"So this is what you meant when you said you were spent and now it's time to build from the bottom of the pit, right to the top," Blaine sang to himself as he walked down a mostly deserted street at far too early an hour, music blasting into his headphones. "Don't hold back. Packing my bags and giving the academy a rain check. I don't ever want to let you down. I don't ever want to leave this town 'cause after all, this city never sleeps at night."

Blaine never told anyone that he was sad. That's not what Andersons did. Instead, he rolled his shoulders back and walked with a sense of purpose. His father always told him that if he looked like he knew where he was going that he would eventually get there. That's what Andersons did. They ended up somewhere.

He had always figured that place would be New York City and after a lifetime of growing up in Ohio, he had finally ended up in the greatest city in the world last year. His first term at NYADA had been amazing, and he had made a lot of really great friends he was sure he would know for the rest of his life. However, as the semester had drawn to a close and the long months of summer lay ahead, he had turned to the people who had already been there for him for so long. He had know way of knowing when he was walking down that street that summer would change his life for the better. It was the summer that would take away that sadness, the summer that would finally heal him.

Rachel was the first of the Lima immigrants to come part of his little rag-tag group. She had already been in New York for two full years at that point and it seemed as though she had never lived anywhere else. She had taken to the city immediately, despite all the drama her first year at NYADA had provided. When she was offered a minor role in "Funny Girl" that spring, she had delayed her sophomore year to make the most of her opportunity. She knew that Broadway breaks didn't come along every day, and she was willing to suck it up in the chorus just for the chance to be part of the Great White Way.

Blaine had ended up staying with her his first summer in New York when Kurt headed out to the West Coast to spend time with Mercedes while she recorded her second album. The two of them had formed a somewhat amicable friendship now that they were both living in New York, but Blaine knew that it was superficial at best. They co-existed for Rachel's benefit because she loved both of them, and after her big breakup with Brody a few days before her big debut the May before, she needed all the friends she could get.

However, with Kurt gone to LA, Blaine had convinced Rachel that they should get this ridiculously huge loft he had seen up for sublet on Craig's List. A viewing and an interview later, the two of them had signed a three-month lease that gave them some of the best real estate in Manhattan at a surprisingly cheap rate. They spent their mornings at dance classes and their afternoons exploring the city. It was pretty much inevitable that he would become her official best friend when Memorial Day weekend faded into early June. He had never been bitchy or competitive with her the way that Kurt was.

It's about that same time that Puck turned up with an old duffel bag of clothes and his guitar case strapped to his back. He'd kicked around California that first year before returning back to Ohio last year to help take care of his mom when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She'd pretty much forced him into taking music classes at OSU between her appointments, and when auditions for Tisch came up again that spring, she made it her biggest wish that he would at least try to get in. He was probably the only one surprised when he gained admission.

He told Blaine and Rachel that he needed to stay somewhere after his apartment building got condemned, though considering the few times Blaine had seen it, he wasn't really surprised. The place had been infested to say the least, and the blood stain in his bedroom was pretty permanently set in. Rachel helped him set up camp in a corner of their open living room, even finding an old silkscreen separator to give him a little privacy in the small area pretty much dominated by an old futon and stacks of sheet music and records. Puck was able to kick in on the rent and utilities with the money he got from tending bar at this dive a few blocks away and tips he made while performing at coffeeshops around the city or on the street. The three of them became their own little family, and Blaine liked having the two of them around.

He watched them dance around each other for awhile, wondering when they were finally going to give into temptation and just hook up. Rachel insisted that they were just friends and Puck mostly muttered how it was "fucking weird to be living with Berry" and Blaine prayed that the whole thing didn't end in some awkward disaster. However, even between cuddling on the couch and Rachel dragging him to Temple on Saturdays, the two of them managed to stay just friends. Blaine knew that Puck needed the stability of their little threesome after the curveballs life had thrown at him last year, and Rachel was still in the middle of her whole dating herself thing.

One girl who wasn't committed to only herself was Brittany. She'd spent her first year out of McKinley at Julliard, finally getting to dance without having the additional stresses of academics put on her. She had thrown herself completely into student life at the prestigious arts school and had easily made friends who loved dance as passionately as she did. She'd led the freshman student showcase and made a name for herself easily. A girl with her personality and unique sensability usually did. All of that only went to make Sam love her more.

They had been together for a full year when they both ended up in New York, her at Julliard and him at the New School's contemporary music program. Sam had never expected to even go to college, but when the university had offered him the chance to attend on a full-ride scholarship and follow his soulmate to New York, he hadn't thought twice about taking them up on the opportunity. They'd both lived apart in the dorms their freshman year and hated it. After pretty much living together during the second half of their senior year, Sam had gotten pretty used to sleeping next to his girlfriend and missed her when her rehearsals ran long or his class schedule got in the way.

When the very blonde couple found out that Puck had landed in New York and at the Blainchel loft as Brittany liked to call it, they pretty much just assumed that they could move in. There was a miniscule space with a door that they had been using for storage since Puck decided that he preferred his nook, and Blaine came home one day to find Sam and Puck pushing an old mattress into the tiny room. Rachel had simply shrugged as if she had given up before declaring that she was going up to the roof to practice. So by the time July was in full bloom, their spacious loft had been filled to the brim with five kids crazy about music from Ohio.

