After his second and last class of the day, Blaine ran into someone from his past. Jonathan was a drug dealer, Blaine’s contact as a matter of fact, and someone he had known ever since coming to New York. He waved Blaine over in the on the street. “Hey.” He said. “You didn’t text me this past weekend.” Blaine could feel his insides twisting. He stepped closer to Jonathan and dropped his voice.

“You know, I haven’t exactly run out yet. I’ll text when I need more.” He said. “Really, because I hear you haven’t been seen around anywhere, just thought I would check in on one of my investments.” Jonathan said slyly. The rest of the conversation was mainly Blaine trying to side step Jonathan, and eventually he was left alone leaning against the building feeling worked over and miserable.

Blaine had left his cell phone with Kurt on accident. Kurt laughed as he noticed the phone still in the cab when Blaine climbed out first. He smiled, it was so very Blaine forgetting something, and so very Kurt of him to grab it and keep it for Blaine. All during chem lab (yes, still the chem nerd, Kurt decided to sign up for a chem lab even though it wasn’t a part of his major.

Half way through class he felt a phone vibrate. He checked his, hoping it was Blaine. He then remembered he had Blaine’s phone, and pulled the phone out of his right pocket. A guy named Alec showed up. He asked Blaine something about drugs. Kurt felt his stomach clench and everything he was learning about electrochem went over his head.

Blaine headed down to the cafe to meet Kurt. He was angry that the people from his past were not going to be so easily left behind. It was going to cause him problems, he could already tell. When he got to the cafe and Kurt wasn’t there, he tried to whip out his phone and text him, but Blaine’s phone wasn’t in his pocket. Great, no telling where that had gone. He went ahead and got a table for he and Kurt and ordered a soda while he waited. Blaine’s head pounded just a little and all he wanted was to see his boyfriend. His boyfriend! The idea was still so fresh and new. Kurt could definitely make him feel better.

Kurt was late, slightly on purpose, slightly on accident. He had gotten caught up with his TA after a lecture, but more so, he ha stalled with the TA, wanting to get his thoughts gathered before he went to go see Blaine. He knew that he shouldn’t jump to conclusions. That Blaine had been so good, so honest, and quite honestly, Kurt didn’t even know if he had sought Alec out, or if Alec sought him out. He shouldn’t have been mad. But he was. And Kurt could be a bitch when mad.

Finally, he made his way into the cafe and ordered straight coffee. Kurt hated regular coffee unless he was angry. He took the steaming cup, and spotted Blaine. He slowly made his way over. “Hey,” he said, giving his check a kiss, needing things to be normal.

Blaine finally spotted Kurt at the counter getting a coffee. A plain cup, it seemed. His brow furrowed slightly at the thought that something might be wrong with Kurt. “Hey babe.” He said as Kurt kissed his cheek. “How was today?” He asked. He wasn’t going to ask what was wrong, and he wasn’t about to dive into the ins and outs of leaving your drug dealer. He just wanted to bask for a moment in Kurt’s presence. He’d missed him all day.

“It was fine. Just long with school and all.” He tried not to sound like he was giving short answers, even though he was. “I have your phone,” he said, handing over Blaine’s cell phone. “You left it in the cab, so I watched it for the day.” He took a long sip of the plain coffee. “You missed a text from Alec.” His voice was clearly short now.

Blaine took the phone from Kurt, and stared at the thing hard. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Alec was yet another connection of his. Blaine didn’t really need to see the text to know what it was likely about. “Kurt..” He began. Blaine pulled up the offending text message and ran through it quickly. Yep, just what he’d imagined. “Listen, Kurt, I haven’t reached all of these people and told them I’m not interested. You have to be careful with that, okay. But I will. I’m not interested.”

Kurt perked an eyebrow, his irritation rising. “I have to be careful? No, you have to be careful, Blaine. You could fucking die.” He bit the inside of his check as his anger dissolved into worry. “And how much have you done…of what?” He asked, his feet tapping in nerves. The emotions bubbling up were uncomfortable. He hated emotions. He’d learned to drown them out. He’d learned that from Blaine. Hence why when they had emotions, they both had emotions, it was much too much. Too much intensity. Kurt wanted to flee.

