I don't own anything.

Warnings: Angst, AU, major character death, ghosts, suicide

A/N: What started as a fluffy short one shot turned into this. I should be working on The Klaine CrissColfer Show, but my brain wanted to write a kid fic. It's vaguely reminiscent of The Pocket Watch (if you've read it) in pacing, because this is my favorite style of writing. I cried writing it. Hope you enjoy it anyway...and reviews are always appreciated!

Summary: Kurt's soul is locked to Blaine's, and Blaine has to set him free. But Blaine refuses to take the easy way out, because he loves Kurt too much for that.

Elizabeth Hummel never noticed a single odd thing about her son, because he was absolutely perfect. He could ask for high heels for his birthday, and she would play it off as curiosity. He could want a tea party instead of a football game, and she would claim he was simply thirsty. He could want to try on mommy's dresses all he wanted, and she would say he was just mimicking his mother.

Whenever anyone said there was something wrong with her son, Elizabeth Hummel held her head high, took the boy's hand, and went on to enjoy the company of people who could appreciate his…uniqueness.

Every summer since he was two years old, Elizabeth took her son to the park to try and get him to make friends. It saddened her heart when, more often than not, he ended up playing alone in the grass. There had always been kids for him to talk to. Mercedes Jones had been close to him before her family moved to Thurston Street, two blocks too far away for her to come to this park anymore.

Finn Hudson had thrown a football at him once, but when he refused to catch it, Finn hadn't come back. Rachel Berry tried to sing at him the summer he turned four, but he made a face and left to go play on the swings. Tina Cohen-Chang had built a castle in the sandbox with him that same summer, but her parents made a weird face at him and they never came back.

There was nothing wrong with Kurt Hummel, if you asked his mother. He was a beautiful boy with a bright outlook on the world. He was a little smaller than most, but he had a high-pitched child's voice that was like music when he spoke. He was elegant in the way he carried himself, especially for a child so young. When Daddy tried to dress him in clothes he didn't like, he had no problem acting out. There was nothing wrong with Kurt Hummel.

Elizabeth said he was perfect, and that was that.

The Hummel's gained a bit of a reputation for their awkward son, though no one dared to speak a word to them. Burt Hummel, the father, was a big man who loved his boy no matter what. Elizabeth had been the most popular girl in her high school, but had retreated from her friends when they judged her son too quickly.

The summer Kurt turned five, things began to change.

That summer it was one hundred and nine degrees out, almost too hot to play in the park except for the police officer down the street allowed them to set up a sprinkler in the park for the kids of the neighborhood to run through. That summer, the haunted house of Old Man Bernstein sold after being on the market for ten years. That summer, a bulldozer knocked over a piece of history and neighborhood legend and made way for a newer, much larger house.

That summer, the Anderson's moved in.

Elizabeth Hummel, like the good neighbor she was, baked them muffins, put them in a basket, took Kurt's hand, then made her way down to the end of the street where the Anderson House sat, in all its modern mansion glory. As usual, Elizabeth couldn't help but overhear the mutterings of other housewives, finding out that the Anderson's were an odd family by Lima, Ohio standards. They had money, several cars (none of them family vehicles), and three kids: a son who would be sent to private school next year, a daughter who was currently attending dance camp in New York City, and a little boy about Kurt's age who never seemed to leave the house.

Elizabeth was mostly interested in the boy Kurt's age. A fresh attempt at a friend, perhaps.

As they neared the Anderson House, Elizabeth felt that the aura around it was a bit daunting. Nevertheless, she ventured up to the front door and rang the doorbell. Kurt gripped her hand tightly, not saying a word. When the door opened, Elizabeth was puzzled to not see a face.

Until she looked down.

He was adorable, to say the least, with wild curly hair and huge eyes like a puppy. He hid half behind the door as he looked between Kurt, Elizabeth, and then the muffins. Elizabeth knelt down so she was eye level with the boy, trying to show this frightened boy that she was kind.

"Hello dear, what's your name?" Elizabeth asked, her voice sweet and angelic. The boy's eyes widened even more as he stared not at her, but at Kurt. Elizabeth felt her heart sink. The boy was just like the rest, so quick to judge Kurt just because he made Mommy let him wear the pink shirt today.

