So there's a picture that's going around Tumblr with some Anderberry related tags, and I just had to make it happen.
"I'm not leaving this apartment!" Rachel shrieked for the tenth time that morning, prompting a tenth eye roll from Blaine.
"Kitten, you love going to the Hamptons," their father Leroy said. "You've threatened to run away from us and live there forever before." He and Hiram, their other father, exchanged a knowing look at the bottom of the staircase of their two-story penthouse.
"That was before I got into NYADA! I need this summer to catch up on shows and research all of my professors and classmates so I know what connections they have!" Rachel said. "You're ruining my chances, Daddy!"
"Want me to go pick the lock to her room?" Blaine offered from his seat on the bench by their front door. "I can probably fireman carry her down to the car if you guys get the doors for me."
"That could work," Hiram said, looking like he was seriously considering it.
"But then she'll just whine that she'll have an embarrassing write-up in the Times because of our shenanigans," Leroy pointed out.
"Let me go talk to her," Blaine said, exiting out of the NYADA gossip site he was on and setting down his tablet. "I want to get on the road already so we're there in time for the fireworks tonight."
"Godspeed, son," Leroy said, saluting Blaine. "We'll call the doorman and start getting our luggage downstairs."
"Racheeeeeeel!" Blaine yelled as he climbed up the stairs. "Get your ass in the car already!"
Rachel opened her door a crack, revealing her pouty face. "No, Blaine. Just because you're willing to gamble your future away by partying all summer doesn't mean I am."
"Rachel. You graduated with top honors from LaGuardia with me. You actually made Carmen Tibideaux cry with how good your rendition of 'Don't Rain On My Parade' was during your audition. You can afford to spend this summer with your favorite twin brother, relaxing in our pool and drinking as many virgin margaritas as we can hold before we come back and devote our lives to the theater."
"You make some decent points," Rachel sniffled. "But if I'm not top of our class at NYADA this year, I'm not thanking you in my first Tony acceptance speech." She started hauling her luggage out of her room, almost running over Blaine's feet in the process.
"Deal. Now c'mon, maybe we'll even have some super hot summer flings that can serve as fodder for our memoirs and make all of our classmates jealous." Blaine grabbed Rachel's least pink and sparkly suitcase and started carrying it down the stairs, excited for his summer of fun to begin.
Three hours later, the Anderson-Berrys finally made it to their house in East Hampton, having made fairly decent time on the expressway. Blaine practically flung himself out of the car, pausing only to grab his suitcases out of the trunk and run them up to his room before changing into his navy blue plaid swim trunks and head out to their pool.
"Call for me when it's dinnertime, Dads, I'll-" Blaine made an undignified noise and cut himself off as he saw their new pool boy skimming the last few leaves from it. He was tall, with neatly coiffed brown hair and pale skin that Blaine instantly started fretting over, assuming that it probably burned in partly cloudy weather, and was dressed impeccably well in dark brown, fitted shorts and a sheer ivory tank top.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Guh. "I didn't realize you'd get here so early, most families don't arrive until next week." The boy flushed prettily in embarrassment, and Blaine had to stop himself from running over to him and kissing him on the cheek like some weird predator.
"It's my fault, I forgot that pools need to be cleaned regularly," and wow, Blaine, way to sound like an idiot. "I mean, uh-"
"No, I understand," the boy said, smiling. "I'm Kurt, by the way."
"Blaine," Blaine responded, sticking his hand out for a shake automatically.
Kurt looked a little surprised but crossed over to where Blaine was standing on the patio to accept his handshake. "Enjoy your swim, Blaine." Kurt hurried out the back gate after stashing his tools in the pool house, and Blaine was proud to say that he only ogled Kurt a little as he left.
I am so screwed, he thought as he walked down the steps to their in-ground pool, forgetting that his hair was still gelled until he saw a weird trail of ooze leaking off his head after he dunked himself.
Later that night, the Anderberrys, as they were colloquially known, schlepped themselves down to the season-opening fireworks. This was a fairly recent tradition for them, as Blaine and Rachel were usually still in school when the season "officially" started in the Hamptons, but LaGuardia had changed their end date a couple years back in order to cater to the elites.
Blaine linked arms with Rachel as they wandered down the hillside to get to their usual spot, smiling at the couple of familiar faces he saw. The Anderberrys had gone all-out for the night, dressing in coordinating shades of lavender, pale yellow, and white to match their picnic blanket and the trimmings on their basket. Blaine was just kneeling to grab a soda out of their cooler when he spotted Kurt down a little closer to the water. He was reclined next to another man, making Blaine's heart twist funnily in his chest. They were laughing and play-fighting each other, entirely at their ease.
