A good three hours later most of Kurt's stuff was in his new room, ready to be unpacked. Burt would leave in another hour and then it would be official: Kurt Hummel had moved to New York to study fashion at Parsons. He'd be a student in New York and he would live in a small apartment with a roommate. Said roommate studying arts. What a beautiful cliché they were.

Despite the excitement he felt at the prospect of his new life in New York, he was still in denial that he wouldn't see his father (or Blaine, for that matter, at least not in person) for months. This was the last time they would be together the way they had ever since Kurt's mother had died. From now on Kurt would really, in every sense of the word, stand on his own two feet. It felt kind of surreal, standing in his new room, knowing that nothing would ever be the same again.

He was just glad that Blaine hadn't been able to accompany them because imagining his father walking out that door and out of his life for weeks to come was bad enough. If it had been Blaine here with him he'd probably have locked him in his closet so he couldn't return to Ohio, even if he'd wanted to. And Blaine most definitely wouldn't have wanted to.

Kurt's fingers were itching to grab for his phone and call his boyfriend but he really wanted to enjoy the last bit of time he'd have with his father before he left. Moreover he wanted to learn more about his roommate so he'd actually have something to talk about apart from the fact that they'd had to walk down to the car six times before they'd got all of Kurt's stuff up into his room. And that was with additional help from Miles and Tash. He and Blaine had a phone date scheduled for eight, anyway.

Burt interrupted his train of thought by choosing this moment to return to the room.

"Your bathroom is really tiny, son. Thank God you're such a scrawny thing or you could hardly turn around in there. Do-" He was interrupted by Kurt practically jumping into his arms, hugging him as tightly as he dared. "Oh, well, okay. You alright, Kurt?"

Kurt just buried his face deeper into his father's trademark flannel shirt, nodding weakly.

"Yeah, it's just... I've been thinking and the second you leave through that door I won't see you for weeks and everything is going to be so different. It used to be just us for so long and now I won't wake up to you knocking on my door because you can't read the recipe or to Finn rummaging through the cabinets in order to find something to eat or to Carole humming to herself while making breakfast... I just never realized I'd miss any of those things so much, but now that I'm actually here and thinking about it I just know I will and-" A small sob interrupted Kurt's monologue, only causing Burt to tighten his grip.

"It's going to be okay, kiddo. No need to worry. I'm not really comfortable with you being so far away, either. But that's just the way things have to be. This is your dream and I want you to enjoy every minute of it, even if your old man isn't around to share it with you, okay?"

Kurt just nodded feebly, trying to subtly dry his eyes on Burt's shirt before finally looking up at his father.

"I'll do my best. Thank you, Dad. God, I'm going to miss you so much!" With that, he pulled him back into another bone-crashing hug, not showing any indication of wanting to let go. Burt just laughed at his son's antics, even though his eyes were also suspiciously wet.

"I'm going to miss you, too, kiddo. But you'll call us, right? Let us know how New York's handling you?"

"Of course," Kurt whispered, voice muffled by the thick flannel. "I already told Blaine and I'm telling you now, I'm never saying goodbye to you. This is not goodbye, this is see you later, even if later means in a few weeks."

Burt chuckled quietly and patted Kurt's back one last time before freeing himself from Kurt's death grip.

"I don't really want to but I have to leave now or Carole will get worried."

Knowing there was no point in making his father stay any longer since he'd have to leave eventually, no matter how much he didn't want him to, Kurt sniffed and nodded feebly.

"I know. Promise me you stay in a motel when you're getting tired? I don't want you to have an accident just because we had to get my stuff up here."

"I'll be careful, kid. But you promise me the same, right?"

"Of course."

They smiled at each other one last time before they stepped out of Kurt's room to head down to the car together. Kurt somehow managed to hold back the tears all the way down the hall and during the ride in the elevator. He even managed to get through the entrance hall and down the stairs and across the sidewalk. He stayed strong when they hugged one last time and shared a soft smile.

But the minute Burt's hand touched the car he lost it. Tears were literally cascading down his cheeks as he waited for his father to pull out of the parking space and drive away. He waved so much he feared his arm would fall off, even well after Burt had disappeared out of sight.

The atmosphere he was met with when he'd finally succeeded in dragging himself up to his apartment again wasn't very promising, either. He could hear Tash's sobbing from her room. Miles had left a few minutes before Burt had and from the bits of conversation he'd heard it had been a tearful goodbye.

For a minute, Kurt just stood in their tiny hall, not sure if he wasn't intruding in Tash's privacy. He wanted to walk through that door and comfort her, even though he didn't know what to say. Hell, he didn't even know her. But that was the girl that had tackle-hugged him in welcome the minute he'd walked through the door. Surely she wouldn't mind a bit mutual grieving for their old lives as high school students. Especially since they were going to live together for at least a year. Better start now.

Not giving himself further time to think about it, Kurt took a deep breath and leaned against the door frame, carefully knocking on the wood to alert his roommate of his presence. Her head shot up immediately and he was met up with a pair of red-rimmed eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

"We look quite a pair. One would think we'd be a bit happier about finally living in New York," Kurt chuckled. "It's the city of our dreams, after all."

Tash grinned at him through her tears and patted the seat next to her. Kurt had to admit that the white couch looked rather comfortable. He'd never actually met anyone daring enough to own such a pure white piece of furniture. It practically screamed 'stain me!'. He wasn't sure if he should actually sit down and risk ruining it somehow.

