Fic: Inverted Dreaming 4/4
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~*~*~*~
The duet competition starts two days later. Rachel and her boyfriend, Finn go first, and though Rachel's vocals are stunning, Finn's leave something to be desired in Kurt's opinion. Mr. Schue seems to disagree, however, and congratulates them both on a job well done while the rest of the group roll their eyes in unison.
Kurt and Blaine are up after Mercedes and Sam, who do an adorable, flirty rendition of Under the Boardwalk that has everyone cheering.
It ends up going perfectly. They hit every note, their choreography goes off without a hitch, and the way Blaine is looking at Kurt afterwards, well, it has him a bit weak in the knees. Blaine has been a little standoffish since Kurt had jumped the gun and kissed him after he'd had the nightmare about his parents, and now he's not sure all of his eggshell-walking was even necessary. Blaine's smile is brilliant. The glee club are on their feet all around them. Kurt feels transcendent. Blaine snuggles into his side, doing a half-bow and bringing Kurt with him. Sam and Mike Chang whistle from the back of the room and Artie rolls over to give him a high-five. And Kurt thinks that maybe, just maybe, he might have actual friends.
The entire group votes and they win by two points. Unfortunately, Mr. Schue refuses to change the set list for sectionals, even though there is much protestation within the choir room, angry voices arguing that the duo who won the duet competition should be given the duet at sectionals. It's to no avail.
Mercedes, Sam and Artie rant about it later at dinner. Kurt hasn't been to Breadstix in years, and he finds that the décor hasn't been updated since his dad took him there to celebrate his starting high school.
“It's all right, guys,” Blaine tells them. “Thanks for sticking up for us, but we are new to the group. I can understand that it's not really fair.”
Blaine smiles over at Kurt with a little shrug, and Kurt feels Blaine's fingers trail lightly over the top of his hand under the table just as Mercedes speaks up again. “What's not fair is Berry and Hudson getting every solo in every competition since the dawn of damn time. We're all tired of this crap.”
“Yeah, dudes,” Sam agrees. “It's totally not fair. And Artie is a way better singer than Finn.”
“That I am,” Artie says with a nod. “And so are you gentlemen. But alas, Mr. Schue plays favourites and he is unfortunately the boss of us.”
By the time they've finished with dessert and are waiting for the cheque, Blaine's hand has completely enveloped Kurt's and Kurt sits stock still, worried that if he moves the hand will be withdrawn.
At home they run through the sectionals songs that they were given by Mr. Schue before lying next to each other on Kurt's bed. Blaine grabs Soul Connectors off of the nightstand and they curl in close and read together for a while.
Kurt is half expecting a solution to their problem to show up on every page, but nothing ever does. It's just more of the same: first-hand accounts, opinions of scholars, rudimentary science attempting to explain. It does nothing but give him a sharp pain between his eyes and makes him feel the slightest bit nauseous. If the book is to be believed, Blaine is connected to him. If the book is to be believed, they are parts of the same soul.
Blaine pauses in his reading, noticing that Kurt has stopped. He tilts his head to one side, his face partially smushed into the pillow beneath his head, and Kurt can't help but smile at him. He places the bookmark inside to save their page and tosses the book aside, turning over to face Kurt fully. Kurt raises an eyebrow in question.
“Will you kiss me again?” Blaine asks, voice quiet, eyes earnest, open.
Kurt feels his hands begin to shake, his smile go the tiniest bit off-kilter. “I, ah.. well, you could kiss me this time... if you wanted...”
Blaine bites his lip before leaning in, a half smile playing about his mouth. It feels electric when Blaine kisses him, like something opens up and buzzes deep in the recesses of his brain, shocking his lips, his synapses. Blaine tastes sweet like the cheesecake they'd shared at Breadstix, and smells minty and musky and so, so good. Kurt can't help but slide his hands into Blaine's hair, tangle his fingers in the thickness, breaking apart the careful placement. Blaine doesn't seem to mind, moaning lowly and inching closer to Kurt's body. He tilts his face, deepening the kiss, and Kurt opens his mouth, feeling Blaine's tongue prod against his lips and slip inside, brushing light yet firm against Kurt's own.
