"So I said to her, if that's the song you're going to sing, then you need to rethink your life choices," Kurt gestured wildly as he explained what the people were like at NYADA. Blaine chuckled, loving how excited Kurt was. He was so happy that his boyfriend was enjoying New York. Blaine had travelled over for the weekend; the first time since Kurt had moved. They'd both missed each other so much, and each moment they were together again, Blaine could feel his heart swelling with more admiration for this boy.

            "Anyway," Kurt said as he checked the time on his phone. "We have to leave now if we want to catch Rachel."

            Blaine nodded, picked his coffee up and took Kurt's hand. He loved how nobody in New York gave them a second glance if they held hands. They were free.

            It was a beautiful sunny day. A day to match his mood. He'd missed Kurt so much. He lifted his face up to feel the warm light on his skin as they walked and tried to pick out shapes in the clouds while Kurt was describing how one of his new friends dressed and why he wanted to take her shopping at some real clothes shops. His eyes fell on the new Stark tower in the near distance, reaching up into the marbled blue and white sky.

            He gasped and stopped walking, blinking at the sight above them.

            "Blaine?" Kurt asked, confused at having been jolted back by Blaine's sudden halt in movement. "What's wrong?" Blaine just choked on his words for a moment, then gave up and started to run back the way they'd came, dragging Kurt with him.

            "BLAINE!" Kurt shouted, sounding furious, but Blaine didn't stop, so he shook his hand out of Blaine's tight grip and stopped in the middle of the path, folding his arms angrily. The shorter boy skidded to a stop and looked back up to the sky worriedly.

            "Kurt, come on, we need to get away," He pointed to the strange, crazy scene happening above the city. Kurt turned around, aiming his blue gaze upwards and gasped loudly, bringing his hand up to cover his open mouth in shock.

            The Stark tower, tall and sleek, reflected the bright sunlight with its scaly, many windowed sides. The large, imposing letters spelling its creator's name were lit up; making sure nobody missed it on the New York skyline. But what made Kurt's eyes grow wide was its flattened tip, shooting out blinding, swirling blue light into the sky. The beam widened into a large circle against the clouds, filled with dark night and dotted stars. It was beautiful, but terrifying. Maybe this alone would have just been confusing, and not cause to run away, if it weren't for the glittering, menacing figures zooming from inside the circle. How was that even happening? Was it a portal? Was this real life, or had Kurt fainted and this was a hallucination?

            When the first explosion blossomed terrible orange at the base of the tower, and Kurt heard the rumble and the vibrations through the ground, he was pretty sure it wasn't a hallucination.

            "Kurt, RUN!" This time Kurt let Blaine pull him away. The flying things were coming their way, and they were quick. The moment before Kurt turned around he caught a glimpse of what the flying things could do. They were so close now that he could see that they were hellish creatures with mottled, greyish blue skin, covered with corroded brass-like metal pieces which slotted together and looked like they could be armour. They rode machines which could only be described as planes, but Kurt had never seen a plane like this before. The worst thing was the spears they held, glowing with the same blue light as the Stark tower. The creature nearest to Kurt shot a bolt of the light into a car nearby, and the explosion it caused was so immense Kurt felt the warm shock wave ruffle his hair.

            Blaine's hand tightened around Kurt's as they rounded a corner, skidding on the sun-warmed pavement.

            "Blaine!" Kurt shouted as the flying creatures finally reached them and one flew past; the updraft from it blowing debris from the explosions up around them. They stopped, disorientated, and Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine's tense body. He was so scared. He felt Blaine's arm curl around his waist.

            People were pouring into the roads now, running away, cars crashing, and buildings exploding. Yelling and screaming filled the air, alarms of all kinds going off and adding to the chaos. The two stumbled as someone small bumped into them, scrambling away from one of the creatures who had its spear aimed at them. Kurt looked down in horror to see a little girl on the ground sobbing hysterically.

            Somehow, somehow, Blaine managed to free an arm from Kurt and drag the little girl out of the way in time, and the bolt of blue light impacted harmlessly on the pavement where she had been moments before. She was crying, and she had a cut on her knee from where she had fallen. Her little fingers refused to let go of Blaine's cardigan, and she leaned into him and started sobbing in earnest.

            Blaine glanced up and felt the colour drain from his face. The otherworldly creature was aiming again, now at all three of them.

