It was a week later that Blaine was finally readjusted to his normal life. He had texted Kurt a couple of times, but they hadn't really conversed. Kurt had texted him to say that he had located his blogs, and that he had replied to a few more Tweets- but there was only so much Blaine could respond to. He didn't want to get too attached to this friendship, or whatever it was, that he had with Kurt. He was scared that it would be ripped out from underneath him, and he hadn't set up any kind of safety net.

He hadn't told anyone that the contact on his phone, Hedwig, was Kurt either. He had changed a couple of other contacts to various Harry Potter characters to avoid suspicion, but he hardly ever let anyone else touch his phone anyway.

Not even Wes knew that the Hedwig contact existed in the first place, let alone whose alias it was.

So now Blaine sat at his desk and tapped out an email to Kathryn Woodrow. His mom had convinced him about the importance of gratitude, and that sending a thank you email could put him ahead of other cancer survivors if the charity needed to pick one for something else. After some puzzling he began to write.

Dear Ms. Woodrow,

I am just writing to thank you for my wish. My trip to New York was amazing and I'll never be able to thank you enough for all the opportunities you presented to me.

You told me to let you know if I had any feedback about things that could be improved, and I honestly don't have anything to complain about. The hotel was great as were all of the events you planned for us. I hope you continue to be able to help other kids' wishes come true.

Blaine Anderson

He smiled to himself- the letter was short, but it got his point across. He didn't have anything much to say, so it was a miracle he bothered to even write the email in the first place. It kept everyone happy, and that was what mattered.

Kurt had a meeting with Charlotte at Carefree on a Saturday morning a week or so after Blaine had left New York and headed back to Ohio. He didn't have much to say, but Charlotte was racing through her ever growing list of things to fill him in about and Leah tried desperately to fit everything in on her calendar and take note of everything Charlotte said. Kurt smiled and nodded and pretended he knew exactly what was being said. He must have zoned out for a bit there, because Charlotte was in the middle of a sentence the next time he looked up from his coffee. "...so you'll be on tour for that... Leah, I'll email you a copy of this schedule, no use trying to fill it all out now... do remind me about that though, yeah? Otherwise you might blink and miss the whole tour!"

"Tour?" Kurt cocked his head at Charlotte who sighed and repeated herself.

"For Highlands, Kurt, for the premiere of the new season. They want to build some hype about it before and after the episode airs. The tour starts a week before the episode and continues until the next episode a week later. The whole national fan base will be watching, and they all want to meet their fabulous Elliot. So you're touring with all the other cast members! Isn't that wonderful! And The Wish Factory, they wanted to set up some meetings while you were touring, if it's possible to fit them in..."

"Oh," Kurt said, "Where exactly is this tour going?"

"Nothing is final," Charlotte said, "but around the country a bit... it seems like the only place the network has locked in for a stop is Ohio."

Kurt bit his lip to stop a smile spreading across his face. He hoped he might get close enough to Westerville to visit Blaine and cash in on that motorbike ride. He would not object to that. He pretended to pay attention for the rest of his meeting, but he knew that it was useless. He was a bit busy slipping into a fantasy reunion.

A week later the final arrangements for the Highlands promo tour were settled. The show had split the actors between several different tour routes to ensure they got maximum hype. Kurt had been put with four other actors; Cassidy, the actress who played Meghan and also Elliot's best friend; Luke, who played Jake, Elliot's other best friend; Arietta, who played Hailey, a girl in Elliot's year; and Justina, who played Klara, a girl who was on exchange from Slovakia. His route was set to travel in between cities each day, and holding preview sessions with a Q and A each evening. Locations were still being debated, but Kurt was on his way to Ohio and Michigan. They would travel around Ohio first, and then carry on to Michigan and back to New York.

He hadn't had any communication with Blaine recently, although he had had no reason to. Kurt found himself repeatedly pinching his thigh every time he thought about Blaine, because he simply couldn't afford to fall for him. He wasn't sure what to call their relationship- they had barely touched for more than two seconds at a time, let alone kissed more than the quick peck Kurt had given Blaine's cheek. They weren't dating. There was no solidity to whether or not they were friends. They were just... texting. There was never any harm in that.

But, although he hadn't texted Blaine for awhile, he decided that he ought to let him know they would be in the same state again.

I'm going to be in Ohio three weeks from now.

Blaine had been waiting for another opportunity to text Kurt, and when it happened he hadn't been the one to send the text first. He had been in his Calculus class, trying desperately to figure out the problems without the book's answer first. His teacher was busy and hardly paying attention to the class that wasn't exactly working silently as he had asked, meaning that when Blaine's phone buzzed in his pocket it wasn't obvious enough to find him landing a detention. He checked his phone and smiled to himself, writing his reply: Westerville, maybe? Why? Wes looked over his shoulder at the phone, not so much interested in the text as who it had come from. When he read the name, he gave Blaine a slight glare. "Hedwig?" He asked, "Who's that?" Blaine put the phone down.

