I want to pretend that 4x04 didn't happen, but since it did, this is my way of dealing with it.

I obviously do not own Glee because if I did, Eli C. would be eaten by lions and Kurt and Blaine would be getting married in Central Park because they're eternity, goddammit (sorry, I have rage). And since none of that is happening…. Well, yeah.

I don't know why, but I feel like I should warn you that there is excessive Furt bromance in this. I have developed a renewed love of Finn Hudson (and Finchel – everything I've known about life is now a lie) since Thursday and I just want everything to be Furt and Klaine and Finchel and Hummelberry and Blainchel and Blinn for all eternity. No, but in all seriousness, I might have overdone it on the Furt, but I couldn't help myself, so considered yourselves warned.

Wait, one more thing. This is unbeta'd so some things are likely to change, including the title.

Now I'm done.

Kurt looked up at the sound of the door being slid open. "Where have you been?" he asked, his voice dead to his own ears, as Rachel quietly slipped inside. "I haven't seen you in days."

"I was in Ohio," she said casually, as if she'd simply gone to the corner store.

"Ohi… Wait, what?"

"Long story short, I officially broke up with Finn." So that explained all the missed calls and texts from his brother that Kurt had been too depressed to respond to. "Oh," she continued brightly, sitting down on Kurt's bed by his feet. "Did you and Blaine make up?" Kurt followed her gaze and saw that she was looking at the red and yellow roses that had replaced the red ones he'd thrown in the trash.

"No," he said, handing her the card he'd fished from his garbage can before leaving work and had been staring at for the past three hours.

Rachel's eyes glanced over the words before looking back at Kurt. "So what are you going to do?"

Kurt sighed. "He cheated on me, Rach. And not like what I did with Chandler. He really cheated. What am I supposed to do?"

"You can't give up on him," she said sadly, placing a hand on his knee. "I've never seen a couple more in love than the two of you and I've never seen you happier than when you're with Blaine."

"How am I supposed to trust him again?" Kurt asked quietly, trying to hide the tears in his voice. (The fact that he had any tears left at all amazed him.)

"Kurt, I understand where you're coming from – I do – but I get Blaine, too. This isn't what you want to hear, but I understand why he… did what he did."

"So you're taking his side?" Kurt shot at her, a hard edge creeping into his voice.

"Did I say that?" Rachel retorted, her voice just as hard. "Kurt, you're my best friend and I love you more than anything. But Blaine means a lot to me, too, so I'm not going to take sides. I'm just trying to help you understand why Blaine… well, you know."

"Okay, sorry. Go on."

Rachel took a deep breath and said, "Junior year when I found out that Finn had slept with Santana, I was devastated. He wasn't the same person – he'd lied to me and I didn't know how I was supposed to trust him anymore. I was lonely and I needed someone to be there for me and… Puck was. I'm not proud of what I did and I certainly don't condone it, but it's what happened." Kurt simply blinked, knowing she wasn't done. "Why did you start texting Chandler?"

"Rachel…"

"Answer the question, Kurt."

Kurt sighed and closed his eyes. "Because… I was lonely. I could feel Blaine pulling away and I thought he didn't… didn't love me anymore." Well, you were right about that, his mind said and he wondered if it was possible to run away from your own thoughts.

"And I'll bet you anything that that's how Blaine felt, too. Think about it – you're in this new city and most of your dreams are coming true. He, meanwhile, is stuck in a town he hates and that hates him right back, still dreaming about getting out. And, if that wasn't bad enough, he's stuck in a school where he doesn't fit in because the one place he fit isn't there anymore. He spends all day waiting for your phone calls, which are usually cut short because you're at work or you're too tired to talk. It only seems logical to me that he would seek comfort wherever he could find it."

"…You talked to him, didn't you?"

"I might have…"

"Rachel!"

She threw up her hands. "Hey, I'm neutral, remember? And, besides, I'll bet my entire collection of original Broadway recordings that you've talked to Finn."

Well, she had him there. "Fine, you win." He sighed. "I have to talk to him, don't I?"

"I think so."

