{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
After they finished their lunch together, they stopped along Lake Erie and walked around and talked for a while longer before Nick's and Jeff's parents drove back to Findlay. Nick, Jeff, Kurt, and Sam returned to Kent, with a few stops along the way. Nick pulled in one of the parking spots and parked. The four of them got out.
"We'll change and be over in an hour?" Kurt suggested.
"Yeah, that's fine," Jeff said. He and Nick continued to walk around to the front of the house to their door.
Sam unlocked the door. "Well, that was a surprise," Sam said as he closed the door behind them.
"It definitely was." Kurt headed toward the bedroom. He wrapped his arms around Sam and kissed him once they were in their room. He loosened Sam's tie and pulled it off over his head and began to unbutton his shirt as he kissed along Sam's jaw and then down his neck. He moved his hands to unbutton the cuffs on Sam's sleeves. He slipped the shirt off his shoulders and laid it on the dresser nearby.
"Don't stop, please," Sam said, as he reached for the buttons on Kurt's shirt.
Kurt continued to kiss Sam while undoing the cuffs of his own shirt and unbuttoning from the bottom up to speed up the process of getting his shirt off. He put his on the dresser as well.
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
"Hey, come on in," Jeff said, as he opened the patio door. "So, we bought the paints and we know what we want."
"Alright. Let's see it," Sam said.
Jeff and Nick pulled up a page they had bookmarked on Jeff's laptop and showed Sam.
"So, we'd like something like this one, but just in the shades of blue we bought. And it doesn't need to be a replica of this. But we'd like it to take up this whole wall like the mural in the photo." Jeff pointed to the wall that spanned the width of the unit and was half in the dining room, half in the living room.
"We can do that. We'll need yarn, painter's tape, a pencil, and a measuring stick."
"Well, we have the tape and a pencil, but we'll have to go out to get the other two things."
"You're sure this is okay with your dad?" Sam asked. "I don't want to upset him."
"He said it's fine," Nick said.
"Okay. I'll sketch it out on a piece of paper after we go back home tonight."
Jeff came through the kitchen with a box and an envelope. "We're super late with your birthday presents, but it took us a long time to find them." He handed Kurt the envelope and gave the box to Sam.
Sam unwrapped his first. "Farscape, the complete series? No way! You found it? Tell me you did not pay $120 for this like it was originally."
"We didn't," Nick said. "We started looking back about a month before your birthday."
"Thank you! I love this!"
Kurt moved to the counter and opened the envelope. "Oh, my God. You didn't."
"Nick overheard you saying something about how some stitch you were doing would be a lot easier if you had some special foot. So, he took a picture of your sewing machine when we were at your house one time in the spring and we started hunting for the feet for it. Those are all the ones that are made for your sewing machine, except a zipper foot and a buttonhole foot which you said you had."
"There's an invisible zipper foot. An appliqué foot. A walking foot. An overlock foot. A blind stitch hem foot. An edge stitch foot, a pintuck foot, a binder foot." There were still a few more in the envelope. "This is too much."
Nick shook his head. "They weren't that much. We know you'll use them for school."
Kurt nodded. "Thank you. Really. These are perfect." He wrapped the ones he had taken out back up and put them back in the envelope.
"Are you ready to watch the Warehouse 13 episode we recorded last night? We're going to order Thai food later. Our treat. Well, our parents' treat actually."
They pushed the ottoman against the sofa and four of them got comfortable. Nick pressed play. When it was over, Jeff pulled up the menu from the Thai place on his phone and Nick took his phone out to look up what the dishes were. Once they had all four chosen, Nick called in the order. They played ping pong until the food came.
Nick took the food into the kitchen and they all helped plate it, and then sat down at the table to eat. Everyone enjoyed the different dishes. When they finished, Sam and Kurt cleared the dishes and loaded the dishwasher.
"Thank your parents for dinner for us," Kurt said.
"Will do," Jeff responded.
Sam pretend slugged Jeff in the shoulder. "So, how does it feel to be a married man?"
"There is nothing actually different between yesterday and today. I think these last few weeks is probably the first time I've ever really seriously contemplated the use of the words 'social construct'. I've loved Nick forever. I haven't ever considered being with anyone else. I would have never cheated on Nick. I think the difference will be how people treat us. People who are homophobic will not be swayed because we are married. To them, we are sullying the sanctity of marriage. I think some people will respect the level of commitment, but I think a lot of others will look down on us because we're young and they'll treat us like we didn't put enough thought into 'tying ourselves' down already. They'll tease us for only having one sex partner and insist that we're missing out because of a lack of experience with multiple partners."
Nick said, "But at the same time, some of the people who consider marriage such an important part of society treat it with such disrespect. There is so much supposed 'humor' based around a man being 'tied down' or calling his wife a 'ball and chain' that it's just weird to me," Nick said. "I absolutely love Jeff and I would never consider him to be a 'ball and chain' in any way. I don't understand men who don't want to go straight home from work to spend time with their wives. Why did those men marry those women? They don't respect their wives. So much of what I see is men who wanted someone to replace their mothers and who wanted to have sex. Getting married solved both of those issues for them. They didn't get married to spend their lives with the person they loved most in the world. They just wanted someone to clean up after them and who couldn't say no to having sex with them."
"We've never seen that with our own parents," Jeff said. "Our parents still love each other. But we seemed out of the norm at Dalton. We have parents who cared about us and each other. So many of the other guys never spent time with their parents at all really. And their parents attended social functions together – no personal time with each other apart from the obvious fact that at some point in time they had sex to get their kids. And from the things we heard, a lot of their dads had mistresses or call girls. The first time one of the guys talked about having sex the first time with a prostitute, I was surprised. But I was even more surprised that it had been arranged by his father. Sex lessons, basically. I can't imagine being raised and told that I would marry whoever was chosen for me, but also taught that I could fulfill my sexual desires elsewhere if I wanted to."
"We heard it at Dalton after we came out and turned down several threesomes," Nick said. "'You'll never know unless you give it a try.' Or 'It'll be fun. Loosen up. Have some fun. No strings.'" We're not opposed to other people doing whatever they want as long as all parties are consenting and I'm sure we'll continue to hear similar things. I'm happy with Jeff. I don't need to have sex with some peer-accepted number of guys before I know I'm happy. And I obviously didn't marry Jeff just so we could have sex that's deemed socially acceptable."
They other three laughed.
Kurt said, "Sam and I haven't dealt with any of that yet. I was the only out gay guy, and I was publicly targeted for being gay. And after Sam was outed, he didn't get propositioned. He got bulled like I had been. After you two came out, guys propositioned the two of you and teased you about being monogamous, whereas we were still just shunned socially or our monogamous gayness was excluded as a conversation topic. I can see people saying things like that to Sam." He changed the subject abruptly. "It's hard to believe that classes start two weeks from yesterday."
Nick asked, "Did you two finish that book we were assigned to read over the summer yet?"
Kurt answered, "We found a used audio version online. We're going to start listening to it tomorrow."
"We're not very far into it, but it's interesting," Jeff said.
"Good," Sam said. "Interesting is always a good start. I think we'll head back next door and I'll get started on a drawing for the wall since we're going out early tomorrow? When we're out tomorrow you can get the yarn and a measuring stick, and then we can get started. I have some projects I'm working for our place that I'm working on too."
