"Why don't you start at the beginning?" Kurt suggested.

"Ahh yes, but where is the beginning?"

Kurt shot him a look and Blaine gave a dry laugh, "Sorry. That got really weird really fast didn't it?"

"Just a little." Kurt said dryly.

"Sorry."

"It's okay Blaine, just...tell me the story."

"Well, why don't we start with your interpretation first?"

"Mine?" Kurt asked, confusion coloring his voice.

"I'm hoping that maybe once you start talking what I'm going to tell you will be easier to say." The only emotion Kurt could read on Blaine's face was one of sadness.

"Okay...well..." Kurt trailed off, feeling awkward with Blaine staring at him but he shouldered on, "It was the start of sophomore year of college. I had tried to convince you to move in with Rachel and I again over the summer but you just plain refused. 'I want the full college experience Kurt!' I can't even tell you how many times I heard that over the summer. I had wanted you to live with us so badly because that was our plan from junior year in high school, and then you decided that you wanted to dorm. And I thought I had my heart broken then...

"But anyway. It was a Saturday afternoon and instead of me staying in your dorm or you coming to spend the weekend at the apartment you said you had a huge exam to study for that you absolutely could not afford to fail. You had never given me a reason not to trust you, so I said, 'sure, why not.' But I remember sitting at home and missing you, so much. And for some reason I had it in my head that you were missing me too. So being the good boyfriend that I was, I decided to go over and surprise you.

"I got dressed and ready and I just couldn't wait to get into your arms. The whole cab ride over I antsy, just thinking about you and what we might do when I finally got there. I was practically bouncing up and down in my seat by the time we pulled into the parking lot behind your dorm building. I tried to get a look at you through the window but you had the shade pulled shut. I thought you must have been napping or studying extremely hard.

"A student let me into your dorm and I walked up to your room. I had a stupid smile plastered to my face the entire way. I thought I was being sweet, caring and loving, taking my time to come over and surprise you. I remember thinking that I would do anything just that way I could hold you and kiss you.

"I took a deep breath and I knocked on your door. I heard a muffled sound and I though I had woken you or pulled you out of deep thought. I took it as a sign to come in. So I did. And I found you on your bed. With another man on top of you, rutting against your leg as you sloppily made out with him. Tears had instantly come to my eyes and I think I let out a sob because you pulled your mouth away and your eyes widened when you saw me standing in the doorway.

"'Kurt,' you said, brokenly because you knew you were caught.

"I remember saying, 'Go to hell,' before I walked out, slamming the door behind me. Before I knew it you were calling after me in the hallway. But I just kept walking. I had nothing to say to you. You knew what you had done. I didn't need to tell you. You chased after me but I just shoved you away with tears in my eyes and took off running. You never did catch me.

"You called me though. I didn't pick up. You texted and I didn't answer. I wanted nothing to do with you. And it was fairly obvious you wanted nothing to do with me. I think the last thing I had said to you before running into you yesterday was 'Fuck off Blaine!' As I screamed it into my cell phone. You never called again after that. And that's it. You broke my heart. I hope he was worth it."

Blaine had not made a peep the whole time Kurt was talking. His facial expression had never even changed. He wore the same look of sadness and regret the entire time. But now that Kurt had stopped talking the look intensified. Kurt almost thought he saw tears in the corners of Blaine's eyes for a second before Blaine blinked and they were gone.

"I am so sorry, Kurt. I know you never let me apologize. I think, every single day, about how life would have been different if that hadn't happened. From the bottom of my heart, I am sorry."

Kurt just stared at Blaine. This was not what he was expecting and Blaine hadn't even really told him anything yet. Even though Kurt was surprised that Blaine actually really did look...sorry, and sad. Kurt had never seen so much pain on Blaine's face. It was enough for Kurt to want to forgive him right there. Until he remembered all the nights crying into his pillow. All the tears that had fallen silently without anybody to know. The embarrassment... No, he couldn't forgive Blaine.

Instead he shrugged, "It's okay. I kinda got over it." Kurt wondered if Blaine could tell he was lying because he had never really gotten over it. He just always told himself that he had.

