Author's Note: You don't mind gratuitous nudity, do you? Not at all? All right then, carry on and enjoy :-)

Chapter 10: The Hamptons

"It is difficult indeed – it is distressing. One does not know what to think."

"I beg your pardon – one knows exactly what to think."

(An excerpt from Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Kurt watched Blaine go with a sinking feeling in his stomach that he had somehow messed up. Big time.

But… But… Try to kill him? Chandler? The very thought was ridiculous. Chandler was harmless! He might come on a bit too strong and make Kurt feel uncomfortable, but that was the worst he was capable of, right? Right?

His thoughts whirling, Kurt sank down onto the nearest chair and stared blankly at the table. He felt someone sit down next to him, and looked up. It was Cooper, and he looked uncharacteristically serious.

"My brother may be rude sometimes, and loses his temper a lot, but he never lies."

Kurt stared at Cooper, and when the man seemed like he expected a reaction to his statement, nodded mutely.

"What did Chandler tell you about Blaine? It must have been bad, or you wouldn't have dressed him down like that."

Kurt told Cooper, who let out a long low whistle. "Well, no wonder you reamed him out. It's not true, though. They never dated. Not for a lack of trying on Chandler's part, but Blaine turned him down. And Chandler didn't take the rejection well. I didn't cotton on until the incident at the jeans ad, but Blaine mentioned it before. How Chandler would cause quarrels on set and make deliberate mistakes to make us look bad."

Kurt frowned. "What incident at the jeans ad?"

"Remember that bang and flash?"

"Vividly."

"Turns out that was Chandler, throwing a sparkler at your horse to scare it. Thank heavens you're a good horseman, or you might have broken your neck."

"Oh."

"Yes, oh. And all these problems at the wedding today? Chandler had a hand in that, too. He seems to hate you even more than he hates Blaine and me."

Kurt's eyes widened. "What? But it wasn't even my wedding! Why would he ruin such a special day for people who are strangers to him?"

"Because he knew it meant a lot to you."

"Oh."

"You don't like Blaine much, do you? Not even before Chandler's smear campaign."

Kurt's eyes flashed. "He dissed all that I did for Brittana's wedding. Called it cheap. And then when we shot the jeans ad, he kept snapping and glaring at people. What's there to like?"

Cooper hummed. "You like dancing with him well enough. Both now and at the Halloween party. You guys had a great time back then. I really thought you'd become an item."

Kurt stared at him in utter bewilderment. "What? And uhm, I don't remember a thing about that party. I got way too drunk, and it wiped my memory."

Cooper's eyes pierced right through him. "I see. Are you drunk now, too?"

"No. And you're right, I like dancing with Blaine. He's good at it."

"But you're not interested?"

Kurt frowned at Cooper's insistence. "I…"

"Never mind. I'm going to head out, I've got an early flight tomorrow. And Kurt… I can't believe I'm saying this, but… Maybe it's for the best if you stop inviting me to the weddings you plan. Blaine will bounce back from this, I'm sure, but he'll need some time. Well, I'd better go say goodbye to the newlyweds. See you around!"

Long after Cooper had left, Kurt stayed frozen in his seat.

What was that all about? And did I misjudge Blaine so much?

He got his answer to that last question when he checked his mail on his laptop the next morning.

There it was, a long e-mail from Blaine, with pictures and videos attached. Kurt read the whole thing, then read it again, and then checked out the attachments.

When Burt came downstairs looking for coffee, he found his son watching a video, over and over, looking like he could throw up at any moment.

"What's wrong, bud?"

Kurt shoved the laptop in Burt's direction and pressed Play again.

Burt cursed when he saw Chandler throw the sparkler. "Who's that? And why would he do such a thing?"

Kurt closed the video window and showed Burt the e-mail. "Read it. I don't mind."

Burt read mostly in silence, mumbling under his breath every now and then. Then he shot his son a piercing glance. "So you and this Chandler kid are dating? Better break up with him right this instant, if that's how he treats you!"

"No! We're not! I don't know why Blaine would think that!"

A memory of Chandler taking his arm at the restaurant and calling him sweetie flashed through his mind. Oh. Yep. That would be why.

"I knew him way back in high school. We met at the music store. We tried to date, back then, but it didn't work out. No spark."

"Says you, or says him?"

Kurt shrugged. "Mostly me, I guess."

"So this kid still bears you a grudge for dumping him?"