Kurt stepped forward and hugged Jeff and then Nick. "Congratulations on getting married. We're happy for you."
Sam hugged each of them as well.
Kurt stopped in front of the patio door. "Thanks again for the sewing machine feet. They're amazing."
"You're welcome," Nick said.
"I'm looking forward to rewatching Farscape," Sam said. I haven't seen it in ages."
"We'll watch it with you, if that's okay with you. We've never seen it."
"Neither has Kurt. It'll be fun. We can talk about when tomorrow. See ya." Sam followed Kurt out the door. Jeff closed it behind them.
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
"Let's tackle our laundry and getting the curtains I made for the end of the hallway put up. I'd rather use the daylight tomorrow to do fun projects than do the less fun stuff like washing and folding clothes." Kurt said, as he locked the door and pulled the curtains shut.
Sam said, "Works for me, but at the end of the chores, I want a bubble bath with you."
Kurt walked across the room and shut the living room curtains as well. "I accept your terms." He walked back to where Sam was standing in the open space between the living room and dining room and put his hands on Sam's shoulders. He slid them up his neck, and then to Sam's jaw. He stepped closer and kissed him. He slid his hands back down and took Sam's hands. He turned and put Sam's hands on his hips and started to hum and started to dance, doing the conga back to their room. Once he got there, he continued to hum and sway his hips while he pulled their laundry baskets out.
"You know that all the silliness does is make me want to toss you into the bed and tickle and kiss you, right?"
"We put a load in, and then you can tickle and kiss me."
Sam grabbed all of the dark wash and dries and tossed them into the washer and started it.
"That was fast."
"Motivation is a key factor in completing tasks in a timely fashion." He put the laundry baskets on the floor and pushed Kurt onto his back on the bed. He slipped his hands under Kurt's shirt and started to tickle him, just enough to get him to laugh, and then he kissed him. He sat right back up on his knees.
"That's it?"
Sam leaned forward, pushing Kurt's t-shirt up simultaneously and started to nip and kiss along his ribs, causing Kurt to start to flail around a little and making him laugh really hard. He changed to just kissing, and then changed again to licking along his ribs, which caused Kurt to start to laugh again.
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
During the last load of clothes they did, they attached the side support pieces to the hallway wall and put the 4cm oak dowel they bought on their way back earlier that afternoon up. Sam helped Kurt iron the curtains and hang them.
"What do you think?"
"I think it looks a lot more neat than having our clothes hanging to dry where people could see them, and that space was completely unused and not really suitable for much of anything other than a bookcase or storage shelf. So, I think it's a good use of space."
Kurt went in the living room and brought back the ironing board and the iron to put them away.
"Bath time." He went in the bathroom and began to run the water. Kurt followed him in after he had finished what he was doing.
"Front or back?" Sam asked.
"Mmm. Back. You were in the back the last time."
"M'kay. Get in then."
Kurt got in and Sam followed. Kurt ran his hands along Sam's arms caressing him. "I was thinking."
Sam chuckled. "Sorry. I'm not making fun of you. I promise."
"I know. And I am aware of how often I start a conversation by saying, 'I was thinking.' It's probably most of the time. You told me that thinking so much is sexy."
"It is. And it shows me how much you love me and how hard you work at figuring things out." He drew a heart right above Kurt's knee. "What were you thinking about?"
"Us, what Jeff said, what Nick said, classes starting – lots of stuff."
Sam ran his hands along Kurt's thighs, enjoying being close to Kurt and giving him time to share his thoughts.
"So far, everyone I've known has either known or found out about the bullying. But I don't want to be that 'kid that was bullied' anymore. I just want to be Kurt Hummel-Evans. I don't know exactly how to explain my thoughts. I want to be real and authentic and to be myself. I want to live my life on my own terms as much as possible. I don't want to deny the past or try to pretend that it didn't exist because what happened to me affected me and changed me. And after you came out, it affected you too. But in a lot of ways, it really doesn't anymore. We're here. We live together in our own place. We love each other. We're married. We're going to college. No one here knows our story except Nick and Jeff. And even they don't know everything." He placed kisses along Sam's shoulder.
"You just want to move on."
"I do. I love you so much and I love being here and having this life with you. This is amazing. I'm really hoping that the way we were treated in Lima never becomes part of our lives again. And maybe it's wrong, but I feel like if we talk about it with people, it will stay with us and have a place in our present."
"I see what you mean."
"I don't want to deny you the right to talk about that if you want to. I'm not asking you to keep any of your own past a secret. I just don't want to talk about my past to new people. Maybe if anyone we meet actually becomes a close friend, I'll feel differently. I just want to not be looked at with pity or as a potential target."
"How about this? We'll consider the topic of high school one that we discuss only the basics of. Sports we played, clubs we were in – just the basics. Anything else, we'll consider to be topics that only get discussed once we've decided that someone we've met has reached friend level instead of just classmate or acquaintance."
"And once someone reaches the friend level, you and I can talk about whether we want to share anything personal from our past with whoever it is."
"Seems reasonable to me," Sam stated.
"I think I'm just so used to the overbearingly nosy nature of the Glee Club that I'm rebelling against that for my future life. I want to be in control of what I share and who I share it with."
"I hear you on that. I remember standing there being accused of sleeping with you and Quinn. For a group who considered themselves to be like a family, it was a pretty dysfunctional family."
"We were kids when Glee started. We grew up, but some better adult guidance would have helped a lot more."
"So, basically, you want people to stick to the 'soup questions'?"
"Exactly, but I know they won't. I think all of this is just making me really consider how to answer the 'not soup questions' with 'soup question' answers. We really don't know anything about anyone. We don't know who is secretly like JBI and who is actually trustworthy. I don't want to go back to my ice bitch mode where I just act like everyone is beneath me and unworthy of my time, but I don't want to reveal information to people who may not keep it to themselves."
"I think that's a legitimate issue. You want to be a performer and I want to be an artist of some sort. If either one of us ever achieves success those careers, we could become public figures. And with the age of instant sharing where everyone around the world can see and share information, we do have to be careful. Texting people things isn't private when they can just take a screenshot of what is written and post it to Facebook or wherever in an instant."
"And we dealt with the press for a while at home, but we don't honestly know who might try to sell me out for a few bucks to a tabloid for saying or doing something embarrassing. There's more at stake than just regular freshman anxiety about meeting new people. I know I'm not the president's kid or anything, but still. We just have to find that line between coming off as snobby and protecting our own interests. I need to be somehow outgoing and friendly while maintaining my emotional distance from people until I know them better, which of course will be hard if they are also attempting to retain their emotional distance."
"True. I see why this topic has caused you to spend a lot of time thinking about it." He turned a little and turned his head and tipped it back so that he could kiss Kurt.
"Think about the two of us. That day at Dalton could have gone at least a couple of other ways. Your choice that day completely altered the course of your life. You could have handed the pizzas over, taken the money, and walked away as if we didn't know each other at all. You could have done the same, except acknowledged that we knew each other. And when I asked why you were delivering pizzas in Westerville, you could have made up a lie about how the Westerville store was so short-handed that they called the Lima store for back-up for the weekend. I would have found that odd, but lots of things in life are odd and I would have just shrugged it off. You could have just been honest about the part about your dad losing his job and then refused to ask your parents about me telling my dad. And that would have been that. I wouldn't have told him without your permission. But instead, you came back and not only did you tell me about what was going on, you also told me that you liked me and asked me out. That changed the course of both of our lives when I said 'yes' and your parents agreed to let my dad, and then Hiram help."
