#also fyi i made a gifset to this song because again. stick season has a CHOKEHOLD on my gay ass

[blurglesmurfklaine]

Stick Season (14/14)

Summary: After Finn dies, Kurt leaves everything he knows behind without a trace. His hometown, his family, his boyfriend. When his dad has a medical scare, he returns to Lima, one year after breaking Blaine’s heart with no explanation.

A non-chronological series of one shots and drabbles set in this universe. Based on the Stick Season album by Noah Kahan

Tropes/Genres: Angst, Reconciliation, Grief, Alcoholism, Mentions of Major Character Death, Mental Health

Track 7. Everywhere, Everything // Day 14: Time of My Life

Words: 1446

A/N: WELP HERE IT IS! The final installment of Stick Season! Honestly it made me hella emo so buckle up buttersluts

As i mentioned earlier, the majority of this series is non-chronological. This story IS complete, HOWEVER I will be creating a masterpost some time tomorrow with all the links and three different orders you can read the chapters in (Posting Order, Chronological, Author's Preference) so stay tuned for that!

Thanks to everyone who kept up with this, and encouraged me with your kind words about this story, especially @dartor-lovesreading, @rockitmans, and @calliopemelpomene <3 your support means more than you could know

ANYWHO! I'll shush now and let y'all get to reading. Bone apple teeth or whatever <3

They stay there at Finn’s grave, huddled close together and clutching on to one another as they brace against the wind, for what could be seconds or hours. Finally, Blaine prompts Kurt to get back into the heated car, where they wont risk freezing their toes off. 

They drive silently back to Blaine’s place, and Kurt doesn’t let go of Blaine’s hand the entire time.

“Do you… want to come inside?” Blaine offers carefully.

“I… Can I um, stay? For the night.”

Blaine sighs, warmth shooting up through his blood and bursting in his heart as he grasps Kurt’s hand. “You can stay forever, if you want.”

Nothing happens, that first night, aside from Kurt snuggling close behind Blaine on the bed, wrapping his arms around his torso—two puzzle pieces that have finally found each other. 

“Kurt,” he murmurs softly, his quiet voice warm around the winter covering them. 

Kurt wordlessly hooks his chin over Blaine’s shoulder in response.

“You don’t have to say anything. I just… I want you to know that I meant what I said at Sam’s party. I still love you. That’s it. I don’t want to make things weird, or whatever, but I can’t not tell you how I’m feeling and—”

“Blaine?”

“Yeah?”

Kurt’s arms squeeze tighter around him, muffling his choked sound of emotion. “I love you, too,” he finally says. “And I… I want to try again. Us. If you’ll have me.”

Blaine flips to his other side to face Kurt, features barely visible in the darkness of Blaine’s room. “God, Kurt,” he says breathlessly, putting a hand up to Kurt’s cheek. He inhales in response, breath frozen in time. “Of course,” Blaine mutters, and pulls Kurt’s face to his.

“I don’t want to screw this up,” Kurt says when they pull apart, cradling Blaine’s face. “Not again. I need you to know that I’m with you, now, forever. Everything, everywhere, I want you.”

“You have me.”

Kurt doesn’t officially move in with him, but Blaine’s mom spends less and less time at home and more time with her sister in Tennessee, so it’s not a complete surprise when she eventually announces her move from Lima to Nashville. She’s generous enough to live with her sister and leave Blaine the house.

Blaine is happy for her. She’s been wanting to start anew since the divorce and it seems she finally found the courage to. Although, he’s also secretly excited to have a space of his own—one that he can share with Kurt.

Kurt sleeps over more often than he doesn’t, and when he does, it’s typically just that—sleeping. Of course, Blaine wants Kurt. He wants to feel their bodies pressed up against one another the way they did back in high school, and wants the heat mounting between them to warm his heart that’s been lying cold for nearly a year now.

But he gets the sense that Kurt isn’t quite ready for that, yet, so Blaine never mentions it, never presses for things to go past lazy kisses pressed on necks as they straddle one another on the couch while some 80s romcom like Dirty Dancing plays in the background.

One day they’re watching an episode of Ninety-Day Fiance, critiquing the reality TV stars’ poor life decisions and even poorer wardrobe decisions.

“What could he possibly be hiding in all those pockets?” Kurt exclaims in bewilderment, pointing out a contestant’s jacket with an array of asymmetrical pockets.

