Monday morning, Kurt woke up first. He could see that it was 7:47, so he relaxed and attempted to lie still enough to let Dave sleep. Dave ran his hand along Kurt's arm.
"Morning, Fancy." He kissed him on top of the head. "We're getting closer to getting everything done. What do you want to work on first?"
"I'm excited to put up those kitchen tiles. I think they're going to look really good." Kurt ran his hands along Dave's chest. "Let's start with that. We'll move on to the closets while the grout dries."
"I really like the window coverings and the throw pillows. You were busy while I was here."
"I needed to do something to keep busy. I missed you a lot. Plus, I knew we still had work left to do here and I'm hoping that we get it all done and feel settled by the end of the week. It's been a crazy summer and school starts a week from tomorrow."
"Closets or shelves?"
"Oh, yeah, the shelves. I guess the tiles first, and then we draw up the plans for the shelves and go to Lowe's again. It takes time for the stain to dry before we can put the shelving together. We can work on the closets tomorrow and put the shelving together on Wednesday. Nope, that's your birthday. Thursday I guess."
"We could still do it Wednesday in the morning. We're not having the party until dinnertime."
"Too much planning and not enough kissing." Kurt moved and straddled Dave and started to kiss him. "I lost out on two weeks worth of kisses. I need kisses."
Dave laughed. "I'm pretty sure that I have been giving you extra kisses for the last six days to make up for the missed kisses."
"Nope. I get extra kisses for two weeks to make up for the lost kisses."
"I can see the logic in that," he teased, as he gave in to Kurt's silliness and kissed him as requested.
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That evening, they sat down to dinner as a family. Since they were all still busy working on a variety of house-related projects, they ate sandwiches with a store-bought vegetable tray and dip.
"The studio is starting to shape up," Quinn said.
"I love, I mean love, the super-long aubergine armless couches." Kurt said.
"We wanted you all to have enough room to have people from your classes over without always having to drag in more seating somehow," Paul said. "A single sofa only seats three people comfortably. I'm pretty sure these two together will seat seven or eight."
Judy said, "We still need to work on the closets under the stairs. No one remembered to measure them for shelving when you all went yesterday."
"You're right," Dave said. "We'll do that."
Judy said, "Quinn, if you could help me iron and hang the curtains for the studio tonight. Paul got the curtain rod up this afternoon."
"Sure," Quinn said.
"Kurt and I still have the shelving to work on. We're going to go back to staining the boards after we eat."
"It's fine. We knew about the shelving," Paul said. "So, on to things that don't involve the house. Expectations. We're allowing the three of you an enormous amount of freedom by letting you live in the apartments while still in high school."
The three teens nodded.
"We'll still eat dinner as a family Monday through Thursdays," Paul sad. "Friday, Saturday, and Sundays, you'll be free to either eat with us or on your own in your own places. If you're planning to eat with us, we'll just need to know so we have enough food for everyone."
Judy said, "We've spent a lot of time talking since we've been back living together for the last week. We don't want Kurt working after school."
Kurt was shocked. "How will I be able to pay for anything?"
Paul answered. "While we were in Lima, Burt required you to pay for your own stuff. What I didn't find out for quite a while was that you were contributing to the cost of the groceries. I didn't want you to pay for the things you paid for, and he and I butted heads over the fact that he made you pay for things I thought were his responsibility, but I didn't want to meddle too much and aggravate Burt to the point of him making you move back to his house when you didn't want to go. But Burt isn't part of the picture anymore and you're as much a member of this family as the rest of us. We don't expect Dave or Quinn to pay for their food, clothing, phones, or car insurance."
"But they're your kids. I'm not."
"Kurt, we love you," Judy said, as she reached out and put her hand over his. "We see you as one of ours. You've lived with Paul and Dave for nearly a year and a half. And I know they both loved you even before that. "
Paul said, "She's right. You've worked for a long time. I know that you didn't feel welcome in the clubs at McKinley, but for this school year, we want you to be able to join clubs, explore things you're interested in, and join the local theater group or be in a play at school. We came here to improve your educational opportunities. I'm going to ask that if you insist on working that you only work one day after school and maybe early Saturday mornings. We want this to be an amazing school year for all of you. And if you're working 20+ hours a week, you're going to miss out on those opportunities. You have your mind set on being a stage performer, but you've never really had the opportunity to perform. This is your year to find out if that's what you really want to do."
"I'll think about it," Kurt said. "I worked really hard on my certifications to just let it all fall to the wayside and not get used."
"I understand," Paul said. "I really want you to go to school next week with a completely open mind about the options available to you for clubs and activities. I know you said you don't want to play football anymore, which is fine, but we want all of you to join a few clubs. Once you've been to all of the club meetings that seem interesting, you can choose which ones to join, and then you can look around and see if there's a repair shop that has any openings that fit your school schedule."
"We all do need some more things on our CVs for college applications," Kurt said. "I'll do as you've asked. Next week, I'll get a list of all of the clubs, go to several, and really consider joining some of them."
Judy said, "Tuesday, you can all buy lunch. If you find the choices unacceptable, we'll go out Tuesday evening and buy things for you to pack your lunches. Back to expectations. You'll take care of your own places. You can rotate who cleans the half-bath off the studio and the studio itself. Whoever cooks dinner during the week does not have to clean up afterwards. For the first week, I'm going to just make crockpot dinners until we all get accustomed to everything."
"You can have people over until 10:00 on school nights and no limit on Fridays and Saturdays. Overnight guests are fine. We know that none of you are big partiers, but if you do want to have a group over, just let us know ahead of time. We're not going to say 'no'. We just want to know. And whoever stays should help cover the cost of food if you have stuff delivered."
Judy added, "And 10:00 is not set in stone. Just try to get your friends to leave so you get enough sleep. We're not going to ground you or anything. Let's see. Dave and Kurt's birthday dinner will be Wednesday. We're going to go out someplace. We haven't decided where. Thursday we have a few tasks that have to be done. We will go to change our cell phone numbers and go to the license branch to get New York licenses for Dave and Kurt and get new plates for their vehicles. I was hoping we could go when they open at 10:00 so we can get it done quickly. Afterwards, we're going go to Costco. I want to see if we like what's there better than Sam's Club. We didn't have a Costco before, so I want us to all go look. And after lunch is the meeting with Miss Wilson and then the three of you will register for classes."
Quinn said, "Busy day."
"Yes, we're trying to get it all done in the same day so we don't interrupt your projects every day this week," Judy said.
"Makes sense," Dave agreed.
They finished eating and went back to their previous tasks.
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Tuesday evening, they collected up the tools they had used to install the shelving in their living room.
Kurt said, "Thanks for helping us get them up."
"You're welcome," Quinn said. "It's a lot easier with three people than two. I like the way they turned out. I'm going to go to bed. I'm still getting used to living in a place that's nearly the same size as our house all by myself. I like it, but it's strange. It's quieter than I expected it to be."
