Just Around The Corner

15

Kurt woke up abruptly the following morning, when a ray of sunshine hit his face from behind barred windows. He squinted at it and sat up slowly, his entire body aching from sleeping on a hard prison bench all night.

Looking over into the other cell, he could see that Blaine was already awake, leaning against the wall, legs dangling over the bench. He perked up when he saw Kurt was awake.

"Good morning," he said.

"Morning," Kurt muttered. He rubbed at his eyes. "What time is it?"

"I think around eight," Blaine said. "The sun came up two hours ago."

Kurt frowned. "You've been awake for two hours?"

"Yeah," Blaine admitted. He smiled sheepishly. "To tell you the truth, I've hardly slept at all."

Now that he said it, Kurt could see just how exhausted Blaine looked. He was slumped over, with bags under his bloodshot eyes.

"You should have woken me up," Kurt said.

"I wanted you to get some sleep. I figured one of us should be well rested for this trial."

Kurt's stomach sank at the mention of the trial. Despite his surroundings, he'd all but forgotten about it. He had no idea what to expect - would they get fined? Thrown back in jail? It seemed unlikely that any judge or jury would find them innocent (what the hell would they be charged with, anyway? Holding hands in public?).

"Hey," Blaine said, catching Kurt's attention. "It's going to be fine."

"You don't know that."

"Sure I do."

Kurt scoffed. "That's why you were unable to sleep? Because you know we're going to be fine?"

Blaine's face fell and Kurt instantly regretted lashing out. Right now, they were all the support each other had. This was not the time to get catty.

He stood up and approached the bars that separated them. He reached out his hands and after a momentary pause, Blaine got up as well.

"I'm sorry," Kurt said as he took both of Blaine's hands in his own.

"It's okay." The bars between them were thin and widely spread, not enough of a barrier to keep Blaine from kissing Kurt. It was short and chaste, but it felt revitalizing.

Kurt didn't quite have it in him to tell Blaine that he was right, so he didn't say anything else, choosing instead to bask silently in Blaine's presence for what could be the last time. When the sheriff came to get them some time later, they were still standing there.

---

The courtroom was packed full with what was probably the entire population of Pleasantville. The colored people were relegated to the balcony, while the black and whites sat in the main hall. As he walked to the front of the room, Kurt spotted Rachel and Betty sitting at the front row of the balcony. They waved at him when they saw him looking and he waved halfheartedly back.

"If the defendants would please take their seats."

Big Bob's voice rang out through the hall, causing the slight murmuring from the audience to cease. Kurt and Blaine sat down at an empty table, right in front of the Mayor's podium. There was a jury on each side of them but no lawyers to be seen. Big Bob seemed to be playing the part of the judge himself.

Kurt would say this severely diminished their chances of a free trial, if he hadn't known from the start they'd never be getting one. The only way to avoid punishment now was to get the ordinary citizens of Pleasantville on their side.

"Bud Parker and Blaine Anderson," Big Bob started, "you are charged with indecent behavior in violation of the Pleasantville Code of Conduct. Do you admit to those charges?"

"That depends on what you mean by 'indecent''," Kurt said. He could feel his heart pounding in his throat. Keeping his voice steady was proving difficult but he'd be damned if he showed any weakness in front of this bastard. "We haven't done anything in public a dozen other couples our age haven't."

"Oh, I think you know what you've done wrong." Big Bob smiled. It was clearly meant to come across as friendly or fatherly, but it looked threatening instead. "According to the code, any display of same-sex coupling-"

"The code said there would be no discussion of it," Kurt cut in. "It said nothing about not displaying it. And what we've done sure as hell doesn't count as coupling, anyway."

"You will keep a civil tongue, boy," Big Bob said, smile slipping away. "The code also prohibits displays of lewd and licentious behavior."

"But you failed to define what constituted as lewd or licentious." Kurt got up, slowly, daring Big Bob to protest. When he didn't, Kurt continued, "Like I said, we haven't done anything tons of others haven't done as well, even since the code was published."

Big Bob's jaw clenched. "It is unnatural."

"Unnatural?" Kurt scoffed. "What's unnatural is denying the complicated parts of your existence, just because it will make your life simpler. It's dictating the way people behave and think so you can pretend that everyone fits into the same neat little mold. What's unnatural is acting like there's only one way to live, or to love. These people," Kurt motioned at the audience behind him, who had begun to talk again in hushed, excited voices, "can be so much more than you allow them to be."

"That's enough."

