TWENTY-SIX
Blaine wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and block out the world after a long day at school and exhausting rehearsal. He knew Kurt could be demanding at times, but giving him the assistant director title empowered him to forget about subtly and let loose with his opinions. Blaine didn't know if his weariness came from the fifteen times Kurt had made them run through The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (and reprise) or from physically restraining himself from whisking his sexy boyfriend backstage for a thorough kissing.
When Blaine got to his room, however, he found a handwritten note and a white and pale pink star lily on his pillow. He recognized Kurt's small, messy writing:
Don't fall asleep. I've planned a date for tonight. I'll come get you at eleven.
Blaine inhaled the sweet floral scent a few times with a silly grin on his lips. He took good-natured grief from Nick and Jeff about getting a flower when he went to retrieve a vase for it.
"I hope Dagny gives me a flower on my birthday," Nick called at Blaine's retreating back.
"It would make your first kiss so romantic," Jeff added, fluttering his eyes dramatically.
Blaine snapped his bedroom door closed and ignored them. He loved the flower, and he loved Kurt …. Blaine's reflection gawked at him in the mirror. He let out an almost hysterical laugh, because he couldn't believe that hadn't occurred to him before. He loved Kurt.
When Kurt rapped lightly on the door at eleven o'clock and got no answer, he poked his head inside and found Blaine dancing around his room from closet to bed trying to find the right outfit. He was singing along lightly to the radio (and sounding much better than the singer, in Kurt's opinion).
"As your director, I'm appalled you're not living and breathing Anthony. But as your boyfriend, I have to say that Something's Coming is pretty much the perfect song for us right now. But you do know it's traditional to be fully dressed before your date arrives, right?"
Blaine beamed at his boyfriend. "Thank you for the flower. And for planning a date. I know how busy you are."
"I'll always have time for you, Blaine."
Blaine decided on the gray and white striped cardigan and purple bowtie when it became clear that's what Kurt wanted him to wear.
"Where are you guys going?" Nick asked incredulously.
The clock read 11:24, and while Cillian and Ciara didn't enforce a curfew, the boys knew there were limits not to be tested. But Kurt figured that skipping school was worse than a midnight date, and they did that all the time with no consequences other than disapproving comments from their teachers.
"The hills. We'll be back in a few hours."
Blaine shrugged at their curious friends and let Kurt lead him out of the apartment. At this time of night on a weekday, most of Here had gone into their homes and to bed. The dim lights in the lampposts cast yellow halos on the cobblestone with patches of deep shadow between. The mid-April air felt cool, but not uncomfortably so, and the fresh rain scent from earlier in the day still lingered. When Kurt slipped his hand into Blaine's, he didn't object.
"So what's in the hills?"
"Do you remember once telling me that even the constellations are different here? Well, I thought tonight we could spend some time looking at them."
They had reached the hilly land on the western side of Here and started climbing towards the trees along the ridge. As Blaine's eyes adjusted to the darkness without the lampposts, he saw a large blanket spread on the grass in a cupped valley. Kurt's messenger bag lay off to the side.
"You are too good to me."
Kurt gave a toothy grin and tugged Blaine down onto the soft blanket. He had picked a spot with a slight incline so their heads had a kind of natural pillow when they reclined. Their hands and arms entwined as they lay close beside each other staring up at the sky.
The stars burst to life across the black night with the new moon only a sliver and the scarce light pollution of Here. For Kurt, who was accustomed to Orion and the Big Dipper parading nightly, the sky looked impossibly full of stars. He could hardly find a blank patch of sky.
"How do you even find constellations in this?"
"There are some stars that are brighter than the others." Blaine rolled his neck. "Like you."
Kurt let out a joyful laugh. "Oh my God! You are too cheesy."
"Says the man who gave me a star lily."
"That was romantic!" Kurt protested.
"But also very cheesy."
Kurt resigned himself to the label. "I guess we just have to accept that we're that couple."
