Needless to say, Blaine wasn’t having the best of days.

Worried, tired eyes wandered throughout the car, finally falling on two figures in the back of the fifteen passenger van. The smaller of the pair was curled against the chest of the other, sleeping peacefully.

And oh, there was that feeling again.

Just as he was about to turn around and stare with a forlorn exprssion out the window (just because he was their best friend didn’t mean he couldn’t be miserable, right?), Will drove the van over a pothole.

“Motherfu-“

“Shh!” Sebastian hissed, and Blaine whipped back around, rubbing the top of his head with an irritated expression on his features. “You’ll wake him, you prick.”

At this, his mouth dropped open slightly and he nearly had to stop his eyes from narrowing into a glare, before he pushed himself so he was once again facing forward. Blaine’s mind sped far ahead of his body, thoughts of what if, why not me, and dear god why Sebastian? Somehow, from the time they were kids to the moment they turned seventeen, something had changed.

Maybe he’d never be able to place a finger on it exactly, but moments came into his mind where he thought that maybe he had Kurt figured out. But even though he had grey-green eyes (or rather, glasz, as Kurt had told him once that he preferred them to be called) that led straight to his soul, Kurt was a guarded being above anything else.
He had once been so sure he would be the one that was chosen, that Kurt would want to curl against his chest. But Blaine had to wonder if it was ever about being chosen, maybe he simply wasn’t in the running. The first kiss between Kurt and Sebastian on that cold, October day had been rather unexpected, but maybe he was just not aware of what was right under his nose – it wouldn’t be the first time.

Finn shifted next to him, trying to nuzzle closer, and Blaine scrunched up his nose. Not exactly the person he wanted to cuddle, he wasn’t really into snuggling with snoring Saint Bernard’s.

“Hey, man, can you just, ugh, Finn!” Blaine groaned, pushing at his shoulder in an attempt to get him to get off of his much smaller body, but it was all in vain as Finn’s arm flopped out and landed across his legs. He could hear snickering from the back of the van and let out a frustrated breath, leaning his head against the cold glass of the window.

Hearing a soft noise from the back of the van jolted Blaine from his thoughts, and he turned again, effectively causing Finn to fall against Rachel, on his other side. Lithe fingers strained against the cracked leather of the seats, and he craned his neck to stare at Kurt with wide, hazel eyes for a moment.

“Well, good morning, then.” Kurt said, leaning around Sebastian to get a good view out the window.

A grey haze covered everything in sight as they rode along, and Blaine had no idea what Kurt was looking for out there, but it didn’t matter. Blaine knew the outside world had always intrigued Kurt, even just something so simple as the landscape rolling by.

The smile that tugged at Blaine’s lips was hardly something he could control; he leaned forward even further to speak to him and then –

“Morning to you too,” a husky voice interrupted him and Blaine promptly shut his mouth, turning around in his seat to stare out the window. Without realizing, his jaw clenched, fingers curling in the seat next to him.

He really needed to get control of himself. Blaine knew that he was supposed to be happy for Kurt. First and foremost, Kurt was his best friend. Whatever it was that he chose, Blaine needed to be happy for him, he needed to support him. He found that task easier said than done, though as he watched them day in and day out.

Hardly the easiest task in the world.

“Blaine, are you okay?” Kurt’s soft voice wafted up to him and he turned back towards the pair in the back of the van, eyes wide as he nodded.

How Kurt could always seem to sense when something was wrong in Blaine’s world, he would never know. He was intuitive, scarily so on most occasions.

“Yeah, fine, Kurt. Thanks.” His voice was forced as he somehow plastered a wide grin onto his lips, trying to focus in on Kurt’s face as he could see Sebastian’s hand trailing to rest possessively against his hip.

“Okay then.” Kurt offered him a grin, one that Blaine gladly filed away. “But, Blaine?”

He hadn’t realized it, but he had been staring at Kurt with his mouth slightly hanging open for the past few moments. Shaking his head, he jolted out of it. “Yeah?”

The small grin that tweaked the corners of Kurt’s lips made the last few minutes of his heart beating with utter envy worth it.

