It was time for Rachel’s opening night and Kurt was ecstatic, he got to see his beautiful best friend right where she belonged, singing on a broadway stage. Rachel was already at the theatre but Kurt stayed back so he could get ready and put the final touches on her dress for the after party.

He was proud of it, it was fiery red and would fit Rachel perfectly and look beautiful on her and he was so happy that she had him do this for her. She could have any designer in the world, but she chose him. Even though this wasn’t the career he wanted, it still brought him so much joy. Fashion was always one of his favorite hobbies and he loved designing clothes for other people.

Once the dress was perfected, he hung it up and put on his own tailored suit and tie that he also designed himself. The suit was simple and black, but his tie matched Rachel’s dress. He slipped on his shoes and grabbed his keys and Rachel’s dress, and walked out the door, locking it behind him.

Finding parking on or around Broadway was nearly impossible, but he found a spot about 3 blocks away. While he was walking towards the venue, he took out his phone and called Rachel.

“Hello?” she answered. “Are you here?”

“I’ll be there in a minute,” he replied. “Do you want to come out and pick up your dress or do you want to tell someone that I can go to your dressing room and give it to you?”

“I’ll come out and pick it up and bring you in, the doors haven’t opened yet so I’d have to anyway,” she told him. “I can’t wait to see you! Love you!”

“Love you, too,” he smiled and hung up, now only a block away from the theatre. He briskly walked towards the theatre with the sign that said “Jane Austen Sings starring Rachel Berry.” His heart swelled up with pride at seeing her name. The doors didn’t open for an hour but there was already a long line outside the door. He walked past the line and as he got to the front, he saw the door open and Rachel’s head peek out. She grinned when she saw him and she waved him over, he quickly walked towards her and the crowd cheered when they noticed her. She waved at them but then quickly grabbed Kurt’s arm, pulling him into the theatre.

The walls were painted blue and red and on the left wall, there was the covers of almost every book Jane Austen had ever written. He didn’t have time to admire any of them though because Rachel was quickly pulling him away and towards her dressing room.

“Let me see!” she squealed when she shut the door. Kurt spotted a clothing rack and he hung up the dress for Rachel to look at. “Oh, it’s beautiful, Kurt,” her face softened and her eyes rimmed with tears. “Thank you so much.”

“Anything for my star,” he chuckled and then spread his arms out and she walked into them. He squeezed her tight, letting him have this final moment before she blew up, before she got the fame and recognition she deserved. “I’m so, so proud of you, Rach. I can’t wait to see you on that stage.”

“Thank you, Kurt,” she stood on her toes to kiss his cheek and then let go of him. “And you are going to kill it in your callback in two days. Great things are upon us, my friend.”

He smiled at her. “Alright, I’m going to go claim my seat. Break a leg out there, darling,” he squeezed her hand and walked out of her dressing room and towards the theatre.

Once he got there, he was stopped and asked to show his ticket, so he did. They scanned it and nodded for him to go in, he walked down the front row and saw that Rachel must have let other people in as well because there was already about ten people who showed up.

They all stood up when they saw Kurt, eager to greet him. He scanned the line of people, seeing who all showed up. Quinn and Puck, who he hadn’t seen in years were there and he immediately went into their arms first. It had been too long.

“How are you guys?” he asked after he was done hugging them. Quinn and Puck had been in an on and off relationship since high school and he wasn’t sure where they standed. Quinn graduated from Yale a few years ago and the last time he talked to him, Puck was still in the military.

“We’re together, if that’s what you’re wondering,” Quinn said, answering the question he was going to inevitably ask.

“Good to know. Catch up later?” he suggested, knowing he still had more people to say hello to.

“Absolutely,” she gave him a polite smile and sat back down, along with Puck.

Next was Rachel’s dads, whom he was slightly surprised to see sitting next to each other but he was happy to see them civil. He hugged both of them, saying he was happy to see them, and they reciprocated.

Mr. Schuester was sitting next to her dads and he looked elated to see Kurt, throwing his arms around him and squeezing him tight. “Long time, no see, kiddo.”

“I know, I need to come to Lima more,” he moved out of his arms but kept a hand on his shoulder. “Life in New York gets hectic.”

“Tell me that when you have a wife and three kids,” he laughed.

“Speaking of, where’s Emma?” Kurt quirked an eyebrow at him, Will and Emma were always almost attached at the hip, he was surprised to not see her here with him.

“All of the kids got the flu at the same time,” Will looked bewildered, like he couldn’t understand how so many people could be sick simultaneously. “She had to stay home and take care of them.”

