A/N: Hi everyone. Sorry this took a while but here you go. Hopefully the formatting will be better in this chapter and from now on. All the flashbacks are going to be in italics now and also separated by a line break. Sorry if it was confusing before. I kept forgetting that some types of formatting was lost when it was uploaded. Anyways, I hope you like it and I'd love to hear from you.

-Katie

-Chapter 3 : The Road-

"Uh, west actually. Ohio," Kurt answered as he fiddled with the debit machine.

"That's what I was afraid of. There's a storm comin' in. Roads are gonna get bad. Always do. Might wanna think about waiting it out here. The truckers are already pullin' in." The waitress gestured out the window between very prominently chewing her gum.

Despite seeing the greying sky and the several truckers trying to sort out where everyone should park their semi-trucks in the filling lot, he didn't think they could afford to spend any longer at the rest stop. "Oh, uh, we're on a bit of a tight schedule."

"Well don't say I didn't warn you."

"Thanks," Kurt nodded with a smile and stood as he spotted Blaine coming back from the washroom.

"Your boyfriend wants the weather the storm," she directed at Blaine when he got closer.

Kurt's hands froze where they were putting his debit card back in his wallet. He had heard the mistake before but it was rare. Rare enough that it always seemed to knock the wind out of him and take him a while to regain some sense of composure.

"Oh, no," Blaine chuckled awkwardly, nervously glancing around at the other patrons.

Kurt hadn't even had time to think about them yet. Really, the tough guy, truck drivers should have been his first concern but his heart was too tied up elsewhere, pounding at the insinuation at the fantasy that had lingered in the dark corners of his mind since he was little and at the paranoia that this one comment could suddenly make Blaine realize it.

"We're just friends but yeah, he's probably right. We still got a long way to go."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, yeah, we're just close, you know," he stuttered.

"No, I meant about taking off."

"Oh! Right, well, Kurt's always been the smart one. We'll be fine."

"Thank-you again," Kurt added before following Blaine towards the door. The wind had definitely picked up and with the ever graying sky, Kurt began to wonder if maybe the waitress had a point. "We will be fine right?" he asked before they got in the car and gave up their, apparently in demand, parking spot.

"Yeah," Blaine answered with a shrug. "We've weathered New York storms and we had to walk through those. Want me to drive?"

"Nooooo!" It was a knee jerk response more than anything. His father still didn't really trust him behind the wheel even though he had eventually learned and it still a sore spot.

Blaine seemed to know all this though and simply waited patiently while eyeing him knowingly.

"Okay, maybe," he admitted sheepishly.

"Uh-huh," Blaine nodded smugly, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Shut-up," Kurt admonished playfully even if there was a little unnecessary extra force behind his key toss. "But let's make one thing clear, Blaine Anderson. This is still my car and so we still go be my rules."

"Uh-huh."

The agreement didn't seem too sincere though based on the speed at which Blaine was making his way to the driver's side door and the way his eyes were glued to the stereo through the windows. The stormy clouds and wind didn't seem so concerning anymore. Defending his ears from Blaine's musical taste was a much more pressing matter now and Kurt made a beeline for the passenger door to attend to it.

"Blaine, don't you dare!"

"If I recall correctly, when I was teaching you how to drive it was drivers rules."

"Yes, well, that's 'cause you were weak and gave in."

"Weak? Weak?" Blaine questioned in shock as he started the started the engine. "You think I'm weak?"

"Yes," Kurt nodded, hiding his laugh behind his hand. "Yes I do."

"Wow, Hummel."

"I'm sorry but it's kinda true."

"Oh yeah? Name one thing," Blaine challenged as he turned around in his seat to back out of the spot. "Besides the giving up control of the radio," he clarified turning back to Kurt and sending him a death glare before continuing to back up.

Kurt couldn't help but find it more adorable then intimidating but he didn't think he should point that out as well. He didn't want to cruel and he knew his one thing would sting. "Rachel!"

"Excuse me!"

"Yup, yes, and you know it. That girl was ridiculously pretentious and selfish and yet you-"

"Hey, she was passionate in a town of drones and I admired her ambition and talent."

"And yet- well that's what you claim but it's funny how no one else sees her that way-"

"No one?"

"Yes, no one."

"I think that's a bit of an exaggeration."

"Well you're wrong. And because you're the only one who thought like that it simply proves that were too weak to admit the truth because you were too weak to resist your raging hormones and needed someone to sleep with."

