The wind was brisk, but Blaine found that he actually wasn't cold. He was well dressed against the minor chill spring was able to whip up, but there was also the psychological factor.

After everything he'd been through, a little wind was pretty much nothing.

It had been over two weeks since the most harrowing 16 hours of Blaine's life, but the memories had lost none of their edge. Instead of fading like a bad dream, as he'd hoped, they still dominated his thoughts, colored his world. After all, his eyes had been opened to many things: the existence of supernatural forces, the power of hatred, his own soul.

He wasn't sure which of the revelations scared him the most.

It was the same bench in the same park that Blaine had found Dave that night, after their argument at Breadstix. He didn't know why he returned there; perhaps he thought on some level that by retracing his steps, he'd find that the memories were fading, or that he wouldn't react as badly as he feared.

It seemed he was wrong thus far. Then again, he'd been wrong about so many, many things...

Dave sat down beside him without a word. Blaine supposed he should've been surprised, but he wasn't. After all, every horror that still haunted Blaine's mind had been shared completely, perhaps even more so, by Dave. They weren't friends, not really; it wasn't like a single night could make them buddies, but... They'd been thrown together in a weird bond that would never be fully severed — kind of like disparate in-laws suddenly made family by a simple fifteen minute ceremony.

Blaine could feel the wind picking up; he drew his coat over his chest. Dave propped his elbow up on the back of the bench, his legs jutting straight over the edge of the seat, the heels of his shoes digging into the concrete sidewalk.

"So?" he said. It was just one short word, but Blaine immediately knew what was being asked. Then again, it was a continuation of a discussion that they'd been having a lot over the past day.

"Nope. Nobody else seems to remember that they'd forgotten you. As far as they're concerned, it was just a normal day."

"Tina's the only one?"

"Yeah."

"How the hell does that work?"

Blaine shrugged. The two young men didn't even face each other; their eyes remained focused on the empty playground equipment, much as they had that night. "You're asking the wrong person. Tina thinks that she remembers because of her talisman, or because she actually saw Rajeesh. But it's anybody's guess now. With the grimoire destroyed..."

He saw Dave wince out of the corner of his eye. "She over that yet?"

"Eh, she was never really that upset in the first place. I think she accepts that we did what we had to do."

"Good guess on that, by the way."

"Guess? It was a logical deduction based on available information."

"Fucking lucky guess was what it was." They both chuckled, then fell silent again, as if they were waiting for something, and didn't speak for fear of missing it. In a weird way, that was exactly what was going on, even if it was in a way neither really understood. Finally, Dave broke the silence. "What the hell is going on?"

"I've been asking that myself all week."

"I mean, not even the magic thing..." But that wasn't what Blaine had been referring to either. "Even though that's fucking fucked and I'm still wrapping my head around everything it means. But this." Dave waggled a finger in the space between them. "Us. I mean, we're not friends..."

"Nope."

"But we're definitely not enemies like we were before..."

"Agreed."

"So what the fuck?"

Blaine sighed. "I wish I had an answer. It's not exactly like I can talk to anyone about this except you. Well, Tina, I guess, but I'm not sure even she could understand..."

"I think that's it. Understanding. I mean, we understand a lot more of each other now. And about things that we didn't exactly want to understand before..."

Blaine raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? I thought I was the only one going through the emotional wringer."

Dave followed suit with an eyebrow raise. "Dude, I was the one who almost disappeared. And no one would've missed me. No one did miss me. That makes a guy think, y'know?"

"No one missed you because they'd been magicked into not missing you. I think..." Blaine swallowed. "I think if they hadn't, they would have."

Dave turned his body so he was fully facing Blaine, a weird, disbelieving look on his face. "Holy shit, you really meant it, didn't you?"

"Meant what?"

"All that stuff you said in the basement. The stuff that snapped me out of the brainwashing."

Blaine nodded. "I'm as surprised as you are. Like I said, I understand a lot of things better now."

"Well, just to warn you, you're not my type." Dave grinned wolfishly.

