Kurt and Blaine woke up early on the first official day of summer. Most of their classmates would probably look at them and question their sanity, but the boys had a plan - and only a few free days before Blaine was due to start summer school. While Blaine looked over a few printouts, Kurt packed a picnic lunch. Then they quietly snuck out of the house and piled into Kurt's car.

They drove for a while, Blaine occasionally referencing the maps he'd printed and looking out the window for familiar sights. When they passed a brick school building over two hours later, Blaine's breath caught in his throat.

"Turn left here."

Kurt complied without question, and followed the drive into the car park.

"This was my school," Blaine whispered, looking out the window at the edifice that looked so empty without hundreds of teenagers stomping through the grounds.

Kurt nodded silently.

"I always looked forward to high school. You know, it's so glamorous on TV and in movies. I thought I was going to grow up and become this intelligent, athletic, funny guy who was well-liked by everyone - and who had an amazing boyfriend. I think I was wrong on all counts except that last one."

"Blaine, you are perfect to me, and I wouldn't change a thing about you," Kurt whispered.

Blaine turned to Kurt, still disbelieving that he had found such a perfect person - his soulmate. "Can we move on now?" he asked timidly.

Kurt immediately started the car back up and they drove out of the lot. This was a much shorter ride before Blaine started giving Kurt directions.

"Take a right here - no, damn, this isn't right. Uh, maybe up there? Can you turn on that street?"

Kurt patiently did as Blaine instructed, and finally they pulled up in front of a park. They linked hands as soon as they were out of the car.

To an onlooker, it would have appeared to be a young couple in love taking casual stroll through the park. But onlookers couldn't see how tightly Blaine gripped Kurt's hand or the stiffness in his jaw as they approached a small grouping of bushes and trees.

"Here," Blaine said, stepping into the middle of the space.

Kurt stood to the side as Blaine stepped around for a moment before sinking to the ground.

"This is where I spent my first night away from home."

"How long were you here?"

"Only a couple of days," Blaine replied. "I was too nervous and too inexperienced to really figure out what to do. I kinda just sat in the park during the day and fought with myself about going back home. And then I ran again."

Blaine placed his palm flat on the trunk of the tree and looked up the the sky, watching as the sunlight filtered through the green leaves and painted the ground.

"It's a lot more beautiful on this side of desperate," he whispered.

Kurt took that as his cue to join his boyfriend. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Blaine's waist, resting his head on the shorter boy's shoulder. "We don't have to do this, you know, if it's too hard for you."

"I know," Blaine replied in a surprisingly steady voice. "But I want to. I want you to see it all. All of me."


They drove another twenty minutes until they were in the center of another small town, barely an hour from Blaine's childhood home. This town, however, looked like it had been hit by the recent economic crash a bit more than others.

"This was where I really learned how to do it," Blaine explained, leading Kurt up and down the streets in the downtown. "There are a lot of homeless people here, and this one woman … she kinda took me under her wing. Said I reminded her of her son who - who died overseas. She tried to give me his dog tags, but I - I couldn't take that from her.

"Anyway, it was probably the second or third night I was here and I was hanging out in the alley behind that restaurant," Blaine said, pointing to an American buffet across the street, "and she walked by. I think she was going out - I mean, she was dressed - and her makeup - but she stopped when she saw me. I was so hungry, and she just asked me what was wrong. And I broke. I started crying and I told her everything, and she just held me until I stopped crying and then she bought me a slice of pizza and took me back to the building where she and a bunch of other people squatted."

"How long were you here?" Kurt asked.

"A month," Blaine said. "I wanted to stay longer, but Linda - that's the woman - she started to get real bad. I guess she was into drugs, too, some real hard stuff, and I couldn't just watch her do that to herself. So one night I packed up and told her that I had to do this by myself. I can still hear her sometimes. She cried, and said I was just like her son, leaving her alone again."

Blaine's face was stony the entire time he was talking, and his pace had quickened. But as they approached an old office building - in a very sorry state - he slowed to a stop.

"This was it," Blaine said.

"Do you want to go in?" Kurt asked. "Maybe - maybe Linda's still here."

Blaine shrugged, but began walking up the cracked path to the side of the building. He found the back door and kicked it in like he was so used to and led Kurt inside.