"I am really glad I didn't do those other things, which did actually cross my mind. I knew there was a slim chance I'd see you that night I went to deliver the pizzas. I thought about what to do. I had convinced myself not to say anything, like I had been doing at school. But when I came back to see you, once we were alone, I just changed my mind at the last minute."
"In another reality you didn't tell me and no one helped your family. I left Dalton not long after that to keep my dad from taking out a loan to keep me there because I didn't know about the advocate, but I stayed long enough for Blaine's Regionals duet and surprise kiss to have wooed me. He came to McKinley, but didn't work to graduate early because I didn't stick around Dalton long enough to inspire anyone to be themselves and Nick and Jeff stayed in the closet and didn't attempt to graduate early Blaine didn't have anyone to emulate. Sebastian came to Dalton, met Blaine, and chased him. Neither of us ever put two and two together to realize who he was. Let's see. I wouldn't have been at Dalton for that College and Career seminar and I wouldn't have looked into what I needed to. I'd be living with Rachel in New York with Blaine as my boyfriend still at McKinley."
"I don't like that version. What I am doing?"
"Living in Kentucky? Maybe you came back to Ohio when you hated it there so much. Maybe you're 'besties' with Blaine while you repeat your senior year at McKinley."
"In what kind of weird reality would I be 'besties' with Blaine?"
"I don't know. Maybe the kind where cubes fly through space at incomprehensible speed, and then just stop on a dime?"
"Hmm." He ticked Kurt. "I don't like that 'reality'."
"Maybe you date Brittany and marry her instead."
"Now, you're just asking to be tickled." He kissed Kurt.
"You came just in time to prevent the final stages of my assimilation. And that action changed the space time continuum."
Sam chuckled. He had turned even more and was still reclined against Kurt's arm and partially against his chest, allowing him to kiss Kurt easily from the position he was in. "I'm glad. You're so much fun and totally unique and interesting. The collective didn't value your uniqueness. Their loss was my gain." He kissed Kurt. "Definitely my gain."
"Sweet talker."
"Just telling it like I see it."
"I need to figure out a way to get in contact with Trent. With Nick and Jeff gone, and quite a few of the Warblers graduating, I feel bad for him there alone trying to swim upstream."
"Sure." He kissed Kurt again. "Are you ready to rinse off and shower quickly? The water's starting to get a little chilly."
"Sure."
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
Kurt snuggled up behind Sam as the big spoon. He slipped his hand under Sam's pillow and Sam bent his elbow and laid his hand in Kurt's. "So, what's the plan for the rest of this week?" He kissed the back of Sam's neck. "We've caught up on our chores. I know that grocery shopping is the priority tomorrow morning. Nick and Jeff are going with us. We'll stop and get the yarn and a measuring stick."
"Well, we have the book to read. And I want to finish both paintings and the illuminated letters and get them hung up." He paused for a minute, thinking. "Oh, I know. We need to order those shelf hook things we looked up online so that we can hang the swords up that we bought."
"Going to Ikea to get them would be fun, but it's too long of a drive just to get those shelf hooks. We just need to order them online. We need to get working on Finn's and Trish's birthday present. And the Bluetooth speaker that we didn't get yet. I miss dancing with you."
"Alright, we'll get one at Costco if they have them. And another pack of wood hangers. I can't think of anything else."
"The menu."
Sam sighed. "You're right. We didn't work on a menu. Let's try to sleep now so we can make one for at least a week when we get up."
Kurt flattened his hand out over Sam's heart. "Now our college adventures begin. We're here. No running back to Lima to work during the week." He took a deep breath and let it out.
Sam altered his voice to sound robotic, like one of the computer voices in a sci fi movie. "Life Phase Three has begun. This is not a simulation. I repeat. This is not a simulation."
Kurt broke out laughing. "You have to stop."
"Why?"
"Well, not stop permanently, but just for now."
"Why?" he teased.
"Because."
He went back to his computerized voice. "Inadequate explanation. Please clarify and restate answer."
Kurt laughed again. "Because because."
"Repetition of the inadequate explanation does not make it adequate," he continued with the automated computer voice.
"I'm sure you know the reason. Your ability to think up funny things to say or to remember lines from movies and do the appropriate voices to go along with it is a big turn on and we're trying to go to sleep. Or at least we were until you got me laughing and thinking about how adorable and sexy you are."
Sam dropped the silliness. "You think my impressions are sexy?"
"I thought you already knew that. I've not really kept it a secret how attracted I am to you. And you're really the only person that has ever really been able to make me genuinely laugh. You remember the first weekend we were together."
"You said that I had made you laugh more in three days than you had in three months, I believe."
"The three months was just an arbitrary comparison. I could have said three years just as easily. I honestly don't remember laughing much ever. You brought joy back into my life. I love your impressions. They're this amazing and fun part of you that just strikes my funny bone, I guess. They also make me want to kiss you."
"I see. Sebastian makes you laugh, so does Jeff."
"In certain situations, Jeff can. Sebastian can do it on his own as well, but he had been gone for most of my life."
"The two of you might have been like Nick and Jeff if he hadn't moved away."
"I guess it's possible? But I've never thought about him that way."
"You were kids when he left, so that makes sense. He wasn't around by the time you might have seen him differently."
"Are you feeling like you're somehow not good enough for me or something? Turn over." Kurt scooted back to give him room. "That reminds me that I want to get those tiny eye hooks so we can get the twinkle lights hung back up." He put his hand on the side of Sam's face and ran his thumb along his cheek. "I am in love with you Samuel Robert Hummel-Evans." He scooted forward and kissed Sam. "I love you. You're my best friend, the person who knows the most about me in the whole world. You light up my world. You brought light back into my world and you brighten everything. Just knowing you're nearby makes me smile. And I'm not sure what's causing the insecurity, but I promise to do a better job of saying how you make me feel because I never want you to wonder." He pressed closer and kissed Sam again. He ran his hand through Sam's hair as he continued to talk. "If I had to pick one person in the world to get sent on some 10-year space journey with, it would be you. I could happily spend the rest of my life creating things with you and working on projects while you work on your own projects nearby."
"I feel the same way about you. I'm not feeling insecure about the two of us."
"Okay. You're the one who will get the pity looks and the eye glares from the girls who are aggravated that you're not into them, like you mentioned happening after The Muckraker incident."
"That's why you changed the subject so quickly after dinner. You think I settled for you?"
"Whether you did or didn't, people will wonder what I have on you or what you're getting out of it besides me. I'm not a 'catch'. I have come to accept that you find me attractive, which I'm glad about. So, no, I don't actually think that YOU feel like you've settled for me, but I think that other people will see it differently."
"I honestly haven't been thinking about that at all because it never occurred to me to think about because I think you're gorgeous."
"What have you been thinking about then?"
"What if I go to class and everyone is better than me and the university realizes that they made a mistake giving me a scholarship and I get told not to come back? What if the other art students actually laugh at my stuff? What if the note taker I get is terrible?"
