Blaine had stolen the keys from Kurt the moment he first saw him on Wednesday morning. Following their dance, he had practically carried his boyfriend to bed, Chris thankfully absent from the room, possibly at home. Even though the countertenor had been sound asleep by the time Blaine closed the door behind him, he still looked bleary-eyed and unfit to drive when Blaine knocked on his door at ten in the morning, as agreed.
Classical music was one of the best ways to put Kurt to sleep; although calling the countertenor musically inclined was an understatement, his taste wasn't always the most sophisticated, and Blaine had learned quickly that classical music was better than a sedative for him. He had fiddled with the dials for a few minutes as he got on the highway, Kurt sleepily chattering about all the things he wanted to do during spring break, but eventually he had found a station playing Mozart and his boyfriend had slept for the entire ride following that.
Blaine shook him awake, lightly, once he was parked in the Hummel-Hudson's driveway. They had taken Kurt's Navigator, both because Kurt had planned to drive and because his father wanted to take a look at the car while his son was home. "I'm sorry, did I sleep the whole ride?" Kurt asked, stretching as best he could in his seat. "That must have been so boring for you."
"You're cute when you sleep," was all Blaine said in response, since he couldn't exactly deny it; the ride had been rather boring with neither Kurt nor pop music to keep him entertained.
"I'll make lunch as soon as we get in, and I can get you set up in the guest room," Kurt said as he hopped out of the car, Blaine following him to grab their bags. A little digging had to be done in the front of the countertenor's suitcase before he could find his house keys, but as soon as they walked in the door, Blaine almost wished he hadn't found them.
"Oh! Disgusting!" Kurt yelled, dropping his suitcase to cover his eyes.
"Kurt! Blaine!" Quinn exclaimed as she pushed Finn off her, clearly embarrassed.
"Come on, dude, we weren't even doing anything," Finn said, sounding rather annoyed that they had been interrupted. Quinn and Finn were entangled on the couch; a quick count of the driveway had confirmed that Burt and Carole weren't yet home, probably working on Wednesday in the middle of the day. Quinn's car wasn't there either; she and Finn must have been out.
Kurt made a disgusted noise in reply, picking up his bags and heading upstairs with a huff. Blaine just smiled and said to Finn, "I think if he weren't so disturbed, he would have reminded you not to call him 'dude,'" before following his boyfriend up the stairs.
He hadn't spent much time in the new house, though he had been there on several occasions he would really rather not think about, so he popped his head into both a bathroom and Finn's room before he found Kurt's. His boyfriend was humming to himself, something upbeat he didn't recognize, as he unzipped his suitcase, ready to unpack, even though they only had a few days.
"They weren't doing anything," Blaine said, amused, as he lounged in his boyfriend's doorway. "That was a little dramatic, don't you think?"
"Please, if I have to see Finn trying to get in any girl's pants, I would prefer it to be Rachel." That explained the reaction. "Not that I don't like Quinn, I of course do, but she's not right for Finn and she's done enough, don't you think?"
"I'm not really one to talk on that subject."
"Nothing you did was- nothing you could have possibly done would have been as bad as what she did to Finn. She destroyed him." Kurt's voice would have sounded neutral to someone who didn't know him, but Blaine could hear the anger underneath. It was one of those moments he was reminded how fiercely Kurt and Finn cared for one another.
"Somehow, I have a feeling Finn will end up with Rachel. Think about who she was named for; she practically has to have a long, dramatic, 'will they or won't they?' relationship." Kurt laughed, a little of the tension seeping from his shoulders. "Now, since I'm pretty sure I'll be dead if Burt even sees me in here, would you like to show me to my room?"
"Your room?" Kurt asked with a raised eyebrow as he breezed past Blaine.
The guest room, which was his for the extended weekend, was nice, decorated in cool blues and grays. "I wanted it to be decorated like my old basement, but Finn has this strange aversion to Moroccan decor," Kurt said as he took a seat on the bed.
"He's downstairs; he can't hear you being sarcastic in his direction." Blaine put his bag on the desk, since he didn't plan to unpack very much for the five days, four nights he would be staying at Hotel Hudmel. "Still looks like you decorated it."
