Who: Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson What: Well, they couldn't avoid each other forever... When: Now Where: Housekeeping department Warnings: References to PTSD
The smell of fresh laundry reminded him of home. He knew that the house in Ohio wasn't home anymore, but there was a time when it was. On the nicer days, his mother used to hang up their sheets on the clothesline to dry. Blaine would pretend they were curtains and it was opening night on Broadway. Now, he would have liked to say that this sort of child's play stopped when he was younger, but it went on all the way up until he was sixteen.
He hadn't taken many things with him, but there were a few articles of clothing in his pack. Impractical, but he had hoped that someday he would be somewhere where he could wear them again. Maybe they would make him feel like himself.
It had been a long time since he had worn something besides his beige workman's jacket and whatever pair of jeans had the least amount of holes in them. Still, he hadn't been prepared for just how much he would swim in his old clothes. It was nothing as flashy as he might have worn before - just a simple black polo and a pair of dark wash jeans. He was self-conscious enough as it was - of how gaunt his cheeks looked in the mirror, of how tangled his hair had become. Maybe he would just cut it. It would be easier.
On the road to Everett, rations had been limited. There had been some things - animals - that his traveling partners had been willing to eat that Blaine hadn't been. He knew now that he was here he needed to put weight on again, but it was hard. He couldn't shake the feeling that he needed to be saving food for when there was a shortage. He just couldn't seem to adjust to his new surroundings, no matter how hard he tried.
Still, it had only been a few days.
He pressed both of his hands on the top of the washer, bracing himself for a moment. It was as if he was afraid of the rug being yanked out from under him, figuratively speaking. He took a few seconds to remind himself that the world he had woken up in the past two mornings was real. This wasn't a dream. He was here.