"Sweetie, if any of those things happen, we'll figure out what to do instead. You talked about all of this before we decided to come here. It's okay to be scared and nervous. I am too. We have the opportunity to try to give our career dreams a chance. If they don't work out, they don't. If I never get any parts, if I you never sell another piece of art, and if I end up going back to working as a mechanic and you get a job being a barista or whatever, we can still be happy and enjoy our lives together. I can still do tailoring and costume work on my own and you can still paint and create other types of artwork. We're young. We're both nervous about college, but I'm not doubting that I want to do all of this with you – not at all. Are you?"
"No. I don't want you to think that I doubt our bond because I don't. I'm not worried that you'll find someone else, not because you aren't absolutely amazing and gorgeous, but because I trust you. You tell me that you love me and that I am enough. I believe you because I trust you."
"And I trust you. You are enough, more than enough." Kurt scooted ever closer and used one of Sam's octopus snuggle moves and wrapped himself around Sam. "You're it, sweetie. You're mine and I'm yours. The two of us together for as long as possible."
"Sounds perfect. I like your snuggle-octopus idea." He wrapped his hand around the back of Kurt's neck and pressed his lips gently to Kurt's.
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}A-23{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
"So, show me already, Mr. Melodramatic," Sebastian said, teasing Kurt.
"Hush, you. You two are the first to get to see the full reveal. You should feel honored."
"I'm honored, honorifically honored. Now, get on with it. I've been waiting MONTHS for my tour."
Kurt rolled his eyes, and then turned flipped the video feed to the rear-facing camera on his phone. "So, as you come in the front door, we have this alcove with a nice, big coat closet.
Sam helped him out by opening the closet doors, and then closing them back. Kurt took a couple of steps and panned the room, slowly turning in a circle.
Sam said, "And here we have the living room."
"I like the painting over the couch," Dylan said. "Nice job, Sam."
"Thanks."
"Scoot closer to those illuminated letters over the piano," Dylan urged Kurt. "Which one of you did those?"
"We worked on them together," Kurt answered.
"I like those a lot," Dylan said.
"Thanks," Kurt replied. He turned to his left. "And this is the dining room and kitchen.
Sebastian said, "Our painting collage from your wedding turned out fun to look at. Certainly not high art, but entertaining."
"That's why we love it so much," Kurt said. He continued to pan to the left.
"Nice kitchen," Sebastian said. "It has a lot of countertop and storage space."
"We like it," Sam said. He moved through the kitchen into the small hallway. "Laundry closet." He opened it briefly. "Bathroom." He waggled his eyebrows and let Kurt step inside in front of him.
"Now, I'm jealous," Sebastian said. "That tub."
"We know," Kurt said. "That was Nick's doing. He persuaded his dad to install them instead of regular bathtubs." He panned the room slowly enough that everything could be seen.
"Nice faux aquarium," Dylan said. "Very whimsical."
Kurt exited the bathroom and went into the study. He panned the room. "Our study."
"So, that's where you put the paintings you three did at the museum that day," Dylan said.
"It is."
"And your Wicked poster," Sebastian noticed.
"Yep. And our photo collages from New York and our other trips."
"That's a nice easel," Dylan said. "I don't remember seeing it before."
"Kurt got it for me when we moved our furniture over here. I love it."
Kurt turned and went back out into the alcove and into their bedroom. He turned slowly once again.
"I like the paintings in there as well. You had that one in your bedroom in Lima," Dylan said.
"We did," Kurt agreed.
Sam said, "That's the whole place."
He and Kurt went back to the living room and sat down next to each other on the sofa.
"I like the set up," Sebastian said. "It's a lot bigger than our flat here. If you put the kitchen where your piano is and imagine two bedrooms where your dining room and kitchen are, that's about how big this place is." He switched the camera on his phone and gave them a really brief tour of the place.
"We have this 4-day orientation slash new student event starting tomorrow. And classes start Monday," Kurt said.
"We start Monday as well," Dylan said.
Sebastian said, "I have a surprise for the two of you."
"What?" Kurt asked.
"I wanted to keep it a surprise, but Uncle Burt didn't think that would be a good idea, so I'm going to tell you."
"Okay…"
"You're spending winter break with us here in Paris."
Kurt looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that my maman, my dad, and your parents are going in on buying tickets for the two of you to come here and spend the four weeks of your winter break here with us in Paris."
"No way," Kurt said.
"No way? You don't want to come?" Sebastian looked confused.
"Of course, I want to come. I definitely want to come. I just didn't think it would be possible to do something like that for a long time."
"Well, the plane tickets aren't that expensive. The expensive part about a month-long stay would be the accommodations, which will be at no expense to you since you can stay with us."
Kurt and Sam just stared at the phone screen.
"Are you two speechless or did our connection freeze up?"
"We're here," Sam said. "We're just in shock."
"Thank you," Kurt finally said. "It's an amazing surprise."
"And the other part is that Dylan and I will be staying with my dad for the month of July."
"That will be fun."
"I'm counting on the Hummel Travel Agency to plan some adventures for the four, or six, or eight of us."
"Sorry, that agency closed down."
Sebastian looked at Kurt, completely confused.
"The Hummel-Evans Travel Agency will be pleased to take your requests, though."
"Of course," he smirked. "Yes, of course. How silly of me." He rolled his eyes and laughed.
"So, is the Hummel-Evans Agency in charge of the planning for winter break?"
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Happy birthday, dear Finn.
Happy birthday to you.
Finn blew out the candles on his cake. Kurt grabbed a knife and started slicing the mint chocolate chip ice cream cake into slices and plating them. Trish picked the pieces up and handed them out, starting with Finn.
After everyone had finished eating, Finn opened his gifts. His card from Burt and Carole had a gift card to the University of Toledo bookstore. He opened Kurt and Sam's gift next. He pulled a solid medium gray sweatshirt with a blue logo out of the gift bag. He looked it for a second before it dawned on him what it was.
"That's cool. That's on a bunch of the stuff in Firefly."
"It is. This way you can geek out secretly. Only real Firefly fans will get the reference," Sam said.
"Thanks. It's cool."
Kurt pushed a bag towards Trish.
"It's not my birthday."
"I know," Kurt said. "It's not Finn's either. His was a week ago and yours is in less than three weeks."
She pulled out a medium blue hoodie and laughed when she opened it up. "I love it. It's shiny."
Carole said, "Trish is definitely shiny."
Burt and Aunt Eunice looked confused.
"It's from the Firefly TV series too. It's the popular word for something being awesome or really cool," Sam supplied.
Trish laughed and smiled. "Thanks, you two."
Kurt and Sam said, "You're welcome."
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
They put in a blow-'em-up action movie that didn't interest Kurt. He got Carole to go for a walk with him instead.
"Do you know why Trish doesn't celebrate her birthday?" Kurt asked.
"I don't."
"She told all of us one of the times we all slept over at Nick's before Dylan and Sebastian left. She didn't say not to tell anyone, but she also didn't say to feel free to tell everyone. So, I'm going to tell you because I want you and Dad and Finn to make a big deal of her birthday and how glad you are that she's part of your lives without making reference to anything I'm going to tell you."
"Alright. I can do that. I won't tell Burt until after her birthday, if he even asks. That way it will make sense, but it won't be awkward at the time."
Kurt nodded. "You know that she's a lot younger than her two brothers and you've heard her say that they ignore her."
"Yeah. I found it odd, but people have weird family issues."