"Blaine William Anderson, how many times to I have to tell you not to answer the – oh hello there!" A woman wearing a dress and an apron shuffled to the door, smiling as Elizabeth rose to her feet. She grabbed the boy's shoulder and shoved him roughly behind her. Elizabeth quickly realized he hadn't been judging Kurt. He'd been afraid.

"I'm Elizabeth Hummel," Elizabeth introduced herself as the woman opened the door all the way. "This is my son, Kurt."

"Connie Anderson," the woman replied with a false smile. Elizabeth waited for her to invite them in, and after a long while, she stepped away from the doorway and motioned for them to come in.

"I brought some muffins. Chocolate chip, almond poppy seed, and raspberry. Homemade," Elizabeth said as she followed Connie into the sitting room. The small boy, Blaine as he had been called, stayed close to his mother, looking down at the floor.

"That was very nice of you," Connie said, taking the basket and setting it on the coffee table. "The neighborhood hasn't received us with the same kindness."

"I understand how that is," Elizabeth said, taking a seat on the couch when Connie offered. Kurt stayed standing, looking at the boy curiously. "Perhaps our boys could play together?"

Connie stiffened at the suggestion and her hand fell to rest on her son's shoulder. She gripped it tightly, almost alarmingly so, and Blaine winced. Elizabeth wondered what sort of parents would be so opposed to letting their son have a friend, but she had a feeling Blaine knew nothing but the walls of this house and any houses he'd lived in before. At last, though, Connie released the grip on her son's shoulder.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt. Blaine, you may take Kurt to your room for a while, if you want." Connie sounded reluctant, but she shooed the kids off.

Elizabeth didn't like the woman one bit, but the boy didn't even hesitate to take Kurt's hand and lead him away to the staircase.

The two boys bounded up the stairs, to the long hallway that branched off in different directions. There were so many rooms in the house, Kurt thought he would get lost if he lived there. The boy, Blaine, didn't speak to Kurt as he tugged him down the hallway to his room at the end. It was small and decorated with a small twin bed, a dresser, a desk, and almost no toys. Kurt thought it was funny, because he had a lot of toys and his house wasn't even half as big as Blaine's.

As soon as they were alone in the room, Blaine dropped Kurt's hand and went over to his bed, sitting in the middle of it.

"You have a big house," Kurt said.

Blaine just stared at him.

"It's really nice. My house isn't as nice as this one." Kurt clasped his hands in front of him, trying to get the boy to talk. "How old are you? What do you like to play? Can we have a tea party sometime? My favorite movie is The Little Mermaid, have you seen it?"

Blaine just continued to stare at him.

Kurt slowly walked across the nearly empty room, then climbed up onto the bed with Blaine. The boy flinched away from him, but never took his eyes off him.

"Do you have any friends?" Kurt asked. He figured the answer would be no. Who would want to be friends with a boy who didn't talk?

Just as he thought, Blaine shook his head in the negative.

"I'm sorry," Kurt said. "I don't either. Except Mercedes. But she moved and we won't see each other again until high school, which is like, a gazillion years away because I haven't even started Kindergarten yet."

"You're going to school too?" Blaine finally spoke, and when he did, Kurt's heart nearly stopped. His voice was sugary sweet and Kurt wanted to just roll himself up in it and live in Blaine's voice forever.

"Of course, silly. Everyone goes to school!" Kurt said, smiling at the fact that he got this elusive boy to actually speak.

"My mommy says that I'm lucky she's letting me go to school next month," Blaine said. Kurt's brow furrowed. His mommy said everyone went to school. They had to! Why would this boy not be allowed to go to school? "She says she doesn't like me getting close to other people."

"Why?" Kurt asked curiously.

"She says there's things wrong with me. Which is weird. 'Cause I feel fine," Blaine shrugged.

Kurt felt sad for this boy. Everyone said there were things wrong with him, but his mommy always told him he was perfect! He reached out and covered Blaine's little hand with his. Blaine flinched at first, but then let him.

