We Aren't Who We Were

Chapter 13

Kurt watched through the corner of his eye as Blaine sat motionless in the loft's studio, paintbrush in hand, his face hidden behind the large white canvas in front of him. Kurt could feel the silent tension filling the room. Neither of them spoke—the only noise coming from the gentle tapping of raindrops hitting against the glass windows of the apartment.

It'd been two weeks since Josh suddenly announced the sudden change in wedding dates—completely catching Kurt off guard, making it even harder for him to come clean and just end it. Josh was acting so...different, Kurt couldn't understand it.

Kurt sat at a small table at the front of Blaine's studio, pretending to leaf through a few of the rough sketches littered on one of the tables.

"Did you…did you tell him yet Kurt?" Blaine asked quietly, his eyes refusing to meet Kurt's, and instead stared blankly at the canvas before him.

Kurt turned to look to Blaine, a soft sigh escaping his mouth. He still hadn't told Blaine about Josh's sudden change of wedding dates. It had all happened so fast, Kurt barely had time to open his mouth before Josh was running him through their new schedule.

He'd moved the date up to two weeks from the coming Saturday, informed both their parents, took the liberty of ordering new invitations to be sent out as soon as possible, and worst of all—

"Kurt…you said—" Blaine continued when he didn't receive a reply, interrupting Kurt's thoughts.

"Soon, okay?" Kurt cut in, "I promise, it's just, some stuff came up, and I didn't know how to tell him. I'm trying to figure it all out, it's just…a bit more complicated now." Kurt's voice was trembling a little.

—And worst of all…Kurt hasn't figured out how to tell Blaine about the change in wedding dates yet.

Blaine took a deep breath, gently dipping his brush onto his palette, and painting a few more streaks onto the canvas. "Complicated? Kurt, no matter how you look at this situation, its going to be complicated—the more you drag it out, the more…complicated…its going to get."

Kurt looked up. "Blaine, really, I promise. It's you okay? Only you. You just don't understand the situa—"

Blaine paused, his expression falling, the paintbrush in his hand barely brushing against the canvas. "You say that a lot." Blaine said coldly, cutting Kurt off. "It—it's getting harder and harder to believe you. I love you, but if you can't—if you can't end it, I don't know how we're going to…" Blaine pursed his lips together, staring down at his paint palette, "I told you I won't do the sneaking around anymore."

Kurt got up from where he was sitting and kneeled beside Blaine, gently cupping Blaine's face in his hands, and turning it to face his.

Blaine still refused to meet Kurt's eyes, stubbornly staring down at the floor, his long eyelashes covering the pale hazel eyes beneath.

"Look at me Blaine." Kurt said sternly, tilting his head up to meet Blaine's.

Blaine slowly lifted his eyes, continually drawn to the bright blue-green eyes, no matter how hard he tried not to.

"Soon, okay? I just—I need a little bit more time.

Blaine nodded, forcing a weak smile. "Whatever you say Kurt, whatever you say…"

Kurt pressed a gentle kiss to Blaine's temple, pulled up a chair behind Blaine, and watched in silent amazement as Blaine began painting again. Each gentle brushstroke, every streak of color against white canvas, the unique way the different shades blended together—left Kurt in awe.

They sat there is a comfortable silence, neither one speaking, just enjoying the simple presence of the other—they both knew it couldn't last long.

"Well, I think I'm done." Blaine said suddenly, breaking the silence, holding his paint brush in the air, and staring at the final product of his painting.

"I like it." Kurt said simply, as he stood up to stand behind Blaine as he brushed the final few strokes of paint onto his canvas.

Blaine tilted his head as he looked over his work, smiling softly. "Thanks."

"I love watching you paint. I could just…watch you for hours. It's amazing." Kurt said softly, placing a gentle hand onto Blaine's shoulder, as he hovered over him, gazing at the artwork.

Blaine put his paintbrush down, and looked down at the floor. "You have been watching me for hours Kurt."

Kurt chuckled dryly, "Really? Didn't feel like it."

Blaine sighed. "It's getting late. Shouldn't you—shouldn't you be getting home?"

Kurt fell silent, his eyes still locked on the abstract colors swirled onto the canvas.

"Kurt?" Blaine asked again, turning around to look up at Kurt.

