“Kurt we need to talk” Blaine said, coming to a stop at a bench in the middle of central park. Kurt just looked at him curiously before taking a seat on the bench, patting the space next to him. Blaine let out a quick breath and took a seat.

“Ok what did you want to talk about?” Kurt asked, his voice light and happy. Blaine didn’t want to do what he was about to do, but he really had no choice.

“I think we should break up.” Blaine said, taking a chance and letting his eyes land on Kurt’s face. Blaine knew he shouldn’t have done that when he saw the tears in Kurt’s eyes and the quick rise and fall of his chest.

“You don’t mean that.” Kurt said, taking Blaine’s hands in his and looking in his eyes earnestly. “Yes I do. We need to break up Kurt.” Blaine looked down at their hands, clasped tightly in one another’s and let out a shaky breath. “Why, what did I do wrong? Is it because I came to New York? Because if it is, I can move back to Lima, New York can wait another year. I can move back Blaine.” Kurt was sobbing now, his breaths coming quicker and shallower, the tears blurring everything into a mess of colors.

“That is exactly why we have to break up. I can’t hold you back. If you have nothing left in Lima, you can commit fully to New York and achieve your dreams. I don’t want to be the reason you are unhappy later in life.” Blaine said, untangling his hands from Kurt’s and resting them in his lap.

“You aren’t going to hold me back Blaine. You are what gets me through the day, the reason I want to follow my dreams, I need you Blaine.” Kurt whispered, letting out a choked sob. “You don’t need me Kurt, you just think you do. You will see that I was just holding you back from being all you can be. You are free now, you can follow your dreams, get the New York experience without having to worry about little me stuck in Lima.” Kurt shook his head, trying to stop the tears from falling.

“I still don’t understand why you are doing this Blaine.” Kurt said, tears still flowing freely down his cheeks. Blaine moved to wipe them away but Kurt flinched away, standing up off the bench. “No you don’t get to do that anymore Blaine. You don’t get to say that you are breaking up with me and then try to comfort me; you can’t have the best of both worlds. You don’t get that Blaine.” Kurt said, bringing his hands up to cover his face letting another sob escape from his throat. “Kurt stop, don’t do this.” Blaine started. “Don’t do what Blaine? Don’t get upset because my boyfriend who I am madly in love with, my boyfriend who saved me from the deep depths of depression, my boyfriend who said I was the love of his life, is breaking up with me. Sorry I do get to do this Blaine. I get to feel hurt, and abandoned. You don’t get to do this though. You don’t get to make me feel like it’s my fault.” Kurt said, voice iced over and angry. Blaine went to say something but Kurt put his hand up. “No Blaine. This is what you want, so have a nice life.” Kurt said, grabbing his bag off the bench and walking away.

He vaguely heard Blaine calling out his name, but he ignored it and walked with quick measured steps back to his apartment.

Blaine didn’t know what to do. He sat on the bench for a while; just trying to process everything that happened. After what could have easily been two hours, Blaine moved from the bench and found a cab back to the hotel he was staying in. He slowly made his way down the corridor to his room after stepping out of the elevator.

He didn’t know when it happened but when he came back to reality he found himself slumped against his hotel room door, his entire room in shambles. He could only slightly remember walking in and just releasing all of his feelings. He tore the sheets off the bed, the pictures on the walls were now lying on the floor, holes punched through the middle, curtains ripped from the windows and a glass lamp shattered on the floor. Only then did he notice the tears soaked into his shirt and still falling down his cheeks.

He quickly wiped his eyes, stood up and began to pack. He couldn’t stay in New York until tomorrow night when his plane was scheduled to depart; he had to get out of the city as soon as possible.

Blaine was sitting in his seat, looking out the window before he hastily took his phone out and sent one last message before turning his phone off and leaving New York behind.

He didn’t know if sending that text message was a smart thing to do, but it was too late to take it back. He just rested his head on the window and let his eyes slide shut. When Blaine woke up they had just started to descend into Port Columbus International. He blinked a few times to wake himself up fully.

He exited the airport and made it all the way home before it all came rushing back. He stepped into his room and broke. He fell to the ground held his knees to his chest and just let himself cry. He was glad his parents were on a business trip for two more weeks because they would probably think he was dying. He felt like his entire world had fallen out from beneath him and he could do nothing to stop it.

He crawled into bed, cuddled Margret Thatcher dog to his chest, and cried himself to sleep. He slept fitfully through the night, never truly falling into a deep sleep.