“Yikes. Sorry about that,” Kurt shook his head sympathetically and moved on. Sam, Mercedes and Tina were there, whom he only saw a few weeks ago so he just quickly hugged the three of them.

Then, he almost walked right into Blaine’s arms without realizing it was him. He had been blindly hugging people that he didn’t even realize Blaine had been there yet. “Oh!” Kurt gasped. “Hey, Blaine.” He recognized that it was rude of him to hug everyone else and then not hug Blaine as well, so he awkwardly moved towards him and wrapped his arms around him, but quickly let go.

“Where are you sitting?” Blaine inquires, glancing down at the ticket Kurt was holding in his hand. Kurt looked at his ticket to see the seat assignment.

“Right…” his eyes scanned the seats, but there wasn’t much to scan. “Next to you.” Of course, out of all the goddamn seats in the theatre, he had to be seated next to Blaine. He was highly suspicious this was Rachel’s doing.

“Oh,” Blaine looked unphased, but Kurt couldn’t help but notice the pleased smile that Blaine was failing to hold back. Kurt held in a sigh and sat down next to Blaine. He pulled out his phone to check the time, the show started at 8, which meant the doors would open in about 5 minutes. “Are you excited to see Rachel perform?”

“I have been excited about this since Jesse got the directing job, and I was proud beyond words when Rachel got the part. She’s worked hard to rebuild her reputation and her career and she deserves this more than anything,” Kurt was beaming with excitement. Right now, the situation with Blaine didn’t matter, what mattered was that his best friend was about to have her second broadway debut.

“Nobody ever really explained to me why Rachel had such a tough time getting back on broadway,” Blaine pointed out as people started piling into the theatre.

“Not long after we moved to New York, Funny Girl was being revived and had an opening casting call, so she obviously auditioned because Fanny is her dream role, and she got the part,” Kurt told him.

“What? That’s amazing!” Blaine exclaimed. “How did she ruin that?”

“Because someone offered her a TV show,” Kurt answered. “Like a literal TV show about her life. The pilot bombed so bad that it practically ruined her career. She went into hiding for a little while, but nothing stops Rachel Berry. She started NYADA again and got her career back on track and now here she is, back where she belongs.”

“That’s really great,” Blaine smiled softly at him. “I could never imagine Rachel anywhere else but on a stage.”

“Me either,” Kurt agreed. They sat in silence for awhile and about twenty minutes before the show started, Brittany and Santana showed up. Brittany squealed at the sight of Blaine and forced him to get up and hug her.

Santana, on the other hand, was completely focused on the fact that Kurt and Blaine were sitting next to each other, her eyes flickering between the two seats. “You two are talking again?”

“Santana,” Kurt hissed, pulling her to the side while Blaine and Brittany talked. “You know what happened, right? He lost seven years of memories, I wasn’t going to ignore him when something like that happened.”

“Oh, so you think you’re being noble?” Santana raised an eyebrow at him. “Because that’s fucked up, Kurt. You can’t just crawl back into his life because something bad happened.”

“I’m not,” Kurt argued. “I tried to explain the situation to him but he didn’t stop calling me. I couldn’t ignore him, that would be fucked up. Look, can we please not talk about this right now? It’s Rachel’s opening night.”

“Whatever, Hummel. I still want an explanation,” Santana said after rolling her eyes. Brittany came over and kissed Kurt on the cheek before sitting down on the seat next to Kurt.

“What was that about?” Blaine whispered into Kurt’s ear, referencing to Kurt and Santana’s argument.

“It’s nothing,” Kurt waved him off, he really didn’t need to bother Blaine with this considering it hadn’t been Santana’s business anyway. Suddenly, a jingle began to play in the theatre, Rachel’s voice telling everyone to shut off their phones before the show and that no one is allowed to take pictures of videos.

Moments later, the lights began to dim and music began to play and the curtains opened and there she was, smiling bright at her audience, the next queen of broadway: Rachel Barbra Berry.

Blaine was in awe. Rachel was amazing before but now… she was indescribable. The power she radiated off the stage was incredible and her voice brought him to tears. If Rachel was this good now, he couldn’t imagine how much Kurt has improved. They both had an education at NYADA and it must have done them wonders.

After the show, they were ushered backstage to congratulate Rachel. She was already in her after party dress that Kurt had made and she looked stunningly beautiful. He was never as close with Rachel as Kurt was, but he was still incredibly proud of his friend.

Everyone was hugging and crying and then Jesse walked through the door and walked straight to Rachel, picking her up and kissing her. Everyone cringed a little at first but dissolved into happy laughter because nothing good break this amazing feeling.

