Kurt was sitting at the island in the kitchen drinking some chocolate milk. It was always his go to thing to comfort himself. It was what his dad had given to him after his mom's funeral when he was a kid, and since then he always drank chocolate milk after every pet died, or his heart was broken.

He heard the door open and saw Dave enter the kitchen.

Dave closed the door and went upstairs.

Kurt's heart ached. He figured Dave was getting his stuff to go to the hotel and he couldn't help the tears that leaked from his eyes.

So was this it? Was Dave going to break up with him? Was this the end for them?

But minutes turned into a half hour, and then Dave walked down stairs in pajama pants and a t-shirt.

He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and made himself a glass of chocolate milk.

He sat down beside Kurt and stared out the window over the sink and looked at the setting sun.

"I'm sorry about today, Kurt."

Kurt wiped his eyes and turned to look at his boyfriend.

"You don't have to apologize, David. I know that you're upset about Tyler and I am too. We all grieve differently."

"This wasn't grief, Kurt. This was anger. I was upset at you for calling Tyler's family, for constantly going back to Blaine, even though I knew you were in love with me, or at least had feelings for me, for treating me like crap constantly throughout these past few months. I was just tired of it all."

Kurt's heart constricted even more.

"I'm sorry for that, David. I know that how I treated you was unfair and unkind a lot of the time. I was taking my frustrations and anger about Blaine out on you and you did not deserve any of that. I'm sorry for having sex with you and running out and letting you think I didn't care about you or that you repulsed me. Nothing could be further from the truth. Honestly, that night after we had sex, I thought to myself, I wish I had just told you in high school that I loved you, before you turned into Karofsky. Before you became a jock and jerk. I know that it's not who you really are, and I never understood what happened to make you hate me so much, to make you want to hurt me."

"It was Finn and then Blaine."

"Finn?"

"Yeah, the night after you told me you came out in health class, I went home. I wrote up this grand plan to come out to you, to ask you out, and to see if you could help me build up the courage to come out myself. After all the tutoring you gave me, I was in love with you, and I wanted to be with you so bad. The next day I was getting ready to talk to you about maybe giving me a chance, and I saw you flirting with Hudson. And not just being nice, but full out body flirting and batting your eyes and I realized then, that I could never compete with Finn. He was better looking, thinner, sweated less, and wasn't going to be bald at thirty."

Kurt gasped, "You remember that?"

"Of course I remember that. That was the day you broke my heart and I realized I would never be good enough for you. I wouldn't be good enough for anybody. And then Bland entered the picture and I gave up trying. I got angry and bitter, and then I got violent."

"David…"

"Just let me finish, Kurt. You were everything I wanted, and who I wanted to be like. You were so strong and brave and made people notice you, and refused to be apologetic for who you were. I couldn't be like that. I couldn't be the jock who loved sports and be in love with a guy. I just couldn't. "

"But you told me you hated me and that you would kill me."

"I never meant that, ever. I was so scared and angry. I was so pissed that you would go to another gay guy to get courage, when you were already the most courageous person I knew. So I snapped, and you went to Dalton."

"I didn't know. Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"Because it was my problem, Kurt. I had already caused you too much pain. I didn't need your sympathy or charity, feeling bad for the poor, fat, ugly, gay kid."

"You were not fat or ugly, David. I did not mean what I said in that locker room. In that moment, I was so angry and upset with you. I knew that the "Karofsky" front you were putting on, was not the real you. I said things I knew would hurt you and I do regret it now. But, Dave. I have always been and will always be in love with you."

"Sometimes, it's not that simple."

"I know. I treated you like shit when you came to see me at Dalton. Finn and Rachel both convinced me you had changed, but I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to hear that you had finally changed and became the man I always knew you were, after I had left Dalton. It was painful for me, to realize that you couldn't or wouldn't do it for me, when I was there. I was even more pissed when you came out in college."

"I just wasn't ready to face you, yet. I thought what you said about never coming near you again was what you wanted."

"It wasn't, at all. When Finn told me you were two cities away from me, I waited. I waited every day for three years, for you to contact me. For you to let me know you were okay, to let me see the new Dave, the one I'd had been waiting all of high school for, and you never showed up."

"Kurt, I couldn't. You don't understand what I was going through."

"I do. I knew that you were a major hockey player. I understood that many athletes don't come out until they retire, but I didn't care about any of that, David. I just wanted to see you again. At that point, I was already second guessing my relationship with Blaine, and I wanted you to come and rescue me."

"That is not fair."

"Believe me, I know. But it still made me angry and sad that you never contacted me. Then when you showed up here in Lima, and started chipping away at my life, the one I had protected and tried to preserve, it just infuriated me. Who you were you to shun me for years then just randomly show up, get a job where I was teaching, move into my dream house and show me that what I had with Blaine was a joke."

