Wes and David both started talking at the same time, stating their outrage at Kurt's situation and short amount of time he had left. Blaine on the other hand was silent. After a moment of sitting in shock, Blaine got up from the picnic table and walked into the house, away from everyone. Kurt got up to go after him when Wes stopped him.
"Leave him be. He needs a bit of time to adjust. I'm assuming you hadn't told him just how little time he had with you. No offense, but if he had wanted you around him, he wouldn't have walked away," Wes rationalized. Silence descended on the three remaining men.
"Screw this," David said before grabbing Wes by the collar of his shirt and pulling him close. He whispered, but Kurt still heard "I love you Wesley" before David crashed their lips together. Wes leaned into the kiss for a few seconds before pulling away.
"Wh- David. I don't…" Wes sputtered. It was the first time Kurt had seen Wes at a complete loss for words.
"I'm sorry, but Kurt is proof that we aren't going to live forever. I'm tired of just kissing and doing stuff when you've had enough beers to claim the next day you were just drunk. I love you. Even when I'm not drinking," David confessed. Kurt felt like he was intruding on a very personal moment between the two men. He stood and carefully made his way into the house. Wes and David never glancing away from one another's eyes. Kurt gently closed the door behind him, hoping he would be able to find his way to Blaine in the unfamiliar house.
Kurt heard sniffling and a shuddering deep breath as he stepped out of the kitchen into the main part of the house. He followed the noises and stepped outside a closed door. Kurt pressed his ear against the dear and the sniffling was louder. Turning the door knob slowly, he pushed the door open and found Blaine crying on a bed. The younger boy didn't look up from where he was hugging a pillow to his chest even when Kurt sat down next to him. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine, pulling him into a hug, and Blaine still didn't move. The ailing man could feel the shorter man's entire body shaking. "Let it out honey."
Blaine took a shuddering, gasping breath before his snuffles turned into sobs. Kurt hugged him tighter before Blaine turned in his arms, dropping the pillow, and folded himself against the elder's body. Kurt rubbed the boy's back, because he will always be the dapper uniformed boy he was when they met to Kurt, whispering 'shh's and 'it's going to be okay's in his ear. Blaine got his breathing back under control and the tears slowed twenty minutes later, but he didn't move from where he was clinging to Kurt. A few minutes later, Kurt felt Blaine relax in his arms and knew he was asleep.
Half an hour or so later, Wes pushed open the door to the room and quietly walked inside. "He looks terrible."
"He cried himself out. He's uh… he's devastated. I think he thought there was more time left," Kurt whispered, looking down at the boy in his arms.
"The world should have longer with the great Kurt Hummel," Wes said quietly. "So, why a road trip for your last bit of time?"
"I've always had a bucket list and now I'm crossing everything off of it I can. It should take me two months to do everything, including travel time. I have most everything planned out."
"What happens when you get sicker? I looked it up before I came in here. What happens when you are so tired you can't get out of bed? When you start coughing up blood? When your bones hut?" David questioned from the doorway.
"That's why my trip only lasts two months, not three. I had to get rid of a lot of things on my bucket list to make it work. To answer your questions, I'll get out of bed anyways until the day I'm too weak to stand. I'll carry a handkerchief and try to be discreet when I cough. You know me David. I don't go down without a fight. I'm going to make it though my trip. My bucket list is going to be all crossed off by the time I kick the bucket," Kurt explained. He heard sniffling again and looked down to see Blaine had woken up. Blaine tightened his grip against Kurt and buried his face. "Come on B. Wake up, okay I don't think Wes and David want us sleeping in their house in the mid afternoon. We need to get some supper and then go back to our hotel room soon anyways. Unless you want to see if you can come back here after supper and sleep on their couch or something since we don't have separate rooms?"
"No!" Blaine pulled his head away from Kurt, panicked. "No! No! We can share. It's fine. I'm kind of happy we are not that I… I know."
"Come on B. Let's get up and make the bed and visit for just a few more minutes. Then we can go get food. The fish tacos were delicious, but I'm hungry again," Kurt coaxed, managing to get Blaine standing. The younger boy seemed to notice the other occupants in the room as he rubbed the sleep and dried tears from his eyes.
"Come on David; let's wait for them in the living room," Wes said, grabbing David's arm and pulling him from the room, closing the door behind him.
"Hi had sort of a rough one. How are you feeling now though?" Kurt asked, noticing Blaine wouldn't let go of his hand even as he started trying to make the bed. After a minute, Kurt gave up on the bed making and sat down at the foot of the bed, pulling Blaine with him. He angled his body towards the man he once called a lover and saw the far away gaze in his eyes. "Talk to me B."
"I didn't realize. Three months… Less than really! That's not enough time Kurt. I need more time," Blaine cried out, frantic. Kurt put a hand on Blaine's leg and hummed a song until he was calmed down. "I don't know what I'll do in a world without you so near to when I just got you back. It scares me Kurt. It's been a day since you came back into my life after over a decade of being out of it and I have less than three months with you. Three months to catch up with you and make up for years apart."
"I think those years are forever gone B. I'm sorry. I wish it didn't take me being told I was about to die to get me to realize that I needed to tell you I forgive you and for us to become friends again. I wish I had gotten you back in my life a long time ago. But I was too busy forgiving and not forgetting to be able to hang around with my best friend," Kurt lamented.
