“Its a perfectly human instinct to want to be near water.” Stone Gossard

He was dancing and swaying to the music - real music.  Like he hadn't heard in years.  Dressed to the nines in a tuxedo along with everyone else in a beautiful ballroom.  He felt light, carefree, absolutely wonderful.

And then Kurt woke up.

He hated that moment between sleeping and being fully awake where he remembered his dreams and longed to just lay back and hide in them.  It was the worst temptation for him.  After the Tides, so many people took to drinking or drug use to hide in their fantasies, but at this point there were no more drug dealers and alcohol was saved for special events.  You couldn't even have a simple addiction in this place.

The smokers had been the worst.  When the cigarettes ran out, some of them went through their cold turkey withdrawal alright, but others tried to smoke everything else in sight - grass included, to try and get their fix.  Now they were fine, but at the time they had a whole group of people who were sweaty and shaking constantly with withdrawal symptoms.

Kurt went about his morning routine, stoking the fire in his hut so the coals kept the place warm throughout the day and changing into a cleaner outfit.  He never used the word clean to describe his clothes, because for all the scrubbing and washing he did, he never could get them as clean as they could have been with a washer and dryer.  Nor did they ever smell so good.  The best he could hope for was that they didn't smell of mildew.

He got his water rations, came back to the shack, washed himself, and carefully shaved his face.  He had a small mirror that he used to shave, but years of being subjected to the elements, especially the winter cold, meant it was foggy and cracked.  Kurt kept meaning to grab a new one on a scavenging, but he always seemed to forget and since he only ever used it to shave, it wasn't a huge concern.  It wasn't like he had a nighttime skin regimen or anything.

When he was all done, Kurt checked his traps and snares and then brought in a gopher that had gotten caught to the chefs.  He went to check the guard schedule to see when he was patrolling next, and then finally went to check up on their guests at the clinic.

Kurt really didn't know how Blaine expected to help with food since he had spent almost all of his waking hours in the clinic with Trent.  He understood that they were close, and that since Blaine was in a new place it was easier to be with someone he knew, but if he intended to make good on his promise, then he needed to start contributing back to the community.

Carole gave Kurt a sweet smile and a nod as he entered the clinic.  She was with Sam, a worker, and he was showing her something on his hand and saying that it it didn't bug him until he woke up this morning and she in turn chastised him for not coming to see her sooner.  

“Hey Kurt.” A pair of voices both called out to greet him as he entered what had now become Trent's room.

Blaine had gotten a chair in here at some point, which he was now sitting on beside Trent's bed.  With the help of a lot of old throw pillows, Trent was sitting up in his bed.  Blaine, as always, looked completely exhausted and Kurt was beginning to think that was his normal look.  Trent on the other hand, looked completely well rested and perky.  If it wasn't for the fact that his leg was healing, Kurt would expect him to be bouncing around the room given his general disposition.

“Just checking in.” Kurt nodded to both of them.  “Anything I can help with?”

Trent, ever polite, shook his head with a smile, “Everything is just peachy thanks.”

Blaine's gaze shifted up to Kurt and then down to the floor, and it looked like he had something to ask of Kurt, but didn't speak up.  Kurt made a mental note to talk to him later to see if he was reading him right.

“Alright then.  Have a good day.”

Kurt left and nodded again to Carole on his way out, who was wrapping a bandage around Sam's hand and muttering about how he needed to take better care of himself while Sam groaned and apologized for his apparent idiocy over and over.  It wasn't the first time Kurt had seen Sam in here for some injury, and if the rumors were true, he got into trouble by trying to impress Mercedes.  Clearly the boy didn't know how to go about impressing her because if the way she ran the workers was any indication, she was impressed by dedication and getting things done right.

Not that Kurt was exactly an expert on the way women worked though.  

The rest of the day went by in its usual blur.  He rode out into the woods and stalked a deer for several hours before shooting it fatally and then bringing it back to the community atop an old sled fixed with wheels he had the horse drag.  He brought in the five rabbits he had promised Blaine for the peaches, which he still hadn't eaten and was saving for an especially bad day, and agreed to go on another scavenging trip scheduled for a few days away.  