“Who’s ready to party?!” Rachel shouted after Jesse had put her down. Everyone in the room shouted their agreement and then followed Rachel out the door and outside the theatre where a limo was waiting for them.

Somehow, once again, he wound up sitting next to Kurt in the limo. Well, Sam too. But more importantly he was sitting next to Kurt.

“Dude,” Sam said in his ear, “we’re totally getting you drunk tonight. You deserve it.”

“I’m not old enough-” Blaine had to stop himself because yes, he was old enough. He was not 18 years old and he was 25. It was still very hard to come to terms with that. It’s not like he never drank before he was the legal age, it’s just he was either in the confines of somebody’s home or he had a fake ID which he currently didn’t have. But he didn’t need it, he reminded himself.

“You are so old enough!” Sam grinned at him.

Kurt seemed to overhear the conversation and butted in. “Hey, isn’t the reason he got in an accident because he was drinking? Are you sure he should have alcohol?”

Sam’s face faltered. “I’m an idiot,” Sam put his face into his hands. “I didn’t even think about that. I’m sorry, man. We are totally not getting you drunk tonight.”

“I think that should be my decision,” Blaine argued. He didn’t actually want to get drunk and Kurt was right about the accident, but he didn’t exactly remember the accident happening. He just wanted to choose and not have Sam and Kurt decide for him.

Kurt and Sam didn’t get to respond though because the limo arrived at the club and everyone was getting ushered out and into the bar. There was music pumping so loud that Blaine could feel it in his bones and there was already around 50 people on the dance floor. Some people chose to go to dance first and others went right to the bar to order drinks.

Blaine didn’t really know what to do, the only “club” he ever went to was Scandals and that shouldn’t have even counted as a club. Suddenly, someone threw an arm around his shoulders and he looked to the side and saw Sam grinning down at him. “Are you just going to stand there?” Blaine just blinked at him. He probably looked like a lost puppy right now. “C’mon!” Sam pulled him over to the dance floor and let go of him once he got there.

Sam was doing what he always did when he danced, just body rolling over and over again. Sam had drifted in the crowd so Blaine awkwardly danced by himself, just bouncing on the balls of the feet until the music took over and he let himself be lost it in. He loved dancing, no matter where he was or who he was with, he could still enjoy this.

He didn’t know how long it had been when someone had tapped him on the shoulder, pulling him out of his trance. He whipped around to see who it was, but it wasn’t anyone he knew. It was a guy, a couple of years older than him (25 him, not 18 year old him) and a few inches taller than him, smiling down at him. “Hey!” the man shouted over the music. “You’re a really good dancer. Can I buy you a drink?”

“Um,” Blaine blinked up at him. Blaine’s watched a lot of movies and this only indicated that the other man was hitting on him. The last time he was hit on by someone other than his boyfriend- by Kurt was when Sebastian kept on trying to get in his pants. He let out a shaky breath, not completely sure if he wanted to give in or not. He really wanted to get Kurt back but in all honesty, did Kurt want to get back with him? “Sure,” he finally decided. What’s the harm in exploring other options if Kurt is never going to come back to him?

He walked with the other guy to the bar and hopped up on the bar stool. The bartender walked up to them and asked, “what can I get for you?”

“Two shots of vodka,” the man answered for them. The bartender nodded and went to get the glasses. “So, what’s your name?”

“Blaine,” he told him. “And yours?”

“Rodney,” he said as the bartender came back with their drinks. Rodney slipped the bartender the money and the bartender graciously took it.

Blaine eyes the glass before hesitantly picking it up and pressing it to his lips, he then threw his head back and let the liquid slide down his throat. He immediately cringed. It was disgusting and burned his throat but soon after, he felt his body start to relax.

“Where you’d learn to dance like that?” Rodney asked him.

“I’ve been dancing since I was a kid,” Blaine shrugged. “I love music, I majored in musical theatre in college.”

Rodney nodded and then raised his hand at the bartender, putting two fingers up. “A theatre boy, huh?”

“Yup,” Blaine said as another glass appeared in front of him. He didn’t think about it this time, he just took the glass and threw it back. He shivered as it went down. “You aren’t trying to get me drunk, are you?”

“Did you not come here to get drunk?”

“No,” Blaine shook his head. “It’s my friend’s opening night on broadway. We’re having the after party here”

“Seriously? What show?”

“Jane Austen Sings.”

“You're friends with Rachel Berry?” Rodney looked a little in awe.

