Part 21

Thankfully, things stayed just like they'd used to be after the revelations made. Rachel stuck to her promise and kept quiet about Blaine's feelings for Kurt and even Sebastian couldn't find much sense in making Kurt's confession public. In fact, he was rather sure that somewhere deep down, Kurt and Blaine were more than aware that they didn't have to worry about their love being reciprocated, that the only – and admittedly huge – problem standing between them was the fact that one of them was alive and the other not. Sebastian didn't even have to do anything to make them suffer, the one he wanted to see hurting as much as the one he'd meant to protect from pain. The situation was so much worse than he'd imagined it to be and there was nothing anyone but the two protagonists of this particular twisted love story could do about it, and even their options were more than a little limited.

As a result, tension was high in their little circle of close friends and barely-concealed enemies. Not one of them could honestly say they regretted it too much when the summer holidays finally came around, relieving them of the walls of McKinley that seemed to close in on them further and further the longer they were forced to spend with each other within them.

Not that the ghosts could actually venture too far from them, but merely extracting Kurt and the hundreds of students that felt more like intruders than anything else from the equation already did wonders for the building's atmosphere. The only one that left moping around even with such a positive outlook was Blaine.

"Come on, can't you stop making the same depressingly sad face for at least one day? It's summer and it's beautiful outside and the halls will finally be empty of all those annoying kids glued to their phones. Cheer up a little, Blaine!" Rachel's crossed arms and pout stood in stark contrast to her meant-to-be encouraging speech. Blaine just sighed, his fingers most literally ghosting over the piano keys and his eyes not meeting hers, instead following the swirling pieces of dust glittering in the sunbeams.

"Let it be, Rachel. I know you mean well but your little speeches aren't really helping anything right now."

"Well, I'm most certainly not leaving you alone in such a brooding mood. Your mere presence in a room is depressing these days. Are you really still mad at Kurt for leaving this dreadful town as long as he can? He'll have to come back to being tortured by the jocks soon enough as it is, let him have a little time for himself somewhere that isn't tainted with enough bad memories to make a tragic documentary out of."

"It's not that I don't wish him out of here as much as you do, Rach," Blaine growled, using his upwelling emotions to solidify his hands for a few seconds, long enough to let them fall down on the keys and make a satisfyingly discordant sound that echoed through the empty room long after he'd gone back to his usual transparent state. Maybe if he drained himself enough he could disappear for a few days, or maybe forever. Who knew where he'd end up, but it couldn't be much worse than the limbo that currently had him in its grip. And as much as he loved Kurt, he was also the one that had blown on the fire ever since he'd stepped in Blaine's life.

"The problem is that you can't follow him, isn't it?" Rachel asked, her tone careful and her voice softer than Blaine had ever heard it before. She looked more understanding than he'd expected. Not sure what he would say if he opened his mouth, Blaine merely nodded, eyes not leaving the dancing dust particles once.

"Oh Blaine." Sighing and painful sympathy written all over her expression, Rachel crossed the distance between them and, falling into the seat next to him, pulled Blaine into her arms.

"You're not going to say that everything will be just fine?" Blaine murmured into her hair, burying himself in her cold embrace that was so oddly comforting.

"You would appreciate the gesture, but not the being lied to part," Rachel chuckled, pulling him a little closer to hide her own distress at seeing her friend in a dilemma she still wasn't sure how to solve. She just knew that there had to be something she could do to make it all better, for both of them. If there was, she'd be sure to find it.

"True enough," he chuckled weakly, disentangling himself from her hold after pressing a grateful kiss to her cheek. "Thanks, Rach. I really needed a good hug."

Rachel could agree with that, she just wasn't sure if she was the one he needed to receive it from.

