Hm, yeah, I've been a ghost over here for the past few months, not updating the fics I said I would... please don't kill me :D I haven't been inspired, but then I found this forgotten in my computer and decided to finish it and post, so yay?

If you want only the Klaine bit, jump to the second part. But, like, the first part is cool as well, I swear.

"Are we even sure those were gunshots?"

Blaine had barely gotten to the middle of the sentence before he was shushed by a number of people. The silence that followed was heavy. Too heavy. He could hear his own heart racing. And then Marley's sobs, followed by Mr. Schuester speaking, "Everyone. Everyone, guys, guys. Start texting, tweeting, let everyone know what's going on, but don't tell them we're here, alright? Shooters have smartphones, too."

Artie dragged himself to his wheelchair. Blaine's hands shook so much that he could barely get his phone out, much less type anything. The piano behind his head was very uncomfortable, but he couldn't move an inch anymore; the fear was too big. He was pretty sure his heart could be heart from the corridor now.

"Look, guys," Mr. Schue spoke again. "We're all just gonna stay here, okay? We got nowhere to be, we don't know what's out there." There was a noise and a shushing. Blaine's heart almost stopped.

Someone's phone vibrated, giving him a heart attack again.

"I love you guys."

After writing and rewriting and erasing and taking deep breaths, he finally managed to type a simple I love you on his phone. Trembling even more, he clicked on the top part of the page and added the names of his parents, Cooper, and Kurt. He almost couldn't hit send.

Right now, he really wanted them to text him back. That was likely, since he didn't usually send his love to his family like that, or to Kurt anymore ever since they'd broken up, so they would worry. Maybe they'd hear about the shooting. Blaine just wanted something to get them to respond.

Of course, he knew all of them were working. If someone was going to see the text now, it would be his mother, since she was glued to her cellphone, or Cooper, if he wasn't shooting anything at the moment; besides, he usually checked his phone between takes.

Someone came running down the hallway. Blaine's heart honest to God stopped when the doorknob was forced, then the other one. He dropped his head in his hands, only to jump at the noise of a door being slammed.

"It's okay, it's okay…"

He heard the whispered "Sam!"s and then him mumbling something about Brittany to Mr. Schue and Coach Beiste. Soon, he was thrown down in front of Blaine, who could only stare at the floor, mentally counting his fellow Glee clubbers from what he remembered from their just interrupted rehearsal. "Tina isn't here either."

He shot Sam a look, but quickly dropped his head between his arms. More silence before his phone's screen lightened up quietly. It was Cooper. His brother had sent him something. Something. He managed to unlock the phone and blinked a couple of times to un-blur his vision.

Were you texting Kurt again and accidentally sent it to me? Though I appreciate the love, Squirt.

Blaine wanted to crack a smile, because that had happened, but it only reminded him that Kurt hadn't answered, and even more, that he couldn't send those three words to him whenever he felt like it. He decided to stick with the attention he had for now instead of drowning on self-pity thoughts yet again.

It wasn't an accident. Can you just talk to me for a while?

Meanwhile, he heard Marley's sobs increasing because of her mom, and then Kitty crossing the room, and then Sam trying to go get Brittany again – and that caused a great mess until he calmed down. It seemed like forever before his phone came to life again. He was expecting a snarky comment about getting lots of love from the fans and something of the kind, but apparently Cooper realized something was wrong.

What's going on?

Just as he finished typing about how there had been a shooting and how he was trapped in the choir room, another text came through. As he had expected, his mom, asking if everything was okay and saying that she loved him too. He almost sobbed as he explained the situation again.

Blaine was waiting for the frantic messages that were sure to come at any moment when Artie raised a camera to his face. He whispered, "Artie, what are you doing?"

"If we don't get out of here, people need to see this."

Blaine let his head fall back to the piano's side and closed his eyes. The thought of not getting out was too horrible, and he honestly couldn't do this – say goodbye. So he dropped his head and let him turn the camera elsewhere.

Just as Ryder was finishing talking, his phone lit. He sniffed silently and opened the text. It was logical that Cooper had answered first.

It's gonna be alright, because I'm not letting anything happen to you before you resurrect Broadway, okay?

That eased him a bit, and he caught Marley talking about her hidden songs and how she was proud of them. He let his mind wonder what they might be like, as a distraction, but he didn't get very far before his thoughts drifted to the people who hadn't answered him.

His father was most likely in a meeting and probably had turned off his phone, which meant he hadn't seen Blaine's message nor the ones his mother was sure to have sent him. There would be missed calls from her too, and voice mails. And when he'd finally see them, he would flip. And Blaine could really use his attention and care now.

