"I wish you didn't have to go." Blaine said, as he clung to Kurt, as the boy was about to leave his house
"Ask me to stay." Kurt said, his voice uneven, and Blaine knew this was so much more than just about leaving his house. Blaine was shocked…would Kurt really stay? No. that wasn't right. He needed to let Kurt go. Blaine bit his lip and shook his head, looking utterly distraught
"I can't do that." He said, his voice rough and low "Kurt, this is pretty much your dream" the taller boy frowned, and Blaine continued "Don't even argue. You got a scholarship. You're going."
"I'm not even in College." Kurt mumbled feebly, Blaine smiled
"That's the amazing part, you have to do this, if you don't do it for you, do it for me. Kurt, I wouldn't be able to stand it if you gave all this up, I want to see you succeed." Kurt smiled, teary eyed
"I know." He whispered, Blaine went in for one more hug, and then let go.
"Bye, Blaine." He said, and Blaine bit his tongue to keep from calling out, telling him to come back, begging him not to go, telling Kurt he loved him. But he couldn't do that. Kurt had been offered a scholarship to study abroad. Even better, to study fashion in Paris. Blaine groaned and swiped furiously at his eyes. He was never going to see this boy again.
They kept up contact for a few months after Kurt left, but soon, it just became too much. It physically hurt to be able to talk to him, but not feel him. 'You're not even dating him!' Blaine had to keep reminding himself. But one day, Kurt didn't respond to his e-mail. He'd waited, he'd waited weeks for that reply. It never came. And that's when Blaine realized that it was over, Kurt was out of his life. He'd collapsed on his bed, let himself cry out all the pain of loss, yelled at his mother when she'd knocked on his door, and finally, pulled himself off the bed and began to collect everything in his room. Thing's that belonged to Kurt, pictures of them, anything that had a tie to the boy. He'd collected it all in a box, and went downstairs, box in hand, and walked up to his mother. His eyes were red and his cheeks were blotchy,
"Can you just…hide this or something?" he sniffed, his mother gave him a sympathetic look and took the box, before setting it on the counter and pulling Blaine into her arms.
"oh, baby"
"I…I'm never going to see him again, mama." She rubbed his back and made soothing noises into his ear, she kissed his forehead and wiped beneath his eyes.
"It'll be okay, I promise."
oOo
"Mom…" Blaine walked into the room, his mother turned around, looking startled
"Honey…I thought your father was taking you to the airport?" Blaine nodded
"Yeah…I…I forgot something." He cleared his throat "do you remember that box…" her eyes softened
"I thought you wanted it hidden?" Blaine nodded
"I did, but now I've got my own apartment and I just want to keep it with me, even if I don't look at it." She smiled
"I'll be right back." Her heart ached at the sight of her son's misty eyes as he talked about his long lost friend. And she knew, if he ever came in contact with him again, she'd better start planning a wedding. She retrieved the box from the highest shelf in her closet and brought it back down to her baby boy, who was suddenly so grown up. She handed it to him and kissed his cheek
"Call me when you get there, okay?" he nodded
"Thanks, mama."
oOo
Blaine didn't own a T.V. he didn't find it necessary, and furthermore, no cable bills just allowed him to save money. And he'd never admit it to anybody, but he was terrified that one day Kurt's face would just pop up on the screen and he would be an impossible case once again. So, it was without saying that he freaked out just a bit when he was teaching one of his acting classes when one of his favorite students came up to him
"Blaine!" she squealed (he liked having his students call him by name, after all, they were only a few years younger than himself) "did you hear? They're bringing Hummel's newest collection to stores here in New York!" Blaine's brain froze. Hummel. Well, at least now he knew Kurt had, in fact, succeeded. But wait, he really didn't want to know that.
"Uhm. I…" he blinked furiously and shook his head "Class! Just…get your scripts out and continue memorizing I'll be…over there." He pointed to a random spot in the room and trudged over to it, sitting down. Meanwhile, Janie stood, somewhat shocked at their teacher's reaction. She ran over to Nicole instantly
"Nicole!" she whispered harshly
"Yes, beautiful?" the redhead turned to look at her, Janie rolled her eyes
"now is not the time for ass-kissing, I think I just had an epiphany."
"And what would that be?"
"Blaine totally knew Hummel!" Nicole raised a brow,
"Hummel. As in world renowned fashion designer, Kurt Hummel."
"Yes!" Janie squealed "come on, think about it! We've read enough of Kurt's interviews to practically know the guy, he grew up in Ohio, so did Blaine, he's 24, so is Blaine, in one of his interviews he said one of his jackets was based off the Warblers uniform, Blaine's high school." Nicole thought for a minute
"That…that's actually plausible." She said, but Janie just had to push it further
"I bet they dated!"
"Okay, now how could you possibly come up with that one?" really, Nicole loved her girlfriend, but sometimes she took things and ran with them a little too far.