It's Kurt's turn to moan. It vibrates from his throat and makes their tongues press more firmly together. Blaine breathes heavily through his nose, his arms sliding down and around Kurt's body, pulling them flush together. Kurt feels as though he's losing control of himself; his senses are taking over completely and he's pushing Blaine back as Blaine pulls him forward, his weight pressing Blaine's body into the mattress. He takes over their kiss, sucking Blaine's bottom lip into his mouth, and then his top one, and then both of them together. He pries Blaine's mouth open with his tongue and slips it inside, in and out as Blaine moans underneath him. He feels the stutter of Blaine's hips as he strains upwards and all Kurt can think to do is push back with his own hips, all he can think is how badly he needs to feel every inch of Blaine's body with his own.
Kurt startles when he hears a familiar three sharp raps on the wall at the top of the stairs. He rolls off of Blaine and sprawls across the bed, unable to move any further. Luckily his dad doesn't venture down the stairs. “I'm going to bed,” he calls down. “You fellas don't stay up too late! You got school in the mornin'!”
“Okay, Dad!” Kurt calls back, hoping his voice didn't sound too quivery.
Blaine doesn't bother going up to his room that night. They fall asleep with their hands clasped, their bodies curled towards each other, heads down, in the shape of a heart.
~*~*~*~
The morning of the sectionals competition comes quickly. They get up late and there is a mad scramble, Blaine nearly forgetting his tie and Kurt having to double back for him to retrieve it. Blaine feels an odd sense of déjà vu as he rushes down the basement stairs and grabs it from in amongst Kurt's bedding, still unmade and half hanging on the floor.
They get on the bus with only moments to spare, ushered in by a harried looking Mr. Schuester and a tiny lady with enormous eyes and a clip board. Mr. Schue calls her Emma and tells her their names, which she checks off of her list before following them onto the bus.
On board they see Finn Hudson sitting with a woman who is attempting to straighten his tie.
“Mom, it's fine! Seriously!” he complains, but she just smiles fondly at him. Blaine can hear Mr. Schue thank her for coming along as an extra pair of eyes as he walks to the back to sit across the aisle from Mercedes and Sam.
They win.
Someone brings confetti and Mr. Schue tries to scold them for throwing it all over the bus, but it's obvious that he's too happy and proud to really care. The adults sit up by the driver while the club gathers near the back, talking through their performance and discussing their dream numbers to perform at regionals in the spring. Blaine looks over at Kurt, deep in conversation with Rachel, whom he has just discovered is a big Broadway fan like himself, and he feels content. He reaches out and threads their fingers together, breathing a sigh of relief when no one says a word about it.
They have something of a party at Rachel's house, drinking Shirley Temples out of curly straws and munching on healthy snacks. By the time they're ready to head home, Blaine is exhausted, though it's barely nine o'clock.
Settling in on Kurt's bed, Blaine takes Kurt's hand in his again. He loves this, holding hands, loves the way their fingers slot together, the way Kurt squeezes just slightly, and how it's like a signal for Blaine to squeeze back. He likes the idea that maybe someday, once they've been together for a longer while, they might be able to concoct some sort of system of signals this way, like Morse code that only the two of them will understand.
“I'm okay with it,” he says to Kurt after a few quiet minutes. Kurt turns and regards him, eyebrows raised. “With not being able to go back. We've been reading the book and there's nothing -”
“I'm sorry, Blaine.” Kurt rolls over onto his side and holds their clasped hands up to his face. He kisses Blaine gently on the knuckles before nuzzling against his hand. “I feel so selfish in all this. I want you here.”
Blaine nods and gives Kurt a reassuring smile. “I want me here, too. Don't feel selfish. I won't pretend that never seeing my family again doesn't kill me, because yeah, it hurts and God, I'll miss them. But I'm - The alternative? Leaving here and never seeing you again? The only trace of you being your voice through my ceiling - a song, a cry... I couldn't bear that, Kurt. I - I love you. I love you so much.” He knows it's the complete and utter truth as the words leave his mouth. He's known it since he first saw Kurt looking down at him. Maybe even before ever seeing him.
Blaine pulls their joined hands towards him and places a kiss on the back of Kurt's before holding them both to his heart. He hears Kurt's breath hitch, feels his warmth as he moves closer. “I love you, too, Blaine,” he whispers, then leans in to press their lips together.