“Yeah,” Blaine confirmed. “I went to high school with her.”

“Wow,” Rodney whistled. “That’s pretty awesome.”

“It is,” he agreed. “Look, thank you for the drinks but I think I’m going to go find my friends. I didn’t mean to ditch them.”

“C’mon, have a few more shots with me first! I can say that I had shots with Rachel Berry’s best friend!”

“I’m not her best friend!” Blaine giggled. He literally giggled. More drinks probably wasn’t a good idea. “My ex is her best friend.”

“Damn. He here?”

“Yes.”

“Then, you definitely need a few more drinks!” Rodney called the bartender over again, slipped her a bill and told her to get them four more shots.

“This probably isn’t a good idea,” Blaine said outloud.

“And why is that?”

“I’m a lightweight. I get drunk off one beer.”

“Live a little!” Rodney shouted over the music. The bartender came back with the drinks and Blaine gave in anyway, taking the two shots. His entire body was on fire.

“All right, thank you!” Blaine shouted at Rodney. “I’m going to go find my friends!” Rodney tried to call out for him but Blaine went back to the dance floor, searching for one of his friends. His eyes landed on Tina, who was dancing with Mike Chang, whom he didn’t even realize was here. “Mike!”

“Hey, Blaine!” Mike said, slinging an arm around his shoulder. “How’ve you been?”

“Fantastic!” Blaine responded, squeezing onto his friend. “I feel great.”

“Was that sarcasm?” Mike asked, moving out of Blaine’s grip. “You did just get in a car accident a week ago.”

“What? That was soooo long ago.”

“Are you drunk?”

“I don’t know, Mikey, you tell me.”

“Blaine!” Tina scolded. “What were you thinking? How much did you drink?”

Blaine shrugged, not understanding what the big deal was. “Four shots.”

“Of what?”

“Vodka.”

“Oh my goodness. You’re an idiot. Do you not learn?” Tina looked like she wanted to slap him. “Someone should have been with you tonight. Where’s Sam? I’m going to dropkick him for leaving you.”

“I dunno,” Blaine squinted at Tina, trying to figure out why she was so angry.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Kurt’s voice rang through Blaine and he turned to look at him. Kurt’s face was full of concern and Blaine wanted to hug him. So he did. “Whoa.”

“Mikey and Tina say I’m drunk,” Blaine told him.

“Stop calling me Mikey,” Mike interrupted, clearly annoyed at Blaine’s pet name.

“I can see that,” Kurt said, pushing Blaine off of him.

“I don’t know why you’re all worried,” Blaine gestured to the three of them. “M’fine.”

“Blaine, the last time you drank you got in a car accident,” Tina brought up again. “You shouldn’t be drinking.”

“You guys shouldn’t have brought him here in the first place!” Mike scolded, glaring at Tina and Kurt. “Everyone seemed to forget about him anyway when right now he needs people more than ever!”

Tina and Kurt stared at Mike, shocked at his outburst. “This is where Rachel wanted to come,” Tina spoke quietly. “She wasn’t going to not invite Blaine.”

“And we weren’t all going to compromise having fun to make him happy,” Kurt spat. Blaine was sober enough to understand his words, and he was sober enough for the words to hurt. Kurt’s face seemed to fall, but Blaine barely noticed. His ears were ringing and his head was pounding and he needed to get out. He turned around and started pushing his way out of the crowd. “Blaine, wait!”

He didn’t listen, he kept pushing and eventually found his way out of the crowd and out of the club. He sucked in a deep breath once he got outside and put his hands to his knees. Everything hurt and he just wanted to go home but he couldn’t remember his goddamn address, he might as well just get a cab to the airport and fly home to Ohio.

“Blaine!” the same voice shouted again and goddammit he just wanted to get away. He couldn’t stand to hear that voice anymore because it hurt so bad. The hand that was attached to the body that was attached to that voice as on his shoulder, trying to make him look at him and he couldn’t. He couldn’t look at him. “Blaine, I didn’t mean that.”

“I want to go home,” was all Blaine said.

“Okay,” he nodded. “Okay. I’ll take you home. Is that okay?”

“I want to go home,” Blaine repeated.

Kurt stepped away from him to hail a cab. One pulled up and Kurt took Blaine’s arm and led him to the car, helping him into the backseat and then sliding in next to him. Kurt told the cab the address to Blaine’s apartment and the driver entered the address and began speeding away.

