"I have to go," Kurt said with his eyes closed, between kisses. "Before your parents come home."
"Mmhm," Blaine agreed, and rolled on top of him, straddling his hips.
Kurt laughed. "This is not the ideal… the… but… home…" Kurt mumbled, forgetting what he was trying to say while Blaine kissed him.
"Oh, I have something to show you," Blaine remembered, and pulled away from Kurt suddenly.
Kurt frowned. "Is it your naked body this time?"
"No," Blaine smiled. "It's more paper." He grabbed a page from his desk and wiggled it in front of Kurt's face. "I've officially passed the 10th grade. Only two months late. I get to start 11th with everyone else."
Kurt grabbed it. "But we didn't actually study… like, at all."
"Obviously I'm just naturally intelligent."
Kurt dropped his head back onto Blaine's pillow. "I'm literally the worst summer tutor in the world. I think I forgot I was even supposed to be your tutor until just now. When did you do your homework?"
"Nights…" Blaine said, thinking. "Yeah, nights."
"But you're supposed to be sleeping! Regular sleep schedule, Blaine Anderson."
"Yeah, yeah," Blaine rolled off of Kurt. "I know." He laid down next to Kurt and took his arm, kissing the inside of his wrist.
"I have to go," Kurt said quietly.
"Then go," Blaine said, not letting go.
Kurt just sighed. "Remember prom night? I mean, after prom night, at my house?"
"Barely," Blaine joked.
"Do you want to do it again sometime? Or… like… more?"
"Yes, of course. But it's hard. We were… fairly reckless. We could have gotten caught. It was… an intense night that we dealt with in an intense way, and we got away with it, but I don't know how easy it would be to do again. And it's not just that… I keep thinking about what you said to me that night."
"I have no idea what I said to you."
"You said we might have rushed into dating, and we shouldn't rush into sex, because we could ruin our relationship. Our friendship. And you're right. I should have listened to you then."
"No, you shouldn't have."
"Kurt," Blaine laughed. "We have to consider logic and our crazy insatiable lust for each other. You were being thoughtful. Anyway, I know you weren't ready then and maybe you aren't now. Maybe I'm not, either."
"But don't you want to just rip my clothes off, sometimes?"
"Yeah, most of the time. But that's what masturbation's for, right?" He grinned.
"But you shouldn't have to fantasize about me if I'm right here. And anyway…" he hesitated, and there was a dull noise somewhere in the distance. Kurt didn't pay attention to it but Blaine's eyes flicked to the window. "I am ready now."
Blaine looked back to Kurt. "You are?"
"Whenever you are. I trust you."
Blaine felt like he was melting. He was nervous and ecstatic all at the same time. He barely opened his mouth to reply when he heard footsteps at the top of the stairs and a quick knock on his closed bedroom door.
He and Kurt jumped up from the bed. Kurt went to the window like he might jump out, but Blaine pulled him back. There was no way he was going to let Kurt jump two stories down. "Don't freak out," he whispered. Kurt was pale. "We're not doing anything wrong. We're doing homework."
Kurt nodded faintly.
"Blaine?" came a voice from the door. "It's Cooper."
Blaine sighed, exasperated. "What are you doing here? Don't come in."
"Why not?"
"I…" he faltered. "I'm with Kurt."
"Are you wearing clothes?"
He frowned. "Yes?"
Cooper threw the door open. "Hi, Kurt."
Kurt waved, but he still looked like he was going to faint. "Hi."
"What are you doing here?" Blaine asked again.
"I'm in town, do you mind? Am I not allowed to visit now?"
"I… just…" Blaine didn't know what to say.
"More importantly, Mom and Dad are going to be here in about five seconds," Cooper interrupted. There was another noise downstairs, the front door opening and closing. "There they are."
"Oh my God," Kurt whispered, growing paler.
"Don't worry, Blaine'll distract them, I'll take you to the back door." Cooper waved for Kurt to follow as he went back into the hallway.
Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand as he passed. "I'm going to ask them."
"You are? Are you sure?" Kurt stopped.
"No more worrying. I'm sure."
Kurt sighed. "Good luck."
Blaine gave him a quick kiss. "I love you."
"Love you," Kurt replied, and hurried after Cooper.
Blaine followed them down the stairs and then, instead of following them toward the back door, went into the living room where his father sat, studying a newspaper.