"But how? He won't answer my calls or texts and he's never on Skype anymore…. I knew I should have talked to him before he left," he added under his breath, talking more to himself than Rachel.

"There's a flight to Dayton leaving from JFK in four hours. I'm sure there's at least some standby seats left," she said airily, standing and walking to her own "bedroom". Kurt sighed and pulled his laptop towards him.

As he booked the flight, he hoped it would all be worth it in the end.

"Thanks for coming to get me, Carole," Kurt said as he walked out of the airport with his stepmother. "I know it's your day off."

"Oh, it's no problem, sweetie. Besides, it'll be a nice surprise for your dad when he gets home from work." Kurt forced a smile while secretly dreading the moment when he would have to tell his dad what had happened with Blaine. Burt absolutely loved Blaine, treating him almost like a third son, and Kurt knew that this would just break his heart. As they got into Carole's car, she said, "Speaking of surprises, you never did tell me why you suddenly hopped on a plane back to Ohio."

Kurt froze. In midst of thinking about what he would tell his dad and then what he would say to Blaine (assuming he would talk to him again), he had completely forgotten about Carole. "Um… would you believe me if I said I just really missed you guys?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes…" Kurt sighed in relief. "And no." Damn.

"Okay… the truth is I needed to talk to Blaine."

"Wasn't he just in New York a few days ago?"

"Yes, but it didn't exactly go the way I… would have wanted it to."

"What do you mean?" And, then, because he knew she was going to find out sooner or later, Kurt broke and told her the whole story, ending up in tears for the umpteenth time in three days. "Oh, Kurt. I'm so sorry, sweetie." She put a hand on his shoulder. "But I'm sure you guys will work it out because if you two aren't meant to be together, then I don't know who is."

Kurt wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his sweater. "I hope you're right."

"Kurt, I'm a mom. I'm always right." And for the first time in what felt like forever, Kurt actually laughed.

As it turned out, telling his dad about what happened was easier than he expected. Getting the words out was still like talking around a lump of glue in his throat, but his dad's reaction wasn't what he was anticipating.

"You'll work it out, buddy. I've never seen you let go of something you wanted, and I know you want Blaine more than you want to be on Broadway. So don't worry about it – this is just a bump in the road and you just have to go around it." Kurt melted into his dad's arms and allowed him to kiss the top of his head, which he hadn't let him do since before his mom had died.

"Uh… Kurt?" Kurt looked up to see Finn standing awkwardly in the doorway to the living room, hands stuffed into his pockets. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure." Kurt untangled himself from his dad and followed his brother up stairs to his room. Stepping around the usual Finn mess that probably hadn't been cleaned up since he left for Georgia, Kurt sat down on the bed. "What's up?"

"I uh… talked to Blaine and he's really sorry, dude. Like, I'm pretty sure he hates him right now – probably more than you hate him."

"I don't hate him," Kurt said quietly, looking down at his hands. And it was true – no matter what happened, he knew that he would never be able to hate Blaine Anderson.

"Oh, uh, well, that's not it. I also kinda talked to… the other guy."

Kurt's head shot up and he looked Finn dead in the eye. "You what?"

"Well, Blaine told me his name, so I looked him up on Facebook and I kinda bitched him out for about an hour. No one messes with my little brother and gets away with it." Kurt opened his mouth to say that, as much as he appreciated the sentiment, it was completely unnecessary, but Finn continued to talking. "After I finished, he… well, he told me that, and you'll probably never believe this, nothing happened. Well, not nothing. Blaine went over to his house and they kissed but then the guy said that Blaine freaked and left before… anything else could happen."

Kurt's heart soared. So Blaine hadn't slept with this guy? Then why had he led Kurt to believe that he did? He had so many more questions than answers, but the one thing he knew for sure was that he was still the only person who got the see all of Blaine. "And you're one hundred percent sure?"

Finn shrugged. "It's what the dude said. Do you want to see the conversation?" Kurt shook his head. Seeing this guy – whatever his name was – and knowing that he actually existed would make the whole situation more real than Kurt would have wanted it to be. "Okay. But, Kurt, just so you know, his profile picture was a lighthouse and he's totally not cute, so I don't think you have to worry about anything."