"I want to go back in time. Can we build a time machine and get our lost time back? Please? Three months is not enough time."
"I know B. I know. I want the time back too. I feel like I'm being cheated out of so much. But I've come to terms. No matter if I'm happy or sad, I'm still going to be a lifeless corpse in twelve weeks. So, I'm choosing to be happy, to go do things I have always wanted to. I have decided to enjoy my last bit of time. I would like if you were happy and enjoying the trip too," Kurt said, pulling Blaine closer and pressing his face to Blaine's shoulder. "I want to die happy."
"Okay," Blaine said, wrapping his arms around Kurt's lithe frame and pulling him close and tight. "We'll be the happiest people in the whole wide world for the rest of—the trip. We're going to be so happy; people will think we're on our honeymoon."
"I said happy Blaine, not affectionate," Kurt replied, but Blaine had succeeded in his new mission, Kurt was giggling.
The two got up off the bed a few minutes later. Kurt tried to get Blaine to help him make the bed, but the younger companion insisted the elder could 'do the job much better'. Kurt knew Blaine was perfectly capable of helping him make the bed, but his antics were much too amusing to put a stop to. Once the bed was made, the two made sure everything was right in the room and went out to visit just a little more with Wes and David.
"Where are you planning on going on your road trip?" David asked when everyone was comfortably seated.
"Well, Blaine wants to be surprised by where we go, but an idea of what he's getting himself into might be nice," Kurt said. "A lot of the specific places I want to go to are parks and monument type things. The specific things I want to do tend to be extreme sports and what-have-you."
"Parks and monuments?" Wes questioned, sounding surprised. "Why?"
"I want to see things and places that are famous. Stuff that's still around years after the person it's honoring died or things all most all Americans know the name of. I want to see what it takes to be known hundreds of years after you're gone."
"You want to go to national parks? Because there's-" Blaine started, only to be interrupted.
"Joshua Tree National Forest. Yep. Thanks for the idea, but I already have that one checked off. I stopped by there on my way into California and to your house Blaine."
"So you started the trip without me?" Blaine joked, scooting closer to Kurt and slinging an arm around his shoulders.
"Started it without you? Kurt laughed. "You hijacked my trip and invited yourself. I had no idea this trip would include a companion for me until you insisted you come along."
"You two seem to be in a better mood," David commented. Wes elbowed him in the ribs from where he was sitting, pressed leg to leg with David on the loveseat. "It's true. Last time I saw them, Blainers was having a melt down and Kurt was insisting on making the bed and going to a hotel."
"Blaine and I in a better mood? Let's talk about you and Wes. The two of you are sitting awfully close for being just friends," Kurt commented. Both Wes and David blushed and hurried to move apart from each other.
"Stay sitting close to each other you dorks. Kurt wasn't saying it in a bad way. He was just told by someone that you tow were just friends, but everyone is convinced you're dating. I have no idea who told him," Blaine said, the last part very sarcastically.
"We were just friends," Wes started.
"With alcohol educed benefits," David interrupted. "I've been in love with Wes since school, but unless he's drunk, he wants no other type of relationship with anybody besides friendship."
"Long story short," Wes took over again. "Finding out Kurt has cancer and very little chance to live past these next few months got David to be brave enough to tell me how he feels so I no longer can use alcohol as a mask for me feelings. David and I are going to try dating, in public, with no alcoholic beverages allowed."
"Well, I'm glad my diagnosis helped the two of you realize you don't have forever. It helped me realize that," Kurt said, not sounding as happy towards the end. "Come on Blaine. Let's say our goodbyes and go get some food."
"One thing first," David said. "Wes and I talked about it and we want to give you two a little money to help your trip be better. Kurt, you no longer have a source of income, and Blaine, you will never tell us what you do. We want to give the two of you a monetary gift."
"That's really sweet David, Wes, but I don't need it. I may be unemployed now, but I did run two very successful businesses and I got left quite a bit of money when my dad passed on. I'm more than set for the trip. I'll probably have money left over, besides what I have set aside for my funeral. Actually, I should have money left over according to my calculations. I don't have kids, so all my money is going to charity. I decided why not spend it when I was debating on taking this trip or not.
"I don't need the money either," Blaine responded. "I… I'm the author of a series of well know books under a pen name. No, I will not tell you more than that. I was planning on writing at night and it's my vacation time from writing anyways. I'm set well off, especially with the trust funds my parents set up for me. I can easily afford this trip. Sebastian words too, so it's not like I'll be leaving my family without an income while I'm out traveling. I don't need the gift, but thank you for offering it."
"Let us at least give you money for dinner tonight. The two of you could go have a really nice, fantastic meal and forget about everything that's going on right now with Kurt. Let us give you some money or something," Wes commanded, pulling his wallet out from his back pocket as he spoke. Kurt and Blaine exchanged a look before nodding. "Great. I'm taking the nod as a yes. Here's two hundred dollars. No arguing over the amount. Go have a fantastic steak dinner on us. Consider it to be our thanks for causing us to get together sober romantically. We insist. Now, let us walk you out."
