Jeff was Blaine's closest friend besides Kurt and he hated seeing Blaine hurt so much. All of the Warblers but them took a minibus back to Dalton, but Jeff thought it'd be better if he drove Blaine. Jeff goofed about, telling jokes and embarrassing stories. He reminded Blaine of the deadlines, rehearsals, and dances they had to complete, all the while reassuring him that he'd see Kurt again soon enough, he tried his hardest to reach him. His attempts fell on deaf ears as Blaine stared out of the window, obviously away in his own world; one probably full of Kurt, and kissing, hugging and singing. Turning up his music, and not uttering another word, Jeff left Blaine be for the rest of the journey.

By the time they arrived back at Dalton, Blaine had fallen asleep against the car window. As Jeff reached over to wake him, he noticed the silvery trail of a tear that must've run down his face whilst he was sleeping. Jeff smiled with a mix of affectionate sadness and wonder- Kurt must mean so much more to Blaine than he or anyone had quite realised.

***

After Blaine let Kurt go from his grip, Kurt turned around and threw his arms around Mercedes once more.

“It's so good to see you again! I...I can't even explain it. I've missed you so much.” The words falling too quickly from his mouth, making him stutter them out. Pulling away from her, with an extravagant wave of his arms to include all of his friends standing around him, “I've missed you all so much.” burst through the widest smile his mouth could stretch to.

Kurt hugged every member from New Directions over again, as it suddenly hit him how strange it had been not to have them with him everyday. Tears of pure joy gently dawdled down his cheek, falling from his sharp jawline, onto the collar of his perfectly crease-less, bright white shirt.

With a quick and graceful twirl, Kurt lay his eyes on the empty space where Blaine had been not five minutes before, the smile vanishing from his face instantly. He ran his hands through his hair, stretching his body upwards, and lifting himself onto his toes, as a sad grimace occupied his face.

A hand reached his shoulder, gently forcing him back down to normal level.

“It's okay, Kurt, you'll see him again soon.” Kurt felt himself relax a little, and after fixing his hair, turned around to receive one last embrace from Finn before the New Directions- once again complete- headed into the practice room.

***

Jeff knocked gently on the door to Blaine's room and listened carefully to hear him stirring. Blaine had slept for 20 hours since arriving back at Dalton without Kurt. Jeff didn't hear anything, so he knocked again, this time harder.

Abruptly, the door opened, and Blaine stood in front of him, eyes red and puffy, encircled by dark bags, his grey polo shirt that he slept in somehow torn just above and to the left of his belly button. This was the worst he'd ever seen Blaine look- and he'd seen the pictures of Blaine drunk at Rachel's party. Blaine yawned, scrunching his hands through his curly mess of a head of hair, stretching upwards to reveal the black and yellow Batman boxer-briefs and just a little bare skin. Jeff couldn't help but let out a little chuckle when he saw them; he never took Blaine for the Batman kind, maybe Superman.

After Blaine properly opened his eyes and saw Jeff standing in front of him, a small smirk lining his face, he let out a strained “Yes?” as if this was the worst possible time he could've been woken up.

“You've been asleep for practically a whole day, I thought you might wanna get up now.”

“If I wanted to get up, don't you think I'd be up?” Blaine's mood clearly hadn't been lifted since leaving Kurt at McKinley.

“It's probably not good for you to be in bed so long, Blaine.” Jeff reasoned, trying to mask the fact that Blaine's bitterness hurt him slightly more than it probably ought to.

Blaine didn't even try to argue, instead he turned around and went to sit on the edge of his bed, immediately dropping his head into his hands as he did so. Jeff took the door being left open as an invitation in, and plonked himself down next to Blaine, trying to make the atmosphere a little more upbeat. He put his arm around Blaine's shoulders, and gave him a gentle squeeze. Blaine's entire body started to shake, and Jeff wasn't quite sure whether he was laughing or crying. Assuming the latter, he moved himself to kneel in front of Blaine, and slowly pulled his hands from his face.

Blaine moved his eyes up to look at Jeff, and Jeff saw only tears and redness in his eyes- no life.

“Come here.” He said as he stood up, pulling Blaine up with him and engulfing him in the tightest hug he could manage. Blaine returned the embrace, holding as clinging as much to his best friend as he could, for fear that if he let go, he would be lost.

***

'Was Blaine at Warbler practice remembering the times they'd spent together in that room? Did he notice the difference of Kurt not being in at least the same building, if not the same room, as him almost all day, everyday? Did Blaine miss him as much as he missed Blaine?' Whilst the New Directions were practising the choreography for their latest song choice, Mona Lisa by The All-American Rejects, this was all that was running through Kurt's mind.