He spent all Sunday lying in bed, Margret Thatcher held tightly to his chest as he stared up at his ceiling.

Getting up for school on Monday was harder though. He had to look presentable. He couldn’t let anyone know how broken he was. He had to act as if nothing happened over the weekend. He knew that none of the other glee club members would know about it because Kurt wasn’t close to any of them, and unless Mercedes told Sam, he had nothing to worry about. He quickly did his morning routine and drove himself to school.

Before getting out of his car he looked in his review mirror and gave himself a little pep talk. You can do this Blaine, you are a strong person and this is what is best for Kurt, he needs to be set free, able to spread his wings without someone holding him back. No one knows, just smile and everything will be ok.

Blaine couldn’t have been more wrong. He hadn’t taken more than ten steps into the building before he was hit with a slushy. He wiped the dripping green ice from his face and made his way down the hallway, walking quickly so no one could see the tears forming in his eyes.

This was his first slushy without Kurt there to help him clean up and tell him everything will be ok. He walked into the boy’s bathroom and locked the door to make sure he wouldn’t be disturbed. He looked in the mirror and saw the stains of green on his face, on his shirt and soaking into his favorite bowtie. It was yellow and make of silk, Kurt’s last “project” before moving to New York.

He pushed the palms of his hands to his eyes, trying to stop the tears from coming. He sank to the floor by the sinks and tried to calm his breathing.

Being slushied always brought back memories of the time Sebastian almost blinded him and now piling his break up with Kurt on top of it, Blaine couldn’t stop the panic rising in him. His breathing was becoming labored and his hands were shaking.

Before it could get any worse he pushed himself up off the floor, cleaned himself up and made his way back out into the hallway. He didn’t care if people were staring at him; he just looked down at the ground and walked back out to his car.

Blaine got home and went straight to his room. He ripped the bowtie from his neck and threw it to the ground and he promised himself he would try again tomorrow, which he did; he lasted until second period before he rushed back to his car and drove him.

It continued all through September and half of October before he could make it a full week without missing any classes. Granted he was still crying himself to sleep every night and fighting off tears whenever something reminded him of Kurt.

By this time the Glee club knew what was going on and tried to help him the best they could but nothing was working. The slushies had only been every few days, but had made their way to daily and Blaine didn’t know how much more he could take. He had lost his best friend; the love of his life, and now the hockey team was bullying him.

It was the week before Thanksgiving and Blaine had had enough of everything. He didn’t have anything anymore, his parents were going on more business trips than usual, lasting longer and longer, making them at home for five days out of the month, Kurt was gone and hadn’t bothered to even try to contact him, and everyone in school just ignored him except for when they had glee practice. He didn’t feel like being around anymore, it’s not like anyone was going to miss him anyways, they had made that quite clear in the past three months.

But in all actuality he just missed Kurt. He could move past the bullying and his parents never being around but Kurt was different. Kurt was the one he always felt safe with. He never had to be anyone other than himself. They were best friends and so much more. They just fit together, like puzzle pieces.

He made his way to the auditorium to sing his feelings since it always helped him before. He hadn’t truly sung since that night in New York.

He stood in the center of the stage, hitting play on the stereo system set up on the stage. He closed his eyes; just letting the notes wash over him and transport him to another world.

He began to sing, pouring every ounce of himself into the lyrics.

Never knew I could feel like this
Like I've never seen the sky before
I want to vanish inside your kiss
Every day I'm loving you more and more

Blaine could feel the emotion rising in his chest, making tears build behind his eyes. He took it in stride and continued singing.

Listen to my heart, can you hear it sings
Telling me to give you everything
Seasons may change, winter to spring
But I love you until the end of time

Tears were now spilling over and onto his cheeks while he started the chorus.

Come what may
Come what may
I will love you until my dying day

He was about to start the next verse when another voice beat him to it. The voice was high and clear, one he could pick out in a crowded room. He didn’t open his eyes, afraid it would all be a dream.

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place
Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace.

He opened his eyes and felt his breath hitch, almost making him miss in joining for the next line, when he saw Kurt walking down the center isle toward the stage. He could see tears glistening in his eyes, but still singing strong and clear.

Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste
It all revolves around you
And there's no mountain too high
No river too wide
Sing out this song I'll be there by your side
Storm clouds may gather
And stars may collide
But I love you until the end of time

Kurt had reached the stage and now they were standing mere feet apart, looking straight into each other’s eyes. They finished the song, switching off at the right times and letting their voices flow smoothly together, like they were made to do it.