The first thing Blaine notices is the smell. He goes from pressing his nose into Kurt's clavicle, smelling his cologne and the Kurt-ness that lies underneath, to noticing that old, familiar scent. Dank. Metallic. Thunder.
Next it's the heat and the low hum. He looks at Kurt before glancing over his shoulder to where he knows it will be, and he can see it reflected there, the swirling light in Kurt's wide, terrified eyes.
“I'm not going, Kurt,” he says, firm. “I'm not.”
Kurt shakes his head and turns in the direction of the humming light. “Are you sure? Your parents... They must be...”
“I know. Maybe... I can write them a letter. Let them know I'm all right.” Kurt just sits and stares at the light and doesn't reply.
Blaine is quick as he grabs a sheet of Kurt's stationary and a pen and writes out his goodbye, his regrets, his love. He tells them he is happy, that he's met his soulmate, that he's been in love with Kurt for years.
He folds it up and slips it into an envelope and scribbles Mom & Dad on the outside. Kurt gets up with him as he approaches the light, takes his hand as he outstretches it, the letter in a loose grasp between both of their hands.
“Are you really, really sure?” Kurt asks, voice trembling.
“I'm really, really sure.”
They hold the letter higher, closer to the light, the motion of the swirling mass ruffling their hair. “Ready?” Blaine asks and Kurt nods, and they hold it up even higher, standing on tiptoes now.
It happens quickly, the rush, the tug, and they're completely at its mercy. Kurt lets out a strangled shout and clings to Blaine. Blaine thinks he hears him say No, Dad, and then they're being sucked inside the spin and the heat and the rain.
They land in a heap on the hardwood floor of a bright room that Blaine does not recognize, the portal closing, circling away into nothing on the crisp white ceiling above.
“Blaine?” Kurt says from beneath him, and Blaine moves and helps him into sitting position. “Is this your room?”
Blaine shakes his head, looking around. He sees something strange, a picture frame sitting on a high shelf. It looks like the two of them, Kurt wearing a crown of some kind. “I've never seen this place before in my life,” he answers.
“Boys?” calls a voice from the hall outside. There are loud clunking footsteps carrying it nearer. Burt Hummel opens the bedroom door and gives them a searching look. “Where the heck have you two been? I get home from Washington and you're just gone. And so I call Blaine's mom, and she has no idea either! I swear I thought the two of you had run off to New York to elope like you were talkin' about at dinner last week.”
Burt gives Kurt a look and Kurt shrugs his shoulders, trying to smile. “That was a... joke?” He plasters his face with a grin.
“Uh huh. Sure it was,” Burt says, shaking his head. “Anyway, boys, answer your damn phones, would ya? You had us all worried.”
“Sorry, Burt,” Blaine says, trying to shift over so he's less on top of Kurt. “We got distracted and forgot.”
“Distracted, yeah. Like I don't know what that's code for.”
“Dad!” Kurt says, red-faced and scandalized. Burt chuckles and waves away Kurt's protest.
“Anyway, dinner soon, guys. Fix yourselves up or whatever.” He closes the door and clomps back down the hall.
“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Kurt asks, straightening his clothes, eyes darting around the unfamiliar room. “Where are we and why is my dad here?”
“I think he's here because this is your house, Kurt. And this is your room.”
“Why would you -”
Blaine motions to the shelves. “Because there's a picture of us right there. And next to it, one of you and your mom. One that fell through the portal not long before I did.”
They get up and study the framed photos that line the shelves, and the photograph that Blaine recognized as Kurt and his mom is indeed the same one he'd found on the bottom of his bed not long ago. If he removes it from the frame, he's sure he will find Kurt's childish scrawl on the back with the words Kurt and Mom.
“Do you think she's - ” Kurt begins, just as a cellphone begins to ring, its vibrations pushing it around on the floor next to where they had just fallen.
“Should I answer that?” Blaine wonders out loud. The phone seems familiar to him, so he bends down and picks it up. The name MOM is flashing across the screen.
“Um, hello?”
“Blaine Devon Anderson, where have you been?”
“Mom?”
“Two days!”
“Two days?”