"She says I do things weird," Blaine said, his voice a broken whisper. "Like she says when I watch the movies, I'm supposed to like the girl, but I don't."

"That's not weird," Kurt shrugged. That was the way it was for him. He loved the Princes in Disney movies. They were always so sweet and kind to the person they loved. All the girls ever did was get in trouble.

"Will you be my friend?" Blaine asked.

Before Kurt could answer, Blaine's mommy opened the door and said Kurt had to go. Blaine looked sad as she shooed Kurt out of the room.

Kurt and Blaine were in the same class at school, and since no one wanted to be friend with either of them, they were instantly friends with each other. Elizabeth Hummel loved that Kurt was never alone anymore. He was always playing in the backyard with Blaine, or in his room with Blaine, or in the kitchen with Blaine, or doing homework with Blaine, or watching movies with Blaine.

Elizabeth also noticed that these things always took place at her house. Kurt was never invited to the Anderson House. Blaine's parents never came to get him, and sometimes (more often than Elizabeth cared to admit) Blaine spent the night in the middle of the week, then wore Kurt's clothes to school the next day.

Elizabeth really wanted to say something, but the entire school year passed and the two boys were so happy that she couldn't help just letting them spend time together.

And then the summer Kurt turned six, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

"My mommy is sick. We can't play at my house anymore," Kurt told Blaine when they started the first grade. Blaine was sad. Being with Kurt was the only happy time in his days. Whenever he went home, his mommy made him help him in the kitchen and his daddy told him to stop being such a wimp and start warming up his throwing arm for football season.

Kurt didn't like football, but Blaine tried to tell him it was fun, and he liked it despite his daddy making him play it. Kurt watched at recess when Blaine played, and instead of going to Kurt's house after school, Blaine went to his little league practice. They spent less time together as first grade progressed, mostly because they weren't in the same class and Kurt kept having to miss school to visit his mommy in the hospital.

When sports were over, Blaine went back to being Kurt's best friend, the way it was supposed to be. They decided to spend time at the park instead of either of their houses, making compromises just to spend time together because they were best friends.

Just after spring break during first grade, Blaine leaned over and kissed Kurt's cheek at the end of lunch recess. Some of the girls screamed at how gross it was, and boys got mad.

Kurt managed to run away, but Blaine came to the next recess with a black eye. They didn't even sit close enough to touch.

The summer Kurt turned seven, Elizabeth Hummel's breast cancer went into remission, Kurt wore his first kilt, and Blaine got two broken ribs that were most definitely not caused by his father.

Second grade was fun, until someone burned down the school and Blaine lived on the wrong side of the street, and when they separated kids to go to other elementary schools, Blaine ended up going to the one on the other side of Lima where he met a girl named Santana who like to punch him in the shoulder a lot.

Kurt went to the other school on the west side of Lima and when he walked into class one day, he saw a very familiar face. Mercedes was really happy to see him, and instead of inviting Blaine over every day after school, Mercedes became attached to Kurt's hip. It wasn't until winter break before Kurt remember that Blaine was his best friend and he hadn't talked to him in a month.

When Kurt went to the Anderson House to see Blaine, the only person who answered the door was their maid Rosalba who told him simply, "Mr. Blaine with family on vacation. Be back in two weeks.

It was spring before Kurt and Blaine found each other at the park again. They didn't talk about school or other friends. They just held hands as they sat in the grass.

Elizabeth Hummel sat on a bench in the distance, watching her son and his friend, hating herself for finally realizing that there was something off about Kurt. That Kurt wasn't "normal". That Kurt would rather hold hands with Blaine than with a girl. It didn't take Elizabeth long to figure out why Blaine's parents were so odd about him.

She vowed, though, that she would love her son no matter what. And Burt would love his son too, because it wasn't like Kurt could help it. He was just like that. Elizabeth couldn't hate her son, especially not when her cancer came back.

It wasn't as bad as the first time around, and they caught it early. The summer started and Kurt wanted to go to the park, but Burt was working and Elizabeth was weak from chemotherapy, so she let him go alone. He spent whole days there with Blaine, and Elizabeth knew he was smart enough to be safe. Until one day he wasn't.