This particular evening though was the community meeting.  Every few weeks the community got together in the field just outside the town limits where news was shared and issues were shared.  The meal they got for the evening was always extra good on these particular days because in addition to their supper, they also would get dessert.  The only ones who didn't attend the meetings were those who were especially invalid and whichever medic was on duty.  Kurt presumed Trent would be staying behind, but Blaine should go.

He wondered if anyone had even told Blaine.

That question in his mind led him back to the clinic prior to when the meeting was scheduled to begin and nodding to Mike who seemed to be deeply ingrained in reading a textbook and didn't even noticed Kurt go by.  When he got to Trent's room, he discovered Trent was sleeping, with a full on snore, and Blaine looked ready to join him in napping as he laid back all too relaxed in his chair.

“Come on Blaine.  It's monthly meeting.”

Blaine groggily looked up, squinting as he looked over at Kurt in a half-sleep haze.  “Wha?”

“Every month there's a community meeting.  You're coming.”

“Wha?  Why?”  Blaine was rubbing his eyes now and leaning forward.

“Because until spring, you're a part of the community and you have to participate.  Now get your ass up or we'll be late.”

Blaine stood up and braced the small of his back with his hands for a moment as he stretched himself there with a groan.  That chair couldn't have been comfortable and yet he spent so much time in it.  After that he walked towards Kurt who turned when he got close enough and led the way to the field.

It was already packed, with the children playing in groups throughout the mix of adults who mostly sat on blankets they had brought out as they ate their meal.  Kurt and Blaine lined up for their serving and Kurt watched as Blaine just looked around with ever widening eyes at the crowd.

“Kurt… how many people are there in this community?”

Kurt did the math in his head, “Somewhere around three hundred give or take.”

Blaine shook his head in disbelief, “I have never seen this many humans in one place ever… not even half as many… Why haven't I noticed how many were here until now?”

“Most of the workers have been out collecting the harvest and there's also a lot of people helping the chefs preserve and keep that food for the winter.  Depending on when you get up - most people are out for the day already.”

“Wow…”

They got their dinner - potato wedges (that were even lightly salted), roasted green beans and carrots, and stewed venison pieces all served on a piece of flatbread.  Kurt caught a glimpse of the dessert and groaned though.

“Not crab apple's  again…”

“Really?” Blaine asked from behind him, already taking bites of his dinner even though they hadn't even sat down yet.  Kurt had to wonder if the boy was born in a barn with his manners - or lack thereof.

“We found all these crab apple trees a month ago and now everything remotely resembling anything sweet has been made with them.  Crab apple jam, crab apple salad… and that looks like…”

“Crab apple cobbler Kurt!” Brittany announced and dished him out a slice of it on top of a space on his flatbread.  

Kurt wrinkled up his nose at the item, but thanked Brittany and didn't say anything until he found a clear spot to sit in, Blaine joining him already half through his own meal.

“Carrots for cobbler?”

Blaine looked over at him, licking his fingers already from the salt on the potato wedges and nodded quickly, “Oh hell yes.”

They swapped the items in question and Kurt ate slowly while Blaine engulfed his meal rapidly and then laid back on the ground with a groan, citing he was beyond full.

He was almost kind of cute like that.

Kurt was just finishing up when Rachel stood up in the middle of the crowd.  “Thank you all for coming out tonight!  I haven't seen so many of you since you've been out all day so it's nice to get a chance to catch up!  We're going to start tonight with news from the clinic, then the workers, the guards, and then other points of note.”

Blaine leaned over to whisper to Kurt, now sitting up again since his stomach had apparently settled. “I thought you said you didn't have a leader.  Who's she?”

Kurt leaned back to whisper his response.  “Rachel.  She's not a leader.  She's one of the teachers for the kids here and she's just good at getting everyone to pay attention to her so she usually starts things up.”

Blaine made a small o with his mouth and nodded, paying attention as Carole stood up and updated the group on their supply levels, the fact they had successfully patched up Trent's leg, and to remind everyone that an older woman, Mrs. Crawsky, was in the final stages of her cancer and to please pay her a visit or keep her in your prayers and thoughts.  She then asked for volunteers to bring the tub into the clinic in the next week.

“What tub?” Whispered Blaine.

“When it gets cold, hypothermia becomes a real and regular issue.  They have one of those old style tubs in storage they bring into the clinic and keep over a small fire with water in it in case they need to heat someone up - but only if the hypothermia is mild.  A warm bath isn't good for someone with severe hypothermia.”

