What was Kurt without New York?

The thought had never actually occurred to Kurt to move away from New York.  For his whole young life, New York was what he had been chasing after, and now it was his home but it was no longer his dream.  

Not that he knew what his dream was.  

But where would he go to?  He didn't even know what he wanted to do let alone where he would go to do it.  Like Blaine, he was in college for the sake of being in college.  He had no major or minor declared and even though he was getting scholarships, he had no end goal aside from become better.  Better at what though?

Blaine's idea might have seemed minor to him, but to Kurt it brought everything into question.  It certainly solidified where Blaine thought their relationship was going, and that was comforting to Kurt at the same time it was also scary.  It wasn't that Kurt didn't want Blaine, it was just he didn't know if Blaine truly wanted him or was just still in that dopey infatuation stage.  

Moreover, moving somewhere else where all he knew and all he had was Blaine was scary.  At least he had Wes here… and even his shrink was kind of familiar at this point.  His social worker wouldn't be a big loss, nor Rachel…

Where would they even go?

Connecticut was nice, but after doing some checking online, Kurt saw that their university programs were limited (even though they were well respected) and given that he didn't even know what he was going to do, he didn't want to limit his options and didn't think Blaine should either - even though Kurt was convinced that Blaine should just sing and write music for a living.  If there was one thing that Blaine could do, and do well for that matter, it was that.

But Kurt also knew Blaine was under pressure to have a more secure form of employment than his sister had, and probably didn't want to follow the same path in life she was if only out of spite - even though Kurt personally thought he was crazy to waste the kind of talent he had.  

So Kurt did search after search online.  Comparing university programs to locations to proximity to Blaine's family and so forth.  

But even though his goal was supposed to be discovering a new place for them, somewhere with a good university and a small setting that was also close to family, Kurt found himself looking up his dad instead.

A simple web search revealed his dad was still in Lima, still with the mechanic business, and still married to Carole (at least as far as a phone number and address search was concerned).  Kurt himself was on a missing persons report for Lima and apparently his dad was offering a lot of money for any information on Kurt's whereabouts - money he wasn't initially sure how his dad obtained since the business he owned was modest at best.  

But then he found out.

Sometime after Kurt had gone missing, his dad had run for and successfully won a seat in congress.  His dad was a big shot now, and there wasn't any shortage of news on him.  Kurt spent nearly a whole day he should have spent on an essay just reading through his dad's work in congress from pushing bills that would have supported LGBT rights and freedoms, to addressing the discrepancies in how bullies were dealt with.  Everything his dad spoke out for Kurt would have supported, and in so many of his dad's speeches, Kurt was mentioned.

Everyone knew Kurt, at least Kurt Hummel, through his father's speeches.  He was the “missing son”, the “victim of schoolyard bullies”, the “great political mystery”, the “child that everyone had heard about” - and yet, despite all that, no one had ever identified the pink haired kid on the street as the same person.  He knew he had been bought by guys that would have read the paper, would have known enough to know about Congressman Hummel and his wayward son, probably would have even seen the missing photo that was flashed around whenever his name was mentioned in a speech, but yet, none of them put two and two together.  

He didn't really think he looked all that different… sure the photo was him right before he had the pink in his hair and the piercings everywhere… but when he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror he still saw that kid.  

Maybe he was giving himself too much credit.  Blaine and Wes were smart and on top of things and they hadn't pieced it together yet, and Kurt didn't even know his dad was in politics until now, let alone that his face had been attached to every second article on his father.  

God what a fool he had been.

His dad had only ever been looking out for him and Kurt had done everything in his own power to rebel - and for what?  There was nothing he had done in his rebellion to be proud of, not even remotely.  He only had regrets, and chief among them now was that his dad was still telling reporters that he still had hope of Kurt coming home and that his heart would never be full until he had his son back.

The sentiment was made all the more poignant when he discovered that Carole's son had died last year.  Kurt had never been close to Finn, and certainly hadn't liked him, but Carole had been kind and the pictures of her tearstained face after what had happened to Finn were enough to shatter anyone's heart.  

As the door rattled, Kurt quickly closed all the open browser windows on his laptop and turned to grin at Blaine as he came through the door.

“Hey.”  Blaine beamed towards him and Kurt set his computer to the side to get up and greet Blaine properly - with a kiss.  Kurt had easily embraced this domestic side of himself, and knew it had been a part of who he had been before.  It also was something his mom and dad had always done when the other had come home, and now, more than ever, Kurt knew theirs was the example to look to when it came to his own relationship.

