When Blaine woke up he was confused. Kurt wasn't in his bed like he usually was. It was only 6.30 so it couldn't be because he had already gone to his own bed to avoid problems with the grown-ups.

Then it hit him why Kurt wasn't in his bed. He remembered what had happened the night before. Kurt was moving away. To live with his dad. Without Blaine.

The realization pained like a bee sting in his heart. He turned to lie on the other side, not caring that the sun was sharp in his eyes. He squeezed Simba tight and decided to go back to sleep; maybe he would sleep so long that when he woke up he would be old enough to move with Kurt without the grown-ups telling him that he couldn't.

He drifted in and out of sleep all morning, and around 8.30 they were woken up for breakfast. Blaine hurried to the bathroom to wash up before he could see Kurt. He didn't even spare a glance in the direction of his bed.

"Can I sit with you today?" Blaine asked a small group of boys from his dormitory. They looked a him in surprise because he had never really talked much with them. A blond boy closest to Blaine grinned at his dark haired friends before he moved a little so Blaine could sit down.

The boys ate in silence. It was awkward. Blaine didn't know what to say to the other boys so he kept shut. He was so used to everything coming so natural when he was with Kurt. The blond boy introduced himself as Jeff and the dark haired boys were named Nick and Trent. Of course Blaine already knew that, they had been in the same dormitory for years. But somehow it felt like he was now officially allowed to think of himself as their friend.

Kurt entered the dining hall and looked at Blaine with a pained expression before he sat down on his usual spot. Alone; Blaine's seat empty next to him. He wanted to get up and ask him to come eat with them, but if Kurt rather wanted to move away than to be friends with him he didn't want to force him.

It was the same for the rest of the week. Blaine played with the other boys and found that he enjoyed playing soccer and baseball just as much as he enjoyed singing and building forts with Kurt.

He still couldn't stop himself from stealing glances in Kurt's direction, though, and when he went to sleep at night he laid on the edge of the mattress so there was room for Kurt if he should come to join him.

But he didn't.

xXx

The summer break had kicked in and the grown-ups had been taking some of the kids to an open pool in a town an hour and a half away from Lima. The boys spent a lot of time in the garden playing soccer and discussing superheroes. Only when the other boys started talking about girls Blaine got bored - he didn't want to talk about girls. He liked girls, but not the way the others boys talked about them.

One night a few girls had asked Nick if they could play with them and they had said yes. The other boys were a year older than Blaine, except for Trent who was Blaine's age. They didn't really know what to say but after some time they agreed.

They played together all night and Blaine quickly found that one of the girls his age, Tina, was a sweet and fun girl. She was also in the choir at school so she and Blaine started to talk about songs. He found that somehow it was really relaxing to talk to her, and that he didn't have to strive to be cool all the time when he talked to her.

They were talking and laughing really hard at something a girl had done in choir at their last lesson before summer break when a big boy ran by and pushed Blaine into Tina. The boy was 8 and often pushed Blaine and teased him, but Blaine didn't care. But now the boy started yelling that he should kiss Tina and he really didn't want to do that. He liked her, but only because she was nice and liked the same stuff as he did.

Tina nudged him with her shoulder and stood up. Blaine followed her lead and they walked to sit on the stairs of the porch together. It was starting to get dark, but Blaine wanted to stay out of the dormitory for as long as possible to avoid facing Kurt.

"Ha-have you ever k-k-kissed someone?" Tina asked. She had a bad case of stuttering and normally Blaine thought that it was really cute, but now the question was scratching his ears and mind.

"Can you keep a secret?" Blaine asked sheepishly. He really liked her and enjoyed spending time with her; he really wanted to have her as his friend. He would soon need a new best friend after all.

At first she hesitated. Not like she needed to figure out if she could keep his secret safe, but as if to let Blaine be sure that he really trusted her enough to tell her what it was he wanted to share. Then she nodded assuring.

"I have kissed Kurt. Or… Kurt kissed me. Twice," he shared and felt his ears go red. He dragged the sleeves of his sweatshirt down to cover his fingers to occupy them with something.

"Oh… ha-haven't you k-k-kissed any g-g-girls?" Tina asked, but she wasn't surprised that Kurt had kissed him. She wasn't disgusted either.

Blaine shook his head. He knew that if the other boys heard about it they would probably tease him, and he was grateful that Tina had led him to the porch so they didn't have to talk about this close to the others.

"I ne-ne-never kissed a b-boy. O-or a girl. But m-maybe I will so-some d-day," she mumbled and they both fell silent. Blaine was sure that she wouldn't tell anyone his secret, and somehow it was nice to know that he had someone other than Kurt who knew it. Because something inside him was marveling with pride every time he thought about their brief kisses.

xXx

Almost two weeks went by where Blaine spent time with the boys or Tina. He only looked at Kurt every now and then, but tried not to because it made him sad. Kurt wasn't playing with the other kids. Sometimes he would eat with some of the girls who was a little older than him, but mostly he kept to himself and Blaine didn't like that.

A Tuesday evening it was raining so they were staying inside. Blaine had curled up on a beanbag in a corner with a stack of comic books while the others were watching a movie or played elsewhere.

"Don't you wanna be my friend anymore?" Kurt's soft voice asked and dragged Blaine roughly out of his bubble of peace. He had been so absorbed in the story that he hadn't noticed Kurt coming over.

"You're the one moving away. You're the one breaking our pact," Blaine spat out, but regretted his tone when he saw the look on Kurt's face.

"I don't wanna go without you, Blaine" Kurt mumbled and his voice turned weak. Blaine stared into his book to not let Kurt's pretty face distract him from being angry at him. He knew that if he looked at him he wouldn't be able to be mad - it was like looking straight at the sun.

Kurt kept standing there staring at him, and eventually it got too hard. Blaine grabbed his comic books and headed for the dormitory. He walked straight past Kurt without seeing him and nearly walked into the doorframe instead of through the door.

He was glad that he was already in his pajamas and crawled directly under the covers. His face was completely hidden, but he could still hear the sound of Kurt's bare feet on the linoleum floor when he came into the room.

"I don't want to. Not without you," he tried again, and his voice was reduced to a mere whimper. An excruciating whimper piercing into his heart. Blaine couldn't hold it anymore so he sat up and watched Kurt flung himself into his arms without warning.

"Blaine, you're my best friend. You will always be my best friend," Kurt cried into Blaine's neck. Now Blaine was crying too and he was squeezing Kurt tighter than he thought he even could, but he didn't want to let him go. Ever.

"You're my best friend too, Kurt. Please don't leave me here," he wailed into Kurt's shoulder and felt Kurt's fingers dig into his back.

They stayed like that for a long time. So long that they almost couldn't let go of each other because their arms and hands wouldn't move. In the end they were both yawning and they knew that it was only a matter of time before they were told to go to bed, so they hurried to let the comic books on the floor so they could both hurry under Blaine's sheets.

"I will write to you every day. And I am sure that I can call you as well. And then I will beg my dad to let you come live with us. I'm sure he will let you," Kurt assured Blaine in a whisper.

Blaine was lying on his back, and Kurt was on his side with both of his arms tightly twisted around Blaine's one arm. That way no one could separate them. He still didn't like that Kurt was moving, but maybe he was right and his dad would quickly let Blaine move in with them. When he saw how much Kurt missed Blaine