Title: The Red Scarf
Genre: Romance
Rating: PG, mild swearing
Characters/Pairing: Blaine, Kurt, Klaine, Burt, mentions of Finn, Carole, David, Trent, Jeff, and Mr. and Mrs. Anderson
Summary: A horrible accident brings the two boys together. Season 2 AU, safe up to Sue Sylvester's Superbowl Shuffle.

Author's Notes: This is a Christmas gift fic for my fabulous friend and fellow Gryffindor etacanis* on livejournal!

This is also my failed attempt to do angst. If anything, it's entire fluff. =P

Special Thanks to inconceivableemily on Tumblr, for her kind words of encouragement, and who inspired the Steve/Alexander McQueen in this fic!
*hugs*

If anyone had ever told Blaine Anderson months ago that he would finally get together with his best friend, because of a car accident and a scarf, he would have laughed, and advised them to lay off the pixie sticks and Die Hard movies before bed.

Looking back on that awful day, it was still so hard to believe that something so wonderful, something so powerful and amazing, could have come from all of that horrible mess.

Ohio was known for it's small, rural country roads, zig zagging across the State. If one was not familiar with Ohio's back roads, and relied on things such as Google Maps for directions, then they wouldn't really know the secrets of Ohioan "Time Travel". Blaine, being from Ohio, and used to traveling by car, learned the secrets quickly, and used them to his advantage.

When he was first learning how to drive, his brother Byron taught him all of the shortcuts he could take, turning onto a one way, single lane, residential road, instead of the Highway. It always made Blaine feel important, and special, to know these awesome "shortcuts".

When he first started working summer jobs at Kings Island, he was proud to say that he could make it to Mason County in less than thirty-five minutes from his house. The same could be said when he would come in Monday morning to Dalton, fresh as a daisy, while the rest of his classmates who lived in the same area had to come back Sunday night, to make sure they would get to class on time.

It wasn't that he didn't try to share his back roads wisdom, because he really did. When David would come down groggily from their shared dorm room, to sit and glare next to a chipper Blaine in the cafeteria, Blaine would always pat his shoulder and offer to write down the directions to the small farm road he used on a napkin. It wasn't his fault that David would wave him off every time, reminding Blaine of the time that he was late for school because some cows got loose and blocked the road.

He practically begged Trent to just take the route through a neighborhood to go see his Mom after Warbler practice. Even though Trent always complained that it took him two and a half hours to go to her office, he still shook his head at the idea, stating that there was no way that could be a time saver. It didn't matter that both of their mothers worked in the same building, and Blaine always had time to bring his Mom a scoan and a cup of coffee before work let out.

Blaine liked his knowledge of shortcuts. He especially like the one he found, sort of by accident, that got him to Lima from Dalton in forty minutes, instead of two hours.

On that fateful day, he was on that road.

Technically, Blaine was heading over to his Father's Law Firm, volunteering to deliver the paperwork he forgot at home. Blaine was a good son like that.

So, maybe there was a turn off to a small rural road along a mountainside on the way back?

So, maybe his missed his best friend just a little too much that weekend, like most, and wanted an excuse to come over?

Ok, so what if he was secretly madly in love with one Kurt Hummel, and being extra helpful to his father just to see him?

Blaine was very aware that he was a tad too desperate to see somebody that was only a friend. He knew that he could easily wait to see him Monday, or call or text at any given time. He knew he could wait, and be the cool, confident best friend Kurt knew and deserved, and planned to do just that, no matter how much he missed his favorite Counter-Tenor. At least he could grasp at the straw that he was helping out his Father, and offer meeting up for some delicious caffeine.

It was also a stroke of luck when he opened his trunk to put the paperwork safely away, only to discover Kurt's precious missing red Alexander McQueen scarf laying in the corner by the tail light.

He could imagine Kurt's happy face when he gave it back to him, (he could also hear Kurt berate him when he found out that it was in his trunk all long).

For such a small, soft, sweet smelling piece of fabric, Blaine would have never guessed that would be the thing to save his life.