But Kurt wasn't done. "You want things to go back to being pleasant but they can't. You can't have real life be pleasant all the time."

Big Bob pounded his gavel on the podium, his cheeks puffing with rage. "I can, and I will!"

There was a shout from the audience. Kurt swiveled around. In the midst of the black and white crowd there were now several colored faces. He turned back, smiling triumphantly.

"You can't. And that's fine." Kurt's voice softened and he glanced at Blaine, who was smiling up at him. "Life isn't meant to be pleasant. It isn't meant to be anything. But I can tell you right now, denying who you are, denying others the right to be themselves... that doesn't make it easier."

For one brief moment, you could hear pin drop. Then, Rachel started cheering.

It was as if a dam had burst and in a matter of seconds, the entire hall burst into thunderous applause. Big Bob was shouting but he couldn't make himself heard over the noise of the crowd. He threw his gavel away, his face turning an angry red.

Blaine jumped to his feet and threw his arms around Kurt. They kissed right there, in the middle of the courtroom, and Kurt had never felt safer. He felt like he could take on the world.

They pulled apart, just in time to see Big Bob go running by down the aisle. As he fled outside, he flung both doors open and revealed a sight Kurt never thought he'd see again: the bright blue sky.

The crowd went pouring out of the courtroom. Some ran, others staggered out slowly, their expressions awed. It wasn't just the sky: the entirety of Pleasantville, right down to every last person and blade of grass, had turned colored.

"I can't believe it," Rachel said as she joined Kurt and Blaine on the steps of the town hall. Betty and George followed her, both of them looking around like they couldn't decide which one thing to focus on. "You did it, Kurt."

"We," Kurt corrected. "You were the one who started all this."

Rachel grinned. "I wasn't gonna say anything." She bit her lip, her grin slipping somewhat. "Do you think we'll be able to find the remote now?"

Kurt could hear her unasked question: did he think they'd be able to return home? "I don't know."

He was viscerally aware of Blaine's arm, wrapped around his waist. If they did find the remote at the Parker house, would this be it? Goodbye, so long, see you again never? Now that leaving Blaine forever seemed to be a distinct possibility, Kurt wasn't sure he'd be able to go through with it. But what other choice did he have?

"Come on, kids," Betty said, her soft voice deflating Kurt's mounting panic. "Let's go home."

---

"You're going back, aren't you?"

A few feet ahead, Rachel and Betty were talking. It sounded like they were explaining the whole situation to George, and Kurt was relieved he hadn't been asked to join in. He felt exhausted, like he could barely string two sentences together if he tried.

Of course, there were still Blaine's questions. "I don't know. There's no guarantee we can find the remote."

"But if you do find it, you'll be going back?" Blaine asked. He didn't wait for Kurt to answer. "I want to come with you."

"I already explained to you why that's a terrible idea."

"I know," Blaine said. "But I've thought about it, and I've decided your reasons are stupid."

Kurt stared at his boyfriend and he honestly wasn't sure whether he was more surprised or offended. "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I was an idiot to think that you leaving everything you've ever known behind would be a bad idea."

"But I wouldn't be. Everything I've ever known has changed." Blaine gestured upwards. "The sky is a different color. What's to say I'll handle this new world any better than I would yours?"

"It isn't the same."

Blaine frowned. "To me it is. I told you, I've thought about this, and I've made my decision. I'm coming with you." He swallowed, looking uncertain. "Unless you don't want me to?"

"Of course I do," Kurt said. "It's not that. I just don't..."

"Don't what?"

Kurt sighed. "I don't want you to resent me. What if you hate Lima? Uprooting your entire life for someone seems romantic in theory, but in practice-"

"Kurt," Blaine cut in, sounding amused. "I love you but I'm not just doing this for you. Mostly, I'm doing it for myself."

How was Kurt supposed to argue with that? He couldn't even stop smiling. "I love you, too. But I still think you're making a mistake," he added.

"Then it's my mistake to make," Blaine said. He couldn't seem to stop smiling either.

---

The remote was smaller than Kurt had remembered. In his imagination, it had become this huge, unobtainable thing to end all his troubles, so seeing it sitting unassumingly on the living room table felt somewhat anticlimactic. It was just this plastic, cheap-looking rectangle.

"Is that it?" Betty asked.

Kurt nodded numbly.

"There are so many buttons on it," George said. "Do you know which button to press? What if you hit the wrong one?"

"I think any button will do," Rachel answered. She bit her lip. "Right, Kurt?"

