Author's Note: Once again, I do not own a damn thing... unfortunately. Thank you to those who reviewed, subscribed, and favorited. Your words mean a great deal. Also, I've decided that this will be split into three, distinct parts (too much Hunger Games lately? Perhaps), though how many chapter per part is still yet to be decided. Once again, reviews mean the world to me and thank you so much for reading.

What if this storm ends?
And leaves us nothing
Except a memory
A distant echo

Chapter Two

It feels like a lifetime, but it's only about three seconds before Blaine feels Jesse's hand jerk out of his and he watches the man jump back like he'd just been bitten. The two of them stare at each other, the restaurant falls silent, and no one speaks a word as the music from the Timers fades away and the alarm is finally done. Blaine opens his mouth, but no words come, and it seems like their entire group is having the same problem. Until of course:

"What the fuck, Jesse?" Rachel's voice is strong and clear as a bell, like the music that just broke through the restaurant, only bitter instead of bright. Her voice turns soft when she says, "I thought that I was…" and she stops, pulling her lip between her teeth. "That's why it didn't sing."

Jesse looks at her, and Blaine sees nothing but pain in his eyes. It's all he can look at, because he can't bear to turn and see Kurt's expression. He's terrified of what he'll find there, so he keeps his gaze trained on Jesse St. James instead.

Carefully, as if he doesn't want to, Jesse lifts his wrist and pulls the band away, dropping it unceremoniously on the floor. His eyes study it, cold and calculating, as if the line of zeros there have the answers he's looking for. Jesse looks back at Rachel, and Blaine feels his heart twist at the ache he sees in that face. "I assumed that when yours went off, that mine did, too…" He sounds so confused, so frustrated. "I guess I thought that everyone was exaggerating when they said what it felt like… I did feel something, I didn't even bother looking at my wrist, I was so convinced…"

Rachel cuts him off. "I thought that meant the music was just a myth, but…"

"The Timer only sings when it has a partner." When Kurt speaks, his voice is wavering, and when Blaine finally turns to look, he wishes he didn't. The look on his face is so broken, so defeated… Blaine has never seen Kurt Hummel look like anything that even resembles defeatbefore. His lips are a thin line, like he's trying to keep it together and Blaine wants nothing more than to take him into his arms and make it all stop… but that won't do much, will it?

Rachel asks, "What?"

"I don't know why," Kurt hedges, "but the alarms only sound when the Timer has found a match. I've only seen it happen once before."

Blaine turns to Kurt, his eyes welling with unshed tears. He starts to ask, but Rachel beats him to it, her question a quiet, "So, it's true? Some of us don't have a match?"

Jesse caves and wraps his arms around her, eyes full of questions and pain and guilt; Blaine looks away, he can't stand it. So, he looks back to Kurt… and that picture isn't much easier to see. The first blue-eyed boy Blaine ever loved reaches over and takes his wrist, breath shuddering as he pulls the band off. Blaine looks down at his own skin to see painful zeros glaring at him.

"I'm so sorry," he says, because he is. "I always hoped that you would…"

Kurt's response is a bitter laugh, and the sound of it is almost maniacal. It scares him a bit, but Blaine reaches over and takes Kurt's wrist in his own. A defeated Kurt lets Blaine pull the bracelet off, and it joins Blaine's on the ugly restaurant carpet.

When Blaine sees the zeros, his response is a stuttering, "Who?" (Blaine has always been pretty oblivious). For a moment, Blaine lets himself hope. Has Kurt met a match and resisted it? Is it possible that they keep on as they are? Instead, Kurt smiles sadly and reaches up to touch Blaine's cheek. It feels hot on his face and all at once, the hope is crushed and he realizes. "Oh…"

"Yeah…" It's all Kurt can say.

It's the perfect picture of tragedy, two couples destined to destroy each other… Blaine feels the urge to reach down and scratch at his skin until he breaks the Timer away, but he doesn't. Instead, he pulls Kurt into a hug, muttering his name once against his hair. His voice breaks as he does it and Kurt just holds him tighter. Both couples stand, clinging to each other in every way possible, as if they can keep a hold on what they have.

Kurt pulls away first again and Blaine stares at him, breathing carefully through his nose (it doesn't shutter so much that way). He feels Kurt squeeze his hand before he says, "You two should…" his gaze flicking back and forth between Jesse and Blaine.

