June, 2014

As soon as Blaine spotted him in the sea of faces he noticed how much Kurt had changed during the last five months. His hair was perfectly kept as usual, but there were blond highlights shining in the sunlight. Kurt's fashion sense seemed to be still ridiculously original, but he looked a little taller and more mature. His blue eyes kept travelling through the airport, probably in search of Blaine's hazel ones and when he finally found him, Kurt's whole face brightened up.

Even though Blaine wanted to run through the open space to get to Kurt as fast as he could, he remained calm and waited patiently for Kurt to approach him. "Hi." He said simply when they were finally standing face to face. Instead of answering Kurt pulled him close to his body and rested his chin on Blaine's shoulder. The dark-haired boy closed his eyes inhaling Kurt's scent. Man, it felt so good to have him back in his arms. Blaine knew that this moment would be short-lived, but he wanted to hold onto it forever.

When they finally pulled away Blaine could see sparkly tears in his best friend's crystal blue eyes, but Kurt quickly wiped at his eyes and grinned at the other boy. "New York is not the same without you." He said as a way of greeting.

And all it took was one teary-eyed grin and all the feelings and emotions buried deep inside came back to the surface knocking the wind out of Blaine. He had been fine without Kurt. He had been able to live without the constant ache in his heart and now despite his brain's protests Blaine started falling in love with his best friend all over again.

"I sure hope so." Blaine said smirking even though right in that moment the reality around him was falling apart. Despite Kurt's protests he took one of his suitcases and they started walking towards the exit. "So what have you been up to?" He asked feeling the joy enter his heart. They had two months to spend together. Maybe it wasn't that much, but for now it had to be enough.

Kurt shrugged. "Not much, to be honest." He said as they navigated through the parking lot. "School's hard, so I devote most of my time to studying and working." He was silent for a few seconds. "And you don't have to keep sending me money for rent." He added. "I have a new roommate."

Blaine smiled. "That's great! Who is it?"

"Her name is Amanda." Kurt said. "She's awesome, but her British accent can get annoying sometimes. I'm still trying to get used to that."

"She's British?" Blaine questioned unlocking his mother's car. He opened the trunk and loaded Kurt's suitcases.

"Yeah…"Kurt eyed the vehicle suspiciously and turned to Blaine. "Why are you using you mother's car? What's wrong with yours?" He asked, obviously confused.

Blaine's cheeks turned bright red and he rubbed the back of his neck before looking down at the ground. "Ugh…I had to sell it." Blaine finally said, still not making eye contact with Kurt.

"Blaine, look at me." Kurt said firmly. Blaine hesitantly lifted up his gaze and locked it with Kurt's. The taller boy crossed his arms over his chest. "Why did you have to sell it?"

"Baby stuff are expensive." Blaine said softly knowing what was to come next.

He was expecting Kurt to blow up and accuse him of being reckless and giving him money while Blaine needed it more than he did, but to Blaine's surprise the other boy's face softened and he rested his hand on Blaine's shoulder. "Blaine…you know you could have told me that you have trouble with money. I would have figured something out much sooner."

"Yeah, I know. I just didn't want you to be left without any money." Blaine said shrugging.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous, Blaine." Kurt said. "You don't owe me any money. You should have told me about it sooner."

"I know and I am sorry, okay?" Blaine asked attempting to smile a little. "Can we not talk about this please now?"

Kurt looked for a moment as if he wanted to argue, but then he just nodded his head and smiled back. "Sure. What's done is done. Now get me home so that I can see my father. I'm dying to hug him."

They got into the car and Blaine pulled out of the parking lot. "So how's Rob?" Kurt asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

A huge grin made its way onto Blaine's face as he started talking about his son. He told Kurt all about his first mile stones, his improvements and how Blaine was adjusting to being a father. It was still tough, but he was managing. "I can't wait to meet him." Kurt said when Blaine was done talking. "I bet he's just as charming and adorable as his father."

Blaine's heart skipped a beat upon hearing Kurt call him charming and adorable. He giggled nervously feeling his cheeks start to heat. Despite everything in his mind screaming at him to stop, the hope was slowly starting to fill his whole being. Blaine knew it was stupid, naïve and foolish to let himself get lost in his own fantasies, but there was nothing he could do to stop himself from dreaming even though he knew way too well that he would eventually crash once again.