"It is," Kurt said. "The soundproofing Paul had put in really does work. We don't hear you walking around or opening your fridge or playing music or anything. I think installing the insulated exterior doors as entry doors makes a difference too."
Quinn opened the door to let herself out. She stepped out onto the landing and went back into her own apartment. Kurt and Dave carried the tools down and put them away. Once his hands were empty, Kurt took Dave's hand and they went back upstairs into their living room. He stopped long enough to close and lock the door, and then stood behind the futon and looked around.
"We did it," Kurt said.
"We did and it looks great."
"I agree. The mini glass tiles really tie all of the colors together and make the kitchen area look really cool. The shelving looks great. All we have left to do is to put our books and photos out Thursday. I think if we get a couple of those space bags, we can put the bedding for the futon in them and suck the air out and get them to fit in the lower drawers of the TV… what are we going to call it. It was a dresser, but it's not now."
"TV stand?"
"Sure. I did decide that I do want that mirror from Ikea. I think we need it to brighten the room up. It will reflect the light from the kitchen window if we put it horizontally between the linen closet and the bathroom door."
"Alright. We can get that."
"Maybe we can look at some posters or art prints or something. The walls feel empty. Some black and white photos or prints would look good in here."
Dave wrapped his arms around Kurt. "You're the designer. You find what you like and I'll veto it if I hate it. And don't forget the lampshades that I already agreed to."
Kurt turned in his arms and kissed him. "You spoil me."
"Mmm hmm." Dave kissed along Kurt's jaw line towards his ear. "I like spoiling you. Let's go add the mirror and pictures to our list and go take a shower. I'm ready to snuggle."
"Me too."
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The next morning, Kurt sat down gently next to Dave on the bed and began to sing.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday dear, David.
Happy birthday to you.
Dave opened his eyes and smiled at Kurt.
"I love you, sweetie." Kurt kissed him chastely. "You'll have to come out to the table to eat. Paper plates and no breakfast tray aren't a good mix for eating in bed."
"Okay. It smells good." He stretched and got out of bed. He followed Kurt to the table and sat down. "It looks good too. Thank you." Dave began to eat the pancakes, eggs, and turkey sausages that were on his plate.
"You're welcome." Kurt sat down across from him. "So you didn't want me to plan anything for today. What did you plan?"
"Well, you'll just have to see won't you?"
"A surprise. Sounds fun. How should I dress?"
"Will you let me pick out your clothes?"
"Sure." Kurt popped a bite of pancake into his mouth.
"Really?"
"Of course. You know what we're doing and you know me." Kurt reached across the table and reached for Dave's hand and intertwined their fingers. "Sweetie, we've been together for almost two years. I totally trust you."
They finished eating. Kurt grabbed the paper plates and tossed them into the trashcan under the sink. He washed their cups and utensils and left them to dry on a towel. He followed Dave into the bedroom and made the bed while Dave looked through Kurt's clothes. He pulled out the pair of jeans that Kurt liked to wear hiking. He also pulled out his hiking boots and one of his more casual short-sleeved button-up shirts.
Kurt hopped up and grabbed them. "Thank you." He didn't dawdle in getting dressed. He went in the bathroom and fixed his hair and brushed his teeth and was ready to go quickly. He grabbed a belt, put it on, and sat down on the bed to wait for Dave with a smile on his face.
It didn't take Dave long to get read in a similar outfit with the exception of the shirt. He put on a t-shirt instead. "Ready?" Dave pulled Kurt to standing.
"Yep." Kurt wrapped his arms around Dave and kissed him.
"Is it okay if we take the Navigator?"
"Sure."
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About 20 minutes later, they pulled into the wildlife sanctuary that Dave had found when he researched interesting places within driving distance.
"This looks cool," Kurt said. He hopped out when they parked and walked around to the other side of the Navigator. When he got close enough, he reached out for Dave's hand.
"There are a lot of interesting places around here. I thought we start with this one." He kissed Kurt gently.
They took off walking towards the hiking trails. They spent the rest of the morning hiking, talking, and clandestinely kissing when possible.
"I'm glad you thought to bring my camera today." Kurt stopped stood completely still and photographed a beautiful bird on the edge of the water.
"We could print a couple of the ones from today and hang them in the living room. The colors in the water and the sky would look good, or we could see how they would look black and white like we talked about."
"Good idea."
They went back to the Navigator after they had explored the shore area for a while.
"I found a place to try for lunch. How about you drive and I'll navigate?"
"Works for me." Kurt got in the driver's seat.
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"Lunch was fabulous. Are we headed back home?"
"Nope. You drive. I'll direct."
"Okay." Kurt followed his directions. "We're going shopping? It's your birthday. Shopping isn't one of your favorite things to do."
"Ah, but eating on plates and out of bowls is."
Kurt laughed.
They got out and went inside and looked around.
"How about this breakfast tray? I know it needs refinished, but it's $2.99."
"We'll think about it. We don't want many more projects. That's why I was thinking maybe we should just go to WalMart or Ikea and just buy dishes that we can add to over time. We have just a couple of days and as much of a bargain shopper as I am, I'd like to just be able to eat. We can look for more things to equip our kitchen with over time."
Dave said, "Let's see if we can find any good pots and pans. Those will be more expensive than plates anyway."
Once they finished looking through the kitchen stuff, they moved over to the home décor area.
Kurt was looking through the larger pieces that were in a cart. "Hey, look. There's a big mirror. Help me get it out."
They pulled it out and the frame had been painted black and had some flaking paint, but the mirror itself wasn't damaged.
"Alright. Two projects, but that's it," Kurt teased. "This is $30 less than the one I saw in the Ikea catalog. We'll put that towards buying new dishes."
"So, you don't want these amazing frames I found?" Dave play pouted.
Kurt smiled at him sweetly. "The frames are fine. Those won't take that long."
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They got back home about 4:00. Kurt loaded the dishwasher and washed the pots they found while Dave took the glass and mirror out of the frames and took them, along with the breakfast tray downstairs to sand them down. When Kurt finished with the dishes, he went ahead and started on their laundry. Kurt was folding clothes and putting them away when Dave came back up.
"I got all of the stuff sanded and stained. I'm going to jump in the shower. I'm assuming we need to dress up for dinner. Why don't you pick something out for me?" He leaned in and kissed Kurt without touching him anywhere.
Kurt picked out two outfits in a flash and followed Dave to the bathroom. "Can I join you?"
"Most certainly."
Kurt got in the shower with him and took over washing his hair. Once they got out, they moved quickly so they'd be ready to go on time. Kurt blew his hair dry and fixed it while Dave shaved. Kurt tossed their hiking clothes into the washer on their way out.
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They enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner and went back to the house for dessert. Quinn had made a chocolate cheesecake with white chocolate chips and raspberry swirls for dessert.