"Yes, of course, but it's a 'boys' room.'" Blaine didn't even have to look at his boyfriend to know there were air quotes around that statement. Kurt was not a fan of the strict gender binary. "You will, unfortunately, have to share a bathroom with my dear brother. He's quick in the shower, but not very tidy." Kurt wrinkled his nose, making Blaine smile.
"I think I can handle it." Blaine took a seat on the bed by Kurt, putting a hand over his boyfriend's. "So, anything happening today?"
"The New Directions are coming over for dinner tonight, family barbecue night, so hopefully Fuinn will be done by then and they won't get dinner and a show. They held off their annual spring break celebration until we could join them."
"You mean until you could join them," Blaine corrected.
Kurt looked like he was resisting the urge to sigh. "Primarily, but they are fond of you." Kurt smiled a little. "I was actually thinking that we might have a picnic. Hoover Park isn't huge, but there's a nice pond, with ducks, and I thought we could pack lunch and it would be… romantic." It hurt Blaine's heart a little to hear hesitance in his boyfriend's voice, as if he was going to say no, as if he was going to hurt Kurt again.
He shifted so he was holding Kurt's hand properly, giving it a squeeze. "That sounds perfect."
Kurt had never spent much time in the park, not a fan of dirt, sunshine, or the other residents of Lima, but having Blaine there made the shabby square of grass and tiny dirty pond much closer to idyllic. They had packed a lunch basket and a picnic blanket and despite his reservations, Blaine had taken his hand as they got out of the car. The park was mostly deserted, given that it was the middle of the week and most McKinley students didn't spend their spring breaks in a park, so they would probably be fine.
"So, does Lima just name everything after terrible presidents?" Blaine asked with a smile.
"Pretty sure this isn't Herbert Hoover Park," Kurt answered, "though it would not surprise me if all Lima losers worshiped failed presidents, given the similar life trajectories."
Blaine chuckled. "You could at least try to give other Lima residents the benefit of the doubt." He one hundred percent deserved the look he got in return. "All right, I guess you have reason for bitterness," he conceded, squeezing Kurt's hand. "Where's this pond you promised?"
Kurt dragged his boyfriend by the hand over to the little pond. "This is the prettiest this park has to offer."
"It's perfect," Blaine said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before finding a decently flat and dry place to spread their picnic blanket, always the optimist. "Those ducks don't look very nice, though."
"You have to think about it from their perspective. What do you think most likely happens when they see high school students?"
"I would say 'what kind of monsters are mean to ducks?' but it's McKinley so of course they're terrible to all living things." Okay, most of the time the optimist. "Make us anything good for lunch? I was too busy watching the Fuinn."
"I can't believe the New Directions have trained you on all the proper couple names." Most likely, that had been Santana. "I made us prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella sandwiches on baguettes with a touch of pesto aïoli, along with some strawberries, grapes, blueberries, three kinds of pâté, miniature bread loaves, some brie and gouda, crackers, bottled water…"
"Would you judge me if I just ate an entire wheel of brie and then laid down and took a nap?" Blaine asked as he dug through the basket eagerly. Kurt hadn't had breakfast before they left, even though the Commons was open during their short spring break, and judging by his enthusiasm, his boyfriend hadn't either.
"Maybe a little," Kurt replied, but Blaine knew he was teasing. His boyfriend fished a sandwich from the basket with a triumphant sound, immediately settling himself onto the blanket with his head in Kurt's lap. "Uh, Blaine?" The park was pretty deserted, but anyone who walked by would notice that.
"Yes?" Blaine asked innocently, peering up at him.
"No," Kurt said as gently as he could.
"Why not?" The tenor deftly unwrapped his sandwich as he spoke. "This barely counts as public, we're the only people here."
"This is worse than public, this is Lima." Blaine's only response was to take a bite of his sandwich. "I just wouldn't want…" Anything to happen, to either of them, to ruin their moment.
His boyfriend sighed dramatically as soon as he was done swallowing. "Fine." Blaine reached up and thread his fingers in Kurt's hair, tugging him down for a kiss, but it was quick, a brush of lips, and then Blaine sat up. "Fantastic sandwich, by the way," he complimented as he took another bite. "Still considering my brie idea."