“What do they do if it's severe hypothermia?” Blaine asked with a hint of dread in his voice.

Leaning back on his hands, Kurt watched as Carole noted down people who were volunteering and telling them she'd let them know when they were ready to move the tub while he responded to Blaine. “Aside from pray for the best?  CPR, wrapping up the person in warmed blankets, and trying to get them to drink warm fluids.  Apparently they did have the technology to help people with severe hypothermia before the Tides in hospitals, but now we don't have access to that.”

Then Carole noted that her colleague, the midwife, had also developed cancer, and pending their ability to do something about it (which was sadly unlikely in this place), they would be training another medic.

After the crowd glanced over to the midwife mournfully and apologized to her for her bad luck, and really, she was well into her sixties so she was already living longer than most people did out here, Carole spoke up again.

“Since Kurt has once again declined training, we're going to open it up to other interested persons and then judge their qualities as a potential medic.”

No one look surprised at that, aside from Blaine who arched an eyebrow in Kurt's line of sight.  When Kurt didn't respond, he asked, “Why wouldn't you take them up on that?”

“Because it's not for me.” Kurt shot back so directly that Blaine wouldn't question him further on it.  Carole and Mike had asked him yesterday when he stopped by the clinic.  His stomach had gotten stronger over the years, and blood and gore no longer fazed him.  What did upset him though was the thought that he might have to tell someone, some child, there was nothing that he could do for their parent.  Or worse, tell a parent there was nothing they could do for their child.  What heart he did have couldn't take it, and even though he might have the steady hands and the ability to think quickly in tough situations, he knew he wouldn't be able to handle being responsible for someone's death.

So Kurt had politely declined the offer once again.  A few years ago they had asked and he had declined then and Mike had been selected in his place, and Mike was certainly better suited for it than he was.  Now they'd find someone else who was better suited again.

And even though they didn't always have the need for three medics, it allowed them to cycle in eight hour shifts and have the support they needed for emergencies.  

“So… hypothermia.  How do I make sure I don't get that?” Blaine murmured over as Mercedes started talking about harvest inventory.

“You find and wear thermal underwear all the time, under clothing that's warm already.  Double up on socks.  Get outerwear that not only keep the warmth in but breaks the wind.  Always keep your head and fingers covered, and never go out in a blizzard without someone with you in case you fall in deep snow.  Reuse tracks that have already been made and keep your back to the wind.”

Kurt was matter-of-fact as he described the necessities, though was inwardly amused by how Blaine's face went pale and then gawked a little as Kurt went on to describe how to tell if you had frostbite and how to never go out with wet hair in the cold.

“... it will turn into icicles and can snap off easily.  Though in your case, a haircut wouldn't be a bad thing.”

Blaine managed a weak smile at that.  “Because I look like a hobo?”

“Because you look like a hobo.” Kurt reaffirmed plainly, looking back towards Mercedes as she spoke.

For the rest of the announcements, they sat in relative silence together, although Blaine would periodically ask Kurt to clarify something or identify who was speaking.  For Kurt, it was a new experience because he usually sat by himself at these things, maintaining his lone wolf status.  It wasn't because he didn't want to sit with anyone, but because they avoided him and that had become status quo.  Because it was new to him, it was uncomfortable, but in a nice way.  Too often he only had conversations with the voice in his head and that voice was all too often negative.  Blaine was, at the very least, pleasant to speak to.  He didn't complain or criticize, and certainly seemed open to learning about the community in order to be accepted as one of them.

That being said, Kurt was ready to be alone again once the meeting was done.  Most people stuck around and used the meeting as an excuse to play music on the instruments they had and dance and play, but for Kurt, it was more socialization than he could handle and he was ready to get to bed.  So when he got up to leave, and Blaine got up to follow, he had to say something.

“You can stay.  Make friends.  I'm off for the night.”

Blaine smiled meakly, his head ducking a bit as he looked to Kurt.  “Actually I was hoping I could talk to you about something….”

Kurt winced.  He recalled the look Blaine had given him earlier in the clinic and also remembered how he had made a mental note to ask Blaine what was going on.  Apparently that mental note had gotten lost in a pile in his head and now he was going to have to delay sleep for it.  