"Blaine? What are you – oooh, who's that?" Rachel said, looking off where Blaine was staring. "He's hot."
"That's our pool boy, Kurt," Blaine said dully. "I met him when we got to the house today."
"No, no, not him – I saw him too. I meant the guy next to him. He looks like six feet plus of muscular brunette gorgeousness," Rachel said, fanning herself melodramatically with her sunhat. Blaine wasn't sure why she was wearing it, seeing as it was a) dark and b) fifty-five degrees out, but he had to admit it really polished off her look.
"His boyfriend, probably, if the way they're acting is anything to go by." Blaine couldn't keep the dejection out of his voice, causing Rachel to gasp excitedly.
"Awww, you totally thought Kurt was cute, didn't you, Blainey? Don't pout, maybe they'll break up and he can spend all summer crying on your shoulder." Rachel patted Blaine on the shoulder semi-sympathetically at that before leaning over his lap to get her sparkling juice out of the cooler.
"Shut up and watch the fireworks, Rach," Blaine grumbled, swatting at his sister. Of course the cutest guy I've ever seen has a boyfriend, he whined to himself. Maybe Rachel was right and staying home this summer would've been a better plan. At least then I wouldn't have to watch this.
He watched Kurt lean his head onto the other guy's shoulder in a way that he could only describe as "loving," utterly ignorant to the fact that Rachel was curled up on his chest in a similar manner.
"Oh, hi, Blaine!" Kurt chirped the next morning as he let himself into their back gate. "You're up early."
"I've never been much of a late sleeper," Blaine explained, hoping he sounded relatively normal. "Plus the sun's on this side of the house right now, making it perfect for suntanning."
"God, you sound just like my brother. He can tan well, too. Meanwhile I look like Casper the Friendly Ghost year-round," Kurt said, holding out his arm as an example before getting to work.
Blaine couldn't keep himself from staring at Kurt's flawless, outstretched skin before a pressing question buzzed into his brain and distracted him. "Wait, brother?"
"Yeah, Finn. Well, he's really my stepbrother, but we're so close that we dropped the prefix a while back. He's actually part of your landscaping team here – like six three, brown hair, incredibly goofy?"
"Oh, that's your brother? I saw you with someone like that at the fireworks last night, I kind of thought-" Blaine cut himself off, too embarrassed to finish his sentence.
"Thought what?" Kurt asked kindly, trying to catch Blaine's gaze from where he'd dropped it to the timbers of their deck.
"I may have thought you were dating," Blaine admitted. He felt his cheeks heat up at his statement.
Kurt burst into pealing laughter. "Oh my God, no! I admit that I had a crush on him for like three months back when we were in high school, but then I saw him eat ribs. Our parents are much better suited for each other."
"Well, I can't say I'm disappointed in this news," Blaine said, instantly regretting it. Was that too forward? Is he gonna think I'm just some spoiled rich kid who likes hitting on the townies for fun?
"How about you?" Kurt asked. "Any boyfriends back in the city?"
"None whatsoever," Blaine said. "Not that they haven't tried, but I just can't find anyone who I actually like, you know?"
"I get it," Kurt said. He finished scooping out leaves before continuing, "And I can't say I'mdisappointed that you're single, either." He winked, making Blaine swallow so hard he thought he snapped a vocal cord. "See you around, Blaine."
"Buh- bye, Kurt." Blaine lay stunned on his back for a moment before getting up and scurrying inside, muttering "Rachel is gonna be so happy to hear this," as he did.
Rachel was ecstatic to hear that she wasn't crushing on a gay guy (again), and the next few weeks continued much in the same vein. Blaine would get up early and sunbathe while Kurt got their pool ready for use – although really, were such tiny shorts necessary for that job? Blaine was facing a lot of dilemmas because of Kurt's long legs – and then Blaine would peoplewatch as he and his family attended all the social events in town, hoping to spy Kurt laughing with his brother or the cute black girl he had noticed hanging around Kurt before. Rachel would tease him about it, but he caught her staring at Finn just as raptly as he stared at Kurt, so she had no room to talk. He would have confronted her about it, but she practically lived in their gardens now – something about "the natural beauty energizing her vocal cords."
