We met for a reason, either you’re a blessing or a lesson ~ Frank Ocean

He’d been down this road before. He knew it like the scars on the tender parts of his back where connections with lockers cut deeper than the bruises on his arms and the colours in his father’s eyes. He knew, yet he let it happen. The love, the pain, the fear that the next moment, it would all be gone. All dashed to pieces like waves on rock. He couldn’t let it happen, but he did because he knew deep down that if he ran he’d be giving in to every one of those people who bullied him, who told him he wasn’t good enough. If he ran he’d be changing history and like the seasons that passed since his life had changed course, each one was different, special, and unique in its own way. That’s why he did it. That’s why, when it came, Kurt let love back in the door.

They were like school children, despite their age of 25, with Kurt nearing his 26th birthday. The world was fresh and new, they learned about each other and their lives slowly wound around each other’s; changing, combining, and becoming better. They fell in love like they’d never known hurt, but trod the road they were walking down slowly, carefully, enjoying every moment together as this new, fresh thing that was happening between them. They spent time walking; revelling in the places they went, in the time spent together. They watched sunsets and sunrises, movies and plays, they acted out their deepest dreams and wildest desires. They basked in the glow of the new romance, watching as their friends and families joined in welcoming their love and happiness while forgetting the curious world outside of their little bubble of love. The world that asked questions, begged to know what these two stars were doing together, made blogs, tweets, websites about this new thing that they themselves weren’t even sure they could put into words.

The first time they went out together it was to grab a coffee, something that Kurt had done a thousand, million times before. A simple act that had once meant so much, meant something else now. An old word given new meaning, like the love they shared. They’d become something in a relatively short time, becoming not two separate two people, but one entity in two bodies, a love that hopefully, this time, would last.

Kurt never dwelled on the relationship that didn’t last. At first he had, he’d kept Blaine tethered to him like a puppy on a leash because he was so scared that if he let Blaine go, that none of it would be real anymore. The last year and a half, the confidence that that love had given him, the happiness and even the sadness; would all be gone and Kurt would once again be the scared, beaten young man he had been before that love had swept into his life, first as a friend and oblivious love interest, and then finally a lover. When Kurt had finally realised that he, neither of them, could carry on that way and they’d need to move on, to be two people again and say goodbye he’d felt a weight lift off of him. He’d become new and fresh like the love he now felt developing in his heart. He’d become, as he’d hoped, the man he was supposed to be; strong, happy, at peace and fulfilled. He worked hard at Vogue, learning and building until he was given the chance to become so much more, a designer.

His first show had been a hit, his second a revelation in the fashion world. Now he was a name people spoke the world over, and that’s how this new love had come to him. He’d been given an idea by the very woman who’d taken him under her wing and helped him to fly. She’d suggested using stars, famous people for the advertising for his newest line. They’d jumped at the chance of course, who wouldn’t want to be a part of the designer that had a reputation for his impeccable clothes as well as being the nicest man in fashion? He’d chosen members of the acting, directing, singing, literary and theatrical world for the adverts and show. His own friends had been first on his list of course, including a few choices by Isabelle that Kurt hadn’t checked yet when the biggest pop star in the world had walked into the room and Kurt’s heart had stopped.

He felt himself falling and didn’t stop it. He didn’t cling to the edge like so many told him he should. He didn’t let the words of others alter his mind. He let it in, slowly, cracking open the door, letting it widen little by little until the actions spoke louder than the words ever could. His world had changed many times. Once when his mother died, once when he figured out he was gay, once when he was being bullied and learned to stand up to it, once when love had flooded his life, once when that love was destroyed and once when a new love entered his life.

Love was so familiar, washing over his life like the tide, bringing him closer to the man he knew yet all so different. He was alive with it, overflowed in it, and became consumed by it. Love a second time around, like the first, was a powerful force for Kurt. It drew him to the man he loved, it made him happy, sad, passionate, indifferent, weary, energised; and that’s when Kurt knew it was worth it. Love would never be easy. It would always be complicated and fraught with bumps and diversions no matter which way they walked it, and that’s when he knew. Kurt realised that love in the end was worth everything, because in the end, it was the only real thing in a world so fake; and when Kurt realised that, was the day he fell in love again with Blaine.