Jack dropped Brittany off first, the beautiful blonde asking to be taken to Santana's. The Legend only hoped the Latina wouldn't chew her head off for it; most people didn't take too kindly to people showing up at their house unexpectedly in the middle of the night.

Both Brittany and Kurt claimed it would be okay though, and he took their word for it.

Dropping Kurt off was harder – mostly because the slight teen didn't want him to leave, instead inviting Jack to spend the night. "Just to sleep!" Kurt had hurried to mention, his blush so dark Jack almost mistook him for a tomato. And how could he possibly say no to the boy?

He hadn't mentioned how he didn't really sleep, hadn't mentioned really that he couldn't actually get tired period. What had happened back in Pitch's lair had been a rare occurrence – all his energy leaving his body and allowing him to actually sleep. The other had claimed he had been unconscious, but whatever. It was still the first time he had been asleep since his re-birth as a Legend.

Holding Kurt however as he slept? That, that was heavenly, and Jack even allowed himself to envision a future where that was a daily occurrence.

Kurt felt strong and solid against him, his back tucked up against Jack's front with Jack's hand curled up against Kurt's heart, feeling it beat against his palm time and time again. Where he lay Jack spent the remainder of the night and a great deal of the morning relishing in feeling Kurt in his arms, something not even Finn's loud snores from the other side of the room could ruin.

The sleepy smile Kurt shot him when he woke up though? That was positively divine, and Jack just had to steal a small kiss from him, ignoring Kurt's many protests about morning breath, before shooing him into the bathroom.

Jack could imagine plenty a morning spent just like this.

The first nightmare Kurt had after Pitch had been imprisoned wasn't one he had ever had before. In fact, unlike all his usual nightmares, this one actually started out rather happily.

Him and Jack were in the backyard, just resting in the sun and enjoying the other's company. Jack was holding one of Kurt's hands in his, and Kurt was resting his head on Jack's shoulder. Around them the birds were chirping happily, and he could hear his father and Carole laughing in the background.

Peaceful, was how Kurt would describe it.

Of course, as it was a nightmare, things couldn't stay perfect for too long. Soon enough thick clouds rushed over the horizon, and before either of them knew it they were caught in a huge storm. Fat drops of rain fell quickly everywhere around and on them, and lightning boomed loudly around them.

"Jack?" Kurt shouted, terrified of what was happening. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" the Legend screamed back, pulling Kurt to his feet and dragging him to the house.

Being pushed inside Kurt landed in a sprawl of limbs on the floor, and as he lay there he could hear Jack scream in fright behind him. Rolling around he could see the Legend beginning to lift off the ground, an invisible force pulling him backwards.

Getting to his feet Kurt was quick to grab hold of the older boy's hands, trying in vain to pull the boy back to him.

"Jack!" he screamed, feeling his fingers start to slip from the Guardian's.

"Kurt!" Jack shouted, his feet lifting higher and higher behind him. "Don't let go!"

"I won't!" Kurt promised. At least he wouldn't ever do it voluntarily. But it wouldn't be long before he was left without a choice, because they were soon only attached by the fingertips. Kurt knew it was only a few moments left before the unthinkable would happen.

"Kurt," Jack mouthed, right before their hands disconnected.

With a silent, gut-wrenching scream Kurt watched as the Legend was taken by the wind, and he couldn't look away as he flew further and further away.

"Kurt!" he could hear Jack scream in the distance. "Kurt! Kurt! Kurt-"

When Kurt woke up he found himself held close in somebody's arms, and he heard a familiar voice chanting his name, begging him to wake up.

"You didn't disappear," Kurt reflected, happiness beginning to bubble inside his stomach.

"I didn't disappear," Jack agreed. "Not for a while, anyway."

"Mhmm," Kurt hummed, resting his cheek on the boy's warm chest. "Good."

"I have to go, Jack," Kurt sputtered happily, eyes glimmering with content as they glanced towards the stage.

It had been almost a week since that final battle with Pitch in the dark cave and things were finally looking up; Quinn had just given birth to a healthy baby girl, Kurt and his friends were about to go out on stage and get their first place trophy in just a few seconds – not even Sue could kid herself into thinking they weren't deserving it – and then he would spend the rest of his night in his boyfriend's arms.

"No- wait, Kurt!" he could hear Jack shout as he pulled himself free, rushing towards where the other's were urging him on.

"What?" he asked, turning around by the curtains of the stage and looking back at the other boy. People were rushing past Kurt, blurring his sight effectively, yet he caught glimpses of Jack through the mass of Aural Intensity members hurrying past him and up on the stage.