Finally, the summer was drawing to a close, and Blaine was no farther with Kurt than he had been at the beginning. He knew Kurt was interested, and he was well aware of his own desires, but he couldn't bear having a simple summer fling with him. He wanted a long-haul relationship, but with him not even knowing where Kurt would be attending school in the fall, it seemed impossible. Two days before the Anderberry family had to leave, Kurt stomped into the garden, metaphorical smoke pouring out of his ears.
"Alright, Blaine, what is the deal?" he asked, snagging the empty lounge chair next to Blaine instead of standing by the pool like he always had. "I've been almost literally throwing myself at you for weeks, yet you've never tried to take it any further. I know you're into me, and I'm quite obviously attracted to you, so what's the problem? Were you lying about being single?"
"I just didn't want it to be a meaningless summer fling!" Blaine said, shocked into honesty. He sat up properly and turned to face Kurt. "You live here and I live in the city and I don't even know where you're going to college next year, Kurt, how am I supposed to date you properly if I won't even know where you are?"
"Oh my God, is that really all that was stopping you? Blaine, I would've stopped trying by now if I was just going to break it off when you left anyways." Kurt rolled his eyes, exasperated. "Hi, I'm Kurt Hummel, entering freshman at the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts." He stuck out his hand in a parallel of their first meeting, but Blaine was too flabbergasted to process.
"Wait. Y-you're Kurt Hummel, the countertenor wonder? The NYADA blogs adore you, oh my God! I set up a Google alert for your name so my sister could stop obsessing over what your summer credits would look like and enjoy herself here this summer!" Blaine realized he sounded batshit insane, but he had been following the Internet gossip about Kurt ever since Madam Tibideaux had told Rachel that only one other auditioner had impressed her that much this year. Ever since then, he'd spiraled down a rabbit hole of grainy YouTube videos, secondhand news, and wild speculation about his career trajectory.
"You did what? Wait, you're also going to NYADA in the fall?" Kurt looked adorably confused, and Blaine just couldn't stop himself from reaching out and taking one of Kurt's hands in his own.
"I'm enrolled as Blaine Anderson, and my sister's in as Rachel Berry. We split our last names like that so they're less of a mouthful. It also keeps us from getting judged by each other's actions," Blaine said. "If you haven't noticed, my sister can be kind of a handful."
"You mean to tell me the guy I've been swooning over since I heard his rendition of 'Something's Coming' on the gossip sites is the same guy I've been flirting with all summer? God, when things work out for me, they really work out," Kurt said.
"Hey, at least you're not the idiot who couldn't tell that his pool boy was the same guy who sang that incredible 'Not The Boy Next Door' for his audition," Blaine said. "I've heard you humming to yourself as you clean, how the hell did I not put two and two together?"
"Has no one ever told you that you can be a little dense, Blaine Anderson-Berry?" Kurt teased, getting up and sitting on Blaine's chair. "I mean, I don't think you ever realized that there was a reason I always wore the most impractical shorts for pool-cleaning when I came to your house."
"That's what you think," Blaine said. He leaned in and connected their lips, giving him a feeling he assumed felt similar to being struck by a million tiny lightning bolts.
"Ow-ow! Get it, Blainers!" Rachel yelled, interrupting their moment. The two boys looked over to see her and Finn entering the backyard together, holding hands.
"Back atcha, Rach!" Blaine responded. "I think I understand why you've been spending all your time in the garden now."
"One of us had to be assertive enough to get their man, little brother," Rachel said, pushing Finn onto the seat on Blaine's other side and plopping onto his lap. "You were the one who said we needed hot summer flings."
"Mine might last a little longer than that, actually," Blaine said. "Meet Kurt Hummel, fellow NYADA freshman."
Rachel let out a shriek that seemed to reverberate off the trees. "You are not dating the enemy, Blaine Devon Anderson-Berry! Just wait til I tell our dads about th-" Finn leaned up and planted a kiss on her mouth, quieting her down easily.
"I'm so glad Finn and I have hand signals for things like this," Kurt whispered into Blaine's ear. "It'll make life so much easier for us."
"If I thought my dads wouldn't love you guys already, this would've instantly propelled you to their good side," Blaine whispered back. "They might start planning a joint wedding now."
"We haven't even gone on a date yet, Blaine, what kind of guy do you think I am?"
"You have any plans tonight?"
"I could probably squeeze you in." Blaine leaned in and kissed Kurt again at that, blissfully happy that his summer had turned out better than he'd ever expected.