"Well, her mom had a lot of female trouble after her second brother was born, but she was still young enough to have another child. And despite her telling more than one doctor that she wanted a hysterectomy, she was denied based on the fact that she might still want another child some time, which she did in some ways because she loved kids, but her concerns were ignored. She couldn't take hormonal birth control, and anyway, she ended up pregnant with Trish when her brothers were like 12 and 14."
"Okay."
"He mom ended up with pre-eclampsia, on top of the already difficult pregnancy."
"Oh, dear."
"She ended up having seizures and then a stroke after Trish was born. I guess her brothers were at an age between being able to understand that the doctors did what they could and being able to accept the outcome. Their mom died the same day Trish was born. And they just can't deal with the fact that they lost their mom over a baby. They say that their mom should have had an abortion and insisted on getting the hysterectomy. Trish existence robbed them of their mother. Before she was old enough to go to school, they moved out."
"That's terrible. It's not her fault her mother died."
"I know. And she knows, but it doesn't change the way her brothers act. You've met her dad and he obviously he loves her."
They ended up in the stables. They walked along and continued to talk to each other and the horses, as they stopped at each stall and stroked any of the horses that came and put their heads out.
"Sorry, I don't have any treats, Rose," Kurt said. "But you're a sweet horse," he said, as he ran his hand along her face the way she liked.
"You'd think that they would have grown up and stopped acting that way towards her."
"You'd think. But they dislike their dad as well. They blame him for not standing up to the doctors and insisting on the hysterectomy or insisting on an abortion. They only visit a couple of times a year for a short period of time. I can't imagine being her dad and having to explain that story to her once she was old enough to understand."
"That's really sad."
"It is, but a lot of families are screwed up like you said. Santana's grandma never came around as far as I know. Dave hasn't resolved things with his mom. I came close to letting myself be pushed away by Dad. I had the advantage of knowing that he loved me, but he still operated under some messed up ideas."
"He realized the error of his previous way of thinking and changed."
"He did, but if I hadn't called him out on it, things could have been different. Rather than him opening his mind to the idea of our home being my refuge and safe place from the hatred in Lima, he could have stuck with his 'inappropriate' stand and held onto his 'not in my house' line of thinking. That would have changed absolutely everything. He was very 'out of sight, out of mind' about all of it. It was okay that I was gay, but he didn't want to hear about it or know anything about it. Sort of like the two of us are about Finn's fondness for Call of Duty – he can be as into as he wants to be, but we don't want to learn anything about it or watch him play it or listen to him talk about it."
Carole laughed.
"Sam and I are really happy together and I don't know how all of that would have played out if he had kept the rules he had previous set down. I guess Sam would have gone to Kentucky with his family. I don't want to think about it. He's perfect for me. And no I'm not deluded into thinking he's perfect. No one's perfect. But he and I fit together and he just gets me. I have a favor to ask you."
"What?"
"Is there a chance that you can send me a calendar for each month that shows when you and Dad will be in Lima? I'm not sure whether we'll have much time to come for weekend visits or not. With only just finishing the first week of classes, we don't really have a good feel for how much time we'll have to spend on schoolwork. I had to audition for the fall play and the fall musical. Hopefully, I will get a role in one or the other and if not, I'll be working on the costuming for them. I might be doing both. We're both meeting with our advisors this next week to make our graduation plans and go over all of the graduation requirements for our degrees and fill in all of the ones that we've already fulfilled with the classes we took at OSU Lima. Both of us are already taking an extra class in our major because we didn't need to take English this semester. We've been looking through the course catalog and the requirements for different majors within our degree programs. We're trying to figure out whether graduating a year early or double majoring is a better idea. Right now, it seems like a double major would be a better idea because it might give us a better chance at finding work once we graduate."
"That seems like the best course of action to me too, but seeing the advisor is a good idea because they'll know all of the ins and outs of the way the system works. I did my fair share of scouring the course catalog for courses that could fulfill more than one requirement, especially when both requirements were for things I did not enjoy."
Kurt nodded. "I think Sam and I already took all of the courses that were weren't particularly interesting last year. Our whole situation is unusual, so we asked for appointments as soon as we were able to make them. I'll find out about whether I got a role in either production when we go back to school on Tuesday. The play is in October and the musical is in November, which makes sense because there's so much more to rehearse for a musical. The great irony of is that we're doing The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
Carole laughed. "I remember that fiasco. Mr. Schuester had a few screws loose thinking that production was ever going to be allowed."
"Yeah. I feel especially bad for Artie and Tina. They were original members of the group and more than likely there won't be a Glee Club this year. I guess they could still do a musical or a play if they could get a faculty member to sponsor it and could find enough people willing to be in it."
"Burt is still working to get more arts funding, but I did finally get a PTA started over the summer, even though I'm not a parent of a child in the school anymore. Getting it going was ridiculously hard. Surprisingly, my strongest support for getting it started has been Mrs. Adams."
"Azimio graduated from North Lima."
"She has nieces and nephews who go to and will go to McKinley. She's still angry that no one told her what a terror Azimio was when he was young enough that she would have had an easier time getting him help. She insists that he behaved in other situations."
"I see. I think that's actually more terrifying."
"Strando got his football scholarship. He's heading to Michigan State. Azimio was recruited by Ohio State, so he's in Columbus. The other two I haven't heard anything about."
Kurt was glad to know that Dave had accepted the scholarship offer to Purdue and had already moved to West Lafayette, Indiana as soon as his OSU classes had finished in June. "They were followers, not leaders. Hopefully, they mind their own business from now on."
They left the stable and made their way back towards the house as they continued to talk.
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}S-29{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
Nearly four weeks later, Kurt, Sam, Nick, and Jeff met up with Finn and Trish and their two friends in the lobby of the hotel they were staying in for Comic Con. They picked up their keycards and went to their rooms. Finn and Trish followed Kurt next door, leaving Nick, and Jeff with Renee and Max.
Kurt handed Trish the jumpsuit he had made for her. "Make sure I don't need to alter it somehow."
She took it from him and headed into the bathroom. While she was gone, Sam gave Finn his brown ringer tee.
"Oh, wow. It looks just like Jayne's. You did a great job on the design on the shirt."
"Thanks," Sam said.
Kurt turned back around from getting something out of his bag and held it out to Finn.
"No way! Did you knit that or whatever?"
"I did."
"That is awesome!"
"What's awesome?" Trish asked.
Finn put the hat on.
"Oh, my God. The orange hat is perfect. The jumpsuit fits perfectly. And I'm assuming Sam is the one that made it look like I've been fixing spaceship engines with the fake dirt and oil stains?"
"That was me, yes."
"Well, we're going to look amazing," she said, as she closed the door and put her regular clothes back on."
"So, how did you meet Renee and Max?"
"It was the hoodies you gave us for our birthdays," Finn said. "Me and Trish were sitting in the cafeteria eating and they walked up and sat down across from us and commented on them."
"Cool," Sam said.
"They already have their own complete Wash and Zoe costumes," Trish said, as she hung her jumpsuit back up. "The six of us are going to look awesome."
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}O-5{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
The next weekend, Kurt finished his all-black backstage ensemble with a pair of solid black dance shoes. "It's hard to believe the play is opening tonight," Kurt said.
"I hope it goes smoothly."
"Me too."