He nodded to Blaine and walked off, Blaine walking quickly beside him, having to walk faster to account for the fact that not only did Kurt have long legs and could take longer strides with them, but always walked with a sense of urgency to begin with.  They were already halfway to Kurt's shack when the quiet became unbearable.  He imagined that Blaine would have asked his question the instant they moved out of earshot but it seemed like Blaine was waiting for something.

“Well?”

“Well…”  Blaine shoved his hands in his pocket, darting his eyes up to Kurt. “... I haven't been able to sleep.”

Kurt squinted a little and looked towards Blaine incredulously.  “I'm not a doctor or medic or anything.  Talk to Mike or Carole if you have a health issue.”

“Oh.  No.  It's not health related… well… not directly….” Blaine said, eyes rounding as he realized he had sent Kurt the wrong message.

“Then what?”

A sigh followed and after a moment more of steady walking, Blaine spoke again.  “The walls in that place as so thin…. I hear everyone else.  Above, below, beside…..”

“You're not paying rent so you shouldn't complain.”

“And I'm not!  At least not about that….”

Kurt groaned inwardly.  Blaine was going to drag it out and all he wanted to do was get to bed.

“... The people above me… well they have two kids and a baby and that baby cries.  I've been around babies before… but never this much.  Everytime it cries I end up awake for hours because I can't settle myself down…”

“Again, not seeing how this affects me.”

“... and the guy beside me… he's old.  Like almost to the point where he should be in that home you pointed out to me on the tour.  I'm pretty sure he wets himself and I don't know how to politely address that….”

“Waiting for the point.”

“... on the other side there's a couple and they talk about how I have an ear chain, and I'm sorry, but everywhere else those things are normal so it's weird that you don't have them here.  But the guy, I've heard him talk about how he's keeping a knife on him just in case I make any wrong move…”

“So don't make any wrong moves.”

“... Then there's the guy below me.  He had some people over the first night I was here and they talked about swiping my stuff while I slept.  I don't keep a lot, but what I do keep is important to me or at least hard to come by, so I end up…”

“ - Afraid of sleeping lest they make good on the threat.”

“Right.”

Kurt reached the door of his shack at this point and pushed it open, though leaned in the doorway to, hopefully, finish off the conversation.  There wasn't really enough room for two people to be comfortable in his shack, and aside from the odd visit from Brittany and Mike when he had been sick in the past to deliver food and medicine, he didn't have visitors.  It was purely his space and his alone.

Blaine peeked behind Kurt into the shack and then wrung his hands together nervously.

“So I get that you're having a hard time sleeping in that situation, but I can't help you with that.  If you want a new room assignment you need to see Mercedes who keeps tabs on who stays where.”

“Actually… “ Blaine pressed his lips together before finally coming out with it. “... I was thinking… maybe I could hot bunk with you?”

Kurt just looked at Blaine for a moment, making sure he wasn't actually making a very bad joke that someone must have put him up to, but the sincerity shone through on Blaine's face, particularly in hopeful, honey eyes.

“No.”

That made those honey eyes widen in panic, “Please!  I'll sleep whenever you don't want to!  You wouldn't even notice me!”

“No.”

“Kurt… come on…”  Blaine glanced behind him, back towards where the town was and then back to Kurt.  “I can't get a decent night of sleep there.  I'm living off the bits I can nap when I'm with Trent and I have most of my stuff hidden under his bed in the clinic right now but Mike says I can't keep it there.”

“Absolutely not.”

“You're the only one who's been truly nice to me… and I know it's a lot to ask but I feel like I'm going to fall over and I don't know how I'm supposed to help with anything when it's an effort right now to keep myself upright!”

Kurt groaned and rubbed his palm over his face and back over his hair.  The guy just did not get it.  It wasn't an option.  It wasn't going to happen.

“Please Kurt…”

Kurt's head snapped up then.  He needed to make this clear.  He couldn't have Blaine begging him to share his space later because it seemed like he was waffling on the idea.

“No.  Stop asking.  It's not going to happen.  Short of making your own place to stay, you're stuck where you are so learn to adapt to your situation.  You made your choice now live with it.”