Kurt shook his head, trying to snap back into reality, "Um, yeah, probably. I just—I wanted to stay a little longer."

Blaine pursed his lips together, and gently took Kurt's hands in his, smiling sadly. "Kurt, you can't just say things like that to me. You know I'll never let you leave when you say things like that. Please, just—just go. I'm already temped to ask you to say tonight."

Kurt nodded, his eyes falling, "Sorry. I didn't mean to—I didn't…"

Blaine stood up, cupping Kurt's face in his hand, stroking his thumb over his cheek. "It's okay, let's not…let's not get into again."

"I'll tell him Blaine, I will." Kurt said, his voice trembling, his hands resting on Blaine's chest.

Blaine looked away, "I'll be here when you do."

Kurt leaned forward and kissed Blaine lightly on the forehead.

"I'll be back soon."

Blaine waved from the doorframe as Kurt disappeared down the hall.

He lingered by the door until Kurt was completely out of sight and around the corner, biting down on his lower lip.

After a few moments, Blaine finally shut the door, and turned to face the empty loft. The sun had begun to set, leaving the place in a dark orange-ish glow.

Blaine shuffled back into the living room, raking his fingers through his tousled curls, and plopped down on the couch.

It wasn't a secret that he'd gotten a bit—okay, more than a bit upset with Kurt earlier, but even his patience was starting to break. Blaine had spent restless nights wondering if this was all just another lie, that he and Kurt never really stood a chance, and they were both lying to themselves to mask the pain of the truth—the reality that maybe…they were never really meant to be together.

Blaine wasn't going to lie. He was scared. He was scared that Kurt loved Josh—enough to be unable to leave him, enough to go through with their wedding…enough to give up on what he and Kurt could be.

Blaine sighed, and stared idly at the living room table, and the massive amount of paperwork he had to be filling out for the renovations of his city studio—when something caught his eye. It was a letter, hidden beneath the piles of contracts, approvals and bills.

Blaine pushed aside the paperwork, and picked up the letter, his fingers traced over the familiar hand writing. When did he get this?

Blaine stared at the sender name. Danny Miller.

Blaine held the envelope in his hands for a few moments, before decidedly tearing it open, holding the thin lined paper between his fingers, before reading it.

Kurt could feel the brisk New York breeze blowing as he stepped out of his taxi and into his apartment building. There was no doubt the tension was beginning to build between the two of them. As much as Kurt wanted to just make the whole world disappear, and just stay within the comfort of this magical work he and Blaine had created for themselves, he had to face the reality of the deep situation he'd somehow buried himself in.

Kurt's head throbbed at just the idea of telling Josh the truth—especially now that he'd waited until after their new wedding date was booked, invitations had been sent out, and family members have been informed.

His heart ached at the thought of Blaine, with his sullen eyes, and his cold disposition. He'd been so patient—he still is patient, but Kurt knew he was wearing him thin, and that patience won't last.

In Kurt's heart he knew there was nothing more he wanted to be with Blaine. He wanted to be in that cozy Brooklyn loft, with all the paint and the comforting smell of coffee that was somehow always brewing. He wanted to go over his magazine editorials while Blaine painted in his studio. He wanted that.

But, then there was Josh, the man who'd been the first person to capture his heart after years of emptiness. The man who gave up everything to be with him, who worked his tailbone off all night to keep in synch with the international French time zone, the man who—despite everything, still stood loyally by his side through temper tantrums, diva fits, colds, arguments…everything.

Kurt entered the penthouse quietly, tossing his keys into the bowl like he did everyday, and shuffled into the kitchen to get some aspirin for his throbbing headache. He groaned as he heard what sounded like the echoing sounds of Josh's raised voice yelling into his phone.

As Kurt walked through the kitchen door, he could see that he was right—Josh was leaning against the kitchen counter his hand pressed to his forehead and his cell phone against his ear.

"I'm not going for business. I told you I'm taking a few weeks off for my god damn wedding. I don't care what she says, and I don't care what she threatens, I'm tired of all this. I told her I'd go and deal with whatever the hell she needs me to do at the end of the month. She's got half a brain and a dozen mindless assistants, tell her to figure it out." Josh screamed angrily into the phone, his fingers rubbing his temples as he tried to calm down.