Kurt wrapped his arms around Sam and hugged him. "Thank you." He kissed him. "I love you."
"I love you too." He squeezed him gently. He let go and opened the front door. He let Kurt step out, and then closed and locked the door behind them. He took Kurt's hand as they walked to his truck.
"It was disappointing not getting a role in the play at first, but working on the costumes has been fun and working backstage during the show has taught me a lot. Plus, the rehearsals for Rocky Horror on top of the rehearsals for Big Love wouldn't have left me time to do the costumes."
"Which I am looking forward to seeing when I go see the play next week." He looked at Kurt and winked. "I mean the six of us DID win the group cosplay contest at Comic Con. I bet whatever you've worked on for the show is amazing."
"Sweet talker." Kurt smiled at Sam and slid to the center from the driver's side and kissed Sam once he was in the driver's seat. He put his hand on Sam's thigh as they backed out and headed to the auditorium.
When they pulled up, Sam said, "I'll be here waiting for you five minutes after you call."
"I'm sorry to have you drive me when we live so close."
"You know I don't mind. I'd rather know you got here safe than having you walking here in the dark, well almost dark on the way here and completely pitch dark on the way back. That's one thing we didn't take into consideration living off campus was the lack of street lights in certain areas and how early it would get dark in the winter. But it's fine. I don't mind at all. And it if starts being a problem, we'll just get a parking sticker so you can park on campus."
Kurt turned towards him and kissed him one last time before he slid out the passenger side. He waved as he walked toward the auditorium doors.
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}O-30{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
The day before Halloween, Sam opened the front door to find Kurt's third customer of the afternoon standing there.
"I'm Andrew. I'm here to see Kurt."
"Come on in. I'm Sam." He shut the door and called out, "Kurt, Andrew's here."
Kurt came around the corner into the living room. "Right this way." Kurt led him down to the study. "It's hanging on a hook on the back of the door. Go ahead and put it on. Open the door when you're done so I can see if there's anything that needs altered."
"Got it."
Kurt stood in the hallway and waited. Andrew opened the door a few minutes later.
"I think it's just right. Nothing to fix." He turned around in place, allowing Kurt to see the whole pirate costume.
"Can I photograph you in it? For my portfolio? I'll blur your face since the hat is part of the outfit."
"Um, sure. You won't put my name or anything?"
"Nope. I just want to keep a photographic record to show people costumes I've made."
"Then, it's fine."
Kurt stepped inside the room, closed the door and photographed him from a couple of angles with him standing in front of the closet, and then left him in the room to put his clothes back on. Andrew opened the door again a few minutes later.
"Thanks for this. It's really fantastic." He handed Kurt an envelope.
Kurt double-checked the amount. "You're welcome. Give me just a second." Kurt turned around and grabbed a disposable garment bag, like the kind from the dry cleaners, and put it over the top of the costume. "I hope you have a great time wearing it." He led Andrew back into the living room where Sam was sitting, studying something. He ushered Andrew out and closed and locked the door behind him. "He was the last one. $500 isn't bad. It will give us more spending money in Paris."
Sam smiled. "I can't believe you managed to fit making those three outfits into your schedule in a week." He patted the sofa.
Kurt sat down next to him and leaned into him. "Me neither really, but I need to build my portfolio of projects and Halloween is the best time of year because people actually WANT to buy expensive costumes. I just need to figure out a better way to do it besides staying up all weekend before Halloween. I'll do a better job of time management next October. I thought I'd get more people earlier in the month, but now I know better. Two in a little over three weeks, and then three people in the last week. At least some of those new sewing machine feet Nick and Jeff got me saved me time."
"Good. I know you have some regular schoolwork to do. Would a nap help or make things worse?"
"I'm honestly not sure. I'll try to stay awake and get it done before we eat. Maybe we can just shower early and go to bed?"
"Sounds like a good plan to me. You have a long day tomorrow and I can do my stuff tomorrow morning."
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Wednesday afternoon, the Rocky Horror cast had their dress rehearsal. When it was over, they were escorted to the campus Halloween event as the guest stars of the Halloween photo booth, which had been stocked with some inexpensive additions to fit in with the Rocky Horror theme of the party.
Kurt was asked to pose with a lot of people throughout the one-hour photo session. When the hour was almost up, Sam stopped by again. This time he slipped the gold lamé shorts on over his jeans and slipped his hoodie off and posed with Kurt as Rocky. They got quite a few wolf whistles from other students standing around in the area. Kurt turned and kissed Sam, which the photographer caught. Kurt just laughed and shook his head, while rolling his eyes.
Sam put his hoodie back on and put the shorts back in the costume box. He took Kurt's hand and led him out of the photo area to go back to the theatre to change with the rest of the cast.
"Well, that was a surprise," Kurt said when they got back to the costuming area. "It's been a while since I've seen you in a Rocky costume. You're much sexier now."
"Why's that? I'm pretty sure my abs looked better back then." He ran his hand down his torso. "I'm getting out of shape."
Kurt took his wig off and removed his Riff Raff make up. He stood back up and kissed Sam before he started to hang up the pieces to his costume. "Well, you're much sexier now because back then in my mind you were off-limits, and now you're all mine." Kurt ran his hand down Sam's chest and leaned forward. "So sexy," he said very quietly, directly into Sam's ear.
"Need any help getting that costume hung up?" Sam asked, winking at Kurt.
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
After their quick shower, Kurt wrapped his towel around his waist, put the casserole that Sam had prepped earlier into the oven, and quickly went back to rejoin Sam in the bathroom. The tub was nearly ready for them to soak in. Sam got in and Kurt followed him. When there was enough water, Kurt leaned up and turned the faucet off. He got comfortable again, lying back against Sam's chest.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Two days. The dress rehearsal went well this afternoon. One more rehearsal, and then opening night."
"Are you excited?"
"Yes, very. It's what I've wanted for so long. I got a little taste of it with West Side Story summer before last, but this is exciting. I was surprised that I got Riff Raff."
"For someone who is so incredibly sweet and kind, you make a really good creepy looking character. You totally transform when you play a role."
"That's the point – to convince the audience that I AM the character."
"Well, you do it really well. No one who only sees you as Riff Raff would have any idea what a sweetheart you are."
"You say such nice things," Kurt teased. He turned sideways and ran his hand along Sam's chest. "And as for your thoughts on losing your abs, it's pretty much inevitable. Unless you're going to follow some insane workout routine for superheroes in blockbuster movies, you're eventually going to lose that six pack. And that's fine. I won't love you less if you have no defined abs. We'll both change physically over time. Right now we're young and we can have sex several times in a few hours, and if we stay up all night, we could go even more. Some day, that won't be the case, but it won't mean that I find you less sexy. It's just life. I love you now and I'll love you then."
Sam sang imitating Adam Sandler, "All I wanna do is grow old with you."
Kurt laughed. "Exactly. That is such an awesome and totally ridiculous scene." He turned back forward and lay back against Sam's chest again. He wrapped Sam's arms around him and held his hands. This time it was Kurt who started to hum the song.
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}11-11{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
After the closing show of the 10-day run of the musical, Burt and Carole helped Sam get the food set out on the counter for Kurt's surprise after-party.
"I take it you had never seen the movie?" Sam asked Burt.
"No, I hadn't. I can't believe THAT'S the musical Mr. Schuester tried to put on when you all were sophomores and juniors. Technically, none of you should have ever even SEEN that show, much less be IN that show."
