“Azimio your safety checks weren't done on schedule yesterday.  The bosses don't like that.  Karofsky you were spotted without your hat on.  Again, the bosses don't like that.  Remember people.  Rule three here is safety, safety, safety.  Now get to work.  I have a new group to bring in and hopefully they actually listen!”

Kurt dismissed his assigned Dents with a wave of his hand, ignoring their grumblings, particularly Karofsky's, as he went to hang up his shift start clipboard and get his training clipboard from the supervisor shack located near the front of the warehouse.

For the past two years he'd worked here, and it wasn't really all that bad.  It was a lot of heavy lifting, which, when done incorrectly, could be hard on the back, but they all got their own cots and the bosses were actually decent enough people.  Kurt had just been promoted internally to the position of second shift supervisor, and he was eager to see what his next quarterly statement looked like with the change.  Hopefully it meant he could be released that much sooner.  His last statement gave him a year, with a promotion, a few months could be taken off of that.  He was close to freedom, and it thrilled him to no end.

So thrilled in fact, that it was easy to ignore the blatantly homophobic and hateful remarks he had to endure from a couple of his shift workers - Karofsky and Azimio.  They were always doing little things to get themselves in trouble, but not enough trouble to have themselves demoted.  It reflected poorly on Kurt.  Moreover they had zero respect for him, and they made sure he knew it.  He could handle it though.  Just a little while longer.  He had gotten through years of service, he could do a bit more.

Today he was getting in three new recruits to replace three workers that had either gone to fast track or had been demoted for violating safety convention.  As he walked to where he saw the officers escorting the new recruits off the van and scanning them, Kurt stopped in his tracks and took in a sharp breath.

Blaine.  Blaine Anderson.  There was no mistaking those curls and those eyes, which had settled back on him and looked to be in just as much shock as he was.  He was a Dent now.  Oh god…

Somehow, Kurt found his voice as one of the officers handed him the paperwork for the three newbies.  He had a job to do.  He would handle this shock once he was done.  

“Okay recruits!  Follow me!  Tour and rules first, then a meal, and then training!”

Kurt had to keep up the facade of being indifferent to Blaine, walking ahead of the group and telling them about their new station.

The warehouse dealt with shipping and receiving.  It was huge and operated twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.  The bosses preferred older Dents, and so they were a little more lax with rules to avoid losing the older kids to fast-tracking.  Younger kids didn't have the strength required to move a lot of the goods around, even with the forklifts and pulleys they utilized.  There were only boys, so the washroom that said it was for girls could be used by both groups, which was good because it opened up another shower to them.  The offices that the bosses worked in were off limits except to supervisors.  When Kurt got to the center of the building, he made a flourish of his hands towards the palettes that had been set up to create private rooms.

“Here's Palette Town.  This is where we all stay.  The bosses have been kind enough to allow us to use the broken palettes to create walls and roofs so we all have a bit of privacy.  Everyone had their own cot, and we'll figure out which of the rooms have been freed up by the people you've replaced so that you can settle in.  The doors…”  He made air quotes for the word doors. “... are just ripped tarps.  We have it set up so your neighbours on either side will either be on shift or on their break time during your sleep time, but the noise from the warehouse still will get in.  You'd better get used to beeps and yelling and engines if you intend to fall asleep around here.”

Kurt continued going over the expectation as he walked to the break room, the recruits following him.  He had been good about avoiding Blaine's eyes the whole tour so far.  Hopefully he could last until meal time and then talk.

“Eight hours on shift, eight hours off, eight hours for sleep.”  Kurt dictated as he entered the much quieter breakroom where several off shift Dents looked up in curiosity at the new recruits.  “School work is done by modules and to be done during your eight hours off.  You can do it in your pallette room or in here.  There's also a games room over there…”  He pointed to an open door in the back, “... and meals are over there…”  He pointed the other way to another door.  “Meals are prepackaged and you can eat your fill here.  If you have any special dietary requirements the office will note those when they process your papers and you can expect special meals starting tomorrow.”

He showed them the meal room, and allowed everyone to grab something to eat while he got himself a snack and went to sit at one of the tables.  It didn't take a minute before Blaine was sitting across from him.

“Hey….”

“Blaine.”

They just looked at one another for a moment, Kurt letting himself sink into those amber eyes he had only been able to see in his memories of happy summers.  Then Kurt remembered he was still technically on shift and cleared his throat, “What happened?”

Blaine looked down, picking at the bread around the sandwich he had chosen for himself.  “After they took you away… the other Dents were taken away over the next week… the bank shut down the factory.  My parents said they had overextended the “empire”, but that everything would be okay…. it wasn't.”

“They got themselves into debt…”  Kurt said quietly.

Blaine nodded, “I was three months into the new school year when I was picked up there and taken to the training center.”

“Oh Blaine….”  Kurt moved his hand across the table, then, remembering himself, made it into a fist and drew it back.  “I'm so sorry.”

Blaine shrugged, “Is what it is.”  He made a soft chuckle.  “Guess I never should have wished to be a Dent so we could spend all our time together hey?”