Kurt chuckled. "You are such a boy sometimes."
"That's kind of the point, isn't it?" Blaine asked with a wolfish grin. "I don't think you'd like me very much if I wasn't." Very suddenly, it looked like a thought occurred to Blaine and the grin dropped off his face. "If I wasn't a boy, I mean, nothing to do with conventional masculinity, because-"
"Blaine," Kurt cut him off gently. "I didn't take offense." Hadn't even thought to.
"Sorry," Blaine still said guiltily. "I hope you didn't think that with the start of our relationship I would be done putting my foot in my mouth."
"I wouldn't have dreamed of it." The tenor smiled and put his hand over Kurt's. "Here come the ducks." The creatures had indeed become curious and were starting to wander carefully over toward the suspicious-looking teenage boys.
"Should I be afraid of what the ducks might do to me?" Blaine asked, eyeing said birds with mock-trepidation. Kurt laughed and bumped his boyfriend's shoulder with his. "I'm serious! They're mean," Blaine continued, not sounding very serious at all.
Forgetting for a second every interaction he'd ever had with someone from his hometown, he let his head fall onto Blaine's shoulder and rest there. He had a feeling his boyfriend was smiling victoriously but didn't bother moving to check.
The ducks wandered closer and closer as they sat there in silence, enjoying each others' company, and finally Blaine asked, "Did we bring any bread for the ducks?"
Kurt reached into the pocket of their picnic basket and pulled out the stale bread he had specifically packed for this purpose, rather than using the freshly-baked miniature loaves, handing it over without a word. Blaine, apparently sadistic towards ducks, spent the next few minutes throwing it as far away from the ducks as he could manage and watching them chase it.
"If you keep doing that, you might actually have to worry about what the ducks might do to you," Kurt said finally, prompting his boyfriend to be nicer to the ducks, though he could feel Blaine vibrating as he laughed silently. The rest of the bread he fed to the ducks by throwing it directly in the middle and watching them scramble.
Blaine, with both hands free, shifted so his arm was wrapped around Kurt. The countertenor was still acutely aware that they were in a public park, in Lima, Ohio, but he still had yet to see another person. Blaine was warm, the sun filtered through the wispy clouds and-
Kurt's train of thought was very much interrupted by his stomach growling, much louder than anything he would have expected, and he could tell by the high tone of his boyfriend's voice that Blaine was doing his very best not to laugh. "Hungry?" he asked, reaching into the basket and handing Kurt one of the carefully-wrapped sandwiches.
"Possibly," Kurt admitted with a sniff.
Blaine just smiled, squeezing him quickly with the arm wrapped around him. "No use packing an elaborate lunch and not eating it." From the basket, he pulled out the strawberries Kurt had packed, as well as the surprise. "Chocolate? How unlike you."
Kurt rolled his eyes at the melodramatic shock as his boyfriend did his best to delicately balance both strawberries and chocolate in the space where their thighs were pressed together. Blaine grinned as he accomplished semi-stable equilibrium and managed to dip a strawberry in chocolate without spilling the liquid all over them both.
"I would just like you to know that these are six-hundred dollar pants, and chocolate is not a designer decoration," Kurt warned as Blaine enjoyed his strawberry.
"It'll be fine," Blaine insisted, closing the basket and relaxing again.
Kurt was coaxed into eating two chocolate-covered strawberries by Blaine insistently pressing them against his lips, and his boyfriend finished the rest as they relaxed on the blanket. Kurt sighed lightly, pressing closer to Blaine. "This is perfect."
"Glad you think so." The tenor pressed a kiss to his hair. "I would agree."
Kurt let his eyes slip shut as Blaine started to hum quietly, tapping his fingers in distinct chords against Kurt's arm, and when he began to sing, Kurt didn't object. "How many times did I miss the signs? My stupid heart; it left me blind. Nobody else would forgive my mistakes; nobody else would've stayed." Blaine, for all that he had questioned it, could find the perfect ways to be romantic.