Feeling another bump in the poorly paved one lane road, Blaine concentrated on gently swerving the pot holes, and not running into the mountainside, or avoiding the guardrail to his right. The wind was picking up quite fiercely. When he had considered possibly turning back and waiting it out at the little Gas Station he had stopped at earlier, his Father had called and told him that he really needed him to bring the papers in, pronto, for his meeting. Braving the elements, and promising himself a nice hot medium drip later at the Lima Bean, Blaine popped in a CD to sing along to, and continued on his way.

Every once in a while, Kurt would text him.

Kurt: Finn just ate an ENTIRE batch of cookies Carole and I made! Where does he put it all? How is it that it all goes to his height, while it would go all to my hips? How is that fair?

Kurt: OH! This movie trailer looks fantastic! We MUST see it!

Kurt: Is it ok for me to be smug that he burned his tongue and has a stomach ache?

Kurt: Why is Jeff texting me about Algebra homework? Doesn't he realize that asking me of all people, is like asking you to put on your coffee lid in one try?

Kurt: Speaking of coffee...let's do that, and soon. I miss you. You at least appreciate things other than video games, boobs and cheetos. Want to hang out?

Blaine just smiled. Never to be the one to text and drive, he waited until he had stopped at the Gas Station, and texted back.

Kurt, at first annoyed that he had not responded earlier, and then praising him for not getting into a stupid accident over text messaging, was thrilled to hear about Blaine finding his lost scarf, and that they could meet up, and maybe catch that movie he had been talking about.

As the wind blew a little harder, Blaine tightened his hands on the wheel, even more determined to make it through. Seeing one Kurt Hummel was a rather strong motivator.

If there was one thing that really annoyed Blaine while driving, it was flying bugs in the car. Noticing that a big, giant, nasty looking fly was buzzing by his ears, he attempted to shoo it away...only to massively swerve his car, nearly hitting a pot hole.

"Well, can't do that, now can I?"

Not wanting to squish the poor insect, Blaine decided to roll down his window.

"Sorry little buddy, but you just have to go! I'm not playing taxi driver for you today. I hope you find some shelter!"

As soon as he rolled the window down, two things happened.

1.) the fly zipped out.

2.) Kurt's prized scarf, which had been sitting on the front seat, flew out the window.

Blaine watched his rear view mirror in horror, as the scarf sailed through the air, and up the mountain side.

"Oh God, no!"

Stopping the car, Blaine though of what to do. He was on a one lane country road that went on for miles. The wind seemed to be picking up speed, blowing the trees to and fro. If he continued on his way to his Father's firm, he could make his Father happy, and would have plenty of time to make it to the Lima Bean, to hang out with Kurt. He knew that even though Kurt would probably get very angry and upset about him loosing his expensive scarf, he would understand the situation, and would forgive him...eventually. He also knew that Kurt would probably whack him over the head with his designer messenger bag if he were to risk going out of the car to find it.

Weighing the though of his Father's disappointed sigh, and the dimming of the light in Kurt's eyes, Blaine knew what he had to do.

Squaring his shoulders, he sent a text to his Father and to Kurt, letting them both know that he would be a little late. He laid his phone on the dashboard, and climbed out into the busy wind.

Walking along the road, he shielded his eyes to the massive force of Mother Nature, looking for any flash of red silk.

Just when he was about to give up and climb in his nice, warm car, he saw it.

High up along the slanted mountainside, the scarf was caught, flowing in the breeze like a flag of honor, snagged on an uprooted tree root.

Knowing that he was going to look like a dirty, disheveled, muddy mess later, he took a deep breath, and slowly started to climb.

After ten minutes of careful footing on jutting rocks and grasping branches, Blaine finally made it to the scarf.

Cursing he stature, Blaine grasped the root below, and shimmied to half sit on a small rock edge. After finally reaching the scarf with his fingertips, Blaine let out a whoop of triumph.

It was at that moment, Blaine's life was changed, forever.

It had all happened so fast.

Blaine couldn't really remember everything clearly about that time. What he did remember was the sudden loud screeching noise, and the abrupt wave of heat against his face.