Quiet settled over them for a moment while Blaine gazed lovingly at Kurt, and Kurt became aware he'd stolen the show from the stars. They shifted onto their sides in synch. Kurt's free hand came up to Blaine's hair. His fingers twirled around the curls around Blaine's ears. His pinky brushed the shell of his boyfriend's ear occasionally and sent shudders flying up Blaine's spine. For his part, Blaine stroked the soft planes of Kurt's cheeks and jaw with his fingertips and brought ragged breaths from between Kurt's parted lips.
"I love being that couple," Blaine confessed. "I've never felt more right than when I'm with you, Kurt. I never want to be without you."
"You won't be," Kurt promised. "We'll be here together forever."
Kurt had only ever felt grief when he thought about living here for the rest of his life, but for the first time, he could imagine a happy ending because he had Blaine. A swooping sensation filled Kurt's chest. He loved Blaine.
Blaine closed the distance and slotted his lips against Kurt's soft, warm mouth. Kurt's fingers tightened in his hair, bringing a surprised moan from his throat. Kurt sucked in a sharp breath through his nose and drew Blaine's top lip between his own lips while his fingers trailed down to trace the shell of Blaine's ear. Blaine's hand fell away from Kurt's face to his shoulders and arm, and when their fingers locked together, he used the leverage to roll Kurt onto his back.
Kurt was lost in this wonderful boy over him: the scent of his musky cologne, the lingering taste of the coffee and cinnamon that had sustained him through rehearsal, his cardigan bunched up with movement and leaving a bare stretch of skin he so desperately wanted to trail his fingers over, their tongues sliding together, and the heat of their bodies pressed together.
Blaine broke the kiss too soon and dropped his head into the crook of Kurt's neck. He felt Blaine's hot, heavy breaths against his skin, and his own chest heaved out of time with Blaine's. Kurt shifted around surreptitiously, trying to adjust his hard-on into a more comfortable position inside his skinny jeans with both hands still trapped under Blaine's.
Blaine meant to take a minute to cool off, but the alluring citrusy musk on Kurt's neck did nothing to calm down his arousal, and with his pelvis pressed into the blanket even the slightest movement defeated the purpose of pausing anyway. He pressed openmouthed kisses to the pale column of Kurt's neck, and his boyfriend tilted his head back to give him better access. Blaine dragged his tongue along the sweat-salty skin and bit down. Kurt's fingers uncurled and flexed between his own, and he writhed under Blaine's chest.
"Hands," Kurt gasped. "Let go of my hands."
Blaine pouted into Kurt's neck, but did as his boyfriend requested. Kurt's arms came down and his hands ghosted over Blaine's hair and shoulders, down his back, and to the two inches of skin between his bunched up cardigan and waistband. Blaine started when he felt hands on his bare flesh, and his mouth released Kurt's neck with a wet pop.
Kurt shimmied down the blanket, dipped his head to claim Blaine's lips in a searing kiss that was all tongue and teeth, and Blaine felt the world shifting as Kurt rolled them over. With both hands on Blaine's waist, Kurt used his knees for balance and landed with Blaine's thigh between his legs and his hips hovering. The implications of the new position shocked Kurt out of the heated moment.
Suddenly, the hands were gone from Blaine's waist, and Kurt's heavy presence retreated from above Blaine. It took his lust-addled brain a minute to figure out what had happened, and to appreciate that they did need to cool down. Blaine conjugated Latin verbs in his head while his breathing and body quieted down. Kurt had gone absolutely silent beside him.
"Kurt?"
"I'm sorry. I – I don't know what I was thinking, and I didn't meant to … to lead you on, but I'm not ready for that." Kurt's voice trembled with emotion, and Blaine could picture the tears welling in his eyes.
"You don't have to apologize, Kurt. One of the joys of dating another boy is that I completely understand. We weren't thinking. At least not with our brains. Of course we're not ready. We haven't talked about it at all."
"I can't talk about it, Blaine. I don't know anything about sex."
"Neither do I." Kurt's neck rolled to gaze curiously at his boyfriend. "I only know what was in the pamphlet my physician gave me. I think we just proved that the mechanics are kind of intuitive, though. I meant talking about being ready, if we're ready."
"Are you …"
"No."
