Blaine's not quite sure how Sam managed to convince him, but here he stands, bleary eyed, outside of a light blue building, not even remotely ready for his first massage.

At least this venture is coming out Sam's pocket, his best friend so worried about Blaine's sleepless night and constantly aching body that he'd booked Blaine a two hour full body massage, with a "close friend".

Blaine sighs, and walks into the building after taking deep breath, his steps heavy and slow.

He has hopes that whoever works on him will be able to lessen his pain and restlessness, but he also has extreme doubts.

After all, what could one little massage do?

-

Blaine rubs his eyes as he stares down at the (hopefully) completed form in his hands. There are so many questions and diagrams and he is so,soconfused. He's filled out the form as best he can, but he's so tired and he's not sure if he's done it right.

When he first checked in at the front desk, a nice young woman had led him to a consultation room, told him to fill out the paper, and that his therapist would be in shortly. Blaine just assumed he'd be led into a nice relaxing room, where he'd fall asleep while some girl with too long nails kneaded his muscles. He doesn't expect questions about his medical history, or a figure where he's supposed to circle his areas of pain, and hecertainlydoesn't expect his therapist to be the most beautiful man he's ever seen.

Blaine's eyes are wide when the man walks through the door, a calming smile on his face. He's got light blue scrubs on, and Blaine thinks that they just might match his eyes.

(Blaine thinks he might be in love.)

The man sits down in the chair in front of Blaine immediately, reaches his hand out for Blaine to shake and introduces himself with a soft voice.

"Hi there, I'm Kurt, and I'll be your therapist for today."

"I'm Blaine, it's nice to meet you."

Kurt smiles at Blaine, and he reaches a hand to rest on Blaine's shoulder, squeezing gently once as he says, "Don't be so nervous, Blaine. It's alright. Now, let's see what's going on, and we'll start to work on fixing it, okay?"

Blaine exhales, and nods.

-

Per Kurt's instruction, Blaine removes his clothes and sets them on a bench in the corner of the room. There's a towel folded there, and even though he's not taking off his briefs, his wraps it around his hips anyway.

The sheet on the bed is folded back, and so Blaine crawls onto the massage table, leaving the towel tucked away underneath the table, and lets himself sink into the mattress, the face cradle soft against his cheeks.

He was right about one assumption at least, the treatment room he's in is very relaxing; with its dim lights and lavender scents, the sound of soft, light, piano keys coming from a small stereo in the corner.

Blaine feels relaxed already.

He lifts his head off of the face cradle when he hears Kurt enter the room, a small towel slung over one arm, his other hand holding a clear bottle of crème.

"I've put some lavender oil in the crème for you, it'll help you relax and hopefully help with that insomnia you've got going on." Kurt says, setting the towel down on a stool next to the table.

"Oh, thank you, that's – that's really thoughtful of you."

Kurt shrugs, his hands beginning to shift the sheet over Blaine's back, smoothing it out over his tense muscles.

"Well it's my job to think of others, help them feel better."

Kurt doesn't speak again after that, and so Blaine doesn't either. He's not quite sure what the etiquette is for this, isn't sure if he should talk to Kurt or if he should just be quiet.

Kurt begins to press his hands along Blaine's body, palms and fingers sure and firm in their movements and Blaine's eyes flutter shut. He gets lost in the feeling of another person's (Kurt's) touch on his body, gets lost in how soothing it feels, how vulnerable he feels – and in the best way possible.

And then Kurt is slowly peeling back the sheet, tucking the material in a bit under the waistband of Blaine's briefs. He gently lifts Blaine's hands to rest over the sheet, his touch firm and confident, but not aggressive or quick.

Blaine practically melts.

His body moves with Kurt's hands, muscles warming up and loosening, as he lets go completely and gives up control to Kurt.

Occasionally, Kurt will bend down towards his ear, ask him in a whisper, "How's that pressure, Blaine?", but other than that Kurt stays as quiet as Blaine, his hands speaking for him.

Blaine's just on the verge of falling into a deep sleep when Kurt finishes with his back and arms, covers his upper body, and moves towards his legs. And he's perfectly fine throughout the process of Kurt undraping his right leg, tucking the sheet securely under and around Blaine's upper thigh, but when Kurt actually begins to rub the crème into his skin, begins to put pressure on his leg, he jolts, his body locking up and tensing.

Kurt eases up his touch, but he doesn't remove his hands from Blaine's leg. "Blaine? Is there an area I should avoid here on your leg?"

Blaine swallows heavily. Kurt's voice is calm and soothing, and he doesn't sound annoyed at all with Blaine'sstupidreaction, but he can't help but feel ridiculous at himself. It's been years, he should be fine by now.