For the third time now, Rachel's voice drifted into Kurt's consciousness singing the first verse. Here came Kurt's cue, her last line:

Without a change our lives will never last,
'Cause we're going fast.

“That's your part Kurt.” Rachel was right up in his face, her brow furrowed, arms crossed, finger tapping against that red cropped cardigan that wouldn't be a crime against fashion if only she'd wear it properly. “Kurt!” With a slight jump back, Kurt's eyes widened and he gave his head a little shake as he brought himself back to the there and then.

“Mmm?”

“You missed your line.” She flicked her tongue against her bottom lip, then smacked her lips together, the way she always does when she's getting irritated. Her soft, shiny hair the colour of 60% chocolate swayed as she tilted her head to the side in that ever so condescending manner that she'd mastered so well.

“Sorry, I was thinking.”

“Lover boy?” That low drone, the drag on the vowels, the more than slight smugness in what he had said gave Puck away too easily.

“Shut it, Puck,” Kurt didn't expect his own voice to be so sharp, so bitter. “Sorry Noah.” His tone much softer and apologetic now.

“What's got you?” Santana strolled across the room with confidence as though she thought everyone there wanted her. In a moment of uncharacteristic affection, she rested her arms gently on Kurt's shoulders, clasping her fingers behind his head. The bite now gone from her voice, she gently lay her forehead against Kurt's, and whispered, “He misses you just as much.” After a tender moment between them, she stood back, flashed that cunningly beautiful smile that everyone recognised, and pulled Kurt into a tight, playful squeeze before strutting off back to her place in the practice room.

A slight but true sliver of a smile tainted Kurt's lips as Santana's words rang in his ears. He rolled his eyes, took a breath, and belted out his lines.

You can sit beside me when the world comes down...

Kurt’s eyes widened with a mischievous sparkle; now, he had a plan.

***

I’ll never talk again,
Oh boy, you left me speechless…

Blaine danced through the Warblers’ practice room, singing every word as though they were coming purely from him, and noone else knew what was coming. When he first announced to the Warblers with an odd glee that their next song was going to be Gaga’s Speechless, Jeff took him aside and asked if he was sure about it. Blaine knew why- it was obvious really, but he assured Jeff that the song couldn’t be about him and Kurt as neither of them had hurt each other, nor were they not talking to each other. It was fine.

You left me speechless,
So speechless.

Jeff noticed the wetness of Blaine’s eyes even if noone else (including Blaine himself) did. No matter how much Blaine tried to convince himself that this song wasn’t about Kurt leaving, it was far too plain to see that that was a lie. Sometimes, when it was just Blaine and Jeff, on a weekend say, Blaine would hardly utter a word, but then when surrounded by people, he was his old, bouncy, energetic self. That’s what worried Jeff the most- how well Blaine had learned to hide it.

Although the clich�d devil and angel were sitting on either shoulder, whispering their ‘wise’ words into Jeff’s ears, the feeling wouldn’t leave him that what he was about to do was wrong, but in the long run, it’d be for the better.

Whilst Blaine was out for an appointment- doctor, or dentist, Jeff remembers him mumbling about- Jeff went into Blaine’s room, quietly opening and closing the door so as to not let anyone know he was in there. He realised as he got in there that Blaine would’ve most likely taken his phone with him, but he thought he’d have a quick look anyway. For some reason, as soon as he walked to Blaine’s bedside table, he saw that his phone was right there, on top of some music books. He’d left it on, and without a password. Jeff picked it up and sat on the edge of Blaine’s bed, just staring at the phone for a few seconds to try and work out if he’s really okay to do this.

“Blaine will forgive me.” He breathed to himself as some sort of temporary reconciliation for what was essentially betraying his best friend’s trust. Before he could stop himself, Jeff looked through Blaine’s contacts- Kurt was first, as expected- and hit dial.

“Kurt, it’s Jeff…”

***

“Good, yes, I was already in the midst of planning something.”

The worry and desperation in Jeff’s voice concerned Kurt. He hadn’t even left two weeks ago, but it sounded like Blaine was in a bad place. It was just as well that the New Directions' latest song had inspired Kurt, because now he knew exactly what he was going to do to help Blaine feel better.

When Kurt got up to his room, he immediately headed for his wardrobe, knowing almost exactly what he should wear for the surprise, but knowing- as he always does- that he needs to see it all together before he can go out in the outfit. He pulled out a pair of skinny black and grey striped jeans, his favourite long black jumper with white cupcakes, and yellow buckled boots, just for a fabulous splash of colour. As he pulled off the shirt he wore to school, he flashed a quick glimpse at the scar Karofsky had left on his back, just above his left hip. One thing that worried him about things going further between him and Blaine was the fact that Blaine would see the scar- Kurt was so ashamed of it.

