EPILOGUE

Part 1: Summer Lovin' - A

June

Kurt arrives in L.A in the middle of the month – Cooper waiting for him at the airport with huge dark sunglasses to "hide from the lurking paparazzi". He has two more days just to hang out with his half-brother and just get to know the city a bit better before his first day of work and Kurt intends to make the most of it.

To his surprise Cooper has offered him his car because Cooper thinks learning to ride a motorbike will help him with future auditions. Kurt thinks Cooper should rather invest in some acting classes, but keeps his mouth shut. He's found that in situations like that it is usually for the best not to say anything at all if you don't have anything nice to say.

He already misses Blaine even though it's not even been twenty-four hours since they have said goodbye at the Columbus airport. He knows it's only four weeks until Blaine joins him, but it is hard after spending every waking hour together for the past five months.

The gym close to Cooper's place advertises yoga classes and Kurt signs up for one where he can come and go as he likes. He doesn't know what his schedule will be like so for now it sounds like the best option. After feeling Blaine's skin against his own for the first time, he is determined that it's going to happen again, and maybe working out will help him get rid of his low self-esteem.

Cooper thinks it's a great idea and signs up as well, because "yoga classes are the place to pick up chicks." Kurt just roles his eyes but doesn't argue because it might be nice not to be the only guy there. That in return causes Cooper to laugh because in Hollywood everyone does yoga apparently.

The day before his first day of work, they drive around town, Cooper telling him what roads to avoid at what time and shows him a short cut to the studio where they are filming the interior scenes. They have lunch close by before Kurt picks up his ID and a copy of the call sheet. Cooper laughs when he groans after reading the call time. "The only thing that sucks about the movies is how early you have to get up most days", he says and Kurt has to agree. He isn't usually one to sleep till noon, but a 6:30 call time does sound too early.

That night he has a hard time falling asleep. Sure he has worked for Burt for a while now but he has never had a job where he is supposed to work with complete strangers. Cooper has told him the basics about set etiquette, but he is still nervous, because what if he screws up and gets fired the first day. Apart from oil and tire changes he isn't qualified to do much and he has to work while he is in L.A – can't rely solely on Cooper and Burt to support him.

There's no need for him to dress nicely the next morning. "Wear comfortable shoes you can run around in all day", Cooper's advice has been. He slips on a pair of sneakers, regular t-shirt and shorts, throws his ID, phone, notebook and a bottle of water into a bag, before he quietly leaves Cooper's apartment, dawn barely breaking.

He is the youngest on set, which is hardly a surprise, but it still stings when a tall burly guy asks him if he got lost, the playground is across the street. But he refuses to get bullied here, holds his head high and asks for the UPM. The unit production manager is a kind looking woman in her late thirties who smiles at him when he introduces himself. "Cooper's brother?" she asks and when Kurt nods her smile widens. Apparently his brother is really popular with the ladies. He doesn't know how he feels about the fact that his brother might have slept with the woman just to get him the job.

He wants to succeed on his own, can't imagine ever doing something like that, ever doing something like that with someone other than Blaine, period. And even that is still open for debate. Not the if but the when.

Working on a movie is nothing like Kurt has expected. Most of his first day is spent running around fetching coffee for the director, snacks for the actors who can't leave to get it themselves, waiting around till a shot is set up and he is sent running again to fetch the actors. It's tiring and not at all glamorous.

He is seriously questioning Cooper's methods by the end of the first day, because if he wanted to convince Kurt how amazing the film industry is, shouldn't he have gotten him a job a little more glamorous?

When he opens the laptop Burt has gotten him for his eighteenth birthday Blaine is already online and Kurt quickly showers before logging into Skype as well. They have agreed to skype every evening and call if they can't for some reason. It's their sort of trial run in case they don't end up going to college in the same city.

Blaine isn't wearing a shirt, sitting on a lounge chair in the Hummel's backyard and Kurt tries to keep his eyes up, he really tries. Not that there is anything wrong with looking at his boyfriend, but he knows how much Blaine likes it when he catches him looking, when he makes him blush.

Blaine's telling him about his first day singing at King's Island. He couldn't be prouder of his boyfriend who after auditioning for the past two years finally got cast. They share a laugh when Blaine tells him about one of his female co-stars who kept saying as soon as they finished their first duet that they were destined to be together because they have so much chemistry on stage. Sometimes Kurt wishes Blaine was less polite. 'It's called acting, bitch', is what he would have told her.

Behind the sofa in Cooper's living room, Kurt has hung a calendar, counting down the days till Blaine will arrive in L.A. Burt is coming with him for a few days because Kurt has to miss the traditional Hummel forth of July BBQ and Burt insisted they'll have it in California two weeks later.