"I don't bite and you look like a cleanly kind of guy so I'm not too worried about you staining it. Now get over here and comfort me, new roommate," Tash ordered, clearly reading his mind. Kurt obeyed, though his skinny jeans weren't the only reason he sat down carefully. The minute he'd made himself comfortable, Tash was cuddled into his shoulder.

"So, Kurt. Tell me about your Dad."

And talk about his Dad Kurt did. As well as about the rest of his family which led to Finn and through him to the whole history of New Directions and inevitably to Blaine. He'd originally planned on introducing the topic carefully but at some point he noticed that the whole time he'd been talking about his boyfriend (and that had been quite some time) he'd called him exactly that. Tash hadn't even blinked in response. Kurt wasn't sure whether he should feel reassured or anxious at her lack of reaction.

"Well, I think I've talked about myself more than enough. Anything you want to tell me?"

If she noticed the nervous tone to his voice she ignored it completely. She just jumped into her own story. How she was from that really small town in Indiana where she lived alone with her Dad. Her gay Dad who wasn't even her real father. Her biological father had died of cancer when she was seven. No, she hadn't been a surrogate child and she hadn't been adopted. Her biological father had come from a very conservative family and had actually been married to her mother for years before he finally couldn't take all the secrets anymore.

When he came out to his family, they disowned him and told him to never show his face again. Her mother just left without a word. As far as Tash knew she eloped with a stripper in Vegas the minute the divorce was through. Since her mother hadn't been interested in raising her, her father had fought tooth and nail for the right to stay with his own child.

He'd actually managed to somehow win the process, though many were convinced that it was just because there was a blossoming romance between him and the public defender he'd been assigned to. Either way, her father was allowed to keep Tash and not too long after that, Miles moved in with them. When Grant - her biological father - died, they were the only ones left and so they held on to each other. It had strengthened their bond and even though Tash wished Grant didn't have to die at such a young age she was all the more grateful for the relationship she had with Miles these days.

They had been living in New York up until then but with only one income they couldn't afford it anymore, especially since Miles had had to take off from work more often now that he was alone with Tash. So they moved to Miles' hometown in Indiana, where his mother still lived. He found a job easily enough and whenever he couldn't be around she had her Grandma (even though she technically wasn't her grandmother).

Not too long after she'd got into high school it had become clear that she preferred women. There had been a few meaningless crushes. That was, until the day she had walked into Rowena Stylz, the pretty, nerdy girl from that book club. Back then Rowena had despised all cheerleaders on principle and no matter how much Tash tried to prove her wrong, she wouldn't look at her twice. Until one day, she ran into Tash freaking out over the latest book by Umberto Eco and had to reluctantly admit that the redhead might have a little more depth to her character than Rowena had anticipated.

Tash had put it all on one card and joined the book club. They had hit it off from there and became best friends in no time at all and, after months of beating around the bush, finally girlfriends. Though their school was nowhere near as homophobic as McKinley, they had to endure the occasional slur whenever they had dared to bet too obvious in public.

That was why, when Tash's senior year came round (Rowena was still a junior) she'd dared to dream big and did everything she possibly could to get into the school of her dreams. Which happened to be Julliard. Though her main goal had been to finally live in New York again and no longer have to endure the restrictions of her small home town, Julliard had been important to her.

But all the wishing and trying hadn't been enough to get in. She had still managed to get into The Ailey School, though, and she couldn't be happier with that. Her Dad had called a few old friends of his and in no time at all she had been able to get her hands on this apartment and not too long after Kurt had written her and here they were.

Kurt, tears in his eyes and some already running down his cheeks, just took her hand and told her everything he'd left out in his first version. All the hate at McKinley, his problems with Karofsky, his useless crushes before Blaine, how they'd actually met. That his Mom had died when he'd been eight and that he couldn't be happier that his Dad had found Carole, even though she never could replace her and had never tried to do that. The highlights of all the drama that had finally led up to Blaine and him getting together.

And then of course, NYADA came up. Kurt didn't censor his thoughts on Rachel getting in while all of his dreams crashed and burned. He told Tash how he'd somehow managed to get into Parsons and how he thought that might be a better decision than NYADA in the end.

Before any of them could ponder on the fact that they were curled up against each other rather comfortably sharing their life stories after a few hours of knowing each other, their phones went off almost simultaneously. One look at the clock told them that it was eight and that they'd almost missed the call of their respective boyfriend/girlfriend. Kurt quickly excused himself to his own room before answering the call and reveling in Blaine's voice.

They had planned for it to be just a quick call to make sure Kurt was alright in his new apartment but it somehow ended up lasting a good four hours at least. Kurt told Blaine everything he'd just learned about his new roommate and Blaine gushed about all the new people in the New Directions and how great it had been to spend some time with Artie and Tina again. They hadn't seen much of each other over the summer since Blaine had been holed up with Kurt most of the time, Tina and Mike not being much better. There were tears when Kurt relived Burt driving off and none of them had thought it possible to say 'I already miss you' quite so many times in one conversation without it getting old, but somehow they managed.

That night, Kurt fell asleep with Blaine still on the phone, not even caring that he'd skipped his skin care regimen or that most of the boxes in his room were still unpacked.