            "GO!" Blaine cried at Kurt, scooping the little girl up and pushing Kurt away from the blast. The three of them dashed through the debris, Blaine's arms aching from the warm weight of the little girl as they ran. Kurt jumped behind a van so that they were sheltered between it and the side of a building. Was it a... bank? He didn't know; everything was so dusty and strange and unfamiliar with rubble appearing in new places every second.

            Blaine immediately set the little girl down, looking her over, making sure she wasn't hurt. She must have only been about five or six and she was trying to say something through her sobs and hiccups. The force of her crying had caused her curly blonde ponytail to come loose and bounce against the side of her head.

            "Are you lost?" Kurt asked, kneeling down next to Blaine and taking the little girl's hand, which she gripped desperately. She nodded, wiping a hand underneath her big, reddened blue eyes and hiccupping another time. "What's your name?"

            "A-Annie." It was difficult to hear her properly over the colossal noise all around them, but the two boys nodded and Kurt accepted the hug that Annie flung at him. He sent a distressed glance to Blaine over her shoulder, which he returned. What on earth was going on? Everything was happening so quickly. The city was out of control.

            "Right, Annie, you're going to have to stay with us, okay?" Blaine said over the noise of another explosion fairly near to where they were hiding. She nodded into Kurt's neck. Blaine stood up again. Kurt mirrored him, picking Annie up and wrapping his arms around her securely.

            Another blast rocked the van they were stood next to, and the couple ducked out of the way, breathing heavily.

            "We have to move, Kurt." Blaine said, "We can't just stay in one place. Those things... they'll find us if we don't move," Kurt nodded and bounced Annie higher on his hip. Blaine took a moment to grip Kurt's elbow. He needed to ground himself for a second among the madness. Aliens? Was that what was happening? Was New York being invaded by aliens? Blaine shook that thought out of his head. He didn't have the time to try and rationalise things right now.

            Blaine dipped his head in decision and let go of Kurt, turning and skipping down the kerb and onto the road, avoiding a piece of windscreen that was missing its car, checking every few seconds that Kurt was behind him.

            He ducked into one of the smaller roads of New York City, and this one seemed to be empty of people. There were also none of the terrible creatures. Blaine gestured for Kurt to slip into the doorway of a small boutique, which had closed for lunch. Blaine squeezed into the small space left. They just stood there for a few minutes, staring into each other's eyes. That was when it hit Blaine.

            They were being invaded. That was the only reasonable explanation he could think of right then. There were horrific aliens entering the atmosphere through - impossibly - a portal that linked with another part of space, if the stars that were visible in the circle were anything to go on.

            "Kurt," He whispered. Kurt nodded, tears in his blue eyes. "What is happening?"

            "I don't know," Was the quiet answer. Blaine let out a broken breath, resting his head on the brick behind him with a thump. Annie let out a sob, and Kurt shushed her, rubbing her back soothingly.

            "Don't worry, Annie, we'll look after you." Blaine couldn't enjoy the image of his boyfriend holding a child; being fatherly. He couldn't think about the future, their future, when it was apparent that they might not even have one. Blaine choked.

            Kurt could get hurt.

            Kurt could get killed.

            "Kurt, I can't see you get hurt." Blaine told him frantically, on the verge of tears.

            "Blaine, don't think like that. As long as we keep moving, we will be fine. This whole mess has to end at some point." Kurt looked like he was trying to convince himself of this, too. "It can't go on forever."

            They were only safe for a few moments longer before a great, deafening rumbling began to shake the dust from the building across the deserted street. The two just stood there for a second, unable to process the gargantuan beast crashing slowly through the face of the jewellers opposite them. It was similar in colour to the aliens they had already encountered, and wore the same sort of armour, but it was the size of a whale and shapeless. Kurt likened it to a slug in his mind before he started to stumble out of the doorway and into the street automatically, the horror at the creature and imminent death forcing his natural instinct for survival to kick in. He quickly turned to see Blaine following him dumbly, his hazel eyes still fixed incredulously on the ghastly monster.

            The large chunks of stone that the beast was crumbling beneath its body looked like they were falling at an unusually fast rate, because the creature seemed like it was moving in slow motion. It was both fascinating and terrible at the same time. It appeared that its purpose was solely to destruct. Kurt thought it was doing a fine job.

            Kurt was relieved that the three of them managed to get out of the enclosed street in time, because just as Blaine stepped out into the open road again, an outsized cornerstone thudded right where he had been standing. He whirled around, disorientated by the noise and just stared at the huge hunk of rock, completely astounded.