"Did the almighty Finn Hudson just judge the physical attractiveness of another man?" Kurt asked, feigning shock and putting a hand over his heart.

"What can I say? I'm a new man," Finn laughed and Kurt couldn't help but join in. "Now give me a hug."

"What is it with you and hugging?" he questioned, though he caved and wrapped his arms around his older brother. "Thanks, Finn-Finn," he said softly, using the nickname he'd found out Carole used to use when Finn was little. Only Kurt knew about it and it felt nice to have something that was just between the two of them.

"No problem, Kurtie." That one had been Finn's own invention, because he claimed that Kurt, too, needed an embarrassing nickname to counteract Finn-Finn. If anyone else, even Blaine, called him Kurtie, he probably would have killed them. It must be a brother thing.

The next day, Kurt climbed into Finn's pickup truck, shaking so violently random passersby would surely think he was having a seizure. He didn't like this feeling of dread and hated it even more because it was being associated with talking to Blaine. Since the day they'd met, Blaine had been the one person Kurt could talk to without fear of judgment, the one person he could say absolutely anything to. And now he wasn't even sure Blaine would listen to what he had to say.

"You okay, little bro?" Finn asked, glancing at him quickly before putting his eyes back on the road (for all his faults, Finn was actually a near-perfect driver). "You don't have to do this if you're not ready."

"I'll never be ready to have this conversation," Kurt replied, his voice taking on the monotone he'd used before he met Blaine, back when he was afraid every action would have a negative consequence. "Ripping off a Band-Aid, right?"

"If you're sure…"

"I am," he said, his voice a lot more confident than his mind. He was sure Finn could see through that, but he – thankfully – said nothing.

They pulled into the parking lot of McKinley and got out of the car. To distract himself from what lay behind those doors, Kurt asked, "So, why are you here? At McKinley, I mean, not Ohio."

"Oh, well, I came back to talk to Mr. Schue about what happened with Rachel, because he's kinda always been there for me and he's the first person I think of when I need advice, you know? So we talked about it and he really helped me see that what I need is something to do – something to distract me from, well, everything. So now I'm second-in-command of the glee club. Like, if any of the guys have any questions and Mr. Schue isn't around, they ask me. I don't get paid for it or anything, so I'm still working at the tire shop, but it's still cool."

"That's really great, Finn, and exactly what you need right now." He'd wondered how Finn was handling all of this. He had his job and Rachel and Blaine had school to distract them, but Finn had nothing, so it was good for him to find something he was passionate about to concentrate on.

Their conversation had carried them all the way to the choir room and an icy feel closed in around Kurt's heart. There was no way he could do this… he would just go back to New York, go to work, and think about the life he could have had if only he'd been braver. "You've got this, dude. Go get your man." Oddly enough, that was just the push Kurt. As per what they'd discussed the night before, Finn walked into the choir room while Kurt waited in the hallway. "Mr. Schue not here yet?" he heard his brother ask. "That's fine, we can start without him. But, first, Blaine… there's someone in the hallway who needs to talk to you. It's pretty important."

"Uh… Okay?" Kurt heard Blaine say and he could perfectly picture his boyfriend's (or was it ex-boyfriend? Kurt wasn't even clear on that) adorably confused face, which he wore more often than not. He listened as Blaine moved closer to the door, his heart speeding up for each footstep. The door opened, then, "Kurt?"

"Hi," he said shyly, smiling a little, relieved to see Blaine's face and hear his voice even though he knew he should be pissed.

"W-What are you doing here?"

"I think we need to talk," was all he said. Blaine nodded and together (well, Kurt was a few steps ahead of Blaine, but it counted) they walked towards the auditorium.

"Are you gonna serenade me?" Blaine asked and Kurt could tell he was trying to make a joke to lighten the mood.