He wished he could slam the door for dramatic effect, but he doubted his small home could withstand the shake it would cause, so instead he closed the door on Blaine as he backed into his home and waited until he heard footsteps walking away before removing his hand from said door.  

He hoped that would be the end of it.

And it seemed to.  Blaine didn't bring it up again over the next couple days when Kurt stopped by the clinic, though he looked more exhausted than ever.  If Kurt wasn't so preoccupied and set on how right he was about the matter, it might have made him feel guilty.  But Kurt knew he was correct when it came to it.  It was better for Blaine to be closer to Trent, and better for Kurt to be alone and not having to worry about someone else touching his stuff.  He didn't have a precious lot in this world, but what he did have, he didn't want to share.

“You should try setting heated rocks from the fire into the tub so we can limit the wear on the bottom of this thing.” Kurt intoned as he smoothed a hand over the lumpy base of the old tub which had now been moved into one of the rooms of the clinic.

Mike rubbed a hand over his chin as he stood back and watched Kurt thoughtfully.  Along with Kurt, Mike's chin was smooth, but more because of his asian descent than for any other reason.  “Actually, that makes a lot of sense.  Why didn't we think of that before?”

“That's how they heat up the sweatlodges too.  Water poured over rocks from a fire…” Kurt said as he stood up.  It wasn't a very common event, given their need to preserve water, but a few times in the winter, the aboriginal elders from the area had a traditional sweat - since there was so much snow they could use for their water.  Kurt had gone a few times, and while he didn't care for sweating in the usual sense, the sweat he experienced in a sweatlodge was different - cleansing even.  Plus it was one of the few things he could rely on to help with the kinks in his back.

“Never been to one.  Keep getting invited though.” Mike noted.

“I was skeptical too.  It all sounded a little hokey to me.”  Kurt internally winced at his use of the word hokey.  That was definitely something his dad would have said.  “But I'm glad I did.  You don't have to buy into the spiritual side of it, you can always go to sooth the joints and just to enjoy it.”

Mike nodded, eyes wandering over the room as he mentally planned out how he wanted the hypothermia relief room to be set up for the winter.  It was such a common occurrence that they needed a room dedicated to it - though Kurt often wondered if some people didn't just acquire a mild case of hypothermia on purpose so they could have an excuse to have a warm bath.

With Mike occupied, Kurt wandered into Trent's room to say farewell.  He was leaving with Santana and Quinn for another scavenging mission and probably wouldn't be back for a couple days.  Both Blaine and Trent cheerfully said goodbye and good luck, and that was the last Kurt would see of them until his return.

The scavenging went as well as it usually did.  Since they had already ransacked most of the shops in the town they went to, they were now going through homes and apartments one by one.  The horses were well loaded by the time they returned and Kurt had even found himself a wealth of new socks for the winter.  One could not understate the importance of good socks in a Northern winter.

When they had unloaded the mix of clothing, recovered medicine and prescriptions, preserved foods, and blankets they had brought back, Kurt happily made his way back to his home, expecting to be able to just flop into his bed and sleep through until morning.

However, his home was not standing alone anymore.

When Kurt reached the point where he could see his shack, it was immediately evident that someone had decided to take up residence beside him.  Another structure, made of thin logs and bound together with twine, had been erected.  It was smaller than Kurt's place, if that was even possible, and still looked like it was being made.  In fact, chopping wood beside the small abode was none other than Blaine.

Kurt was livid.

“What the hell do you think you're doing?” was how he chose to greet Blaine, arms flying out to either side as he gesticulated wildly.

The other man stopped his chopping and set the axe into the log he was using as a base to chop the wood with.  He rubbed the sweat off his forehead with the back of his wrist and it was then Kurt noticed, that despite it already being chilly with autumn, that Blaine wasn't wearing his trademark jacket.  He was in just his T-shirt, which was soaked in his own sweat.

“Building my own place.”

Kurt's eyes snapped away from where they had fallen to staring at the abdomen lines beneath Blaine's shirt and back up to his face, glaring furiously.  “No.  No.  I thought I made it clear.  You do not get to stay with me.  My space.  MINE.”

Blaine smirked and the twitch of his mouth upwards sent Kurt into an inner rage.  Damn smug idiot.  What the hell did he have to be so certain over?

