“Really, now. Where did my shadow go?” Kurt was flying over the rooftops of a small village, squinting in the dark fog.

He wasn’t going to be able to find his shadow if it was out here. Hopefully it went near a house with lights on. He’d be able to find it then.

A few minutes was all it took. He saw a blur in his peripheral vision, and spun around quickly, speeding up and following his shadow closely.

It slipped easily into a slightly open window. A few stray lights were left on in the room.

There didn’t appear to be anyone in it though, so Kurt opened the window enough for him to fit through, and immediately began looking for his shadow.

Not on the ceiling. Not in the drawer.

Kurt went to go check the closet, but opened the door to find a bathroom and a small, teenage boy in plaid pajama pants and a tank top.

His hair was curly and dark, and he was rubbing moisturizer into his cheeks.

“Who are you?” He asked, looking at Kurt in the mirror.

“Kurt,” he replied simply, scanning the room with his eyes, “Have you seen my shadow?”

The boy tilted his head in confusion, “I’m sorry, your shadow? What’s that supposed to mean? No, first of all, how did you get in here?”

“The window was open. You should really be more careful about that,” Kurt worked his way around the bathroom, opening all of the drawers and cabinets, “What’s your name?”

“I’m Blaine,” he responded, the confusion still clear on his face, “What are you looking for?”

“I told you! I lost my shadow and I saw it come in here. I closed the window after I came in, so it’s around here somewhere. Could you help me find it?”

Blaine shook his head, his thick eyebrows furrowed and his eyes wide, “I can’t believe I’m helping a strange man that broke into my house find his shadow.”

Kurt’s face broke into a wide smile, “So that’s a yes? Thank you!”

“Is that it?” Blaine asked when they exited the bathroom, pointing to the far wall, where the shadow was sitting above the tall dresser.

“Aha!” Kurt sprung into the air, too fast for the shadow, grabbing it by the foot and dragging it back to the ground and sitting down, “Here we go.”

He tried tying its legs around his own feet, but the fit wasn’t quite right. So he untied it, holding it in his hands and contemplating his next move.

“Do you want me to sew it onto your feet for you?” Blaine sat down next to Kurt with a box of sewing supplies in his hands.

Kurt got a good look at Blaine for the first time. His long eyelashes hit the base of his brow bones, his hazel eyes underneath them shining.

“Yeah, thanks.”

Blaine carefully attached Kurt’s feet with his shadow’s, glancing up every few seconds for Kurt’s reassurance.

“Is that alright?” Blaine asked when he finished.

Kurt stood up, shaking each leg before sitting back down, crossing his legs and facing Blaine.

“Perfect. Thank you.”

Blaine’s face became flushed, “It’s no problem. But, I just…I’m a little confused. You can fly. That happens in books all the time, not for real. And I thought maybe I was dreaming. What with the shadow and your little green outfit and your perfectly styled hair and your blue eyes. It doesn’t really seem real, if I’m being honest.”

Though his heart sank, Kurt knew that he’d feel that way. The people that didn’t live in Neverland didn’t reallybelieve in Neverland. They didn’t fly, they didn’t have faeries, they had parents, and they even grew up. Their worlds were so close, but so completely different, that Kurt didn’t get his hopes up when he met a new friend.

But maybe Blaine would be different.

“Come with me,” Kurt said, looking into Blaine’s eyes and grabbing his hands, “Come to Neverland with me.”

“Kurt, I…I can’t leave my family.”

“You can be back before sunrise.”

Blaine’s sadness turned into hope, “Really?”

Kurt nodded his head, “I can show you everything. All of the books, everything from the fairytales. It’s all in Neverland and I’ll show you. And I’ll get you back here safely.”

“Are you sure?” Blaine was hesitant, but he obviously wanted so bad to run away with this boy, away from home, even if it was only for one night.

One nod of his head was all it took for Blaine to scramble to his feet.

“How do we get there?” Blaine asked, making his way to the window.

A sly smile spread across Kurt’s lips as he leaned against the wall next to Blaine, crossing his arms.