Sam laughed. "I hadn't seen it before, but Kurt had. Most of the rest of the group had, actually. But it was absurd for him to try to put that on as a high school production in any town, much less a conservative rural town. Plus, you're right, Tina and Rachel weren't even 16 yet, so they were definitely underage, even if we're going by consent laws and not the legal adult age of 18. Kurt and I were 17 at the time and we were the oldest in the group."
"Well, the show was well done." Burt said. "It's not really my cup of tea, but they did a good job."
Sam pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked it. "He should be here soon. Jeff just texted that he picked him up." He moved into the space between the dining room and the living room. "Hey!" He got everyone's attention. "Kurt should be here in five minutes or so. Come around to the kitchen.
Nick, Puck, Finn, Trish, Santana, Brittany, and Tina all moved to the kitchen. A few minutes later, Kurt came in, followed by Jeff.
"Sam?"
"In the kitchen."
Kurt came around the end of the room into the dining room.
"Surprise!" everyone said.
"Oh, my God! I didn't know that any of you were here."
Santana said, "Isn't that the point of surprise, Porce?"
He gave her a raised eyebrow and cocked his head, but spoke politely, "It is. It absolutely is. I'm starving. Let's eat and then you can all tell me how things are going and what you are all up to. I'm going to go wash my face with real soap and water first though. That stage make up… yuck." He went to the bathroom and came back a few minutes later. He went through the buffet that had been set up and took his plate outside to join everyone.
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}11-28{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
"It's our first Thanksgiving with your family." He ran his hand through Sam's hair. "It's been quite a while since we squished into a twin bed together."
"It has, but we only end up using the extra space in our bed for things besides sleeping."
Kurt laughed and turned to bury his face in Sam's shoulder. "Shh. There are children in the room next door."
"They're asleep."
"They won't be for long if they hear me laughing. They'll come to join in on the fun." Kurt took a deep breath. "I'll be quiet. They'd have to knock first anyway since we slid the bed down over the doorway." He kissed Sam. "It's hard to believe that we only have one more week of classes before finals start."
"It's been a fun semester. I really like the Improv Club. I'm glad they let non-theater majors join. And my guitar playing has improved quite a bit with the guitar class."
"I like the Improv Club too. You're really good at it. I was so worried it was going to be a repeat of high school, but it's been really nice. Everyone wants to succeed, but they also help when they're not the one in the limelight."
"And we've made a start at meeting new people. We at least have a decent selection of acquaintances that we do things with occasionally. We haven't just turned into crotchety old hermits."
Kurt laughed again. "Stop. You can't be funny when we're supposed to be sleeping."
Sam ran his arm down Kurt's arm past his elbow, sliding down onto his waist and then down onto his butt and the back of his upper thigh and began to caress his skin gently. He pulled Kurt closer and guided their lips together and kissed him deeply and passionately. "I love hearing you laugh."
"You're not really making me think about sleeping, you know. With the fabulous kissing and your hand where it is."
Sam pressed his lips back to Kurt's. "Mmm hmm."
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}N-29{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
They spent Thursday morning and part of the early afternoon at Dwight's parents' house. About 2:00, they left and headed to Mary's parents' house. They spent time when they weren't eating playing games and meeting more relatives. Stacey brought the Twister sheet both places and all of the younger kids had fun playing while the adults enjoyed watching them.
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Saturday morning, everyone got up and ate a quick breakfast together. As soon as they finished, Dwight brought in a Christmas tree from the garage. They got it in the stand and started decorating it. Kurt began to hum Christmas songs.
"Sing them," Stacey said. "We know some of the words."
Kurt nodded and started singing the words and the rest joined in when they knew the songs. Before lunch, they had the tree done and the lights up on the front porch.
When they went back inside, Stevie and Stacey followed Mary into the kitchen to get started on lunch. When they weren't looking, Kurt and Sam put their presents under the tree, and then headed into the kitchen to help with the cooking. Dwight put the ornament boxes back in the garage while they cooked. Once they finished eating, they went back into the living room.
"You two are sneaky," Stacey said. "You already put presents under the tree."
Sam and Kurt sat down on the floor near the tree.
"You're right. We did," Sam replied. "We're celebrating Christmas on December 1st this year so we can see you open your presents."
"We're not going to see you on actual Christmas?" Stevie asked.
"Not this year," Sam said.
"Oh, okay. I know it's a longer drive since we moved here and you moved to college. But being here is a million times better than in Kentucky. Should we open them now?" he asked.
"Hand everyone's out first," Sam told him.
Stevie handed a large flat package wrapped in brown paper to Dwight and Mary, who were sitting on the couch. Stacey reached for her own gifts and sat on the other side of the tree. Stevie went back to the tree, grabbed his, and sat in the recliner.
Stacey opened her gift bag first. She pulled out a deep turquoise sweatshirt cardigan. Where a school insignia would go on the front, there was a butterfly. She turned it around and gasped. "It's a Lemon Meringue jacket! She's my favorite character in the Strawberry Shortcake show and I never find stuff like this." She looked at it more carefully. "Did you two make this for me?"
They nodded.
"Kurt sewed it and Sammy painted it?"
"Yep," Sam said.
"It's perfect." She stood up and put it on. "I can wear this with everything. It will look nice with dresses and jeans. Regular hoodies don't look that nice with dresses, but this one looks more like a sweater. I love it!" She practically threw herself at Sam and fell into his lap with her arms wrapped around his neck. "You are the best big brother ever." She got up and plopped in Kurt's lap next. "And you are the best big brother-in-law ever. Thank you." She stayed seated in the space in the center of his legs.
He kissed her on the top of the head. "You're welcome."
Stevie went next. He pulled the tissue paper out of the top of his bag. He pulled out a hardback book. He looked at it for a second, but then opened it quickly. "How did you do this?" He flipped through more pages. "This is amazing!"
"What is it Stevie?" Mary asked.
"It's The Tales of Torence Fixerstein. All of them. And my drawings. In a real book."
Stacey got up and sat on the arm of the chair. "Let me see."
Stevie showed her.
"That is super cool."
"It really is." He started to move the bag, but realized there was still something in it. He put his hand back in the bag and pulled out something wrapped in tissue paper. He unwrapped it carefully. "Oh, wow. It's one of the magic bells that summons Torence." He made it ring. "This is awesome. Did you make this?"
"I did – in my ceramics class at school."
"It's perfect. It looks just like I imagined it would." He rang it again. He wrapped it back up carefully. "I'm going to put it on the shelf in my room. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Sam said. "And just so you know, Kurt edited your writing to fix up your punctuation. He didn't change your story though."
"Thanks. I need to learn how to do that the right way. I looked in books I have and tried to do it right by copying the way the writer did it, but I think I need an actual rule book."
Kurt said, "They make books like that. We'll look for a good one for you."
"Thanks."
Mary and Dwight opened their present.
"Oh, Sam. It's beautiful. It's the waterfall we went to in Cades Cove."
"That's really good, Son. You've really improved over the years."
Sam smiled. "I'm glad you like it."
"What about Sam and Kurt?" Stacey asked. "Don't they get presents?"