“No.  You said I couldn't stay with you and that my only other option was to make my own place to stay.  You also said people shouldn't be alone when it gets real cold - so I'm doing us both a favour.”

Kurt's jaw fell and he stared at Blaine as his mind processed that and corroborated the statement with his memories. Shit.  He had said all that, though this was far from what he intended to happen.

“I don't like other people around me.” Kurt hissed between clenched teeth as he advanced on Blaine, who stepped backwards in turn.  “That's the point.  I don't want neighbours.  I live far away from the main town so I can be alone.”

Blaine's eyes remained locked with Kurt as he moved in tandem with Kurt.  

“Well that's sad.”

Kurt stopped then.  “Sad?!  Why?  Who the hell are you to judge if wanting to be alone makes me sad?”  His heart was racing and his mind became a jumble of different responses and emotions.  

“No one.  I'm no one…”  Blaine said softly, holding his ground now as he watched Kurt unfold before him.  “... but I just don't understand why, in this world where there's so few of us left, that you wouldn't want to be around your own kind.  What is so horrible about other people?”

Kurt snorted. “Hell is other people…”  Catching Blaine's quirked eyebrow he explained.  “It's a quote from Sartre's No Exit…. a play.”

“Don't know it… but since we're going to be neighbours maybe you can enlighten me on it.” Blaine suggested, prompting Kurt to groan and hide his face in his palm.

“You can't live here.  You can't.  This is my place…”

“Property laws and land claims don't exist anymore Kurt…  I'm sorry you're so upset about this.  I thought it would have been a nice surprise that you didn't have to be so alone out here but….”

“But you thought wrong.”  Kurt snapped, looking back up.  “Make it somewhere else.”

Blaine glanced back, wide eyed, at the already mostly completely little hut and then back at Kurt, “I've been working on it since you left… three days.  Mike even came to help me out to have it ready.  I just can't move it.”

Mike.  Mike would have endorsed this.  Kurt made a mental note to talk to Mike later.  “I don't care.  Figure out how or rebuild somewhere else.”

“Why are you so insistent on needing your own space Kurt?”

“None of your business.  Just move it.”

Blaine shook his head.  “No.  I put a lot of work into this and it's getting colder all the time.  I can't restart.”

“Then stay in the town.  There was nothing wrong with where you were.”

“Except that I couldn't trust anyone around me and couldn't sleep yes.  Last night I slept out here and it was the first time I was truly able to relax since I got here.  I'm staying in there Kurt.”

That was it.  Kurt couldn't think of anything he could say that would have any more weight with this man, and there wasn't anything he could do.  It wasn't in his nature to commit arson or assault, and both would get him in trouble.  They didn't have an established law system out here, but people were pretty good at respecting general laws of human decency and it went without saying that those who committed any crimes could expect some kind of consequence.

Uttering a string of curses under his breath, Kurt stalked to his own shack then and had to remind himself once again not to slam the door.  That's where he stayed all night, listening as Blaine chopped and dragged wood around, hearing every explicit word grumbled by Blaine whenever he made some kind of mistake, and otherwise brooding.  

Now how was he supposed to sleep comfortably?  Blaine might have an easy time of it, but now that Kurt had to worry about his things and his own safety, how was he supposed to be comfortable?  

But Kurt did manage to nod off, and stay asleep through the night, waking only once when he thought he heard the growl of a wolf but instead realizing it was his new neighbour snoring.  How obnoxious.  

When he went to get his water rations in the morning, Blaine was already awake and back to work setting up his little house.  Kurt had to give him some credit, he certainly seemed to have more of an idea when it came to building than Kurt did when he made his place.  Everything was neatly lined up and looked secure.  The mud he was packing between the spaces of the wood panels was the perfect consistency (it took Kurt a few years to figure that one out), and he was even making himself an elevated floor in half the room where Kurt guessed his bed would go.

If any good was to come of this, it would be that Kurt would claim that hut when Blaine left in the spring - if only for storage.  

Blaine gave Kurt a rudimentary nod from where he was engrossed in roof construction, and, deciding it wasn't worth the hassle of continuing to fight over it, Kurt nodded back.

“So.  New neighbour.” Mike said with a smug grin when Kurt entered the clinic after retrieving his water bottles.

“Why the hell would you go along with this idea Mike?  Of all people here, I thought you might understand that I like my privacy?  Did I do something to piss you off and this is retaliation?”