Blaine wasn’t really surprised by Kurt’s reaction. “No, I meant people in general have to be careful, I have to be careful. I don’t know where to begin.” Blaine admitted. Kurt was angry. His blue eyes were flashing at Blaine demanding answers. “It’s just mainly pot, but E too, and Special K. It’s…” Blaine sighed. “I will handle this Kurt. I promised you I would get my shit together and I have been.” He was suddenly worried that this was about to be a huge fight.

Kurt stirred a little straw around the rim of his plain coffee cup. “Blaine….” he let out a sigh. Part of him wanted to go on a rampage, lecturing Blaine on the health risks, how stupid he had been, how he was ruining his future. But Blaine knew all that. Blaine had come from a past where future seemed impossible. No one ever told him he could be who he wanted to be in the future. How was he to believe in a bright future? So he lived in the moment, destroying his condition, while trying to destroy the darkness inside him. Kurt let out a low sigh, as he met Blaine’s eyes, still awaiting an answer. “I know. I know you’re trying.” He said finally, reaching over to take his hand. He sighed again, and chewed the inside of his check. He needed to show Blaine he could have a future.

Blaine was holding his breath. There were so many little things he never anticipated when it came to walking away from his old life. Drug dealers aside, he had standing dates with men who came to town on business, he had a ton of contacts he needed to delete and block. The whole thing was ridiculous. The drug dealers were the most dangerous but they weren’t necessarily the hardest part. “Thanks Kurt.” Blaine squeezed Kurt’s hand. They had been through so much together. Blaine was ready for happy times, but he knew he had business to take care of. “I’ll get the word out somehow, alright. Blaine Anderson is not into that anymore.” He tried his best to sound reassuring.

A thought ran through Kurt’s thought, one that probably wasn’t too logical. Blaine was giving up a lot to be with him. Yes, it was all things that were technically deemed bad, it was Blaine’s safety coat, what he did to shove things down. If Kurt was going to come in here and take things away, he needed to be sure Blaine wanted this. Kurt wanted him alive and acting right, but what if he liked his old lifestyle? More so, if Kurt was taking things away, would he be enough to provide more for Blaine. “Blaine…what do you want in life? Honestly.” He said, looking down at their joined hands.

For a moment Blaine was taken aback by this question. He actually hadn’t thought about it in so long. He wanted to make it to New York and then he had struggled so much and fought so hard since, he’d last sight of any dreams. “I want to be on the stage.” He said quietly. “I’ve always wanted that, but it sort of got lost.” He looked into Kurt’s eyes. “I need the drive back.” He admitted. He’d given up so much to bury his past that he’d forgotten about his future. And now. Blaine smiled. Now he had Kurt by his side. “One dream came true, and if it can, then the others can too.” He lifted Kurt’s hand and kissed it softly.

Kurt blushed a bit at the compliment Blaine had paid him. “We’re going to get you onstage,” he said. His voice took on its bitch tone. Not his angry bitch tone, instead the tone that told anyone that stood in his way to get the out of the way. He was determined to see Blaine smile like he use to during Warbler rehearsal. In fact…Warblers. An idea popped in his head. Maybe Blaine needed some Warbler visitors…. He left the idea alone to formulate later. For now, he remembered something. “Blaine, Pride. Pride is coming up. The LGBT center always puts on huge elaborate drama productions and musicals for Pride.”

Blaine thought about this for a minute. When Kurt sounded like that there was no stopping him. Actually Blaine didn’t think he would want to stop Kurt. He realized he was grinning. “I would love to get involved with the center for Pride. You know I hadn’t even thought about the fact that I get to spend Pride with you this year!” Blaine’s Pride celebrations usually consisted of being drunk and wasted and sleeping with as many men as he could from sun up to sundown. Now he had Kurt, and he could spend the day being proud of who he was and who he loved.