"Um, n-no, it's okay. It's just, a past injury, but it's fine, I mean-"

"Blaine, its okay, just breathe for me, okay? Good, there you go. Do you think you could tell me what kind of injury it was?"

"It um – my knee it was – a-nd I –"

"Hey, hey, Blaine, breathe, breathe with me, can you do that? In – good – and out, there you go. Okay, Blaine there's obviously a lot negative energy you carry around this area, and that's going to be a bit difficult to work with. You've got a lot of knots and tension here, and I'm thinking that you've been storing all of your stress in this area as well."

Blaine's heart is still pounding, images of fists and bats bouncing around in his head, but he nods, signaling to Kurt that he's still there, still listening.

"Blaine, I want you to focus on the happiest moment in your life, or your favorite place to be, can you do that for me?"

He thinks long and hard, pushes past snarling boys and slurring yells, and settles on the image of him, Sam and Tina, in their new apartment, the wood floor bare, boxes stacked haphazardly, the three of them sitting together with pizza, laughing and smiling.

"Okay I – I've got it."

"Good, Blaine, that's good. Now I want you to focus on that image, and just that image, don't let any negative people or thoughts enter, alright?"

Blaine breathes in deep, exhales heavily and focuses hard. He can sense Kurt moving around his legs, but he makes himself tune the man out, makes himself think of Tina's loud laughter at Sam's impressions, thinks of falling asleep on the floor in between the two of them, warm and safe.

A tingle spreads through his calf, traveling all the way up through his thigh, over his sacrum and ending at the base of his neck.

And then, all at once, he feels a release in his leg, and he gasps, exhaling heavily at the relief.

He didn't even know he had so much tension there, didn't release how much pain his leg was keeping in.

And he's completely surprised, and mortified, to find tears welling up in his eyes, drops of salty water falling to the floor.

He tries to keep his sniffles and sobs quiet, but he knows Kurt can still hear him. He's not even sure why he's crying, he justcan'tstop.

At the end of the table, Kurt finishes up with his legs and feet and covers him back up.

Then, he moves to stand to the side of the table and asks Blaine to flip over, but Blainecan't, he just can't.

Kurt, thankfully, seems to understand.

"Would you like some hot rocks instead? They work wonders on my clients with sleeping problems."

"Um, yes, that – that sounds wonderful, thank you, Kurt."

It takes a while for the rocks to warm up, since Kurt wasn't prepared to use them during Blaine's session, but Blaine doesn't really notice the time passing, for Kurt takes a seat in front of his head and begins to massage his scalp and neck, lulling Blaine back into a calm state.

And once Kurt places the hot rocks in a line along Blaine's spine, Blaine relaxes further, warmth spreading throughout him like a balm, head heavy with a wonderful drowsiness.

Time passes slowly, but Blaine pays it no mind, content to lie on the table, Kurt's nimble fingers rubbing small circles on his scalp.

Eventually though, their time runs out.

Kurt removes the stones slowly, assists Blaine up and off the table with a quiet sureness that helps ground Blaine. He leaves Blaine briefly to let him redress, only to return with a bottle of water and a folded up piece of paper.

Blaine takes the water gratefully and follows Kurt back out to the reception area.

Kurt explains the paper – a list of scents, teas and home remedies that Blaine can use for his sleeplessness – and then offers Blaine his card, a warm smile on his face and a request that Blaine take up meditation.

Before Kurt leaves, Blaine grabs his hand, tells him, "Thank you, Kurt. For – everything you did for me. I don't know how other massage therapists are, but... you – you took care of me, made me feel safe. Not a lot of people can do that, so – thank you."

Kurt sighs, still smiling that smile at Blaine, and covers Blaine's hand with his free hand, responds in a whisper, "You're welcome, Blaine. But – maybe you could thank me over coffee? I don't usually do this – I've never done this really, but – I feel connected to you, like I need to know you. Does that make sense?"

Blaine's still trying to wrap his head around the fact that for some reason, Kurt has just asked him out for coffee, but he manages a reply. "Yeah, it does. How about Friday? Around three?"

A lock of hair flops forward onto Kurt's forehead when he nods, and Blaine aches to brush it back. He refrains, however.

"You have my number on my card. Call me later about the details, okay? Oh, and Blaine?"

"Yes?"

"Take care of yourself. Don't let things build up until you can't breathe."

His breath catches in his throat, but he makes himself nod.

He's felt what it's like to let go today, to let the positive wash over the negative, and now he doesn't want to let that go, doesn't want to lose sleep over past regrets or hurt.

And he thinks he's just found the catalyst to help him.