Kurt had never been this excited to visit his great-aunt Violet. He guessed it wasn't exactly a positive development, mostly because that excitement resulted from the fact that high school had been so much harder on him than middle school that he'd gladly have taken any excuse to leave the town of his daily humiliation, boredom and sometimes even physical torture for a few weeks. The only thing he wasn't looking forward to – apart from Violet's habit to pinch his cheeks at every opportunity she could get her wrinkly hands on – was leaving the only true friends he'd ever known behind for so long, without any means of communication. He wasn't even sure if he still knew how to fall asleep without Rachel's exhausting, hardly-ever-ceasing chattering or Blaine's comforting presence. Hell, he'd even miss Sebastian's snarky, insulting comments about everything from his appearance to his apparent incompetence as a medium.

"What, back already, peaches? Did you miss me that much?" Okay, maybe he wouldn't miss those latter ones all that much.

"Most certainly not, Sebastian. And please, stop calling me peaches. It's not only really uncreative, it also doesn't make any sense."

"But it bothers you, so it's good enough for me," Sebastian shrugged, still not leaving Kurt's side as he followed him through the empty halls. "You didn't answer my question, though. What brings you here now that you're finally free from this particular hell for weeks on end?"

"Not that it's any of your business," Kurt replied haughtily, stopping in front of the closed choir room door. "But I came back to say goodbye to Rachel and Blaine. As I'm sure you already now, I'm leaving Lima tomorrow and I didn't want to go without having seen my friends one last time."

"You make it sound desirably like you're not planning on coming back," Sebastian smirked, though he did turn around and walked down the hall in the opposite direction, leaving them some privacy.

"You wish!" Kurt called after him, throwing the door open with a little more force than necessary, unable to help the irritation rising in him every time he so much as exchanged five sentences with the other boy.

"Oh, hey Kurt! We didn't expect you back here until the start of the school year, at the very earliest!" Rachel waved over from where she was sitting on the piano, swinging her legs back and forth. Blaine turned towards him at her gesture and though his smile looked a bit forced, the happy glint in his eyes at seeing Kurt was genuine.

"I couldn't possibly leave Lima without saying goodbye to you two," Kurt grinned, walking over and falling on the bench right next to Blaine, close enough that their arms 'accidentally' brushed. "Sorry you can't come over as usual tonight but knowing my dad it's going to be so hectic I'd probably only end up running through you with my baggage every few minutes. And it's not going to make saying goodbye for six weeks any easier."

"Well, then thanks for dropping by to say goodbye," Rachel smiled, hopping to the floor and engulfing Kurt in an icy hug he eagerly returned. "I'm gonna miss you so much. It's going to get horribly boring within days."

"I'm sure you'll do fine, Rach. You managed before I came here," Kurt chuckled, patting her on the back before he let go of her and turned to Blaine. For an awkward second, neither of them knew what to do, whether they should hug, shake hands, pat each other on the back. Any of those options seemed equally misplaced. For an insane moment, the reckless part of Kurt's brain nearly convinced him that a kiss would be a good, appropriate idea, preferably a passionate one, but it was gone as soon as it came and they ended up pulling each other into a hug that was maybe a bit too tight and lasted a bit too long.

"Don't have too much fun without me," Blaine whispered in Kurt's ear right before they let go, causing shivers to creep up and down his spine.

"Believe me, I won't," Kurt murmured back and another surge of insanity almost had him pulling Blaine's head close enough for their lips to meet. As it was, his hands just twitched barely noticeably in an attempt to resist temptation before he gained back control over them, offering both Rachel and Blaine a last sad smile as he left the room, waving at them.

Blaine went back to blankly staring at dust particles, moodiness almost visible, like a dark cloud over his head raining down on him. Meanwhile, Rachel had to force herself to suppress the huge grin threatening to light up her face. Of course she'd seen the little twitch, had seen the look in Blaine's eyes that told the same story of barely suppressed need. She was closer to her goal than she'd dared to hope and she was sure that six weeks apart could only work in her favor in this. The thought would surely help her through so much alone-time with a pissed-off Sebastian and a brooding Blaine.