Loving Kurt was like dancing on the rooftop of the tallest skyscraper in New York. It was magical, breathtaking and a little scary. It was so much fun that Blaine didn't want to ever go down. Although each time he lost his balance he would fall down and crash against the hard sidewalk. But then against every sane thought running through his mind he would get off the ground, shake off the dust and climb back up just to start everything all over again and intentionally cause his own dead once more.

"Yeah, he's cute." Blaine finally said. "If not more than a little messy sometimes."

"I will come over tomorrow and you will show me just how awesome you are at being a dad." Kurt said smiling and rested his hand on Blaine's knee making a cold shiver ran down Blaine's spine.

"I'm not that great, you know?" Blaine said doing his best to focus on the road and ignore Kurt's burning touch for now. "Once I almost dropped him and well, my mother is way better than me at putting Rob to sleep." He paused for a moment. "What do you think about his name, anyway?"

Blaine glanced briefly at Kurt to find him raising his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

The hazel-eyed boy shrugged his shoulders. "Do you like it or not?"

"It's cute, I guess." Kurt said.

Blaine rolled his eyes. "So you don't like it then."

"I didn't say that."

"But you don't like it?" Blaine asked glancing at Kurt.

"Alright. Maybe I wouldn't have named my own child like this, but it doesn't mean that it's a bad name." Kurt finally admitted carefully, clearly not wanting to make Blaine upset. "It's just a little bit dated." Blaine rolled his eyes. "At least he won't be made fun of for having a strange name like Braxton or Eustace."

"You're making this up. Who would actually name their child like this?" Blaine asked. When the dark-haired boy looked over at his best friend he saw him crack up and let out an adorable giggle.

"There is a girl in one of my classes and her son's name is actually Braxton." Kurt said laughing a little. "I mean she had to be really dragged up while signing the papers. The Braxton Hicks' contractions were probably the only thing that she remembered from her pregnancy at the moment and now the poor guy's scarred for life."

"Then I guess Robert is not such a bad name after all." Blaine said. "I mean I think the name's cute and it really suits him, but you're not the only person who doesn't like it. Sebastian doesn't either." Blaine paused shrugging. "I just thought that he was being ridiculous, but apparently the rest of the world agrees with him."

Kurt raised his eyebrows. "You consider me the rest of the world? I am flattered."

The mere thought of Kurt being happy that Blaine called him the rest of his world, almost the whole reality surrounding him, was enough to make his heart do a back flip. For the rest of the ride Blaine had a huge grin plastered to his face.

Later that day, back in the house Blaine couldn't stop himself from smiling and it was driving his mother crazy. The hazel-eyed boy had a strong feeling that she knew all about Blaine's feelings towards his best friend, but he would never say it out loud in fear that somehow it would get to Kurt and everything would go to hell. They had their chance a long time ago and they blew it, so there was no reason to reopen the old wounds and bleed to death.

Blaine's good mood vanished though when he was trying to get Robert to sleep. The little boy wouldn't stop crying without any apparent reason apart from not wanting to sleep. So Blaine gathered him into his arms and lied down in bed pulling him close to his chest. "Have I ever told you about my best friend, little guy?" He asked, praying that Rob would eventually stop crying. "I don't think so. And if I have then you probably don't remember it anyway."

Blaine lowered his voice to a soothing whisper and started recalling the tale of him befriending Kurt, of them becoming best friends and of Blaine falling hopelessly in love in the process. After some time Robert finally calmed down and started watching Blaine as if in curiosity.

After a few more minutes of Blaine talking Robert's eyelids dropped and his breath evened-out. The dark-haired boy stopped talking and softly kissed his son's forehead deciding that tonight he wanted to keep his baby in his arms and keep him safe and secure. Blaine was about to fall asleep as well, but then a very nice thought crept into his mind and wouldn't leave him alone. Tomorrow he was going to introduce to each other two of the most important people in his life.

When Blaine woke up the next morning Rob was sleeping soundly back in his own crib. Pamela must have taken him while Blaine was asleep. She wasn't a big fan of Blaine sleeping with Robert in his bed, since ever since Cooper was small she had an irrational fear of crashing her own child in her sleep.