“Your curls are standing straight up.” He pressed his fist to his mouth, letting out a soft laugh as his eyes dropped from the gaze Blaine held with him, to the back of the seat, only to return to Blaine’s eyes.

Blaine, however, didn’t have quite the same humorous response, and his hand flew up to his mass of dark hair, raking his fingers through it.

“Unfortunately, Kurt, not everyone can have the perfect hair that you’ve got.” Blaine muttered, scrunching up his nose as he continued to stay turned, watching Kurt. Sebastian was nearly invisible to him as he focused in completely on his best friend.

That was short lived as Sebastian cleared his throat, raising his eyebrows at Blaine in a clear turn around if you know what’s good for you expression on his rough features.

Blaine did just that.

The van pulled up in front of a small community, beaten down houses that didn’t look comforting in the least bit.

So these were The Cottages.

From the time they were fifteen, everyone at McKinley had been prepared for the time spent in the cottages. Every year, when those at McKinley turned sixteen, van loads of kids were shipped off to The Cottages to finish developing.

It was their turn.

Pulling the door open, Blaine hopped out of the van, stretching his arms over his head as he waited for Kurt and Sebastian to come out as well. He barely registered Finn and Rachel wandering out bleary-eyed, and he definitely didn’t notice the small crowd that was watching as the new kids arrived.

Kurt hopped out of the van next, offering Blaine a bright smile as he knocked his shoulder against his.

“We’re finally here!” Kurt exclaimed, taking a few steps forward before turning on his heel, a slow circle and he came back to face Blaine.

“Easy,” Blaine said, reaching to hold onto the other boy as he steadied himself. He felt Sebastian’s presence behind him and immediately shrunk back, offering his friend a shy smile. “Hey, man.”

“Hey.” Sebastian muttered, offering Kurt his hand, who took it easily and the two began to move forward.

Blaine paused, watching them for a moment, before he too headed towards the group gathering in front of one of the houses. As he approached, he noticed a bubbly blonde girl speaking excitedly to Kurt and Sebastian.

“-the new members of our house! You’ll love it here, sometimes we’re visited by raccoons.” Blaine noticed that Kurt was staring at the girl as though he was completely lost, and he couldn’t blame him. One minute into hearing her speak and he felt the same.

“Hi, I’m Brittany, are you a dolphin like them?” The bubbly girl – Brittany, that was her name – turned her attention to Blaine then, and his eyes widened.

“Wait what?”

“A dolphin. A gay shark,” Brittany explained earnestly, taking a step closer to where he was standing. Blaine nodded, now that he understood what she meant by dolphin.

“Yeah. Gay, very … very much a dolphin.” A side eyed glance to Kurt showed that his best friend was beaming at him, and he felt a swell of accomplishment well up in his throat.

Turning his gaze back to Brittany, he noticed a boy standing next to her, his arm placed firmly on the small of her back. The pair made eye contact, and Blaine offered him a smile.

“Don’t mind Britt.” He said softly, and Blaine could see his hand moving in small circles on her back. “She’s not really sure what she’s saying sometimes.”

Blaine shrugged, casting a glance to the girl.

“She seems to know more than she’s letting on.” His voice dropped slightly, taking on a deeper tone, as he pulled the cuffs of his baggy grey sweater over his hands.

The boy standing across him from smiled, and Blaine could see that he agreed.

“The name’s Mike.”

(Mike, Mike, Mike).

“Blaine.”

Turning his eyes away from the pair in front of him, his eyes scanned the others scattered about. Another blonde girl held tightly to a darker skinned girl’s hand (who really looked like she wanted nothing to do with anyone but said blonde girl), and there was a short boy with a mess of dark hair a few feet away.

Everyone seemed so comfortable; Blaine had to wonder how he would fit in with their routine.

His attention turned to Kurt, and he watched as he continued to speak to the dizzy blonde (Brittany, Brittany, Brittany). Even from the angle that Blaine was standing, he could see how Kurt’s eyes lit up with a laugh; he felt his heart swell.

