centered items are song lyrics. italicized items are memories.

its rather short but i hope you enjoy it! please let me know what thought in a review, if you'd be so kind! :)

happy reading,

~ Matchbook

In Ohio and New York, both Blaine and Kurt are listening to Lima's local radio station; Blaine on the actual radio, and Kurt via their online stream.

Blaine has just opened the bookmark he has for mapquest; the fastest driving route from Lima to Manhattan.

"And now here's Snow Patrol on Lima's 923.9 FM. 'Set Fire To The Third Bar'," the radio announcer says as the next song starts.

I find the map and draw a straight line over rivers, farms, and state lines.

The distance from here to where you'd be. It's only finger-lengths that I see.

I touch the place where I'd find your face.

My fingers in creases of distant dark places.

Blaine gently traces the route with his finger, taking comfort in how short the distance looks on such a small map. He thinks of Kurt and New York, smiling, and looks to the picture of the two of them that's tacked to the cork board on the wall above his desk.

I hang my coat up in the first bar. There is no peace that I've found so far.
The laughter penetrates my silence; as drunken men find flaws in science.
Their words mostly noises; ghosts with just voices.
Your words in my memory are like music to me.

Kurt remembers coming out his English class last week and calling Blaine to vent. The teacher had started had started a huge discussion and by the end of it, Kurt had just been tuning the entire room out, trying to keep his current throbbing in his head from completely taking over. Blaine had had a difficult day as well so they'd listened to each other's frustration and then laughed about how ridiculous people can be some times.

I'm miles from where you are, I lay down on the cold ground.
I- I pray that something picks me up and sets me down in your warm arms.

After I have travelled so far. We'd set the fire to the third bar
We'd share each other like an island until exhausted, close our eyelids
And dreaming, pick up from the last place we left off.
Your soft skin is weeping; a joy you can't keep in.

The day before Kurt leaves for New York, the two boys are together. They cuddle and kiss and feel nothing but love and ecstasy. They go to the same places they've gone before but with a renewed sort of gentleness and care for each other; as if they think too much or press too hard, this beautiful person will disappear forever.

I'm miles from where you are. I lay down on the cold ground.
And I, I pray that something picks me up and sets me down in your warm arms.

Blaine is out to dinner with his parents when his phone goes off. It's just a simple text from Kurt saying that he loves him, but his parents give him a warning look when he starts to reply so he returns his phone to the pocket. He has to wait a whole hour- which at the time felt like a year- until he can return Kurt's text.

Kurt has had a stressful Saturday full of play rehearsal. Nothing too awful, just a long day that leaves him exhausted. Rachel embraces him and he leans into her, seeking comfort. But though her hugs usually make him feel better, this one doesn't quite do the job, so he texts Blaine because he knows that the boy has a family gathering that night, only to have to wait a whole hour to hear back from him. He knew that Blaine might be busy at the moment he sent the message but it doesn't make the wait any less painful.

Blaine closes the opened MapQuest page and tries to distract himself with the book he's reading for English class, and Kurt goes back to the research paper he writing, but they're both still aching for each other.

'Just a few more months', they both think. 'Then this hurt can finally stop.'

I'm miles from where you are. I lay down on the cold ground.
And I, I pray that something picks me up and sets me down in your warm arms.