He quickly put those thoughts to the back of his mind, remembering that he had to make sure he looked amazing for Blaine's surprise. He turned back to face the mirror, and pulled on the long jumper. When he was completely changed, he sized his reflection up with the same expression he would wear when Rachel asked him to tell her how her outfit looked. After a few turns and looks over his own shoulder, Kurt concluded that he did indeed look good- no, more than that- awesome, in his ensemble, and with a sparkle of a more-than-contented smile on his face, Kurt waltzed out of his room.

“I'm going to be back late, Dad.” Kurt called through to his Dad, who was no doubt watching a football match through in the lounge.

“What about dinner, Kurt?” Burt called back, in the voice that Kurt knew meant he wasn't really paying attention to what was going on, his mind on other matters.

With a smirk, Kurt raised his voice and said, “I'm eloping, with Blaine. I won't need dinner.”

“What was that?” Kurt asked, a bit more curiosity to his tone than Kurt was expecting.

“I'm surprising Blaine with dinner, I won't need any here.” And with that he grabbed his satchel and quickly left, pulling the door unexpectedly hard behind him. Perhaps Kurt was more nervous than he had first thought.

***

“Man, I don't really feel like going out tonight.” Blaine protested, looking up at Jeff, then back to the floor, shaking his head.

“But you see, you don't feel like going out any night, and considering I really think we should tonight, you might as well come with me- it won't make anything worse.” Jeff glanced up at the clock once more, and then to his watch. They were going to be late, Jeff hated being late. “Come on, please. For me?”

After those two words, Blaine knew that if he really wanted to stay in, he shouldn't look at Jeff, but he couldn't help himself. He swiftly snapped a glance up to Jeff, only to see him pulling a ridiculous puppy face, that Blaine couldn't resist laughing at.

“Oh, okay then, but I'm not staying out late. I'm tired.”

“Good.” Jeff smiled, and then realised that Blaine had actually said yes, “Fantastic, great!”

'Why on earth is he so eager to go out?' Blaine wondered, but didn't ask, thinking it was just better to keep schtum than actually attempt to weedle an explanation out of him.

“I suppose I'd better get changed then.” Blaine sighed, but his smirk wasn't hidden from Jeff, who returned it with a wide grin. “That was a hint for you to leave now, Jeff.” he laughed.

“Oh, ah. Yes.” Jeff was more embarrassed than he needed to be, which resulted in a loud burst of amusement from Blaine as the door was pulled to.

About fifteen minutes later, Blaine walked out of his room to see Jeff staring intently at whatever text he was reading.

“Come on. We're late.” Jeff moaned before looking up at Blaine from where he was sitting, then letting a brief giggle escape his lips. “Oh, that cardigan.”

“Yes. It so happens to be my favourite, and I suspect you might have us coming back drunk- therefore I want to be comfortable.”

Jeff let out another breath of amusement before grabbing Blaine's arm and dragging him quickly to his car, and shoving him in. Again pointing out that they were going to be late.

“What, exactly, are we going to be late for, Jeff?” Blaine had been curious before, but thought it was best to leave it until now to actually investigate.

“Oh...” 'Shit, he caught me.' “I just had a bit of a plan,” he recovered “and you know how I hate to be off-schedule.”

“And you never let me forget it. Go on then, we'd better be off.”

***

“Where is he, Mercedes?” Kurt glanced down at his watch again, and checked his phone, just to make sure.

“He'll be here, Kurt. Don't worry.” Her voice, as always, calmed Kurt and he relaxed into her arms as she enveloped him in a hug.

Sure enough, three minutes later, Kurt heard a car pulling up.

***

“Uh, Jeff? Where exactly are we?”

“Just wait, Blaine. You'll see soon enough.” Jeff said, opening his door and stepping out. “You just wait here a sec, okay? Don't move.”

Blaine was more than suspicious now, but even more than that, he was curious, and he honestly didn't have a clue what was going on.

***

Kurt heard someone approaching, then Jeff appeared around the corner.

“He's here. I've left him waiting in the car just to make sure you're all ready?” Jeff stole a quick glance back to his car to make sure Blaine hadn't followed him.

“I am. You're the ones who are late.” Kurt teased.

“I know. I'm so sorry.” Jeff's face started turning crimson.

“It's okay. Me and 'Cedes are going to wait over there,” Kurt said, smiling and pointing to a group of trees, “there's a generator back there, and when you take Blaine over, we'll flick the switch, and you two can leave. That okay?”