"One step ahead of me, you saw what we could be. How did you know, down in your bones, that I'd come around?" Kurt chuckled quietly, not wanting to interrupt him. The honest truth was that he'd never been really sure that his love story with Blaine would end the way he wanted it to, but he could never find it in himself to give up. Looking back on everything, he probably could have only given up if Blaine had told him to… or met someone else. "One step ahead always, guiding me through my haze. Was too scared to see what this could mean, but I see it now… I see it now." The countertenor shook away his unpleasant thought and curled in closer to his boyfriend.
"How could I ever be enough? Worthy of someone else's love?" Kurt snorted very loudly at that line, looking up at Blaine like he was crazy. And he was, since he was just about perfect. In Kurt's opinion. "All of my hang-ups and all of my fears, you made them all disappear."
"One step ahead of me, you saw what we could be. How did you know, down in your bones, that I'd come around? One step ahead always, guiding me through my haze. Was too scared to see what this could mean, but I see it now… I see it now."
"For someone who thinks he's terrible at romance, and serenades in particular, sometimes you do just the right thing," Kurt assured his boyfriend, putting his hand on Blaine's knee. "And for the record, I'm glad I waited."
"I adore you," Blaine said, squeezing Kurt gently.
"As long as you don't start singing Miley Cyrus." The countertenor had the distinct feeling that those words were his boyfriend trying to get as close to the serious words, those three little ones that changed everything, as he could without going way too fast.
The thought made him lean up and kiss Blaine, Lima losers be damned.
By the time Blaine and Kurt got back to the Hudson-Hummel house, Blaine actually having followed through on his threat of eating the entire wheel of brie and then having had to lie down for a while out of the sunshine to recover, it was already abuzz with activity. "I think I can actually hear Rachel through the walls of your house," the tenor said in awe as they stepped out of the car.
"She's most likely out back," though it wouldn't actually surprise him if Rachel were audible to her neighbors, "where all of the barbecuing tools are. Though I'm surprised she's here so early."
Kurt grabbed the basket and blanket from the backseat of the car, making sure to stow away both things in the hall closet after throwing out all the leftover food (it was a waste, but after everything had sat out in the sun, he simply didn't trust it) before heading out back. Blaine had waited for him in the kitchen, taking stock of their refrigerator, and they walked outside hands intertwined.
At least, they were holding hands, before the force of Rachel running over to hug Blaine knocked the tenor's hand from his. Kurt raised an eyebrow, judiciously, and asked, "Should I be worried? Again?" The memory of the Rachel Berry House Party Trainwreck Extravaganza was still fresh in his mind, although the last week had held so many important moments that it had somewhat faded.
"I just wanted to congratulate Blaine on his new job security!" Rachel explained innocently, releasing Blaine and turning to hug the countertenor instead. Over the tiny brunette's shoulder, Kurt raised the other eyebrow at his boyfriend and Blaine looked a little guilty. Apparently, he had something to tell him. Something that he had already told Rachel.
"And it's taken about thirty seconds for Rachel to cause problems," Santana said loudly from over by the grill, alerting the couple to the fact that there were other people in the backyard as well. "Frodo, Porcelain," she said by way of acknowledgement.
"Satan," Blaine replied in kind, though Kurt was pretty certain his boyfriend was still terrified of her. "Sam," he said more politely to the fake blond.
Kurt was drawn away from thoughts of how curious the combination of people currently at his house was by Rachel unceremoniously touching his face. "Can I help you?"
"Are you feeling all right? You look rather flushed."
"Uh, actually, I think that's sunburn," Blaine corrected, his voice high and tight, again like he was trying not to laugh. "Sorry, babe, but we were at the park for a long time." Kurt swiveled his glare from Rachel to Blaine, intensifying it as he did so. His boyfriend seemed impervious to it, looking slightly amused but mostly concerned and affectionate, and the countertenor found himself decidedly less mad despite his best efforts. "It's not that bad," the tenor promised.
"You two make me want to vomit," Santana muttered quite audibly.