Kurt spluttered. "Dump… I didn't dump anyone! We were never in a relationship. We just went out together twice, and that was it!"

"To you, maybe. Seems like this Chandler kid thinks differently."

Kurt shuddered. "He always seemed so sweet. I'm scared, Dad! This is just… Creepy beyond belief."

"This says he's behind bars. Will be for quite some time, if they can pin everything on him. And with the evidence they got, that should be easy."

Kurt nodded and swallowed with difficulty.

"Seems like you have an apology to make. I'll leave you to it, bud."

Burt filled two mugs with coffee and went upstairs again.

He was right. Kurt owed Blaine an apology. And a rather big one, too. He'd wrongly accused Blaine of abusing his power. In front of all those people.

Kurt groaned. How could he ever make things right again?

In the end, he managed to compose a short answer to the mail. His apology sounded stiff and overly formal, but he guessed it was better than nothing.

Before heading back to New York, he met up with Mercedes one more time, at the Lima Bean, and by the end of their conversation, he felt even worse.

Not only had Blaine never done what Chandler accused him of, but he'd also single-handedly saved Sam and Mercedes' wedding. He'd stopped Chandler from destroying the wedding cake, he'd found Mike and had him brought to the hospital, he'd gone and bought new wedding rings and even had them engraved, he'd bought everything for the barbecue, and he'd sent a riot control team to get rid of the protesters at the church. He'd even paid for a band to perform the song for the first dance and provide music for the rest of the evening. Wow. And how had Kurt thanked him? By telling him he was horrible.

Kurt thunked his head against the table a few times, and Mercedes giggled.

"Aww, he'll forgive you."

"His brother won't. Told me to stay away from him from now on."

"Ouch."

He wished Mercedes a happy honeymoon and went back to the Hudmel residence to pack up and go home.

Back in New York, he felt restless, full of a jittery energy that he could not get rid of however much he cooked, baked, cleaned, worked out, or did any other activity he thought might help.

After a few weeks, Rachel was so fed up with him waking her up in the middle of the night with noises from the kitchen that she booked them a house in the Hamptons for the weekend. "At least there, you can go swimming any time you feel like you're jumping out of your skin. I'll invite the others as well. There's plenty of room, and the weather's so nice."

Accordingly, that Friday, Kurt was sitting in a gorgeous garden, chatting with Rachel and Dani and Elliott and sipping a cold drink.

It soon led to them singing and dancing. The houses next to theirs seemed deserted, so they could be as silly and as loud as they liked. Dani spilled her drink on her dress, though, and Rachel went inside with her to help with getting the stains out.

Elliott excused himself to call his boyfriend, who'd be arriving later, after work, and left Kurt alone in the garden.

He hummed to himself as he admired and smelled the roses growing on the gazebo, and then looked up sharply when he heard a noise from next door.

He saw the glass door of the veranda slide open, and out came an Adonis, completely in the nude, who sauntered towards the parapet and leaned on it to take in the view, providing quite a spectacular one of his own.

Kurt had to remind himself not to swallow his tongue, because wow, what a sight!

The guy wasn't overly tall, but his body was nicely toned, and his ass was such a perfect specimen that it made Kurt whimper and his dick twitch.

Naked Adonis snapped on a pair of swimming goggles and dove into the swimming pool.

That broke the spell, and Kurt stopped gaping at the naked stranger and gulped in a breath of fresh air.

Oh wow. Clearly, the Hamptons are where it's at. I've been missing out.

He walked toward the house to get inside before anyone caught him perving, but froze when Elliott's head appeared from behind the screen door, yelling, "Kurt, did you want to cook tonight or do we order take-out?"

"I want Indian," came Rachel's voice from within the house. "Vegetable samosas please."

"Lamb curry for me," added Dani.

Kurt laughed. "Looks like the girls have decided. Indian it is."

Elliott gave him a thumbs-up and headed back inside, his voice trailing off as he said, "Okay. Honey, could you go to Ganesh and pick up some take-out before you come here?"

Kurt shook his head and chuckled to himself. Mark was the only one of them who'd been working all day, and now he'd have to pick up the food as well?

"Kurt?" said a voice behind him.

Uh-oh. I know that voice.

And yes, when he turned around, he saw that the Naked Adonis, now with a towel around his hips and so close that Kurt could see drops of water slowly making their way down his chest, was none other than Blaine Anderson.

Awkward!