Well, it wasn't exactly irrational, but sometimes Blaine just liked the feeling of holding his little boy close to his chest right before falling asleep. He felt as if it was exactly where he belonged. Like he was the most important person in someone's life. Like he couldn't be replaced by anyone.

Like for once in Blaine's life his little ball of happiness couldn't be snatched away from him as soon as it appeared.

Blaine checked on his little guy who for once turned out to be asleep. He smiled making a mental note to thank his mother for feeding him during the night. There was no way that Robert could get through the whole night without crying for a bottle. The dark-haired boy decided to use the time before the boy woke up to take a shower and dress up for the day.

As soon as Blaine realized that he wasn't a few states away from Kurt anymore, barely a few miles, a huge grin attached to his face and a happy energy started racing through his vines. Kurt was going to be the end of him eventually, Blaine knew that. One day he would get fed up with constantly waiting, hoping and being too stupid to take a chance and he would explode. The love would stop being able to contain in one body.

Would he be able to survive that? The day that seeing Kurt's smile will turn from the most beautiful thing ever into the most painful and horrific experience one could imagine? Blaine didn't know that. What he knew thought was that he was never going to be capable of loving someone the way he loved Kurt. Maybe he was being delusional and nothing like that would actually happen.

Maybe Blaine would keep burning and burning until all that was left were aches and ruins. And then he would end up empty and numb. And nothing would ever be able to touch him anymore. Not even Kurt and his sparkly blue eyes and perfect hair. He would be just an old memory, another ghost of the past.

That would the worst thing that could ever happen to Blaine. He didn't want his love for Kurt to burn out even if it was going to become more and more painful over time. Sometimes it was the only thing that kept him going and Blaine didn't want to lose it. He didn't want to wake up one day and realize that he didn't care about Kurt anymore. That it all was over.

But wouldn't it be easier this way? He had to admit that being away from Kurt for a few months was what his heart and soul needed to calm down and chill. The fire was tamed for a moment and Blaine had other things to worry about than unrequited love and his lack of ability to take a risk when Kurt was willing to take him.

Maybe if he asked Kurt now the other boy would still want him?

But it would bring more misery than it's worth. Everything would be turned upside down and Blaine didn't want to cause Kurt so much trouble. But thinking that there might be a part of Kurt's heart that despite everything belonged to Blaine, and to Blaine only was more than comforting. It was like taking a breath of fresh air after it had rained during an unusually hot day. It was like finally being given a bottle of cold water after walking through Sahara.

When Blaine was all dressed up, as if on cue Robert started crying demanding his attention. The dark-haired boy quickly approached the crib and took the baby into his arms checking what was wrong. It looked like he needed his diaper to be changed. When Blaine was done with it he took Rob downstairs and gave a bottle to him. He found a note stuck to the fridge from his mother saying that she needed to go to work early.

Quickly after that Robert fell back into sleep, so Blaine put him into the crib.

Before Blaine was able to make up his mind wherever he wanted to visit Kurt waking Rob up and tagging along or if he would ask Kurt to come over instead he heard the doorbell ring. It was 8 AM and it couldn't be anyone else.

The dark-haired boy practically ran to the front door grinning like a madman. He urgently unlocked the door and as soon as he saw Kurt his breath got caught up in his throat and he couldn't neither move nor say anything. Kurt looked both casual and elegant if that was even possible. He was wearing a simple plain shirt and a pair of skinny jeans, but the way he carried himself made him look like a model advertising a new line of clothes.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" His words finally managed to snap Blaine out of his personal dreamland.

Blaine stepped awkwardly from foot to foot not really knowing why he was nervous all of sudden. "You don't even have to knock, you know? You've got the key after all." He said, but stepped aside letting the other boy walk past him.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but I wouldn't want to catch you half-naked or something." He grinned showing his perfect teeth while Blaine's cheeks turned bright red at the thought of Kurt seeing him without clothes. "What?" Kurt questioned upon seeing the weird look on Blaine's face.

The shorter boy cleared his throat awkwardly and rubbed his neck attempting to smile. "Nothing." He said. "You probably want to see Robert?"

Kurt's whole face lightened up making the whole world just a little more beautiful. "Yes! I'm dying to meet him!" Kurt said excitedly smiling as though he was going to see the president.