"Nice to see that you weren't reading my texts," he said.

"I wasn't, honestly. I was just curious about whether I was right." Wes said, turning back to his textbook.

"Right about what, Wes?" Blaine asked, genuinely curious about what he had meant.

"That only me, your mom and your girlfriend texted you ever," he said, "and apparently not."

"Oh, well, someone changed a bunch of the names in my phone to Harry Potter characters as a joke. I'm still trying to work out some of them. But this, Hedwig, is just a guy from support group." Blaine explained. He had run through the scenario a bunch of times.

"Then why haven't you changed his name back?" Wes put his textbook back down and turned back to Blaine so he could give him a glare.

"Because I'm not sure which of the guys it is. But it's one of them." It seemed to be enough of an answer for Wes, because he stopped asking.

I don't think I'm allowed to say, but it will be released pretty soon, Kurt replied, and yes, possibly Westerville.

Leah eyed Kurt suspiciously as he smiled down at his phone. She raised an eyebrow and said, "Good news?"

"Sort of," Kurt said, "I'm just in a good mood today." Kurt switched the conversation on his phone quickly over to his texts from the producer of Highlands, which read hey Kurt, new scripts on the way. Happy storylines for Elliot again! He showed it to Leah who smiled too, and shook off the suspicious thoughts she was having. She had spent just about every moment she had with Kurt since she had started working for him, and she couldn't think where he could possibly have met anyone. She was just being silly.

Blaine's response came fairly quickly. Does that mean we might see each other again?

I think so. At the very least you should get to see me from a distance. Blaine rolled his eyes at that one. He had been watching Kurt from a distance for years- through Highlands, Born Rivals, his Twitter and other internet accounts.

Distance is no fun. We've been trying to keep up a friendship from a distance for weeks now. Kurt smiled at Blaine's use of the word- Friendship. They were friends. From Blaine's end he had thought it would be risky, but the risk had paid off overall, because Kurt had reacted positively.

That's true. He replied.

Got nothing else to say? Blaine teased.

Yup. Kurt gave up a little. Blaine smiled to himself, knowing he had won a little bit.

Thanks for throwing me back into my Calculus pit of despair. Blaine felt defeated at the same time. Calculus was no fun and the distraction had been welcomed with open arms.

You're welcome, Blaine Anderson. Now get over yourself and make those problems your bitches. Kurt replied. Blaine struggled with all the power he could muster up not to burst out laughing.

...did you, Kurt Hummel, the famous, the fabulous, the astounding, really just use such graphic terminology?

I guess so. I apologise, Blaine Anderson. Please ask your problems politely if they will be your bitches. Blaine laughed as quietly as he could, turning away from Wes in the hopes that he wouldn't notice. He had never really seen a side like this to Kurt.

Oh fine then. Either way I get calculus bitches. Kurt excused himself quickly and raced to the bathroom, where he sunk down on the floor, laughing as quietly as he could. He didn't want to attract Leah's attention, but he just couldn't contain his laughter any more.

Calculus bitches are my favourite kind of bitches. Kurt responded.

You should stop distracting me. My bitches are starting to feel neglected. Blaine texted back, before hiding his phone underneath the Calculus book as the teacher glanced in his direction.

Keep your bitches happy, Blaine Anderson. Text me later. Kurt said. He couldn't be responsible for the poor boy's failure. It wasn't that long ago that Kurt had struggled his way through Calculus while being on set for Highlands.

I will :) Kurt had never thought a smiley face would make such a difference, but it added a new layer of commitment to what Blaine had said. He would. He absolutely would text him later.

That evening the Highlands official blog and Twitter announced that they were having a national tour for the release of the next season. Blaine got his alerts the same as everyone else, and scanned through the list of locations. There it said Westerville, Ohio, and the address of the function rooms where they were holding the meeting. He scrolled down to the ticket information section of the announcement.

Basic entry- Q and A session with cast members.

Viewer entry- Q and A session and access to the previewing party of the first two episodes.

Gold Viewer pass- Q and A session, previewing party and cast hangout.

Exclusive access pass- entry to all parts of event with personal meet and greet with all cast members.

There will be exclusive Highlands merchandise available for purchase.

There weren't any prices listed yet, but Blaine knew that he had to go to as much of the event as was physically possible. He didn't really have a lot of money, and although his parents weren't exactly tight for cash thanks to his father's well paying lawyer career, they weren't particularly fond of buying things for their sons on demand. He would be spending his entire summer running errands at his dad's office if he even dared ask. He would have to get a little more creative.

He texted Kurt (Tour announced. That means you get to come here?) And Kurt replied shortly after (It does! You probably know more about it than I do, to be honest.) It took him some time to get that text, because he was determined to finish his homework before dinner. He sent Kurt yet another text as he headed downstairs to find his mom and tell her about the tour.