"So you're not mad at me?"
"Of course I'm not. But even if I was ready, I wouldn't be mad at your for needing more time."
Kurt rolled onto his side and pressed a chaste kiss to Blaine's lips. "You're the best boyfriend ever."
"Want to cuddle?" Blaine asked, with a wink.
Kurt settled in next to Blaine until they were wrapped up in each other. Blaine held his arm towards the sky and traced the constellations with his index finger. Sometimes Kurt paid attention to the star shapes, but mostly he watched Blaine's animated expressions and breathed in his unique scent and reveled in being held by this sweet, gorgeous boy.
o o o
When Kurt and Blaine walked through their door in the morning to take quick showers and hopefully make it to school before the first hour bell rang, they found an unexpected visitor reclining on their sofa: Soren.
Their cuddling and stargazing had, unsurprisingly, turned into slumber. The morning sun cresting over the hills had woken them, and they'd hurried back, but apparently they hadn't been fast enough. They had been well and truly caught. Soren offered a tight smile and motioned for the boys to shut the door behind them.
"Go take showers and make yourselves awake. Then we are going to talk."
Soren had never sounded so ominous. They rushed through their morning routines, both sensing that to keep Soren waiting longer than necessary would be a poor move on their parts. Kurt resigned himself to sweeping his bangs over and letting his hair air dry. They finished in the bathroom in record time and found themselves perched across from Soren and nervously trying to avoid eye contact.
"Ciara came to get me bright and early when she realized you two had been out all night. She was worried you'd been hurt, which is not outside the realm of possibility, as you two should know very well by now." He fixed them with a piercing gaze. "You have very loyal friends, but I got it out them eventually that you'd gone on a date. I know what keeps teenage boys out all night with their boyfriends."
Soren removed his thin rectangular lenses and rubbed at his eyes. Then he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a box of condoms and a bottle of lubricant. Kurt's face burned red. With the heat in his cheeks and wet hair, he thought he'd start steaming any moment. Blaine slid down the couch and hunched his shoulders.
"We didn't have sex," Blaine muttered.
"I am not here to lecture you. I had sex when I was much younger than either of you, and you are both at the age of consent, but you are dating and living together. Sometimes the passion of the moment takes over, and you might find yourselves in a situation you didn't plan. If that happens, you need to be educated and you need to be safe."
"We're both virgins," Blaine said, so quietly Kurt almost didn't hear.
"You know that is a subjective term when there are two men involved, yes?" Kurt cocked his head to the side, which Soren took as a nonverbal question. "Sex is still sex without penetration, and some gay men prefer not to have anal sex at all."
Kurt prayed to the dwarf in the teapot on the far side of the moon that the couch would come alive and swallow him whole. Soren pointed at the box of condoms, and Kurt had sudden, violent, crippling fear that a cucumber would be joining the conversation at any moment.
"Blaine has pamphlets!" he blurted.
Blaine's head swiveled in his direction. Outrage and humiliation burned on his cheeks, and he furrowed his brow, as if to say 'Y tu, Kurt?'. Soren, however, looked exceedingly relieved.
"So you already understand the mechanics? Good. Do either of you have any questions?"
Kurt had plenty of questions, the most important one being: Can we please leave now? Blaine seemed to be thinking along the same lines. Soren saw himself out, but left the condoms and lube behind. Kurt scooted away from them like they were deadly toxins.
"So … I guess I'm keeping these in my room?" Blaine joked.
Kurt doubled over with his flaming face in his hands. Blaine scooted across the couch and rubbed his back gently.
"I have never been more humiliated!" Kurt cried.
"Me either! Thanks for mentioning the pamphlets, Kurt. Traitor!"
The absurdity of the situation sent them into manic laughter until they realized they were, once again, late for first hour. Blaine tucked the condoms and lube away in his desk drawer next to the pamphlet with a photograph of two young men holding hands.
"Let's go torture Jeff and Nick for giving us up," Blaine said.
"I'm going to spend all day coming up with a very special treat for them during rehearsal. I think it's time to work very rigorously on some Sweeney-Turpin scenes."