Vaguely he could see Jack mouthing words at him, but the sound was drowned out by the roaring of the crowd around him. Whatever it was, Kurt decided, it could wait for just a few minutes. So, holding his hand up in a waiting motion, he backed his way onto the stage, eyes not leaving his beautiful boyfriend for a moment until his friends shook him out of it, and brought his attention back to the quest at hand.

This was it...

This was it, Jack thought glumly, watching Kurt join his friends. Time was running out; soon Jack was intended to go back to his world, and leave Kurt behind. Leave his home behind.

He had tried one last time to tell the younger boy that he was leaving, that he couldn't stay. For so long he had tried to tell Kurt that he would be leaving today, that he wasn't allowed to remain by Kurt's side, that this was goodbye – for now at least.

He had told the bright countertenor countless times how sorry he was for needing to leave once spring came, but not once had he mentioned a specific date. He couldn't, not as it would finally bring the situation to light. As it would have made it real. Instead he was too late, and Kurt would need to figure this out on his own when he couldn't find the Guardian awaiting for him when he returned.

He could only hope the younger boy wouldn't hate him for this.

Jack didn't want to go. Of course, there hadn't been a single year when he had been keen to leave Earth behind, but this time it was different. Never before had it ached so much to know his time was nearing its end. Never before had it felt like he was being split apart; his heart pounding so harshly with the need for just ten more minutes, five more minutes, two more minutes...

"It's time Jack," he heard Father Time call out behind him. Breaking his eyes away from Kurt's excited form he looked over his shoulder, eyes closing tiredly as he sighed at the sight of the master of time.

"Can I have just a few more minutes?" he pleaded, eyes boring back into Kurt's slender frame. He watched the happy glint in his boyfriend's stark blue eyes, the slight tilt of his lips forming an expectant smile, the way he was holding on to his friend Mercedes like he was going to faint if he didn't.

Jack felt a single tear fall down his cold cheek.

"Please?"

"You know I can't allow that Jack," Time sighed, placing a big palm on Jack's shaking shoulder and squeezing in an attempt to comfort the breaking Guardian. "There is a time and a place for everything, and yours is about to run out. There is nothing either of us can do about it but wait for the seasons to change again. You know they will. Eventually you'll get back here. Eventually you will meet young Master Hummel again. But until then you must leave Earth."

Jack shook his head desperately at the hopeless situation he was in. He could see Kurt – ever excited – and knew there was nothing he could do to delay this long enough.

Turning his head to the tall time-keeper he simply said one word, feeling it burn his insides as it passed his lips. "Fine."

Kurt couldn't believe it.

They had come third. Third. How in the world had they ended up dead last? Even Aural Intensity had beaten them, with that awful mash-up of theirs that could have no other purpose but to suck up to the judges.

Well, it definitely seemed to have worked. Who knew?

Kurt could at least understand Vocal Adrenaline to some degree. Rachel had told them all how they were amazing after all, and she was a critic if there ever was one.

They still should have beaten Aural Intensity, had there been an impartial judging.

Disappointed, Kurt and his friends stepped back behind the stage once more. At least his boyfriend would cheer him up again, Kurt reflected dully, dragging his feet.

Only, when he reached the spot he had last seen the Guardian, he was nowhere to be found. Kurt gathered quickly that something was amiss, as Jack wouldn't leave without a damned good reason. Not without telling Kurt.

Telling Kurt.

Shit.

That had been what the Legend had been trying to tell him earlier, wasn't it? That it was time to go... well, if not home, then at least back.

Kurt had really hoped spring wouldn't come for a long time. Guess one couldn't have everything.

And things that had finally become so good; now he was gonna have to spend all summer waiting. Sure, he would have his friends, and his father, and they would all have a great time together, but he would still miss Jack like crazy.

He already did.

Six months later.

Kurt couldn't believe it was almost time. Couldn't believe that in just a short matter of time, he would meet the boy who charmed him off his feet not even a year earlier, only to promptly disappear off the face of the Earth for six months. He had been waiting impatiently for the seasons to change, always pleading for them to pass quicker, faster, please please please.

He knew it hadn't been Jack's fault for going, knew it was the way things were for the Legends. Kurt knew they were only allowed to walk amongst humans a certain period of every year, unless special circumstances deemed otherwise. At least Kurt was lucky; Jack was one of the few who were actually permitted to walk the Earth the most. Some Legends like the groundhog, the Easter Bunny and many more like them only had that one day every year they had permittance for it.

Kurt couldn't imagine only being permitted one day when he could spend time with Jack. It would be hell.