            "Blaine, hurry!" He jumped slightly at the command, and appeared to come back to himself, turning back around and jogging closer to the taller boy clutching the little girl protectively.

            Together they dove back into the crowd of frantic New Yorkers, looking for somewhere to duck again, away from the chaos and explosions, and certainly those incredible whale creatures. Kurt could feel a headache starting to lance through his brow, but he ignored it and continued to push through the masses of people. This was way too stressful for a weekend. He was meant to enjoy this time relaxing with Blaine. His beautiful boyfriend who he hadn't seen in weeks. Why was this happening? Why now? Why ever?

            A scream made Kurt twist around, just in time to see a woman cowering away from an alien seated on one of the small futuristic planes identical to all the others'. Before the alien could do a thing, and before Kurt was really registering the scene his eyes were seeing, Blaine had leapt forwards, jumped on the bonnet of a car and bounced off it, launching a well-trained fist at the side of the alien's head.

            With his mouth open in disbelief, Kurt watched as Blaine landed unsteadily back on the ground and the alien slumped in its aircraft, unconscious. It must have leant on its flying controls in some way, because its flight path abruptly angled left, away from them, and the plane-like contraption veered into an abandoned car, resulting in an impressive orange flame ball that billowed out into the blue sky.

            "Thank you! Thank you!" The woman said before stumbling away, tears streaking though the dust on her cheeks. Blaine just stood and clutched his hand, a pained expression on his face.

            "Blaine! Are you alright?" Kurt finally managed to get over his shock and rushed forwards, freeing a hand from around Annie's body and pulling Blaine's hand out to assess the damage. "That was really stupid." Blaine was shaking with adrenaline but he smiled wryly.

            "I'm fine. I do know how to box properly, you know."

            "Not against aliens, Blaine."

            "Little details," he said nonchalantly, taking his hand back and shaking it out. The two boys had a moment, then. Kurt looked at him and just revelled in how brave and selfless Blaine was. He loved Blaine. So much. Blaine flexed his fist and thought about how he would do that again and more for this boy standing in front of him. He loved Kurt. He really did. And as was usual for moments like these, they could almost forget about the chaos going on around them.

            That is, if it wasn't for the alien heading towards them through the thinning crowd.

            Kurt didn't need to think. It was as if something else took control of his body. He set Annie down on her feet, pushing her towards Blaine, who still hadn't seen this new threat coming for them, and snatched up a long thin pole amongst the piles of assorted debris on the ground around them, all in one swift, fluid movement.

            The monster didn't have a chance.

            Kurt had a little history with Sai swords, ever since he saw a film where the protagonists were highly skilled in the art of Sai swords, and defeated many enemies with them. Kurt had begged and begged his father to let him learn how to use them, too. Burt Hummel had eventually relented when Kurt used the excuse that the skill might be useful for when he was acting, or on Broadway. Little, quirky skills like that were always useful in getting the favour of the people in charge of casting. Plus, Kurt had reasoned, it never hurt to be prepared.

            So with practiced precision, Kurt twirled the metal pole around in his hand, and threw it neatly and forcefully at the tall, mottled blue creature. The pole was around a metre in length, and, unable to protect itself in time, the alien stopped in its path as the pole buried itself halfway though its torso. It immediately collapsed on the ground, immobile.

            "Kurt..." Blaine gasped, and Kurt turned around to see him holding Annie's hand tightly, his mouth wide open in shock like Kurt's had been before, watching him. "What..."

            He rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously and chuckled; feeling uncomfortable with the look of awe Blaine was currently directing his way.

            "Kurt, I knew you could use Sai swords, but I didn't know you could do something like that." Blaine told him, his voice breathy as Kurt picked Annie up again, detaching her from Blaine's hand. He blushed.

            "It's not that special. That gross alien was about to-" Kurt was cut off by Blaine crying out in pain. Kurt hadn't seen it happen; he was busy arranging Annie's arms around his neck, but at the terrible sound he looked up to see Blaine down on one knee, a hand on the ground and the other squeezing his side. His skin had turned a frightening shade of white.

            "BLAINE!" Kurt screamed, lunging forwards, glaring frantically around to find the culprit and seeing no aliens but a few in the distance. It seemed that the fighting had moved on a little down the street.

