It was the day before Regionals and, as per usual, the New Directions were in chaos as they finalised choreography and argued over being shunted into back-up vocals. Blaine had managed to stay out of it more or less, only voicing his opinion once about Mr Schue's hideous wardrobe choice. To be honest, he was much too occupied with watching Kurt who was sat across the room laughing with Mercedes and trying not to be too hurt that he hadn't so much as looked in Blaine's direction all morning.

But then Tina had exploded, laying into anyone who argued with her, attempting to slap Sam when he tried to make her see reason that no one was in fact disputing her talent. That was when Blaine had got up and valiantly rushed to Sam's defence, only to have Tina round on him, eyes blazing.

"And don't you start! You've been far too busy worrying about what's going on between you and Kurt the last few days to properly focus on anyone else's problems. In fact, it's been that way all fucking year. You've moped at the back of the choir room since October, barely inputting, just singing when you have to. You wouldn't even take the lead in the musical because you were so distraught," He hears someone inhale sharply at this and turns his head just enough to see Kurt, now stood up, his mouth open and his eyes wide in shock; Blaine had never told him why he'd had such a small role. Tina ignores his half-hearted attempt to defend himself and presses on, "And why?—you brought it all on yourself, Blaine. You just expect everyone else to feel sorry for you, but in case you've forgotten, you're the one who cheated!"

"Alright, Tina, that's enough..." Mr Schue says in his forceful voice, which isn't very forceful at all.

"I just don't think it's fair that we've had to put up with him sobbing pathetically over his broken heart all year when it's his fault in the first place!"

"Tina!" It's Mike who interrupts her this time, grabbing hold of her arm and leading her almost forcefully from the room, shooting Blaine an apologetic look over his shoulder.

Blaine stands, stunned, for a second, but he's not angry; it is his fault when it comes down to it. And maybe he has been neglecting his friends' problems a bit this year—ok, a lot—so technically it's as much his fault that they're going to lose as everyone else's, if not more so. He was named the 'New Rachel' for God's sake at the start of the year, yet he hasn't been much of a leader to the club, hasn't rallied them on, and certainly hasn't made sure they were all performing to the best of their abilities. Suddenly, a cold sense of failure washes over Blaine as the reality of the situation becomes clear.

He tries not to look at all the faces of his friends, some sympathetic (Sam), some scathing (Kitty), and some just plain awkward (Mr Schue). He can't bring himself to look at Kurt—he doesn't want to see the disappointment etched on his features. He considers leaving the room just so he can't feel their intruding gazes, can't hear there not-so-subtle whispers, but he doesn't want to run into Tina again so instead he just walks slowly back to his seat in the farthest corner of the room and takes out his phone, pretending to look at the screen whilst in reality trying to hold back the tears threatening to blur his vision.

When someone—presumably Sam—sits next to him, he ignores them. He's really not in the mood to talk to anyone. But then the person sighs and Blaine would recognise that sigh anywhere. His mind instantly goes into overdrive of 'Oh my God, Kurt's sat next to me. Oh my God, he's actually sat next to me and—fuck—he just put his hand on my arm and why is he even sat next to me?'

And then Kurt leans a little closer, forcing Blaine's eyes to look up at his face and says quietly, so no one else in the room can hear, "It's not your fault, Blaine. Stop beating yourself up over something you can't control.'

And just like that, everything is good again. Blaine no longer feels like he's drowning and he no longer cares about the curious gazes of his friends, or Tina's goddamn diva complex, because Kurt is sat next to him. Everything will be ok.