Day 1 – Invisible String by Taylor Swift
Kurt feels like he's spent half of his life running.
In high school, he ran down hallways and through parking lots to avoid being beaten by bullies. When the halls of McKinley High no longer provided a place to hide, he ran all the way from Lima to Westerville.
It was in Westerville that he found he didn't have to run alone anymore. Blaine took his hand and ran with him down a new hallway that first day. Although he let go at the end of the hall, Kurt couldn't help but latch onto the connection – an invisible string, he'd think later, connecting him to this boy who sang and danced and cared and made Kurt feel tethered in the best way.
When he couldn't find his place at Dalton, he ran back to McKinley, into the arms of his friends and onto a stage where he could be himself. It wasn't long until Blaine ran after him, the string pulling them together once more.
He ran out of his junior prom in tears when he was elected as Prom Queen. Blaine ran after him again (literally, this time), and walked confidently beside him when he returned with his head held high.
Kurt planned to run to New York after graduation. When NYADA rejected him, it felt like the entire city had rejected him, too. It was Blaine who got him back on his feet and into his running shoes, trusting that the invisible string between them could stretch all the way to Bushwick.
All too soon, Kurt and Blaine both felt the string start to fray until it finally seemed to snap. They mended it once, but it broke again when Kurt felt like it was dragging him down by his throat instead of connecting him to his future.
Beginning one rainy, heartbreaking night, he ran alone. He ran down busy New York sidewalks and through college hallways and up and down subway station stairs. Though he was by himself, he swore he felt the ghost of someone running beside him now and again – there one second, gone the next. He couldn't figure out if the ghost was chasing him or if he was chasing it, but he finally recognized its shape and knew what, or rather who, was missing beside him.
Life had become tangled. That happens with strings sometimes. It takes patience, work, and determination to undo the knots and mend the frayed sections, but it can be done.
His running carried him back to Ohio, the tether beckoning him once more. But now, Blaine appeared to be tied to someone else. Or was he?
Something in Walter's words that day at the Lima Bean finally broke through the jumbled mess in Kurt's heart. "The only thing worth doing is going toward love. Don't waste time double-guessing…Whatever you do, don't let go."
There it was – the invisible string, the tether, the undeniable pull in his soul that could only be satisfied by being near the heart irreplaceably attached at the other end. The undoing of all the knots and twists created by fear and anger and misunderstandings and bad timing was within his reach, but it would take two sets of hands to make things right. He had to go. Now.
Rushing out the door, he turned left and started to run. He was half a block away from the coffee shop when he fleetingly remembered his car in the parking lot, but it was too late. The string was pulling, pulling, pulling, and he couldn't bear to offer any resistance. Blaine's apartment was a three short blocks away. He ran faster.
The closer he got to Blaine, the more he could feel the insistent tug on his heart. It all made sense now.
Ignoring the harsh pounding of his hard-soled shoes against the pavement, Kurt ran right down the middle of Blaine's street as though he were being reeled in. Only a few more steps to go.
Through the door, up the stairs (who can wait for an elevator?), down the hall, to the door. He was breathing heavily, his heart beating wildly in his chest and blood rushing in his ears. Knocking frantically, he hoped against hope that Blaine was home and would hear him out. Kurt wasn't sure what he would do if Blaine severed the string for real this time.
The door swung open and there he was. Kurt had to speak quickly, the pull too strong to waste breath with flowery language or songs. The words came out in a rush, breathlessly and all at once until he remembered where he was and who else might be involved in Blaine's life. "…unless there's somebody else," he added, glancing around nervously.
"There's no one else," Blaine replied quickly, surging forward and taking Kurt's face in his hands as he kissed him soundly.
Completion. Connection. Love. Finally.
Kurt couldn't fathom how he'd ever considered this bond to be restrictive. He wasn't being held back from anything – the tie to Blaine's heart was the thing that allowed him access to a part of himself he'd never known before. It connected him to the deepest part of the one man he'd ever truly loved. He realized that even when they'd been apart, estranged, and angry, this invisible string had still held them to one another, just waiting for them to stop pulling in opposite directions. It could stretch and fray and knot and tangle, but with trust and patience and time, it would right itself again.
Kurt liked the idea of always being tied to Blaine. He didn't know when he'd next have to run, or where he'd have to go, but he knew he'd never have to run alone again.
Isn't it just so pretty to think, all along there was some invisible string tying you to me.
A/N: This is the first new work I've written and posted since last year's Valentine's challenge, so forgive me if I'm rusty. It's good to be home.