Probably. Isn't any price information, but I will do everything in my power to be there.

We should be in Westerville for at least half a day before the event. We can catch up sooner or later, promise.

Promise?

I promise, as I just said, Blaine Anderson. Now go do something productive. It was as if he could see into his soul. He never had finished all those Calculus questions.

The next day Blaine and Wes went out for ice-cream, as only two teenage boys could do. It was something they had promised themselves as kids; as soon as they could take themselves out for ice-cream and not need parents to give them permission they would. They had been buying it for themselves every other week since they were fourteen. There was an ice-cream parlour in the centre of town that had an awful lot of business for a place so small. They sat in the middle of the store, huge banana splits in front of each of them. It had been one of those days.

They were talking about nothing in particular until Blaine looked past Wes to see a group of teenage girls in the corner. They were all thirteen or fourteen, babbling about the movie they had just seen and anything else that seemed to come up. The group was marked most clearly by the one familiar girl in the group- Sky. One of the girls saw Wes and Blaine, and the girls whispered hurriedly to each other about them. One got brave enough to walk over, and even from the distance Blaine could see Sky turn a brilliant shade of crimson. The girl stood by their table and, much to Blaine's surprise, addressed Wes and not him.

"Hey, Wes!" She said, "Fancy seeing you here! Kaity was saying that she hasn't seen you in like, forever, and here you are!" Her hand twitched at her side, as if she was suppressing the urge to slap him.

"Blaine," Wes said, "this is Grace, Kaitlynn's sister."

"Kaitlynn? As in, The Wes's girlfriend?" Blaine said, raising an eyebrow at his friend. Wes hadn't been telling people that they were dating, purely out of fear of being humiliated. Some of the guys at school went to great lengths to embarrass those with girlfriends, so using such a solid term was sure to make Wes squirm. It had the desired effect.

The girl piped up, saying, "Yeah! Have you met her? Kaity never mentioned a Blaine... and it's Gracie, Wes. Gracie. Not Grace. Only my mom would call me that. Maybe my grandma, but not you, Wes." It was clear why she and Sky were friends. Blaine thought maybe they both just talked at the same time and neither ever listened to the other.

"Uh, no," Blaine said, "I haven't. But I've heard an awful lot about her." There were days when Wes wouldn't shut up about her. Gracie forced a laugh and gushed about how silly Wes was, and told her that he absolutely must call Kaitlynn later that night. Or now, even. She retreated to her table and Wes made no effort to continue the conversation, proceeding instead to stuffing more ice-cream into his mouth. Blaine followed suit and they sat in silence for a minute.

Blaine was the first one to speak. "I was sure she was coming over to question me about Sky," he said, "seeing as she's," he made air quotes, "'My girlfriend'."

Wes looked at him, and nodded slowly. "I thought so too," he said, "I didn't know those two were friends. Sky's okay, but Gracie, well, she's fiercely protective. That's all I can say."

They finished their ice-creams and left the store before they could be attacked by the girls again. After walking a very short distance (Wes decided he would call Kaitlynn now, after all), Sky caught up to them and Blaine stopped to hear her out. Wes kept talking to Kaitlynn ("I'm just with my friend, Blaine... he is not my second girlfriend... yes, Kaitlynn... Gracie told me to call you... I just... maybe we should just see each other in person... yep, okay... great. Cool. I'll see you then.). Blaine talked to Sky, who was thankfully alone. She had left her friends at the ice-cream parlour to follow Blaine out. "Hi," she said. They had seen each other at Support Group earlier in the week, so they didn't have a lot to talk about that day.

"Hey," Blaine said in return, "I can't believe you're friends with Wes's girlfriend's sister. That's such a weird coincidence."

"Who, Gracie? I didn't know Wes was going out with Kaitlynn, that's great! Unless he's going out with her little sister, Heidi, because that would be weird, since she's six..." did she ever stop?

"Yeah, it's Kaitlynn. He's talking to her now, actually." Blaine gestured over to where Wes was talking on his phone.

Wes was saying something that sounded like, "No, I didn't arrange to see Gracie..."

"Oh, right. I, um, I just wanted to apologise for them... Gracie shouldn't have talked to you like that. She was way out of line. What did she say, exactly?" she asked.

"Nothing much to me- she just asked Wes a lot about Kaitlynn. She seemed... protective." He said.

"Oh, yeah, she's always like that. I'm surprised she didn't hassle you, because I kind of said..." Sky turned pale covered her hand with her mouth. "Nothing. I said nothing. Never mind." She turned to walk away and Blaine grabbed her arm and spun her back around.

"Sky... what did you tell them?"

"Nothing!"

"No, seriously. If it's about me, I deserve to know." Blaine said.