'I miss you," Kurt tells him before letting his boyfriend go, tired after running around all day. Cooper's not home, left a note saying he is out with some producer, leaving Kurt to fend for himself.

It doesn't take long for him to fall asleep after watching some boring TV show for a bit.

Getting up early gets easier after a few days and while the work still isn't glamorous Cooper has been right in some respect. Kurt is learning a lot about the industry and once he has managed to show that he isn't just some dumb teenager who only got the job because his brother slept with someone on the team he is making friends.

There are some college students, interning for school credit and Kurt finds himself in their company during most breaks. The atmosphere is nothing like he is used to in Ohio. People talk freely about their relationships and when Kurt reluctantly tells them about Blaine, the girls demand to see pictures immediately. No one sneers at him or tells him to stop spreading his fairy dust.

He even gets invited to go on a double date with a production intern and her girlfriend when Blaine arrives in town. He feels like he can properly breathe for the first time for a longer period of time. Here he isn't Kurt Anderson the school freak, or the guy who got abused by his parents, it's a fresh start, he can reinvent himself, can be whoever he wants to be.

Living with Cooper has his ups and downs though. Kurt wouldn't say he is a neat freak but Cooper is a slob and coming home everyday to a sink full of dishes drives him up the wall. He finally explodes two weeks in, and Cooper sheepishly promises to do better – at least while Kurt is staying with him.

His new friends keep dragging him out to parties or clubs that don't check for IDs on weekends and some times it's hard to be the only one not drinking because it inevitably always leads to questions. He usually gets away with an invented story about making a complete fool out of himself the one time he got drunk – which isn't exactly a lie – and having no desire to repeat it any time soon.

The parties are fun, but mostly he misses Blaine when he is there, missing someone who listens to him judging other people's outfits. It's one thing to dress poorly because you can't afford anything else, but it's another to wear horrible clothes because you have no taste he tells himself when he feels guilty for judging people for something people have made fun of him in the past.

July

Cooper is out of town for forth of July weekend, shooting a commercial in Mexico and when his coworkers hear he is own his own, they invite him along to a beach party in Orange County. Thanks to Blaine's popular culture education program Kurt is now very familiar with Orange County and is shocked to see that the TV series wasn't exaggerating much.

To his shock and surprise he gets hit on not even five minutes after arriving on the beach. The boy in front of him is walking and talking surfer cliché – blond hair, tanned, swim trunks low on his hips – and Kurt blushes furiously when the guy lets loose some horrible pick up lines.

It doesn't hurt his confidence though and empowered by the boy's attention he takes his shirt off, hoping to get some color before Blaine arrives on the west coast. Surfer boy isn't the only one this afternoon who tries his luck and Kurt can barely believe this is happening to him. There are so many better looking guys than him he thinks, and still all those who have hit on him had been quite attractive.

Sandy, one of the production interns, who is sitting next to him with her girlfriend, laughs when he asks why those guys are hitting on him. "Honey, I may be a lesbian but even I can see that you are hot," she tells him, raking her eyes over his body and Kurt turns an even darker shade of red.

Later that night he is sitting with Sandy and one of the other interns watching the fireworks explode over the ocean. It's beautiful but he knows it would be so much better with Blaine here with him. He must have said some of it out loud because suddenly an iPhone is shoved into his hand.

"Go call your bf on facetime," Sandy mumbles, not completely sober anymore. "Your moping is killing the mood."

He walks down to the water for some privacy, the waves caressing his ankles as he dials Blaine's number. It's only shortly after eight in Ohio and Kurt can see that Blaine is in the Hummel backyard when Blaine moves the phone a bit. He is greeted by a chorus of 'hey Kurts' from the other mechanics Burt must have invited over and Kurt is touched that they have accepted him into their little family so readily even before he and Blaine had started dating.

After the forth of July weekend, times seems to have come to a stand still. Production has changed to a night shoot schedule allowing Kurt to sleep in, but days feel longer than before. The two weeks till Blaine's arrival just don't want to pass, and even though Cooper and his co-workers are doing their best to keep him distracted he just doesn't feel complete without Blaine with him.

This whole separation experiment is a total bust he thinks at the end of week three without Blaine. He can barely manage a month without his boyfriend – how are they supposed to make it through four years if they don't go to college in the same city. It's something they will have to talk about once Blaine gets here, talk about more than just 'yeah, New York sounds good.'

Kurt knows where he wants to apply to but he has no clue what Blaine intends to do, is not even sure Blaine is one hundred percent sure which colleges he wants to apply for. They kept postponing the talk while they were still juniors but now with senior year looming, he thinks it's time for a proper talk.

That night, Cooper slams a duffel bag down in front of Kurt. 'Pack some stuff. You are coming with me to TJ," his brother orders him and when Kurt looks at him confusedly Cooper elaborates. "Tijuana, Mexico. I know you have tomorrow off and I can't keep watching an eighteen year old who behaves like a guy in a retirement home. Live a little, little bro."