"Sam's such a lucky man," Quinn said as she slid open the glass door separating the kitchen from their backyard, "given that any display of affection immediately makes you nauseous." The blonde sounded quite bitter, but Kurt supposed that was her ex-boyfriend Santana was dating. He honestly couldn't figure out how his friends did it.
"I think they're quite adorable," Rachel said with a shining smile, and was promptly ignored.
"What are we having?" Finn followed Quinn into the backyard, though it seemed he was following his nose more than his girlfriend. "Smells good."
"I would agree," Blaine said at the same time Sam said, "It does."
Kurt shared a look with Quinn that silently communicated, "Boys."
"You're all early," the countertenor informed them. "The kielbasas just got on the grill, they won't be done for a while."
"It's a barbecue, Hummel," Puck commented as he walked into view from around the side of the house. "You don't show up after the cooking is done." Puck reached to give Kurt a noogie which he artfully avoided and then nodded to Blaine, "Anderson."
"Puckerman," he said in kind. "He's right, babe, grilling is supposed to be part of the experience." Kurt gave his boyfriend a look because of course he knew that, but Blaine's attention had turned elsewhere. Mostly towards the fact that Rachel had acquired an iPod speaker from somewhere and was now setting it up on the table.
"For later," she explained at his questioning noise.
"It's going to turn into one of those gatherings, isn't it?" Quinn said, a touch of disdain in her voice.
"Doesn't it always?" Sam asked his ex-girlfriend, and they shared a quick smile before Santana draped herself all over Sam's lap. Pointedly.
Again, Kurt had no idea how his friends did it.
"Boy, you better get your skinny white ass over here and give me a hug," Mercedes demanded as she stepped out of the house, and Kurt went without argument, his best friend squeezing the breath out of him. "Anderson, as if that didn't mean to you, too."
Blaine smiled, walking over to accept a slightly shorter but no less crushing hug.
"Sam, Puckerman, Finn, Artie's dad just pulled up, go help him out," Mercedes ordered, her tone leaving no room for argument, and the three boys filed out to do as she said.
"I should go-" Blaine started saying, always so helpful, but he was cut off.
"Nope, we're gonna have a little talk," Mercedes said, grabbing Blaine by the bicep and tugging him into the house.
"Hells yeah, time to smack gay boy down." Santana followed, the smile on her face wicked.
"Well if everyone's doing it," Quinn said, and her smile was much closer to angelic but no more comforting as she followed the three into the house, leaving Kurt alone with Rachel.
"I almost feel bad for him," she confessed, watching for as long as she could until Quinn was out of sight. Mercedes was smart enough to not have the conversation in full view of the window. Kurt nodded in agreement. Blaine would be fine, of course, his girls wouldn't actually hurt him, but each was terrifying in her own way. "I would participate, but I have a feeling Blaine's not exactly afraid of me."
"You're a different kind of scary," Kurt assured her, and if she noticed the thinly-veiled insult, she didn't comment. "Plus, you've dated him as well."
Rachel's smile was surprisingly kind. "I have a feeling it's not quite the same," she said frankly, giving him a look that made color rise in his face. "How are things going? With Blaine?"
"He's… he's the sweetest," Kurt admitted, "and there's a lot of history for us to overcome, but…"
"But Finn and Quinn are living proof that you can overcome any history?" Rachel said bitterly, and Kurt sighed. No, he didn't think that Quinn was good for Finn, or vice versa, but no one really had a say in that but them, and they seemed determined, for the moment.
"I was just thinking about that," Kurt admitted, making Rachel tilt her head at him curiously. "You and Finn, Quinn and Puck, Quinn and Sam… I don't understand how you all spend so much time around your exes, especially when they're dating someone else. I can't imagine…" Kurt trailed off, because he and Blaine had been together for a week, there was no use worrying about them breaking up at the moment.
"Well, Quinn and Puck were never really a couple," she pointed out, "but you get used to it. Eventually." Rachel sounded sad, her tone entirely contradicting her words. Kurt was tempted by his nature to point this out, but it didn't seem worth it, not when he couldn't do anything about it.
"Hey… guys?" Artie said as he was carried over the rougher parts of the backyard by Finn, Sam, and Puck. "Where did everyone go?"