She put it out on the table and they all started to sing to Dave. When they finished Dave joined the other three in singing again to Kurt. Kurt looked surprised.
"It's for both of you," Quinn said. "The three of us didn't get to celebrate with you last week because you weren't here."
"Thanks. It looks delicious."
Judy picked up a knife and sliced it into 8 slices. Quinn passed the plates out. Once they finished eating, Judy collected up their place settings. Paul left and came back. He handed an envelope to each of them. They both opened them and read the cards. Inside the envelopes were two smaller envelopes. Kurt opened his first.
"No way! Two tickets to The Book of Mormon?" Kurt said. "This is amazing." He showed them to Dave.
Dave looked more closely. "They're for Saturday afternoon."
"We figured you could take the train in and come back after you have dinner somewhere."
"Thank you." He could barely keep still he was so excited. "What did you get?"
Dave pulled out the contents of his envelope. "I got two tickets to the first home game for the New York Rangers in October. This will be so much fun!"
"That will be cool. It's been a long time since we went to that Blue Jackets game. A year and a half."
"Thanks!" Dave said, with a smile that lit up his eyes. "And thanks for the cheesecake, Quinn. It was really good."
"Well, what I've found out is that I am excellent at following directions. So, everyone will think I'm a fantastic cook so long as I start with a good recipe. I don't think winging it will be in my future, but I'll be able to feed myself and other people thanks to Kurt's excellent cooking lessons." She kissed him on the cheek.
"What about my cooking lessons?" Dave pouted.
She rolled her eyes. "Of course, Davey dear, your lessons were invaluable as well. I'm quite skilled at making cheesecake thanks to you." She turned and kissed him on the cheek as well.
Paul said, "The piano tuner is coming tomorrow. If we can get the mirrors and the barre up tonight, the room will be usable tomorrow evening when you all get back."
"Sure. We can do that," Dave said.
The five of them moved to the studio.
"I know I said it before, but I love the aubergine armless couches," Kurt said.
Within an hour, they had gotten the mirrors installed along the wall the studio shared with the living room and the barre installed on the opposite wall. They all sat down on the sofa after the tools had been put away.
"The couches can be turned to face each other, if you're wanting to be able to talk to each other easily, like a group project for school or reading lines for a play or something," Judy said. "We put some pads on the bottoms of the feet to keep them from scratching the floor, but to be safe, just pick them up and move them, rather than sliding them."
"We'll do that," Kurt said. "Thank you for making us a room like this. It's perfect."
"You're welcome," Paul said. "All of you can head upstairs. I'm sure you've got more things to work on still."
"There's not much left," Kurt said. "We're almost done."
"I'm finished," Quinn said. "Except that I need to get a quilt and curtains for my guest room still. I'm going to look when we go to Costco and if they don't have anything, maybe we can stop at Target or a TJ Maxx, if they have them here. Actually, that's what I can go do. I'll go browse online and see where I can find what I'm looking for."
"That sounds like a good plan," Judy said.
"Thanks for the tickets," Kurt said. "I wasn't expecting anything, but they're perfect."
Judy smiled and said, "You're welcome, honey. I hope you have a great time. You'll have to tell me what you thought afterwards. Oh, one last thing. I've added a trip to the bank tomorrow to open accounts here locally. Otherwise, you'll end up getting a lot of fees to use ATMs. So, be sure to bring your current bank information with you in the morning. We'll meet you in the driveway at 8:30."
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"Can you come in my place for a minute, Kurt?"
"Sure." He turned to Dave. "Can you throw those jeans I washed on the way out into the dryer?"
"Got it."
Kurt followed Quinn in.
"I want to ask you something about my guest room." She stepped inside and he followed her to the room. "I painted the walls pale warm green, as you can see. And I put the green tweed chair my mom and I had in our living room in here, which you probably already noticed as well. Anyway, I was thinking that I'd like to get a multi-colored quilt. I was thinking purple and green. Maybe floral or geometric. What do you think?"
"I think it sounds like it would probably look really good. With a floral print, you could get some pictures of purple flowers and hang them above the bed similar to the way your butterfly prints are. With a geometric print, you might still be able to go with flower pictures or you might be able to find a single abstract print that's larger to hang over the bed. With the dark wood furniture in here and your darker floor, I'd go with something that looks light and airy for the bed. I love the aubergine couch downstairs, but something that dark in here would weigh down the room."
They went back into the living area.
"Got it. I'll show you my top five in the morning while we wait in line at the BMV. Also, take those two boxes of kitchen things to your place. I pulled out what I will use. If I need something else, I can go down and raid Mom's stuff or ask to borrow it back from you. I'm pretty sure that most of the stuff in the boxes are things that were at the Karofsky's already. Mom put the stuff we brought from our place in the kitchen downstairs."
"Excellent. Dave and I bought some plates and bowls today because we were tired of paper plates, but we'll go through this stuff." Kurt picked up a box. "I'll be back for the other one."
"I can carry it." She followed him out and put the box on the floor outside her door. "See you two in the morning."
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Kurt put his box on top of the other box so he could open the door. He pushed them in with his foot and knee and locked the door behind him.
"What's in the boxes?"
"Kitchen stuff."
"Nice." Dave picked the top one up and put it on the table and opened it up.
Kurt followed behind him with the other one. "So, it's your birthday still…"
"Yeah and for my birthday I want to put this stuff away and put the stuff on our shelves. I want to wake up tomorrow to a finished place."
"Okay, then. Emptying boxes it is."
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An hour and a half later, there were no more cardboard boxes in their place. They opened the door up from taking them down to the garage and stepped inside. Dave locked the door and stepped up behind Kurt who was looking around.
He propped his chin on Kurt's shoulder. "We have our own place and I love it. It's perfect. Let's look at the photos you took this morning, which seems like forever ago, and pick a few to print tomorrow to hang in the frames we got earlier. We can print them somewhere tomorrow and when we come back, we can hang them and the walls in here won't look bare."
"I have no idea what to put in our room, but we can look at poster size prints tomorrow when we go out. We can get one we both like and hang it over our bed and somehow we still need to put the paper lantern lights up. We'll leave the study plain for now. Once we start to use it, we can decide what to do in there."
"For the rest of our combined birthday celebration, I'd like a nice bath together and a lot of kissing." He kissed up Kurt's neck and started to unbutton Kurt's shirt.
"Mmm. Sounds perfect."
The dryer buzzed and made both of them jump.
Dave said, "I'll grab those. How about you start the bath?"
"A quick shower, then the bath? I want to wash the hairspray out of my hair."
"That works too. I'll be right in."
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Kurt began to wash Dave's hair, causing him to moan and pull Kurt closer. Kurt rinsed his hair and then pressed his lips to Dave's. Dave responded by holding him close and kissing back passionately.
"Remember way back when you said that you had, um, dreams about me and us?"