"Okay, let's just hope that he's awake then." Blaine said smiling. He couldn't contain his excitement. Robert was the cutest baby on Earth after all and Blaine couldn't wait for Kurt to see him for the first time.

The blue-eyed boy followed Blaine upstairs looking around as if searching for any changes that there might have occurred. The house was definitely less tidy and uptight as it used to be before Robert's arrival. Both Pamela and Blaine loved order (even if he was a little chaotic at times) so it was a lot to take in at first, but now they knew that not everything had to be perfectly under control all the time.

Blaine carefully swung the door to his bedroom open not wanting to startle Robert and wake him up in case he was still sleeping. "Oh, God." Blaine heard Kurt whisper so he turned around to see what his friend meant by that. Kurt was looking around the room with wide eyes and mouth hung open.

Blaine followed his gaze quickly realizing what the other boy was staring at. The room wasn't a complete mess but there were a few toys tossed around the floor. Robert didn't really know yet what to do with them, but Blaine always made sure to show him new things and maybe even teach him a new thing and sometimes he didn't bother to pick the toys up from the floor and put them back on the shelf. There were even a few pictures of Robert that Blaine couldn't help himself but print and put into frames.

"What's wrong?" Blaine asked, not able to understand why his best friend seemed so shocked and surprised upon seeing a few toys and pictures. Kurt seemed to snap out of his thoughts, he blinked a few times, shook his head and turned his face towards Blaine.

"I just-" He began shrugging. "Everything looks so different and yet the same." Kurt said, barely above a whisper. "I still remember hanging out with you, Sebastian and Quinn here after school." A nostalgic smile appeared on his face. "I remember how we would all lay down on the bed and even though it was far from comfortable it was so nice and perfect. We would then watch a movie and both you and Quinn would fall asleep halfway though and Sebastian and me would plot evil plans against the two of you."

"I didn't know about that." Blaine said with a sad smirk.

"Now it hit me that it's all gone and our friendship is over." Blaine opened his mouth to protest, but Kurt didn't let him finish. "I don't mean you and me. Even though it's not the same I believe we'll be able to stay friends for the rest of our lives, but I don't think it will ever come back to the way it was. You have a kid, Blaine." Kurt said seriously. "You're a real adult now with responsibilities and why would you find time for your old friends? I barely talk to Sebastian since he's too busy running the company or whatever it is that he's doing and Quinn…well….she doesn't really want to keep in touch with any of us after what happened."

"So much has changed since last year." Blaine summed up, and despite any sane thought running though his mind reached out his hand and gently took Kurt's into his. "But we're doing okay, right? Changes are good, don't you think? They let you get to know yourself better, reach your limits."

"I don't know." Kurt said and for a second his gaze traveled down to their joined hands, but he quickly looked back at Blaine. "Why would a change be good if it means losing your best friends?"

Blaine didn't have a good answer to that, so he just shrugged letting the heavy silence fall between them. They stood like that for a few seconds and only then when Blaine realized that they were still holding hands he let go and slowly approached the crib in which Robert was sleeping soundly.

He smiled seeing his little boy and turned to look at Kurt who still looked slightly sad, but his eyes were full of wonder and silent amazement as he stared at Blaine's son. "I know how hard it is to adapt to the changes, but you know what? I like this change." A mixture of feelings appeared on Kurt's face. "I don't like the fact that we don't live in the same city anymore, but I'm proud that I can call myself Robert's father." He paused for a moment, noting that Kurt still didn't look very happy. "But I'm not about to spend the rest of my life in here. I just have to figure out how to get back on my feet and be able to support both myself and Robert. Then I'm back in New York with you."

The corners of Kurt's cheeks turned up and his eyes lighted up a bit. "Can you promise me that?"

Blaine smiled back. "Yes, I promise. But maybe you won't want the little old me after all this time." He said jokingly, but Kurt apparently took it very seriously as he surged forward, wrapped his arms around Blaine's neck taking him by surprise and buried his face into Blaine's shoulder.

"How could I ever stop wanting you around, Blaine? You're everything. You're everything that I could ever ask for." Kurt said sincerely gripping tightly Blaine's shirt. The shorter boy was sure that his heart stopped being for a moment as he wrapped his arms around Kurt's body.

And just like every single time, Blaine let himself dance on that roof, not caring that another deadly crush was creeping up at him.