It was like nothing Kurt had ever seen before. The building was dark and damp and smelled awful. There were a few people or signs of people in corners of the rooms, but Blaine ignored it all as he walked over the the stairs and began to climb. At the top, the fourth floor, Blaine froze, looking around. Following his lead, Kurt inspected the space as well. There were a few ripped mattresses on the ground and tarps over the windows. He could see piles of clothes and blankets and smell cigarette smoke.

Blaine slowly walked over to a wall and stopped right beneath the window. He bent down and ran his hand over the cracked drywall, then paused.

"Here," he whispered to Kurt. "Look."

Kurt squinted his eyes to try to discern what Blaine was pointing to in the dark. Then his eyes fell on it.

I was Blaine Anderson.

"'I was'?" Kurt asked carefully.

"I didn't know who I was then. I still don't really know now. I mean, I don't consider myself to be an Anderson anymore. Plus, you know, I didn't know if the next morning I would be an 'I am' or an 'I was' when I lived out here."

"Hey, who's over there?" a scratchy voice sounded from the stairwell.

Blaine turned around, and his stomach dropped. Standing before him was a woman who retained so little of her former beauty. Her blonde hair hung long and ragged by her shoulders and her cheeks were sunken and gaunt.

"Linda?" he asked carefully.

"Who's asking?"

"It's me. It's … Blaine." He stepped closer to her so she could see better, leaving Kurt waiting by the window.

"Little B?" she asked with a gasp.

"...Hi."

"What happened to you, kid?"

Blaine was close to tears as he watched the woman walk over to a mattress and pull out a cigarette. "I moved around for a while. Got a job." He smiled a bit. "Met the love of my life."

"I tolja, kid, I said it. I knew you were better'n us."

"How've you been?" Blaine asked carefully.

"The usual." Linda took a long drag from her cigarette.

"Listen," Blaine said suddenly, pulling his backpack around, "I brought some stuff. I don't know if you want it or need it, but I - I think about you a lot. Everything you taught me. You saved me out here, Linda."

The woman cracked a smile, her eyes lighting up ever so slightly.

"I don't need anything, kid. I'm good here."

"Please," Blaine begged. He dropped to his knees and pulled a pack of baby wipes, a few boxes of granola bars, and a water bottle from his bag. "It's not a lot, but - just take it?"

"Sure thing, kid."

Blaine was relieved as he stood up, even if Linda made no movement to grab the items.

"I'm glad you came back. I was real worried about you out there," she said after another moment. Then she turned her head to Kurt who had previously been silent and mostly invisible during the interaction. "You take good care of him now, alright?"

"Of course," Kurt said, stepping close to Blaine. "Thank you for watching over him."

"Ah, I got a soft spot for kids," she said, but everyone could see the emotion in her eyes even as she tried to brush over it.

"Just - be careful, okay?" Blaine said, his final parting words.


After the squatters' building, Kurt and Blaine visited another park with Blaine Anderson lived written in the bright yellow tunnel, then a trash-filled parking lot where BA was here was peeling from the bricks of the neighboring building that it was painted on, and even more places than Kurt wanted to think about his boyfriend spending freezing nights in.

Around noon, they stopped at an insignificant park for their picnic lunch before continuing on their slow journey through small-town Western Ohio.

It was dusk when they arrived back in Lima, and Kurt knew instinctively to drive to Hoyt Park rather than heading straight home. Perhaps it was because they had both taken this walk before, or because they knew that this was the end, the place where everything turned around, but this final journey was lighter than the rest.

Once again, Blaine clambered down the creek bank and then helped Kurt follow. They sat back for a moment to simply listen to the water bubbling over the rocks in the quiet summer night.

"You know, if I hadn't seen that sign in your dad's shop window, I never would have gone in. I'd've probably left Lima within a few days and then … I'd still be out there somewhere," Blaine said.

"But you did. You went in and then you found me," Kurt whispered.

"You saved me, Kurt," Blaine whispered.

They leaned in and kissed long and hard. The moonlight and park lighting above just barely managed to illuminate Blaine Anderson Lives! written on the side of the bridge.

Hidden in Hoyt Park, two boys saved each other, found love, and lived.