REGULAR: usual; normal; customary. Recurring at fixed times; periodic.
Blaine started the tour with the rooms Kurt had already seen, partially because he wanted to do the tour of the whole house and partially because he wanted to buy himself some time for what could potentially happen after the tour. He knew he wanted anything and everything with Kurt. And yet, he was nervous.
"Blaine, what's wrong?" Kurt asked. The other man had been standing at the closed refrigerator door for a few minutes, and his breath was speeding up ever so slightly.
"I honestly don't know," Blaine said. "It's like something inside of me is wanting to put this off, and I can't, for the life of me, figure out why."
"Do you want to go sit and we can try to figure it out together?" Kurt offered.
"Yeah. I think that would actually be good," Blaine replied. "I don't like this feeling I'm having, and I don't want to shove it down until it festers and who knows what when it gets to be too big."
"Inside or outside?" Kurt asked, not knowing why it was important to ask, just knowing it was.
"Outside, I think. In the back. There is some nice shade and maybe the air will help?"
Kurt nodded and laced his fingers through Blaine's, letting the other man lead the way outside.
Blaine looked around at his options for seating and chose to put the umbrella up over the two loungers. Once that was done and they were settled beside each other, Blaine faced Kurt, leaning on his side.
"I think I'm nervous about going further with you," Blaine said. "Not in a 'you're pushing me way' or anything like that. Because you're not. I know that whatever we decide to do will be at our pace. Maybe… Maybe it's that I'm afraid I won't live up to the Blaine in your other lifetime? I think… Yeah. I think that's part of it for sure. You two were together for so long, and you learned everything about sex from him. So, what if I don't do things like he did and you hate sex with me and keep wishing you could be with him again?"
"Blaine, take a breath for me, please?" Kurt interrupted. "I hear you. I hear your concerns, and they are valid. As wonderful as it sounds to not compare the two of you, it's honestly not possible. Our nature as people dictates that we compare things that we know to things we don't know and make decisions from that. There are similarities between the two of you. And I love them. Your differences, at least the differences I've discovered, make me feel like the luckiest person in any universe or reality or lifetime because not only did I get to experience him, I get to experience all of that with you, too. Blaine… How many people get to say that they got to fall in love with the person meant for them across all realities twice? That's how I see us and any future Blaine I get the privilege and honor to meet."
"I love you," Blaine choked out with tears coming down his face. "I love that way of looking at our situation. And… If there are other Blaines out there, getting the privilege and honor to meet multiple Kurts, I hope they have the same outlook as you do. I guess, in a way, it's all about perspective, isn't it? We get to choose how we look at each and every situation we are in."
"I'd like to think so," Kurt agreed. "Otherwise, we're going to go crazy with questions and what-ifs, and we'll be worrying more than living."
"Is this going to be a regular thing for us?" Blaine asked. "One of us melting down and the other helping to put them back together?"
"I think for a little bit, it might be," Kurt said, not wanting to lie or give false hope to Blaine. "This is new, and we haven't even known each other for 24 hours in this lifetime. It's going to be a learning curve… And, I'm more than up for the challenge."
"I am, too," Blaine agreed and leaned forward to kiss Kurt's lips. When they parted, Blaine asked, "So, we'll keep talking and figuring things out as we go?"
Kurt nodded. "I think that's the only thing we can do and live this life to the fullest."
"Okay," Blaine whispered and kissed Kurt again, this time for longer. After a few minutes of lazy kissing, Blaine asked, "Are you ready for the tour then?"
"I'm ready whenever you are," Kurt answered. "And if that's not for another 10 minutes or an hour or 3 days, that's fine. It's completely and totally up to you. I want you to know, Blaine, that even though we were joking earlier, I don't expect anything to happen at the end of this tour. Please tell me you know that."
"I do," Blaine said with a smile and got up off of the lounger. "I know, and I think we'll just see where this leads us, besides around the house."
"Goof," Kurt said, loving Blaine's humor already.
"Okay. So, we'll start out here, since this is where we are. The bigger part over there is the pool, and it is typically pretty warm since it's warm here year-round. The smaller part over here next to us is a hot tub. Because of water displacement, some of the water in the hot tub flows into the pool when someone is in it. There's a little path down to the beach from the deck, too, and an outdoor shower over there," he said, pointing behind them.
"Do I see hammocks down by the water?" Kurt asked, squinting from the sun overhead down toward the beach.