Blaine turned wide, surprised eyes down to the road below him.

Where his car had been just minutes before, was now cover by fire and twisted metal. Instead of his nice, sleek black car that his Father had helped him build, in it's place was a broken Mac Truck, covered in a blaze.

Blaine couldn't say what he did, or really how he did anything in those moments. Being a performer, Blaine's body often had the muscle memory to move into action, to act and to do the things to please an audience, and to get tasks done.

Blaine could never put his finger on how he managed to get down the place that took him so long to get up, avoid the wreckage, and not getting burned no less, but when he found himself stumbling over to the crushed drivers side door of the Mac Truck, he knew that he must have had a really good auto pilot.

"Oh God, what do I do? What do I do?" Blaine whispered to himself, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

A million thoughts and fears rushed through his frantic mind. Did he remember CPR? Where was his phone? Shouldn't he call 911? Would the truck explode? His Father was going to kill him. Could he die? What if the driver was dead? Didn't somebody on Oprah once say not to move an injured person?

Knowing that he was standing still, in the middle of the road, having a panic attack, Blaine smacked himself, and forced himself to take a step back.

"Come on Blaine, think! Snap out of it! What am I going to do?"

Feeling the smooth material on his palm and clenched fingers, Blaine looked down, hoping to draw courage from the scarf.

"What would Kurt do?"

An image of the sassy boy he loved with his hands on his hips came to mind.

Blaine? What in the name of Gaga do you think you're doing? Call 911, and get the HELL out of there!

Blaine felt his pockets for his phone.

"I left my phone in my car."

Where is your car? Can you get to it?

Blaine noticed the guardrail was missing.

"I think...I think it was knocked off the road!"

Blaine suddenly noticed that he was shaking uncontrollably.

"I can't do this. I'm just a kid, and alone! What do I DO?"

The image of Kurt took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was giving Blaine this soft, yet determined look.

Listen to me. I might not be there, but you are NOT alone! You are freaking Blaine Anderson! You eat Courage for breakfast! You are confident, somewhat goofy, and love to help people! That's what you do! You can do this! If you get scared, pretend you're on stage, hold my scarf, think of me, and a nice cup of coffee, and you will get through this!

Blaine took a deep breath, twisted the scarf around his hand, and placed his most dapper of smiles on his face.

"Courage, Kurt Hummel , and a cup of coffee. Right. I can do this."

Blaine, it's time to perform. Since you don't have a phone, you need to check on the driver, and see how they are.

"Right. Ok. I can do that"

Oh, and Blaine? Put my scarf in your pocket before you do that. Blood stains are a bitch to clean.

Two hours later, Blaine was happy to finally get off the side of the road.

When he checked on the man who had been driving the truck, he had found the man's cell phone in the floor board.
Determining that the man was still breathing, but unconscious, he called the emergency services, and stayed calm and on the line until the ambulances arrived.

Even though he insisted that he had not actually been in the accident, the paramedics checked him over, and wanted to take him to the hospital.

Blaine almost gave in, just wanting to get away from the horrible scene, when he heard his name called.

"Blaine?"

Playing the role of his savior, Burt Hummel came rushing over to him.

It turned out that Burt and a few other garage owners were called in to help tow the wreckage out of the road.

Blaine didn't care. All he cared about was that Burt gave great hugs, felt safe and warm, and was a direct link to the boy he loved.

Burt convinced the paramedics to let Blaine ride in the tow truck with him back to the garage. Seeing as Burt knew the boy, and Blaine was currently attached to the man like a leech, they agreed to let him go.

Safely tucked away in the passenger side of Burt's tow truck, Blaine watched in silent terror as his car, (which looked like an cross between a crushed soda can and an accordion),was pulled from over the side of the road. There would be no way to save it, it was obviously completely totaled. It was also obvious to Blaine, and to a concerned looking Burt, that there would have been zero chance of him surviving that crash, had he been in the car.

When they finally made it off the road, and onto the highway, Burt pulled over at a Gas Station, and got Blaine a soda, and himself a (decafe) cup of coffee.