"Santana, Mercedes, and Quinn dragged Blaine inside to terrify him," Kurt said, resigned.
"Man," Puck complained, kicking one of Artie's wheels when they set him down and ignoring the protest from the bespectacled boy. "I told 'Tana to wait on that; everyone wants to terrify Garbler."
"Mercedes didn't give her much of a choice," Rachel added helpfully.
"Didn't my horde of overprotective siblings do enough of this during Christmas?" Kurt asked, remembering the various bits of conversations he'd caught between everyone and Blaine. "Blaine is already certain that my father will rip him to shreds if he sticks a toe out of line, he requires no further threatening." The countertenor expected his comments to go totally ignored, but it was at least worth saying.
"Yeah, but now you two are actually together," Sam said with a supportive smile.
"Sleeping together," Puck murmured under his breath.
"Noah," Rachel admonished dramatically.
"We, Blaine and I aren't, We're not…" Kurt stuttered, feeling his face get hot. "We are not sleeping together."
"Good," Finn muttered, and the countertenor did his best to ignore the slight note of disgust in his brother's voice. Finn had come a long way, but Kurt had a feeling that him being in a relationship would ensure Finn got used to a lot more things over the course of the summer.
"To be fair," Sam began, clearly not aware he was taking his life in his hands, "you two kinda seem…" he trailed off with a shrug.
"Like total butt buddies," Puck finished the sentence in a much different way than Sam would have. "I guess they're just butt buddies in training." Kurt groaned, burying his head in his hands at the phrasing.
"Language, Puckerman." Puck immediately looked chastised, and Kurt was more grateful than ever to have Lauren Zizes around to keep him in check. He had a feeling Rachel would have said the same thing, but it wouldn't have had nearly the same effect. "Where are all the ladies at?" her glance skipped right over Rachel.
"Inside," Kurt said, sure if he explained why, Lauren would feel the need to join them.
"Not for long," Sam pointed out, gesturing. Sure enough, the three girls were herding Blaine out of the kitchen, and his boyfriend didn't look nearly as pale as he expected. "Alive, man?"
"For the moment," Blaine said in reply, and he sounded calm, too. As a matter of fact, he was smiling. After what had surely happened in the living room, it was a little disconcerting.
"You sure?" Kurt asked gently and Blaine's reply was lean over and give him a soft kiss. Which made him blush.
And, of course, immediately caused outrage.
"Dude!" Finn complained, covering his eyes. "Save it for the bedroom," Puck complained as well. Santana let out a wolf whistle, Rachel sighed dreamily, and Mercedes rolled her eyes, muttering "white boys."
Kurt was about to give his boyfriend another lesson in what was appropriate when he saw annoyance flash across Blaine's face, and the tenor turned to face his friends. "You certainly weren't reacting like this when I was being much more inappropriate with Rachel." His voice was uncharacteristically harsh. "Nor do you complain whenever one of your ever shifting couples is all over one another. Forgive me for assuming we followed the same rules."
Finn looked taken aback, the gassy look that suggested guilt overtaking his face. "That's my little brother, dude," he muttered, but his tone suggested he was trying to apologize rather than defend himself.
"I, for one, thought it was sweet," Rachel said with a bright smile. "My dads-"
"Are gay," Santana said flatly. "We know. I'm sure they spend all the time you're not around banging, too, but I don't really want to hear about it." Rachel's mouth fell open comically wide, horrified by the thought, and Sam snickered a little. "Don't laugh, Trouty Mouth, you look like that when you're surprised, too."
"You know, I've now heard quite a bit about this amazing song," Kurt said, gladly shifting the topic from Blaine's little outburst.
"I'll sing you the extended version," Santana said with a grin, all the more pleased by Sam's annoyed expression.
A/N: One of my New Year's Resolutions is to post chapters that are shorter and more frequent (instead of monsters but weeks/months apart). I got positive comments on how short one of the last chapters was (definitely not *last* chapter, but the one before that).
This chapter is adorable and fluffy and I enjoy it very much. I've missed writing the New Directions.
Song used:
'One Step Ahead' by A Great Big World
Reviews are Love.
