Author's Note: I've been on hiatus for a while, but I was really inspired to write a Klaine fic from the song "The Good Life" by One Republic, so I thought I'd write. I'm going to try and get my brain back into my other stories soon, but here's just a little something until then. Enjoy :)
"I can't wait to see you again," I confessed to my dad as I waited to get on my plane back to Ohio. After graduating from New York University and going straight into show after show, all I wanted was to go home and have Carole's cooking and hear Dad watching the football game. I missed every little crummy patch of Lima Ohio, and, even though I'd never say it out loud, I missed high school.
I miss Rachel Berry and how we pushed each other to be better. I miss Mercedes, my best friend for most of high school. I miss Tina and Mike and Puck, and oh God, even Quinn. But most of all, I miss Blaine.
I know, I shouldn't be thinking of him like that. We broke it off when I graduated, so we wouldn't have anything holding us back. But here I am, twenty six years old, and I haven't had a long term relationship since him. Sure, I've had dozens of one night stands or month long relationships with guys, but nothing has ever been quite like the magical years of high school where love was real and expressed often. Back when we didn't need sex to be happy, and when sex did happen, it was just a bonus. We could enjoy each other's company, drinking coffee and just watching a movie. We didn't need to go out anywhere fancy or do anything special. Just being together made everything worth while.
I chuckle at myself, knowing that all of the magic of high school was long behind me, even if the feelings weren't. "What's so funny? Kurt?"
"Oh, sorry Dad. Just thinking," I said, realizing I was still on the phone. "I'll see you soon."
"Yeah Kid. I'll see you soon," he said, his smile seeping through the receiver. I could smell gasoline and beer through the phone and feel his firm hand on my shoulder, telling me I did a good job. His pride was overflowing, and it made me happier than anyone could ever know.
"Yeah, bye Dad," I said, hanging up with my dad and getting on the plane. I secured my carry on in the overhead compartment and sat down in my seat, trying to not jump up and down like a little kid again. I wonder if I could drop in the school, just to say hi to Mr. Shue. I don't see why not. Maybe I could even sneak into the auditorium and go through the prop room, just to remember all the fun we had in West Side Story.
"Kurt?" I heard an oh too familiar voice say. I was rushed back into the smell of coffee and biscotti, hair gel, stuffy uniforms. I was in the common room with the leather chairs and couches, bedazzling a casket for a small bird. I was dancing at Junior Prom. I was kissing and loving and floating and flying.
"Blaine?" I choked out, looking up into the amber eyes that hadn't changed a bit. "What are you-"
"I'm on my way home, to visit my folks," he said, shock painted over his features as well. I gave him a quick look over: loose blue jeans, an old Dalton Academy hoodie, still short hair but not gelled, wearing glasses.
"Me too," I said with a smile as he sat down next to me. The high school heart fluttering, sweaty palms kicked in, making my face flush. "So, how have you been?"
"Oh, alright I guess," he said, giving me that crooked smile that made me want to be reduced to a puddle. "I just graduated actually. Now I'm looking for a firm to start working at."
Oh, he became a lawyer, like his dad wanted. I remember that conversation that shadowed his junior year, my senior year. He wanted to be a singer, his dad wanted lawyer. The positive was that it brought Blaine and Mike close together, and the negative was that Blaine would do anything to make his dad happy. "You seem to have been doing really well for yourself. I saw you on a marquee a month or so ago."
"Yeah, I've been really lucky," I admitted. "Do you still sing?"
"Only in the shower," he joked, running his tan hand through his hair as he chuckled nervously.
"I'm sure your dad's proud, of you graduating and all," I said offhandedly, knowing that if he still knew me, he knew what I meant by that.
"Yeah, he is," he murmured as he pulled at a loose string on his hoodie sleeve. "Burt must be proud of you too."
"Yeah," I said, smiling at him. Before we could say more, we had to watch the instructional video on what to do if the plane plummeted into the ocean and then we lifted off. I immediately pulled out my gum and offered Blaine a piece. The altitude change is the worst.
"Thanks," he said, taking the gum and popping it into his mouth. "You know, it's funny that we met back up this way."
"Yeah, it is," I said, wondering if I should risk saying more.
"I was actually thinking about you today."
"Really?" I said, just a little too breathlessly. Don't get ahead of yourself Kurt.
"Yeah," he said, putting his hand on top of mine, "I've really missed you Kurt. What we had in high school, it was something special. I know we had to break up so we could go experience things on our own, away from Lima. But, it's been almost ten years. I think I've had enough of being alone."
I just stared at him, wondering if he had picked up mind reading while we've been apart. All the nights that I would wake up at three a.m. and just know that somewhere, Blaine had just woken up from one of his chronic nightmares. All the days that I would go shopping and think "Blaine would look good in this". It was all piecing itself together.
"I couldn't agree more," I said, not regretting any of the syllables that left my mouth. "But, we should take it slow. I don't want to ruin anything. Not like I have with so many other people."
"I agree," he said, squeezing the hand that he still was holding.
That was the day when I realized that the magic first love of high school wasn't just hormones being mashed together in a horny mash of craziness. It was a real thing that you only came across once or twice in a lifetime. We were perfectly formed to each other through the years we'd spent together and even though we'd been apart for so long, it was like nothing had ever changed. Even today, after we got off the plane, we could get coffee and biscotti at the Lima Bean, sitting at the exact table we always shared, and it'd be like just yesterday I got off the plane from Nationals and he told me for the first time that he loves me. This has got to be the good life.