Kurt’s going to miss Ljubljana. Of course, he is. This city has given him so much: love, friendship, energy. It’s his last day and it’s weird to walk around Kongresni trg with Sunil and Tadeja, knowing that he won’t be back here for probably a long time.

They’re about to grab a pizza at Ljubljanski dvor, the place where he first met Blaine. But Blaine isn’t here anymore. Kurt woke up to a message from Blaine, telling him that he’s landed safely, and then another string of messages about his brother. Due to time difference, they haven’t really talked yet. Blaine is in America. Kurt’s following suit. His flight leaves in a couple of hours.

“This will be my last meal in Ljubljana, probably,” Kurt laments. The overpriced stuff at the airport will not count.

“Awww,” Tadeja pouts.

“You could’ve stayed,” Sunil points out, albeit in a more jokey way. Sunil knows that Kurt isn’t staying. He considered it for a while. He needs to do an internship for his next academic year and it might’ve been possible to also do that here in the first semester. This is why Sunil is staying instead of going back to Sri Lanka.

And Kurt adores Ljubljana, but it’s different without Blaine.

Not only that, but he’s cooking something up. He’s already spammed his advisor’s e-mail about it. Kurt’s trying to go to Los Angeles. It’s probably too late to find an internship for September, but the second semester is also an option, so Kurt’s gunning for February.

He hasn’t talked about it with Blaine, because Kurt first wants to have a concrete plan before he brings it up. Kurt’s only told his dad briefly over the phone. His dad wondered if it was smart to uproot his life for a guy, but Kurt argued that it’s temporary and he might move in with Blaine and Quinn for those six months, so it’ll save costs and what not. His dad argued back that money is no problem, since he’s a senator so he can help. That’s where the conversation ended, but Kurt’s only at the beginning of the planning process.

First, he has to go back to New York.

Kurt, Sunil and Tadeja eat their pizza’s and talk about silly things. No one wants to dwell on the fact that Kurt’s leaving. God, Kurt’s going to miss Sunil so much.

After pizza, they have one last walk through the centre of Ljubljana, but then it’s time to go to Tadeja’s place to get Kurt’s luggage. Since Kurt obviously couldn’t stay in Blaine’s apartment, he spent the last night at Tadeja’s.

“This is it,” he says once everything’s ready. They stand outside of Tadeja’s building. The taxi has been called.

Tadeja hugs him first.

“Nasvidenje,” she says, “Pogrešal te bom.”

“I will miss you too,” Kurt says back, in English, because he wants to spare Tadeja from his terrible Slovene pronunciation. Tadeja knows it and playfully scorns Kurt.

Then it’s time to say goodbye to Sunil and it hurts. It’s different than saying goodbye to Blaine, but it’s still painful.

“Sunil-”

Sunil cuts him off with a hug.

“I know,” he says, “I know. The feeling is a mutual.”

The taxi arrives. Sunil helps Kurt with his luggage and then it’s over. Kurt gets in the car and waves as it drives away.

“Hey kiddo.”

God, Kurt didn’t know how much he missed his dad until now. Kurt’s dad and Carole flew to New York to welcome him back and then they’re staying for a couple of days so that they could spend it with Kurt.

Kurt’s pretty sure Carole is weeping with joy.

The three of them travel to Kurt’s apartment. He shares it with two women named Rachel and Santana. They’re from the same fancy all-girls school and they tolerated each other enough to move in together. They originally shared the apartment with another classmate, but she moved out to go back home to Westerville, so Rachel and Santana needed a new roommate.

That’s how Kurt ended up in this place. They’ve been living together for three years and it’s fine. He likes Rachel and Santana, although they drive him mad at times, especially Rachel. He subleased his room to another New Yorker, but that person has left so that Kurt can return.

Rachel and Santana aren’t there to welcome him home, since Rachel said something about “meeting someone from the industry” and Santana wanted to “buy a bikini for her girlfriend”, but that is fine. That gives him, his dad and Carole more space to unpack in peace.

“Good to be back?” his dad asks when Kurt steps into his bedroom.

“Different,” Kurt answers.

New York is so different from Ljubljana. Kurt walks towards his window and looks outside. Ljubljana might’ve been the capital of a country, but it has nothing on New York. New York is busier, faster, louder… it’s just more in every sense. It cannot be compared to Ljubljana. Kurt already misses the charm of Ljubljana.

He wonders how Blaine is doing in LA. LA is already a completely different city from New York. Kurt hopes he’ll like it there.

“Dad, can I have a moment to call Blaine?” he asks. There’s only a 3 hour time difference between them now, which is way better than the 9 hour one.

“Of course,” his dad says kindly, “Tell him hi from us.”

Carole nods. Then they leave and close the door behind them.

Kurt calls Blaine, who immediately picks up. Blaine was expecting him to call.

“Hey there,” Blaine sounds cheerful, “Back in New York?”

“Oh, I am so tired,” Kurt says, “Is your jet lag gone?”

“Almost,” Blaine answers with a laugh.

“Is your brother gone?”

“Yes!” Blaine sounds relieved.

“Is it that bad?” Kurt asks. He’s happy and touched that his dad and Carole flew to New York for him and he’s beyond excited to spend the next couple of days with them.

Blaine seems to pick up on that. God, he knows Kurt so well.

“Well, I am glad to see him. I did miss him, but Quinn, Denise and I wanted to figure out what to do with you know what,” Blaine sighs, “We want to have some stability in life again before we tell other people that we broke up. Quinn’s mother apparently sent me a welcome home gift for, I quote, her favourite son-in-law, which was sweet but… weird.”

Kurt can imagine. When he and Adam broke up, it was also an adjustment for Kurt’s friends and family, but he and Adam were nowhere as serious as Blaine and Quinn. That, and Kurt didn’t realise he had a completely different sexuality.

What would his dad say if he came home with a woman? The thought makes him want to giggle.

“Anyway, enough of my worries,” Blaine says, “How are you?”

They talk for an hour until Kurt’s dad interrupts to tell Kurt that Rachel has gone home and wants to greet him. Kurt and Blaine tell each other they love each other and hang up. Kurt sighs. Two more weeks and then Blaine will be in New York. He can’t wait.