Chapter 1: The Kids are All Wrong

Kurt

Every morning, Kurt woke up with an odd taste on his tongue. At once he felt the taste of gratitude that yet another day had arrived. A new, bright spring day, each day teeming with potential for wonder and realized opportunity. While Kurt was thankful for his life, he was more thankful that he had another day to face talking to Blaine.

The engagement haze had reached a plateau now that a week had passed. At first the couple was besieged (in Kurt's case, attacked) with messages of congratulations and well wishes for the future. To further complicate matters, Jacob Ben Israel dedicated a significant amount of coverage on his website, thereby keeping McKinley abreast of anything and everything 'Klaine' related.

Klaine.

While Blaine enjoyed the attention the couple was now gifted with on a daily basis, Kurt found it to be at best incessant, at worst supremely irritating. Kurt especially hated the new shipper name the couple had been blessed with by the apparent best man, Sam. Truthfully, Kurt could not stand being tagged in random photos on social media with any hashtag including the term 'Klaine'. Blaine seemed to be blind to Kurt's rage, reveling in the attention and pressing Kurt to begin planning the wedding now that summer was approaching.

It bothered Kurt that Blaine was so eager to jump right into wedding planning. Rather than plainly speak to him about his concerns, Kurt found it much easier to keep a distance away from Blaine. Kurt thanked his lucky stars when it fell upon him that he was to due to return to school for the final stretch before the summer. He only felt slightly guilty that he was looking into summer classes and potentially extending his internship with Isabelle.

Kurt's ability to keep a distance from Blaine was made much easier by the fact that Sam had nearly attached himself to Blaine's hip since the proposal. While welcoming the break from the commotion of their reunion and engagement, Kurt found that Sam's increased presence did give him a bit of pause.

Kurt would not have a chance to even grasp his concern about Sam.

Finn was dead.

At first Kurt thought he was dreaming. He wasn't really engaged and his father and stepmother weren't breaking down over the news. Finn, the boy he had once crushed on and eventually grown to be a valued friend, confidante, and brother of sorts. Finn? Dead?

During the three weeks immediately after Finn's death, Kurt found himself barely able to function. Suddenly, far too much was happening. Kurt, Rachel, and Santana had returned to their apartment in Bushwick but still it was different. No longer would Rachel chat on the phone with Finn into the wee hours of the night. In the new light, Kurt found his and Santana's annoyance at Finn tragically trivial. Kurt had not even said much to Finn since he had started school, other than answering the phone and little small talk. No longer could Kurt look forward to visiting home and seeing his large stepbrother's genuine, goofy smile.

Throwing himself into his schoolwork seemed to help him ignore the gnawing hole in his soul. The unfortunate coincidence that the date of Finn's death was one day after his late, beloved mother's birthday was not lost on him and he only felt worse being powerless in the waves of memories of Finn and his mother combining into a powerful torrential storm that threatened to knock him out every day.

In this grief, Kurt was delighted to return to his old stomping grounds in Lima. As he walked to the memorial set up by their dear coach Mister Schuester, Kurt realized that he felt abnormally happy in such a familiar place. If he closed his eyes, he was back in the beginning of senior year: happy with Blaine, friendly with Finn and the guys, bullying to a manageable minimum. Kurt now felt weirdly seasoned and aged as he looked across the club at the other, younger members, including his beloved Blaine. He knew that at least for Blaine, this was a new experience. Kurt wanted to get back to that; he craved that sense of innocence and naïveté they still had.

As people were heading out for the day, Blaine inched closer to Kurt, softly taking his hand. Kurt nodded to the exiting members that he'd stay with Blaine.

Once the room was clear and the door had been closed, Kurt eyed Blaine with gratitude and anticipation. Blaine looked sad though not so much that he showed a full grasp of the loss.

"Finn's the first for you, right?"

"Yeah, I mean...I know I've been very lucky," Blaine nervously chuckled.

Rather than dwell on his lack of luck concerning death and loss, Kurt smiled at his emotionally young fiancé. After a deep breath, Kurt moved into Blaine's personal space and placed their lips together.

The kiss was at first tentative then quite passionate. Kurt hungrily devoured his fiancé's lips as he moved himself out of the seat so that he was now straddling Blaine. He moved his lips away from Blaine's lips and kissed a trail down Blaine's jaw and neck, holding so tightly onto Blaine's shoulders as if he were afraid that Blaine would somehow disappear in that moment.