“We fly.”

Blaine pursed his lips and looked up at Kurt, “I’m sorry, what?”

Kurt pulled a small bottle out of his pocket, popping the cork and letting a small mountain of the stuff inside fall onto his palm. He took a pinch of it, dusting it over Blaine’s head, the sparkly residue gleaming on top of his hair.

“Fairy dust,” Kurt explained with a wink, “Just think a happy thought. Any happy little thought, and feel your weight disappear.”

And just like that, Blaine was drifting around the room, a little shaky, but he seemed to be getting the hang of it.

“Well,” Kurt looked up at Blaine, unable to see his face but pleasantly content with the view of his backside, “What are you thinking about?”

Blaine sighed, doing a backflip mid-air and landing on his feet a few inches from Kurt.

“You.”

Kurt blushed, trying to keep his composure, taking Blaine by the hand and leading him to the window.

“So how do we get to Neverland, anyway?”

“We have to fly. We’ll go to the second star on the right, and then straight on ‘till morning,” Kurt sat down on the ledge of the window and swung his legs around so he was sitting on the outside window sill.

“Do you trust me?” Kurt asked, looking over his shoulder to where Blaine was still standing in his room.

Blaine nodded his head, his eyes lighting up with his smile, and he climbedout of the window, sitting next to Kurt and instinctively twining their fingers together.

They sat comfortably for a few seconds, but the silence was broken when Kurt stood, tugging at Blaine’s hand to do the same.

“One,” Kurt started, looking at Blaine and giving him a reassuring smile, “Two.”

“Three!” they exclaimed at the same time, jumping from the platform under their feet.

Somewhere along the way, their hands broke apart, but once their flight was steady, Kurt reached out and locked his fingers together.

Blaine looked down at their hands, a shy smile playing on his lips.

“I don’t want you to get lost,” Kurt explained, reciprocating Blaine’s expression.

He wasn’t sure why he had never felt this way about a friend, before. Kurt had taken a few other people to Neverland. Sometimes they stayed there, sometimes they didn’t. But Kurt had never wanted to touch his friends’ hands before. It was easy enough, though, and since Blaine seemed to like the contact as well, Kurt had no intention of stopping.

Kurt lowered them onto a cloud before they reached the island, explaining the layout to Blaine.

“We could go into the rainforest. There are some nice underground tree houses there. Or…there’s the caves by the water. The mermaids live there. But they aren’t really very nice.”

“What else is in the forest?” Blaine asked.

“Some of my friends live there. Faeries live in the forest as well. Would you like to see that?”

Blaine smiled a toothy grin, and nodded his head.

Kurt rose, about to take flight, but he noticed that Blaine didn’t look ready.

His expression was close to unreadable, considering the fact that he looked so excited just a few seconds ago.

He seemed upset. Or maybe just nervous.

Extending his arm, Kurt let Blaine cup their hands together. Blaine sighed in relief.

Kurt was sure he would be able to get used to their hands touching like this.

“Just follow my lead,” Kurt stated and leapt from the cloud, pulling Blaine with him.

It would only take a few minutes to arrive at the forest, so Kurt led Blaine on a longer path so that he could enjoy the view.

Blaine inhaled a sharp breath every few seconds, pointing down at a something in excitement.

They descended, landing on a large field of grass right outside of the rainforest.

“Come find me,” Kurt demanded, peeling their hands apart and making his way into the thick band of trees.

Blaine’s eyes widened, but he accepted the challenge, counting out loud to 30.

Kurt hadn’t strayed far. He didn’t want Blaine to become lost or scared, so he stayed close by, behind a tree with branches and leaves that slung close to the ground.

He yelped when he felt  something touch his waist a few seconds after Blaine had stopped counting, turning to find that it was Blaine, cupping his hand over his mouth while he laughed.

“You scared me!” Kurt buried his face in his hands and leaned his head on Blaine’s shoulder.

Blaine draped his arm around Kurt’s waist, the smile evident in his voice, “I’m sorry.”