"Okay, what did you get for number five?" Blaine asked the group of guys sprawled out in the common room.

"Two pi?" Nick offered with considerable doubt from where he was huddled in the corner with what seemed to Kurt like a permanent confused frown.

"Ummm, I think it's three over four pi," Blaine eased sending a sympathetic look in Nick's direction.

"Yeah, I got three over four too," Wes agreed.

Half of the group seemed pleased by this news and the other half seemed to join Nick. Kurt couldn't help but find their growing distress amusing. The integral calculus midterm was tomorrow and it seemed as if the class was not only insanely difficult but also a requirement for every program except Kurt's so while everyone else in the dorms was freaking out, he got to relax with a cup of tea and enjoy the entertainment.

"Don't think I can't see you laughing behind your mug, Hummel," Jeff accused. "You'd be just as frazzled as everyone else."

"Blaine doesn't seem that frazzled," he offered teasingly with a shrug.

"Yeah, well, Blai-"

"Okay, okay, calm down," Blaine intervened, handing his mug to Kurt and making his way over to Nick and Jeff with his note book. "It wasn't that hard. Let's see what happened."

Wes went to work helping some the others as well but Kurt only had eyes for Blaine and his need but also ability to help others. Just like everything Blaine did, Kurt found it irresistibly cute.

"Oh, here. See those don't cancel, right?"

"Oh, for fucks sakes."

"Yeah so trig rules won't work. You have to use integration by parts."

"We tried that and didn't get anywhere, didn't we?" Nick asked Jeff.

"Yeah. We ended up with original question," Jeff agreed and began shuffling through his mountains of paper to retrieve their earlier attempt and hand it to Blaine for inspection.

"Right," Blaine nodded eagerly.

Kurt guessed that the troubled twosome had been on the right track because Blaine always lit up when his students were close to the answer.

"Do you remember doing this in class? You set the integral equal to all this new stuff plus the integral again and then you solve using basic algebra."

"Oh my god," Nick sighed in both relief and frustration. "I can't believe we missed that. We're so screwed."

"Come on, you were half way through. Part marks count for a lot and now you won't forget," Blaine tried to reassure as he returned to his seat. "Okay, problem five. Eight over eleven pi?" he asked with confidence as he took his mug back from Kurt.

"Yup," Sebastian agreed quickly.

Kurt looked over to Blaine at this and found him looking back and exchanged an eye role before being interrupted by Jeff's moan and yet another wrong answer.

"Noooo."

"Okay let's see-"

"Blainers!" came a nauseatingly enthusiastic voice from the hall, cutting Blaine off.

Kurt tried to refrain from joining in with all the groaning and eye rolling coming from the study group. Being Blaine's best friend, he was trying to be supportive. He knew his heart would never stand fully behind Blaine and his romantic interests. It wasn't sturdy enough, falling fast and far at the simple affectionate use of pet names by another that he remembered as theirs from their childhood. The dark, heavy weight of eternal loneliness and the remedy sitting mere feet away always wanted to push his heart in between Blaine and Rachel instead of supporting them from a distance. It was something he knew he should work on but right now he would settle for superficial support. Rachel, herself, made even that difficult though and he caught a look from Blaine that seemed to prove he needed to work on both before the boy turned towards the short brunette with the hideous stockings.

"Hey, Rach."

"Hi!" she beamed, bounding over to him and seating herself in his lap so she could give him a hug and a very loud, smoochy kiss on the cheek. "Whatcha doing?"

"Studying for the midterm tomorrow," Blaine winced and he tried to unwrinkled all the paper she had squished when she sat down.

"Oh yeah? Cause I was thinking that you could help me rehearse my monologue," Rachel suggested with a coy smile as she fiddled with his bowtie.

"Rach, I can't," Blaine sighed with obvious frustration and then lowering his voice as he continued. "You already asked me and I told you I had to study."

"Pleeease. You're Mr. Smarty Pants anyways."

"She has a point," Jeff teased.

"You realize that I can't help you if I go, right?" Blaine countered.

"Oh."

"Yeah, look Rach, I need to stay. It's worth thirty percent and I promised the guys I would help."

"So you'd rather help the peanut gallery than your own girlfriend?" Rachel bit.

The raised eyebrows shot up before everyone's heads went down as if they were suddenly out of ear shot. Kurt kept his high though and glared directly at Rachel, support be dammed especially if she wasn't going to support Blaine with his own studies.