And the summer that Kurt turned eight, he died.

Blaine listened to Elizabeth Hummel sobbing from down the row as the old man in strange robes said good words about how Kurt was young and innocent and how drinking and driving was sin. Blaine felt so bad for not spending more time with Kurt, because he loved Kurt. When he saw Kurt on the sidewalk, coming towards the park, and then the car driving up on the sidewalk and running right over him, he felt as if his heart was ripped from his chest and like he'd never love anyone ever again.

At Kurt's funeral, Elizabeth Hummel made him come up to see Kurt with her, because she knew that he loved Kurt, and that Kurt loved him. Inside the casket, Kurt was gray and lifeless. He was so little and he looked so peaceful. His hair looked soft and Blaine asked Elizabeth if he could touch it. She cried as she nodded and as he reached up to touch it, she covered his hand with hers and they rested together on Kurt's hair before it became too much for either of them.

Blaine was eight years old when he lost the love of his life, and each day after that felt sadder than the next.

"Elizabeth? Do you think we'll ever stop feeling sad?" Blaine asked as he put frosting on the Christmas cookies he was helping her make. His own parents were away for a month and Elizabeth had offered to watch him. He tried to stay in Kurt's old room, but he cried too hard and didn't get any sleep, so now he slept in the bed Burt set up in the basement.

"Maybe someday," Elizabeth told him. "But Kurt will always be in our hearts. He was so very special."

"Are you gonna have another baby to replace Kurt?" Blaine asked.

Elizabeth was so shocked by the question that she dropped the plate of cookies in her hand, pieces of plate flying everywhere, and two hours worth of work all over the floor. She was crying when she walked towards Blaine, who looked afraid. She took his little hands in hers and looked into his eyes.

"No one can replace Kurt. Do you understand me? No one."

Blaine nodded. He understood. He couldn't even make another friend now that Kurt was gone.

The spring Blaine Anderson turned nine, he was sitting in their spot at the park when he heard the voice. That sweet, beautiful, melodic voice that could only belong to one boy.

"Kurt?" Blaine looked around, trying to find the source of the voice calling his name. He turned around in a full circle before he spotted him. "Kurt!"

He ran to his friend, stopping to throw his arms around Kurt, except he went right through him. Confused, he turned around and saw Kurt facing him, smiling at him sweetly, looking at him with sad eyes.

"Kurt? Are you real?" Blaine asked, reaching out. Kurt reached out as well, lying his translucent hand over Blaine's.

"To you," Kurt said.

"What does that mean?" Blaine asked, staring at how their hands seemed to be touching, except they weren't. His skin prickled as he imagined the feeling of Kurt really touching him.

"I've been going around to Mercedes and my parents, but no one can see me. No one but you," Kurt shrugged. The more he spoke to Blaine, the harder Blaine looked at him, and the clearer he became. Like he was solidifying before him.

"I love you, Kurt," Blaine said. He reached out to touch Kurt's chest, and this time he could actually feel it. His chest was hard, like a rock, and cold. He didn't even think about what the other kids would think.

"I love you too, Blaine," Kurt said. "Now that we found each other, I never have to leave you. And you're the only one who can see me, so I can be with you always without people knowing."

Blaine smiled. He rather liked that idea.

The summer Kurt would've turned ten, the Hummel's invited Blaine with them for a trip to Disneyworld. Kurt was happy, because he got to go with Blaine, and therefore he went with his family. Blaine knew better than to tell anyone he'd been seeing Kurt for more than a year now, but sometimes he just felt sad.

Because Kurt wasn't really Kurt. Kurt was still eight years old. There was still a bruise on his side from being hit by the car. He was just a little kid and Blaine was ten years old now. He was bigger than Kurt, now, but Kurt didn't seem to care.

Then one day, Kurt said to him, "I'm locked."

Blaine was confused, so Kurt said, "I'm a locked soul. I'm locked to you. I'm gonna be just like this for as long as you believe in me and see me. Someday you might stop seeing me, then I'll go to heaven and I'll live forever. Someone told me not to get locked, because it'll make me sad. But I don't know how being with you could ever make me sad."