For McQueens sake, this summer spent away from him had been hell enough. Sure, he had spent tons of it with Mercedes, Brittany and the rest of the gang, as well as working a lot for his father to hang out more with him, but the time had seemed to drag on even still.

He had even followed Brittany a few times to visit Pitch in his new prison. He hadn't spoken much during these little meetings, and neither had the Boogieman himself, but Brittany seemed pleased at the chance of speaking her mind uninterrupted. Kurt couldn't precisely say he was lining himself up to become Pitch's new best friend or anything, but they could at least spend a few hours in the other's presence amicably.

He had once asked North during one of their trips to Pitch why he wasn't allowed to visit Jack, only to be told that it was e man in the moon who had ordered it. They were already pushing things by visiting Pitch like this.

Kurt would have gladly switched out the visits with Pitch for a minute spent with Jack, but they wouldn't hear of it.

So the summer had definitely seemed unending at times. However, it was these last few days that had seemed the longest, hands down. Just these last forty-eight hours had seemed to never end.

But today was the day, and Kurt had been alight with jittery nerves all day long. He had been unable to sit still in every class, he had been unable to focus on what any of his teacher's had been saying, and he had been stumbling into more than one person that day by accident, too preoccupied with happy thoughts to watch where he was going.

Aside from merely daydreaming about Jack's face, the most common thought that was traveled through his mind that day was how he was going to have to thank Baby Tooth big time. The small fairy had early on in spring gotten sick of how the two of them would consistently moan and whine about how they missed the other so much, and had subsequently told them both that if they missed each other so much, why didn't they just do something about it? Just writing the other a letter or something would make them stop acting like five year olds who'd lost their favorite toy, right?

Ever since the small fairy had often been coaxed to play the messenger of their little notes, and she would do it every time, grumbling for hours on end after.

He and Jack both owed the small fairy the biggest thank you ever.

At the moment – considering how impatient he had been all day – he was in the park, avoiding his father as he waited for Jack. He knew that if he had stayed in the house he would have been pacing by now, walking back and forth between the windows, and because of it his father would had begun asking questions. And as his father was more or less unaware of Jack's existence in the first place, he didn't want to take that risk.

It was so not the way he wanted his father to find out about his relationship.

So, like he said, he was currently in the park. Actually, he was pretty much the only one there, swinging softly on the swings as he hummed melodies to himself, his eyes closed as he waited.

It was the sudden wetness to his nose that tipped him off that something was going on, and when he opened his eyes he could see a dozen or so of snowflakes in the air before him. They were not falling to the ground however, no, they were just hanging in the air, still and silent.

Then suddenly they moved; twirling around one another and dancing up and down and from side to side. Kurt smiled, showing his teeth as he watched the flakes happily, and his eyes traced them as they began their journey around him, making him turn his head to keep watching...

And there he was, handsome as ever, his back leaning against the monkey bars, a big smile on his face. Jumping off the swing Kurt walked over, unexplainably patient despite the frenzied hurry he had felt for months, and stood before the Guardian, finally.

"Why hello Jack Frost," he smiled flirtatiously, looking up at the boy through his eyelashes.

"Kurt," Jack choked out, dragging Kurt into his arms, and hugged him like it was his last chance. Kurt let himself fall straight into it, and sighed contentedly. "Please don't ever greet me like that again," Jack muttered against his hair.

Kurt chuckled against his boyfriend's creamy white neck. "I promise."

"I love you," he heard Jack mumble happily.

"I love you too," Kurt answered; feeling spurts of affection rush through his chest.

He swore he could stay here forever.

He hoped he would.

It had been a long summer, Jack had thought many times during the past three months. It had been much longer than usual. Of course, for a good many years there hadn't been much to look forward to. For years he had been suffering from heartbreak no matter his location, whether it be in the dimension he called 'home', or on Earth where nobody had been able to see him for centuries. The last thirty years of course, those he had always spent the summers longing to go back.

Never as badly as this year though.

It had been torture staying away from Kurt that summer. The only thing that had helped him keep his sanity at all were the few dozens of letters Kurt had sent his way. He knew them all word by word, had read every single one hundreds of times, memorizing them in his need to feel close to the boy who stole his heart. He'd missed the countertenor so much, and to finally have the younger boy in his arms... the feeling was indescribable. It was warmth, it was happiness, it was home. It was being complete.

He wanted them to stay like this forever, with Kurt in his arms, protected against all the things out there in the world with the potential of harming the boy he loved.

He would do whatever it took to make it happen.

After all, it was what he'd once sworn to Kurt's mother. And Jack? He never broke a promise.