"No." The response is instant, strong, and not at all what anyone expects to hear. Jesse pulls away from Rachel, staring Blaine down as if he can cut their thread with his glare. "No, no, no."

Rachel looks pleased and as Blaine looks to Kurt, the expression there is unreadable. As for himself, he's just confused.

"Jesse…"

He snaps, "Don't talk to me like you know me," and he takes a step or two backwards. "I don't…" Jesse sighs, covering his face in his hands, exhaling harshly through his fingers. "I don't even like men!"

Blaine laughs a little, "Well, it's not like you can –"

"Can what? Fight it?" Jesse drops his hands and glares at Blaine like everything is his fault. "Like Hell I can't." With that, he makes a beeline for the door, letting it slam behind him.

That's when Blaine realizes a whole room of people have been watching. His eyes go to Rachel first, who is watching him carefully too – like she's deciding who should be the one to chase Jesse. Blaine then looks at Kurt, and he can't stand the dejected look in his eye. Kurt makes a motion, like he's telling him to go and of course Blaine hesitates… but his wrist starts to itch and somewhere deep down he knows that Jesse is very wrong.

…But it would it be so bad to try? To resist for as long as he can? How wrong would it be, to stay with Kurt for as long as possible? As Blaine studies Kurt's expression, the answer is clear. No, prolonging the inevitable will do nothing but cause Kurt more pain in the end… and Blaine is already finding it difficult to look at him as it is. With a sigh, Blaine leans over to kiss Kurt's forehead and then chases Jesse out the door.

Blaine steps out the door to find Jesse leaning against the outer wall of the restaurant, his hand pushing back those perfect curls of his. Momentarily, he's struck again by how attractive the other man is, and then by the question of whether or not that's the timer on his wrist talking. Then again, does it matter? He supposes not. Blaine stands there for a moment, unsure of what to do or how to approach the strange situation, but eventually settles on leaning on the wall beside Jesse, his head falling against the brick. It feels natural, somehow.

Blaine doesn't speak, deciding instead to see what Jesse will do. The other man doesn't move away from him, which Blaine takes as a good sign… but still, he waits.

It takes a few moments but Jesse says, "I couldn't get in the car."

He counters, "I couldn't let you leave." Blaine lulls his head to the side, looking at Jesse with a sad smile. "Jesse, I don't think that we can fight this."

One of Jesse's fists hit the wall. Hard. Blaine closes his eyes.

"I don't… want this," Jesse says, and his words slide through his teeth.

The retort comes out in a snap. "And you think I do?"

Jesse sighs, pushing himself off the wall. "It's different for you," he says, a bitterness in his voice. "You're already…" he stops.

"Gay," Blaine finishes, his eyebrows raising.

Jesse looks as frustrated as ever. "I'm not..." Why is the word so hard?

"Jesse, look," Blaine says, reaching out to him without even thinking. Jesse pulls back and just as quickly, Blaine returns to the wall, squeezing his eyes shut. Why did he do that? "I don't know why I did that."

Jesse sighs and says, "Me, neither," and his voice is so quiet that it makes Blaine's eyes snap back open. "This is so confusing."

Blaine sighs too. "I know."

It isn't difficult for Blaine to relate to Jesse. After all, the first time that you're drawn to someone of the same sex is absolutely terrifying, no matter if it's your own accord or the pull of Fate. Not only that, but Blaine is sure that he's not alone in the strange, undeniable bond that seems to have formed between himself and the unfamiliar man in front of him. It's weird, spontaneously caring so much about a person he's just met; it's what made Blaine reach for him without thinking, what makes his arms long to wrap around Jesse and tell him everything was going to be all right. It's what keeps him from snapping more than he already has and, Blaine imagines, what has made Jesse's voice become so soft. Blaine looks down at his wrist. A strange thing indeed.

Suddenly he asks, "Did you really think Rachel was it?" Blaine lets his shoulders relax against the wall as he slumps, sounding only curious. "All these years, and you didn't look at your wrist?"

"Did you look?" Jesse asks, and the tone is a little accusatory. "Did it ever cross your mind to care about who the Hell a stupid tattoo says you should be with?"