“So I was thinking…”  Kurt mused after Blaine had put away his bag and coat.  “... That maybe we could take a tour of a few universities that might interest us for next year?”

Blaine perked up at that and nodded eagerly, “Absolutely.  Did you have any in mind?”

Kurt shook his head, even though that wasn't the truth.  “Not really… though there's a few that have a great music program for you.”

He watched as Blaine's nose crinkled at the bridge and those big triangular brows bent together.  Kurt had been pushing the idea more and more, but he knew it would ultimately have to come from Blaine.  “Maybe for a minor… what else?”

Kurt shrugged, and walked towards the kitchen, Blaine following, as he set about getting supper ready for them both.  “I really just need to narrow down my own focus too… it would probably make getting scholarships easier if I declared a major at least.”

“You should take journalism.”

Kurt blinked a few times and then tipped his head to the side.  Blaine's declaration seemed to come out of no where, but thankfully he quickly followed up into an explanation.

“You read all the time… you can outwrite Wes and I to no end, you have top marks in all the classes where you need to write papers after all.  Lots of journalists are working from home these days and don't have to keep regular business hours which I know appeals to you… and you always look most at home behind your computer.”

“Huh…”  Kurt had never actually considered it.  He knew the program existed but hadn't ever looked into it.  Blaine made it seem so obvious though.  “I will be checking that out then I guess.”

His boyfriend shrugged and smiled, clearly pleased with himself for coming up with the idea, and it was a fitting idea, the best fit Kurt had considered.  The only time he'd have to deal with other people was when he was doing interviews or dealing with an editor, but otherwise he'd be allowed to work alone - something he definitely preferred.

“So then… a place with a fine arts program and a journalism program.  I'll check things out and see where that leaves us.” Kurt thought out loud as he set some vegetables to steam.    

“Business too.”  Blaine added with a sigh.

“Why business?”

“Just… backup… for me.  I can't live off my parents good graces forever after all.”  

Kurt turned up his nose and pointedly huffed indignantly in response to that.  “Write a damned song already and we'll get it released and then all you'll have to worry about it keeping the paparazzi away from me.”

Blaine chuckled in response to that, and Kurt found a familiar strong hand settling on his waist from behind.  “I have been writing you know… song… there's one problem though.”

“What's that?”  Kurt asked, for the moment ignoring the hand as he was heavily involved in slicing up a chicken breast.

“They're all about you…  and I don't know that music producers are looking for anymore love songs based on what I hear playing on the top 40 station.”

Kurt held his breath, though tried to play it cool.  Love songs… for him… Never in a million years did Kurt ever think that someone would play him a love song let alone write a bunch in his honor.

“Love songs always sell.”  Kurt said, once he had remembered to breath, and turned his head to peck Blaine on the cheek.  “Now scoot so I can get this fucking bird cooked.”

“Mmmm… you have such a way with words.”  Blaine hummed as he backed up, eyes trained on Kurt as they always were.  

“You're the one suggesting a journalism career for me.  I'd better know how to say shit.”  

They laughed together and, as with most of their evenings, ate and talked and laughed some more.  They studied side by side, aimlessly playing footsie as they did, and went to the gym where Kurt praised himself silently for having worked up to a new weight level - even though Blaine's weights were still twice as much as his own.  Watching TV was skipped that night in favour of snuggling earlier, and as Kurt was pulling off his hoodie for bed, Blaine was watching him from the bed with intent eyes.

“Kurt?”

“Hmm?”  Kurt folded up his hoodie and then set it on the night table.

“Can I ask you something?”

“You already are you doofus.”

“Right.”  Blaine blushed a little, the colour always hitting him first in his cheekbones.  Kurt rolled his eyes but really he found it just adorable.

“Ask.”

Blaine nodded and swallowed, indicating that he thought this was a big question so Kurt made sure he bit his tongue and waited until Blaine was ready to tell him what was on his mind.

“I… “  Blaine's blush had spread down his cheeks by this point, and with a huff of frustration he looked away for a moment before turning back to Kurt, apparently collected now.

“Kurt, will you make love to me?”

Kurt's eyes went round as he kept on looking at Blaine.  Oh.  Yeah.  That was a big question, one that not only got his attention, but the attention of his cock which twitched in his pants to let him know that it had indeed heard that.  

“Yeah… Yes.”