"Rachel, this is a huge portion of his grade."

"Yeah, Kurt, his grade. So why are you here again?"

"Wow," Kurt chuckled in rage, standing up and heading for the hall way. "Okay, the last thing I need on my night of relaxation is to deal with a selfish brat!"

He had almost made it back to his room, after probably disturbing half of the building with his unnecessarily loud footsteps. The only good thing about the situation was that Kurt could mask his fear of Rachel's insinuation under anger for her disrespect which would hopefully prevent others from reading into the words. There was plenty of anger too, anger that turned into something equally, if not more, sinister when Sebastian came running after him and after a quick look around, pulled him back towards his room.

It was fast and hard, void of the usual witty banter. Not even all the clothes had hit the ground before Kurt felt Sebastian's thick and far too familiar cock ramming into him and he thrust back eagerly, too desperate to wait for his body to adjust. It was exactly what he needed, to sweat out all the toxins boiling with rage in his blood and Sebastian just seemed to get that. Or, at least that's what Kurt decided to believe. It was equally as likely that the other boy was simply taking advantage of his weakened state and by the way Sebastian sent him unceremoniously on his way afterwards, not even bothering to ask about feelings, this was probably the case.

Blaine walked in the door not five minutes after Kurt returned and he was suddenly very relieved that Sebastian had denied him a round two. Not that he wasn't allowed to take walks around the campus but Kurt wasn't the best liar when it came to Blaine and his friend would have definitely asked where he had gone simply out of curiosity. As it happened, Blaine was looking a little sheepish which peaked Kurt's curiosity.

"Get much studying done?"

"No actually. I was helping Rachel."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, she did have a point. I already knew the stuff."

"So you feel good about tomorrow?" he asked out of genuine concern.

"Yeah. I wouldn't have gone if I didn't."

"Promise?"

"Promise," Blaine answered rolling his eyes with a chuckle. "I promise I will not let a girl destroy my grades…. Or our friendship," he added with a wince. "I'm sorry about earlier."

"What? Oh. No. Don't worry about it. It's not your place to keep your girlfriend in line," Kurt assured. He wasn't dumb. He knew that blaming Blaine for Rachel being Rachel would drive him away. "I just hope she's a little nicer towards you than she is with everyone else," he added in a tone that just wasn't quite jokingly.

"Oh, trust me, she's plenty nice." Blaine decided to take the joke anyways.

Kurt turned around from where he'd been tidying his desk to shoot his roommate an unamused glare at the insinuation. Apparently the rustling noise coming from Blaine's side of the small room was not his roommate doing the same thing but instead, throwing a clean shirt and his toothbrush in his backpack. When Blaine noticed him staring, he sent Kurt a wink and a smirk.

He would have been a bit more scandalized but Blaine had alluded to the fact that their relationship had been headed that way for a while. This was simply the first official sleepover. It was another blow to know that he now had to share another thing about Blaine with Rachel, the way he snored softly, the way his eye lashes fluttered delicately when he woke up. It wasn't as heavy as a blow as when Blaine had first mentioned the sex thing, especially because that was brought up in conversation with the guys, not just with him, but it definitely still affected him, causing his voice to stutter as Blaine headed for the door. "W-well goodnight, I g-guess."

"See ya at breakfast."

It was about forty five minutes after they left the diner that the black clouds finally opened up. There had been showers along the way but now it was really raining and within another fifteen minutes, the windshield wipers were having a hard time keeping up. Blaine slowed down to half the speed limit and kept going though for another half hour before he was finally forced to pull over due to the highway beginning to flood.

"We're kinda stranded aren't we?"

"Yup."

"Guess I'm not as smart as you think I am."

"What?" Blaine asked, turning to him with a puzzled grin.

"Oh, just at the diner. You told the waitress that you listened to me 'cause I was the smart one," Kurt explained. His tone was nonchalant

"Nah, you're still the smart one."

"Really? But you're the one who breezed through school."

"You did well in school," Blaine protested.

"Yeah but I had to try."

"Yeah," Blaine chuckled. "I remember how stressed you'd get. That time you called me at like three in the morning before the physics final."

"Oh my god, waves! Do not remind me about those stupid waves!"