"Probably." Kurt shrugged. "I guess we'll see when we try it."

They all fell silent. Looking at Betty, Kurt could see her eyes were filled with unshed tears. George stood next to her, clinging to her arm, looking as much like a lost kid as Kurt had ever seen him.

"No time like the present, right?" Blaine finally said. His voice was trembling just slightly but his expression was determined.

Betty bit back a sob. She drew a couple of deep breaths, then smiled weakly and held out her arms. Kurt stepped forward into her embrace without hesitation. "Do be careful, would you?" she whispered, clinging to him like she never wanted to let him go.

"We will," Kurt muttered back. He closed his eyes and inhaled. Betty's flowery perfume tickled his nose, sweet and subtle, and it struck him just how much he would miss it. Would miss her.

He took a step back, covertly wiping his eyes, watching as Rachel took his place in Betty's arms. She held on for much longer, and Kurt could see she was whispering something into Betty's ear, but he couldn't hear it.

Finally, Rachel pulled away. Her eyes were red and puffy already, and she didn't even try to wipe away the tears. She launched herself at George. Their embrace was brief and George was the one to pull away, as he started crying as well.

"I sure am going to miss you," he said, giving a watery smile. "It won't be the same without you."

"You'll be all right," Kurt said with conviction. "You'll have the real Bud and Mary Sue back."

Not that he could be sure of that, but the thought did seem to give George some comfort. He pulled Kurt in for a hug, squeezing tightly before letting go.

"Are you ready?" Rachel asked. She held the remote in her hands, clutching it tightly.

"I guess," Kurt said, looking at Blaine, who nodded. "So I guess we all just hold on to it?"

"I think so," Rachel said.

Hesitantly, Blaine reached out his hand, grasping it around Rachel's hands and the remote. Kurt grabbed it with one hand as well and with the other, he took a hold of Blaine's free hand.

"Here we go," Rachel muttered and pressed her fingers down.

The world around them blurred into static as a steady, growing buzz began to sound. It was dizzying and Kurt could feel his grip on Blaine begin to loosen. He tried to shout for Blaine to hold on but either the buzzing had gotten too loud or he'd lost his voice, because not a sound came out of him.

Then a blindingly bright light filled their vision and for one moment, Kurt lost all sensation. When he came back to himself, he was sitting in front of the television in his room. The screen showed static.

"Kurt?" Kurt turned around. Rachel was sitting next to him, looking completely bewildered. "Are we-"

Before she could finish, Burt poked his head into the room. "I thought I heard some noise. Everything all right up here?"

Kurt felt like he couldn't breathe. He wanted to jump to his feet and hug his dad but his legs wouldn't move. "Uh, yeah."

"Okay," Burt said. "Well, Carol and I are going out in a couple of minutes. You kids will be okay, right?"

"Going out?" Kurt repeated dully.

"For Valentines." Burt frowned. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Kurt swallowed. "We're fine... have fun on your date," he added belatedly.

Burt gave him one last concerned look before leaving.

"It's the same day," Rachel laughed. "We haven't been gone at all. It's-" She stopped short. "You remember it, right? I didn't dream it? We really went to Pleasantville?"

Kurt wasn't listening anymore. Now that he'd regained his composure, there was only one thing on his mind. "Where's Blaine?"

Rachel whipped her head around. "He isn't here."

"Then where is he?" Kurt asked again. He wasn't sure why he wasn't panicking. Maybe the realization that Blaine might be lost hadn't fully registered. "Where could he have gone?"

Rachel jumped to her feet, over to the television. She rewound the tape with the Pleasantville episode they'd gotten sucked into, but no matter where she stopped at, there was nothing but static. Desperately, she ejected the tape and inserted the next to the same results.

"He might have made it through," she said. It didn't sound like she quite believed her own words. "Maybe he just landed somewhere different?"

"Where, then?"

Rachel didn't have an answer. As desperately as Kurt wanted to hope that she was right, that Blaine was somewhere in their own world, the far more likely explanation was that he was back in Pleasantville. That he hadn't made it through, simply because he wasn't meant to. Because he belonged back in Pleasantville.

"At least we made it," Rachel offered. "We're home."

And they were. They'd get to hug their parents again, and sing in glee, and see their friends. They'd get to live their own lives, and not just as somebody's stand-ins.

Kurt leaned on Rachel's shoulder, feeling at once exhilarated and dejected, but mostly just tired. "Welcome home, Rachel."

"Welcome home, Kurt."