Instead of looking Blaine straight in the eye, Kurt chose to focus on a water drop on his shoulder, and at once felt the insane urge to lick it off. His dick throbbed in his shorts.

No, no, no, down, boy! Focus on his face!

But Blaine's wet curls and lashes were turning Kurt on just as much as the rest of his body, and his smile made Kurt's stomach swoop.

"Hi!" squeaked Kurt.

"Good to see you! I didn't know we were neighbours!"

Kurt laughed. "Oh, we're not. We're renting this place for the weekend."

"Who's we?"

Just at that moment, the screen door banged again, and Elliott's voice floated towards them. "Did you say anything, Kurt? Oh… Who's this?"

Blaine's smile dimmed a little, but he stayed perfectly amiable as he shook Elliott's hand.

"I'm Elliott."

Blaine nodded. "You were the officiant at Brittany and Santana's wedding, weren't you? I'm Blaine, nice to officially meet you."

He proceeded to chat with Elliott for a while, and they discovered that they were both studying at NYU and that they had a few classes and even a friend in common.

It wasn't until Blaine's stomach growled that he laughed and announced he'd better go inside and make himself something to eat.

"Hey, you should stay and have dinner with us!" Elliott offered. "We're having take-out, and there's always plenty to go around, 'cause we plan on leftovers."

Blaine's eyes widened, and he started babbling about not wanting to intrude.

"Nah, don't worry about that, man! The more the merrier! Right, Kurt?"

Kurt nodded. "Sure, join us!"

"Oh, okay, then," said Blaine. "That sounds great. My brother has a date this evening, so I'd be on my own otherwise. Thanks for the invite."

"Hey, do you sing?" Elliott asked. "I brought my guitar 'cause we planned on practicing for our gig after dinner."

That made Blaine beam ear to ear. "I love to sing! I'll go fetch my guitar, too."

"And maybe put some clothes on," Kurt muttered under his breath.

Blaine gave him a cheeky wink before turning around and walking to his house. Before he reached the glass door, the towel slipped, exposing Blaine's butt again in all its glory.

Kurt told himself to look away, but his eyes stayed glued to the vision in front of him, and he felt his shorts tighten again.

"I see you stayed in the garden for the lovely view," Elliott remarked drily.

Kurt's cheeks glowed, but he didn't rise to the bait.

"Wasn't that the rude brother of that billionaire? Changed his tune, hasn't he?"

Kurt shushed him. "Hush! He'll hear you!"

"I'm just saying. I thought you hated the guy."

Kurt shrugged. "He's all right, really."

"And hot." Elliott whistled long and low. "You should hit that, Hummel. I'm betting he gave you a sneak peek 'cause he wants in your pants."

Kurt nudged Elliott with his hip, muttering "Shut up!"

"Admit it, Hummel, you want to tap that sweet booty!"

Kurt opened his mouth and then shut it again without saying a word, choosing to go inside and find the girls. Elliott's laughter followed him in.

An hour later, he heard someone tapping on the screen door, and hastened to open it and welcome Blaine. "Come on in, we're all in the living room."

Introductions were in order, seeing as Mark had arrived in the meantime, and he and Dani had never met Blaine before.

As before in the garden, Blaine was polite and charming, and soon had everyone talking and laughing and generally having a good time.

Kurt looked on in amazement. Was this the rude and surly guy he knew, or had an alien taken over his body?

Mark put the bags of Indian food on the dining table. "Dig in!"

There was a rush to the cutlery drawer, and then everyone stuck their noses in the food boxes and picked their favourite, munching away happily.

Blaine, to Kurt's astonishment, didn't raise his eyebrows at them eating straight out of the boxes. He did like the others, laughing as he ceded the vegetable samosas to Rachel and took the spicy chicken ones instead, and taking such a big bite that the sauce he'd dipped the samosa in dripped down his chin.

Kurt handed him a paper towel and got a big grin in thanks.

Yep. Definitely an alien.

Later that evening, they sang together. They practiced the songs for Pamela Lansbury's gig first, Blaine clapping enthusiastically after every song. Then Elliott and Blaine jammed together for a bit, coming up with a new song about a glitter vampire. It was silly, and Kurt found himself giggling along with the girls, until Elliott told him it was now his turn to sing.

Put on the spot like that, he didn't know what song to pick, and in the end, he decided to go with "I Have Nothing".