“You know I don't mind if you stay over at Kurt's, but have the decency to call or at least leave a note! I got home from Columbus and you were nowhere to be found. And then to top it all off, Burt called me and he didn't know where you were either! Charge your phone, Blaine, for goodness sake!”
“Yes, Mom. I'm really sorry. I just got caught up with glee club and, you know...”
“Yes, I realize your competition is soon and you've been practising around the clock. As long as I know you're okay... Just don't do it again.”
“I am and I'm sorry. I'll call you later, okay?”
“Sure dear. I love you.”
Blaine sucks in a breath and tries to inaudibly clear his throat. That is something he'd never expected to hear from his mother ever again. “I love you too, Mommy.”
“Mommy, huh? You do feel guilty,” she answers with a laugh. “I'll see you later, sweetie.”
Blaine ends the call with a smile and wipes at his eyes. Kurt is watching him, a serene expression on his face, holding the framed photo of the two of them in suits. It looks like a posed photo from a prom.
And then it hits him.
“Columbus!”
“What?” Kurt comes towards him, brow furrowed.
“Columbus. My mom said she just got back from Columbus. But it didn't exist in your... reality.”
They locate a laptop and guess at the password - McQueen - and open up the search engine, which Blaine is happy to find is Google. They search through maps - the state, the town, the county, the country - some things are as they were in Blaine's reality, some the same as in Kurt's. It's like the two have literally been melded together into one.
A quick knock sounds on the door and it's pushed open. Finn Hudson sticks his head in and his eyes flit around guiltily. “Hey, um... I don't know why you guys missed glee practice, but I won't rat you out to Burt. But, um, I need to tell you, Kurt, that Rachel's taking over your solo for sectionals, since you missed two rehearsals in a row. Sorry about that, little bro!” He pops back out of the room before Kurt can answer. He's just sitting on the bed next to Blaine, mouth hanging open.
“Did that just happen? What the hell is he -”
A lady pops up in the spot Finn had just vacated. Blaine recognizes her from the bus to sectionals; she's Finn's mother. “I convinced your dad to take us all out to Breadstix for dinner, boys! Get ready, okay?” she says with a bright smile then leaves, just like her son.
They can hear Finn exclaim, “Breadstix, woohoo!” from another part of the house.
“Your dad, he was wearing a wedding band,” Blaine says to the still shell-shocked looking Kurt. “And so was she.”
“Oh my God. Oh my God, my dad is married to Mrs. Hudson.”
“But that's good, right?” Blaine takes his hand and runs his thumb rhythmically over Kurt's knuckles. “You said you worried about him being lonely.”
“It is, but this is just - ”
Kurt's eyes are sweeping over the room. He looks confused and exhausted and maybe a little relieved. But that might be Blaine projecting his own feelings onto Kurt, because that's what he feels. Relief. Sure they are in a strange place again, but they're together, and he gets to keep his family this way. And Kurt, he has more family, and they seem so happy. Blaine wonders what happened to the places they had been before and if they are missing there, or if maybe they've ceased to exist altogether. The book had in no way prepared him for this scenario. But he supposes, unless the portal comes back again, there is no way he will ever know for sure. Though if another version of the pair of them turns up from wherever they've been for two days, they'll be in for trouble.
“Kurt?” Blaine asks, and Kurt swings his still sweeping eyes Blaine's way. “I love you.”
Kurt's tense shoulders relax and he slumps forward against Blaine's side. “I love you, too,” he says, and he smiles. Blaine leans in for a kiss and they quickly forget about their new surroundings.
Until they hear a throat being cleared from the doorway.
“Well come on, boys. I can see you're about to get distracted again, but we got to go,” Burt says, a smile in his voice.
“Oh my God, Dad!” Kurt is red-faced as he clambers off the bed.
Burt chuckles, Blaine right along with him.
Mrs. Hudson comes up from behind and kisses Burt on the shoulder. “Oh, leave them alone, Burt. They're young and in love.”
“Oh yeah, well I'm old and in love, but being in love don't make me any less hungry. So let's go get some lousy, overpriced pasta!” Burt chuckles again as Mrs. Hudson swats him playfully on the arm and they turn away from Kurt's room.
“Are you in the mood for some lousy, overpriced pasta?” Kurt deadpans.
