When I was younger, my grandmother would tell me an old southern folk tale about the Lightening Bugs. She would tell me that the magical creatures spent their lives looking and waiting for their soul mates. She would tell me and my cousins that sometimes the soulmate could be a different creature than a firefly, and that when that happens, it simply kisses them (by landing on their lips) and then changes into its mate so that they can live happily ever after.
This was the favorite story of my cousins and I, and rarely a night went by that didn't have us chasing fireflies around the yard behind the antebellum mansion my mothers family owned. Countless hours spent chasing the little balls of bioluminescence that were surely our soul mates. How much I would come to miss those summers of simplicity and pure unadulterated optimism.
After my mothers death, the bitter realities of life turned my 8 year old self hard. I realized that the story was probably something mothers told their children so they wouldn't cry when the fireflies were eaten by frogs. Then, as I grew up more and began realizing just how different I was from the other children, I drifted farther and farther away from my maternal grandparents fearing their reaction to me.
When I am 14, I come out to my father. I am a nervous wreck, heart palpitating, hands sweaty, bag packed and ready by the door just incase I need to run to the Jones. I manage to stutter out the two simple heavy words in a weak voice I barely recognize. My father just stands there with a soft smile on his face and says "I know, Ive known since you were three and asked for a pair of sensible heels for your birthday." He gave a soft laugh of fondness. The force of my fathers love and acceptance hit me and I crumple to the floor.
We spend the rest of the night watching old movies and I revel in the comfort of family.
At the end of that school year, my freshman year in High School, my father suggests a trip down to see my grand parents, both to enjoy the family and so that I can tell them. This makes me incredibly nervous. More so than when it was just my dad because they are my link to my mother.
We arrive in New Orleans in the beginning of June, planning to stay through July. We quickly fall into a world of family meals and lazy days pleasant nights. My cousins and I still chase the fireflies. One in particular, or so it seems- its impossible to tell them apart, but it feels like the same one- finds me and follows me every night. I teasingly tell my oldest cousin its because it enjoys the reflective nature of my porcelain skin, she tells me that its my soul mate. I laugh openly, it had been years since I had thought about the old folk tale.
It is Friday on the third week of our stay when I work up the courage to tell them. I make it through the day of shopping and laughter a bundle of nerves. I feel as though my heart is going to beat right out of my chest. Dad finds me wiping frantic tears of nerves and anxiety from my face in the washroom at lunch. His unwavering support gets me through the afternoon and through dinner. Its during my aunts famous pie and coffee that there is a lull in conversation and I take my moment. I clear my throat and look up to see the smiling faces of my family staring at me in contentment. Its almost too much. It breaks my heart that much more. I take a shuttering breath and somehow manage a strong enough voice to say, "Im gay."with certainty staring blankly at the window in the back of the room.
For a moment, nothing happens, and I look down to see them sitting there the same smiles on their faces. My Aunt is the first to react.
"Thank you so much for telling us sweetheart. We are so so proud of you."And then I find myself the center of a family group hug. The elation and joy overwhelm me, pour through every inch of my being and its too much in all the best ways. I have to excuse myself and step out for air.
I watch the few fireflies that are braving the cooler air for a few moments, a storm was due in tonight and they were probably enjoying the last night out they would get for a few nights. I watched as my little friend, brave for being out, lazily flew right up to my cheek.
"Looks like you have a friend." My grandmother noted amusedly as she joined me on the veranda. She was so like my mother that I felt extra close to her. "He has come to you every night that you have been here."
"Haha, yes, I told Bea that he probably likes that he can see himself in the paleness of my skin."
"Do you remember that story I used to tell you?"
"Hm, yes and really grandmother I highly doubt this little guy is my soul mate."
"Well, you never know, don't question fate Kurt. Now come on, lets go in. The storm is coming."With that she walked back inside.
I stayed for a moment more. My little friend flew higher and hovered right in front of me, as if trying to gaze into my eyes; before slowly lowering himself onto my lips. I stood stock still, not even daring to move. I watched as, after a moment, he flew back up to my eye line again, then flew off into the misty night.
We spent the next two days cuddling in the house watching movies and playing games and charades and staying dry. The storm didn't let up the entire time and I found myself missing the fireflies. I spent two nights musing about them and when I switch from thinking about them as bugs and started thinking about them as them and my friend as a 'he.'I had two nights filled with dreams of mysterious strangers and kisses by starlight.
On Tuesday we decided to take a drive to down to the beach house on the peninsula. My mothers family was full of old southern money and the beach house had been passed down for generations and it was one of my favorite places on Earth. Monday night found all of us packing overnight bags and beach gear. It was a three hour drive to the beach house from the main house in New Orleans so we had to leave before dawn the next morning.
It was a pleasant drive with all of us spread between three cars. I spent most of it singing softly to my cousins, they loved listening to me and were some of the only people my age that appreciated my talents. They have good voices to and occasionally sing with me. The contentment the morning and my relatives and the summer in general were bringing me, wrapped me in warmth and I relished it.
By the middle of the morning, we had reached the house, with the idyllic beach spread before us; it was perfect. We took an hour to get settled before piling onto the sand. One of my older cousins and I decided to take a walk and were climbing dunes a couple hundred meters from out family when I lost my footing and began to fall. I closed my eyes and braced for an impact that never came. I relaxed and took a moment to figure out that I was carefully wrapped in two strong arms held close to a body that smelled of the ocean, the evergreens and boy. I opened my eyes slowly and was met with the most dazzling honey eyes and smile I had ever seen before. My heart skipped a beat and my breath needed a moment to catch up.