“Yes, sounds good. I'll go get him.”

***

Jeff was coming back to the car. Blaine started to get out, a little annoyed that he was left there for so long.

“Where have you been? What's going on? Tell me.” He demanded of Jeff as soon as he was within hearing distance.

“How about I show you instead?” And with that Jeff led Blaine back towards where Kurt was.

When they turned the corner, it was completely black. “Jeff, I can't see a thing. Please, just tell me what's going on.” But he couldn't feel Jeff next to him anymore. Blaine was scared, he tried to look through the darkness to get his bearings, to find his way back to the car, but there was nothing to see.

All of a sudden, blinding lights came on. As soon as his eyes adjusted, Blaine saw Kurt standing right in front of him, waiting a second before his eyes got used to the light too. A smirk crept onto Kurt's face, but before Blaine had time to wonder what was so funny, Kurt was kissing him.

“We're going now.” Mercedes and Jeff said in unison, but they got no response; Kurt and Blaine were too lost in the moment. They smiled to each other, and drove off in Jeff's car.

***

As soon as Kurt's eyes adjusted to the sudden burst of light, the first thing he noticed about Blaine was his cardigan. It was the same burgundy one that he'd worn to Rachel's party, and although some of those memories weren't his fondest, Kurt thought of how cute Blaine had been whilst drunk, and how good his hair had looked after being scruffed up a little.

He couldn't stop himself. He didn't want to stop himself, so he threw himself towards Blaine and kissed him as hard as he could manage, not being able to resist him any more.

***

Finally unlocking his lips from Kurt's, Blaine took a step back to take everything in. Kurt stood in front of him, all dressed up, not that that was anything out of the ordinary, but then he let his eyes stray from Kurt for just as long as he could bear, to look around and see what was surrounding him.

They stood, now alone, in an almost completely enclosed park, a small table with a white cotton table cloth patterned with black songbirds and two chairs were set out in the middle of a small orchard of fruit trees. The trees had been draped with fairy lights, and small candles in glass baubles. The table was set out like the perfect, oh-so-cliched romantic dinner: two plates, two wine glasses, and an elegant candelabra in the middle.

It took his breath away. Blaine could feel Kurt's eyes on him, watching him, waiting for some sort of reaction, but he couldn't even move. He tried to speak, but gave up after resulting in only opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

He heard Kurt laugh quietly. Suddenly realising that time was still moving forward, Blaine shook his head a little, as if to wake himself from this wonderful dream, and turned to face Kurt. Watery hazel eyes met soft blues, they were locked together.

“Why...?” Was all Blaine could manage.

***

“You're not always the brightest, are you?” Kurt laughed. Pointing at the table he'd spent an hour getting perfect, “Why don't you go sit down? I didn't put that there for decoration.”

Blaine walked slowly, seemingly too dazed to quite function properly, over to the dinner table.

“Oh, hey, it looks like Pavarotti.” Blaine said nervously, pointing at the tablecloth.

“I know, that's why I chose it.” He paused, “Blaine, are you alright?”

Looking up to his boyfriend, taking in the glow that had never seemed to leave Kurt since they'd met, Blaine smiled gently. “Yeah, I'm just nervous.”

“No, that's not what I meant. Jeff told me you weren't coping well, but he didn't say what with. He thought it was just me leaving, but I'm not convinced.”

“He didn't say because, well...he doesn't know. I haven't told anyone.” He looked down to his hands which he'd been subconsciously gripping so hard that he'd began to get nail marks. With a horrified look on his face, he unclasped his hands as quickly as he could manage, and threw them down by his sides, hoping- perhaps in vain- that Kurt hadn't noticed.

“Blai-”

“I'm hungry,” Blaine interrupted Kurt before he could ask anything else, “can we start dinner?”

“Em, yeah, sure.” Kurt forced a smile, trying to hide the worry and pain from his voice.

“Sorry,” Blaine breathed through a quiet laugh, “it just feels like I haven't eaten in days.”

'Looks like it, too.' Kurt thought to himself. He was more scared for Blaine than he realised. What wasn't Blaine coping with? Why did he act so weirdly after looking at his hands? Why won't he tell Kurt what's going on? There was so much Kurt wanted to know, but he knew better than to try and force Blaine to talk about it. He tried to put it to the back of his mind, for now at least, as he served up his and Blaine's dinner of spaghetti and meatballs.

“Spaghetti meatballs?” Blaine asked as a grin formed across his dry lips, “So Lady and the Tramp.”