"Drink that, kid. You need a sugar boost in your blood. You look paler than Kurt in winter, and that's saying something."

Blaine untwisted the cap, and took a long drink.

"You want to talk about it?"

Blaine answered almost instantly.
"I almost died today."

Burt blinked, but nodded.
"Yeah. Yeah, you almost did."

Blaine took another drink.

"I gotta ask though, kid. What the hell were you doing on that road, and out of your car?"

"I was going to take some of my Father's paperwork to his office...God, he's going to kill me."

Burt place a hand on Blaine's shoulder.

"Hey, Blaine. This was not your fault. I might not know your Dad, but I think the last thing he will be worried about is the car, or his paperwork."

Blaine shook his head.

"You don't know my Father."

Burt brows furrowed. While he was curious about what that meant, he knew this was not the time.

"So, you were going to your Dad's office, ok. That still doesn't tell me why you were, thankfully, not in your car, and why you are covered in dirt."

Blaine pulled the scarf from his pocket.

Taking a closer look, Burt recognized the scarf.

"Hey, isn't that Kurt's crazy Steve McQueen scarf he's been ranting about loosing for the past month?"

Placing the plastic bottle in the cup holder, he took the scarf with both hands, studying it's woven fibers like they had all of the answers.

"It's an Alexander McQueen, and I found it in my trunk after putting the papers away. I had planned to give it back to him tonight, after seeing my Father, but it flew out the window when I let a fly out."

Burt stared at the boy.

"You got out of your car, in that windstorm, for a scarf?"

Blaine rubbed the scarf softly with his thumbs.

"Kurt loves this scarf. I had to try and get it back."

Burt raised an eyebrow.

"Where did it end up, exactly?"

"On an exposed tree root up the mountainside."

"Let me see if I got this right. You risked life and limb, climbed a hillside, and nearly got yourself killed, just to get my kid's scarf back?"

Blaine shrugged.

"Well, when you put it that way..."

Burt took a drink of his coffee, and silently indicated that Blaine should take another drink himself.

"I want to tell you a story Blaine, about when I was younger."

Blaine took a drink, and nodded for him to continue.

"When I was just a little older than you, I had a similar experience. The scarf thing, except with a hat."

Blaine relaxed into the conversation, curious about what happened to Burt.

"A hat, Sir?"

"Yes, a hat, and what is this 'Sir' stuff? Do I look like a Knight for King Arthur? Burt is just fine, thank you."

This made Blaine smile.

"Sorry Burt, please continue."

"So, one summer day I was hanging around the park. I was having a pic nic with this amazing girl, thankful that she would even go on a date with a shlum like me, when the breeze picked up, and blew her straw hat straight off her head, into a tree."

"That's not good. What did you do?"

"I climbed the tree, of course, and gave it back to her."

Blaine smiled at Burt.

"That was very nice of you Burt."

Nodding, Burt took another sip of his coffee.

"The bark scraped my hands up pretty bad, but I got it down."

Blaine winced.

"Ouch. That must have hurt."

"Oh, it did, trust me, but I healed."

"Was she was happy you got it back for her?"

"Oh, she was happy that I got it back for her, but mad at me for doing something so risky. She told me that, while she loved that hat, she would have rather had me unharmed with no hat, than have a hat, and me with bleeding hands."

Blaine raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sensing a moral to this story."

"There is one, but maybe not the one you think."

Burt took another sip of his coffee, and then put it in his cup holder.

"I was a stupid boy. Should I have gone to get a ladder? Sure. Did I? No. All I knew and cared about was the
sad look on her face, and wanting to make her smile again."

Turning in towards Blaine, he continued.

"Bleeding hands or not, it was completely worth it to me to get my Lizzy's hat back, and I would have done anything to make her happy. You know why that is Blaine?"

Wide-eyed, recognizing "Lizzy" as Kurt's mother, he shook his head.

Burt looked the boy straight in the eye.

"It was worth it, because I loved her. Love makes you do stupid things sometimes. In my case, I got her, and we made Kurt. In your case, your love for my kid saved your life. Oh, don't go and try to deny it, because that was a very nice, but stupid thing to do."

