“Kurt? Where have you gone? Your dad says you’ve run away, but why? You promised Kurt. We could’ve sorted this out, we can get through anything. I love you. What happened to ‘you won’t lose me’? I-Kurt…please, I- come home. Please. We aren’t mad. I love you. Come home?”

“I’m so angry at you Kurt; I don’t know how to do anything. You have to come home Kurt, please. I can’t stop crying it-it’s so hard to be without you. I miss you. You were an amazing boyfriend. I sucked, but I don’t deserve this. Your dad doesn’t deserve this, Carole doesn’t, Finn doesn’t and you don’t. Come home, Kurt, just come home.”

“Kurt? The police are getting me to ring your phone to track you but they’ve gone for the night, it’s just me. Pick up? Please? I love you, Kurt. I’m going back to school soon. I don’t want to go. I wish I could reverse time, go back to the night you left and make you let me stay.”

“Hi Kurt. I went to the doctor’s today. He thinks I’m crazy. I’ve been having these ‘episodes’ Carole calls them. My mind goes numb and all these memories come and everything just hurts. He says I’m having a breakdown. I miss you. Please come home. I love you.”

“Hi Kurt! I went back to school today. Finn drove me. It was ok. Sam’s going to teach me to play the guitar. I don’t gel my hair anymore and I’ve grown it so I don’t look like medusa or something. You’d love it. Love you, come home baby.”

“Hi Kurt. I got a guitar today, it’s a Seagull, they’re really good guitars. Finn, Sam and I went to get it from the music store. It was great; we were in there for hours. I really wanted this one but it’s expensive so I tried to get a cheaper one. I know, I can pay for it but, I feel weird using money like that. Stupid huh? I’d better go, Burt’s coming. I love you.”

“Burt found out I’ve been calling you on my own. I think he’s scared I’m making myself worse or going to run away or something, he went through my phone and was telling me he couldn’t lose me too. I wouldn’t. I wanna be here when you get back. He wants me to stop but I won’t. I miss you, Kurt. I love you.”

“Hi Kurt. I can’t talk for long. I was thinking of you today and wanted to talk to you so badly. I’m getting better, mostly. You’ll be proud of me, Kurt. I’m doing great with the New Directions and my schoolwork. I miss you though. I miss hearing your voice but I will, won’t I? One day I’ll find you and we’ll sort all this out. I love you, Kurt. I hope you’re ok. I hope whatever you’re doing is making you happy. Damn I have to go. Love you. Bye.”

 “C’mon kid,” Burt says fondly. “Kurt used to do this all the time.” He looks over at Blaine keeping in the shadows of the garage, looking wide-eyed and lost.

Blaine looks up as Burt beckons him over, a smile stretching over his face at the mention of his missing boyfriend, his mind whispering, ‘Kurt’.

Burt smiles, if he can get through to Blaine at least a little and bring him back out of his shell, he could just survive however long it will take to find Kurt and bring him home.

He remembers the last real conversation he and Blaine had in this garage, talking about sex and how Blaine’s dad had worked on a car with him purely to turn him straight and change his son and wonders how Max Anderson could have ever overlooked this wonderful, sweet young man and tried to change him when he was already a special human being.

“What do you want me to do?” Blaine asks, his fingers trailing over a spanner, looking at it like it’ll bite him.

Burt chuckles, he can see the hidden conflict in the young man’s eyes. He wants to be here, where Kurt spent so much time and spending time with Burt but he doesn’t want to remember the hate and rejection his father treated him with. “How about you work on this car with me then we’ll see, ok?”

Blaine looks up and nods, what is it about the Hummel’s that make them want to rewrite all of his bad experiences into good ones? Prom, school, now this. He was lucky.

They work on the car, laughing and trading jabs throughout and for a while forget about the world outside the garage. A world where life isn’t fair and laminated flyers flap in the wind, stapled to telegraph poles, fading a little.

Blaine runs upstairs after dinner and grabs his cell from the bedside table. He rings speed dial 1 and waits. It clicks automatically to answerphone and he waits for the familiar voice that still sings strong in his head to finish before talking. “Hi Kurt! I miss you. I know I’ve left a million messages on your answerphone and I don’t know if you’ll ever get this but, I want to tell you things so one day when you come back you’ll know what’s been happening here. I worked on cars with your dad today. It was fun, not like when I worked on that car with my dad. Do you remember me telling you about that? Well it was really fun, your dad’s a great guy, but you know that. I love you. One day when I find you I’ll say that to your face. I will find you Kurt, one day. Goodnight, I love you.” Blaine ends the call. He likes to think Kurt listens to the messages, but he has no way of knowing for sure. Apart from that one time when Kurt had left his phone on and turned it off the phone stays turned off now. Never to ring and give him hope. A love turned off, never to be turned on again. Blaine presses a soft kiss to the screen where a silly picture of him and Kurt shines out and the pictures on the bedside then pulls the covers up and falls asleep.

Two thousand miles away a young man sits in darkness, the lights of the city around him. He turns his cell on. One new answerphone message. He listens to the excited voice, tears slipping down his young, weary face and saves it when it ends with the hundred or so others. Cherished. Listened to on repeat when he knows there’s no chance he’ll get caught with it on.

He turns the cell off, lies down and cries, the picture of him and his boyfriend clutched in his hand. “I love you too Blaine.”