"Please," he countered, a smile tugging at his lips. "I am way too sophisticated for that." That made Blaine laugh and Kurt realized how much he'd missed that sound. Hoisting himself up onto the stage, sitting on the edge with his feet dangling over, he continued in a more serious voice, "Do you remember the last time we were here alone? After West Side Story?" Blaine nodded and came to stand in front of Kurt, not quite close enough to touch. "I was so proud of you and I knew in that moment you were the one I wanted to give all of myself to because you were the one person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with."

"Kurt…"

"Please, just let me finish. You owe me at least that." Blaine pursed his lips and nodded again, folding his arms across his chest, which Kurt knew he did when he got uncomfortable. "I had our entire lives planned out and I'm not ashamed to admit that because I know you did, too. I guess I just want to know why you would throw all that away."

"Because I'm stupid?" Blaine offered.

"You're not stupid, Blaine. You're one of the smartest people I know. Now give me the real reason you did what you did."

Blaine sighed and stepped closer to Kurt. "I was lonely and I was hurt. That day in Miss Pillsbury's office, you promised me that I wasn't going to lose you. You said that we were going to Skype every day and you'd call me all the time and that I'd visit you in New York every weekend. But it's been two months since I've seen you and I'm lucky if I get a good morning text. I know that you're busy and that you're making a career for yourself, but I just thought that I was important to you, too." He had started to cry and Kurt wanted nothing more than to wrap him up in his arms and tell him that they would be okay, but he had things he needed to say before they reached that point.

"You are important to me, Blaine. You're one of the most important people in my life and that's what hurts the most. You mean so much to me and for you to… do that, it tore my heart out. I don't know how I'm supposed to trust you anymore."

"I don't expect you to."

"But I want to!" Kurt finally let all his anger and frustration seep into his voice as he started to yell. "I want to trust you and I want to be with you and I want to love you and I want you to love me and I just want to everything to go back to normal but that can't happen because you had to go and mess it up!" Hot tears of anger rolled down his cheeks and he doubled over, letting himself cry. A strong pair of arms wrapped around him and he let himself melt into the embrace, clinging to the back of Blaine's sweater like it was the last good thing on earth. "Why?" he cried into Blaine's shoulder. "Why did you do this to me? To us?" Blaine clutched him tighter and pressed his lips to the top of Kurt's head.

"I'm sorry," he said and Kurt could hear his tears as well. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'll never stop being sorry and I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you."

Kurt lifted his head to look at Blaine's tear-streaked face. "You hurt me," he deadpanned. "You hurt me a lot and I know I should hate you and never want to see you again, but I can't. You own way too much of my heart, Blaine Anderson, and that's never going to change. No matter what happens, you'll always be the one who can make me the happiest. But that also means you're also going to be the one who can hurt me the most and you need to remember that."

Blaine bit his lip and nodded again. "I will." He grabbed Kurt's hands and held them tight. "I don't deserve you, Kurt Hummel."

"No, you don't," Kurt agreed, pulling a hand out of Blaine's grasp to curl it around the other boy's neck. "But I'm yours forever." The he pulled Blaine's head towards his own and crushed their lips together in a heated kiss that was all teeth and tongue and passion and utter perfection.

Breaking for air, Blaine stroked a thumb over Kurt's cheek. "So… we're gonna be okay?" he asked, echoing the same question he'd posed to Kurt in the spring just before graduation.

This time, however, the answer didn't come as easily to Kurt. But then he remembered what his dad and everyone else had said to him. "You hurt me," he repeated and Blaine hung his head. "But," he continued and Blaine raised his head, a hopeful look on his face, "if there's one thing I know, it's that we're meant to be together. We've hit a bump in the road, but we're gonna get around it. And we're gonna do it together because we're at our best when we're together." Blaine laughed – the sound tearful – and pressed his forehead to Kurt's. "Now kiss me again before I change my mind." Blaine laughed again and was quick to comply with Kurt's demand.

Yes, it was going to be hard, but they we're going to get through this. Because they were forever and forever trumped bumps in the road.

So, that happened and I'm actually crying (or maybe that's because I'm watching Long Island Medium and that show just gets to me). Hopefully, this gave you guys the closure we were deprived of and – as always – seemed realistic of the characters.

Review!