When Blaine awoke mid-morning, he instantly noticed the lack of warmth next to him and internally panicked for a moment until he registered the sound of running water coming from the bathroom; Kurt hadn't come to his senses and abandoned him, he was merely showering. He silently cursed his own neediness as his heart rate slowly returned to normal. You're being ridiculous, Blaine, he thought to himself sternly, this is Kurt we're talking about, he'd never abandon you with no warning. He forgives you now, remember?

Blaine shivered at the word 'forgive'; his whole being had been waiting for Kurt to say that for so long now, without even consciously realising it. Now that he had, it was like he was gulping in a lungful of fresh air after six months of having his head being held under water, his friends telling him to just get over it and breathe already, none of them fully understanding how impossible that was for him. Blaine could honestly say he'd never felt more relieved in his life.

He grinned at the ceiling, well aware he looked like an absolute idiot, but not able to find it in himself to care (the love of his life had forgiven him for God's sake!). Then, suddenly, the quiet was broken by Kurt's phone buzzing on his nightstand, just like yesterday morning. Blaine turned his head to the side on the pillow, eyes narrowing as he pondered what to do. Even though he knew he had no right to even look who was calling, let alone actually answer it, a hot, prickly sensation was pooling in his stomach and he carefully stretched out his arm to pick the iPhone up. This time, he wasn't surprised to see Adam's name flashing across the screen, in fact, he felt weirdly pleased as the sensation in his stomach worsened, a fiery wave that was washing over him. Without thinking about it too much, and before he could chicken out, Blaine delicately touched 'answer' and, heart pounding in his throat, pressed the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" he said, fixing his voice so as to sound completely nonchalant, like he wasn't internally debating whether or not to just hang up. Every cell in Blaine's body was screaming at him that this was a bad idea, but the fiery sensation was completely drowning out his intuition.

"Kurt?" The first thing Blaine noticed was how British the voice at the other end sounded. Yes, Kurt had told him that Adam came from Essex in the UK, but damn it, Blaine was only now appreciating just how much of an advantage that gave him. Blaine might hate the guy's guts, but he had to admit his voice was the sexiest fucking thing he'd ever heard. Clearly, he'd been wrong all this time; there was absolutely no competition. This guy made Blaine look about as appealing as Homeless Brett, Kurt would never in a million years choose him.

"Um, no, it's—it's Blaine actually." He replied, his confidence deflating completely.

"Ah, so you're Blaine," Adam didn't sound annoyed or anything, it was more just polite recognition, but for some reason the fact that Kurt had at least mentioned him to this guy spurred him on, and he suddenly felt an intense feeling of possessiveness.

"Yeah, I am." He was aware he sounded distant verging on rude, but he couldn't make himself stop. "Do you want me to take a message or something?"

"Where's Kurt?" It was merely an innocent, curious question but that goddamn accent was annoying Blaine.

"He's in the shower right now." Blaine answered truthfully, but couldn't resist adding, "He hasn't had one since he arrived in Ohio and, well, you know how he hates to stay dirty." He emphasised the last word, vaguely mindful of the fact he sounded like Sebastian. Adam chuckled down the line, causing Blaine's blood to boil.

"Yeah, ok, well would you mind telling him that I called? I'm sure I'll speak to him later if he's not too busy..."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be very busy," God, what was he doing? Had he officially gone insane? "But I'll tell him. I'd better go now, I think I just heard the shower turning off. I'd better not keep him waiting."

Adam laughed again, clearly finding something Blaine said amusing which irritated Blaine immensely; he was meant to be jealous of him!

"Of course, of course. Nice talking to you Blaine," Adam said in his stupid smarmy accent and ended the call, leaving Blaine fuming though he didn't know why. Adam had been nothing but pleasant and polite, even though Blaine had clearly been a git.

He heard the bathroom door opening and hastily replaced the phone on the bed-side table, dropping back against the pillows just as Kurt came in, already dressed in his favourite pair of skinny jeans. Blaine tried (and instantly failed) not to stare at his bare chest as he rummaged through his wardrobe and pulled out a t-shirt with a long zip down it and a denim jacket which he quickly put on. When he turned round, he saw that Blaine's eyes were open.

"Oh, you're awake. Sorry I took so long in the shower. I haven't washed probably since flying and you know how disgusting air travel makes me feel." Blaine nodded, feeling guilty as he remembered his comment to Adam a minute ago. He climbed out of bed and gathered up his clothes from yesterday, smiling slightly when he realised Kurt had laid out clean underwear for him to borrow. Kurt patted his arm as he walked passed him to the bathroom and Blaine gave in to his conscience, turning around to face Kurt in the doorway.