And then there was Kurt. Yeah, he was busy. Now, even more than his internship, he had NYADA classes. Maybe he wouldn't see it for hours. Blaine had no idea how he would react to those three words thrown at him out of the blue. Would he be mad? Blaine didn't care. He just wanted Kurt to know for sure that he still was the love of his life, if Valentine's Day hadn't been clear enough. Of course, Blaine would love it if those three words were sent back to him, and it would hurt a bit if they weren't, but the important thing was telling Kurt how he felt.

He barely acknowledged Artie being forced to turn off his camera, because his mother's text came through on his phone.

He hesitated. He knew she would be panicked, and she had reason. Just because Cooper had been able to keep his cool to try to calm Blaine down, it didn't mean his mother had that talent. When he had been sent to the hospital because of the Sadie Hawkins fiasco a few years back, she almost had to be admitted as well.

Blaine decided he would answer Coop's text first, because he hadn't yet, and then he'd see his mom's.

A couple of girls from the Glee Club aren't here with us. Take my mind off it. Were you shooting something today? Wasn't hasn't Kurt answered me?

He knew he could just let it all out, because his brother could take it. He would have added a whole section about his worry for Tina and Brittany, but he thought he'd distract himself with L.A. madness if he could. And that Kurt bit – he couldn't help himself. He was almost losing it.

Whispers coming from Mr. Schue made their way to his ears, and soon the teacher was getting out of the room, claiming he was going to find Brittany so Sam would calm down a bit. Blaine wanted to tell him to be careful, he didn't want anything happening to him, but his voice didn't come out in time for that.

He opened his mom's text.

Who is there with you? Are you okay? Are you well hidden? How are you feeling? I'm driving there right now.

Blaine let out a choked sob. He didn't want his family anywhere near a possible shooter. He wished he could tell her not to come, to stay as far as possible. Still, he was so scared that, as childish as it sounded, he really wanted his mother with him. And she would come anyway.

So there he stayed, eventually answering texts and ignoring Artie filming people saying goodbye. He was just keeping it together. There were people more panicked than him, but that wasn't any comfort. If anything, it made him even more uneasy; he hated seeing his friends like this. He wanted it to end. He wanted the uncertainty to go away.

Faintly, he listened to Jake and Ryder discussing something, and then a phone starting ringing in the choir room. Blaine turned his head to look and kept silent like everybody. The pitched sound echoed through the room until Coach Beiste said, "Turn it off." Then everyone was telling Ryder to do so. Blaine was mouthing to him, begging. The last thing they needed was for some shooter to find them because of that phone.

When Ryder finally did hang up, the silence fell upon them again, only broken by the soft, steady sound of the metronome on the floor; the one Blaine had dropped when pushing the piano. It was somewhat comforting, but now he wished it would stop.

A soft knock on the door, and he had to suppress a scared whine. Blaine knew it was probably Mr. Schue, but he would flinch from anything. Sam's face turned to the noise, and the boy was quickly on his feet as soon as Brittany entered, followed by two students and Mr. Schuester, who closed the door behind him.

Seeing with the corner of his eye the couple hugging did something to Blaine. Suddenly, it was even harder to keep his mind, and he could only purse his lips in an attempt not to cry out loud. And then came the sound from the corridor he would never forget.

"All clear!"

He raised his head, not yet able to understand what he had heard. Marley sobbed.

"Is anybody hurt?" Brittany asked softly, and the lights went on.

Blaine couldn't help but let out an "Oh, my God," as he stood, watching the scared faces of his fellow Glee clubbers. As soon as Sam released his grip on Mr. Schue, Blaine latched himself into the blonde, holding extremely tight. He only let go when the teacher asked for a group hug. Blaine fit between Sam and Ryder and he felt someone behind him.

There were sobs here and there as they held each other. He couldn't quite breathe in relief yet. His body was shaking, even as Mr. Schuester repeated that he loved them. When the teacher broke apart to grab the metronome, their hug slowly ended. Blaine tried to take one deep breath and raised his phone, dialing. As soon as he heard the faint noise of the call being answered, he let out a broken, "Mom…"

"Oh, my God, Blaine, honey, are you okay?" he heard the scared voice from the other end of the line. "Are you still inside? The police won't let anyone in, and the useless principal doesn't tell me anything–"

"They just gave the all clear. I-I should be out soon."

"But are you okay?"

Blaine thought for a moment. No, of course he wasn't okay. He felt like he could die from shock at any moment now. His legs were barely keeping him up, even as he leaned back into the wall. But he figured telling his mother that would only make her even more worried.

"Nobody's hurt," he decided on saying.

"Never ever scare me like that again, do you hear me?"

Blaine almost chuckled at Kurt's despaired voice over the phone. It hadn't taken him long to call after Blaine had gotten home, and Kurt had started sobbing pretty much right away. They had been talking for twenty minutes now since Blaine excused himself from his parents to take the call. The back of his mind was telling him that Kurt had yet to answer his three little words, but considering that the brunette's voice broke every two words, Blaine tried not to blame him.

