Kurt set the bottle down carefully before squeezing Blaine's hand firmly in his. "Stay still."
"But it's cold! And it feels," Blaine scrunched his brow, frowning at his splayed fingers as he struggled to find the right word, "It feels weird. Thick."
"You'll get used to it, I promise."
"You know this from experience, huh?"
"I've painted my nails before, Blaine, so yes I know this from experience."
Blaine grumbled quietly, sighed, and then slouched his shoulders in defeat. Amused, Kurt shot him an affectionate smile from his position on his stomach, one hand still atop Blaine's and the other resting on a semi-open bottle of bright pink nail varnish. Blaine was sitting cross-legged next to him, biting his lip as he glanced fearfully at his beautified nails. The fiery hot pink created a stark contrast against his dark navy school slacks and he dreaded to think how difficult a fluorescent pink nail varnish stain would be to wash out if Kurt spilled any by accident. Not to mention the never-ending jeers of delight from the Warblers if he couldn't.
Kurt hummed happily as he removed the brush from the bottle, daubing away any excess and proceeding to continue slavering the goopy pink substance onto Blaine's helpless nails. "You're only pretending not to enjoy this. You love holding my hand."
"Yeah, but this isn't the same. You're like, mauling me."
"I'm not mauling. I'm merely restraining. You might go all King Kong on me and start bashing your chest, accusing me of stealing away your manhood," Kurt said airily, gazing up at Blaine dolefully to make sure he knew he was only kidding. Blaine had a tendency to take things very literally when he was nervous like this. To be fair, someone as strait-laced as Blaine would feel a little abashed about having his nails painted the colour of bubblegum the day before a major performance, but he'd lost the bet fair and square. And this had been the chosen punishment.
Blaine shifted uncomfortably, but still managed to move a thumb to awkwardly stroke Kurt's slender finger. "I wouldn't have to do this if Wes had just-"
"Blaine, the vote was unanimous. Jeff was the only one who felt even the slightest remorse and that's only because the whole thing was his idea."
Blaine's hand jerked on his knee, causing Kurt to make a small hmmph noise in annoyance. "What? Why in the hell would Jeff want to make a bet about paper throwing?"
"Because it's your signature move." Blaine raised his eyebrow at the accusation, but Kurt ignored it. "You heard what he said: he betted that you couldn't get away with throwing any more paper around the senior commons because the janitor's probably already got a hit out on you as it is. He was kidding at first but you took it seriously-"
"I didn't want to seem like a bad sport!"
"Well you seem like one now because you are resisting your punishment."
Blaine looked down at Kurt imploringly and then back at his hands with a scowl. "Can't I forfeit or something?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm enjoying this."
He grumbled a quick something about how Kurt was lucky Blaine was in love with him or else things would be playing out very differently indeed, a statement which Kurt responded to by deliberately dribbling a tiny spot of the thick pink polish onto Blaine's trouser knee. Deliberately, of course.
"Shoot." Kurt uttered a more colourful cuss word before shushing Blaine's high-pitched protests by wiping away the pink dot skillfully with an alcohol wipe. Blaine leaned down to examine the damage. He smiled, happily, before pressing a quick kiss to Kurt's lips in thanks.
"Life saver."
"I know. Now stay still, I want to get some more colours from Mrs. Davis."
Blaine gulped. "More colours?" He asked hoarsely.
"Of course." Kurt sat up and slid off the bed, leaving Blaine watching him dumbfounded from his perch on the bed. "How else am I meant to do your other hand in double-tones?"
"Double t- you mean you're going to put more than one colour on the same nail?"
"Exactly that." Kurt laughed at the shock on Blaine's face, leaning down to kiss his forehead and then rushing to the door. "I'll be two seconds. Just don't move!"
Worry filled Blaine's eyes, but his hands remained limp on his knees. It took a while for the initial stun to subside.
"Kurt!" He called at the empty doorway far too late for Kurt to hear him, "They won't clash with the pink, will they?"