First time writing in the Klaine fandom! In this, I'm writing as if Blaine is the same age as Kurt. Everything else follows canon verse. This will hopefully have around four parts if readers are interested in it. Comments always appreciated after reading!
ANASTOMOSIS
"Will you sing us a song and we'll sing it back to you. We could sing our own, but what would it be without you." –My Heart, Paramore
Prologue
It rains that day; the kind of rain that pounds the streets of Ohio and drowns out the bustling noise of the town that has held Kurt captive for nearly eighteen years.
It's the kind of day Kurt would rather spend in his car with nothing but Blaine, jasmine tea, and ginger snaps from Timothy's - one of the surprisingly few snacks that he and Blaine both share a love for. The local radio station would play songs that are old and slow and sweet, and Blaine would sing to him and they would be at peace and in love and happy.
Except it's the day of class president elections, so instead Kurt straightens his collar, speed-walks into McKinley, blinks the raindrops out of his eyelashes and sips coffee that manages to taste both deeply bitter and rainy at the same time.
Afterwards, Kurt thinks to himself that he should have known. Because she is Rachel Berry, the girl who sticks gold stars beside her own name and loves deeper and more passionately than anyone Kurt has ever known. And if Rachel was going to forfeit the election to Kurt, she was damn well going to go all out and stuff the election box to try and help him win, too.
Rachel doesn't think about the reality of false ballots, and the consequences for Kurt. She doesn't think about the permanent mark on Kurt's records, a tiny detail that derails Kurt's entire dream of NYADA.
Somewhere amidst Rachel's tears and Kurt's frustration, Blaine makes a choice.
Kurt doesn't notice when Blaine slips into Principal Figgins' office, but he realizes the moment Blaine returns what he has done. The realization makes him briefly hate Rachel with every fiber of his being - except he can't because this is Rachel. She is the girl who falls too hard and loves too easily and is too used to losing things.
Kurt realizes and all he can taste is bitter bitter bitter rain.
It is 1am and the silence as Kurt drives would be suffocating if the rain weren't still pounding on the metal roof of the car. Finn must have told Burt what had happened, because it is 1am and still Kurt's cell is sitting silent and dead on the dashboard of the car.
Blaine speaks as soon as Kurt parks the car, in that perfect voice that Kurt has loved ever since the very first note: "The problem with Ohio is that everything seems endless. Like it'll rain forever."
Blaine is all bright eyes and dewy skin as he watches the entire world of Ohio pass him by outside the passenger seat window. And this, this is what Kurt loves about Blaine. Blaine is kindergarten, hazel eyed innocence and old souled love. Blaine is petty and sensitive, and yet better than anyone at looking out of his own bubble into everyone else's worlds.
"I made a choice," Blaine is all eyelashes and delicacy and strength. And here are soft eyes burning into Kurt's. "I made a choice. This is your chance to get out of here, Kurt. NYADA isn't just your dream, and it isn't just Rachel's either. I know you. It isn't me you want beside you there in New York City. That dream is yours and Rachel's."
It rains that day; the kind of rain that washes out heartbreak. It's the kind of day where there isn't anywhere else Kurt would rather be than in his car at 1am with Blaine.
Kurt has loved Blaine's voice from the very first note and, he swears, he always will. But Blaine is telling him to go, and it's about time Kurt got to be a little selfish. This town has held him captive for nearly 18 years and here, in front of him, is the most beautiful, selfless boy of his dreams.
So Kurt makes a choice too – he lets Blaine take the blame for stuffing the election box. He lies through gritted teeth and can't breathe as he takes Blaine's dreams and future and watches as it gets torn up and shredded just like the false election ballots (and feels Blaine's hazel eyes on him the entire time).
Kurt's summer passes by in a blur of warm nights and long drives and Blaine.
The Hudmels grow accustomed to mornings of Blaine's laughter and learn to set five places for their Friday dinners, smiling unsurprisedly when Kurt barrels through the door, his curly-haired boyfriend in tow. ("You have grass in your hair…and a tan." Finn states, blinking curiously at his stepbrother before shrugging and happily digging into his food.)
Burt watches his son, bloated and giggling in the backyard as his boyfriend bounces around hyperactively imitating Lady Gaga. Two hours past Kurt's curfew, Burt looks up as Blaine carries a sleeping Kurt into his room, tucks him into bed and kisses each of his fingertips delicately.
"Drive home safe, son."
Blaine smiles, waves, and tiptoes down the hall and out the front door. Burt watches as Blaine, curled up in one of Kurt sweaters, starts up the car and drives away, Teenage Dream trailing behind his car. Burt is not a romantic, knows that life and time and distance have a tendency to take the good out of good things, but Burt walks away from the window and hopes that Blaine will be the last boy Kurt loves.
It rains the very last day of summer too—soft and gentle and forgiving, washing away the grey dust and dirt of Ohio's streets.
They sit tucked together in Kurt's car, letting the hustle and bustle of Ohio pass them by outside the windows as they sing the songs from the radio as loud as they can. Kurt smiles, holds Blaine's hand as his boyfriend croons Somewhere Only We Know to him.
There are places that Kurt and Kurt's future belongs too—the streets of New York and under bright spotlights and on stages and places where he can shine and be beautiful and brilliant and Kurt, but in this moment there isn't anywhere he'd like to be but here with the gorgeous boy he'd stopped on the stairs of Dalton so long ago.
They've already spilled Kurt's tea and Blaine crushes the bag of ginger snaps as he leans in, cups Kurt's cheek and watches as glasz eyes become fuzzier as they lean in together, lips sliding together. Kurt's hand pulls at the waist of Blaine's shirt urgently, and Blaine lets his hands slide down Kurt's thighs as the brunet clambers over to thoroughly invade Blaine's personal space.
"It's stopped raining," Blaine breathes into Kurt's neck as he nibbles.
The sounds of Ohio fade into the distance, the town that has held Kurt captive for eighteen years and is finally, finally, finally letting him go.
Kurt holds Blaine's hands to his heart, looks at Blaine with wide, beautiful, foolish eyes and they've never talked about the distance that will be between them. And this is what scares them most, this is why Blaine sputters and can't breathe and aches when he wakes up in the middle of the night and thinks about the miles and heartbeats and lifetimes that will soon be between him and Kurt.
"I'm not letting you go," whispers Kurt, sure and fierce and absolute like he has always been.
In this moment they are just two boys running down a beautiful hallway and sharing their first kiss and crying about a bird and the familiarity of Blaine's bedroom as they connect physically for the very first time and this, Blaine thinks, this is worth fighting for.
This is what forever tastes like.
"I'm never saying goodbye to you."
Summertime is always the best of what might have been.