            The shorter boy took his hand away from his torso, shaking horribly, and squinted blankly at the shining red stain that spread across his palm. Kurt gave a sob at the sight, and Blaine cautiously pressed his hand back on his wound.

            "Blaine..." Kurt's beautiful voice was cracking with worry and anguish. It made Blaine want to cry to see him so upset.

            "I'm alright, Kurt. I'm fine." His words were weak with pain, and he was so dizzy. He never thought that anything could hurt so much.

            "No, you're not. You need help; you're bleeding." Kurt gasped a breath between his sobs, and Annie, sensing that things had gotten bad, began to cry again, too. Blaine pushed Kurt's hands away and propped himself up on the bumper of a car.

            "I'll be fine. You need to go, Kurt. It's not safe to stand around." The blue-eyed boy shook his head in disbelief.

            "You're crazy. I'm not leaving. Didn't I say I'm never saying goodbye to you?"

            Blaine laughed, but it was devoid of humour. It was very nearly a sob.

            "I-I know, Kurt. I'll be fine, I'll see you later. After all of this is over, I'll see you again. You don't need to say goodbye." Kurt's response was drowned out by a sudden burst of people who had been trapped in a shop lobby, finally managing to throw the doors, which had been blocked by rubble, open. The crowd swallowed the three up, and when it passed, Kurt was gone.

            The only thing Blaine could hear was Kurt screaming his name, over and over as he was dragged away by some well-meaning stranger. To safety, Blaine told himself. Wherever he went with that crowd, he would be okay. Safety in numbers, right?

            "Kurt..." Blaine whispered, and sunk his head into his free hand. He couldn't move - his side hurt too much.

            "I love you, Kurt."

*

            "Let me go!" Kurt screamed at the tallish, brown-haired businessman who was tugging him along the street by his elbow. He had a strong grip, and trying to wriggle away was difficult with a toddler clinging to his chest. "I can't just leave him there!"

            "Look," The businessman gave Kurt a serious look. "You can't just stand around in the middle of the road when there's freaking monsters flying around and attacking people. You'll get killed." Kurt wasn't listening to him; he was trying to wrest his arm away, still. "Anyway, I didn't see another guy." Kurt stopped then.

            "He was right next to me, on the ground." His tone was pleading, and the businessman frowned as he walked them cautiously down the street, hidden within the small crowd of people.

            "I didn't see anyone, man. There were loads of people around. I only just managed to grab you. - we needed to keep going."

            "He was hurt, he needed help! I can't just leave him there like that!"

            "I'm not going back just for some guy-"

            "Just some guy?" Kurt twisted around violently and this time the business man nearly tripped in his endeavour to keep a hold of Kurt. "He's not just some guy. He's my boyfriend. He's the love of my life." The man sighed.

            "I'm sorry, but I'm not letting you go back. If I can do one good thing in this damned situation, then it will be saving your life." At this point, the group had reached a bank, and whoever was leading them deemed it a safe place to hole up. Kurt was consequently dragged through the doorway and into the building, still struggling against the businessman who obviously thought he was some sort of hero. Did he not understand that Kurt needed to get back to Blaine, now? That injury had been serious. There had been so much blood... Kurt found himself leaning into the brunette businessman for balance as he felt himself go a little woozy.

            Blaine was hurt. His Blaine. He held Annie close, for something to hold on to.

            Blaine might die.

*

            Blaine was starting to get really dizzy now. The bloodstain on his cardigan was much bigger than he remembered it being, and his hands were cold.

            He was so out of it that he hardly processed the thing zooming at him from down the street, aiming its blue-shrouded spear at him with deadly accuracy. It was only when he heard the strange buzzing of energy coming from the spear that he snapped into full consciousness, and braced himself for the impact.

            It never came.

            So suddenly that his brain nearly missed what was happening, a figure clad in blue, red and white landed in front of him, tossing a large, circular shield at the alien  smoothly. A loud, resounding, metallic bang sounded as the shield bounced back, and the alien fell from its aircraft onto the ground; the plane veering off course and into the side of an abandoned truck, harmlessly, much like when Blaine defeated his own alien. Only now another was on its way towards them on foot.

            "Watch out!" Blaine shouted at the stranger, who twisted around fluidly and ducked a crackling blue beam, jumping forwards and punching the alien with a powerful fist and then slamming it backwards into the crumpled remains of a car. The creature slid to the ground, no longer fighting back.

            The stranger stood for a moment, and then turned around, heading for Blaine.