“With you? Always."
~*~*~*~
The duet competition starts two days later. Rachel and her boyfriend, Finn go first, and though Rachel's vocals are stunning, Finn's leave something to be desired in Kurt's opinion. Mr. Schue seems to disagree, however, and congratulates them both on a job well done while the rest of the group roll their eyes in unison.
Kurt and Blaine are up after Mercedes and Sam, who do an adorable, flirty rendition of Under the Boardwalk that has everyone cheering.
It ends up going perfectly. They hit every note, their choreography goes off without a hitch, and the way Blaine is looking at Kurt afterwards, well, it has him a bit weak in the knees. Blaine has been a little standoffish since Kurt had jumped the gun and kissed him after he'd had the nightmare about his parents, and now he's not sure all of his eggshell-walking was even necessary. Blaine's smile is brilliant. The glee club are on their feet all around them. Kurt feels transcendent. Blaine snuggles into his side, doing a half-bow and bringing Kurt with him. Sam and Mike Chang whistle from the back of the room and Artie rolls over to give him a high-five. And Kurt thinks that maybe, just maybe, he might have actual friends.
The entire group votes and they win by two points. Unfortunately, Mr. Schue refuses to change the set list for sectionals, even though there is much protestation within the choir room, angry voices arguing that the duo who won the duet competition should be given the duet at sectionals. It's to no avail.
Mercedes, Sam and Artie rant about it later at dinner. Kurt hasn't been to Breadstix in years, and he finds that the décor hasn't been updated since his dad took him there to celebrate his starting high school.
“It's all right, guys,” Blaine tells them. “Thanks for sticking up for us, but we are new to the group. I can understand that it's not really fair.”
Blaine smiles over at Kurt with a little shrug, and Kurt feels Blaine's fingers trail lightly over the top of his hand under the table just as Mercedes speaks up again. “What's not fair is Berry and Hudson getting every solo in every competition since the dawn of damn time. We're all tired of this crap.”
“Yeah, dudes,” Sam agrees. “It's totally not fair. And Artie is a way better singer than Finn.”
“That I am,” Artie says with a nod. “And so are you gentlemen. But alas, Mr. Schue plays favourites and he is unfortunately the boss of us.”
By the time they've finished with dessert and are waiting for the cheque, Blaine's hand has completely enveloped Kurt's and Kurt sits stock still, worried that if he moves the hand will be withdrawn.
At home they run through the sectionals songs that they were given by Mr. Schue before lying next to each other on Kurt's bed. Blaine grabs Soul Connectors off of the nightstand and they curl in close and read together for a while.
Kurt is half expecting a solution to their problem to show up on every page, but nothing ever does. It's just more of the same: first-hand accounts, opinions of scholars, rudimentary science attempting to explain. It does nothing but give him a sharp pain between his eyes and makes him feel the slightest bit nauseous. If the book is to be believed, Blaine is connected to him. If the book is to be believed, they are parts of the same soul.
Blaine pauses in his reading, noticing that Kurt has stopped. He tilts his head to one side, his face partially smushed into the pillow beneath his head, and Kurt can't help but smile at him. He places the bookmark inside to save their page and tosses the book aside, turning over to face Kurt fully. Kurt raises an eyebrow in question.
“Will you kiss me again?” Blaine asks, voice quiet, eyes earnest, open.
Kurt feels his hands begin to shake, his smile go the tiniest bit off-kilter. “I, ah.. well, you could kiss me this time... if you wanted...”
Blaine bites his lip before leaning in, a half smile playing about his mouth. It feels electric when Blaine kisses him, like something opens up and buzzes deep in the recesses of his brain, shocking his lips, his synapses. Blaine tastes sweet like the cheesecake they'd shared at Breadstix, and smells minty and musky and so, so good. Kurt can't help but slide his hands into Blaine's hair, tangle his fingers in the thickness, breaking apart the careful placement. Blaine doesn't seem to mind, moaning lowly and inching closer to Kurt's body. He tilts his face, deepening the kiss, and Kurt opens his mouth, feeling Blaine's tongue prod against his lips and slip inside, brushing light yet firm against Kurt's own.