Kurt sighed, and strolled past Josh toward the cabinet, reaching for a bottle of aspirin. Josh signaled for Kurt to bring over the bottle, and Kurt nodded silently, and grabbed two glasses, filling them with water.

"Okay, seriously, I'm done having this conversation. If she can't handle this on her own, then I have no idea why they put her in charge. I'm hanging up now, and I betternot get another phone call until after I get back." Josh said sternly, trying excruciatingly hard to keep his voice down. After some more screeching from the other end, Josh rolled his eyes and flipped the phone shut, hanging up and sliding the phone it as far away from him as possible onto the counter.

Kurt handed Josh a glass of water and two pills, and then popped two into his own mouth.

Josh smiled sheepishly at Kurt. "Sorry about that…Parisian office just won't get off my back about my leave."

Kurt nodded, staring down at his glass of water, avoiding eye contact with Josh.

Josh swallowed his aspirin, and cleared his throat. "Uh, Kurt?"

Kurt looked up at Josh, his fingers nervously tracing the rim of his cup. "Hmm?"

"I know this is sudden—" Josh began.

'What isn't sudden lately?" Kurt retorted quietly.

Josh chuckled dryly, "Yeah, well—you're either going to be really mad or really excited about this."

Kurt's eyes looked back down at his cup, swirling the remaining water around in the glass.

Josh strode forward and took Kurt's free hand in his. "We're going to have to move the honeymoon up—immediately. And by immediately…I mean tonight."

Kurt looked up at Josh, his eyes widening and his mouth falling slightly ajar. "What? Josh! How could you just spring something like that up on me without—"

Josh squeezed Kurt's hand, "Babe, with the wedding moved up and my business trip pretty much right after the wedding, we won't be able to fit in a honeymoon, and I thought, why not just go…before?"

Kurt furrowed his eyebrows and wriggled his hand from Josh's grasp. "No, no…no…no. We—we can't. I…no. Josh, I can't! I don't even understand why you moved the wedding up in the first place! You need to think things through before doing them, I mean—" Kurt stopped abruptly, shaking his head. Kurt squeezed his eyes shut, and took a deep breath, raking his fingers through his hair.

Josh pursed his lips together, his eyes falling disappointedly. "Kurt…Paris! It's where we're always dreamed of going for out honeymoon. Me whisking you off to France, and staying at that hotel where we first spent the night together, why don't you want to—"

Kurt held up his hand, "No, Josh. We're not going tonight. I can't…I can't deal with all this right now. I'm sorry." Kurt looked at Josh exasperatedly for one more moment—he opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it and turned away, heading for the bedroom, and closing the door behind him.

Josh stood in the kitchen, rubbing his face with his hands, and sighed. He could see it in Kurt's eyes. The lost, confused, guilty look in his eyes. Josh knew Kurt, and he knew he couldn't keep that secret in much longer—he was going to tell him soon, despite his many efforts to avoid it.

There was someone else. There had to be. Josh wasn't stupid. He could tell when his partner had begun to drift from him. It'd been months of quiet meals, habitual conversations, forced interest. And If that fateful phone call to Kurt while he was at that hotel—probably with his lover—wasn't evidence enough to give Josh the answer he hoped he'd never have to find out, that blunt reaction to the honeymoon thing was.

Josh felt miserable. He was holding onto something that quite frankly, was struggling very hard to let him go. It was foolish to cling onto something that probably no longer wanted you there, but—it was Kurt.

It would be hard to explain to any rational person why exactly Josh was doing this—this, as in the moving up of the wedding, the change in honeymoon dates, and the many acts of desperation Josh had to pull just to test—just to see if Kurt still, at all, loved him. Even to himself, this behavior was absurd, and he should probably be feeling angry, betrayed…cheated. But there was this spot in his heart that Kurt had captured and held onto all these years. It was a piece of him that lived for Kurt, to be with him, to love him, to forever be owned by him, and that blew all logic and rationality in his being.

Josh took a deep, shaky breath, as he stared down the hall at the closed bedroom door.

Kurt hadn't left him yet—which meant he had to still love him enough to stay. Josh loved Kurt, and as pathetic as this would be to anyone else—Josh just wasn't willing to just let Kurt go that easily.

Kurt sat down on the bed, his head sinking into his hands.

What has he done?

How did things get this bad?