"Mmm hmm. I have a lot of those dreams." Dave kissed down his neck. "A lot of them start just like this."
"And then what happens?"
"Do you want me to tell you or show you?"
"Is it something we haven't done before?"
"No."
"Then show me."
Dave unwrapped Kurt's arms from around his neck and positioned them elsewhere on his body.
"Here?"
"Umm hmm."
"I can do that." He continued to kiss Dave. "From here do we take the bath or do something else?"
"Well, we didn't have this tub like this before, so a tub never came to mind."
"Your choice. It's your birthday. We can go ahead with your dream sequence or we can still do the bath."
"I want to do the bath. I've been looking forward to it since we got here last week."
"Bath it is." Kurt took the sprayer, rinsed the tub, and switched to the faucet to fill the tub. He continued to kiss Dave and switched their positions so that Dave could sit down first. "Why don't you go ahead and sit and I'll get comfortable after you are." Kurt picked up a bottle and put a few drops of a sea salt bubble bath he had gotten when they were out the day before. He sat down in front of Dave and leaned back into his chest. Once there was enough water, he leaned back up and turned the faucet off. He scooted back again. "So what do you think?"
"I think that you are incredibly sexy. And that I am one very lucky man to have such an amazing boyfriend."
"Well, that feeling is definitely mutual." Kurt turned and scooted to the side a little so he could wrap his arm behind Dave's back. He ran his left hand along Dave's chest up toward his neck, eventually wrapping it behind Dave's neck and pulling him toward him to kiss him.
Dave reached out and held Kurt close. They continued kissing and touching until the water got too cold to enjoy anymore. Kurt flipped the drain and turned the sprayer on to rinse them quickly and they got out and dried off.
"Now, what?"
"Now, what do I want to do? Or what happens in some of my dreams?"
"Both."
"Well, there are different versions of the dreams, but we end up in bed having sex."
Kurt blushed. "Okay. How about we go get in bed and talk about it?"
"Sure, but I didn't get to do your moisturizing yet. That's definitely on the agenda."
Kurt knew what that meant and his body reacted accordingly. He put his towel on the counter of the built-in vanity section of the counter and sat down. Dave pulled the right bottles out of the basket and deftly executed the proper technique that he had perfected over time. As soon as he put the bottles back, he set out to do his favorite part of the activity.
Kurt ran his hands through Dave's hair and relished every second of the attention that Dave lavished on him.
"Now, what?"
"I brush my teeth and we move to the bed and you do the same thing to me?"
Kurt smiled. He hung his towel up and went in their bedroom and pulled the covers back. He knelt towards the end of the bed, waiting for Dave to come in. As soon as Dave was ready, Kurt crawled up and kissed him before he moved lower to fulfill Dave's request.
When he finished, he said, "I'll be right back." Kurt went in the bathroom and brushed his teeth and got right back in bed with Dave.
Dave had turned on his side. Kurt lay down facing him.
"I know that I have been reluctant to even let you tell me about your dreams and fantasies, but I spent a lot of time thinking while we were apart and I talked myself through my issues and I'm ready to listen."
"Are you going to tell me yours?"
"If you want."
"Oh, I definitely do. But will you tell me why you've been so hesitant? It wasn't something I did was it?"
"Definitely not." Kurt kissed him passionately. "You are the most wonderful boyfriend. You have been very patient in not pushing me past what I've been comfortable with. You've been kind and caring and completely respectful." He resumed kissing Dave. "It was me. I told you early on that everyone who had gone ahead and had sex young seemed to regret it. I didn't want that. I know nothing is ever perfect the first time, but I wanted us to be strong enough to push through whatever it was that made other people's relationships fall apart afterwards. I love you so much and I didn't want us not being good at sex to drive us apart. I don't think it will now. I think we're both mature enough now to realize that we won't get it right the first time or maybe even the tenth time, but we love each other enough to know that it's not because of anything except inexperience."
"You're right."
"Another part of my reluctance was still feeling insecure about everything. And I don't mean insecure about whether you loved me. Just insecure in general. Living with you has been great, but until I actually turned 18, I felt anxious about whether my dad would force me to his place – and he did once. And once Puck was living with us too, your dad or Judy or Puck or Quinn or anyone, like Puck's social worker, could just walk right up to our bedroom door and hear what was going on. Doing more than we've done requires prep work and clean up and it's not the kind of thing that happens in five minutes. I suppose we could have gone to a motel, but we were underage. I didn't have a problem breaking the rules and staying alone together in a motel, but if someone had complained about us being too noisy during sex, it could have been a really bad situation for us."
"You're right. It could have been a big issue." Dave gently rubbed circles on Kurt's hip with his thumb while Kurt continued to talk.
"I have a hard time relaxing and letting my guard down completely and with the added stress of not having complete privacy, that made it harder. It surprised me when you indicated that your dad thought we were having sex. I think my dad's 'when you're 30' speech had more of an effect than I had considered. In my mind, I guess I had this feeling that if your dad found out that we were having sex that he might make me leave. Maybe that seems irrational, but when my own dad seemed supportive and then did a 180, I guess I just had this lingering fear that your dad would do the same. So, it just wasn't worth the risk. Sticking to what we were doing and getting to stay with you was a million times better than potentially only getting to see you at school."
"I agree." Dave kissed him.
"And when I was thinking about why I couldn't listen to you tell me your dreams and fantasies, it's my insecurities. What if I couldn't live up to those dreams you had? What if I wasn't good at it? I was afraid that I couldn't live up to what you had imagined."
"And now you've realized that I'm going to love you even if it doesn't work out right the first or tenth time and that we can keep practicing and working at it." He gently ran his hand up and down Kurt's arm. "You know that if something never works the way I had imagined, I'll just chalk it up to the fact that since I had no experience to base my ideas on that maybe it just not something that will work, and that's okay. You know that, right?"
"Yes." Kurt played with Dave's hair. "Being here the last week put an end to a lot of the stress. My dad can't make me move. No one could end up in foster care because we get caught having sex and some social worker insists that the immorality in the home makes it unsuitable for Puck. Now we have our own place. And even if someone comes looking for us, they can't get any farther than the front door. Now we can be as loud and take as much time as we want. We're both 18. And we live in a state with anti-discrimination laws and we could even get married here."
"So does that mean that you want to?"
"Want to get married? Yes, some day. Do you not?"
"That wasn't what was referring to, but yes I do want to get married some day. I was actually asking if your thoughts led you to the conclusion that you do want have sex."
"Oh. Yes. I definitely do. I think we need to do some research on the best products and ways to prep ourselves. We've been together since before I really had much interest in anything and we've been sexually active together and I've never done anything else besides what we've done together."
"Such as?"
"You know, the things those pamphlets showed about finding the prostate and stuff."
"Oh, right. Me neither."
"So, I was thinking that we could go on Amazon and order the things we'll need. Or we'll have to go buy them in person."