"Every time I ask him about his high school, or his friends, or just now when I mentioned Kurt, he got all teary and like…shut down." Her eyes went wide and she smiled "We should write Kurt and ask him about it, like fanmail!" Nicole shook her head and smiled, listening to Janie's plans.
oOo
As it turns out, they didn't have to write to him, because Kurt would be flying out to New York to present his new collection and have a meet and greet. Needless to say, Janie and Nicole were there. They waited two hours in line before they were up at the table. Kurt smiled softly at their linked hands and looked up to greet them
"Hey, there"
"Hi!" Janie smiled "we're big fans." She handed him a magazine featuring his collections. He signed it and Nicole asked
"This may sound really, really weird but…do you know Blaine Anderson?" Kurt froze momentarily before looking back up at them
"I..uh, I used to." Janie squealed
"I knew it! We take on of his acting classes." Kurt swallowed loudly
"How uh, how did you know that?" Nicole smiled
"She's my little Sherlock Holmes." Kurt smiled a bit before turning around to one of the large men standing behind him
"Could you show these ladies to my trailer, please…I'd like to talk to them." He smiled at the girls "if you wouldn't mind waiting, I'd really like to hear more about this." Both of them nodded furiously and allowed themselves to be lead to the trailer. They waited for another hour until Kurt entered the trailer.
"How did you say you knew Blaine again?" he asked
"We're in one of his acting classes." Nicole answered "he started a theatre company and teaches classes there, too." Kurt smiled
"Yeah, Blaine and I went to high school together, we were best friends."
"Did you date?" Janie asked, Kurt's eyes widened
"uhm…no, what made you think that?"
"Well when I mentioned you earlier he got all teary and really weird." She shrugged
"he did?" Kurt asked "I cant' believe that." He smiled "do you guys know where I could find him?"
"He's playing at a bar tonight! He does that every Saturday." Kurt smiled widely
"great."
oOo
Kurt and the girls walked into the bar and sat in the very back, with a good view of the mini-stage. Kurt's breath caught in his throat at the sight of Blaine fixing the microphone and smiling out at the crowd.
"And this is the last song I'm gonna play tonight, thanks for not booing me off the stage," there was a nice round of applause and some cheers, Blaine chuckled "thanks, guys, this last song I'm gonna do is a new one by my girl Katy Perry, and I'd like to dedicate it to an old friend, it's super relevant so…here it goes." He flexed his hands before bringing them to the keys of the in-house piano and began to play. But all Kurt was really waiting for was when he began to sing.
Summer after high school when we first met
We make out in your Mustang to Radiohead
And on my 18th Birthday
We got matching tattoos
And that is what Kurt had been waiting for. Blaine's voice was the same, if not better, a familiar, rough yet smooth tenor that pulled on Kurt's heartstrings every time he heard it.
Used to steal your parents' liquor
And climb to the roof
Talk about our future
Like we had a clue
Never planned that one day
I'd be losing you
Kurt let himself hope for one fleeting moment that this song was dedicated to him. It seemed kind of impossible that it wasn't.
In another life
I would be your girl
We'd keep all our promises
Be us against the world
Kurt smiled, he'd always loved how Blaine stuck to the lyrics no matter what. Most people would change them according to gender, but Blaine was adamant about keeping them the same. Whether he was singing about someone thinking he was pretty without any makeup on, or about how she was the girl he's been dreaming of…ever since he was a little girl. It was so completely Blaine.
In another life
I would make you stay
So I don't have to say
You were the one that got away
The one that got away
I was June and you were my Johnny Cash
Never one without the other we made a pact
Sometimes when I miss you
I put those records on
And he knew it was written into the song and completely irrelevant to them, but Kurt couldn't help but wonder if Blaine had actually kept those cd's. He wondered if Blaine played them and remembered that brief time together as the best time of his life, because Kurt did.
Someone said you had your tattoo removed
Saw you downtown singing the Blues
It's time to face the music
I'm no longer your muse
But the thing is, he totally was. Blaine was in every aspect of Kurt's life, from the clothes he designed to the choices he made, remembering Blaine's advice and thinking of what he would do in that situation.
But in another life
I would be your girl
We'd keep all our promises
Be us against the world
In another life
I would make you stay
So I don't have to say
You were the one that got away
The one that got away
The o-o-o-o-o-one
The one that got away
All this money can't buy me a time machine
It can't replace you with a million rings
I shoulda told you what you meant to me
'Cause now I paid the price
He wanted to believe that Blaine's voice cracked on that line because he hadn't told Kurt something. Because not telling Kurt was something he regretted. Kurt regretted not telling Blaine every single day. He often wondered what would have happened if he had. What would be different? But then again…would he have had the heart to leave?