Blaine roared. "Good to know. Just for the record, same here." He shook his head, chuckling. Finally, the humor wore off, and the two returned to their awkward but somehow still companionable silence. Finally: "Kurt's worried about you."

"Yeah?" The query was casual, without vibrating with repressed sexual desire as Blaine was halfway expecting.

"Yeah. He thinks you need to get out more, embrace the gay and all that. He wants us all to go out shopping next weekend. Update your wardrobe, talk about boys. You know."

Dave chuckled. "Sounds like... fun? Yeah, sure, I'm in."

"It's good to have a friend like Kurt."

"Don't I know it." Another silence. "I'll never make a move as long as he's with you, you know," Dave said quietly. "And I won't try to break you two up either. Not as long as he's happy." He paused. "Speaking of which..."

"I had my first session last week. Dr. Taylor seems like a nice woman." Blaine had resisted for a long while, but finally decided, fuck it. It wasn't like he didn't need someone to help work through the stress of what had happened to him anyway (even if he couldn't tell her exactly where that stress had come from — even she probably wouldn't know what to do with "someone hated me so much, they changed reality itself to try to kill me"). Perhaps someday soon he'd even be comfortable enough to tell her what really bothered him about himself. "I think she can help."

Dave nodded. "I hope so. Seriously, I do. You... you did help me, in the end, and the only way I could ever repay that is by returning the favor. I really think you can be the guy everyone thinks you are."

Blaine smiled. "I think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."

"Then deserve it."

"I'll try." Over two weeks, and he was still hypervigilant about his interactions with others, about why he said and did the things he said and did. Did he need Kurt to be "lesser" to feel better about himself? Did he really need to win at everything? Did he actually think about other people? He sucked in a breath. "I'm going to talk to Kurt."

"Yeah?" Again, casual, but this time, Blaine could hear the edge in it.

"Yeah. I'm going to tell him how I really feel about him going to New York without me. I'm going to lay it all out. I'm going to be honest. Then..." He sighed. "We'll see what happens."

"And if he goes anyway?"

The very thought made Blaine shudder, but he said, "I'll burn that bridge when I get to it."

Dave nodded. "I hope things work out."

"They will. One way or another. I'm not even sure I care how." To his own surprise, he found that he actually meant it.

"Good."

They watched the empty swings flutter in the wind; Blaine could almost hear the echoes of children past, their laughter and screams as they chased and slid and scrambled. He wondered if he'd ever been that innocent.

"Have you thought any more about school?"

Dave shot him a curious look, but answered. "I dunno yet. Dad and I are still trying to see if I can complete the rest of the work from home. I want to graduate on time, but..." He shrugged with obviously forced casualness.

"You know..." Blaine swallowed. "I know you can't go back to Thurston. But if you need to repeat a year... You should come back to McKinley."

Dave started. "What?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but after everything that's happened, I think you'd have a good support system. There'd be a lot of people there who'd have your back." Blaine turned to Dave. "People who'd need a friend to get by their senior year."

Dave gaped for a moment, but finally nodded slowly. "I'll... think about it."

"Good."

Blaine grinned cheekily. "Y'know, Kurt would tell you to do it."

Dave laughed. "You're actually playing that card? Go to fucking hell, Anderson!"

"You first, Karofsky!"

Both teenagers roared. "Fine, then!" Dave snickered. "What I said about you maybe being a good guy someday? Just forget it!" The laughter choked off; even that small reminder of what had happened cast a pall over the two.

Finally, slowly, Blaine forced a small smile back onto his face.

"Never."

And somehow... that was enough, for both of them.

END

AN: Whew, finally.

So like I said, I got the idea for this after musing on Dave being forgotten. That led me to take it a little more literally. Once I had the basic plot, I knew it would be a lot more interesting to have Blaine along for the ride than Kurt or someone closer to him (if only because I thought it'd be interesting, given their relative lack of interaction and the ready made conflict). And I figured, hey, why not try to rehabilitate the Blaine character a little while I was at it? The threat of supernatural death would certainly be a good motivator.

The idea for the cause just sorta... came to me. I thought it was a good idea. Hope you agreed, and enjoyed. :)