than to comfort him. "Do you even have any idea what a fucking incredible, flawless person you are? You're so fucking precious, I just-" Words seemed to fail him and he just made a noise in the back of his throat to voice his emotions.

Blaine began shaking his head furiously.

"You are, you are, you are," Kurt repeated it like a mantra, Blaine clutching onto him like a lifeline.

"N-No, I—"

"You messed up, Blaine, you're human. You just—you just messed up, that's all. And I forgive you." Blaine tensed. Kurt hadn't meant to say it but as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew they were true; they had been for a while.

"W-What?" Blaine asked, his voice so painfully hopeful that Kurt just wanted to wrap himself around him and never let go.

"I forgive you," Kurt whispered, the words oddly comforting to his own ears. Blaine's body seemed to completely give up on him then, his whole torso leaning into Kurt with defeat, and Kurt staggered backwards until his knees hit the bed frame. He sat them down carefully and pulled Blaine onto his lap, cushioning his head on his chest so that his ear was over Kurt's heart, just the way Blaine liked it. Blaine was still sniffling but he had stopped crying by now.

"At this rate I'm gonna be forced to think you're putting on the tears just to get cuddles," Kurt commented lightly, bending his head down to kiss Blaine on the nose.

"If-If only I was that smart." Blaine's voice still sounded watery, but at least he was joking with him.
"Yeah, yeah. I might believe the whole innocent act if I didn't have it on good authority that you're a complete cuddle whore who'll say anything to get a free hug." Blaine laughed softly and, God, if that wasn't the best sound in the whole entire world. He yawned and Kurt slowly laid them both down, never once letting go of Blaine.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked eventually, breaking the peaceful quiet that had fallen between them.

"What?"

"The nightmare. Would you like to talk about it?"

"Oh, um, not right now. Maybe in the morning?"

"Whenever you want to."

There was a slight pause before Blaine spoke again.

"K-Kurt?"

"Yeah, honey?"

"Th-thank you."

Kurt kissed the top of his head as he began to sniffle quietly again. Why was he so damn precious?

"Shhh, it's ok, honey, you're ok. I forgive you. I forgive you, Blaine, it's ok, I forgive you," He kept repeating it as Blaine slowly relaxed in his arms and drifted to sleep. He realised how indescribably nice it felt, after months of internal battles, that it was solely for Blaine's benefit; Blaine was now the only one who needed convincing.