On The Devil's Path

19

The weeks before Kurt's move were like the calm before a storm. Despite the danger inherent to the situation, he couldn't help being excited about going back to the city, about rehearsals and dramatic co-workers and theater gossip and the roar of applause. That life was all he'd ever wanted, and the most important thing that had gone missing after he'd allowed Remy to move them upstate. Whether the fallout of Remy's arrest ruined Kurt's career or Kurt and Blaine couldn't make it work between them, Kurt would continue to perform and rebuild. He was proud to be the man he had fought to become, as well as the man his father had raised. He was eager to shake off the last few years like a fever dream and move on with his life.

So he packed his bags and ran lines and worked out and didn't allow his heart to beat out of his chest every time Blaine smiled at him or kissed him or whispered in his ear, no matter how badly it seemed to want to.

In the end, there was very little he wanted to bring with him. His wardrobe and personal toiletries, of course. The hope chest he'd had since childhood, which held memories and sentimental belongings. It was fitting that everything related to Remy was kept in a separate box-but he brought that, too, because it would look suspicious if he didn't. He wasn't bringing any of the cars Remy had bought him over the years-a car would be impractical in the city. Piece by piece, his life filled the back of a sleek moving truck.

Ironically enough, Remy was absent without warning the morning of the move. Kurt was relieved.

"Call me when you get into the neighborhood. And when you get to the loft. And before you go to sleep," Blaine said. He couldn't say more, and doing so would have been unnecessary-they had discussed these check-ins at length. In addition to that precaution, another undercover agent would be playing escort and bodyguard until Blaine completed Remy's arrest and transfer to the ATF offices in New York.

Blaine helped Kurt pack the last of his things and was there when the car Kurt had hired to drive behind the moving truck arrived. It wasn't safe for them to exchange the goodbyes they wanted to, but Kurt sunk into Blaine's arms and buried his face in Blaine's hair and breathed him in as deeply and for as long as he could.

From instant attraction to bottomless lust and through a lapse in trust that led to the dogged determination to build something out of jagged pieces, they had managed to fall in love with each other. It wasn't the romantic escape fantasy it had been over that glorious weekend-it was better. It was real, and it had only just begun.