"No Kurt," Blaine shook his head, "it's not okay. After all these years you deserve to know the truth. Are you ready for my side of the story?"

"That's kinda why I'm here Blaine. Sitting in a Chuck E. Cheese. In jeans in a tee shirt. With you."

Blaine smiled the most depressing smile Kurt had ever seen before he opened his mouth to talk, "The man that you saw with me...his name is Hunter." Blaine stopped and took a deep breath.

"Is that all I get?" Kurt couldn't help himself.

Blaine chuckled sadly, "No no. There's more. Hunter and I were friends before I ever even met you. Before I transferred to Dalton even. He was my best friend before I actually did transfer. He was the first person I came out to, and vice versa. He was there with me when I came out to my parents and the summer my dad tried to bond with me rebuilding that stupid car. We were close. But we were never more than friends.

"But we were both bullied. And we dealt with the bullies together. We had each other's backs. So when I transferred to Dalton...he wasn't exactly thrilled. We had a huge fight and falling out. That's why I never told you about him, or anybody from Dalton. Dalton was my place to start over. But Hunter...he thought I was running away with my tail between my legs. That I was too much of a wimp to stand up to them. And I was, I knew he was right, but I fought him."

"Wait," Kurt interrupted, "is he the one that got beat up with you when you went to that Sadie Hawkins dance?"

"You remember that?" Blaine looked dumbfounded.

"Yeah, I do. Is he?" Kurt pressed.

"Yes. Like I told you then we were going as friends. But you of all people know how people can be Kurt. And you can see why Hunter was so upset that I was running away. Hunter never had a problem standing up to the bullies. I admired that about him. I envied him. But I couldn't do it Kurt. I ran. I found a safe haven at Dalton, and then you came along and my life changed forever. I fell in love with you. You were the first person I ever loved. Don't ever think that it was Hunter. Because it was always you."

Blaine stopped talking again. If Kurt didn't think Blaine could have looked any more upset before, the look on Blaine's face proved him wrong again. This time Kurt was sure that he saw tears in Blaine's eyes. Almost as if it hurt him to be this honest. Kurt's heart ached for the man in front of him, this vulnerable, and miserable version of Blaine.

"I believe you Blaine." Kurt didn't know why he did. But he did, he believed that he was the first person Blaine had ever loved.

"You have no reason to. And I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't. But I'm glad that you do. That makes the rest of the story a little easier. Are you okay if I continue?" Kurt nodded.

Blaine sighed, "Hunter and I hadn't spoken since I transferred. That was until the beginning of sophomore year of college. He had tracked me down from Ohio because he had something he needed to tell me. Hunter was diagnosed with cancer."

Kurt pulled in a shocked breath but Blaine just continued on.

"I remember when my phone rang. I knew it was a number from home from the area code. But I had no idea who was waiting on the other end of it. I was shocked when it was Hunter's voice on the line. We hadn't spoken in years and then he was calling me? All I was, was confused. Until Hunter started to tell me that he had been diagnosed with cancer. My heart started to tear apart. The person that I had known for forever was going to die. The person that got me though the roughest time in my life was going to be gone...just like that.

"It was different when we just didn't talk to each other. He was still there, you know? But he wasn't going to be. They were going to start putting him through chemo and everything but they had told him they didn't have high hopes of his survival. Can you imagine that, being nineteen years old and being told you were going to die? I started sobbing, they raked through my entire body. I didn't think I could ever cry harder than I did in that moment.

"Especially when Hunter told me that that wasn't the only reason that he called. He called to tell me how sorry he was that we stopped talking. How sorry HE was when it was I that ran away. My heart was being ripped open when he told me that he couldn't die with that regret on his conscious, that he had to tell me how sorry and how much he regretted the whole thing."

Kurt had never heard a person with more misery in their voice. He knew that Blaine was holding it together with every ounce of strength he had in him. Kurt was about to let Blaine off the hook, tell him that he didn't have to continue talking but then Blaine opened his mouth again, "I asked him if there was anything I could do. Anything. I would have flown back to Ohio in that instant if he wanted me to.

