"Rachel's leaving."

Kurt glanced up in shock. Not at the news – he'd known for days – but at the fact that Finn was confiding in him at all.

"I'm sorry."

He couldn't think of anything better to say. Finn had this awful, helpless kind of look on his face; he was making movements like he didn't even know whether to stay standing up or to sink down into a chair.

"She got early admit to this fancy theatre school in L.A. You know she didn't even suggest that we should try long distance? All this time, and she really would just drop us all to go off and be a star."

"Finn, are you seriously blaming her for this?"

Kurt stood up, his chair scraping back against the kitchen tiles, and moved to stand beside Finn at the sink.

"You know she cares about you."

"Yeah? She cared about me enough to make out with Puck behind my back!"

"Finn…."

There was something so wrenching about the look on his face that Kurt felt himself reaching up to pull him in closer, one arm around Finn's broad shoulders. It felt weirdly comfortable. He'd been so hyper aware of their physical boundaries since the fight, but this was natural. He couldn't help noticing that Finn no longer towered over him quite so much as he used to.

"Finn, this was always going to happen. You thought she'd stay in Lima forever? What are the chances that you were going to get into the same schools? This is such a huge thing for her; don't turn it into something bitter by making her feel guilty."

"I know. It's just…I thought we had more time, you know?"

There was silence for a moment. Then Finn turned suddenly – pressing his face into Kurt's shoulder. Breathing in. That old, jolting, thrilling, tugging feeling rose up in Kurt's chest as his heart began to pound.

And he'd thought he was making progress.

"Everything's changing," Finn said softly. "Do you ever wish you could stay in high school forever?"

"No. Not once."

Finn laughed a little.

"But the worst part is I can't stop it. Everything's going to change and I can't stop it."

They broke apart somewhat awkwardly. Memories kept flooding Kurt's brain – that game of Spin the Bottle at Rachel's party, when the two of them had shared the briefest, driest peck you could imagine to a chorus of whooping. The first night at the hospital after his dad's heart attack; they had been alone, Kurt had insisted on staying there the rest of the evening. Right before he left, Finn had got this strange look on his face, pulling him in for a hug. Kurt could still feel lips pressed against his temple, his shaky breath by his ear. He remembered Finn looking at him with the same intensity he had in his eyes right now.

"Kurt."

Suddenly the déjà vu was disorientating. Lips crushed against his desperately – a hand gripping his face, fingers curling in his hair. But this time it wasn't Karofsky. It was Finn, beautiful, sweet, adorable Finn.

Kurt managed to work his hands up between them and prise him off. They were both breathing hard.

"What are you doing?"

Finn was still too close.

"Please…Kurt, please…"

Blood was pounding in Kurt's ears. Something new was throbbing in his veins, stronger than he'd ever felt before. When Finn leaned in to kiss him again, he didn't push him away.