Slightly taken aback, Mike took a moment to collect his thoughts before speaking while Kurt crossed his arms over his chest and stared patiently.

“Kurt… the way you live… it's not healthy.”

“The fuck it is.  I get sick the least out of anyone in this town.”

“That's not what I mean and you know it.”  Mike shot back, staring back at Kurt just as intently.

Rolling his lips together, Kurt kept silent.  He did know it, but Mike wasn't a psychologist.  Hell, he wasn't even a real doctor.  How Kurt kept himself afloat was his business only, not Mike's.

“I appreciate that you THINK you know what you're talking about and you went along with this because you had good intentions, but you don't know a damn thing about me.”

Mike cocked an eyebrow as he regarded Kurt in turn.  “Well, I know that you have progressively shut out everyone in this community and have this “fabulous” tendency to alienate those who want to try to befriend you.  I know you dedicate all your waking hours to guarding and scavenging and hunting but don't really do anything aside from that.  I know that whenever you walk by the wall, you always stare at your dad's name even when you think no one is paying attention.”

Kurt's eyes formed slits as he glowered towards Mike, his insides seething.  “Why the hell does any of that matter?  Who told you to give a crap?”

“You do.” Mike said with a slap of his hand to the desk he was sitting at to accentuate his point.  “You gave up this position that I went into.  A position where it's my job to give a crap about the people in this community - yourself included.  When you gave up this post, you gave me the job - and now I'm acting on it.  You know what you do when you shut everyone out like you do?”

Kurt stayed quiet, but waited for the point.

“You slowly become less human.  You know how humanity is defined?  The capacity for caring and befriending others.  The more you shut others out, the more you become like THEM.”

The Others.  Mike was implying that his coldness made him less human and more like them.  In a way, it did make sense - but it was definitely a stretch based on Mike's loose interpretation of a definition.  That being said, it didn't stop Mike from talking.

“Look, I know you used to get bugged about your ears when you were younger - but that's so long in the past it's irrelevant.  What you're doing now though...  What you have been doing… it's already making people more wary of you then I think you realize.  You need to open up more Kurt.  Enjoy the life you have.”

“You need to spend more time on treating people with actual problems and less time on creating imaginary issues for people Mike.” Kurt spat then, turning on his heels so he would effectively have the last word - no matter how pathetic he felt about his word choice.  Insulting Mike was a low blow, and not something he'd normally reduce himself to, but Mike's words had left his head spinning and unable to come up with anything more coherent.

So to hell with him.  There was nothing wrong with him.  He did what he needed to do to survive and help out.  If anyone had a problem with that then they were the one's who should seek mental help support because anyone who had an issue with how much Kurt did for everyone else was suffering from a severe case of stupidity.

He checked his traps, went hunting, found a massive pumpkin growing wild which he brought back instead of a kill, spent several hours patrolling the perimeter of the community, did a lesson on tanning for the kids at Finn and Rachel's school house, checked the solar generators, tuned the piano they kept in the kitchen hall, and then went out to hunt goose.  

When he returned home, he had a goose to clean for himself.  He had missed supper and instead of making another trip out to the town, he decided to just prepare and roast his goose over his own fire.

Blaine had been busy during the day and his little shack looked complete.  He seemed to be in the process now of chopping wood for his own firepit and had lost his shirt at some point.  Like the rest of him, the skin on his torso was sunkissed, lean, and toned.  Unlike Kurt, he had curly black hair scattered over his chest and drawing a line down his stomach and into his jeans.

Since Blaine was preoccupied, Kurt let his eyes linger for just a moment before his sense of reason caught up with him and he cleared his throat on approach to let Blaine know he was back.

“God.  You stink.” Was how Kurt greeted him when Blaine was wiping the sweat off his brow with the discarded shirt which he had scooped up from the group where he must have dropped it earlier.  Kurt didn't mean to be so abrupt with his choice of words, but the man did stink horribly of sweat at the moment and Kurt wondered how long it had been since he washed himself.

Thankfully, as seemed to be in Blaine's nature, he laughed off the comment and nodded to Kurt, eyes drifting to the goose.  “I've been trying to get this done between visits to Trent.  I don't want him to think I abandoned him but also want this done so I can just relax while I'm here.”