"I think Amazon sounds like a good idea since we have no idea where to go around here and I don't want to antagonize anyone by going and standing and staring at a display together somewhere trying to figure out what we need when we don't know the area well yet."
"That was what I was thinking, but I wanted your input."
Dave laughed. "I definitely want your input."
"Dave!"
"Yes, Fancy. I love you and I already told you the tiniest bit of what I dream about. Do you want me to tell you or do you want to kiss some more and go to sleep and talk about it again tomorrow night since we have to get up in the morning?"
"Kissing and sleeping. I don't want to look like something the cat dragged in on my New York State driver's license."
Dave kissed him. "You are gorgeous and you could never look bad, but I will grant you that driver's license pictures are the worst. They're like mug shots."
"They really are." Kurt kissed Dave. "I'm going to turn over and be the little spoon."
"One more kiss."
"Of course."
When they broke apart for air, Dave ran his hand along Kurt's jaw. "Even if we order everything, if you decide you still want to wait, we can. And I know if I'm the one to change my mind, you'll accept that."
"I will. I love you."
"I love you too."
Kurt turned over and scooted back against Dave, who wrapped his arm around Kurt and nuzzled into the back of his neck.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
They made it to Costco about 11:30. They toured the store for a half-hour and decided they liked it more than Sam's Club. Paul's membership was going to expire in a month and he decided to just go ahead and join Costco. They all got their membership cards. They ate lunch in the café area rather than take the time to go eat somewhere else. They left and went to the school to register for their classes.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
They parked and went in the door closest to the main office. The five of them went inside and sat down to wait. They were taken back to guidance counselor's office.
"It's nice to meet all of you in person. I'm Mrs. Klassen." She extended her hand to Paul, whom she had only spoken to on the phone.
"Paul Karofsky. It's nice to meet you as well."
Everyone sat down.
"I have all David's paperwork from the college – his transcript from the class he took this summer, plus the two classes he will take this fall. I have all three of the students' transcripts from William McKinley High School. I found two major issues. All three of you need an additional year of history. New York State requires four history courses. And the major issue is your PE credits. You only have three each. New York requires eight semesters, plus the semester of health."
"Eight?" Kurt asked.
"Yes. Our students take PE every semester. It's a 45-minute course that they participate in at least twice a week. Here at Roosevelt, we've opted to set it up so that the days the students opt to not go to PE are spent in the library."
Kurt said, "Our PE classes were 55 minutes long, five days a week."
"Unfortunately, it's not a matter only of time spent. It has to be taken each semester. You will be exempted from the requirement prior to enrolling here since you already have sufficient credits, meaning that you won't have to go for additional time each week. Our credits are counted differently because the class isn't a full time class. Each semester only counts for ¼ credit, totaling two for all four years. But you will all be enrolled in PE for the next two semesters."
Kurt paled. He tried to focus and not lose control.
"Here are the class schedules that I've made for you. I've put all three of you in the first period gym and second period lunch, so you can eat together if you want."
"Thank you," Kurt said.
She nodded. "Dave will head to the college after lunch for his math and business courses. One meets Monday/Wednesday/Friday and the other meets Tuesday/Thursday. You should have time to return to the school before the afterschool clubs meet."
The three teens compared their schedules. Miss Klassen saw the look of confusion n their faces.
"Is there something wrong with them?"
Quinn answered, "We've never seen a schedule like this. We had the same classes every day."
"Oh. I see. We have five periods a day. Four are academic periods and the lunch hour is split with PE and library time. Four of your classes will meet Monday, Wednesday and every other Friday. The other four will meet Tuesday, Thursday, and every other Friday. Dave's college courses are the exception. As I mentioned, one is Monday/Wednesday/Friday and the other is Tuesday/Thursday."
"It allows for more classes, " Kurt said.
"It does. It allows our student athletes to have two study halls and have time to do assignments during school. It allows our struggling students to get additional help one period a day. And it allows our advanced students the opportunity to take more electives."
Quinn said, "That's really a nice set up. A lot of the classes here that are electives were school clubs at McKinley. With only six classes a day, we didn't have time to have choir or ballet during the school day."
They looked at their schedules again.
"Your schedules are fairly similar due to all of you needing another year of history, plus needing to take a Government elective and Economics. You also all requested AP English and show choir. Kurt and Quinn have advanced ballet and drama. Quinn has fourth year French, while Kurt is in AP French and fourth year Spanish. I did not add another math course for Kurt or Quinn since they already have three or more, unless you'd like to eliminate your study hall to add a math class, Quinn. I also eliminated French from your schedule, David, since three years is all that is required and you want to take those college courses. You don't have room for it in your schedule."
Dave said, "That's fine."
"I'll need to add the math class," Quinn said. "I need to have another year of math to get into the universities I'm interested in."
"Alright. You three can look through these while I work on that." She handed them a printout of the PE options, a student handbook, the requirements for advance ballet and show choir, and a list of all of the school clubs with meeting times and locations. A few minutes later, she handed Quinn a new printout. "I've added Pre-calculus to your schedule."
"Thank you."
"Just so you're aware, the history course you're in is going to be almost all sophomores. I called your previous school and determined that your World History class doesn't really fit the scope of our Global History and Geography 4-semester sequence, but you have to take the Regents Exam for the second half of the course, so I put you in that course. Part of it will be a repeat, but your previous course did not cover geography and you need to know all of the material to be able to do well on the exam." She paused for a few seconds and looked at her notes. "I know I mentioned that students have to go to the library to study on the days they don't attend PE, but the three of you will be exempted from that and you'll be spending the three days a week you don't go in the resource center working to learn whatever you need to know for the Regents Exams."
Kurt asked, "What are the Regents Exams?"
"I don't have any handouts, but if you go on the New York Department of Education website, there is detailed information about them there. The testing dates are in August, January, and June each year."
Kurt said, "I bet they're like the OGTs, which all of us have already passed."
"I'm sure you did with your GPAs being so high. Unfortunately, what you were taught in Ohio may not align with what's been taught here and we want to make sure that you are prepared to take the Regents Exams in January. If after a few weeks of going to the Resource Center it's determined that none of you needs to spend any time there, you will be released to spend that period in the library."
"That makes sense," Kurt said. "It's better to be overprepared than underprepared."
She looked at her list again. "Our dress code requirements are in the student handbooks. You can stop by the athletic department on your way out to purchase the appropriate clothing for PE. There's a selection of options, but students must be wearing a top and bottom from the available choices. Your books will be distributed in class on Tuesday and Wednesday."
The teens nodded.
"We'll go ahead and go to the music department to give you three a chance to warm up."
"Warm up?" Kurt asked.
"Yes. You'll be singing for Mr. Maxwell. He needs to hear your voices in order to properly place you in our show choirs."
"We didn't prepare anything," Quinn said.