“You and your Disney movies, honestly.” Kurt giggled, remembering all the times Blaine had sung him a song from a Disney movie, now he thought about it, almost all of the songs Blaine would serenade him with where from one Disney movie or another. “You're never going to grow up, are you?” he teased.

“Not completely, I like to keep some parts of my life childish.”

“Some? What else is there?” Kurt asked with a hint of playful worry in his voice.

Raising his eyes to meet Kurt's, Blaine saw the wetness of Kurt's soft blue eyes, making them even more beautiful. “There's always going to be a bit of puppy love in me for you, Kurt. Although I love you like I've never loved anyone else, and I want to be with you forever, there's a part of me that's going to act like it's the first time I ever saw you- every time I see you. My eyes get watery, my heart beats too fast, I get nervous, I can't even begin to mask my smile, I get butterflies, I fiddle and I stutter. It's childish puppy love every time I look at you.”

Kurt opened his mouth to say something, but not a sound came out. All he could do was look at Blaine and hope he could see how much he loved him.

“No, don't cry. Please.” Blaine stood up out of his seat and moved around to Kurt, not giving him a chance to stand up before he hugged him softly, lovingly.

“I love you too.” Kurt whispered into Blaine's ear, the words choked out in between his gentle sobs. Blaine breathed the words 'I know' onto the nape of Kurt's neck, causing a shiver to bolt it's way down his spine.

***

“So, um...” Blaine stuttered nervously, “...about that thing...that I wouldn't tell Jeff.” The words could hardly break through his lips, and when they managed it, he wasn't sure Kurt even heard them. There was a silence between them. After what seemed to be forever too long and not nearly long enough, Blaine watched Kurt as he raised his watery blue eyes up to him, and opened his mouth to say something that clearly displayed the pain on his face. Blaine's phone rang, and he wasn't sure if he was happy for the interruption or upset that he wasn't able to finally get this out in the open.

Just as he went to answer it, though, Kurt grabbed the phone from him.

“Hello?...Oh, hi Jeff...yeah, no, Blaine's not coming back, you don't need to come get him at all...”

“Wait, where am I-”

“He's going to stay at mine tonight...Yes, okay...He'll call you tomorrow, bye.” Kurt hung up and handed the phone back to Blaine.

“Um, Kurt...what just happened?”

“Like I said to Jeff, you're going to stay at mine tonight. We have some things to do.” Kurt said, the last part so matter-of-factly that it worried Blaine. He was starting to regret trying to tell Kurt now.

“What about your Dad?” Blaine remembered the morning after Rachel's party that Burt wasn't exactly pleased to find Blaine asleep in Kurt's bed.

“It's fine. He's gotten over it since Rachel's party. Come on, help me clear up, and we'll go home. Pack everything in the basket and I'll come back for the table and chairs tomorrow.”

***

Blaine and Kurt had tidied everything away so quickly that they hardly spoke. Blaine couldn’t decide if this was a good sign or not, but he thought it best to leave things as they were; Kurt would tell him what was going on if he wanted to, and if he didn’t, Blaine would just have to wait and find out for himself.

“The lights are out, Kurt.” Blaine whispered into Kurt’s ear, suddenly surprised by his intimacy, so much so that he took a big step back as Kurt opened the door, and waited until he was actually invited in before he stepped through the front door.

“Why did you wait? You know you can come in any time you want, especially seeing as I actually took you home with me tonight.” Kurt laughed a little under his breath, “Did you think I’d invite you back, then leave you sitting outside? Really, Blaine, think about it.”

“I just…I guess I’m scared. And besides, I’m still not sure how your Dad’s going to take this.”

Blaine noticed that Kurt quickly ignored his comment about being scared, and only said, “Dad’ll be fine, trust me.”

“Okay, yeah, of course I do. Sorry about that.” Blaine said softly, honestly, before quickly moving towards Kurt and stealing a kiss from his soft, balmed lips. Kurt was a little shocked by the kiss, and as Blaine stepped back- but only a fraction- from Kurt, he recognised the look on his face, his body. It was the same look that Kurt had had on his face after Blaine kissed him for the first time; his eyes wide and watery, his mouth just dropped open, and his breath quite literally taken away from him. For a second, Blaine forgot the world, happy in the knowledge that his love still surprised Kurt, and that he will always be able to take Kurt’s breath away. In this moment of bliss, Blaine lost himself, and he leaned in, kissing Kurt with such force that he pushed him against the wall. At first, he could feel Kurt’s shock, as he didn’t kiss back, but again tried to steal his breath back. After this initial reaction, Blaine felt Kurt's lips relax and move in to the rhythm of his own.

***