It's Kurt's turn to moan. It vibrates from his throat and makes their tongues press more firmly together. Blaine breathes heavily through his nose, his arms sliding down and around Kurt's body, pulling them flush together. Kurt feels as though he's losing control of himself; his senses are taking over completely and he's pushing Blaine back as Blaine pulls him forward, his weight pressing Blaine's body into the mattress. He takes over their kiss, sucking Blaine's bottom lip into his mouth, and then his top one, and then both of them together. He pries Blaine's mouth open with his tongue and slips it inside, in and out as Blaine moans underneath him. He feels the stutter of Blaine's hips as he strains upwards and all Kurt can think to do is push back with his own hips, all he can think is how badly he needs to feel every inch of Blaine's body with his own.
Kurt startles when he hears a familiar three sharp raps on the wall at the top of the stairs. He rolls off of Blaine and sprawls across the bed, unable to move any further. Luckily his dad doesn't venture down the stairs. “I'm going to bed,” he calls down. “You fellas don't stay up too late! You got school in the mornin'!”
“Okay, Dad!” Kurt calls back, hoping his voice didn't sound too quivery.
Blaine doesn't bother going up to his room that night. They fall asleep with their hands clasped, their bodies curled towards each other, heads down, in the shape of a heart.
~*~*~*~
The morning of the sectionals competition comes quickly. They get up late and there is a mad scramble, Blaine nearly forgetting his tie and Kurt having to double back for him to retrieve it. Blaine feels an odd sense of déjà vu as he rushes down the basement stairs and grabs it from in amongst Kurt's bedding, still unmade and half hanging on the floor.
They get on the bus with only moments to spare, ushered in by a harried looking Mr. Schuester and a tiny lady with enormous eyes and a clip board. Mr. Schue calls her Emma and tells her their names, which she checks off of her list before following them onto the bus.
On board they see Finn Hudson sitting with a woman who is attempting to straighten his tie.
“Mom, it's fine! Seriously!” he complains, but she just smiles fondly at him. Blaine can hear Mr. Schue thank her for coming along as an extra pair of eyes as he walks to the back to sit across the aisle from Mercedes and Sam.
They win.
Someone brings confetti and Mr. Schue tries to scold them for throwing it all over the bus, but it's obvious that he's too happy and proud to really care. The adults sit up by the driver while the club gathers near the back, talking through their performance and discussing their dream numbers to perform at regionals in the spring. Blaine looks over at Kurt, deep in conversation with Rachel, whom he has just discovered is a big Broadway fan like himself, and he feels content. He reaches out and threads their fingers together, breathing a sigh of relief when no one says a word about it.
They have something of a party at Rachel's house, drinking Shirley Temples out of curly straws and munching on healthy snacks. By the time they're ready to head home, Blaine is exhausted, though it's barely nine o'clock.
Settling in on Kurt's bed, Blaine takes Kurt's hand in his again. He loves this, holding hands, loves the way their fingers slot together, the way Kurt squeezes just slightly, and how it's like a signal for Blaine to squeeze back. He likes the idea that maybe someday, once they've been together for a longer while, they might be able to concoct some sort of system of signals this way, like Morse code that only the two of them will understand.
“I'm okay with it,” he says to Kurt after a few quiet minutes. Kurt turns and regards him, eyebrows raised. “With not being able to go back. We've been reading the book and there's nothing -”
“I'm sorry, Blaine.” Kurt rolls over onto his side and holds their clasped hands up to his face. He kisses Blaine gently on the knuckles before nuzzling against his hand. “I feel so selfish in all this. I want you here.”
Blaine nods and gives Kurt a reassuring smile. “I want me here, too. Don't feel selfish. I won't pretend that never seeing my family again doesn't kill me, because yeah, it hurts and God, I'll miss them. But I'm - The alternative? Leaving here and never seeing you again? The only trace of you being your voice through my ceiling - a song, a cry... I couldn't bear that, Kurt. I - I love you. I love you so much.” He knows it's the complete and utter truth as the words leave his mouth. He's known it since he first saw Kurt looking down at him. Maybe even before ever seeing him.
Blaine pulls their joined hands towards him and places a kiss on the back of Kurt's before holding them both to his heart. He hears Kurt's breath hitch, feels his warmth as he moves closer. “I love you, too, Blaine,” he whispers, then leans in to press their lips together.