"It's fine. Unless anyone has any questions, we'll go ahead to the choir room. After that, Miss Wilson will see Kurt and Quinn to make sure they're ready for the Advanced Ballet class."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
After spending a half hour with Mr. Maxwell, Kurt and Quinn went into the changing area in the dance studio and put on their ballet clothes and warmed up. The room was empty and they talked quietly while they stretched.
"That was nerve-wracking," Quinn said.
"You did well. Don't worry. We all did. We've been placed in their competitive show choir, so it should be fun."
"I hope 'competitive show choir' doesn't mean something like Vocal Adrenaline under Shelby's reign."
"I don't think so. It's a class. Mr. Maxwell didn't say anything about 4-hour afterschool rehearsals."
"That's true."
Miss Wilson came into the room. "Good afternoon."
Kurt and Quinn stood up.
"We're just going to go through the movements and I'd like to see the two of you perform the last piece you performed together, as I had mentioned in the email."
"Yes, Miss Willson," Quinn said. "We're ready."
She took them through a brief warm up of her own and then moved on to the skills testing. Once they had finished, Kurt docked his phone and turned the music on and they performed their most recent piece.
"That was lovely. You two work well together. You've done a great job catching up over the summer. I think you will do fine in the advanced class. I will pair you two together in class. Please be sure to get the proper attire for class before Wednesday." She handed them a business card. "This is the place where the students get most of their items locally. The staff there is familiar with the school's requirements."
"Thank you," Kurt said.
"This class participates in the Winter Concert. You will not be required to purchase costumes. You will be provided accessories from our Costume Design Club, such as skirts or sashes to wear over your regular outfits. I look forward to seeing the two of you in class on Wednesday." She left the studio.
Kurt grabbed his phone on the way to the changing area. He and Quinn packed up their stuff and met up with Dave, Paul, and Judy.
Quinn spoke quietly, but excitedly. "We did it. We have to go get new clothes though at this place." Quinn handed Judy the card.
"That's fine, honey. We need to go to the athletic department first, which we found out is down that way."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Once they were where they needed to be, they found a student running the athletic department store.
An enthusiastic guy with blonde curly hair, a beanie, and black glasses said, "How can I help you?"
Kurt spoke up. "All three of us need clothes for PE."
"Alright." He pulled out two laminated sheets. "Here are your choices of tops and here are the choices for bottoms." He handed the sheets to Kurt and Quinn. All of the tops were maroon or gold and all of the bottoms were black. "You're all new?"
"Yes," Dave answered.
"Then, I'd suggest also getting a pullover hoodie or a zip-up hoodie. We have spirit days all year round and it gets cold if all you have to wear is a PE t-shirt. And sometimes we still have PE activities outside when it's a little colder than some people can tolerate in a t-shirt, even the long-sleeved ones."
"Thanks," Kurt said. "I'll take two of these shirts and two of these track pants." He looked up at the displays and pointed. "And that pullover hoodie and that zip-up hoodie. Can I see them in a medium?"
"Sure."
Quinn and Dave gave their preferences as well. He pulled out the sizes and styles everyone requested.
"I'm Chandler, by the way. Welcome to Roosevelt. I should have said that earlier."
"I'm Kurt."
"I'm Quinn."
"I'm Dave."
Kurt spoke again. "We're all seniors. We just moved to this area."
"I'm a senior as well. I'm on the student council. That's how I got the job in the student athletic store. I hope you enjoy it here. Maybe we'll have some classes together. Do any of you sing?"
"All of us. Mr. Maxwell just assigned all of us to Singspiration."
"Congratulations. I should have asked that before. You'll all need one of these." He pulled out a maroon hoodie with Singspiration written in gold over a black music staff and Roosevelt High School written in smaller black letters underneath the staff. "We wear these when we perform at local events. These and black pants." He pulled out the correct sizes for the three of them and put them with the other clothes. He started to ring everything up. "What parts do you sing?"
"Dave's a baritone, I'm a counter tenor, and Quinn sings alto."
"Oh wow," he said in his hyper-enthusiastic tone. "A counter tenor? Really? We've never had one before. Well, at least not in my three years here." He gave them the total. He took Paul's card, ran the purchase, and gave it back. "I love that brooch."
Kurt looked down at his hippo brooch. "Thanks," he said rather incredulously.
"I bet you get that a lot."
"Not really."
"Well, it's really cool. Could I get your number?" Chandler offered Kurt his phone.
Kurt took it, not knowing what else to do.
"Oh, sorry. I don't mean to seem weird. Singspirtation is having an unofficial back-to-school party tomorrow evening. I thought I could text you the information and the address and the three of you can come if you want. You can meet everyone." He noticed that Kurt didn't seem convinced. "You three won't be the only new people. The people who auditioned last spring and moved up from the Top Notes will be there too."
Kurt handed him his phone back. "Should we wear the hoodies?"
"Oh, no. Just come dressed however you want. We'll just be watching movies, eating, playing Wii Rock Band or karaoke or card games or whatever. There will be no drinking, so don't bring alcohol. If you get caught drinking, Mr. Maxwell will kick you out of Singspiration."
"We don't drink, so that's not a problem," Kurt said. "You can let us know where it is and we'll come."
Chandler handed them two bags each with their clothing and handed Paul the receipt. "Well, it was nice meeting you three. I'll see you tomorrow evening then."
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Paul and Judy left in Dave's truck. Kurt, Quinn, and Dave piled their bags in the back of the Navigator and got in.
"Well, Chandler was enthusiastic," Quinn said.
"That's an understatement, but at least he seemed welcoming," Kurt said.
"Flirty, more like it," Dave said.
"Flirty?" Kurt looked puzzled.
He imitated Chandler, "'Oh, I love your brooch. Can I have your phone number.'" Dave sighed. "He directed most of what he said to you."
"Hey, don't." He reached over the console and took Dave's hand. "I'm not going to be wooed away from you by enthusiastic, brooch-loving guys. We'll go to the party and meet people. It seems like a good way to start the school year off. And if it will make you feel better, I will sit on your lap whenever possible, giving no one any reason to think that I am available."
"But where will I sit if you're sitting in Dave's lap? I usually sit in your lap," Quinn teased. "That way no one hits on me."
"Fine. You can sit on my lap and I'll sit in Dave's lap."
Dave snorted.
"Not at the same time. People will think we're in some kind of 3-way," Kurt teased.
Quinn laughed. "How about we just introduce ourselves?"
"You're no fun, Quinn." Kurt stuck his tongue out at her.
She just laughed harder.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
They made it back from their shopping spree a few hours later.
"Come over in a couple of hours and you can see my finished guest room."
"Sure. And you can come back with us and see our place."
After they got everything upstairs, Dave went back down into the garage to retrieve the frames and to bring back up the tools. He met Quinn coming down on the way back up.
"I was just going to get those," she said.