"I'm sorry about that, Kurt. I was never trying to hurt you by coming back. I was just trying to find a new life for myself."

"I know, but you ruined my life. And now, I've never been more grateful."

"Really?"

"Really. If it hadn't been for you walking into McKinley in June, I would never have talked to you again. I wouldn't know what it feels like to be in love for real. And I wouldn't know how good it feels to wake up beside you ever morning, and know that you love me as much as I love you, that even when we fight and argue, we have passion and energy, and at the base of it all, is love."

Dave wiped his eyes as he stirred his straw in his milk.

"I need to apologize to you, Kurt."

"What? Why?"

"For my behavior since Tyler went into the hospital."

"Stop it, David."

"No. You need to hear this, and I want you to understand."

"Alright."

"From the moment you walked back into my life, I have been waiting for everything to fall apart. You have always had this power over me, that I cannot explain. It's like one look from you or one word, and you can get me to do anything you want. I'm not used to that and it's disconcerting. Tyler was very similar to you in many ways, and for the entire time we were on and off, it was like I was able to pretend that I was with you. But it wasn't enough for him or me. It was unfair to him to continue to let him think that there was a chance, I'd forget about you and just marry him and be content and happy. The only reason I agreed to date him in college was because he looked like you."

Kurt sat and watched Dave as he struggled to continue.

"We broke up after college, because I needed to go to San Jose, and he needed to graduate, but in reality, Tyler was the one who was pulling away at the end. He wanted to find his own Kurt, and by that I mean, what you were to me, he wanted to find that to. So we broke up, but we were still on and off throughout my time with the Sharks. Then he got sick and I felt awful. I was ashamed of what I had done to him for so many years. I had used him to replace you, and that wasn't fair. Then you I came back to Lima, and Tyler came too, and then you entered the picture, and life got really confusing and complicated for me."

Dave rubbed his eyes and head before continuing,

"I hated wanting and loving you so much, when this great guy was there with me through everything. He loved me, and I did love him, but it wasn't the same. And he never complained, he never acted as if he resented me or you, and in fact, he told me a lot how much he liked you. He said he could see why I chose you. But it still didn't make me feel any better for using my best friend, and someone I loved very much. I wanted to be with you so bad, I have always wanted to be with you, but I feel like such an asshole for not being with him all the way. For not giving myself to him completely."

"You can't help who you love, David."

"I know that. I do, in my head, but I still feel guilty and incredibly ashamed of what I did and it made me resent you a little bit. The fact that you would still continue to go back to that asshole even after everything he did to you and to me, and you still wanted to be friends with him and always give him the benefit of the doubt, and I felt like he was the one you wanted to be with. Here I was like a jackass with my thumb up my ass waiting for you to realize that I was here all along in love with you and wanting to be with you, and you wanted Blaine."

"That's not true though, David. I do love Blaine, as a friend, but I am not in love with him. I didn't even know what love was, until I met you."

"I know that now, but then, I was angry at you, for never putting me first and I just really wanted hurt you."

"Well you definitely succeeded in that."

"I know. I felt awful about it too. Today, the only thing I wanted was you to tell me you loved me and that it would get better, but I was so angry at you for not choosing me over Blaine, so many times, and I was angry that I had treated Tyler so poorly for you. I was just upset. But, you didn't deserve that. You didn't deserve me yelling at you or pushing you away."

"It's okay, baby. I'm not angry or upset. I was this morning, but the fact that we are sitting here in our home, discussing it, means everything. I have never been in a relationship where this is the norm. Where we discuss our problems, and both of us get to discuss and share our feelings. I love this. I won't let you push me away. I am in this, Dave, all in, for as long as you'll have me."

Dave laughed despite the tears that had been falling.

"Do you mean that?"

"Do I mean what?"

"That you're in this for the long haul?"

"Yeah. I have waited since fourth grade to have you and now that we are together, I'm not letting you go."

"Promise?"

"Forever, baby. You're stuck with me."

"Okay. I can live with that."

Dave stood up and grabbed Kurt's hand,

"Come on. I am exhausted and I can't imagine a better way to end this awful day, than to have you in my arms."

Kurt kissed him then, with all the love he felt for the man standing before him.

As he lay in Dave's arms that night, Dave thought about everything that had brought Kurt and Dave to this moment in time. It had started in fourth grade and had spanned high school, college, and now seven years later, they were back together. The strand that had been entwined through each phase of life had never been broken. The strand that was always Dave and Kurt, in love, and now finally they had gotten it right and there they were, Kurt and Dave, hearts entwined forever.