14 years later...

They had never actually gotten married, but Kurt had been blissfully happy with Blaine...most of the time. There were sometimes disagreements and fights and needing a break from each other for a few days. But for the most part, blissfully happy. Blaine was his other half, his soulmate, and every other corny cliche he'd ever heard. He was incredibly proud of Blaine for his successful career as a songwriter. Blaine sometimes performed his own material but only in very small venues where he was unlikely to get noticed or remembered. He mostly wrote songs for other musicians, and made a great living doing it.

Kurt was an art teacher, in addition to having a weekly comic strip in 10 different newspapers across the United States. He was good at both of his jobs, gaining valuable insights from Blaine about how to react in certain situations to avoid mistakes he had made in their dream-life.

The current fight they were having was about Blaine being too distant lately. Kurt couldn't figure out why he was suddenly pulling away, and it was much more than he usually did when he got consumed with a new song. Something was really wrong, Kurt was sure of it. Kurt had finally had enough when he went to one of Blaine's shows and Blaine sang him a tearful song about saying goodbye while looking straight into his eyes. Kurt grabbed him after the show and dragged him to the car, a determined glint in his eyes. First things first, he kissed Blaine hard and pushed him up against the car. After about ten minutes of making out, Kurt felt more settled, calm enough to talk. As Blaine caught his breath and gave Kurt a little grin, Kurt began to talk.

"Blaine, I miss you. What is going on the past few months? We have always been honest with each other, why won't you tell me?" Kurt leaned over to soothingly stroke Blaine's cheek, and was shocked when a bit of color rubbed off on his hand, leaving the skin he had just touched a little duller.

Blaine sighed. "Kurt, it's near the end of my time here. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but I didn't know how. My color is starting to fade, and I only have about a year left."

"But you're so young!" Kurt argued. "We have our lifetimes to spend together, how could this happen? What went wrong? We can figure out how to fix it. Yes, we'll fix it. I love you so much and we will fix it."

"I love you too, Kurt, but this can't be fixed, it was always this way. It's just...the way that things work."

Kurt saw something in his eyes, in his face. There was a small hesitation. Something he was keeping to himself still. "Blaine, tell me. Whatever it is you are still hiding, tell me all of it right now and I will still be here I promise."

Blaine closed his eyes and scrunched up his face, as if trying to keep the words from coming out, but still needing to say them. "My life is from your life, Kurt. The longer I live, the sooner you die. I didn't make the rules, and I know that I must look like a monster to you for doing this. You get fifteen years less now, Kurt, in order for me to be here. I'm a fucking parasite!" By now Blaine was sobbing.

Kurt would be lying if he said he didn't feel betrayed. But he would deal with those feelings later. Right now it was urgent that he help Blaine. "I don't care. I'll keep doing it then. I don't want to live without you, so take as many years as you need to for us to be together. I would rather be with you for 20 more years than without you for 40." Blaine looked shocked a little nauseous.

"Kurt, I'm not willing to-"

"I said do it," Kurt insisted. "You are my life now, so it makes sense for your life to be tied to mine. We can deal with everything else later, but Blaine, look at my hand. You are losing color. I won't let you just disappear or be erased."

--DTYDTY-- --

That evening after they made love somewhat desperately, Blaine explained to Kurt what he was doing and how Kurt could help. Blaine had said he wasn't sure if he could establish a connection similar to the dream connection from his second life, but he would try. He would try for Kurt.

It worked more quickly than either of them had anticipated. Kurt fell asleep, and immediately Blaine made the tincture and started meditating. Then he purposely fell asleep too, figuring it was the only way to reach Kurt's dreams from his current body. The connection was instantaneous, and before they realized what was happening, Kurt had lost 5 years. Blaine, terrified, had apologized to Kurt and woke them both up immediately. Kurt was exhausted and more ill than he ever had been before. It took Blaine a month to nurse him back to health.

After that, they got better at it with practice. They would do it one year at a time, to leave room for a little error. Once in a while Kurt would notice Blaine and a stranger staring each other down hatefully, and knew that he would have to be extra sweet to his boyfriend for a while. Running into others of his kind had become a traumatic experience. None of them understood or approved of what the two of them were doing, and the blind hate was overwhelming sometimes. But Kurt knew it was worth it for them to be together. This wasn't the life he had planned, but he had no regrets.

Even when Kurt could tell that the end was close, that they only had a few years left together, it felt right and good and natural. He wondered if there could be a fourth life, in addition to the three that Blaine knew about. If there was, they would go there together.