Come what may
Come what may
I will love you until my dying day

Oh, come what may, come what may
I will love you, I will love you
Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place

Come what may
Come what may
I will love you until my dying day

They stood looking at each other for a few moments before Blaine spoke up.

“What are you doing here?” Blaine asked, still not really believing that Kurt was standing in front of him. “Well I am on break for Thanksgiving and just arrived home for the holiday. But to be honest, I don’t know what I am doing here. Before I knew where I was headed, I was pulling into a parking spot and walking towards the school. I was going to hide out here until I knew Glee was going on, but when I got here, you were singing.” Kurt trailed off with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Oh” was all Blaine could say. He was feeling a little hurt that Kurt didn’t come here on his own free will; his body led him here, before he even knew what he was doing. “I did want to see you though Blaine. I would have seen you at some point.” Blaine snapped his head up; looking at Kurt with so much hope in his eyes it took Kurt’s breath away.

“I miss you, more and more everyday Kurt.” Blaine heard himself say before he could stop himself. “Sorry you probably didn’t want to hear-“ “I miss you too, so much Blaine” Kurt said, and then Blaine found himself with an armful of Kurt. He immediately wrapped his arms around Kurt, letting his head rest in the crook of his neck. He inhaled deeply, needing to be completely surrounded by everything that was Kurt. He still smelled exactly how Blaine remembered, like coconut and something that could only be described as Kurt.

“I think we should talk.” Kurt said, pulling away from Blaine to look in his yes. “Yeah, yeah we should.” Blaine said, nodding his head. He took Kurt hands and led them to a few seats in the middle of the auditorium.

“I just need to know why Blaine. Why did you leave me?” Kurt said, emotion building in his voice. “I didn’t think you needed me to hold you back. I heard how tired you always were, and how you had already missed an assignment because you were busy skyping with me. I didn’t want to be the reason you didn’t do everything you wanted to. I couldn’t ruin you Kurt.” Blaine said so earnestly Kurt couldn’t help but believe him.

“Blaine you could never ruin me. You were the one thing that kept me grounded. When I felt overwhelmed with being in a new city with new people and a new school, you were the one familiar thing I needed. You were the one that showed me that I was supposed to be doing this when I doubted myself.” Kurt grabbed Blaine’s hand, waiting a moment to see if he would pull away before relaxing a little.

“Kurt, you needed to experience everything without some Lima loser holding you back. New York is filled with guys who could give you so much more than I could. They could give you all these experiences I wouldn’t be able to.” Blaine said, rubbing his thumb over Kurt’s knuckles. It was such a simple gesture but it made Kurt’s heart stutter in his chest.

“I wouldn’t want to experience those things without you Blaine. Yeah there are plenty of gay guys in New York but the only one worth my time, who deserved to have the world, the only one I could see myself with, was back in Lima, being anything but a Lima loser.” Kurt said, taking a hand and placing it on Blaine’s cheek, wiping the few stray tears away.

Blaine let his eyes travel up to meet Kurt’s “I love you so much” Blaine said. Kurt let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and let himself utter the words he had wanting to say for months. “I love you too.”

Blaine shook his head, not letting himself believe the words Kurt was saying. “No, you left, you walked away. You said goodbye.” Kurt couldn’t help it, he laughed, a full-hearted laugh.

“I never said goodbye Blaine. I said have a nice life, but I never actually said goodbye. As much as I had wanted too, I couldn’t let myself because I knew we would see each other again, maybe not right away, maybe not for a few years, but I knew it wasn’t goodbye.” Blaine did the only thing he could that would say everything he wanted to say.

He closed the distance between them and let his lips softly press to Kurt’s. The kiss was nothing like he had every experience before. It was soft and sweet, yet passionate and needy; it was like coming home. He brought a hand up to rest lightly on Kurt’s neck while the other one snaked around his waist to pull him closer. Kurt let his tongue softly trace the outline of Blaine’s lips, causing Blaine to smile and break the kiss. Kurt removed his hand from the back of Blaine’s head to softly rub his thumb over Blaine’s bottom lip.

“Can we never do this again? Can you never think that you are holding me back and causing me to lose out on things. Can we just go back to being us, being best friends, to being boyfriends, to being in love?” Kurt asked, resting his forehead against Blaine’s.

“I never stopped loving you Kurt. Come what may, I will love you until my dying day.”