Chapter 24

The truck stop next to the motel was their only option. The sun was setting, everyone was tired, and having just one car, finding a place to stay in another town would be difficult and time-consuming. Still, nobody suggested to try and appease the guy at the motel and convince him to let them stay. That was oddly comforting for the four of them that got them turned away.

There was no other way to sleep than take turns in occupying the car. It was uncomfortable, even having the backseat just for one person. Finn could barely fit in while curled up in a ball, but even though the others didn’t have as much trouble, they were all sore after the couple of hours they could spend napping.

When they had to leave the car so the others could get some sleep, they would hit the showers. The bathrooms were disgusting, not renovated for at least twenty years. Still, that was better than staying sweaty for another day. The diner at the stop was another place that saved them from the night’s chill and unwelcoming darkness. The town was so isolated that imagining horror story scenarios wasn’t too difficult.

Kurt, however, wasn’t imagining anything. All the pictures that went through his head were memories. The few days he spent wandering around Columbus, trying to figure out what to do next, completely hopeless and alone.

Blaine noticed his pensiveness when they were sipping their second coffee, waiting for the sun to come up and for the car to get fixed. A while earlier, Santana and Brittany left them to take a nap, tired mostly of the leers and inappropriate comments some of the truckers sent them. Santana gave them the finger on her way out, tugging Brittany close with her other arm around the girl’s waist. Rachel was likely still sleeping, while Finn and Puck finally left for the showers.

‘Still sleepy?,’ Blaine asked Kurt when they were left alone.

‘Not really. Too much caffeine.’

Kurt kept on stirring his coffee absently, his gaze fixed on an undetermined point before him.

‘What is it then?,’ Blaine insisted.

‘Nothing.’ Kurt shrugged dismissively. ‘Just thinking.’

‘What about?’

It took Kurt a moment to refocus his eyes on his boyfriend and formulate an answer. The memories from almost two years ago were too confusing to put in order.

‘Remember how we met?,’ he asked finally.

Blaine smiled warmly at him.

‘Of course I do. It was on a bus stop in Westerville when I was walking home from Dalton on November 19th 2009.’

‘Yeah, but I didn’t mean that. I meant it was when I ran away from home,’ Kurt explained quietly.

‘Oh.’

That detail was something both of them couldn’t see as anything other than surreal. With the relationship Kurt had with his father now, it was hard to imagine it had ever been different. Recalling how distant they used to be was painful.

‘This just- It kinda reminds me of that,’ Kurt went on. ‘Those few days before I met you, you know? I would sit in diners over one sandwich for hours, until they’d kick me out. At first I had this glorious thought of going to New York and maybe getting discovered, being on Broadway or something.’ He chuckled bitterly; he used to be so stupid. ‘So I got that one trucker to give me a ride, but he was going only as far as Columbus.’

He fell silent, half-expecting Blaine to say something, but he didn’t. He only reached with his hand over the table, placing it reassuringly over Kurt’s.

‘I’m not sure I really believe this, but it sort of feels like it was fate, you know?,’ Kurt said finally. ‘That I wound up in Westerville of all places. So I could meet you.’

‘It kinda does feel like it, doesn’t it?’ Blaine’s lips tugged up at the corners.

Kurt smiled back at him, weaving their fingers together on the table.

‘It does,’ he said. ‘But it was probably nothing more than a very, very happy coincidence.’

‘Very happy, indeed,’ Blaine agreed.

He started leaning forwards to kiss his boyfriend, before recoiling at the memory of the guy at the motel. There was no guarantee they wouldn’t get kicked out of the truck stop too, if they pushed their luck. Blaine could easily imagine some of the redneck truckers he’d seen around willing enough to take kicking them out quite literally. And both boys had had enough of that.

A flash of sadness crossed Kurt’s eyes. He understood perfectly why Blaine didn’t go through with what he intended to do, and it pained him to be forced back into the world of prejudice and groundless hatred after getting the wonderful taste of the never-ceasing acceptance and rainbow colours of San Francisco.

‘Blaine?,’ he began, breaking the short spell of silence. ‘I never really told you this, and it’s going to sound so cheesy I should be ashamed of myself for ever even thinking this.’

‘Cheesy as in disgustingly romantic?,’ Blaine asked with a playful sparkle in his eyes.

Kurt couldn’t help but beam at him. They were so in tune with each other it was scary sometimes.

‘You know me so well, sweetie.’ His expression went back to one of solemnity. ‘Anyway, I have a feeling like you saved my life. That night when you took me in. If not for you, I could’ve starved or frozen, or gotten hit by a bus. I could’ve gone straight to the bottom and die in the gutter. I could turn into a male equivalent of Fantine, minus the kid, if it wasn’t for you. So... Thank you, Blaine. You were my knight in shining armour, and now it’s almost like fairytales are real.’

He smiled sheepishly as he finished talking. Blaine was a little overwhelmed for a moment, gaping at Kurt across the table.

‘I always thought it was Jean Valjean who saved Fantine,’ he mumbled.

‘That’s just because she didn’t have a knight to save her before she got all her teeth pulled out and before she was dying. And I did. I have my very own Disney prince.’

Blaine squeezed Kurt’s hand tighter, trying to make up somehow for being unable to kiss him like he wished he could.

‘You saved me, too,’ he said.

‘I didn’t do anyth-,’ Kurt started, but Blaine shushed him.

‘I had nothing I’d really care about when I met you. I had music and the Warblers, but my life was empty. My parents were constantly forgetting I existed, I didn’t have any friends. I didn’t have a boyfriend.’ He lifted their joined hands and placed a quick peck on Kurt’s knuckles. ‘And now I have everything.’

‘Everything?,’ Kurt asked weakly. ‘But your parents...’

Blaine shrugged. The more time passed, the less it bothered him to be estranged from his mother and father.

‘They don’t matter. I have a family. Aileen, Cooper... You are my family, too.’

‘Not really,’ Kurt said. ‘I’m just your-‘

‘Future husband,’ Blaine finished for him, before adding hastily, ‘If you want that.’

‘Of course I do! How could you ever think I didn’t?,’ Kurt asked almost indignantly.

Blaine bit his lip uncomfortably, unwilling to admit he didn’t think anyone, let alone Kurt, would want to grow old with him of all people.

‘I don’t know, I thought maybe you haven’t thought so far into the future.’

‘You forget I have a bucket list and getting married is pretty high on there,’ Kurt said.

‘Don’t tell me that’s your number one,’ Blaine replied jokingly.

Kurt’s face turned a bright shade of pink and he dropped his gaze in embarrassment.

‘I don’t have a number one at the moment,’ he mumbled.

‘Huh? How did that happen?,’ Blaine asked.

Incredulously, Kurt looked up at him, raising his eyebrows as far up his forehead as they could go. It still didn’t help Blaine catch the drift.

‘With a song? More or less a week ago?,’ Kurt hinted.

‘So- Your number one- You-‘

Kurt sighed at his boyfriend’s futile attempts at formulating a coherent sentence.

‘My number one was telling you I’m in love with you,’ he said. ‘And I have, so now I don’t have a number one.’

‘So when we were talking about it on the plane, going back from New York, you were talking about me? The perfect boyfriend and getting married stuff?,’ Blaine asked, the memory of that flight and that conversation clear in his mind.

‘Sure, dummy.’ Kurt squinted, shooting his boyfriend a mischievous look. ‘Then can I consider this- conversation we’re having was your proposal and me saying “yes”?’

‘Let’s not rush it too much, huh?,’ Blaine replied with a smug smile.