Kurt found the photograph at the bottom of an old box in the attic of his childhood home in Ohio. The box was filled with song sheets, old handwritten notes, CDs, a certificate of participation at Nationals, pictures of him with his friends from Glee Club. The one he held right now was a picture of Kurt, Mercedes, Brittany and Santana, just before prom. The Glee Club had decided to meet up in the choir room before heading to the dance. Kurt and Mercedes were going together as friend-dates or ‘frates’ as Mercedes had called it. The girls looked stunning, dressed in gorgeous colours, hair done perfectly, laughing at something Brittany had said just before the photo was taken. Kurt was laughing too but he wasn’t looking at the camera, he was looking at Blaine. Blaine was talking to Mike and Tina, his arm around Jessica, his date. Blaine looked good that night, Kurt still remembered how well the grey suit fit him and the cute little red bow tie he wore to match Jessica’s dress. Jessica and Blaine weren’t dating; they were only friends as far as Kurt knew. It shouldn’t matter to him anyway. Kurt had resigned himself to the fact that nothing was ever going to happen between him and Blaine, they were good friends but that was it. Kurt had wanted much more for a long time, he even thought Blaine might feel the same way about him, but he was wrong. They were close, affectionate even, but Blaine had never really given him a reason to think that this might be something more. Kurt sighed and he placed the photograph back in the box. He found the lights his father had asked him to look for and headed downstairs to help with the Christmas decorations.

Later that night, he lay on his bed in his old room, thoughts of Blaine still lingering in his mind. They had spent so much time in this room practicing for glee, studying, talking for hours. And then, it was back, the memory he had pushed away for so long, their last night together in this very room. Blaine had been coming over to help him with packing. It was the night before Kurt left for New York and NYADA, they were cramming his suitcases with clothes and books, laughing and reminiscing. Blaine would occasionally break out into a random song and Kurt would happily sing along. When the last box was put away and the last bag packed, they slumped on the floor, exhausted. They sat in silence for a while, Kurt thinking of the right thing to say in that moment.
‘So this is it then?’ Blaine was the first to speak.
‘I guess, everything seems to be packed, I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything. Or at least, I hope not!’
Blaine smiled. ‘This looks like everything, Kurt, your post-it system was very effective. When’s your flight?’
‘Tomorrow afternoon.’
Silence.
‘Kurt...’
Kurt turned to look over at Blaine, hearing the catch in his voice.
‘I’m going to miss you, Kurt’, Blaine said, his eyes brimming. ‘We’ve been such good friends. I...I can’t imagine school or Lima without you.’
‘We will still see each other, Blaine. There will be holidays and you will visit me in New York like we talked about. We will have a mini ND reunion with Finn, Rachel and Quinn.’ Kurt smiled, trying hard not to cry.
Blaine nodded, looked down at his hands and then looked over at Kurt once more.
‘I have...I want to tell you something. But I want you to close your eyes first, please.’
Kurt smiled, and closed his eyes. He could sense Blaine moving beside him, Blaine had reached over and was holding Kurt’s hands in his own. Kurt heard Blaine in front of him speaking softly, ‘I don’t want you to leave without hearing this... Kurt, I have been in love with you... for as long as I can remember. I don’t know when or how it happened. I am a coward because instead of doing something about it a long time ago, I wasted all that time we could have had together. But my family, they would never...’ He paused, ‘And now you’re leaving and I’m not going to see you every day. This is it.’
Kurt sat with his eyes still shut, frozen.
‘I would like to... kiss you, Kurt. You can say no. I’ll leave and we can pretend this never happened...’
He stopped as Kurt eyes shot open. ‘No! Blaine... I want to.’ Kurt looked at him with pleading eyes, noticing in that moment how close their faces were.

Blaine looked into the piercing blue eyes of the boy he was in love with. He wanted this more than anything in the world. He was afraid of what it meant. He was in love with Kurt. He couldn’t stand up to his father but he couldn’t let Kurt go. He looked at Kurt’s lips now; he had imagined kissing them countless times. Kurt’s face would forever be etched in his mind, every beautiful detail. He leaned in, placed his hands on the back of Kurt’s neck and closed the distance between them. He was kissing Kurt. It had finally happened. He wanted to remember this moment forever, it was everything and more than he imagined. Kurt’s hand came to rest on Blaine’s cheek. Blaine deepened the kiss, moving his hand into Kurt’s hair. He pulled away from him a moment later, letting his forehead drop onto Kurt’s. They stayed like that for a while, faces flush, hearts still pounding. Then without a word, Blaine got up, choked out an ‘I’ll never forget you’, turned and ran out of Kurt’s room.  

 That was the last time he saw Blaine. He had tried to call him that night and the next day, for several months after that. Blaine never answered any calls or replied to any of Kurt’s incessant texts and emails. He didn’t see him over the holidays either, Blaine was always in Chicago or London or Toronto visiting family. Kurt eventually gave up, hurt and confused, but always asked his school friends if they had heard anything from Blaine. Word was that he had decided on a career in law, following in his father’s footsteps. The last thing he heard was that Blaine had moved to San Francisco three years ago. Kurt had tried to move on, there were other boys and other kisses, but he never forgot the first boy he gave his heart to. He felt like the logical response would be to hate Blaine for whatever had happened, but he never could.  They had one incredible kiss and it happened to be their last.

Kurt didn’t remember when he dozed off but he woke up to a sound of a dog barking outside. He sat up in bed, feeling a little thirsty. The clock said 1.20 am. He went downstairs for a glass of water quietly, so he wouldn’t wake his father or Carol up. The dog was still barking, when he got to the foot of the stairs, so he walked over to the front door and opened it slightly. It was his neighbour’s little dog barking away into the night. Kurt thought it was probably because of a cat when he noticed that the dog was looking at a man. There was a man in his driveway! Kurt panicked and was about to shut the door when the stranger turned. Kurt saw a familiar face, older, a little scruffier than he remembered.
‘I heard you were back in town’ the man began, moving closer to the door.
Kurt stared into golden eyes as Blaine ran a hand through his hair still speaking, ‘I just... I mean, I thought I would come by and see how...’
Kurt still just continued to stare at him speechless and the next thing he heard was Blaine curse under his breath, cross over the threshold and bring his lips crashing down on Kurt’s.