Even though Blaine had wanted to get away from him, his head had somehow gravitated to Kurt’s shoulder and tears were leaking out of his eyes. He didn’t know why he was crying. He was crying so much these days. Everything still hurt, but Kurt’s hands running through his hair made it a little more bearable. He didn’t understand how someone who caused him to be in this state could make him feel better, but it worked. Kurt always did have really nice hands.

They got to Blaine’s apartment building and took the elevator up. “Where are your keys?” Kurt asked. Blaine pulled his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Kurt, who opened the door for him and then helped him inside. Kurt walked him to his bedroom and had Blaine lie down. “I’m going to call Rachel.” Kurt took out his phone and pressed it to his ear. “Hey, I had to leave. I’m so, so sorry. I’ll make it up to you. There was an emergency with Blaine and I’m probably going to stay at his apartment tonight. Don’t be worried. He’s going to be okay.”

“Am I?” Blaine whispered after Kurt hung up the phone.

“What?” Kurt asked, he put his phone down on Blaine’s dresser then walked to the side of his bed.

“Am I going to be okay?” Blaine asked. “I mean...with the accident and the memories and now this-”

“Blaine, you’re going to get through this,” Kurt promised. “I’m going to help you get through this.”

“Even though you’re compromising your happiness to do it?” Blaine knew it was a low blow, but he was sick of feeling like a chore to Kurt, drunk or not.

“I did not mean that at all,” Kurt attempted to assure him. It didn’t work well. “I’m not compromising anything helping you. This is completely selfish.”

“Then why did you say it?”

“I don’t know.”

Blaine was too tired to argue. “You’re staying here?”

“Someone has to bring you advil and water in the morning,” Kurt chuckled a little, trying to lighten the mood.

“Will you stay in here?”

“Blaine…”

“Please,” Blaine begged. “I won’t...do anything. I just don’t want to be alone.”

“Okay,” Kurt conceded. “Can I borrow some pajamas?”

“They’re in the bottom right drawer,” Blaine pointed. “Can you grab me some too?”

“Yup,” Kurt agreed. He knelt down and opened the drawer, grabbing the first pair of pajama pants he saw and throwing them over to Blaine before taking one for himself and heading to the bathroom.

Blaine fumbled with the buttons on his jacket, taking a whole two minutes before he could finally get it off. He threw it on the floor despite knowing Kurt would be mad if he saw it like that. The vest he had under it he couldn’t even get off because his hands kept slipping and eventually he gave up and lied back down on his bed, still fully clothed.

Kurt walked back in, in an undershirt and pajama pants that were way too short for him, his suit folded over his arms. “What are you doing still dressed?”

“I’m too drunk,” Blaine mumbled. Kurt rolled his eyes at that and then neatly put his suit over one of Blaine’s chairs.

“Do I seriously need to help you out of your clothes?” Kurt did not look thrilled at all about this idea.

“I can sleep in them,” Blaine said defensively.

“No, it’s fine,” Kurt sighed. “Stand up.”

Blaine slowly got off his bed but kept one hand on it for support. Kurt walked up to him and then put his hands to his vest, hastily opening the buttons one by one and sliding it off of him. Blaine glanced down and saw that Kurt’s hands were shaking. Careful, poised Kurt...his hands were shaking.

Kurt had to take off the long sleeve button up next and now Blaine could actually feel Kurt’s hands on him and he was pretty sure this is what dying felt like. He already felt like he was going to explode from the alcohol, and now he was going to dissolve over Kurt’s hands being on him and it was just through fabric.

Soon he was left in a white beater and Kurt took his hands off of him and Blaine felt cold at the loss of contact. Kurt glanced down at Blaine’s pants and then back up to his eyes, asking a silent question. “I can take off my own pants,” Blaine assured him. Kurt just nodded and then walked away from him, to the other side of the bed. Blaine unbuckled his pants and took them off, sliding the pajama pants on. He climbed back on his side of the bed and Kurt was already there. “Thank you, Kurt.”

“You’re welcome,” he answered and he was smiling at him. That beautiful, beautiful smile and Blaine felt his heart turn to jelly.

He knew if he looked at Kurt any longer he would kiss him and no matter how lowered his inhibitions were, he knew that wouldn’t be fair to Kurt or to himself. So, he turned over to face the other side of the bedroom and closed his eyes.

All he could think about before he fell asleep was how much he loved this man and how he didn’t understand how he had ever given him up. Why didn’t he fight harder for him? Why did he put a wedge between himself and something that made him feel so loved? Now, these questions are the only reason he wants his memories back, just so he can know-so he can understand why he made the choice to stop fighting. To give up, to stop fighting, it’s never been who he was. It’s not who he is. He doesn’t need to be drunk to know that.