            "Are you alright?" He asked, breathing heavily, with a truly concerned look on his angular face. A face which looked very familiar, for some reason.

            "Dude," Blaine began, not able to reign in his words. He was so woozy right now. It was like being drunk, only much more painful and much less fun. "You totally look like that Captain America guy from those comics." The stranger stopped and looked down at his chest for a moment, which was emblazoned with a white star on a blue background, and below, wrapped around his ribs, were vertical stripes of red and white. He looked back up, a frown unbalancing his brow. He looked either confused or incredulous. Blaine didn't know - everything was going too fast to properly distinguish facial expressions right now.

            Then Blaine got it.

            "Oh my God! You are Captain America! From the war!" He gasped and the stranger finally chuckled.

            "Yeah, I am." He began walking towards Blaine again, stopping on the way to retrieve his shield which had ricocheted in the direction. Blaine's dark eyebrows shot up when the front of the shield came into view - large and round, with a white star in the middle, encircled with bands of blue and red. That was the shield. "The name's Steve Rogers."

            "But... how? That was like..." Blaine tried to count the years in his head, but found that he couldn't, and it was making him feel faint. "Tons of years ago." He gestured with his free hand, but that was apparently enough for his brain, and he nearly blacked out then and there.

            "Whoa, man? Are you hurt?" Steve Rogers' voice sounded muffled and strange, and it was very difficult to find his face through all the swirling black dots that were marring his vision.

            "Yeah," Blaine uttered; his breathing heavy.

            "Okay, hold on, I'll get you some help." Steve gripped his shoulder and almost immediately after he spoke into his communicator, people came running down the street, having to duck away from an explosion at one point. "You'll be alright, son. These are medics."

            "Thanks, Mr Ameri... uh... Rogers?" Blaine confused himself more and more by the second, but Steve just chuckled and stepped away to let the medics do their job.

            "Don't worry about it... uh..."

            "Blaine."

            "Blaine! Well, Blaine, you've got spirit. I just know you'll be absolutely fine." They smiled at each other, but Blaine's turned into a grimace when one of the medics pulled his hand away from his side.

            A loud rumbling pulled everyone's attention to the sky. One of the whale-aliens was slowly lumbering overhead, shedding dust onto the street below. The medics quickly regained composure and returned their attention to their patient's wounds, causing Blaine to hiss at the pain.

            "Stark!" Steve barked into his communicator, keeping his eyes on the colossal creature. "You busy? I need you here," He started to jog away, but stopped, as if remembering, and saluted Blaine with a smile. Blaine's grin returned as he saluted back and watched the super soldier dash away.

            Well, that was something I'll never forget, Blaine thought to himself. Kurt will be so jealous. I can't wait to see his face when I tell him.

            Blaine's last thought was of Kurt kissing him to make sure he hadn't developed a crush on his - admittedly attractive - hero. Then he blacked out completely.

*

            Kurt was sitting down on the cool marble floor of the bank, with Annie next to him holding his hand. He was shaking, and according to the businessman who had, in essence, kidnapped him, he was pale. I'm pale anyway, Kurt thought angrily. I don't need some businessman who can't match his tie to his suit to tell me what my natural skin tone is.

            Really though, who wore a tie like that with a pinstripe suit?

            "They're aliens! They have to be!" He heard someone exclaim from across the bank. "They came through a portal to space. And don't tell me I'm crazy, Christina, you saw them come through, too." The man pointed viciously at the woman who must be named Christina, who just waved her hand at him dismissively.

            "Well, whatever they are, there are people fighting them." Someone else piped up from a corner. "I saw Iron Man fly past before, and I swear I saw Captain America-"

            "Captain America? He's fictional, Peter." A man next to him scoffed, folding his arms.

            "No, no, really! He had the shield and the colours and everything!"

            "Did you get hit on the head, Peter? It's so big that it must have been real difficult to dodge all that flying debris back there."

            "Now, Anthea, don't be mean, he's probably just stressed. We all are-"

            "Oh, don't be so patronising, Richard, we don't need your input here. This isn't some ridiculous team-building office meeting."

            It was just like in the films. Give people a disaster or some hostile force and they start attacking each other instead. Kurt shook his head and scuffed his shoe over and over in the dust on the floor. His clothes were ruined, now, anyway, and it wasn't as if he could properly care about anything like that when Blaine was still out there, bleeding. He let the tears fall. What did it matter what he looked like?  Everything else was falling apart - it seemed only fitting that his appearance should, too.