"You do," Blaine said and wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist. "I can picture us laying down there at night, listening to the waves and looking at the stars. I haven't been here for a meteor shower yet. I've heard they're amazing though."
"Almost like you're falling upward to the sky?" Kurt asked.
"How'd you know?"
"When I was younger, before my dad died, he and my mom took me out into a field, and we watched one one night. It was magical, and I just remember feeling like I was falling upward to the sky. They held my hands, one on each side, to help me feel safe. And then, in my last lifetime, we watched one then, too."
"Music and stars," Blaine commented. "I wonder how many things we can do that are the same without you telling me before hand?"
"We have plenty of time to find out," Kurt said and kissed Blaine's temple.
The pair went back inside. Blaine showed Kurt the rest of the first floor that he hadn't seen, which included the exercise room, utility room, and storage space on this floor.
They then ventured upstairs. There were four bedrooms upstairs, one of them originally intended for a maid, though since Blaine didn't live there full time, it was simply just another bedroom. Blaine showed Kurt his office, too, which was gorgeously decorated.
"When you were here before—in your last lifetime, I mean—what did you do to pass your time?" Blaine asked.
"I wrote," Kurt said with a smile. "I wrote down my story, and it became really popular. Not only that, I also wrote stories from my world since they were so different from this one."
"You must have been famous… Though, didn't you say you were in hiding? How did that work?"
"I wrote under a pen name, and Blaine's manager handled everything for me," Kurt said, and when Blaine looked confused, he elaborated. "Blaine, in that world, composed music. So, he had a publicist and manager that he worked with and trusted. They never asked too many questions after the first round of me telling them, 'No, I am not going to go on tour.' It was difficult for them to accept, though after we both threatened to go elsewhere, they realized we weren't messing around and did what we asked."
"Wow," Blaine said awestruck. "That's amazing! How about this, then? You can have what was the maid's quarters as your own space. My office has everything in it your space would—besides a kitchen—and that way, if we ever needed to simply be, we could go to our spaces and have that quiet time."
"I'd love that," Kurt said. "Can I make a caveat to that?" Blaine nodded, so Kurt continued. "If we want to be left alone, we close the door and set a timer for no longer than two hours. After that timer goes off, if we still need more time, we let the other one know—however that might be, since I don't have a phone—that we need more time. We don't ever shut the other out. And if the door is open, we are free to come in and be in the other's space with them."
"I love that idea, and I'll make sure, when Cooper comes, that he brings a phone for you on my plan," Blaine said, typing a note on his phone to remind him to call his brother later to take care of that.
"I really like the idea of us having our own space in the house while we're on the island," Kurt continued. "I hope that we can always talk about anything that is bothering us, and I know that sometimes, for whatever reason, that might not be possible. So, if we have our own spaces with those parameters put in place, we won't ever feel the need to escape the house and go off on our own. I don't know this island yet, and I'd be terrified if you got upset with me and just left. I wouldn't know the first place to look for you."
Blaine very quickly embraced Kurt, hoping to quell his nerves. "Never," he whispered into Kurt's neck. "I'll never run away from you. That is a promise. If I need to go to my office by myself, I'll tell you that. And since we've had this talk, you'll know that it means I need some space."
Kurt nodded his head and took some breaths to help stop the tears in his eyes. He hadn't known that was a fear of his until he voiced it, and now, he was glad it was out there instead of hiding inside his heart.
The two stood there for several minutes, simply embracing each other. Eventually, Blaine started singing a song, and the two danced to it.
Only you can make all this world seem right
Only you can make the darkness bright
Only you and you alone
Can thrill me like you do
And fill my heart with love for only you
Kurt's breath caught in his chest. There is no way Blaine could know the significance of this song. And yet, there he was, serenading him in the most tender and beautiful way.
Only you can make all this change in me
For it's true, you are my destiny
When you hold my hand
I understand the magic that you do
You're my dream come true
My one and only you
With tears dripping down his cheeks, Kurt joined in as best as he could for the rest of the song.
Only you can make all this change in me
For it's true, you are my destiny
When you hold my hand
I understand the magic that you do
You're my dream come true
My one and only you
One and only you
They looked into each other's eyes, and before either of them knew it, their lips were touching. Their souls fused a little more with that kiss, and Kurt was so overcome with this moment and the love he had for Blaine that he didn't think about what had happened the last time he'd sung that song. Everything that mattered in this world and any other was this moment right now, with the man in front of him.
A/N: The song used was another one from Nine, "Only You" by The Platters.