In another life
I would be your girl
We'd keep all our promises
Be us against the world
In another life
I would make you stay
So I don't have to say
You were the one that got away
The one that got away
The o-o-o-o-o-one
In another life
I would make you stay
So I don't have to say
You were the one that got away
The one that got away
"You okay?" Nicole asked, Kurt looked at her
"yeah, totally, fine, why do you ask?"
"You're kind of crying…" Kurt wiped at his face instantly
"Am I? oh…well, Blaine's a very," he cleared his throat "emotional singer." Janie giggled
"Would you like to go see him?" Kurt nodded
"Yes, absolutely."
oOo
Blaine was packing up his things in the back room when the door opened,
"Oh, hey, Janie, what did ya think?"
"You were awesome, as per usual, but I have a surprise for you, and I think you're gonna love it." Blaine raised a brow
"Alright, what is it?"
"I'll just send him in." Blaine frowned as the girl disappeared
"Wait, send who…what? Janie!" but he didn't have the chance to follow her because the second his 'surprise' stepped through the door, he was pretty sure he went into cardiac arrest. Because holy fuck, Kurt Hummel was standing right in front of him and what the hell was going on? The first thing Blaine noticed was that Kurt had grown up. He was a man, and he looked good.
"Hey." Well, his voice hadn't changed
"What are you doing here?" Blaine blurted, trying to prolong the inevitable meltdown. The boy he'd tried to forget, the boy he'd gone out of his way to avoid hearing about, the one that practically made him burst into tears just from memories was standing right in front of him and how exactly was he still alive?
"I…had a fashion show, the girls from your class told me about you and I wanted to see you."
"You did? I thought you forgot about me after you just lost all contact with me." And SHIT, that wasn't what he wanted to say at all, but it seemed that his filter wasn't working properly at the moment. Kurt winced
"Blaine, I'm sorry I just, it was too painful."
"You thought it was painful?" Blaine burst out, all he wanted to do was just pull Kurt into his arms but he couldn't stop talking because he needed answers. And all this time, he'd never really realized how bitter he was. "Kurt, I practically cried nonstop for a week after you didn't respond," he was well aware that his voice was cracking and those same tears were making their ways to the corners of his eyes. "You were my best friend, and I wanted the best for you. I'm glad you went to Paris, Kurt, I'm glad you succeeded, but I'm just so fucking…" he searched for the right word "heartbroken that I couldn't be a part of your life to see it happen."
"I…I'm sorry." Kurt said, small and helpless, Blaine collapsed onto the couch and dug the heels of his palms into his eyes and sniffed loudly.
"I know you are. You're a good person, I know there was a reason, the distance was killing me too, I just…I never wanted to have to forget you." He was suddenly aware of the couch sinking beside him and he looked over
"I never forgot you." Kurt said "I've wanted to call you so many times but I wasn't sure if you'd want to talk. Maybe you changed your number…or just didn't want to keep up contact with me." He shrugged and Blaine practically launched at him, hugging him around the neck and burying his face in Kurt's shoulder
"I love you. I'm sorry I didn't say it in high school and it's the worst thing I've ever done. I regretted it every single day, but Kurt, I've never stopped loving you." Blaine was aware that he was being completely bipolar, one minute he was yelling at Kurt and the next he was confessing his love, but it didn't really matter because Kurt had just said it back.
"you…you do?" Blaine asked, propping himself up on his elbows, Kurt nodded
"I have since high school…I was just too scared to tell you." Blaine laughed
"Oh my god, this is like the worst romance novel ever." Kurt grinned
"But we've never been very conventional, have we?" Blaine shook his head and looked down at Kurt and began to lean in, silently asking if this was okay. Kurt made no move to stop him as he pressed their lips together. Kurt leaned up to deepen the kiss and nothing else mattered. It didn't matter that at some point, the would have to talk about this, tomorrow didn't matter, the fact that Kurt would probably have to go back to Paris just didn't matter, because this was what they had both been waiting so long for. It wasn't the kiss, it wasn't the declarations of love or the apologies. The only thing that either one of them cared about was that they had each other. And they weren't about to let that go.
Can we just take a moment to enjoy the fact that this is actually 2,870 words and it's the longest thing I've posted in the drabble series? I'm not very good with long shit. Anyway, this is something I've just really wanted to write so...here.
And. uhm. 'WakeUpMe' PM'd me and asked if they could translate this series to french for all the french readers and I'm totally NOT going into cardiac arrest from pure excitement. Just the fact that someone liked this enough to actually want to share it with others completely boggles my mind and I'm so, so thankful for that.
Honestly, if I haven't said this before, thank you to every single one of you who has ever reviewed, favorited, or done ANYTHING for this story. I appreciate the fuck out of all of you and would totally hug you and bake you all cookies if I could. I may have cried a bit in gratitude. I don't know.
I'll just stop before I embarrass myself further.
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