            "Mommy?" Annie stood up, tugging on Kurt's hand. Her tear-stained face was hopeful, and Kurt looked out into the crowd of people to spot who she was seeing.

            "Annie?" A woman dressed in a grey skirt suit emerged from behind a pillar and ran towards them. She looked startlingly like the little girl, with her blonde curly hair and blue eyes. Annie just started to sob again in relief, and the woman reached for her, the tracks made by tears on her cheeks being renewed by fresh ones.

            Then all of a sudden, she wasn't there anymore.

            In a flash of blue light, another woman was knocked to the ground, next to Annie's mother.

            The aliens had found them.

            The tall, muscled, armoured creatures poured into the bank from a door next to the vault and let rip with their spears, shooting mercilessly into the crowd. Kurt scrambled backwards behind a desk, dragging Annie with him and holding her to his chest tightly. Her sobs shook her small frame, and it was heartbreaking. Kurt could see Annie's mother's prone form from where he was hiding, and her sparkling blue eyes were open and lifeless. He let out a sob himself.

            "Why is this happening?" He whispered desperately. What if Blaine was like that? What if he was sitting propped up against that car, with his deep, expressive honey-coloured eyes open and staring glassily?

            He flinched away from another electric blue beam near his foot. He wondered if there was any way he would survive this. The screams and shouts around him were almost too much to bear.

            A crash from the window in front of him ripped him from his thoughts and he looked up, fully expecting there to be another alien aiming at them. With this belief, he leapt up and pushed Annie behind him, shielding her from the blast. It was instinct, to protect her. But instead of a terrible creature standing before, him, Kurt saw a man.

            Kurt didn't know what to think of what he was wearing.

            It was leather combined with metal and a long red cape trailing behind him. It was... otherworldly. The man had long blonde hair and serious blue eyes with laugh lines creeping from the corners.

            He regarded Kurt for one second before throwing a large hammer at the nearest alien. The hammer smashed straight through the first alien's head and into another's chest before completely changing course and returning to the man's outstretched hand. Kurt gaped for a few seconds before registering the threat that was currently running towards him. Without thinking, he scooped up a piece of broken railing from the bank's queue dividers, twirled it around in his hand expertly then threw it with perfect aim into the alien's stomach. He turned back to the strange man in time to see him decimating creature after creature, throwing his hammer and using his fists. It looked like he had super-strength or something. No normal person could chin an alien and make it flip over backwards across the room like that. Kurt watched as an alien reached to pick up the man's oversized hammer, but couldn't. It was like it was much too heavy for it. The hammer didn't even move a millimetre at the strain with which the creature was pulling on it. The man turned and just laughed at the sight. It was a rumbling, jolly sound that in any normal circumstance would have Kurt laughing along with him. But this wasn't any normal circumstance.

            "None but Thor can wield the power that is Mjolnir." The man announced, punching the alien once, twice and a third time before it finally slumped to the ground. He picked the hammer up, surveying the now still bank. All the aliens were neutralised. Kurt just stared. This was... crazy. This was utterly, mind-blowingly crazy.

            He gulped as the man -Thor? Was that what he had called himself? - turned back around and looked at him. Kurt just blinked and took Annie's hand.

            "You are brave," Thor said to him, his deep voice juxtaposing the shocked silence of the bank. "You have talent and your heart is true, like my fellow warriors of Asgard." Kurt didn't have a clue what he was saying. "The Chitauri are a mindless foe, and they are easily beaten." He gestured to an alien with his hammer. "This battle is not a hopeless one. Loki will not prevail in his endeavour to rule this planet." He seemed to wait for an answer, then, so Kurt nodded hesitantly.

            Thor strode forwards and clapped Kurt heavily on the shoulder. Wow, he was strong.

            "Do not lose hope." Was the last thing he said before he lifted his hammer to the sky and jumped up towards the skylight, shooting straight through the glass and out of the bank. Kurt could only stare at the broken window frame above him. This was too much to take in. Aliens? Superpowers? And what the hell was a Chitauri? Or a Loki, for that matter?

            Kurt's reverie was shattered by Annie tugging on his hand, wanting to be picked up. He did so, trying to shake those thoughts from his mind. The important thing right now was to find Blaine. He needed to know that Blaine was okay.