Kurt's words from earlier flash into Blaine's mind. Who cares what a stupid tattoo says, anyway? Blaine had said he didn't then, but all of a sudden, he cares too much for comfort. Again, Kurt's voice is in the back of his mind, this time saying: yet.

"I knew Kurt wasn't my soul mate." Blaine says it with such a bitter disdain, like the words are poison. "I didn't have to look. You, though – you never even looked?"

Jesse scoffs. "I never cared to." He looks down at his mark and his lips pull into an almost snarl as he does. "I covered it up because I thought it was bullshit – because it pissed me off that…"

"That whatever's behind all of this thinks that it can make a decision for you?"

"I never planned on letting it matter," Jesse says. "I didn't care what it said."

Blaine sighs, his lips twitching slightly upward. "And now?"

"I don't know why I told you all of that." Jesse's voice is crisp.

That's when Blaine knows that Jesse is just as taken as he is. Blaine just isn't as afraid of it. Perhaps he never was. Perhaps he always did wonder who it was that would move the Earth for him; he's a romantic in that way. Even as he fell in love with Kurt, he knew deep down that one day, someone would come along and he'd have no choice. The difference between Blaine and Jesse is that, were it not for Kurt, Blaine would be okay with letting the Timer choose. He's not nearly as frightened of having his own options taken away… not with love, anyway. Yes, he is just a romantic like that. But Jesse? Blaine can see him fighting it. He can see that part of him is simply aggressive on principle. It's not just Rachel, for him – it's the whole idea. That and the fact that Jesse's suddenly been thrust into a sexual identity crisis and… well, at least Blaine can understand that.

"Would you just… come here?" Blaine asks. "You know that you want to."

Jesse shakes his head. "That's the thing," he says, holding up his hands. "I don't."

It seems to take some effort, but Jesse heads back into the restaurant. And just like that, Blaine is alone and rooted to the spot. Just like that, Blaine Anderson is in love with Jesse St. James.

And he's really not sure what to do about it.

A few minutes later, Blaine watches Jesse leave with Rachel. Blaine feels like Jesse is also leaving with a piece of him, and it's just stretching him thinner the further he goes. Kurt stands by his side as they watch the other couple go, one of his arms draping around Blaine's waist, like he's not sure that Blaine can stand on his own. To be honest, Blaine isn't sure either.

"What do you want to do?" Kurt asks.

Blaine sighs. "Can we just go home?"

"Sure." And the word sounds like a breath of relief.

But they both know that now that the Earth has cracked, they're all going to slowly fall into the dark one way or another.

When Blaine wakes up the next morning, Kurt is gone and there is a post it note on the bedroom mirror telling him it's simply for the best. Best for who, Blaine isn't sure.

Though, it's not like it matters. It's not like he can blame Kurt for high-tailing it out of there. This whole time, his clock was set to zero and Kurt sat there biding his time. Blaine wonders what it was like for him, hiding his numbers and waiting for the day that his secret was out. He wonders how Kurt felt when he heard the music he never received from Blaine's clock, how it must be now, to know that soon, Blaine will be with someone else, someone he's meant for – and Kurt doesn't get the second chance. The thought makes Blaine sick to his stomach and he crawls back into bed, as if he can hide from his thoughts. But, he can't stop them. He wonders if Kurt thinks that what's happened with Jesse makes Blaine love him any less and the thought makes him shoot up and reach for his phone.

If there are going to be any misconceptions on this whole thing, that's not going to be one of them.

But, there is no answer, and Blaine rambles into the answering machine. "Kurt, it's me, Blaine… but you probably knew that, huh? Yeah, um… Listen, I just… I understand you leaving but you have to believe me when I say I still love you, okay? It's really important that you know that. I know that last night changes everything… at least, I think it has to, right? Oh, I don't know… Just don't think it changes how I feel, all right? Because it doesn't. It won't. Ever. Okay? Okay…"

Blaine hangs up feeling heavy hearted and very, very empty.

He can't bring himself to eat, so he slumps back on the couch and mopes over old cartoons on television. Blaine is in love with one man, being gravitated towards another, and neither of them are speaking to him. Blaine pulls his legs up to his chest, hugging his knees to him. It absolutely cannot get any worse.

Of course, that's about when he hears a knock at the door… and when he swings it open, there stands none other than Rachel Berry.

Oh. Okay, perhaps it can get worse.