He handed her the toolbox. "Bring it over when you're done. We have a few things to do before we can use them anyway."
They both went back up and into their own places.
"I've got the frames," Dave said.
Kurt called out from the study, "In here." He was cleaning the glass on the frames.
They worked together to get everything put together and decided where to hang the photos. They refolded their winter clothes to fit in the storage boxes they bought and slid them under the bed.
Quinn knocked on the door.
Dave opened it and took the toolbox from her. "We'll be over after we finish."
She nodded.
They worked together to get everything up on the walls. Dave took the toolbox back downstairs and Kurt threw all of their school clothes and tossed them into the washer and started it. When Dave came back up, he and Kurt went to Quinn's.
She opened the door and they followed her to her guest room. She had put a multi-colored striped quilt on the bed. Each stripe was made of a different color, muted green like the chair, mauve, mulberry, teal, and gold. She had hung a batik-inspired iris print above the bed in a frame that matched the wood furniture in the room.
"It's not really what I wanted, but what I imagined doesn't exist unless I want to pay $350 or more and have someone make it. But this is colorful and it was $25. The other option is this solid colored purple quilt." She showed him a photo on her phone. "But it's a bit dark for the room according to what you said. I could make throw pillows to spruce it up a bit."
"I think it depends on what you want. You could throw the multi-colored quilt and the pillow shams in the washer and wash and dry it a few times to give it a more vintage feel and just leave it. It would be simple and colorful. With the print and the quilt, you wouldn't need to add anything else to the room, except maybe a vase on the dresser with some silk irises to tie everything together. The purple is a bit dark and it would require you to do more to brighten the room up."
"The stripe quilt wins I think. It's here and it's not that much money. If I ever find what I really want, I can donate this one. I don't dislike it. If I had seen it before I came up with the idea of what I was looking for, it would have been fine. I don't know how much use this room will get, but I think I'd rather it just be simple. I'll do what you said and wash and dry it a few times to get it more comfortable looking. It's stiff and doesn't lay quite right. Let's go see your place." She grabbed the quilt and the shams and took them with her to put in the washer on the way out.
Dave and Kurt left their door open and she went in. "Oh, wow. I like the mirror and the photos. Where did you get those?"
"Kurt took them yesterday."
"They're really nice. And the frames look good. I saw you bring those up earlier, so you must have worked on those."
Dave nodded.
"We were going to leave the study for later, but I found this awesome abstract poster print of New York City in the poster shop we went in."
They had put it in a matte silver poster frame and hung it on the empty wall to the left.
"I like it. It's cheerful."
"And you saw the art piece we picked up in there. We hung it over the bed."
She peeked in and saw the impressionist shoreline print. It was blue, brown, turquoise, and tan. "The colors go great."
"It reminded us of where we went yesterday. We're so close to the ocean now. It's strange to think about. We have water to the north and south and a lake to the east."
Quinn said, "I'm looking forward to going to the lake on Sunday. It's been a long time since we've been out together."
"We'll have to go back to the nature preserve we went to yesterday. This time we'll take binoculars to see the birds better," Dave said.
The washer beeped.
Kurt moved over to the laundry closet to deal with the clothes.
"I'm going to go read through all those school things before dinner," Quinn said.
"Good idea. See ya later," Dave said.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
"It's done. Completely done," Kurt said as he plopped back on the futon and leaned against Dave. He put his feet up on the ottoman and wrapped his right leg over Dave's left leg and started to play footsie.
Dave lifted his arm allowing Kurt to scoot closer. He wrapped his arm around Kurt's shoulders. "It feels great. No more boxes, no more mess, no more anything to do but relax for a few days." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Tonight after dinner, I want to come back up and listen to some music and read. I know I sound totally lame or whatever, but I miss snuggling up and reading and talking. Since you got here, almost all of our conversations have been about getting this place finished. I want to hear some crazy idea of yours about how Ginny and Hermione should have ended up together and why or some new technology you read about in some article somewhere."
"Ginny and Hermione, huh? Maybe you'll have to convince me of that one." He laughed.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Friday night they went to the Singspiration party. They met 20 of the members of the group. Not quite everyone made it. On the way back home the three of them tried to name everyone they had met. Quinn kept track.
"Okay," Kurt said. "Jeff, Ryan, Nick, Wes, David, Patrick, Chandler, Evan, Thad."
Quinn said, "That's nine. My turn. Miranda, Nina, Sugar, Chloe, Eleanor, Teagan, Morgan, Alexa, Willow, Lydia, Cora. That's 10. I missed someone."
"Jade," Dave said.
"Jade. Right," Quinn agreed.
"And they said a few people weren't there," Dave said. "They were all really good from what I could tell. At least the ones that sang karaoke."
"Sugar and Nina gave me their phone numbers, as did Nick and Jeff."
"Ooh, potential suitors already?" Kurt teased.
"Jeff's about as hyper as Chandler. Nick would be more my type – calmer."
Kurt laughed.
"Not that I'm seriously looking right now. For all I know they're both gay."
"Could be I suppose. Wes invited me to join the Harmonichords."
"What's that?" Quinn asked.
"The all-male a cappella after school club."
"Sounds fun," she said.
"Maybe. It was on my list of clubs to check out already."
"I still didn't look through the clubs. I know they have our best interest at heart, but showing up as the new kid again is not sounding fun right this minute. I've been struggling since yesterday. This is my third high school. I honestly don't really feel like it's about making friends this year for me. I feel like it's a practice run for my life where my past decisions don't affect how people see me. I don't want anyone to know, but not telling anyone also negates part of who I am and what I've been through. I'm going to call the girls center in Columbus tomorrow and talk to someone to help me get through this."
"That's a good idea," Kurt said. "I'm not facing the issue that you are, but it's still going to be a test of my acting skills to walk into my classes on Tuesday and attempt to behave like I'm worthy of my classmate's respect. I've been socially isolated for years and I learned to keep my head down a lot of the time to avoid conflict. I want to be bold and assume that people won't mind being my partner or sharing a table with me in class. I have to leave that 'reject' mentality behind. And I'm obviously not the only out gay kid anymore and I really have no issues with people knowing that I'm gay, but I would like to be known for something OTHER than being gay."
Dave said, "I'm starting with a clean slate here. I want to be liked, but I don't want to put myself in the position of acting like I'm better than anyone else because I'm not. I just want to be Dave, the math geek, who reads a lot and like to play hockey, not someone people fear."
No one said anything else on the way back. They were all caught up in their own thoughts about starting a new school.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
Saturday morning, Kurt woke up 15 minutes before the alarm they had set. He was snuggled up in Dave's embrace. He started tracing hearts on Dave's chest, which woke him up.
"Mmm. That feels good, Fancy. Come closer."
"The only way to get closer is to use you for my bed."
"Perfect."
Kurt moved and lay on top of him. Dave wrapped his arms around him and his hands slid progressively lower.