"Never again, Blaine. I'm serious."

"I'm okay," Blaine whispered brokenly, trying to calm Kurt down, because the crying hurt him very much.

"You're not okay!"

Blaine had to sigh at that. Of course Kurt would see right through him. Sure, it didn't take much for one to notice that he was obviously not fine, but it kind of felt good that Kurt took notice. Before breaking into sobs again, that is.

"Hey," he started. "I'm not hurt. I'm right here."

"God, you could have been shot! Y-you could have…"

"I wasn't."

"I'm so sorry for not texting you back when you needed me to. What kind of person am I?"

Blaine sniffed. "A busy one. I get that."

"Blaine."

That dragged a new pool of tears out of Blaine's eyes and ripped a sob from his chest. He didn't know what it was – maybe it was the simple fact that Kurt was calling his name like he used to whenever Blaine did something stupid, only this time it was far more serious and with lot of undertones.

"I'm sorry. I got scared and panicked and sent you that message."

"Of course you were panicked! For heaven's sake, I'm still scared to death here. I should have answered it. I mean, my phone was right there, in my pocket. I could've just checked it. What if something had happened to you?"

Blaine shrugged, even though Kurt couldn't see him. "You would have seen it eventually."

"Yeah, but I already know that. I wouldn't have had the chance to answer."

They didn't talk for a moment. Blaine could clearly see Kurt biting his lip as he struggled with words, while the younger boy almost couldn't take the anticipation of what might come next in their conversation.

Not being able to handle it anymore, Blaine said, "Well, you can answer now, if you want. But I…" He took a deep breath. "I would've died happily had you answered it." He ignored the gasp that came at the word died and went on. "But I honestly just needed you to know that I still love you so much."

"Blaine…"

"M-maybe it was inappropriate, I don't know, but I would never take it back. I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, couldn't think clearly – I still can't. Please don't… don't be mad. I just wanted you to know." He lost control of himself again.

Kurt kept whispering his name over and over, trying to get his attention and get him to listen or at least calm down. It took a couple of minutes for Blaine to even realize he was still being talked to.

"You are gonna stop with this crap right now," Kurt said with the steadiest voice he could manage. "Stop… talking about what could have happened to you, okay? And stop apologizing for that text. You have nothing to apologize for."

"I don't know, maybe you –"

"I love you, too, Blaine. Never doubt that I would've answered you."

Blaine let out something that could only be described as a sob mixed with a chuckle and the smallest of smiles appeared on his face, only to disappear a few moments later. He shuffled on his bed to make himself more comfortable.

"Are you… mad at me?"

"Blaine, I thought we'd established that already. You have nothing to be sorry for."

"No, like… still mad at me. For everything."

Kurt sighed at the other end of the line and took a shaky breath. Blaine couldn't see him, but he could swear Kurt had just ran his hand through his hair and face while slowly closing his eyes. "I'm really not in the right mind set for that now. I can barely hold my phone to my ear, and Santana's just recovering from the breakdown she had ten feet from where I am, so just… don't right now, okay?"

"I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing."

"Sorry."

"Blaine."

"Okay." Blaine inhaled and let the air out very slowly to refrain from apologizing once more. No one said a word for a few moments, both trying to calm themselves down whilst listening to the other's breathing – a proof that neither were dead.

"I…" Kurt started and then sniffed. "I kind of have classes in a bit, so I should probably get to the subway. I… I really don't want to hang up. I won't be able to concentrate after all this."

"Me neither, but… you should g-go. I mean," he quickly added, "I really want to talk to you all day." He shook his head. "No, sorry, I shouldn't say things like that. But I want to. What I was most afraid of wasn't exactly dying; it was the fact that, if I did, I wouldn't have the rest of my life with the people I love. That my chances of ever seeing you again would be definitely zero, and I can't stand that thought."

"You are gonna see me again. If not in person so soon, over Skype. Please," he added in a whisper after a small pause.

"Of course. Anything you want." He took another deep breath. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too. Don't do that again."

"Won't. I promise. I have to live long enough to see your beautiful face again."

"You will live long enough to see my wrinkled, old face, is that clear?"

In spite of everything, the implications of that sentence made Blaine smile. So he definitely still had a chance after all. Of course it was their destiny to spend the rest of their lives with each other. He wouldn't have it any other way, even if he had to keep it to himself for a few more months or maybe years. Kurt was still his, no matter how mad he might be.

"Crystal." And he couldn't help but adding, "Just like your eyes."

"Okay, cheese-ball, that's my cue," Kurt's tone got a bit of its life back, but only for a moment. "Skype me after dinner, alright?"

"Will do. Love you," he couldn't help but repeat it.

"Me, too."