"Mom and Dad gave us our present. Burt and Carole and Mom and Dad and Kurt's Uncle Mark and Aunt Lydia got us tickets to go see Sebastian and Dylan and his Aunt Lydia in Paris. He hasn't seen Lydia since he was 8."
"That's a long time," Stacey said. "So, that's where you're going for Christmas?"
"It is," Kurt said.
"I hope you have fun," Stevie said.
"I'm sure we will," Kurt said. "Are you ready to set the Jenga game up?"
"YES!" Stacey popped up and got the game out.
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Sam pulled Kurt closer as they danced around the living room to a Manheim Steamroller Christmas playlist Kurt found on Spotify, sometimes laughing more than dancing, as they were when "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" began to play. Sam loosened his hold and began to pretend to be a stiff-jointed nutcracker. Kurt let go and started to twirl around, all while freezing and pausing when the music did. By the time the song ended, they were definitely laughing more than dancing. Kurt stopped the playlist when the song ended.
"That was fun. It's over. The semester is over. No more tests, no more papers for at least a month."
"A month in Paris."
"I'm so excited. We need to go pack. Sebastian said to pack light. Does he not know me? Pack light? What a terrible thing to say."
Sam laughed and followed Kurt down to their room.
"Well, I think we need to do what he says. I doubt he is intentionally trying to torture you."
"Says you."
Sam rolled his eyes. "I'm imagining that it's going to be like New York or DC. There will be subways and trains and buses to deal with unless he lives within walking distance of the airport."
Kurt flopped back on the bed. "I know. I know." He sat back up. "I can do this. I never wait this long to pack, but these last two weeks have been nuts. Who decided it was a good idea to hold auditions during finals week? Ugh. But I got a part, so I'm glad about that." He stood back up and began to examine the closet. Eventually he pulled out a selection of shirts, pants, and cardigans that could be mixed and matched to create a lot of different looks without needing a giant suitcase to take it all. By the time Kurt had finished folding everything, he realized that he still had too many things. He narrowed it down again and finally got everything in his small suitcase. "That's it. I'm ready." He started to put the rejected items back in the closet.
"I'll take it out to the Nav."
Kurt went in the kitchen and pulled out the dishes they had made to take with them and put them in a basket. Sam grabbed them when he came back in. Kurt double-checked everything and locked the door on his way out.
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
They got to Zanesville about an hour before everyone else. They helped Aunt Eunice put the leaf in her table, get it set for dinner and the get all of the food set out on the counters.
Once everyone else arrived, they sat down to eat Christmas dinner together. After they ate and cleaned up, Kurt and Trish assembled the tree while Finn and Sam went out and hung lights on her porch. They decorated her tree together and sang Christmas songs. Finn brought Elf to watch as their Christmas movie for the evening.
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Even though it was cold out the next morning, the teens went out horseback riding. When they came back, they had hot chocolate and played board games for a while, while Kurt washed the clothes they had worn outside.
Carole teased Kurt when she saw him. "I can't imagine why you both don't want your suitcases full of clothes to smell like a horse."
Kurt laughed and pressed the start button before he joined them at the table.
Around 2:00 the put the games away to eat a late lunch.
"We are all good cooks, if I say so myself," Aunt Eunice said.
"I agree," Finn said. "I didn't know how spoiled I was until I got to college. The food is edible, but it's nothing like the stuff that Mom and Kurt and Sam and Trish make. And you too, Aunt Eunice."
"Maybe you should take a cooking classes or something," Aunt Eunice suggested. "You can learn."
"Yeah, I should. Maybe next summer. I'll need to be able make something besides sandwiches and bake pizzas before I even think about moving off campus."
They enjoyed their meal and the conversation moved from topic to topic. It wasn't long before it was 4:00 and time for Kurt and Sam to leave. They put their suitcases back in the Navigator. They hugged everyone and said their goodbyes.
"Have fun!" Carole said.
"Stay safe," Burt added.
"We will. Merry Christmas!" Kurt called out.
They waved as they got in the Navigator to drive to Mark's house. He drove them to the airport, allowing them to save the expense of paying for long-term parking.
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}D-16{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
"Hey guys!" Sam said, as they got close enough for Dylan and Sebastian to hear him.
Sebastian pulled Kurt into a hug. "Welcome to Paris."
"Thank you for inviting us."
"How it going?" Sam asked Dylan.
"University is great, but if I had known I was going to fall in love with a Frenchman one day, I would have paid better attention in French class."
Kurt heard his answer and laughed.
Sam said, "I took Spanish for two years before we moved to Ohio. I remember very little of it."
"I do okay most of the time with every day stuff, but if I had to go to school in French, I'd be done for."
"Let's get you out of here," Sebastian said. "We'll take your stuff home, eat, and give you a chance to freshen up, and then we'll head back out."
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
Sebastian unlocked to door to the flat. Lydia made it to the door before Sebastian managed to get his keys back in his pocket.
"Kurt, mon chou, look at you. I've seen all the pictures and how handsome you grew up to be, but you're here. I'm so sorry. I'm so very sorry." She began to cry.
Kurt left his suitcase for Sebastian to take care of and took Lydia hand and moved away from the others. Sebastian took it and the other two followed him through the room to the bedroom.
He pulled her into a hug. "I'm not mad at you, Aunt Lydia. I never was. I was a child. There was nothing you could do from here. I know you had your own mother to take care of. You had already lost your father. You lost your husband, your best friend, and then your mother. That's more than any person should have to deal with in such a short period of time. I'm not a child anymore. I know that there isn't always a solution that has all of the outcomes someone wants. I'm just glad to have you and Sebastian back in my life. Thank you for letting us come stay with you."
"Of course. You're always welcome."
"Try not to be so hard on yourself. Let's just move forward from here. Let's enjoy the time we have now."
She saw Sebastian coming back into the room. "You always were the smart one."
"Maman!"
"Well, I sent you to Ohio and you came back reformed. I know it was Kurt's doing."
"Fine. If we all admit that Kurt is amazing, can we let it go?"
"Sure," Lydia teased.
Kurt reached out for Sam, who stepped closer and took it. "Aunt Lydia, this is my husband, Sam."
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm so glad the two of you have come."
"It's nice to meet you as well."
"I'll let you two get changed or whatever you need to do. Lunch is almost done. I know that Sebastian has plans for all of you."
{}o{}o{}o{}o{}
"Oh, my God, it's amazing up here!" Kurt said, as he pulled Sam into a hug. "We're at the top of the Eiffel Tower!" He kissed Sam.
Sam wrapped his arms around Kurt and held him close. "We are. We definitely are. And it is amazing. I never thought I'd get a chance to do something like this. The view is spectacular."
Sebastian and Dylan came and stood next to them.
Kurt began pointing. "I want to go there. And there. And definitely over there to Montmartre."
Sebastian laughed. "We'll work on it." He took Dylan's hand and led him a few steps away.
Kurt and Sam walked around the top, taking in the view from all the way around.
Kurt leaned into Sam. "I'm in a place I'd only ever dreamed of being with the man of my dreams."
Sam stepped behind Kurt and wrapped his arms around him. He propped his chin on Kurt's shoulder and began to sing.
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
Kurt started laughing. He turned in Sam's arms and kissed him. "Nope. Not a dream. Completely wonderful and absolutely real. I love you."
"I love you too."
Sebastian said, "Are you two lovebirds done making goo goo eyes at each other?"
"Never," Kurt shook his head.