*

            Hours later, Kurt was wandering around a hospital. The battle was over now - for some unfathomable reason, all of the Chitauri had abruptly collapsed in unison a little while after Kurt had stumbled out of the bank and started his search for Blaine.

            He hadn't been able to find him.

            The second biggest thing on his mind right now was what stopped those aliens. That Thor guy seemed like he knew what he was doing. He knew all about the Chitauri. Maybe he knew the way to de-activate them? With all the crazy ideas he was thinking up this one was the most reasonable. Big, super-strong, knowledgeable man bestowed with super powers? Yeah, Kurt was going with that.

            Both he and Annie, who was still refusing to be separated from his hand, had been checked over, and the only injuries they had sustained were the cut on Annie's knee, which now had a plaster covering it, and a relatively deep gash on Kurt's cheek, which, if he was honest, he hadn't actually noticed, had been sewn up. After that there were a few bruises, but nothing major.

            Well, Kurt's heart felt like it was breaking in two, and Annie wouldn't speak to anyone but Kurt because she was so upset, but there was nothing to be done about that. There was hope, however. Thor had said to not lose hope. Perhaps Blaine was wandering around, too, looking for Kurt.

            Annie had some apple juice, and Kurt had a coffee. He wasn't drinking it. It tasted gross, and anyway, he'd been crying so much that he didn't think he would be able to swallow anything ever again. His clothes were ripped and dirty, and his hair was dusty and messy, but he didn't care. He couldn't care about looking nice when he hadn't found Blaine yet.

            He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he got a shock when Annie started pulling him towards a row of hospital beds.

            "Annie, what-" He stopped. His words were caught in his throat, and he could hardly believe what he was seeing.

            Annie actually let go of Kurt's hand and jumped up on one particular bed, crawling towards the person lying in it, who woke up at the jostling of the mattress.

            "Blaine!" Kurt exclaimed, ignoring the grating of the sound on his tender throat. The short, curly-haired boy looked up from Annie, and his smile expanded to a madly happy one as he held out his arms for him. Kurt ran towards him and gripped his arms, just staring into his teary, honey-coloured eyes for a second before enveloping him in a tight hug. "I've been looking for you for hours, Blaine! I thought I'd never find you again. Are you alright?"

            "I'm fine, Kurt. They sewed me up. I wanted to look for you, too, but they wouldn't let me, and to be honest, I can't really move right now." His normally rich voice was weak and tired, and Kurt kissed the tears of relief that were pooling under his eyes away. "What about you?" Blaine noticed the stitches on Kurt's cheek then, and frowned, reaching up and touching them gently with his fingertips.

            "Oh, that's nothing, Blaine, I'm perfectly okay." He batted his hand away and kissed him sweetly before leaning in and whispering seriously in Blaine's ear. "Annie's mother died, Blaine. She won't talk to anyone but me." Blaine gasped and held Kurt tighter. "Annie told me that her father died just last year in an accident. She's..." Kurt had to stop. This was just all so unfair. "She's got no one now."

            Blaine leaned away from Kurt, then, and held his hand out to Annie, which she took readily. She just looked so lost.

            "No, that's not true. She's got us." Kurt nodded. Yes, that was right. As long as Annie needed them, they would be there.

            The moment was interrupted by someone turning up the volume on the television near them, and although Kurt glared angrily at them for it, his attention was quickly taken by the newsreader on the little screen.

            "...today. New York City was salvaged by a group of extraordinary people dubbed the ‘Avengers'. It is reported that Tony Stark used his revolutionary invention Iron Man to help citizens in need, alongside Captain America, whom many believed to be fictional, and the Hulk, who has surprised people by showing a side that contradicts the belief that he only seeks to destroy. Other members of the ‘Avengers' have very sketchy descriptions, but, it is indisputable that the citizens of New York owe their lives to these heroes."

            "Blaine..." Kurt breathed, looking down at his boyfriend wonderingly. "We survived an alien invasion." Blaine smiled indulgently and struggled to sit up for a kiss. Kurt chuckled and leaned down, their lips meeting with a desperate passion. "I thought I'd never see you again, Blaine. I love you,"

            "This just proves that we can survive anything. Our love can survive anything." Kurt laughed.

            "That's so cheesy."

            "It's still true." Kurt smiled wider and kissed him again.

            "Blaine..." He looked up at him. Love. That was the only emotion in his eyes, and it made Kurt's heart swell. "Didn't I say I'm never saying goodbye to you?"