There were few words that adequately expressed how much Blaine loved to drive, especially at night. The lack of traffic, the dark sky above, the quiet all around – just him, his V8, and the landscape whizzing by. He always kept his windows open, even in the freezing cold. In the dead of winter, he'd blast the heater and drive with the wind whipping around his face until his ears burned. He didn't put the radio on so he could listen to the world swirling around him. This was his time. When he drove his car, he entered his own world. Nothing else mattered but him, his Mustang, and the road stretched out ahead.

He mostly drove alone. A couple of times, Finn or Puck had gone with him. But even when he didn't have a second by his side, he never felt alone. Driving was everything to him. It was how he cleared his head, how he made sense of things. It's what he did so he didn't feel trapped by the things he couldn't control.

But that had changed.

The day Blaine met Kurt, he began to see things in a new way.

But not driving. He felt the same way about driving. Just about driving alone.

Blaine had always been an independent person. He learned early on that the one person he could rely on the most was himself. He still had the odd moment where he needed his space, but he preferred spending his time with Kurt.

Sometimes they'd drive in Blaine's Mustang together; sometimes they'd drive in Kurt's. Sometimes they drove their cars individually, traveling side by side. But at some point they'd park and they'd end up huddled in Blaine's front seat or Kurt's back seat. Blaine's crew always teased that it was all about sex with them. Blaine let them believe that because it was easier than trying to explain the truth.

It wasn't just about sex.

It was about them, and spending time together. It was about how the world spun differently when they held each other in their arms. It was about the conversations they had when no one else was around, the secrets they shared that never left their vehicles. It was about how the silence became fuller with the two of them in it. It was about looking out their windshield at the sky, and watching the colors change from blue to pink to gold as the sun came up.

Blaine had seen hundreds of sunrises in his life, but they were more beautiful with Kurt there beside him.

No, it wasn't just his love of driving that drew Blaine out to his Mustang anymore.

It was driving with Kurt.

He was in love with Kurt, and even though Blaine could drive alone, he didn't want to.

Kurt was his favorite escape.