He got a nice hand of applause, except from Blaine, who stared at him in wordless wonderment for a minute or two. Then a smile slowly unfurled on his face. "That was pure magic. You gave me chills."

"Thanks. You're up next," said Kurt, and answered Rachel's griping with, "Because I say so. We've heard you sing a million times. We haven't heard Blaine."

"Yes, we have!"

Kurt shot Rachel a glare that silenced her at once. "Mr. Anderson, the floor is yours."

Blaine fiddled with his guitar for a bit, took a deep breath, and then started to sing. He'd chosen a familiar tune, the musical equivalent of pink bubble gum, but somehow it got a deeper meaning as Blaine put his whole heart and soul into his performance.

Blaine seemed to sing straight to Kurt, his eyes never wavering. When he sang "My heart stops when you look at me", it was Kurt's heart that skipped a beat, and by the end of the song, Kurt's cheeks ached from smiling so hard, and he clapped until his hands hurt.

He didn't pay much attention to anyone singing after that, gravitating towards Blaine as a matter of course and talking the rest of the night away.

In the morning, he woke up feeling sweltering hot. He wanted to throw his blankets off, but they wouldn't budge. Frowning, he opened his eyes, and as soon as they'd adapted to the morning light, he saw that there was someone sleeping on top of him, and holding onto him like a koala.

It was Blaine, his face relaxed and young in his sleep and his eyelashes impossibly long. His hair was wild. One of his curls touched the tip of his nose every time he breathed in, and it made him wrinkle his nose in the cutest way.

Kurt carefully swept the curl away, and winced when that movement made his muscles protest.

Ugh, I fell asleep on the sofa again! My back and my neck are going to hate me for the rest of the week…

He tried to extricate himself from under Blaine without waking him up, but failed. Blaine's eyes fluttered open, and he made a noise that was a protest and a question all in one.

"Sorry, I need to go pee," Kurt whispered. "Go back to sleep, it's early."

Kurt stood up and stretched, his joints popping and cracking all over the place. He found a blanket on the floor, where it must have fallen off of them, and tucked Blaine in.

Blaine pouted and made grabby hands. "Come back, please?"

Kurt found himself smiling as he tiptoed to the nearest bathroom.

When he came back, he saw that Blaine had fallen asleep again, so he shrugged and headed to the kitchen. He'd promised Rachel to make cinnamon rolls for breakfast, so he'd better get started on that. And maybe a fruit salad?

The smell of baked goods spreading through the house woke everyone faster than Kurt would have believed possible, and the first batch of rolls were grabbed and devoured before he could even apply the glaze.

"These are so good," Mark said with his mouth full, and Blaine moaned in assent and helped himself to another.

"Give it to me, there's no glaze on it yet," Kurt ordered, and quickly slathered the roll in glaze.

Blaine took a big bite. His eyes widened as he chewed, and the moan that came out of his mouth was positively pornographic.

Kurt felt the tips of his ears redden, but laughed it off with, "Even better with the glaze, right?"

"Best breakfast EVER," Blaine told him, and then put his hands together and implored, "Marry me, Kurt."

Everyone laughed.

Mark eyed both of them and then casually asked, "So… The two of you…"

"Fell asleep on the sofa, yes," Kurt sighed. "I don't think my neck will ever forgive me. Next time, please wake me up and tell me to go to bed."

He took a cinnamon roll for himself and bit off a piece, not noticing Blaine's crestfallen expression nor the meaningful glances Elliott and Mark exchanged.

"I should get going," Blaine said softly, and stood up. "I've overstayed my welcome."

Kurt looked up from his breakfast and frowned. "No, you haven't. Seriously. We've got people staying over at our place all the time. Don't worry about it. And sit back down, you haven't had any fruit salad yet. Or coffee. How will you be able to function for the rest of the day without coffee?"

Blaine laughed, but it sounded a bit off. "No, I should go. Coop might be worried if he comes home and can't find me. I never let him know I was going somewhere."

Kurt's frown deepened. "Okay. Take some rolls home with you, we've got plenty."

He quickly filled a plastic container with rolls and handed it to Blaine.

"Thank you. And thanks for inviting me."

Kurt smiled at Blaine. "We loved having you. Come over again tonight if you're still here."

Blaine hesitated. "I don't know… My brother…"

"He's welcome here too if he's got no other plans," Kurt offered.

"I… I'll pass on the message. Bye, everyone!"

"Bye, Blaine!" everyone chorused.