"He told me that the thing that he was most upset about was that he was never going to find someone to be intimate with. Someone that he could hold at night and tell him that he loved him. Someone to wake up next to. He said he felt like he had gone through his life not knowing what it was all about. I couldn't give him that Kurt. Because I was in love with you. I had never loved Hunter in any more than a brotherly sort of way. But I could give him a chance to be intimate with someone for the first time in his life before he died.

"From someone he trusted, even if he didn't love. Someone that would make it right for him. Someone that would make love to him and not use him. I told him about you. How I was in love with you and planned to marry you someday. I told him that I would give him that chance to be close to someone in that way before he died.

"So I flew him up here the next day. Before they started the chemo and he became even sicker. I didn't tell you because I thought that you wouldn't understand for some reason. I thought you would break up with me, even if I told you the whole story. I was stupid, and wrong. I was so wrong Kurt. I should have told you. Even if you hadn't understood, it would have been better than what happened. I know now, from looking at you, that you would have. You would have been able to understand, even if you didn't like it.

"I made up a bullshit excuse. And I was going to make love to Hunter. That way he could die knowing what life was about. Having a moment of something like what I had with you. Just a moment. Then you came though the door and told me to go to hell. You ran away from me. Hunter spent the night holding me while I cried myself to sleep instead of the other way around. No, we never had sex. We got as far as you saw. I couldn't do it after what happened."

Tears were now falling freely down both Kurt and Blaine's faces. They were two grown men sitting in a Chuck E. Cheese crying about lost love, misunderstandings, and death. Kurt was still watching Blaine and his heart was swollen. How could he have done this? He made such a mess of three peoples lives forever. Why hadn't he just listened to Blaine seven years ago? Then Blaine started smiling. Kurt was about to yell at him but he started talking again.

"You know what the amazing thing is? Hunter's chemo did work. It was a one in a million chance, and it happened. Hunter grew up and he did fall in love. They are a beautiful couple and have two wonderful children. Hunter and I still talk, but we never got as close as we did back in high school. Too much time had passed and I blamed losing you on him. Even if I never admitted it, even to myself. Hunter knew that I had lost you, the man I loved with everything I had because of him. It was almost too much for him to take but I told him that he had to get through it because I couldn't lose him too. And he did."

Kurt smiled though his tears just like Blaine was.

"That's my story Kurt. The story I should have made you listen to seven years ago."

Kurt was at a loss for words. He was at a loss for emotions.

"Blaine," he finally started, "I am so sorry I never gave you a chance to explain what happened."

"No Kurt. You have nothing to be sorry for. Well...you do. But I made the bigger mistake by not telling you. If I had just been honest with you..."

They both left the thought in the air for a few moments. In Kurt's mind eye he started to see them married with a baby of their own...

"If I had just given you a chance to explain..." Kurt whispered.

They settled back into silence as Kurt's fantasy grew more involved. What if they were bring their own daughter here instead of Wes'? What would she look like? Who's attitude would she have gotten...Blaine's voice pulled him out of his reprieve.

"Kurt, I know it's too much for me to ask you for your forgiveness. And too much for me to even say anything about you coming back to me. But I lost you once. And I'm not losing you again. I refuse to. I intend to earn your trust back, and then maybe, if I'm really lucky...I'll win back what I once had."

Kurt just sputtered incoherently. Blaine smiled at his reaction.

"Yeah I thought you would say something like that. I'm just glad it didn't involve cussing me out. Another reason why I picked here...I thought ahead." Blaine winked.

Kurt just continued to stare at him like he couldn't believe Blaine was sitting before him, and he still had dried tear tracks on his face. How could the night's mood have changed so quickly?

"Ah Kurt give me more credit than that! I know you and I've learned something since high school. I won't be singing to you in any Gaps so don't worry about it." He waved his hand in a nonchalant way.

Kurt finally regained his vocal chords, "I-Is that why you took that job at the coffee shop? To work close to where I live?"

"Still sharp as a tack I see," Blaine smiled that damn charming smile and Kurt had the urge to slap him.

"Blaine fuc-"

"Shush Kurt, there are lots of kids around. Just be prepared. I'm not planning on letting go of you ever again."