Kurt’s heart was fluttering. He turned his head and pressed his lips against Blaine’s cheek, his face dropping and going white.

“I-I don’t know why I just did that,” Kurt stammered, completely flustered.

“People do that all the time, it’s okay.” Blaine tightened his grip around Kurt’s waist.

Kurt didn’t know that people touched their lips to other people. It seemed like something adults probably did.

And Kurt was a teenager. And he would stay a teenager forever.

But he couldn’t help feeling that he liked the sensation.

“What is that?” Kurt asked, pointing to his lips.

“It’s a kiss,” Blaine smiled, “People kiss each other when they like each other as more than…

“Just, when they like each other,” he finished quickly.

“Oh.”

Kurt concluded that he did like Blaine. He was his only friend that was above the age of 12, and he liked having him around. Kurt also liked the way he felt around Blaine. It was different than the feeling he had around his other friends. It was warmer.

Before he ran away, Kurt refused to listen to any stories or pay attention during health classes. It made him feel uncomfortable, because he never talked about girls the way the other boys did. So he tuned it all out.

Which may have backfired, considering that Blaine mentioned how common a kiss was. And Kurt was definitely beginning to forget a lot about the world from before he ran away, but it was worth it. Running away was always worth it.

“Can we go see one of those tree houses?” Blaine asked, his eyes sparkling with curiosity.

Kurt led the way through the forest, carefully maneuvering over branches and around thick plants.

“This is incredible!” Blaine was marveling at the small house.

“Thanks, I made it. Or, most of it, anyway,” Kurt sat himself down on the wooden couch in front of a fire place lit with fairy dust.

Blaine sat down next to him, close enough that their knees were touching.

“Uh, Blaine?”

“Yeah?”

“Could you tell me more about what it’s like where you live?” Kurt asked, unsure of himself.

Blaine narrowed his eyes, contemplating, “Well, there’s a lot. What do you want to know?”

Kurt’s face reddened, his breath going short.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. I can tell that you don’t remember a lot about the things that don’t happen in Neverland. Just give me something to start with,” Blaine squeezed Kurt’s hand where it was laying in his lap.

“Kisses. I want to know about them. I just can’t remember them at all. They don’t happen in Neverland,” Kurt’s face was slowly returning toits normal color.

Blaine breathed a quick laugh, gathering his thoughts on the subject before starting, “Well, friends can give kisses. On the cheek, like you did to me. Family members can give kisses on the cheek as well. Kisses are just a way to show affection. To show that you care about someone a lot. But when two people like each other as more than friends, they kiss each other on the lips. On other places too,” Blaine added with a smirk, “But on the lips is where it really counts. It’s like saying, ‘You mean more to me than just being a friend or family member. I care about you romantically,’” he paused, “Does that make sense?”

“Yeah,” Kurt nodded, “I think so…But, how do you know when you want to kiss someone on the lips?”

“That depends, I guess,” Blaine shifted so he and Kurt were facing each other, “Every person is different, and I think each person realizes who they like on their own terms.”

“Do you like anyone?” Kurt was trying to make sense of all of these vague ideas.

Blaine’s shoulders sank, “Not anyone at home, no.”

“Why not? Isn’t that what boys do back there? They like girls so they try to kiss them, right?” small snippets of memories were popping into Kurt’s head. A boy and girl kissing in the hall. A boy and girl hugging at the park.

“I don’t want to kiss a girl. Sometimes that happens for guys. They want to kiss a boy, too. There aren’t other guys like me where I go to school. So I don’t have anyone to kiss.” Blaine’s expression was pained.

“I think-I think that’s why I ran away, Blaine. Because I wanted to kiss a boy.”

“Really?”

“I don’t know exactly what happened, but I’m pretty sure that was part of it,” Kurt became confused again, his mind mixing his thoughts together in a mess, “You want to kiss boys, but you stay. How do you do that?”