Blaine vowed never to make Kurt sad, because Kurt deserved to be happy, especially because being dead was so horrible.

Blaine was twelve when he started getting those feelings, especially for the cute boys at school. It sucked. Mostly because he'd been seeing Kurt for three years and Kurt was still eight years old. Kurt didn't understand those feelings, so he didn't understand when Blaine yelled at him to leave him alone when he went to take a bath and he didn't get why Blaine didn't want to sleep beside him anymore.

When Kurt cried because Blaine was pushing him away, Blaine felt really bad and he let Kurt rest his head on his chest at night. He had dreams that night, dreams about what Kurt might look like if he were alive and twelve years old and having the same feelings Blaine had.

He whispered Kurt's name in his sleep, startling the boy who never really needed sleep. Kurt sat up and when he tried to climb over Blaine to see if he was ok, he saw something tenting the covers that he'd never seen before. He decided not to try and wake Blaine up and he just watch as Blaine whimpered and panted and then cried out a little, then fell asleep again.

Kurt never said anything about it.

"Kurt?" Blaine asked one day. He was fourteen. It was the summer before he started high school, and Kurt was still his best friend. Now, though, he was interested in things like the Buckeyes and computers and singing, he didn't like tea parties and little kid games anymore. Now he was much taller than Kurt and a little scrawny, with the beginnings of muscles building around his body.

"Yeah?" Kurt asked. He was on Blaine's bed, watching with bored eyes as Blaine typed up something on the computer. Blaine stopped what he was doing and turned in his chair to face Kurt.

"I'm gay," Blaine said.

Kurt sat up and looked at him with curious blue eyes. He got up and glided across the room and put his hand over Blaine's, his cold little fingers splayed over Blaine's bigger hands. He looked at Blaine's face, staring into his eyes, looking at the bit of dark stubble that had started to grow on his face.

"What's gay mean?" Kurt asked. He'd heard it before, but Blaine had never really explained it.

"It means I like boys instead of girls," Blaine said. Kurt's eyebrows rose.

"So you like me better than Santana?" Kurt asked. Blaine laughed.

"I can't like you, Kurt. Not like that. You're just a little kid," Blaine told him. Kurt pouted and withdrew his hand.

"It's not like I can help it. I died, remember." Kurt stomped back over to the bed, climbed on, and laid there, staring up at the ceiling.

Blaine just stared at him, his heart aching. He knew what was happening. Kurt was getting sad. Kurt couldn't be locked to him for much longer, or he'd drive them both mad. Someday soon he was going to have to let Kurt go and forget him, or he was going to have to…

No. He couldn't do that.

Blaine started up at William McKinley High School and suddenly Kurt was so overwhelmed by all the things going on in Blaine's life, he just stayed in Blaine's room while Blaine went to school. Blaine missed him at first, but he became so involved in schoolwork and football and glee club that was happy Kurt wasn't there, but he loved coming home to him.

Kurt was there for him through it all, and he held Blaine's hand after his first beating from Dave Karofsky, and he comforted Blaine when he came out to his friends, and he stroked Blaine's hair as he cried long and hard, fighting over whether he should come out to his parents or not. When Blaine decided he would on Christmas Eve, when his parents, brother, sister, brother's wife, and sister's boyfriend were all present.

Kurt urged him to think twice, but it was Blaine's decision in the end.

When the holiday rolled around, Blaine was nervously picking at his dinner while his family talked around him. Kurt was beside him, leaning against the table, looking around as he surveyed Blaine's family.

"I wonder what my family is doing right now," Kurt sighed. "Do you mind?"

Blaine shook his head and Kurt disappeared.

The Hummel's sat around the table. Burt, Elizabeth, their parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews. They were laughing happily, but there was a sad look in Elizabeth's eye. Kurt should have been there, celebrating with them. He would've been fourteen.

It became too much for him to watch his family, so he went back to Blaine. He instantly regretted it. The dining room was in chaos. Food was thrown all over the floor, people were shouting, Blaine's mother was crying, and Blaine's father was screaming. Blaine let out a wail as his father shoved him hard against the wall.