The first thing Blaine notices is the smell. He goes from pressing his nose into Kurt's clavicle, smelling his cologne and the Kurt-ness that lies underneath, to noticing that old, familiar scent. Dank. Metallic. Thunder.
Next it's the heat and the low hum. He looks at Kurt before glancing over his shoulder to where he knows it will be, and he can see it reflected there, the swirling light in Kurt's wide, terrified eyes.
“I'm not going, Kurt,” he says, firm. “I'm not.”
Kurt shakes his head and turns in the direction of the humming light. “Are you sure? Your parents... They must be...”
“I know. Maybe... I can write them a letter. Let them know I'm all right.” Kurt just sits and stares at the light and doesn't reply.
Blaine is quick as he grabs a sheet of Kurt's stationary and a pen and writes out his goodbye, his regrets, his love. He tells them he is happy, that he's met his soulmate, that he's been in love with Kurt for years.
He folds it up and slips it into an envelope and scribbles Mom & Dad on the outside. Kurt gets up with him as he approaches the light, takes his hand as he outstretches it, the letter in a loose grasp between both of their hands.
“Are you really, really sure?” Kurt asks, voice trembling.
“I'm really, really sure.”
They hold the letter higher, closer to the light, the motion of the swirling mass ruffling their hair. “Ready?” Blaine asks and Kurt nods, and they hold it up even higher, standing on tiptoes now.
It happens quickly, the rush, the tug, and they're completely at its mercy. Kurt lets out a strangled shout and clings to Blaine. Blaine thinks he hears him say No, Dad, and then they're being sucked inside the spin and the heat and the rain.
They land in a heap on the hardwood floor of a bright room that Blaine does not recognize, the portal closing, circling away into nothing on the crisp white ceiling above.
“Blaine?” Kurt says from beneath him, and Blaine moves and helps him into sitting position. “Is this your room?”
Blaine shakes his head, looking around. He sees something strange, a picture frame sitting on a high shelf. It looks like the two of them, Kurt wearing a crown of some kind. “I've never seen this place before in my life,” he answers.
“Boys?” calls a voice from the hall outside. There are loud clunking footsteps carrying it nearer. Burt Hummel opens the bedroom door and gives them a searching look. “Where the heck have you two been? I get home from Washington and you're just gone. And so I call Blaine's mom, and she has no idea either! I swear I thought the two of you had run off to New York to elope like you were talkin' about at dinner last week.”
Burt gives Kurt a look and Kurt shrugs his shoulders, trying to smile. “That was a... joke?” He plasters his face with a grin.
“Uh huh. Sure it was,” Burt says, shaking his head. “Anyway, boys, answer your damn phones, would ya? You had us all worried.”
“Sorry, Burt,” Blaine says, trying to shift over so he's less on top of Kurt. “We got distracted and forgot.”
“Distracted, yeah. Like I don't know what that's code for.”
“Dad!” Kurt says, red-faced and scandalized. Burt chuckles and waves away Kurt's protest.
“Anyway, dinner soon, guys. Fix yourselves up or whatever.” He closes the door and clomps back down the hall.
“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Kurt asks, straightening his clothes, eyes darting around the unfamiliar room. “Where are we and why is my dad here?”
“I think he's here because this is your house, Kurt. And this is your room.”
“Why would you -”
Blaine motions to the shelves. “Because there's a picture of us right there. And next to it, one of you and your mom. One that fell through the portal not long before I did.”
They get up and study the framed photos that line the shelves, and the photograph that Blaine recognized as Kurt and his mom is indeed the same one he'd found on the bottom of his bed not long ago. If he removes it from the frame, he's sure he will find Kurt's childish scrawl on the back with the words Kurt and Mom.
“Do you think she's - ” Kurt begins, just as a cellphone begins to ring, its vibrations pushing it around on the floor next to where they had just fallen.
“Should I answer that?” Blaine wonders out loud. The phone seems familiar to him, so he bends down and picks it up. The name MOM is flashing across the screen.
“Um, hello?”
“Blaine Devon Anderson, where have you been?”
“Mom?”
“Two days!”
“Two days?”