Kurt sat back down and continued eating. It wasn't until he started stacking plates to bring them to the sink that he noticed Blaine's second roll was still on his plate. He'd only eaten one bite of it. "Weird that he left all of a sudden, without even finishing his roll."

"Are you really that dense or do I have to spell it out for you?" Mark asked, taking a few mugs to the sink and opening the dishwasher.

"What?"

"Blaine likes you. Like-likes you. But you keep blowing hot and cold. Elliott says you were totally eye-fucking him in the garden, and then when he talked to Elliott, you were all frosty. Then last night, you were all over him after he sang to you, and you two slept together, and now at breakfast, you behave like nothing ever happened!"

Kurt spluttered. "Because nothing happened! We just talked. And then fell asleep. Why do you make it sound like I had sex with him? I didn't. We didn't even kiss. Nothing like that."

"But Blaine sure wanted to."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "You've watched too many Hallmark movies."

"Anyone can see how much he's into you. The guy has hearts in his eyes whenever he looks at you. He SERENADED you, for crying out loud."

Kurt smiled at the memory.

"And there you go again, smiling dopily like you're all gone on him too. No wonder he gets his hopes up time and again. If you're not interested, tell him so, okay?"

Mark's vehemence startled Kurt, who held up his hands in a defensive gesture and looked at his friend warily.

Mark sighed. "Sorry. It's just… I've been there. Not a fun place to be. So… Think about what I said, and do the right thing."

Mark patted Kurt on the back and walked away.

Kurt filled the dishwasher on autopilot, thinking hard. He'd disliked Blaine so much and for so long, but actually, he'd proved to be a decent guy. Plus, he was a great singer and dancer, could talk about fashion or Broadway or classic movies for hours, and was ever so handsome and charming. Yes, if Kurt let himself, he could fall head over heels for Blaine. For sure.

Why was Kurt holding back? Because he felt ashamed that he'd assumed all sorts of wrong things about Blaine? Well, then, maybe it was time he apologized in person, and let bygones be bygones. But would he get the chance to do so?

That afternoon, he found out he would. Cooper came over to invite all of them to dinner, all charm and smiles, and joined them for cocktails in the garden.

Next door, Blaine was diving and swimming again, this time around wearing a pink speedo, and Kurt excused himself and went inside before his boner became too visible. He whipped up a summer fruit pavlova to take to the Anderson's summer house that evening, and then spent the rest of the time before dinner deciding what outfit to wear.

It was with some trepidation that he entered the house, letting his friends go first. He needn't have worried about being unwelcome, though. Cooper seemed to have forgotten he wanted Kurt to stay away from his brother, and Blaine seemed happy to see Kurt, and impressed with the pavlova.

Dinner proved to be fancy barbecue, with Blaine grilling everything from rosemary and pepper steak, chili-spiced prawns, glazed pork belly to stuffed salmon and lobster with a lemon and butter sauce. Rachel wasn't forgotten, by any means. For her, he provided halloumi burgers, corn cobs, sweet potatoes, peppers and aubergines, as well as a peach mozzarella salad. Everyone ate until they were stuffed, and Kurt praised himself lucky he'd brought a light dessert, or no-one would even have tried it.

Afterwards, they all played Pictionary, laughing their heads off at the others' questionable drawing talents.

When Rachel started clamouring for karaoke, Blaine took a seat next to Kurt, and whispered, "Will you sing for us again?"

Kurt swallowed and whispered, "Maybe later. Blaine, can I talk to you for a minute?"

They walked into the garden together, and Kurt apologized as best he could, though Blaine insisted it wasn't necessary. "I said some pretty harsh things too. Now we're quits. And from now on, we'll try not to judge too fast. Deal?"

"Deal."

Inside the house, Rachel started to sing a duet with Cooper, "Hold Me".

Blaine's eyes were pools of liquid light as he held out his hand to Kurt. "May I have this dance?"

Kurt laughed and took Blaine's hand, letting himself be swept away. It was all incredibly romantic. Dancing under the stars, with a partner who made sure he didn't stumble even once, and who looked at him as if… As if…

Out of the blue, soft lips covered his for a moment, and then Blaine drew back looking anxious. "That… I… Was that okay? I should have asked."

Kurt reached out and cradled Blaine's right cheek in his palm, moving in for a kiss of his own. His lips tingled when he came up for air, and he grinned at Blaine. "More than okay."