"Wait...uh, Kurt? Kurt?" Blaine asked timidly.

"You're not enjoying this? I bet it feels like you are," Kurt said saucily as he traced his left hand down Blaine's torso to his pelvic region.

"I mean, yeah, we haven't been like this in I don't know how long, but uh...the timing? And the place?"

"Blaine," Kurt placed soft kisses all over Blaine's jaw, neck, and shoulders as he spoke. "I don't care. We should grab onto the time we have. Not waste any of it."

Abruptly, Kurt stopped his trail of kisses and looked Blaine in the eye.

"I love how you're holding me close like this," Kurt said with adoration.

"I couldn't just let you fall. I support you. I love you, you know that," Blaine inflected.

"Then let's move up the wedding!"

"What?" Taken aback, Blaine nearly dropped Kurt onto the floor, picking him up before he fell onto his bottom.

Unfazed, Kurt stood with hands on hips, determined.

"We love each other. We both know how time is not always on our side. We can do this. It's what you wanted."

"I-I-I know. It's just-wow, Kurt. We haven't discussed anything about our plans since I proposed. I was starting to think you weren't in it all the way. Not that that's a bad thing!"

"Blaine, I need to grab onto all the happy I can right now. You make me happy. You want to marry me. I want to give you what you want."

At Kurt's words, Blaine tearfully smiled, pulling Kurt into a strong embrace. They hugged for an indeterminable amount of minutes, Blaine resting his head at Kurt's shoulder.

Kissing him on the cheek, Blaine softly uttered, "I love you."

Kurt smiled to himself, pleased to have Blaine with him in that moment. No matter how strong or mature Kurt thought himself to be, he could admit that he needed a someone. He needed a person. And Blaine was willing and glad to be that for him.

Echoing the magnificent performance Mercedes had given for the club, Kurt whispered in Blaine's ear softly, "I'll stand by you."

His reasoning had been all wrong but now it was all right.

Puck

No. The two letter word had been the only thing on his mind since he had learned of her best friend's passing. He refused to believe it. So during the funeral, the following three weeks filled with Facebook collages and YouTube tributes, and now, the memorial theme of the week headed by Mister Schue, all Puck could say was no. He had absolutely no desire to spend all this time mourning the best friend he had ever had with overemotional performances and stilted conversations regarding his grief. Puck was present for the events yet he maintained a sharp detachment and aloofness. He barely chatted with anyone from the New Directions; it hurt too much without Finn. He thanked God that a stoic, wooden expression did not look at all foreign on his handsome, chiseled face. People saw that he was not to be talked to, and fearing the return of Puck's worse attributes, they left him alone, just how he liked it.

Until he spotted Kurt Hummel of all people standing coolly by a random dumpster near McKinley High's back entrances.

In a moment, Puck was quite surprised by Kurt's newfound confident stature. A large amount of time had elapsed since he had taken a good look at the pale man standing there. Taking the sight of him in, Puck noticed that the jacket, which only a few years prior would have looked comically large and unfit on him, now only looked slightly out of place on him. Kurt was now taller and seemingly more filled out than he had once been. Maybe this new growth would permit the two to converse in a pleasant way they had never been able to while in high school.

"What's with the, uh, Bansky loser parade?" Puck offered.

"You're exhausting." Kurt's cold, swift head shake in response was only a bit disheartening.

"You seriously don't recognize this dumpster?" Kurt asked disbelievingly.

Placing the dumpster in a mental image of his younger, immature self tormenting a young cherub that looked vaguely like Kurt, Puck nodded. "Oh, yeah."

The way Kurt kept his eyes on the dumpster as well as a small but distinct distance next to Puck made Puck think that Kurt was doing everything he could to ignore him.

"Soon as Finn joined the Glee Club, being a loser, an outcast and a misfit, it all became okay."

The cold, disconnected tone in Kurt's voice elicited a primal response from Puck, who desperately wanted to take hold of anything that could potentially ease the loss he would not let himself feel. It got the best of him and Puck felt himself able to do little to diminish the harsh words and tone forming in response to Kurt's demeanor.

"Hey, give me that jacket. Seriously, I'll pay you for it. I'm sure you have a whole room full of mementos. I got nothing to remember him by." Puck did not mean to commodify the jacket, nor did he mean to diminish Kurt's breadth of physical and emotional connection to Finn to just 'a room of mementos'. Puck internally kicked himself for showing his desperation.