Outside the door was a man who was desperately trying to show his love, trying to be romantic, and here he was…pushing him away—pushing him away like he'd been doing for so long. Kurt couldn't remember the last time he'd done something for Josh, the last time he'd kissed him for no reason…even the last time he'd said I love you.

Kurt sat there in the dark silence, with nothing but the sound of the city buzzing outside—just him alone with his thoughts.

"Kurt? Are you okay?" Josh's voice called through the bedroom door.

Kurt buried his head in his hands once again. He thought his heart would explode from all this. He had to make a decision, he had to end all of this—it'd gone on long enough.

"Hey…" Josh said softly as he poked his head in through the door, and walked toward Kurt, taking a seat beside Kurt on the bed and hesitantly putting a soft hand on his back.

Kurt looked up, trying to wipe away the stray tears off his cheeks. "I'm sorry…"

"Kurt? What—what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Josh asked gently, sitting down beside Kurt on the bed.

Kurt sighed, looking up at Josh, his auburn eyes burning with concern.

"You do too much for me Josh. I don't even know why you're still here putting up with me." Kurt said, his voice quivering.

Josh sighed, his eyes falling slightly, "I guess that's just love right? It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you're here, loving me back, I'll never leave. I see you through the good and the bad—besides, I think the stress is just getting to you. I know the real you behind all this, and I love his way too much to let a few petty things get in the way."

Kurt blinked back tears, "Oh, god…"

Josh smiled gently at Kurt, "I'm sorry I'm pushing all this stuff on you—Paris, the wedding, the…everything. I should have talked with you first."

Kurt sat up straight, and took a long look at Josh, furrowing his eyebrows and chewing on his lower lip.

"I—I have to go." Kurt said abruptly, standing up and walking out the bedroom door.

"What?" Josh asked.

"I—I have to go, I'll…be back later." Kurt said simply walking towards to front door.

Josh followed him to the door, "You—you're leaving…now? Kurt it's nearly midnight! Where are you going?"

Kurt looked back at Josh with blazing eyes, rimmed red from crying, "I just…I have to go somewhere okay?"

Kurt grabbed a coat off the sofa, and headed out the door, despite Josh's protests, not turning around until he was out of the building hailing down a cab, and climbed into the first taxi to pass by.

"Brooklyn, please!" Kurt said breathlessly to the cab driver.

Blaine was sitting alone at the kitchen counter, sipping on a cup of coffee, Danny's letter still in his hand. He'd already read it a million times over, but he just—he couldn't put it down. It was almost too surreal to be reality.

Blaine was interrupted with a loud knocking on his door.

"Kurt?" Blaine asked perplexedly, as he stood at the doorway.

"Hey…" Kurt said softly, taking a deep breath.

"What are you…?" Blaine furrowed his eyebrows, "What are you doing here so late? Is—is everything okay?"

It was past midnight, and here he was standing at Blaine's doorstep. His eyes were rimmed red, his hair was disheveled, and he was trembling slightly. He looked at Blaine with glazed blue eyes.

"I'm sorry its so late but I—" Kurt began, his lip quivering, "I needed to see you…I just…I needed to see you." Kurt said, his eyes dropping to look down at the ground.

"Come in, come in," Blaine said, as he ushered Kurt in.

"Did you—did you tell him?" Blaine asked, resting his hands on Kurt's shoulders, trying to get Kurt to look at him.

Kurt was silent, as he stood there, trying to blink away the tears that had not ceased to fall all night.

'Kurt? Please…talk to me." Blaine asked desperately, squeezing his grip on Kurt's shoulders.

Kurt turned away, wriggling free of Blaine's grasp.

Blaine sighed, and looked away disappointedly, "Kurt…"

"I'm sorry—I can't. I just…I can't…" Kurt said quietly, squeezing his eyes shut, his hand flying up to rest on his forehead, "I keep trying, but it's so hard and—"

"Yeah? Well I can't do this!" Blaine yelled, jumping up, and slamming his fists into the nearest wall, and leaning his head against it.

Kurt could feel his eyes welling with tears as he walked over to Blaine, taking one of Blaine's clenched fists into his hands.

"Look what we're reduced to! We almost never find time for each other, and even when we do, all we end up doing is fucking in some hotel—or meeting here secretly so we can stare idly at the walls—avoiding the fucking problem we've been avoiding for months. I can't…I can't take it anymore!" Blaine all but screamed.