"Hello there. Are you okay?"The slow, deliberate tenor of his voice melted down me and I was still to dazed for my normal eloquence.
"Uh, yes, thank you."My startled response only caused his smile to grow in wattage. I lost all train of thought. He must have righted us sometime during this, because we were standing upright, but he still held me close.
"You are very welcome..."
"Kurt"
"Kurt. Im glad that I was here to catch you."
"Yeah." He chuckled at my continued awe.
"Im Blaine. Blaine Anderson."
"Nice to meet you."
"Pleasure is all mine, Kurt."I swore right then that if I lived to be one hundred I would never forget the warm feeling that melted down my chest to my stomach at hearing him drawl my name out in his gravelly voice.
"Are you from around here?"I preened internally at my returned coherence.
"Yes, but you're not." He smiled, a tad mischievous, as if sharing a joke.
" No. No, Im not. Im from Ohio visiting for the summer."
" Well, Kurt from Ohio, would you like to go play in the water?"
"Sure."So much for eloquence. He smiled regardless, if he asked me, Id fly to the moon.
"Good. Follow me."
That was the first day spent with Blaine Anderson. We played in the water with my cousins. My family allowed him to stay for dinner and he came right over first thing the next morning and every day after. It was unreal, it was as if he had come from nowhere, yet there was a familiarity about him. As if I had known him forever.
As it turns out, his family lived in the next neighborhood over in New Orleans, and even more ironic, they were moving up to Lima (of all places on earth!) in August for his fathers work. We spent the whole summer together. That voice of his proved even more heart melting when he sang, and our voices blended beautifully.
My family adored him and he fit in so easily, that is was easy to forget that he was only a new fixture in our lives. It was even harder for me to believe just how fast and easy it was falling in love with him. It was like he was made for me, and me for him. We completed each other. I had never had anything like his before, yet somehow, perhaps instinctually I knew that I would never find this again. Blaine was it. And inexplicably, instead of this terrifying me, I found comfort in it. Never again would I have to be alone.
My Grandmother was the first to recognize what had happened. She more than any of the others seemed to have a certain fondness for Blaine. The way she would smile at him with what could only be recognition. Of course, even though she knew she only told me, after all, who would really want to believe all of it? I certainly didn't, not at first. I mean, it was all so preposterous. Yet, that night, about a week before we were scheduled to leave, she told me here theory, or really she told me what had happened. I had only believed it to be a theory at first. And Blaine was right there agreeing with her.
But honestly, how do you react to that? It took me a day of thinking it through, and remembering the instantaneous familiarity to even consider it. But what sealed it, was our first kiss. I had spent the day painting a mural for my youngest cousin, thinking about the whole crazy thing. That night I walked outside to check the painting, I subconsciously noticed the lightening bugs and consciously felt the absence of my little friend. But of course, according to Grandmother, he was inside helping to clean up after dinner. The musing made me pause in thought. It was then that Blaine came out onto the porch.
I gazed at him in awe. He really was unbelievable. I honestly could stare at him all day and not be bored. He smiled at me and came closer. My breath caught in my chest again as he closed the distance. He stopped just in front of me, our feet touching. Our eyes caught and he seemed to be asking a question. I nodded only slightly and he leaned in slowly. My eyes fluttered shut with the first brush of his lips on mine. We stayed like that for a beat. Just feeling each others nearness. It clicked then in my mind that it was the same feeling as the night I had come out and my little firefly friend had landed on my lips. The puzzle came together in my mind and just as soon I stopped thinking about it in favor of Blaine. By then his arms were wrapped tight around my waist and mine were around his neck with my fingers in his curls. I dont remember who moved first. It was breathtaking, as all things concerning Blaine seem to be. Yet it was also sweet and filled with the promise of thousand tomorrows.
He pulled back, only enough to give both of us breathing room. Our arms were still wrapped firmly around the other. My curiosity got the better of me while we caught our breath. "How does it work?"
Blaine smiled softly, the porch light accenting the honey in his eyes. "For most, this is simple, well its simple for us too, just not as simple. But, the idea is easy, you become what ever you need to, to stay with them. Humans are only different in that society dictates familial ties."
"So your family..."
"So my family is as we are. My parents found each other early, they changed with me. Ironically my brother found his mate last night. She lives in California, so I imagine well have a place to stay if we ever wish to visit."
"So, you are all human now. But how does that work? Jobs? Money? A life?"
"We are given whatever we need to be with our mates. Jobs are what are most suited for us, my father is a banker, always good at saving. My mother is a teacher. Me, I get to find out with you, I will be at school with you."
"But what if we like different things, what if-"
"Kurt. Thats the beauty of it. We get to find out together. I will be with you always. In whichever way you want and need me. If you were to find another, I would still be your friend."
"Not possible."He beamed at me.
"I dont really think so either. But thats how it works. Together forever."
"Happily Ever After." We both smiled. He agreed.
"Happily Ever After."
I Disclaim.
A/N: I really don't know where this came from. I have been working on it for a while. I am currently working on a new chaptered fic. So I hope you enjoyed this. Remember, reviews equal virtual hugs and cookies!