“Secrets,” Blaine quips.

Kurt snorts and leans his head on Blaine’s chest and he responds by draping his arms over Kurt’s shoulders. “You’re so dumb,” Kurt mutters playfully.

“Yeah, but you love me.”

Kurt turns his chip upwards, grinning. “Yeah, I do.”

This time, when Kurt reaches up to kiss him, Blaine can tell there’s something different. The gentleness and unhurried tempo is quickly replaced by a growing sense of urgency and need until the spark of light between them ignites into a roaring fire.

Before he knows it, they’re a mess of tangled limbs on the couch, each so fully intertwined and in tune with the rhythm of the other’s body that Blaine truly doesn’t know where he ends and Kurt begins.

In the aftermath—after Blaine’s pressed gentle kisses to Kurt’s forehead, not caring that his hair is matted down with sweat despite his protest of chagrin—he lies there, Kurt’s head on his chest where he’s closest to Blaine’s heart. He strokes Kurt’s hair long after he’s fast asleep, cradled in Blaine’s arms.

It’s been a long year, one where his and Kurt’s story was dog eared, frozen in time. It’s not over yet, but Blaine has a good feeling about where it’s going.

------------------------

One Year Later

“I can’t believe this is goodbye,” Kurt says, voice shaking.

“It’s a see you later, not goodbye.”

“I’m gonna miss you so much.”

“I’ll miss you, too. You know, if you ever feel like it’s too much out there… You can always come back.”

Kurt squeezes his arms tighter around the familiar torso, drying his tears on his sleeves. There are so many reasons he can’t do that, and the biggest one is standing behind Kurt, patiently waiting as he says his farewells.

As if he can read Kurt’s mind, his dad says, “But I know you won’t. Not if it means leaving Blaine in Columbus.”

Finally, Kurt finds the strength to pull away. “If you need anything—anything at all—or have any medical updates you call me right away. None of that I can handle it myself crap.”

“Guess that runs in the family, doesn’t it?” Burt moves to ruffle his son’s hair, before seemingly remember how much it annoys Kurt. The funny thing is, though, Kurt’s certain he wouldn’t have minded it as much this time. “I’ve got Carole, cancer’s been gone for two months now. If it comes back, I’ll just kick its ass again.”

Kurt gives a wet little chuckle. Columbus is only a few hours away, so when Blaine got accepted into a prestigious Master’s program for music composition, Kurt knew he’d follow him anywhere.

Still, it’s hard to leave his dad again. At least this time he’s doing it the right way.

They’d done the planning—scoped out apartments and packed up their things into Kurt’s car. Blaine will spend his days at school, and Kurt… Well, he’s still got a lot to figure out, but at the very least he doesn’t have to do it alone.

A gentle hand on Kurt’s shoulder prompts him to turn around. 

The local eighties station plays Time of My Life as he and Blaine buckle in for their road trip, and Kurt can’t help but think how fitting it is. He’s starting anew with the love of his life in a new city, and he owes it all to Blaine.

 A  year ago, Kurt thought the guilt he felt over Finn’s death would follow him for the rest of his life, but Blaine had shown him—with his ever constant reassurance and unwillingness to let Kurt hate himself—that you can’t shame yourself into a better person. He can only spend the rest of his life trying to return the favor and making sure Blaine feels just as loved.

Kurt doesn’t believe in god, or an afterlife, but he sends up a wave of gratitude to the universe for his brother, who in his short but bright time on this earth, managed to give Kurt something worth its weight in gold.

“You ready?”

Kurt smiles and nods. As long as you’re next to me, for anything.

Healing is a lot of things.

It’s not easy, and it sure as hell isn’t linear.

It’s difficult. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It’s a shaky leg at his dad’s doctor’s appointment, and the itch in his fingers that want to reach for a drink, even when his heart doesn’t.

 It’s seven weeks of good days followed by one argument with Blaine that sends Kurt spiraling when he can’t get a hold of his boyfriend for hours on end. It’s the gentle touch of the love of his life’s hand on his when he finally does come home to Kurt crying on the couch, sobbing, “I thought you’d left. I thought you were going to show me how it felt.” It’s the solidity and softness in Blaine’s voice when he reassures Kurt that he’s not going anywhere.

It’s a choice—one that has to be made every day. And now, one Kurt gets to make with Blaine next to him every step of the way.