It was at that moment Blaine composure faded, and the dam broke.

When Blaine couldn't keep it together long enough to string more than three coherent words together without sobbing, Burt offered to call his parents for him.

At first, Burt was almost ready to punch the guy's light's out, until started realizing the severity of what his son had just gone through. After giving him the information the Police gave him, and after hearing him talk about Lawyers and insurance, Burt felt a little better about the man. He might seem stiff and a bit cold, but he did seem to care about his son's well being.

It was a completely different story with Blaine's Mom.

"OH MY GOD! IS MY BABY OK?"

The frantic woman, who was currently on a business trip to Madrid, was in near hysterics, and talking to Burt as she packed her bags, readying herself to get on the next flight home. After assuring Mrs. Anderson that Blaine was alright, but shaken up a bit, he arranged for Blaine to stay the night, to be close to his friend, promising her to bring him home the when she got back, and to call if he needed anything.

When he pulled up to the shop, he looked over at the boy's sleeping form. Blaine was curled into himself, still cover with the now dried, caked mud on his clothes. The corners of his mouth turned down into a whimpering frown.

Burt knew what he needed to do next, but he had wanted to avoid it for as long as possible.

Burt braced himself for one awkward, emotional call.

"Hey Dad!"

"Hey…Kurt, buddy, how are you?"

"I'm ok, I guess, a little P.O'ed at Blaine at the moment, but alright."

Oh boy, this was going to worse than Burt thought, because he knew that alone was going to add a load of guilt to his son's plate.

"Umm, why exactly are you "P.O'ed" at Blaine?"

"I've been texting him for hours, and he won't reply back! The last text he sent me told me he would be a little late! What's he doing in that office, dancing on the copy machines?"

Burt took off his hat, and rubbed his head.

"Listen, Kurt-"

"Oh! Dad! I forgot to ask, how did the towing thing go? You said it sounded like a really big accident when you were called in."

"That's…kinda what I wanted to talk to you about, kid."

"Ooh, was it really bad? Are you ok? Did anyone die?"

"Well, it was pretty bad actually. A toppled over Mac Truck, and a smashed car off the side of the road. Thankfully, the driver was not in his car when the accident happened."

"Wait, not in his car? Where was the driver?"

"I'll get to that in a minute, Kurt. The driver of the truck had to be taken to the hospital. You know that those things aren't even allowed on that kind of road? They suspected he fell asleep at the wheel."

"Dad, what aren't you telling me? Was the other driver injured? I'm not a baby, I can handle details!"

"The other driver was-is fine, Kurt, not a scratch on him…well, except from tree branches, but that's beside the point."

"Wait, tree branches?"

"Get this, the guy was climbing the hillside."

"Climbing the...what kind of idiot gets out of his car to climb the hillside?"

Burt sighed.

"The kind of idiot that tries to retrieve a scarf that blew out his window."

Kurt laughed.

"Well, I guess I could see somebody doing that, if it was a quality scarf! Now, if it was Faded Glory, somebody really needs to get their head checked."

"It was a Steve McQueen."

Burt could partically feel Kurt rolling his eyes.

"Dad, for the last time it's Alexander Mc…."

Kurt's end of the line went silent.

"Kurt…?"

"…what kind of car was it?" Kurt asked in a raspy whisper.

"I think you know what kind of car it was Kurt."

"Ohmygod Dad, where is he? Is he ok? I want to see him, PLEASE!"

"He's right here with me Buddy, in the shop. He's asleep right now, or I would have handed the phone to him to explain all this."

He heard the gosling of keys over the line.

"Just STAY right there! I'm coming over right now!"

"Now hold on Kurt! Before you do something rash and get yourself in an accident, I need you to do a few things for me."

After Kurt was instructed to tell Carole what happened, and to bring an extra change of clothes for Blaine, he jumped into his car, and drove to the garage like a fashionable bat out of hell.

Blaine woke up to the most beautifully heart breaking sight.

Kurt was sitting next to him, petting his hair, with tears in his eyes.