Kurt laughed. "You can, you know."
Dave slid his hands down and began to massage.
"A tush massage?"
"Mmm hmm."
"Or are you wanting me to move?"
"That too."
"Just a second." Kurt reached over to his side table and opened the drawer. "That's better." He lay back where he had been and started to kiss up Dave's neck.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
After they got out of the shower, Kurt sat at the counter vanity in the bathroom and did his morning moisturizing while Dave shaved.
"I'm truly terrified of having to take PE again. Will you please come to yoga with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays? I know you want to do weight training. Maybe you could do that just three days a week? I'm sorry."
Dave put his razor down and turned to look at Kurt. "Hey, don't cry. You don't have to be sorry. I'll go to yoga with you. We've been doing it together and I'm more flexible than I used to be. It's good for me. I don't mind at all."
"Really?"
"Yes, of course."
Kurt stood up and threw his arms around Dave. "Thank you."
"Something happened to you in a locker room."
Kurt barely nodded.
Dave held him close. "You don't have to tell me, but I won't let anyone hurt you. What did you do before I joined the football team?"
Kurt stepped back and sat back down and picked up his lotion bottle. "I had only played in one game before you joined. And I had only been to practice the day before that game. I changed in the auditorium dressing room before I went out to the football field and took my school clothes with me. I just left after practice in what I was wearing. The night of the game, I went early and got dressed before anyone else showed up. I didn't need to know any plays, so I just went out to the field after I got dressed. I ran off the field as quickly as I could after the game and put my pads back in my locker. I showered as fast as I could and took my clothes into one of the toilet stalls and got dressed. I left out the side door so I wouldn't walk past the showers or the lockers on the way out. The girls left their Cheerios uniforms on as usual and Brittany was coming down the hall when I came out. She insisted that I needed to go to Strando's party because I had kicked the field goal that won the game."
"It's weird how one small thing can change so much. If she hadn't convinced you to go, who knows how long it would have taken me to tell you how I felt."
"Well, I'm glad you told me. I can't imagine not being with you the last almost two years. I don't want to think about that.
Dave put his razor away and wiped the counter down. "Me neither." He combed his hair and brushed his teeth. He leaned over and kissed Kurt on the side of the neck. "I love you."
Kurt got up and brushed his teeth before he went out into their room to get dressed. He put black slim-fit trousers on and black ankle boots. He pulled out a deep royal blue short-sleeve button-up shirt and put it on. He pulled out a scarf and started to put it on, but then took it off and looked through Dave's ties.
"Why did you put the scarf back?"
He looked back towards the closet and didn't answer. "I was thinking maybe I should go a little more classic."
"I liked the scarf."
"You're not just saying that?"
He turned Kurt to face him and looked him in the eyes. "What's going on?"
"Maybe I should tone it down? Maybe more people would like me if I weren't so 'out there'."
"You can wear whatever you like. If you want to dress more boring business style, then I won't stop you, but if you're doing this for me in any way, then don't. I love you and I don't have to want to dress like you to think you look great the way you normally dress. Wear what you like. I'm not embarrassed of you or of us."
"You're sure?"
"I'm absolutely sure." Dave put his tie clip on and went in the bathroom to look.
Kurt put the tie back and pulled the scarf out again and put it on. He followed Dave into the bathroom to make sure it was tied right. Dave turned and kissed him.
"Gorgeous."
"Thank you." Kurt looked Dave over. He was in dark charcoal gray slacks and a patterned burgundy short-sleeved button-up and a slightly lighter gray tie. "I like that shirt on you. I haven't seen you wear it in months." He kissed Dave. "You're very handsome, as always. Ready to go?"
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
After the show ended, they walked toward the south end of Central Park, strolling along hand in hand.
"That was a lot of fun," Kurt said.
"It was funnier than I had imagined it would be. Where do you want to go for dinner?"
"Let's try that place we saw called Melts. Maybe we can split on of the melts and order milkshakes. I know you thought the Nutella shake sounded good when we were looking at the menu."
"Sounds good to me." He pulled his phone out and mapped out the way to get there.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For loving me, accepting me. You never make me feel like I should be different than how I am. For going to shows with me, even though I don't think you would have considered doing things like this if it weren't for me. You came to my ballet recitals. You actually like our place, don't you? You're not just saying it."
"I'm not just saying it. It feels like both of us, like it's our place. And I don't feel like you need to thank me at all. I love you and I enjoy going to shows with you. I might not have gone if I hadn't met you, but that doesn't change the fact that I do like going. I just didn't know I did before I went the first time. You came to my hockey games and learned all of the rules. You learned to play Halo and COD. This isn't one-sided. We're not identical in our likes and interests, but I love you and I'll support you just like you support me. I'm figuring that we won't join the same clubs, but we'll still spend our evenings and weekends together just like we will when we go to college and get jobs."
Kurt pointed down the street. "There it is." He picked up the pace.
[][][] – [][][][] – [][][]
"Try mine," Kurt offered Dave a drink of his strawberry milkshake. "It's even better than my favorite place in Lima."
"That is good." He offered his to Kurt.
"That's decadent. Seriously."
Dave laughed. "The sandwich was really good too. We'll have to see if we can replicate them at home."
"That reminds me. We need to find out what we're supposed to make for tomorrow."
"We'll do that later. First we're going for a romantic stroll in Central Park."
"Sounds perfect."
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Later that night after they had showered, they were snuggled up on the futon playing footsie and looking through the after school clubs while they listened to some classical cello music they both liked.
Kurt said, "I hope Quinn's having fun at the girls' sleepover. I'm glad they're including her already."
"Me too. I know she's more nervous than we are, but knowing 10 or 12 girls already should help."
"I wonder if the guys get together and do things. I've decided that I'm going to go to the Harmonichords meeting on Tuesday," Kurt said. "And the Costume Design Club on Thursday."
"There's a baking club, but we both already know how to bake," Dave said. "There's a book club, but I'm not sure about that. I need to see how much work AP English is going to require."
"I'd only want to join if they read books I want to read. I already have to read books that get assigned. I think I only want to join activity-based clubs. We could both join the Set Design Club. It meets on Wednesdays."
"We could. If you join those two other clubs, I think I'll go to the rink and skate on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I haven't kept up my training over the summer and I need to get back into shape."
"I like your shape." He pecked Dave on the cheek.
"Umm hmm. While I appreciate the sentiment, looking buff or whatever is not the same as being able to wield my stick and make goals."
"It's a fantastic stick. Although, I think you prefer it when I wield it."
Dave blushed. "What's gotten into you, Fancy?"
Kurt put the list of clubs down and climbed onto Dave's lap and kissed him. "Nothing just yet, but that will change soon." He kissed Dave before he could respond. "After we finish picking out our clubs, we should go shopping online for the other things we need." He pressed back in and resumed their kissing.