Blaine could feel Kurt's glistening eyes on him. Blaine shook his head and walked to his bedroom, unable to face Kurt's look of shock from his sudden outburst.

"Blaine…" Kurt began, his voice trembling as he watched him go.

"No Kurt! No! This shouldn't be how it is." Blaine yelled from the hall, turning around abruptly before entering his bedroom, "No more sneaking around. No more secret meetings, or late night phone calls! I can't build a relationship with you based on lies, and broken promises. I want more. I need more. I can't fucking stand the fact that at the end of the day you're his and not mine. I want to be the person who holds you proudly, confidently without worrying about him. I want to be the guy who can kiss you, without having to agonize about someone seeing us. I don't want to be your secret Kurt. I want to be—I just want to be yours."

Kurt was shaking as he walked after Blaine, reaching out to take Blaine's hands in his placed a kiss on Blaine's palm. "You are, and will forever be mine—I just…"

"Josh." Blaine said crossly, pulling his hand back, and turning away from Kurt.

Kurt wiped the tear rolling down his face. "Blaine…it's not as easy as—"

"You think it was easy? It was the hardest thing I've done in my entire life. I was engaged to Danny, Kurt. I was willing to spend my entire life with him! It killed me inside to hurt him, but I did it! I told him the truth." Blaine could feel the heat rising in his chest. "Because you, Kurt, you are the most important thing in the entire world to me! I did it for you! I did it..."

Blaine paused momentarily to still his shaking voice, and looked Kurt in the eyes. "I did it for us."

Blaine let out a deep sigh, pushing his bedroom door open and sat down at the edge of the bed, throwing his head into his arms. "I need you to tell me what you want, because I can't be strung along like this any longer…it hurts too much." His eyes were squeezed shut, in hopes that it could keep the well of tears behind them shut in, like a dam just waiting to spill over any second.

Kurt couldn't move. He simply stood there, blinking. The tears in his eyes were making it hard for him to see, his vision blurred.

It was an odd moment, Kurt standing there, looking at Blaine bent over on the bed, his hands buried in his hands. Had someone been in the room, they would've seen a smile creep onto Kurt's face. It wasn't a happy smile, not joyous in the slightest. It was a pained smile. A smile that was so wounded, so hurt, that anyone who saw it would have winced.

It was then when Kurt realized…Blaine was breaking. Kurt could see it in his eyes for weeks, and it pained his heart to see what Blaine was going through. His usual bright, hazel eyes were dark, shadowed with feelings of immense distress.

Kurt walked over to Blaine, trying his best to mask his emotions, blinking back his tears, and pulled Blaine into a hug. Blaine let out a sigh, and nuzzled against Kurt's warmth out of habit, letting Kurt wrap his arms around him.

"Hey…" Kurt said softly, rubbing soft circles into Blaine's back.

"We could do it Kurt, I know we can. We can be more than this." Blaine murmured, his cheek pressed against Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt quickly wiped the stray tear that'd streamed down his cheek, and pulled Blaine in closer, leaning in and planting a forceful kiss onto his lips, slowly lowering him back onto the bed.

"I love you Blaine Anderson," Kurt replied, straddling Blaine, and planting soft kisses down his neck.

Blaine was a bit taken aback from Kurt's sudden movement, and pressed his hand against Kurt's chest, holding him back.

"Kurt…" Blaine warned, his hazel eyes locking with hazy blue ones.

Kurt's shaky fingers glided down Blaine's stomach, and began fumbling with his belt buckle.

Blaine's hands moved down over Kurt, stopping them from going any further. "Wait—what are you doing?"

Kurt looked at Blaine with desperate eyes, leaning in once again to kiss him hard on the lips, while his fingers intertwined with Blaine's, forcefully pushing their hands against the bed above Blaine's head.

Blaine groaned his eyes fluttering shut. "Kurt—wait—" he stuttered, as Kurt began kissing down his collar bone.

"What?" Kurt asked frantically, propping himself up, and looking at Blaine, chewing on his lip nervously.

"Kurt—please tell me what's wrong. Why are you—" Blaine began, looking into Kurt's misty blue eyes.

"Nothing. Nothing, I just want to bewith you…please." Kurt said quickly, forcing a quick smile, and leaning down to kiss Blaine again.

