Blaine holds out a xanthic coloured cup of coffee.

“A peace offering,” he says flatly, “I’m not here to kill you and hide your body behind the Breadstix dumpster.”

“That’s weirdly comforting. Thanks.”

The two of them sit at the edge of the fountain.

“You look… good,” Kurt says. Blaine really does look good. Kurt tried not to think about him all summer, but now that he’s seeing him again, he realises that the past feelings are still there. He might still not really know what exactly he’s feeling, but there is something.

“Thanks,” Blaine says, “Different.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve spent this summer working on myself. Trying to figure out who I am. I want to be able to love myself again,” Blaine says quietly.

“That’s- That’s wonderful,” Kurt says earnestly.

“This is what I would wear before.” Blaine puts a lot of emphasis on that word. They both know what he means. “I thought I had thrown it all out, but apparently my gran fished my stuff out of the dumpster. Good thing I had put them all in a bag.”

“Smart woman.”

Blaine snorts. “Yeah. I don’t know where I’d be without her.”

Kurt sips his coffee. He doesn’t know what to say. He can’t repeat that he’s sorry. Well, he can, but Blaine’s probably not interested in hearing it all the time.

“I’m still mad at you,” Blaine says slowly, “But I want you to know that I believe you when you say that you saw me as a friend. And I forgive you for catfishing me.”

Kurt almost spits out his coffee in shock. How can Blaine so easily forgive Kurt after everything he’s done? Kurt asks him and Blaine has a sad smile on his face.

“For myself. I am doing this for myself,” Blaine looks at him, “My new therapist says that forgiveness is a personal thing. Not everyone needs to forgive the person that hurt them, but some do, and I forgive you.”

Kurt doesn’t know what to say. He looks down to his coffee cup and he can feel himself tear up again. He’s never going to stop crying about Blaine Anderson, isn’t he?

“I won’t forgive Rachel, though,” Blaine says shortly.

“Why? I was the worst offender.”

“Because- well, maybe if I had gotten to know her too. With us… we both know what happened between us. You held up a façade called Eddie, but like I said, I believe it when you really cherished our friendship. And I believe that you genuinely tried to come clean when you realised that you’d gone too far. I hope that makes sense, but if it doesn’t, then that’s fine. You don’t have to understand. Again, this is for me.”

“How can you believe me?” Kurt asks. He quickly adds: “I mean, it’s true. You’re, or were, one of my closest friends, but I can also imagine that you can’t believe me after all these lies.”

“I made a new friend over the summer,” Blaine answers, “A certain Mercedes Jones.”

“Mercedes?”

Blaine shrugs. “Her brother got really into chocolate making, so she sent me a message on Facebook one day, asking for help. My grandma invited her over and the rest is history.”

Meanwhile, Kurt hasn’t seen Mercedes in a while. They text occasionally, but Kurt’s still too embarrassed about what happened. Even now, he fears Mercedes’s judgement, especially now that he knows that she was right all along.

“I know you two are friends,” Blaine says, “I know that she knows what happened. She told me all about it when I mentioned it. I noticed that she doesn’t know about what happened before McKinley.”

“I didn’t tell anyone,” Kurt says, “I never would.”

“Thanks. I know that now,” Blaine says and he actually smiles a bit. Kurt sees that as a win. “That’s why I believe you. That, and Mercedes has told me that you feel really sorry and that…”

Blaine trails off.

“And?”

“And that you told her that you might like me back.”

“Blaine.”

“I don’t know how to feel about that, to be honest,” Blaine says sadly, “I really fell in love with, well, Eddie.”

“… Eddie,” Kurt sighs. What a mess. “Eddie Andrews.”

“But I think a part of me knew that something wasn’t right. I was just blinded by love.”

“What do you mean?”

“I never asked to call you. Or to exchange number. Or to even see your face,” Blaine points out, “We spoke for months and I knew that I didn’t know everything. I should’ve known. That doesn’t make what you did okay. But just like you, a part of me didn’t want to confront the situation, because I didn’t want to lose this friendship.”

Kurt tries to reach out, but he changes his mind. Maybe it’s too awkward. He grips his coffee cup instead.

“Don’t blame yourself,” he says, “I’m the problem.”

“I know, but it was just nice. I even told you. I wanted a true friend and when I got it, I ignored all the signs. I didn’t want it to be true, but then I got your letter. And now we’re here.”

The two of them sip their coffees in silence. The sound of Blaine’s phone going off interrupts the moment. Blaine stares at the phone and says: “It’s my gran. I gotta go.”

“Blaine…”

Blaine gets up and shakes his head. “It’s okay. Thanks for listening. I really have to go, but you’ll see me again. I’m sure of it.”

And with that, Blaine gives him an awkward wave and he walks away.