“You know I don't mind if you stay over at Kurt's, but have the decency to call or at least leave a note! I got home from Columbus and you were nowhere to be found. And then to top it all off, Burt called me and he didn't know where you were either! Charge your phone, Blaine, for goodness sake!”
“Yes, Mom. I'm really sorry. I just got caught up with glee club and, you know...”
“Yes, I realize your competition is soon and you've been practising around the clock. As long as I know you're okay... Just don't do it again.”
“I am and I'm sorry. I'll call you later, okay?”
“Sure dear. I love you.”
Blaine sucks in a breath and tries to inaudibly clear his throat. That is something he'd never expected to hear from his mother ever again. “I love you too, Mommy.”
“Mommy, huh? You do feel guilty,” she answers with a laugh. “I'll see you later, sweetie.”
Blaine ends the call with a smile and wipes at his eyes. Kurt is watching him, a serene expression on his face, holding the framed photo of the two of them in suits. It looks like a posed photo from a prom.
And then it hits him.
“Columbus!”
“What?” Kurt comes towards him, brow furrowed.
“Columbus. My mom said she just got back from Columbus. But it didn't exist in your... reality.”
They locate a laptop and guess at the password - McQueen - and open up the search engine, which Blaine is happy to find is Google. They search through maps - the state, the town, the county, the country - some things are as they were in Blaine's reality, some the same as in Kurt's. It's like the two have literally been melded together into one.
A quick knock sounds on the door and it's pushed open. Finn Hudson sticks his head in and his eyes flit around guiltily. “Hey, um... I don't know why you guys missed glee practice, but I won't rat you out to Burt. But, um, I need to tell you, Kurt, that Rachel's taking over your solo for sectionals, since you missed two rehearsals in a row. Sorry about that, little bro!” He pops back out of the room before Kurt can answer. He's just sitting on the bed next to Blaine, mouth hanging open.
“Did that just happen? What the hell is he -”
A lady pops up in the spot Finn had just vacated. Blaine recognizes her from the bus to sectionals; she's Finn's mother. “I convinced your dad to take us all out to Breadstix for dinner, boys! Get ready, okay?” she says with a bright smile then leaves, just like her son.
They can hear Finn exclaim, “Breadstix, woohoo!” from another part of the house.
“Your dad, he was wearing a wedding band,” Blaine says to the still shell-shocked looking Kurt. “And so was she.”
“Oh my God. Oh my God, my dad is married to Mrs. Hudson.”
“But that's good, right?” Blaine takes his hand and runs his thumb rhythmically over Kurt's knuckles. “You said you worried about him being lonely.”
“It is, but this is just - ”
Kurt's eyes are sweeping over the room. He looks confused and exhausted and maybe a little relieved. But that might be Blaine projecting his own feelings onto Kurt, because that's what he feels. Relief. Sure they are in a strange place again, but they're together, and he gets to keep his family this way. And Kurt, he has more family, and they seem so happy. Blaine wonders what happened to the places they had been before and if they are missing there, or if maybe they've ceased to exist altogether. The book had in no way prepared him for this scenario. But he supposes, unless the portal comes back again, there is no way he will ever know for sure. Though if another version of the pair of them turns up from wherever they've been for two days, they'll be in for trouble.
“Kurt?” Blaine asks, and Kurt swings his still sweeping eyes Blaine's way. “I love you.”
Kurt's tense shoulders relax and he slumps forward against Blaine's side. “I love you, too,” he says, and he smiles. Blaine leans in for a kiss and they quickly forget about their new surroundings.
Until they hear a throat being cleared from the doorway.
“Well come on, boys. I can see you're about to get distracted again, but we got to go,” Burt says, a smile in his voice.
“Oh my God, Dad!” Kurt is red-faced as he clambers off the bed.
Burt chuckles, Blaine right along with him.
Mrs. Hudson comes up from behind and kisses Burt on the shoulder. “Oh, leave them alone, Burt. They're young and in love.”
“Oh yeah, well I'm old and in love, but being in love don't make me any less hungry. So let's go get some lousy, overpriced pasta!” Burt chuckles again as Mrs. Hudson swats him playfully on the arm and they turn away from Kurt's room.
“Are you in the mood for some lousy, overpriced pasta?” Kurt deadpans.
“With you? Always."