"Um, Adam called. I answered your phone, I hope you don't mind, I just thought—" He trailed off as he realised he hadn't been thinking at all. "Anyway, um, he said to let you know and he'd try again later."

Kurt had his head tilted to one side, studying him intently. "OK," he said eventually, folding his arms across his chest. "Thanks for letting me know."
"I—yeah, sure." Blaine quickly went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him before he could say something he'd regret.

He turned the shower on, moving the dial up so that it was hotter than necessary, enjoying the way it burned his slightly cold skin when he stepped in. He took more time than necessary gelling his hair down afterwards, viciously tugging any wayward curls into place, and got dressed slowly before leaving the bathroom. He knew instantly something was wrong before he even saw Kurt perched on the edge of the bed, his arms folded across his chest, his eyes glinting as waves of anger rolled off of him.

"So I just rang Adam back." Kurt's voice was falsely calm. Oh, crap.

"Y-You did?" Blaine asked, fighting to keep his voice even.

"Yeah, I did." Kurt's eyebrows were inching slowly upwards, his fingers clenching into little fists.

"Uh, cool?" He was still going for casual but it definitely failed.

"He seemed to think we were back together." Shit, shit, shit!

"Really?"

"Oh cut the crap, Blaine! Apparently you made it sound like we'd spent the last twenty-four hours having sex!"

"I—no, I-I didn't say that..."

"No, but you implied it, didn't you?"

"You said the two of you weren't going out anymore!" Blaine felt his voice rising despite himself.

"And we're not. That doesn't give you the right to make him think I'd fallen right back into your arms!"

"I didn't—what's it to him who you are or aren't seeing?"

"This isn't about Adam, Blaine! It's about the fact that you're either completely deluded about the last few days or you're deliberately being a jerk! I don't care whether you say it to Adam or-or Rachel for God's sake, I don't want you implying things that are completely untrue,"

"'Completely untrue', huh? So we didn't cuddle all night? So you flew back to Ohio on a whim, did you?"
Kurt leapt off the bed and practically snarled his next words.

"We're not back together, Blaine!"

All the anger drained from Blaine's body. "I-I know that, I didn't—"

"Well that's not what it sounds like!" Kurt felt the emotions he'd repressed since he and Blaine broke up surging to the surface. "You hurt me really bad and I don't want to—"He cut himself off before the lie came out, snapping his jaw shut with painful force. Because it was a lie; of course he really wanted to get back together with Blaine, that itself was the problem. He was meant to hate him, to move on with someone else, someone perfect like Adam, and yet he didn't. He physically couldn't. And sometimes he desperately wanted to blame Blaine for that, but it wasn't his fault, not really. It was himself he hated for being in this situation; for being so young and needy, so angry all the time, so utterly unable to let go, and so, so in love. Because despite everything, he was still in love with Blaine and no matter what, he knew that he always would be.

Blaine blinked at him, eyes wide and shining with unshed tears. His whole body swayed backwards slightly as he inhaled deeply and then he was running up the stairs. Kurt flinched at his sudden departure and it took his brain a second to process what was happening. Blaine still thought Kurt was mad at him, he hadn't heard Kurt's thoughts, he didn't know that Kurt still loved him, and right now he was running out the house, the front door slamming behind him, thinking Kurt never wanted to see him ever again.

Kurt vaulted up the stairs after him, throwing on the first pair of shoes he saw (his dad's work shoes that he usually wouldn't be seen dead in) and sprinting out the door as Burt walked out the kitchen looking thoroughly confused.

"Kurt, what the...?" Was all Kurt heard before the door slammed behind him, too. He ran over his short drive and skidded to a stop on the road, frantically looking left and right to see which way Blaine had gone. But the street was completely empty.

"Blaine!" Kurt yelled, panic building inside him even though, logically, he knew Blaine couldn't have gotten far as he didn't have his car with him. Breathing hard, Kurt ran back to his Navigator and fumbled with his keys, throwing himself into the driver's seat and quickly pulling off the driveway. Which direction would Blaine have gone?

He decided to turn left, as if he was driving to Blaine's house. It was a good half an hour drive, but Blaine would be the sort of idiot to try and walk rather than risk inconveniencing someone else by phoning them to pick him up. He scanned the sidewalk, nearly running over a neighbour's cat he was so preoccupied, but there was no sign of him.

After a while, Kurt realised his efforts were futile; Blaine couldn't have walked this far in such a short space of time, he hadn't even had that much of a head start. Tears were falling down his own cheeks now and he absently brushed them away as he turned the car around, defeated, and headed back home. As his vision blurred, all he could see was Blaine's heartbroken face in front of him. What the hell had he done?