"Sorry. But, I don't know, you always knew you wanted out of Lima and you knew that doing well in school would get you out so you tried. And I know school wasn't an easy place to be with all the bullying but you found a way to get through that and that all just seems smart to me," Blaine explained.

"Seriously?" Kurt asked a little stunned at Blaine's words. He had no idea that his friend thought this way or even that he had ever put any thought into it at all. It was little things like this that would pop seemingly out of nowhere with Blaine that kept his heart fluttering, in almost a cruel way, after all these years. He was almost at the point where the boy's ridiculously long eye lashes could no longer sway his opinion but words like these still heated his cheeks because they showed that Blaine truly took notice of him

"Oh, well, y-yeah…I guess."

Blaine's cheeks seemed to have found the heat in the midst of the storm too. It was funny that well into their adult lives with jobs and bills and taxes – they were on their way to a funeral for Christ sakes where a friend had made a very adult decision to take his own life – simple words could reduce them the bashful teenagers in seconds. Funny and odd in a way that made him always want to open that door that he had locked years ago because there had to be a reason.

They sat quietly for a while. Kurt found himself immersed in the heavy falling rain. It created a type of blanket or shield around the car, protecting him for reality and allowing his the peer through the key hole of that door for a few moments. It really shouldn't have felt like that considering the person he was observing in this alternate world was seated beside him, within the shield as well, but for some reason it still did.

Rain had a tendency for enabling him. When he was young, the gloomy whether allowed him to be sad about his mom without feeling guilty or the need to 'man up'. If the world was sad and crying, he could be too. When he got older, it allowed him to sit inside and read the day away and pretend that it was only the rain he was avoiding and not the jocks he went to school with who never let up. The rain let him wear hoodies without question, allowing him a break from his fashion savvy life on days when there was just too much else going on or he simply felt bloated from eating too much the previous night and the rain let him sleep until noon without a second thought because if the sun wasn't up, he as hell sure wasn't going to be either.

"Why do you think he did it?" Blaine eventually broke the silence, but only barely, as he continued to stare off into the rain.

"Oh. I don't know," Kurt answered, equally quietly, still staring out the window too. It helped to wash away the stream of emotions that built up when he thought about Sebastian and about this. "He always seemed so confident and sure of what he wanted and where he was headed. It's weird."

"People hide things behind confidence masks though."

Kurt swallowed hard at this and his gaze fell back within the car. He was happy Blaine was still turned away from him, towards the window, because he couldn't quite meet the other's eyes through this but there was too much to concentrate on now to let the rhythmic sound and mesmerising sight of rain take over. Keeping his voice steady was an effort in and of itself. "You think he was hiding something?"

"Sometimes."

"But we all hide some things. Like how I actually own a number of hoodies," he joked nervously. "You think his was big enough to…."

"Sometimes. Yeah."

"Sometimes? How much have you thought about this? It's only been like a day."

"Oh," Blaine shook his head, turning back into the car again but looking down at his lap instead of towards Kurt. "Um, I don't know. A lot. I mean we're dropping everything to go his funeral so it's kind of been prevalent. But, like, there was a letter and what if it changes everything?"

Kurt didn't really know how to answer that. That letter, even though Kurt highly doubted the exact contents would ever be revealed, worried him too. The thought that it might have something to do with those nights in Sebastian's dorm room scared him. It scared him because just opening their friend group up to the possible idea that one of them was gay might start planting seeds and that, just as Blaine had said, might change everything. The fact that Blaine was already anticipating something made it seem like he was already ready for it to change, that he wouldn't put up much fight to keep things the same. It was almost like Blaine already knew and was waiting for an excuse because it was just too hard to go there on his own.

A startlingly loud crash that lit up the sky saved him from his thoughts and answering Blaine. He hadn't seen the bolt, it must have been behind them, but it was definitely close. It was so loud he swore it stopped his heart. The lightning was followed by the rain picking up even more, which up until that point, Kurt had thought impossible.

"Oh, wow," Blaine laughed clutching his heart. "That was-" The thunder rumbling across the dark sky cut him off. "-intense."

"Yeah," Kurt agreed, relieved to see a smile back on his friend's face. The change in tone wasn't a surprise. Kurt didn't mind thunder and lightning but it had always been Blaine who had loved when the skies decided to wreak havoc on the ground below. "We're going to be here a while aren't we?"

"Probably for the night. At least we had entertainment for a while," Blaine shrugged, gesturing to the Mother Nature's extreme melt down just as another crack shot down from between the clouds causing them both to jump. "This is actually so cool!"