"Hey, Dad," he said, trying to sound blase.
"Hello," his father replied, in a tone that made it clear he was really asking, 'what do you want?' He lowered his newspaper.
Blaine sat on a sofa across from him. "Where's Mom?"
"Making dinner, I believe. Is Cooper here? I saw his car."
"He's… outside, making a call."
"Hm," his father replied, and lifted his newspaper back up to his eyes.
"Can I talk to you about something?" Blaine asked, shifting his legs nervously. "It's kind of important."
"Sure, Blaine," his father said, but never took his eyes from the paper.
"I want to transfer to McKinley."
His father sighed. "You're halfway through high school. You like Dalton. You have friends there. It's a far better program. You'll get into any college you want with a diploma from there. Why, other than Kurt, would you want to give that up?"
Blaine refused to be thrown by the question. "I want to feel like a normal teenager. I feel like I'm hiding at Dalton. I'm avoiding what I used to be afraid of, which is being judged and harassed. I want to stand up for myself. And I want to wear regular clothes again, live at home… maybe spend more time with you and Mom." He'd never planned on saying that before, but when it came out he was a little surprised to find it was true. Maybe their strained relationship was because they almost never spoke, because they were almost never in the same room together.
His father said nothing, thinking while he read.
"I do have friends at Dalton, but I have friends at McKinley, too. I'm friends with Kurt's friends."
"The same friends that helped put you in the hospital the last time," his father said. "What about college?"
"I'll still get good grades. I'll probably get better grades. I'm farther ahead than they are."
"And you should stay that way. You'll never get anywhere in life being mediocre."
"But I'll be happier."
"You don't know that." He paused. "You just want to see Kurt more often. You already see him every weekend, which is more than enough."
"What's wrong with wanting to see him more? He makes me happy."
"It's a bad idea."
"How is it a bad idea? He's moving to New York after graduation and we'll be apart for a whole year."
"I think you should be apart for a while. You're already too close." He paused to look at Blaine for a moment, delivering his verdict. "For me, it's not worth it. I'm not interested in transferring you. Dalton is the best school for you." The newspaper went back up.
Blaine waited, but he knew the conversation was over. He felt a little hopeless, but not completely. He had one more trick up his sleeve.
He went into the kitchen where his mother and Cooper were talking and helping each other make dinner. He crossed his arms over his stomach and leaned on the refrigerator.
"What's the matter with you?" Cooper asked, his mouth full of food.
"Mom," Blaine ignored him and looked at his mother. "I want to transfer to McKinley."
"What did your father say?" she asked, stirring a pot.
"He said no."
She sighed. "What about your future?"
"Kurt is my future."
"You still need to go to college and have a career."
"I will still go to college and have a career, Mom. I'm not dropping out of school, I just want to change schools. What if I try it for a year? Or a semester? If I go back to Dalton next year, as a senior, my diploma will still come from there." He had no intention of actually doing this, but it seemed like a good thing to say.
She thought about it for a while, silent. Finally she said, "I'll talk to your father about it later."
Blaine smiled and hugged her from the side. "Thank you."
"Spending every day with Kurt," Cooper mused. "Have you ever even gotten into a fight yet?" Cooper asked.
Blaine glared at him. "No. And maybe we never will. Maybe it's impossible, or something."
Cooper and their mother laughed.
"Why couldn't it be? We were made for each other, why would we ever fight? I mean, isn't that the point? We just get each other, we know how not to hurt each other."
Cooper rolled his eyes and left the room, crunching on a carrot. His mother shook her head, but said nothing. She just snickered.
"Mom," Blaine frowned at her.
She looked at him and sighed. "Well, honey… it's just… it's very nice that you found your soulmate," she began, her tone verging on insincere, "but it doesn't mean… well, anything."
He blinked at her. "It doesn't mean anything?"
"No," she said simply, "not really. You know, one of the girls I work with has a cousin who met her soulmate. They got married in six months and were divorced before a year had passed. They don't speak anymore. They don't ever see each other."
"Well, that's…" Blaine tried to explain it away, but he didn't know how.
"If you ask me, it's all a big hoax. It's all based on your astrological chart, right? On the position of the stars based on where and when you were born."
"I guess."
"And how often is your horoscope completely wrong?"
