Blaine sighed as he looked in the mirror in his bathroom, eyeing the long gash on his forehead from his fight the night before--well, technically several hours ago. It was healing nicely, and wasn't anything too serious, but it was ugly. He'd won his last fight via submission, which was something he rarely ever did, and it was a rematch with Rod 'the Bod,' who could alter his body mass. However, he didn't anticipate Rod being able to gain a hundred fifty pounds, and a strike across the forehead with a fist the size of a small dog could do quite a bit of damage.

But he had to go to work, and Lee was not going to like this in the least. Sighing, he grabbed his jacket and headed out the door a few minutes early. On the way to the bar, he stopped by the store, and bought a beanie, putting it on his head to cover up the spot on his forehead, without even taking the tag off of the back of it.

Then, Blaine walked into the bar, heading to the back to hang his jacket up before finding Lee and then starting his shift. He always enjoyed talking to her before work, because they didn't get much time to talk during the shift. His only worry was that he hoped she wouldn't be too suspicious. But something in him doubted that.

Lee hadn’t seen Blaine since the previous day after they had gone to the gym. Not that that was very surprising. Blaine hadn’t worked the previous night, and he said that he’d had plans so it wasn’t like she had gone over after work like she did a lot of other nights. And daytime visits were the exception not the norm; even with hiring Gwendolyn, Lee still had things to do around the boutique, and she did have to try and get some sleep sometime.

So Lee was pretty eager to head to work at the bar that night because it meant she was going to see Blaine. Not that they were really even able to spend much time together or really talk unless there was an incident Lee needed to help Blaine clean up from. But that didn’t stop Lee from looking forward to seeing Blaine at work.

And as such, when she saw Blaine walking up to her, she couldn’t stop the grin she flashed at him. ”Hey hon, how was your day?” she asked, looked a touch confused for a moment. She hadn’t messaged him about needing a hat that night, and she had seen him outside on much colder nights not wearing one. ”And you’re still wearing your touque.”

As soon as he saw Lee, two things happened simultaneously. He smiled, and he wondered how in the hell he thought this plan with the hat would even work. He was a lousy liar, and she knew him well enough to know when the slightest detail was off.

"My day was fine. Mostly slept." He gave a slight chuckle, and then inevitably, she mentioned the hat. Yep, this was a stupid plan and a waste of five bucks. So, he took the hat off and put it in his back pocket, both showing off his battle-wound and his now-statically charged hair, which he didn't notice was now sticking up all over his head.

In a way, Lee wished she had been able to sleep for most of the day. By the time she had managed to finally pass out, she had only had about two and a half hours before her alarm had started going off. Though so far, that seemed to be enough to keep her from reaching a breaking point and simply passing out. Plus, it wasn’t like getting more sleep would make her feel more rested, she needed to be around people to get energy, sleep or no sleep.

The moment that Blaine took his hat off, Lee noticed the large, scabbed over cut on his forehead. Her eyes were so fixed on it that she didn’t even notice that his hair was standing up from static. ”What the hell happened?” Lee asked, stepping forward, all hints of her previous smile gone to be replaced with concern. ”Did you get hurt anywhere else?”

And there it was. He took a breath, looking at her. " That's the only place," he said, then continued again after a pause. "I had another fight last night. But that was my last one," he explained, then smiled a little.

"I know you weren't a fan of me fighting on the circuit like that, so...consider me effectively retired. I'm hanging up my gloves. Granted...Joe doesn't want much to do with me now, but he'll be okay." He smiled again, still not noticing his hair.

He said that that was the only place he was hurt, and Lee just looked at him for a moment. It’s not like he could feel if there was somewhere else, after all. ”You were checked?” Lee asked, just wanting to make sure.

But then he said that he had had a fight the night before, and Lee’s eyes dropped from the gash on his forehead down to Blaine’s eyes. He had said that he was busy the night before, but he hadn’t said what he had been doing.

And Lee blinked in surprise when Blaine went on to say that it had been his last fight. Because she hadn’t liked the idea of him fighting like that. Lee was speechless for a few moments, just staring at Blaine as he smiled at her.

”You didn’t have to do that,” Lee finally whispered. ”I mean, I didn’t like it, and don’t understand, but I know how important it is to you…”

"I wanted to, so you don't have to worry anymore," he said softly. "Besides, it was bound to happen eventually. If I was a pro I'd be close to retiring anyway, if I hadn't already."

He paused a moment,thinking about how to say this next part. "Yeah, it did mean a lot to me. But you mean more. Besides, I still have the gym to fall back on, and you don't have to worry about me staying in one piece." He smiled again, hoping he phrased that correctly.

As Blaine spoke, with the soft tone that he was using, made a smile come back to her face, a blush covering her cheeks.

But as he continued, the surprised look came back to her face. Hadn’t he said that he went back to fighting after his powers were outed because he loved it? And that’s why he had still been fighting?