Kurt just shook his head.  Sweet little Blaine, looking older now not just by a couple years, but by a decade.  He had bags under his eyes and a sadness to his face that had never been there before.  Blaine was taller, but also looked smaller, like he had shrunk before the world.  “I wish I could have seen you again under different circumstances.”

Blaine nodded, “Yeah… me too… but hey.  You seem to be doing okay… and this doesn't look like that bad of a position…”

Kurt nodded in return, “It really isn't.  Occasional machismo jerk you might have to work with, but the bosses are generally kind and if there's something they can do to make things easier on us they will.  You know I'll look out for you too right?”

For the first time since Kurt had seen him that day Blaine smiled gently, which prompted Kurt to smile in return.  “I'm glad you're here.  The last couple years have been hell.”

“Where were you posted before?”

“A recycling plant.  It was disgusting.  Everything was sticky and smelly.”

Kurt chuckled, “You always hated being dirty.  Even when we had cake you hated getting icing on your fingers.”

“It's gross.  I can't focus on anything else but the stickiness.”

They laughed and talked for awhile longer, at least until Kurt again remembered he had a job to do and got them up and gathered the other two recruits, taking them around to show them the equipment they'd be trained on and reiterating over and over again that safety was the biggest thing around here.  

When he left the new guys to get operator training and went to the office, he peeked at Blaine's paperwork.  He was AB216.  He was in until he was nineteen.  He had no special dietary requirements.  He was on Kurt's shift.

Small blessings, Kurt said within himself, handing the papers over the the guy at the desk.

The next step was assigning the palettes to the guys.  Kurt made sure Blaine had the one that was the nearest to his own, even though there was a few rooms worth of space between them.  Then he set about his normal business - overseeing the loads and checking off on transfers and shipments.  

When the shift was over, he quickly went to find Blaine, dragging him back to the dining room with a broad grin where the pair of them ate and recounted old memories.  Blaine admitted he was going to need a lot more training on the forklift and Kurt just insisted it wasn't as hard as it looked and he'd get it eventually.

“Fuckin' fags.” Karofsky huffed as he passed by with his own meal and sat down at a table across the room.

Blaine's brow wrinkled up as he went quiet and looked at Kurt curiously, “Did he just actually say what I think he did?”

Kurt nodded, “Don't worry about him though… he's always angry.”

“But you're a supervisor… he can't talk to you like that.”

“Don't worry about it Blaine.”

“Or was he talking to me?  How did he know I…”

“He was talking to me Blaine.”  Kurt said with a sigh, “Don't worry about it please.”

“You're gay?”

Kurt had to chuckle at that, “Yes Blaine.  Very much so in case my voice wasn't enough of a give away.”

“But I figured you…”

“What?”

“Well when I asked if you liked different guys in the magazines we looked at that last summer together you always avoided the question… so I figured you weren't.”

“Is that why you were asking me?”

“Well… yeah, actually.”

“You're still an idiot Blaine.”  Kurt said with a smile the belied his true intentions.

“And you're still my best friend.”

Kurt smiled and shook his head, focusing on finishing his microwave heated mashed potatoes and roast which had already cooled since he hadn't been paying them enough attention.  After two years could Kurt really still be considered a best friend?  Did it even matter?  

It was nice that Kurt had someone he knew he'd be able to relate to around.  While most of the guys around here were decent enough, they were all the grunting, barely-passing classes, neanderthals type that had nothing to offer in the way of interesting conversation.  Kurt had mostly kept to himself these past couple years, and while it had paid off in that he had gotten a promotion, it was a lonely existence.

And now Blaine was there again, right in front of him, and as cute as ever.  Without gel his hair was wild and he had started growing scruff on his face that Kurt had never really been able to do much of himself.  He looked like a man.  A real man.  It sent shivers down Kurt's spine and he had to twitch to shake them out of him.  Would Blaine think Kurt had grown more?  Certainly Kurt was taller now, still taller than Blaine, and he knew all the physical work he had done in the warehouse had given him muscles and tone where only softness had been before, but did he look like a man like Blaine did?  

“I'm sorry about what happened Blaine… but I'm glad you're here with me.” Kurt admitted, speaking to his potatoes.

“I'm glad too… and as for what happened… don't worry about it.  Wasn't your fault.  If anything I feel like a dummy for how I treated Dents when I was little.  I feel like this is karma catching up with me now.”

“No!”  Kurt looked up and shook his head, “You can't think that…. Blaine… I knew you… you were sweet.”

Blaine laughed at that.  “Sweet.  Right.  I still remember the time I kicked you in the shin.  That was not sweet.”

“You didn't know any better.”

“Sure I did.”  Blaine shrugged.  “But what's done is done.  My parents made bad choices… and out of greed, not love, like your dad did.  It's okay though.  I'm okay.  Really okay now that I'm here with you.”

“I hope you mean that Blaine.”  Kurt said with a sigh as he sat back in his chair, “Because I need you to work your butt off for me now and not get demoted.  I'm getting real tired of you showing up for a few months at a time in my lift and then disappearing.  You need to stick around this time.”

Blaine laughed.  “Sure Kurt, sure.”