Kurt can’t stop staring at Blaine after he finishes telling his story. What happened to him was horrible but Kurt is selfishly stuck on the fact that Blaine lives in Lima now and they’re only fifteen minutes apart and ohsweethell, the possibilities.

“So you – you’re living here now,” Kurt says stupidly as if that point hadn’t been clearly made.

“Yeah,” Blaine nods, happy tears bubbling to the surface. “I’ll be here.”

“And when school starts-”

“I’ll be at McKinley,” Blaine confirms.

Oh god, Kurt’s heart is about to burst from happiness. He squeals and leaps on top of Blaine, shoving him back onto the bed and hugging him tightly. It wasn’t over, they were still going to see each other every day and even if they weren’t sharing a dorm room, they were only fifteen minutes away from each other and that’s so much better than two hours.

But then Kurt stops thinking about all the good things and remembers Blaine’s horrible family situation. He rolls off Blaine and settles next to him on the bed.

“What about your parents?” he asks.

Blaine goes quite stiff next to him and Kurt frowns.

“What about them? They don’t want to see me.”

“But they’re – they’re your parents.”

“Well apparently I’m not their son.”

“Blaine-”

“Kurt,” Blaine says softly, rolling over to face him, “there’s nothing else to say. They don’t want anything to do with me and to be honest…after what they said and the way they treated me, I’d rather be done with them too.”

Kurt can clearly see the anxiety in Blaine’s eyes despite his calm, outer demeanor. But he doesn’t know what else to say. Kurt would probably be a sobbing mess if his dad ever decided to just get rid of him like that.

“I’m so sorry,” Kurt whispers.

“It isn’t your fault, baby,” Blaine says, attempting to smile, brushing Kurt’s hair away from his face. It’s quite rare for Blaine to use such terms of endearment so Kurt’s heart warms at the word.

“Still,” Kurt says, “I feel bad for being so happy when so many bad things just happened to you.”

“Don’t,” Blaine says quickly. “Don’t feel bad. Because – because I’ll be just as happy eventually.”

“What’s your Uncle Samuel like?”

Blaine shrugs. “He older than my dad. But he’s really soft spoken. He doesn’t attend a lot of family functions because he just doesn’t care that much.”

“Well, he sounds like he’ll be easier to live with,” Kurt comments.

“He will be.”

“And he – he doesn’t care that you’re gay?”

“Sometimes, at Christmas and stuff, he was the only one who would ever talk to me for more than five minutes. Everyone else just asks how school is going and then they walk away because they don’t want to know if I’m seeing someone,” Blaine tells him.

Jesus, Kurt thinks. They might as well just consider him a leper and be done with it. Kurt’s eyes soften as Blaine begins to pick at the top of his comforter. Kurt places his hand on top of Blaine’s tense fingers.

“It’ll get better,” Kurt says softly.

After everything, after all they’ve been through, it just has to get better.

It has to.

And the heavens pour
Like a willow bending with the storm
you'll make it

Running against the wind
Playing the cards you get
Something is bound to give

There's hope for the hopeless
There's hope for the hopeless

Slowly but surely, Kurt and Blaine adapt to their new circumstances. It’s very odd not rooming together anymore. Kurt has been so used to seeing Blaine’s face before he falls asleep, so used to Blaine’s hands on his skin in the morning and it’s weird to leave all of that behind so quickly. Instead, they spend their first week of summer unpacking. Blaine’s turns his uncle’s guest room into his new home. Thankfully, most of his important belongings had already been in his car when he had been forced to leave his home so abruptly. The only things he had taken from his room at his parents’ house had been a few old pictures, some sheet music, and a handful of books.

He kept only one picture of his parents, just in case he ever decided to show his future children what their grandparents looked like.

Blaine begins to spend a lot of time at the Hummel household. His uncle isn’t mean and he doesn’t ignore Blaine, he simply keeps to himself and Blaine needs a bit more company in his life, especially after the horrid way his family had rejected him.

One night, after Blaine goes back to his new home, Burt speaks to Kurt in the kitchen as Kurt prepares dinner.

“Blaine settling in okay at his uncle’s?” his dad asks.

“Seems that way,” Kurt replies. “He just…gets a bit lonely. I’m sorry if you’re tired of him coming over all the time. I can tell him not to-”

“No, no that’s not what I was gonna say,” his dad says quickly. “I was just gonna say that, you know, I’m glad he’s got you. And he should stay for dinner more often.”

Kurt’s throat becomes thick with emotion and he promptly drops his ladle into a pot and hugs his dad fiercely.

You’re my hero, Kurt thinks.

Maybe one day he’ll say it out loud.

“Hi,” Kurt says one night with a bright smile as he greets Blaine at his front door.

Blaine stands on his doorstep, looking very handsome in a pair of dark, fitted jeans and a black polo shirt. He’s got a daisy in his hand and he offers it to Kurt, eyes shy and shadowed in the setting sun. Kurt smiles and accepts the little flower with grace, tucking it into the tiny pocket of his vest.

They’re going on their first real date tonight.

It’s funny because they’ve been together for so long, months even. One, crummy little date shouldn’t mean that much.

But it does.

Because this is the first time they’ve ever gone out somewhere, somewhere public, without having to keep their relationship a secret. This is the first time they’re going out to dinner as a couple. They can hold hands and they can look at each other over their meals with love in their eyes and they don’t have to hide it from the world.

“You look amazing,” Blaine breathes.

Kurt bites back an even bigger smile as he steps outside.

“Be back later, dad!” he shouts over his shoulder.

“Curfew’s midnight!” his dad hollers back.

“I know!”

He shuts the door and Blaine takes his hand. His palm is warm when Kurt slips his fingers between Blaine's as they walk to Blaine’s car.

Blaine even opens the car door for him.

“Why thank you, kind sir,” Kurt says dramatically, climbing into the car.

“Well, it is the least I can do,” Blaine says, playing along ,”when a fine, upstanding gentleman such as yourself is allowing me to take him out for a night on the town.”

Kurt giggles and Blaine shuts the door.

The ride to the restaurant, (definitely not Breadstix, Kurt had begged) is mostly quiet except for the soft lull of the radio. Kurt keeps his hand on Blaine’s thigh the entire time and Blaine keeps a smile of his face. It’s so strange to be able to do this: get picked up, get driven around, and go out on a date. The silence between them is an easy one because it isn’t born out of nerves but out of this bizarre, mutual disbelief at how well their situation has turned out. It’s almost like there’s some sort of enchantment and they’re both too scared to speak for fear of that enchantment dying.

When they arrive at the restaurant, Kurt undoes his seatbelt and makes to open the door to climb out but Blaine’s stops him.

“No, no, wait,” Blaine says, climbing out of the car and hurrying around to the passenger side. He opens the door for Kurt and holds out his hand. Kurt takes it and steps out. “I just want to do it all right this time,” Blaine admits.

Speechless, Kurt can’t even identify all of the emotions that rush through his body at once. He squeezes Blaine’s hand in his and kisses his cheek.

“I love you,” Kurt says.

Of course, usually on the first date, the couple doesn’t usually swap ‘I love yous’ either but Kurt can’t help it. He adores the fact that he can say that to someone now and he adores the fact that he knows the sentiment will be returned.

“I love you, too,” Blaine says with a grin.

They enter the restaurant as two boys in love, fingers entwined and it’s the most amazing feeling in the world. Kurt’s stomach twists with something he can’t explain when Blaine looks at him with soft, kind eyes.

And when their hostess eyes their clasped hands with a genuine smile, Kurt’s pretty sure they got it right this time.

THE END.

"You're just jealous 'cause we're young and in love"