Lee’s heart was pounding in her chest as she looked at Blaine. ”You like me more than fighting?” Lee asked, her voice still a whisper. With what Blaine had said, Lee didn’t think that she could make her voice go any louder.

It was that moment he realized what he was saying, and just how heavy that implication was hit him. Fighting was his world, and he loved it. It was what kept him going. And to put her above that...was deep.

It'd really only been a few weeks, give or take. And he basically just told her he...

Blaine took a breath. He was in too deep to turn back now. "Yeah," he murmured quietly. "I guess so..." His voice was still quiet, and now he wasn't quite sure what to do.

Blaine was silent after her question, as was Lee, as she stood there and just stared at Blaine. Was he actually saying what it sounded like he was saying? Lee knew that she liked Blaine, that she cared about him far more than she ever honestly thought she would. But it had been such a short time, such an extremely short period of time that they had been together. He could actually mean that he l-

Lee's thought was cut off as Blaine finally spoke. ”Yeah. I guess so…

He hasn't actually said the words, but Lee was damn sure that Blaine had just said that he loved her. Blinking, Lee tried to swallow the lump she now found to be in her throat.

She couldn't swallow it.

So instead Lee stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Blaine, giving him a tight hug.

The silence was unbearable, coupled with the way she just stood there for what seemed like an eternity. His mind began backtracking and questioning everything up until that point. It was so unsettling...

And then she hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her in return as he looked down at her, but there was still silence, and he didn't know what this silence meant. Was it good silence? Awkward? Bad? He didn't know but he felt it may have lied somewhere between the last two. He knew it was time for him to get to work, but he didn't want to. Not with so much uncertainty in the air.

Lee smiled as she felt Blaine's arms wrap around her, returning the hug. But what was she supposed to say to that? She had told him when they first decided to try things that she didn't know if she would be able to fall in love again. Blaine had said he didn’t know if it would be possible for him. And while Lee hadn’t thought that it would be out of the realm of possibility for him, but in no stretch of her imagination had she ever thought that he’d be saying that to her after only a matter of weeks.

Finally, Lee managed to swallow the lump in her throat. ”Thank you for that,” Lee whispered. ”It really does mean a lot.”

He heard her words, and they did comfort him. But only slightly, because something still felt...wrong. What if he'd invested too much into this too quickly? Why did he go all in like this in the first place? Why did he feel like he couldn't help it? These questions and more swirled around in his mind as he released the hug, but he did smile.

"Thanks." He spoke simply but he didn't know what else to say. "I need to head out, hun. Talk to you later?" With that, he planted a kiss on her cheek before turning to take his spot in the bar.

Lee let her arms go from around Blaine as she felt him pulling away and looked up at him. He had a smile on his face, but it wasn’t all that big, or all that happy.

Though, he had essentially said that he loved her, and all she had said in return was ‘thanks’. But how could she really say anything else? While she cared about him a lot, more than she thought that she would, she didn’t actually love him, did she? And wouldn’t saying she did just be worse than saying nothing?

”Of course,” Lee replied when Blaine asked if they’d talk later. ”And I’ll be out there later.” Then Blaine kissed her cheek before he left to start working, and Lee couldn’t stop the smile. But moments later, he was gone, leaving Lee alone with her thoughts.

Making her way to sit in the office, Lee chewed on her bottom lip as she thought. Had Blaine really just alluded to saying he loved her? That thought made Lee’s heart pound in her chest again, and her breath caught in her throat slightly.

A few moments later, Lee realized that the corners of her lips were turned up slightly, even though her bottom lip was still between her teeth. He’d had his last fight, he’d decided to stop doing something that he loved doing and that he’d done for a large part of his life, so she wouldn’t worry.

The problem was, that’s exactly what she was doing now. Not because of what Blaine had said, and not because of what he had chosen to do. Lee was worrying that she wouldn’t be able to reciprocate Blaine’s feelings as strongly as he was feeling and would end up hurting him because of that.

But most people loved multiple people in their lives. Sure, most of them never found someone who could be called their soulmate, but did that truly mean that Lee couldn’t love someone else? It was in a very different way, but she loved Kevin, after all. So maybe not as deeply, as intensely, but surely she would be able to fall in love with someone else, right?

Lee took a deep breath and let her head fall down onto her hands resting on the desk in front of her. It had only been a couple weeks, for goodness sake! What the hell was she supposed to say to Blaine when she went out there and saw him? When they really had a chance to talk after work?

That...really had not gone as planned. He just wanted to let her know he cared about her and what she thought, and somehow he ended up saying he loved her--without actually saying it. But he may as well have. And now, because he wasn't great with words and feelings...he may have screwed this up big-time. Great.

He sighed as he made it out to the bar and leaned against his usual wall. It wasn't that busy yet, but he didn't care. Yes, he felt a strong emotional bond with Lee, but he didn't think it'd ever go this far.

And now things were just weird. Part of him wished he hadn't given up fighting. Sure he was a man of his word, but now he just wanted to punch something. Repeatedly.

And...that was kind of frowned upon in here. It was going to be a loooong night...