Blaine squirmed against the kiss. "No, no—wait. Wait!" Kurt's lips were red and swollen, and his eyes were blazing as they looked down at him, his lower lip quivering slightly.

"Kurt we shouldn't—" Blaine began.

"Please…" Kurt said again, almost at a whisper, as his fingers untangling from Blaine's and cupped Blaine's face gently. "Please…"

Blaine sighed, his eyes falling for a moment, his long dark eyelashes fanning out over his cheek, before slowly looking up. Kurt was trembling, his eyes desperately searching his for some sign. He looked so beautiful just looking down at him, his blue eyes glistening, his cheeks pink, his lips red.

Blaine looked away for a moment, before reaching up and pulling Kurt down for a kiss.

Kurt stared up at the ceiling he'd grown way too accustom to. He glanced around at the walls, the floors, taking in the comfortable familiarity he felt when he was here. The familiar paintings hanging from the walls, the paint-splattered furniture, even the big glass windows, allowing streams of moonlight in—illuminating the room, were all beautiful and calming to him.

He turned to stare at Blaine, who'd drifted off to sleep, letting out deep even breaths into his pillow, with one arm draped over Kurt's chest.

Kurt glanced at the digital clock, blaring bright red numbers, set on the bedside table. 4:27.

Kurt wiggled out from beneath Blaine's strong arm. Kurt's breath hitched as Blaine rolled over suddenly, yawning loudly, and snuggling back against his pillow. Slowly, Kurt climbed out of the bed, reaching around the floor for his abandoned pants and pulling them on quietly.

He slinked into the bathroom, grabbing his cell phone off the dresser where he'd left it earlier in the night, and closed the door behind him, sliding down against the sink, and staring at the phone in his hand.

Kurt was trembling as he scrolled down his contacts list and pressed the call button. Kurt has memorized Blaine's number almost instantaneously, and yet he found himself still having to search through his contacts for Josh?

He picked up on the second ring, his voice soft and very strained. "Hello?"

"Josh?" Hey…it's Kurt. Those tickets to Paris, you still have them, yes?"

There was a hesitant voice on the other end. "Kurt? Where the hell are you? I've been waiting up all night! You can't just take off in the middle of the night and say you'll be back soon without giving me some sort of a warning of something!" Josh paused…his voice falling dangerously low. "Are you—are you with…someone?"

It took all Kurt had to keep the tears from falling. "No. Of course not, why would you ask that? I just needed some time to think...about everything. The wedding, the honeymoon…Paris."

There was a long pause. "And?"

Kurt could sense the anxiety in Josh's voice, and he hated himself for it. He hated what Josh had reduced himself to because of him. He'd become something Kurt would have never believed Josh would become. A paranoid, desperate, and jealous human being.

"Tonight. Let's go. Me and you, Paris. It'll—" Kurt bit his lip. "It'll be what we always wanted, what we always dreamed about."

There was another silence, and Kurt didn't know what to make of it.

"Kurt I—um…I—" Josh stuttered.

Kurt closed his eyes, feeling his tears fall to the floor, his hands gripping the phone tightly. "Start packing, I'll—I'll be home soon."

"Kurt? Wait! What about—" Josh tried to say.

"Look, I have to go, just—pack. I want to be gone by morning." Kurt cut off, and hung up the phone. He leaned his head against the bathroom sink, feeling his hot tears streaming down his cheeks.

In short, deep sobs, Kurt crept back into the room and gathered his clothes, not caring that his vintage Armani was wrinkled, or the fact that he couldn't find his favorite Chanel Belt in the dark loft bedroom. He just needed to get his things and go. He paused for a moment, his vision blurred as he stared at the sleeping figure in the bed.

Kurt staggered over, taking a shaky breath, his fingers brushing over the dark hair falling into curly ringlets onto Blaine's forehead.

Kurt picked up a littered piece of paper off the floor, and with shaky hands, managed to scribble down something onto it. He hovered over Blaine, who was sleeping soundly, his upper torso just barely peeking out from beneath the covers, and an arm dangling off the bed.

"I love you…" Kurt whispered as he leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss onto Blaine's lips.

Blaine was right, Kurt thought to himself. It truly was the hardest thing he'd ever done in his entire life.

And with that, Kurt Hummel collected up his things, and in the dead of night, quietly slipped out the front door.