"It'd be better if we weren't cooped up in a car all night."

"We could climb in the back and put these seats down so we could spread out a bit."

Kurt couldn't help but role his eyes at Blaine's excitement but ultimately agreed. It took some fumbling and a few awkward limb placements to climb over and adjust the seats without getting out of the car but there were no serious injuries. Kurt got over his knocked funny bone quickly once he saw how close he was to the snacks they had packed and another round of rage from the heavens above helped Blaine settle in happily beside him.

"It just like when we were little and your mom helped us build that fort when we were scared so we would be safe."

"Okay, okay. It'll be okay, KK," his mother soothed with a kind smile while running her fingers through his hair. "Oh, Blainers, are you scared too, honey."

Kurt peaked out from his mother's hip and turned to look back at his friend whose eyes were wide with fear and his curls were flopping wildly as he nodded his head fiercely. "It sounds like a gun in those grown up movies and guns are bad," he whimpered.

"Shhhh. It's not a gun, baby, I promise. Sometimes things just aren't the way they seem. The storm can't hurt you. It's nothing to be afraid of," she tried to assure them, kneeling down to his level and taking his hands. Another flask and bang caused Kurt to jump into her arms and he felt Blaine collapse into his back immediately after. "What if we made the biggest and strongest fort so there would be no way for the storm to hurt you?"

Kurt nodded eagerly, suddenly very excited at the idea. He loved making forts, especially with Blaine, but they hard to make when they were both too short to secure all the sheets properly. His mom would be able to do that this time though.

"Alright, why don't you go grab your pillows and blankets and bring them to the living room?"

By the time they got back down stairs, taking it very slowly to make sure they didn't trip on their blankets, his mom had already strung up a sheet from the book case to the television stand and had moved his dad's easy chair over the block in the little corner.

"Can we stack up the couch cushions?" Kurt asked after spreading out his pillow and blanket next to Blaine's.

"Of course. I'm going to go make you guys some hot chocolate. I'll just be in kitchen so come get me if you're scared."

As they were gathering the cushions the lightning struck again. Kurt couldn't stop the tears from pooling. It was just so loud and came out of nowhere and was just so scary. He hid his face in the cushion to try and escape.

"Don't worry, Kurt. We're almost done," Blaine tried to reassure but Kurt could hear the fear in his voice and refused to look up. He felt Blaine's hand grip his lightly and guide him slowly over to the fort. "We're inside now. We're safe. We just need the last cushion."

Kurt reluctantly let Blaine take it from him but kept his eyes closed tight and refused to let go of Blaine's hand. "I'm still scared."

"I am too but look, there is no way anything bad could get us in here. Open your eyes and you'll see. It's so cozy and there aren't even any holes. Your mom did a really good job."

Slowly Kurt gave in and opened his eyes. Blaine was right. It looked amazing, by far the best fort they had ever made. His mom made the sheet swoop just right so that it reminded him of a turret. "It looks like a castle," he breathed quietly.

"And that would make you two the princes," his mother chimed as she brought them hot chocolate.

"But then we need a princess. You can't have the prince without the princess," Kurt said with some concern.

"Well tomorrow you boys can go on a quest to look for her," she suggested before kissing them both on the forehead and returning to the kitchen.

They settled in quickly, inching closer so they were pressed up next to each other when another bolt lit up the sky. It wasn't as scary as before though. He did truly feel safe next to Blaine, tucked away, under his blanket in their fort.

"I think I kinda like it better without the princess," he said quietly.

"Really? Me too," Blaine agreed. "This should just be the princes' castle. She can have her own castle."

"It does sound like a gun, doesn't it," Blaine said suddenly. "It's awful. I love storms but now that's all I can think about."

"I know," he replied solemnly. He had been thinking it too but it was so eerie that he hadn't found the courage to say it out loud. "I don't get how he did it. It's so…. violent and... Like how desperate must he have been?"

"And he was always the one who had the handle on things. Everyone else was freaking out and he'd just sit back and make obnoxious comments with like the biggest smirk I've ever seen."

"What happened?"

"Or was happening…. The lightning doesn't just come out of nowhere after all. It takes a long time for all that negative charge to build up before the need to equalize becomes that great. Hopefully he was able to transfer some of that bad to all of us and take some of our happiness and find a flash of light in all that dark before it was over.