“It’s not so bad here.” He heard Mike’s voice again and Blaine started, his head jerking to watch as Mike took his hand away from Brittany, which caused her to pause. The pair made eye contact and Mike offered her a smile before moving closer to Blaine.

He stayed silent, waiting for Mike to continue.

“It’s not as bad as it looks. Just have to remind yourself that it’s probably better from wherever you came from.” Mike explained to him, looking a bit sheepish as he spoke.

Blaine wondered where Brittany and Mike were from, where the others were from. They couldn’t be much older than the rest of them, they had to be about sixteen, so they couldn’t have been from McKinley.

“Thanks.” Blaine said, a smile working its way onto his lips. “It doesn’t look bad here at all.” His words were honest, and he jammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Mike nodded his agreement, and Blaine turned to cast another glance to Kurt.

He was met, however, with those glasz eyes straight in front of him and he moved back quickly.

“Hi,” Kurt said, his voice soft and a grin pulling the corner of his lips.

“Hey … where’s Sebastian?” Blaine asked, a questioning look taking over his features, as he glanced over Kurt’s head (or rather, around it), it seemed as though everyone except for the unpleasant brunette girl and the other blonde had gone into the houses in the time that Blaine had been standing there with a dumbstruck look in his eyes.

Which seemed to happen often.

“They all went inside. I wanted to take a look around, though. Would you want to come with me?” Even if he hadn’t already been jumping at the opportunity, the wide, bright look in Kurt’s eyes would have convinced Blaine.

“Of course I do.”

Running a few feet ahead of his companion, he turned on his heel, wide eyes dancing as he waited for Kurt to gingerly step over the rocks towards him.

“Come on, Kurt!” Blaine exclaimed, letting out a laugh at Kurt’s signature bitch-face that he used as a reply.

“If you didn’t choose to go off of the path, I’d be moving a lot quicker by now.” Blaine couldn’t help but grin at the grumble in Kurt’s voice, and he held out a hand to help him over the last few rocks.

“Next time. Next time, I promise that we’ll stay on the path, okay?” He didn’t miss the smile that tugged on the corner of Kurt’s lips, and Blaine knew he really didn’t mind too much.

Blaine didn’t bother to let go of Kurt’s hand, he just continued to drag him through the woods, over rocks, tree roots, and small flowers. The musical sound of Kurt’s laughter spilled out behind him; that sound made it all worth it.

“Blaine, wait!” Kurt said breathlessly, tripping over his feet and latching onto Blaine’s back. “Give me a minute to breathe,” the boy mumbled into the neck of Blaine’s thick sweater, tossing his arms easily over his shoulders.

“Take all the time you need.” Blaine whispered, reaching a hand to stroke softly where Kurt’s dark green sweater met skin. He was, apparently, a fan of treading on thin ice.

They stood in a gentle silence for a few moments, Blaine listening to their combined breathing, feeling every inch that his chest moved as Kurt took a breath behind him.
Too soon, the warmth from behind his back was gone, and Kurt was moving in front of him, an excited glint in his eyes.

“My turn, come on!”

Blaine had no choice but to follow as Kurt began to gingerly step his way through the woods, even though he felt as though they were just getting more lost by the second.

“I see how it is, you tell me you want to go exploring, and you lead me on a wild go-“ Blaine cut himself off as they came to a stop. There was a small clearing in front of them, masked by a haze of grey. He noted that the sun more than likely wasn’t going to come out that day.

“This is why we should always let me lead.” Kurt said with a haughty grin, turning to face Blaine for a moment before heading into the clearing. Blaine hesitated for a moment before following him.

The silence was overwhelming, crushing at him from every side; but he didn’t feel uncomfortable in it. Not like he did when there were other silences with other people, people who weren’t Kurt. It was Kurt who broke the silence.

“Do you ever want to just scream?”

“You used to do that a lot.”

Kurt blinked at him, a wide eyed blink, and Blaine bit his lip. Did Kurt even recall that? He had no idea. But it was true, he did used to do that a lot.

“I remember.” The voice was quiet, causing Blaine to blink a few times and wonder if he had made it up that Kurt had spoken at all.