It could have been cramped, and they definitely had their fights when Puck came home loudly after a night out drinking or Sam and Brittany didn't bother to shut the door when they were hooking up or Rachel woke everyone up way to early while singing her warm ups and making tea. Blaine got pissed when Sam kept drinking his milk without asking and Brittany had this shared bathroom policy that Rachel wasn't fond of and Puck may have threatened to glue Rachel's lips together if she didn't quit lecturing him about his pork habits. However, it all came with love and it was exactly what they needed in a city like New York.

They were all sitting together on the roof one night, soaking up the rare cool evening in an otherwise cruel New York summer. Brittany was between Sam's legs, her head pressed against his chest while his guitar rested on her lap. Blaine lay in the sole lounge chair Puck had dragged up there after Rachel complained about never having anywhere to sit. His face was turned toward the sky, looking hopelessly for any sign of a star. Puck was leaned up against the wall, Rachel tucked neatly beneath his arm, the two of them huddled together in quiet discussion and lost in their own little world like usual.

"We should sing or something," Brittany suggested out of nowhere, her fingers playing idly with Sam's as they strummed an uncertain beat on his acoustic guitar. "It seems like forever since we sang together. In fact, I don't think I've even heard Puck sing at all since I've moved in."

"You mean that you get to miss his nightly shower performances when he gets back from the bar?" Rachel asked rhetorically, elbowing Puck gently in the ribs. "He wakes me up almost every night with his rendition of some John Mellencamp song."

Puck kissed the top of her head messily before leering at her in a way that was purely him. "You're just pissed because you'd rahter me wake you up another way, babe."

Rachel scoffed at his gentle teasing, sending the other four off in a chorus of pleasant laughter. It wasn't long before Blaine was pulling her to her feet so that they could all perform. She never was one to turn down the opportunity to sing for someone. Rachel tugged Brittany out of Sam's grasp.

"What should we sing?" Blaine asked, looking over at Brittany.

"Just follow me," Sam ordered as he started to strum a soft, easy melody on his guitar. Puck grinned as he recognized the opening beats. He began to softly drum along, slapping his hands in time against the concrete wall, just as Sam started to sing. "93 miles from the sun. People get ready, get ready, 'cause here it comes. It's a light, a beautiful light, over the horizon into our eyes."

"Oh, my my, how beautiful. Oh my beautiful mother," Puck took over. "She told me, son, in life you're gonna go far. If you do it right, you'll love where you are. Just know wherever you go, you can always come home."

Brittany's distinct voice chimed in on the next two lines before she sang solo. "240 thousand miles from the moon, we've come a long way to belong here. To share this view of the night, a glorious night, over the horizon is another bright sky."

"Oh my my, how beautiful, oh my irrefutable father," Blaine continued. "He told me, son, sometimes it may seem dark but the absence of light is a necessary part. Just know, you're never alone, you can always come back home."

"Oh, oh," the girls sang together while the boys echoed with a singluar, "You can always come back."

"Every road is a slippery slope, but there is always a hand that you can hold onto," Rachel sang, looking at Puck and then Blaine. "Looking deeper through the telescope, you can see that your home's inside of you."

"Just know that wherever you go," Puck and Blaine replied in unison back. "No, you're never alone. You will always get back home."

Puck dropped the percussion as Sam's single voice finished out the song with only his guitar to accompany him. "93 million miles from the sun. People get ready, get ready, cause here it comes. It's a light, a beautiful light, over the horizon into our eyes."

The four of them clapped as Sam sat down his guitar, grinning up at his girlfriend and then over at his friends. "We sounded pretty good still, huh?"

"Pretty good, Samuel, really?" Rachel laughed. "We were brilliant! Absolutely amazing. I'm really glad you guys are here. You've made this summer wonderful. I thought I was going to spend it alone until Blaine asked me to live with him, and now, we have this whole little New York family."

Puck came over and slung his arm around her shoulders. "Getting sentimental on us, Berry?"

"Leave her alone, Puck, Rach is right," Brittany said in the brunette's defense. "And you know she is, you love it as much as the rest of us."

He just sort of lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug. Sam rolled his eyes at his friend's feigned coolness while Blaine could only laugh at how transparent Puck was.

"Well, if you really mean that, I have a proposition for you all," Blaine announced. "I got a call from the property owner last night, and it looks like he is going to be in London for another year. He said he'd extend our lease if we were intersted. What do you think about spending sophomore year living here together?"

"Really?!" Rachel squealed, moving away from Puck to hug Blaine excitedly. Brittany soon joined in, jumping and down with them in a tight circle. "Oh, it'd be so much fun!"

"Beats the dorms," Sam agreed, looking over at Puck. "I don't think I need to ask Brit what she's doing. What do you think?"

"I'm in. Easier than moving."

And that's how the five of them ended up spending their sophomore year of college, the best year of their life up to that point, in a loft in the middle of pretty much everything on earth. There would be friendships and romances, heartaches and heartbreaks. Old faces would pop back into their lives and new ones would become old friends. It was complicated, messy, cruel, terrifying, dramatic, sad, amazing, and through it all, they had each other. This is the story of that year.


Author's note: Lyric credits go to "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons and "93 Million Miles" by Jason Mraz