"Blaine…oh Blaine!"

They met half way, clinging and crying onto each others' shoulders."

"I almost lost you!"

"I was so scared."

After several minutes of crying in the cab of the tow truck, Blaine pulled back, and framed Kurt's cheeks in his hands.

"The only way I got through all of that, all of it, was you. I asked myself what you would have done, and I actually saw you in my mind, telling me how to do it."

Cheeky, even in the most emotional of times, Kurt asked,

"So, what did I tell you? That climbing hillsides should be left up to singing Nuns?"

Blaine smile, and rubbed his nose along a slightly shocked Kurt's nose.

"No, but you did tell me that I wasn't alone, that I was somewhat goofy, and that I should keep the scarf in my pocket, because blood stains were a bitch to clean."

Kurt laughed wetly, gently wiping away the tears still streaming from his eyes.

"Yeah, that sounds like me."

Blaine leaned forward, and put his forehead against Kurt's.

"Kurt, I don't want to waste any more time. I have something I need to tell you."

Kurt brushed his fingers through Blaine curls.

"You can tell me anything, Blaine. Anything."

Blaine gripped Kurt's face a little more firmly, as the tears started slipping out again.

"Please, please don't be mad at me, or stop being my friend. Even if you don't feel the same, please just…stay."

"Shh, shh, honey, it's ok. I would never stop being your friend, or ever leave you, I promise. Tell me what you want to say."

Blaine pulled back, and let Kurt peer into his soul.

"I love you. I love you so much, I can barely breathe sometimes."

Kurt gasped, and started crying again.

"Kurt, I understand if you don't feel the same way-"

"Blaine, shut up for a minute. I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that I almost lost the clueless boy I've been in love with for ages, and the fact that he loves me back. It's kind of a lot to take in."

Blaine's eyes widened.

"…loved for ages?"

"I'm so sickeningly in love with you, Blaine Anderson. While I want to scream at you for scaring me half to death, I think I just really want to kiss you right now-"

Blaine decided that all of the fear and pain was totally worth it, when he leaned over and kissed and tasted Kurt's delectable mouth.

When they got to the Hudmel's that night, Carole practically stuffed Blaine full of food, and Finn showed great concern by giving him a hug, considering that his tongue still hurt from eating the fresh from the oven cookies.

Kurt never left Blaine's side, even going so far as to help his new boyfriend out of his clothes, and sit in the bathroom while he took a shower.

Burt didn't even complain when he saw the two fast asleep, spooning in Kurt's bed together. As much as it made Burt feel uncomfortable to have them sleeping in the same bed, he knew they were both good kids, and figured he might as well get used to it, seeing as it was more than likely going to be a reoccurring thing in the near future.

Things kind of changed after that. Blaine still took most of his shortcuts, but avoided the one that almost took his life.

He was lucky to have Kurt as a boyfriend, because he found him a newer, safer route that went through a residential era and by a McDonalds. Sure, it was a fifty minute drive from Lima to Dalton, instead of forty-five, but with he and Kurt constantly joined at the hip, the hands, or the lips, it didn't really seem to matter where they were, as long as they were together.

Of course, there was the matter of his car. It couldn't be saved. While the insurance paid off, he still didn't get another car for a few months. After seeing what could have happened to him, he honestly didn't have the stomach to get behind the wheel for a while. That was ok though, because Kurt was more than happy to have Blaine as his passenger, and Blaine was content to let Kurt do the driving, while he fiddled with the radio stations.

As much as Kurt loved his scarf, he only wore it one more time in his life, and that was at his and Blaine's wedding. After that, it was sealed in a keepsake box, and handed down to their eldest son, for his wedding.

If anyone had ever told Blaine Anderson months ago that he would finally get together with his best friend, because of a car accident and a scarf, he would have laughed, and advised them to lay off the pixie sticks and Die Hard movies before bed.

If anyone had ever thought to mention any of this to Kurt Hummel, it would have lit a flame of hope in his heart. After all, that sounded exactly like the kind of love story one Blaine Anderson would be involved in.

THE END

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