"Yeah, if you go on Google and check your horoscope, it can be wrong. But there are people who can read into the charts and… and it's really much more complex than…" he didn't know what he was saying.
"It's all vague. It's all only a possibility. It's a possibility you'd have a great relationship with thousands of people in the world, you could say, not just one person. My point is, dear, when people meet their soulmates they think they've got it easy after that. They think, like you think, that nothing can possibly go wrong. They get too comfortable. And that's how relationships get ruined."
"So you think we should be uncomfortable?" Blaine asked.
"I think you should be aware your relationship is not invincible, if you want it to last. Not that I…" she trailed off.
"Not that you what?"
"Not that I mind if it lasts or not. I understand how much he means to you, how much you think he means to you. But I happen to agree with your father that Kurt's not exactly a good influence on you."
Blaine bit his tongue and concentrated on not yelling at her. He just stood still and turned red and stayed silent.
"But I do want you to make your own decisions. And making mistakes is how we grow as human beings. If you want to make the mistake of compromising your education for puppy love, I think you should. I just hope you realize you've done the wrong thing before senior year. But, I guess," she turned to him and smiled, "we'll worry about that next year."
Blaine stared at her for a while, speechless. All he could finally say was a terse, "Thank you," before he stomped back to his bedroom and tried not to slam the door.
But despite her intentions, his mother almost always won over his father. He'd gone to her to change his mind since he was a child, since he used her to get toys or video games. Barely a week had passed before his father wordlessly dropped paperwork in front of him one night at dinner, transfer papers Blaine was to fill out, that his father had already signed.
All he had left to do was tell his friends at Dalton. His heart raced as he dialed Nick's number. But he calmed a little as they exchanged pleasantries. Of course the Dalton boys would understand. They had even spent a little time with Kurt, which was more than his parents could say for themselves. They knew how in love Blaine was with him. They knew they couldn't, shouldn't be separated.
"What would you say if I told you I wasn't coming back to Dalton this year?" Blaine asked finally, taking a deep breath first to work up the courage.
"I'd say absolutely not," Nick answered. "Is your dad still trying to send you to that boarding school in Switzerland?"
"No, no," Blaine said. "Not since 9th grade. It… it was my idea. I think I'm going to transfer to McKinley, to be with Kurt." There was no thinking about it, it was happening. The ink was dry on the paper. But it seemed nicer to put it that way. He didn't want to admit that he'd made the decision without consulting his Dalton friends at all, not even to himself.
"Oh," Nick said, was silent, and then said, "oh," again.
"I know," Blaine closed his eyes, embarrassed. "I wish we could all be together at one school…"
"Kurt doesn't want to come to Dalton? We could use his voice."
"Kurt can't really afford to go to Dalton, and all his friends are at McKinley. He's comfortable there."
"But all your friends are at Dalton, and you're comfortable there."
"I know, but…" Once again, he was speechless. Apparently he couldn't rationalize it to anyone.
"Well, if his parents can't afford it, I can understand. My parents can hardly afford it either. They really wanted me to graduate a year early. Cheaper."
Blaine picked at a hangnail on his thumb. "I'm sorry, Nick. I am going to miss you. All of the Warblers."
"We'll miss you, too, Blaine."
"But you're not getting rid of me that easily," he tried to smile. "We'll still hang out. All the time. Every weekend. And I'd be happy to rejoin the Warblers at any off-campus, unofficial performances. As long as you'll have me."
"We'd be happy to have you. But, Blaine?"
"Yeah?"
"What if we lose touch with you? I'm sure you'll make new friends. You'll be too busy every weekend to drive all the way out here."
"Not true," Blaine promised. "It's not going to happen."
"Are you sure?"
"One hundred percent."
"Well, Kurt must be happy about this."
"I actually haven't told him yet. I mean, he knows I want to transfer, but I haven't officially told him that I am, yet."
"You haven't told me, either. So it's official?"
Blaine's shoulders slumped. "It's official."
"I guess all I can say is congratulations."
Blaine smiled a sad smile. "Thanks."
They didn't speak for much longer before they hung up. It was hard to talk when Blaine felt like they were just trying not to say goodbye, forever, instead. He couldn't shake the feeling he might be doing the wrong thing, but he steadfastly ignored it. He tried to imagine the look on Kurt's face when he showed up to McKinley on the first day of school, and knew that it would make the sadness between he and Nick worth it after all.