Blaine had had reservations about spending some of the summer with Cooper at first. He loved his brother and wanted to see L.A., but the prospect of spending six weeks following Cooper from audition to audition around a sweltering, tourist packed city didn't sound like fun.

But when Cooper explained they would be house sitting for a friend who lived outside the city Blaine leapt at the chance. It meant the two of them would actually get time to spend together again, something Blaine had missed since Cooper moved away. And seeing as his friends in Ohio were all visiting relatives over the summer it saved Blaine from being on his own for weeks.

He hugged his parents goodbye at the airport and within a few hours he was hugging his enthusiastic brother at the baggage claim in LAX.

The house outside the city turned out to be right next to the beach and Blaine got a job as junior lifeguard to earn some money. It was a good job and gave him plenty of time to sit in the sun and listen to music. The main lifeguards watched over the deeper waters and Blaine kept an eye on the people paddling in the shallow waves.

His position on the raised lifeguard chair also meant he had a great view to people watch on the beach, observing the young couples walking hand in hand, the children making sandcastles and the people sunbathing. On one occasion he even saw a group of young women bathing 'European style' which he dutifully pointed out to Cooper who was lounging nearby, like any good brother would.

He especially enjoyed the young men walking up and down the beach, of course. The Californian beach offered a better selection of eye candy than any of the pools or parks in Ohio did. The men were toned and bronzed, wearing much tighter bathing suits than Blaine had ever seen before.

Cooper caught him watching one day, nudging Blaine in the direction of one particularly muscled teenager about his own age, telling Blaine he should try for a holiday romance. But Blaine just shook his head, explaining that they were nice to look at, but the overly muscled tool just didn't do it for him.

One day, just when Blaine thought nothing particularly exciting was going to come out of his summer vacation, he spotted a boy his own age walking down the beach by the edge of the surf, contently letting the waves lap over his sandaled feet as the waves washed in and out.

The crowds and noise of the beach suddenly disappeared and all Blaine could see was the boy. He was slender and toned, wearing light blue surfer shorts, a white t-shirt and a grey baseball cap to shade his face.

Something about him captivated Blaine, something in the way he held himself and seemed to smile contently under the shade of his cap.

Blaine was wondering how he could go about approaching him when a soccer ball flew through the air towards the boy, hitting him on the head with a sound thwack and knocking him backwards onto his ass.

Blaine leapt down from his post, reaching the boy just as the soccer ball assailant reached him, apologising profusely. Seeing Blaine, though, the assailant quickly scooped up his ball and headed back to his friends.

'Hey, are you ok?' Blaine asked, kneeling down next to the boy.

'Oh, I'm fine, really.' He smiled. 'There's no need to worry, I've had worse.'

'Are you sure? You might have a concussion, or get a chill if you got your clothes wet.'

Blaine watched the boy frown and glance down at the frothy waves that were barely reaching where he sat.

'I'm not even wet, I think I'll live.' He replied with a frown, his brow smoothing out as he caught Blaine's teasing grin. 'Thank you though.'

'No problem, can I help you with anything else? You look like you could use some sun cream.' He took out the tube that was tucked into his waistband and squirted a small amount on to his finger, bopping the boy on the nose and trying not to laugh at his surprised expression.

'Oh, uh, thank you.' The boy said, rubbing the cream over his freckled nose with a bemused expression.

Blaine stood up, holding out a hand to the boy to help him up. Once he was standing Blaine held on to his hand for a moment longer until he met Blaine's eye.

'I'm Blaine.'

'Kurt.' The boy replied, smiling a little bashfully.

'So where are you from Kurt?' Blaine said, trying to keep the conversation going, not ready to let Kurt leave just yet.

'Ohio. I'm visiting with a friend; she's looking at colleges to apply for this year.'

'No kidding, I'm from Ohio too, Westerville.'

'Lima.' Kurt replied, his smile widening.

'So are you looking at colleges here too?'

'No.' Kurt shook his head. 'I'm New York bound as soon as senior year is finished. I'm visiting colleges there next week.'

'I love New York.' Blaine smiled. 'I'm applying for NYADA and a few other drama schools.'

'Oh, same here.' Kurt replied, blushing as he realized he was still holding on to Blaine's hand and dropping it, letting his hand rest by his side instead.

'Wow, small world.' Blaine laughed, glancing over to his watch post where Cooper had been lying, listening to music. His brother smiled and gave him a thumbs up, moving to cover Blaine's position. 'Do you wanna maybe get an ice cream or something? My treat?'

Kurt suddenly looked a little hesitant and Blaine wondered if he had made a mistake. Maybe Kurt already had a boyfriend, maybe he wasn't even gay.

'I'm sorry, too soon?'

'Oh, no.' Kurt shook his head and smiled. 'It's just, you're offering to treat me and I'm wondering where you're keeping a wallet in those shorts, they don't look like they have a lot of spare room in there.'

Blaine glanced down at his shorts, they were admittedly quite form fitting. But Kurt was right; his wallet was back at the lifeguard post.

'It's alright; ice cream will be on me.' Kurt offered, nodding towards the ice cream stand a little way up the beach.

'You sure?' Blaine grinned.

'Yeah. After all, you did just save my life.' Kurt teased.

'Oh, absolutely, you could have drowned.' Blaine said with mock seriousness.

'I was lucky you were there to save me then.'

Blaine smiled back; quietly thinking that maybe he was the lucky one to have met Kurt.

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