"Well, you can't have this," Kurt firmly and plainly stated.

Anger began to rise within Puck as the rejection of his plea hit him.

"That jacket is reserved for people who earned it." Puck was going too far, unable to keep his emotions in check. When the words he was to say next began to form, he berated himself for not being able to get back to his stoic, well-worn mask.

"I'm not gonna let you bedazzle it with glitter and turn it into some Project Runway shawl."

Kurt not giving any semblance of a facial response to the cheap shot stunned Puck to his wit's end. Even more shocking, was Kurt stepping into Puck's personal space with icy blue eyes and stating in a fixed voice, "So what are you gonna do, beat me up and take it from me? Throw me in a Dumpster? You can't have it."

As Kurt walked away from him, Puck could not believe how their interaction had escalated. He had no idea when Kurt had gained such bravado and moxie. Moreover, the emotional intensity had an unfortunate reaction of arousing him. Puck could not escape the dirty thoughts of him being physical with his former victim who now unabashedly called him out on his shit swirling around in his head. And why would he want to? Puck was experienced enough now to know that not only were labels and rules so unimportant in the face of important things like life, love, and loss, but that he could do nothing to ignore the seeds of attraction growing within him. If anything, the way Kurt had so quickly permeated through the walls Puck had constructed signified the weight of his feelings. In the name of life, and Finn, he would not shoo them away, but accept them as they were and try to make the best of them. He let himself say yes.

Sam

Blaine rambling a mile a minute about Kurt was in no way a new occurrence. A great deal of their conversations over the year had in some way involved Kurt—Blaine's guilt over cheating, Blaine's half-baked attempts to win Kurt back, Blaine's odd acceptance of Kurt's proposal for a casual relationship, and finally Blaine's quest to marry him. Blaine talking Kurt-things over with Sam was not new yet something felt new about this conversation, in the face of the marriage proposal.

"He said he wants to plan the wedding! I mean, he seriously wants to marry me! I'm so happy, Sam, you have no idea."

Truthfully, Blaine's tremendously over the top energy gave Sam at least a clue. Sam said nothing, just smiling sadly at Blaine.

"Sam, you're definitely gonna be the best man." Blaine joyfully repeated the already established point, only deflating when he saw the sadness in Sam's eyes.

"Sammy, you okay?"

"Oh, sure. Just...I don't know. It's all hitting me, you know." Sam looked at him with real sadness in his eyes, forgoing the smile he had planned to put on.

"It's a lot on you Sam, I know that." Blaine put his hand on top of Sam's.

"I thought you weren't one to touch people you don't know," Sam chuckled, pleased with the physical contact and warmth transferred from Blaine's hand to his.

"I do know you Sam. And I know how much you care about me, and how much you cared about Finn. Change can be so difficult."

Sam beamed as Blaine so eloquently verbalized the discomfort he had been feeling. He loved having someone who 'got' him so easily.

"You don't have to be afraid. I'm not leaving you."

"You're not?"

"Of course not. You're the best friend I've had. I couldn't go on without you."

Sam continued to beam as he hugged his friend, laying his head on Blaine's shoulder as Blaine did the same to him.

"Finn going so quickly scared the shit out of me. And then you getting married and off to New York with Kurt. Kinda like all in the space of moment. A big Ka-Boom!" Sam said wistfully as he shifted his head to get comfortable.

Blaine rubbed his back soothingly. "No matter what changes, us being connected never does. And it's not like you can't come to New York with us."

"It's kinda late for that now," Sam said, resigned.

Blaine pushed Sam off his shoulder so he could look him in the eyes, hands on his shoulders.

"It is never too late. We'll figure something out, I promise. While Kurt works on the wedding, we can work together to find you something. I'm not letting go of my best friend," Blaine said so emphatically that Sam found his heart bursting.

"Hey, Blaine?"

"Yes, Sammy."

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

It clicked for Sam. He could not afford to just give up on his friendship with Blaine just because things were threatening to get in the way. If Blaine was willing to fight, he could too. Plus, Sam knew in his heart of hearts that whatever he had with Blaine was worth it. He could not let him, or them, go.

A/N: Thank you so much for the views, reviews, and follow. I so appreciate it! Reviews are always welcome. Best!