"I, um, I told them you were my boyfriend once... I don't know if they made the connection or not, because I just said that you were this guy from support group, but, oh my god, I'm so sorry..."

"Sky, stop talking." She stopped. "I'm flattered, but you're like, thirteen. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, but you need to fake break up with me, since we're fake going out." He said.

"Like, now?"

Blaine turned to look back at the ice-cream shop where the group of girls were all staring out the window at them. "If they hadn't made the connection yet they've certainly made it now."

"Oh my god, Blaine, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for dragging you into this, I..."

"Go on; just make a scene, if you want. I'll let you slap me, if it'll be more credible..."

Sky looked down at her hands. "I couldn't slap you. Can I just keep pretending you're my boyfriend for a bit?"

Blaine laughed. "Sky, I sort of like you. I mean, you're kind of awesome at Born Rivals and you have an amazing internship that could potentially lead to many great perks- between my cancer and your internship we could have a powerful partnership- but I'm not going to go out with you."

"I'm not asking you to. I'm just asking that you let me keep things the way they are; and we totally could rule the world together, Blaine. I want to be your friend, really."

"Okay- so you keep pretending that we're an item. I deny it when Wes tells everyone you're my girlfriend and you don't publicise anything beyond your group of friends. We end up being in an epic partnership and getting places, we both keep our credibility and you can fake break up with me at a later date. Like, if not now, you can write and send me some nasty texts to show everyone."

Sky nodded, "It's a deal. You can tell people I'm a crazy stalker if you want... Um, I should get back to my friends..." she glanced back at the ice-cream parlour, where her friends were still fighting for the best view, "I'd shake your hand, but that wouldn't look like we were a couple..."

Blaine looked over at Wes, who was still conversing with Kaitlynn. Whatever he had done, she was pissed off about it. He wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to what Blaine and Sky were doing. There was Sky, who had admitted to telling people they were going out, letting him say she was crazy to others who had heard about their "relationship", whose word on the matter would lose credibility quickly, and her group of friends, who people would likely believe about as much as Sky. There was no one around to see what Blaine would do that would seriously ruin his reputation. He tilted Sky's chin up and kissed her lightly, their lips barely touching. Her eyes grew wide as she waved at Blaine slightly and hurried back in to her friends. Blaine grabbed Wes, who had just hung up, and began walking quickly away from the scene. "Dude, what happened?" Wes said. Blaine told him he would explain later, which he did- but they just needed to leave quickly and quietly, leaving no trace.

The tickets for the tour went on sale the day after, because the tour was set to take place only two and a half weeks later. Glorious Media scored tickets right away, needing to send people to the events to write them, saving a couple to give away online. After having given Sky the Skype interview with Kurt, they thought it was fair enough to send her to the event, exclusive access passes and all. It was unusual for them to send interns, but they had found that Sky had been far more dedicated to her work than to just do some fact checking (although because of the way the site ran, fact checking was more or less looking up other gossip blogs to see how many people were going by the same rumours), and the editor seemed pleased enough with her work to allow her to write the event. She was given two passes, and the site set up to give away other passes that they had. After the lengths Blaine had gone to the day before to save her from her own trap, she knew there was only one person she could give her spare pass to. She texted him as soon as the envelope with two exclusive access passes was in her hands, saving her own elation for later.

Hey Blaine! Thanks for yesterday! I'm still super sorry about my friends. I have passes to the Highlands tour and thought you needed one, since we have our partnership and all! Interested?!

Blaine texted her back quickly, saying, Intern perk? And I would absolutely love a pass.

Yeah! It's yours! Ruling the world!

Blaine smiled to himself at the texts he was exchanging with Sky. He hadn't really thought that Sky might get passes, but instantly felt pleased with himself for offering this partnership idea. He thought maybe he had been pushing it, offering the "partnership" at the point of her desperation, that maybe she had just been easy to take advantage of. But she didn't seem to be going back on what she agreed, and even seemed happy at the idea of giving Blaine her spare ticket.

He decided he should text the second person to care- Kurt.

So stalker-not-girlfriend managed to get me a ticket to the Highlands tour. He said.

What kind of ticket? Kurt's reply was almost instantaneous. The buzz of his phone made him smile uncontrollably.

Exclusive access. No distance in the friendship. Blaine replied, knowing Kurt would appreciate that too.

No distance. That sounds nice. Even though they had only been texting on and off for a couple of weeks, they were beginning to feel like friends- actual friends. Like there wasn't any distance, but a midpoint they reached when they texted.

It does, doesn't it? Sky isn't that bad, really. Blaine added.

I'll see you then, Blaine Anderson. I'll look forward to it.

Me too, Kurt. Blaine texted.

Me too, he thought.

"Me too," he whispered quietly to himself, as he slid his phone back into his pocket and thought about what great stroke of luck had brought him to that moment.