Kurt eyes the duffle bag warily. "Isn't Mexico dangerous?" he asks because he has seen some movies about the drug cartels. Copper just shakes his head. "As long as you don't run off in the middle of the night we should be good. But just so you know, the longer it takes you to start packing the later we're gonna arrive there."

Ten minutes later they are in Cooper's car, heading down I-405 toward San Diego. He has no idea how long it will take them to get to the Mexican boarder and absolutely does not want to listen to Cooper babble on about his latest string of girls but he doesn't own an mp3 player yet and there is little else to do for an unknown amount of time.

Three hours later they leave San Diego behind and head toward the boarder. "You did remember to bring your passport, right?" Cooper suddenly asks when they pass another sign for the border and Kurt's eyes widen.

How could he forget about that? God he really is a hick from Hicksville. Of course travelling into another country means you have to have a passport.

"Don't be mad," he tells Cooper quietly. "You forgot it?" Cooper asks, sounding disappointed.

"Cooper, I don't have a passport. What made you think I would have a passport? Before I came to see you for spring break I had never been further than Indiana. When we went to New York for Nationals I was on a plane the first time. I only got my driver's license a few months back. This," he points outside working himself up more and more, "this is all new to me, Cooper. I thought you understood that."

The car slows down until Cooper pulls over. There are only a few cars going in their direction and Kurt seriously hopes there are no serial killers out there.

Next to him he hears the click of the seatbelt being unbuckled and then a hand is on his shoulder. "I'm sorry Kurt," Cooper says but Kurt keeps his eyes on his hands, tears threatening to spill over.

"It's been twenty years since we got away from dad and I keep forgetting. I keep forgetting that you had to live through that most of your life. That you only just got out. And maybe I thought if I treated you like it never happened it would be easier for both of us."

When Kurt finally looks up he is surprised but what he sees. Cooper has never looked that serious before. Gone is his goofy and exuberant personality. He barely recognizes the young man sitting next to him, and now Kurt feels guilty for making Cooper look like that.

"I'm sorry too," he whispers. "I keep forgetting we don't have the same experiences, but I often wish we do, so we can talk about it and help one another, but that's not fair to you. I should be happy that the past doesn't affect you like it still affects me," he admits reluctantly.

His own seatbelt is unbuckled and then he finds himself in Cooper's arms. "Give it time Kurt. I'm not saying that one day it will be like it never happened, but it will get easier as long as you surround yourself with people who care for you and treasure you."

"You promise?" he can't help but ask because one day he wants to be able to think like Cooper. That he really put his past behind him and can live his life however he wants, without having voices in his head who keep telling him what a failure he is. He's getting better ignoring them, but they are still there, still rearing their ugly heads from time to time.

"What are we going to do now?" he asks not wanting to spend the rest of the night crying in a car. "I'm sorry I made you drive down all this way for nothing."

Cooper shakes his head. "It's my fault for not thinking about it. But I don't think it was for nothing. Sounds to me like we needed to have that talk if we want to become closer."

Kurt wipes his eyes on his sleeve, something he doesn't normally do, and nods.

"So listen, I have a friend in San Diego. I'm sure we can spend the night at her place and tomorrow we can visit Sea World or whatever else you want to do. We don't have to go to Mexico to do some proper brotherly bonding," he adds and Kurt gives him a watery smile.

"I'd like that."

They are having fun out together the next day and surprisingly time moves faster once they are back in L.A. Before he knows it it's Friday afternoon and he is driving Cooper's car to LAX to pick up Blaine and Burt.

He rolls his eyes when he sees the now familiar paparazzi lurking outside the airport, feeling bad for the people they are stalking. Fortunately, the flight from Ohio arrives on time and when he sees a baseball hat next to dark curly hair walking toward the exit he breaks into a run, a huge smile on his face.

He doesn't care that there are people watching, that Burt is standing right next to Blaine. He throws his arms around his boyfriend's neck and smashes their lips together, licking into Blaine's mouth and causing his startled boyfriend to drop his bag before he kisses back just as enthusiastically.

They don't break apart until Burt clears his throat. Some people are staring at them but no one says anything, fortunately. He knows his cheeks must be bright red but he doesn't care at all.

When Blaine finally lets him go, Burt pulls him into a bone-crushing hug as well. "We missed you kiddo," Burt tells him and Kurt beams at him.

He takes Burt's suitcase, ignoring his protest and leads them outside to Cooper's car.

California has been good to him so far, but he just knows that with Blaine here with him, this is going to be the best summer ever.

B – Blaine and Kurt spend the rest of the summer with Cooper in L.A where they meet some people who might have an impact on some of their future decisions.