Kurt nodded and then turned to head back to his own shack, which looked positively dilapidated compared to the new hut standing steady beside it.  Suddenly he understood what it meant to be living in the ghetto.

“Hey!”

Kurt turned and looked back at Blaine questioningly.

“Thanks, for… you know.  Letting me stay by you.  I know it's not really what you're comfortable with but you could have made a much bigger deal out of it than you did and I appreciate it.”

Kurt gave him an acknowledging nod and was about to turn back to head into his own shack when Blaine spoke up again.

“What's the duck for?”

“I missed supper and felt like cooking for myself tonight.  And it's a Canadian Goose - not a duck.  You think for someone who has the nickname of Canary, you might know your birds better.”

A chuckle.  “Right.  Not too familiar with the local wildlife… this is farther north than we've ever gone before.  Any animals I should be afraid of?”

Kurt sighed.  He just wanted to go inside and pluck the damned goose but those honey eyes were pleading for company and so Kurt sat where he was and began pulling the feathers off the bird there and then.  “Wolves occasionally - but they stay away from us if we stay away from them.  Foxes are pretty much harmless.  So are lynxes and I haven't seen any of those in awhile.  Someone once had a bad encounter with a wolverine but they were scavenging farther north than usual.  You can pretty much guess who it is….”

“That guy with the scars across his face?”

Kurt nodded, “Yup.  So many stitches and he still looks like the cuts are fresh even though it was a few years ago now.  Moose you actually have to watch out for.”

“Really?”

Kurt nodded again, making a nice conical pile of feathers beside him.  Thankfully there was no wind so he wouldn't have a problem collecting the feathers to replenish the down in his winter jacket.  “They're big and ornery.  Don't get in their way.  If you're hunting one, make sure you're going to kill it with one shot.”

“Yah… about that….”  Blaine rubbed the back of his neck in that nervous twitch he had.  “I've never hunted before….”

Kurt looked up from the half bald goose corpse, eyeing Blaine incredulously.  “You said you'd hunt to help out.”

“I said I'd try to… I mean… I've got this…”  He leaned over and pulled up the leg of his pants, exposing an ankle holster in which a gun was holstered.

“What the hell Blaine?”  Kurt snapped then, gesturing towards the exposed gun.  Suddenly the ammunition he found amount Blaine's things in the cargo made sense.  “You're worried about what other people are going to do to you and you have a gun?  You just better be damn glad the community doesn't know about it.”

“No kidding…” Blaine uttered in a low breath.  “Anyhow.  I could probably shoot something with it…”

“The hell you will.  The noise of a gunshot will scare off all the other animals and I hunt daily.  Keep that thing away.  Save it for The Others.”

Blaine pursed his lips and remained quiet, though nodded to let Kurt knew he understood.  After a moment, Kurt began defeathering the goose again.

“One of the worst issues up here is actually black widow spiders… they bite and you know it.  Had an outbreak of them a couple years ago.”

“Really huh?  The smallest thing causes the biggest problems.  How… metaphorical.”

“Beavers too.  If you get close to one of their dams at a creek, watch out.  Territorial little buggers with big teeth.  Almost severed a guy's major artery in his leg once.”

Blaine chuckled and nodded again.  “Gotcha.”

“Finally, not a serious health threat, but skunks.  Just leave them alone unless you want to get sprayed.  You already smell homeless anyhow.”

“I needed to make sure my perfume went with my hair and beard.” Blaine quipped back, actually earning him a small smile from Kurt who peeked up when he said it.

“When was the last time you washed yourself?”

Given that Blaine had to stop and think about it, Kurt automatically knew it had been too long and stood up, the completely bald goose in one hand and a handful of feathers in the other.  “You wash yourself tonight or I will serve you an eviction notice.”

Blaine laughed, and it was such a musical sound that Kurt's heart picked up pace just a little, and then agreed to make sure he smelled better for Kurt's benefit before Kurt left him and returned to his small sanctuary to cook his meal.

He was still unsure about it, but Kurt actually felt more open to Blaine living beside him.  If it would keep Mike off his case and make him seem less like an outsider to the community, maybe there was value in it, and even if it didn't do either of those things, at least Blaine was a tolerable neighbour despite his incessant friendliness.