Blaine took Kurt’s hand in his own, “Because I have hope. That one day I’ll find a boy that wants to kiss me back. I know that if I stick it out, one day it might be worth it. I could find the perfect guy. And then I’ll be able to be happy for the rest of my life. Don’t you think that could be true, Kurt?”

“I’m happy here, though. I can stay young forever and I can be happy. That’s all I need.” Kurt felt defensive, his body tensing up as he retracted his arm from Blaine’s grip.

Kurt thought that Blaine was irrational, staying in his world.

Not that he could put his finger on what made that world so bad for himself. But he knew coming to Neverland was the best decision he ever made. He didn’t have to deal with kissing. That was too much work.

“Alright then, why don’t you show me something else? Anything you want,” Blaine suggested, changing the subject.

“I really like the caves,” Kurt responded, eager to jump on the switch of topic, “They’re a little dark and dreary, but I think that’s what makes them so cool. Because they’re so different from everything else here. Would you like go?”

“Lead the way.”

The flight was easy. It was just a few minutes until they felt the warm humidity sticking to their skin that accompanied the dew-slicked caves.

Kurt took Blaine to a small cave that he frequently visited. It was dark and damp, but there were a few rocks that served as perfect chairs.

One rock was rather big, so when Kurt brought his smaller friends to the cave, they would all sit on it together.

But now it looked like a perfect spot to fit just two people.

Kurt sat first, patting the spot next to him and looping his arm under Blaine’s when he lowered himself onto the rock.

Blaine laughed uncomfortably, shifting his weight slightly.

“Are you okay?” Kurt asked.

“You just…Kurt, I know that you don’t know how people show affection back where I live. But, the way you’re touching me. Holding hands, that type of stuff…That’s the type of thing th-that a person does when they want to kiss someone,” Blaine’s face was scrunched, he was trying to simplify the concepts to Kurt could understand.

Kurt pulled his arm back quickly, his face going red, “I’m sorry.”

Blaine sighed, his expression going blank, “No, it’s fine. Don’t be sorry.”

None of the pieces were fitting together to Kurt. Blaine was touching Kurt like Kurt had been touching Blaine. Did that mean that Blaine wanted to kiss Kurt? If he did, then didn’t Kurt touching Blaine mean that he wanted to Kiss Blaine?

But Neverland was a place where no one grew up. And kissing was for adults. Kurt would be having no part in that.

“It’s about time to get you home,” Kurt said after an hour-or-so of conversation.

“I’ll follow you, then,” Blaine was seemingly upset.

Kurt’s muscles twitched, but he didn’t grab Blaine’s hand. He simply walked to the edge of the cave, effortlessly lifting off of the ground with Blaine following closely behind.

It wasn’t long until they spotted the lights over the city where Blaine lived, landing carefully on the ledge outside of Blaine’s window.

Blaine slipped inside, and Kurt lowered himself so he was eye level with Blaine.

Their position physically was their position emotionally.

No matter how much Kurt would like to be on the other side, he knew he needed to go back. To Neverland, to his friends. Back home.

“I guess this is it,” Kurt said sullenly.

“Forever?” Blaine’s eyelashes were wet with unshed tears.

Kurt shrugged his shoulders, feeling a burning sensation in his eyes.

Blaine furrowed his eyebrows, an expression that Kurt had become so familiar with in such a short amount of time.

“Goodbye, Kurt.”

“Don’t say goodbye,” Kurt leaned in closer to Blaine, his voice barely audible, “Goodbye means going away, and going away means forgetting.”

Tears were rolling down Blaine’s face, he was shaking his head.

Kurt closed the space between them, pressing his lips hard against Blaine’s.

The feeling was foreign, the salty taste of tears and the warm feel of Blaine’s breath on his face.

When he pulled away, Blaine was smiling. He reached out and caressed Kurt’s cheek with the back of his hand, wiping away the only tear that had escaped his eye.

And then he left. Kurt left Blaine at his window. Kurt left that world for the last time, touching his fingers to his lips, thinking of Blaine, flying higher than he had ever flown before.