"You can be stupid fag if you want, but don't you dare bring it up when this family is having a meal together!"

He threw Blaine against the table, grabbing him by the hair and slamming his head into a plate of mashed potatoes.

"Blaine!" Kurt screamed, rushing over to him. Blaine's father kept shouting, but all Blaine could hear was Kurt crying, screaming his name. He opened his eyes and met Kurt's gaze. It hurt to see Kurt so afraid. He was so small and innocent and Blaine's insides ached more from seeing how terrified Kurt was than from what his father was doing to him.

It was because Kurt didn't belong in this world. Kurt wasn't supposed to see this. Kurt didn't deserve to see this. Blaine felt bad for making him see it.

When Blaine turned sixteen, he knew he couldn't keep it up. Kurt was tired. He was worn. All he did anymore was sit in the corner of Blaine's bed, hugging his knees to his chest. Sometimes he snapped at Blaine, but mostly he just cried.

"Don't cry," Blaine tried to say.

"Shut up," Kurt said in return.

Blaine's heart ached.

He had to forget. It was the only way Kurt could ever truly be at peace.

Blaine tried everything. He tried banishing Kurt from his room, but he only ended up begging him to come back. He tried sending Kurt off to watch over his mother, but he cried himself to sleep without Kurt's presence. He even tried ignoring Kurt when he was around, but he was always drawn to those perfect blue eyes.

Forgetting Kurt almost worked when he met Jeremiah, but Kurt's vicious, jealous comments about Jeremiah's hair made Blaine laugh so much he couldn't forget who made them.

Kurt had become such a constant in Blaine's life. Blaine loved him more than anything. He still dreamt of a grown up Kurt, with sharp eyes and coiffed hair and a beautiful jaw Blaine wanted to kiss. He dreamt of sixteen year old Kurt with porcelain skin and a lightly muscled body and a beautiful…

No. Blaine couldn't go there! Kurt was only eight years old, and nothing Blaine could do would change that.

"I have to unlock you," Blaine told him firmly one day.

"No!" Kurt replied instantly.

"No, Kurt, I have to," Blaine insisted.

"You know, if you did the other thing that unlocks me, we could be together. Because once a soul is at peace, they can spend eternity in whatever form they wanted. We could be birds. We could be slugs. We could be princesses…"

"We could be the same age?" Blaine interrupted him.

Kurt stared at him with wide eyes for a moment.

"Yeah," Kurt said. "We could both be eight years old again!"

"Or we could both be sixteen," Blaine said.

Kurt shrugged. "Yeah. I guess. If you wanted to be sixteen."

As Blaine came to understand, it wasn't enough to simply forget Kurt was locked to him. He had to forget Kurt ever existed. He had to forget dreams of best friends, Kindergarten spent sitting next to Kurt all year, baking cookies with Elizabeth Hummel, the feeling of Kurt's hair under his hand at the funeral, all these years of having Kurt by his side.

He had to forget them all.

He couldn't do it, so he was left with only one choice if he wanted to set Kurt free. If he wanted to be with Kurt forever.

The spring that Blaine turned seventeen, he died.

Kurt found Blaine's body before he found his spirit. He had been watching over his mother's losing battle with breast cancer when he sensed something was wrong. He immediately went home to Blaine, only to find Blaine hanging with a scarf that Kurt made him buy wrapped tightly around his beautiful neck.

His face was blue and his body was lifeless.

It took Kurt a moment to realize he was free. He stepped away from Blaine's body, then turned around.

Blaine was there, smiling at him. Kurt bit his lip to hide his own smile as he suddenly felt things changing. He was bigger. He was as tall as Blaine. No, he was taller than Blaine. He felt things changing, and then Blaine grinned.

"You're even more beautiful than I imagined you would be," Blaine said.

Blaine stepped forward and reached out a hand.

"We're free now, Kurt," Blaine told him.

Kurt slipped his hand into Blaine's and let Blaine tug him forward. Together they left the room, heading out into a new universe they could explore together. There was a new feeling inside of him.

A feeling of peace.

Let me know what you thought.