Nick smirked faintly and shrugged. "The whole place is weird. Only, not really. When you're here, it's just like living somewhere different to home. Everything is normal here, you just can't leave. There is everything you need is here, maybe even more than what you would find in one place back home. Seriously, it will blow your mind once you start exploring it more. But you, well, you become accustomed to it. It takes some people longer than others, but once you get over the strangeness of it and start resolving to the fact this is where you are now, it gets easier. A lot of people can't separate home from here. We all have memories of home and we don't forget, but the best advice I was given when I got her was live like this is your home. Because once you go back, you don't remember being here anyway, and the you back there doesn't know you're here now. If you leave, people here miss you, but nothing back home changes. You won't be any the wiser you've left anything here behind. Plus, until you go, you're here anyone so you may as well live like you're going to be here forever. Once I had that mindset, it was easier. At least, after the homesickness faded. That could take awhile. It's not so hard having people here you know, though, even if they're from all different times."
He nodded, realising he had already slipped over the different times everyone was from. "Kurt's pretty blatant and to the point about his death. Blaine is his weakness. The topic of Blaine comes up, he'll shut down on you pretty quickly. Sometimes he might open up about it, but mostly not. It still blows my mind that they got so far and ended up married, that it all worked out. At least, until Kurt was murdered, I mean. More just that we all knew they were the forever deal, and they proved us right." He toyed with the leather bracelet around his wrist at the question. "I feel like a lot of things are missing here. Which they are. Most of my friends are from years in advance of me, so it's easy to get a sense you're missing pieces. They know stuff I don't, and I never really asked them. Not about me, anyway. I asked about them. But again, I never experienced what you did, Jeff, so it negates the sensation something isn't 'right'," he pointed out, making quotation marks with his fingers. "It probably seems like it's not right for you, but for me, the island has been my right for ten years."
He glanced over at Jeff, squinting a little in the sun. "The night Blaine got hit with the rock salt slushie. After we walked away from him, went back to Dalton, I walked through the front doors of the school and onto the beach. I hated that we walked away from him. But it was a confusing time of life in general. Luckily, I did eventually hear from Puck that Blaine wasn't blinded or anything. Almost, but he had surgery and recovered. But even hearing that, I'm still here, so."
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He nodded, realising he had already slipped over the different times everyone was from. "Kurt's pretty blatant and to the point about his death. Blaine is his weakness. The topic of Blaine comes up, he'll shut down on you pretty quickly. Sometimes he might open up about it, but mostly not. It still blows my mind that they got so far and ended up married, that it all worked out. At least, until Kurt was murdered, I mean. More just that we all knew they were the forever deal, and they proved us right." He toyed with the leather bracelet around his wrist at the question. "I feel like a lot of things are missing here. Which they are. Most of my friends are from years in advance of me, so it's easy to get a sense you're missing pieces. They know stuff I don't, and I never really asked them. Not about me, anyway. I asked about them. But again, I never experienced what you did, Jeff, so it negates the sensation something isn't 'right'," he pointed out, making quotation marks with his fingers. "It probably seems like it's not right for you, but for me, the island has been my right for ten years."
He glanced over at Jeff, squinting a little in the sun. "The night Blaine got hit with the rock salt slushie. After we walked away from him, went back to Dalton, I walked through the front doors of the school and onto the beach. I hated that we walked away from him. But it was a confusing time of life in general. Luckily, I did eventually hear from Puck that Blaine wasn't blinded or anything. Almost, but he had surgery and recovered. But even hearing that, I'm still here, so."