Kurt stood in a local diner, balancing a tray of coffee on his forearms while Wes waited for their breakfast orders. He sighed and bit his bottom lip to suppress a giddy smile. When he and Blaine had returned from the other end of the beach, David and Wes had taken it upon themselves to split them up. Of course, Kurt wasn't thrilled with that idea but he really needed coffee and Wes was already dragging him towards a diner so he tried not to argue. Now he was handling hot beverages whilst daydreaming about his absolutely perfect morning and wasn't sure if Blaine had ever looked as wonderful as he had hung over. He made a note to himself to bury Blaine's hair products in the sand before they left.

He was nudged back to reality, "Whoa, Kurt, stop grinning. I'm supposed to be consoling you. Why are you so–" Wes glared at Kurt, "You guys are totally together. Of course it takes one of Blaine's drunken escapades to fan the fire of true love. So? Come on, details!" They moved to a vacant table and Kurt whispered, unsure whether he actually wanted to share anything with Wes at all,

"He sang to me, we talked, he wouldn't shut up - so I kissed him. Then we kissed some more... All before seven in the morning." Kurt blushed, remembering how it had felt to have Blaine's hands on his hips, firmly pulling him onto his lap.

Wes brushed a hand over Kurt's shoulders, "Man, you're absolutely covered in sand. Please tell me you didn't–"

"Oh my God we did not!" Kurt whispered harshly. "Having just kissed for the first time, both our hearts were racing a little and he may have forgotten to breathe. He kind of jumped up while I was still on his lap and I landed on the sand okay? As long as there's no vomit on me I couldn't care less."

A waitress waved Wes over to the counter and handed him a bag full of foam take-away containers. He turned back to Kurt, who was walking towards the door,

"So, you guys are all good? We're not going to have to separate you?"

Kurt rolled his eyes, pushing the door to the cafe open with his hip, "Wes, we aren't children. I forgave Blaine for last night. Sure, I really didn't want to see him writhing around on a beach with some strange boy's tongue down his throat, but I ended up with my man and we never have to see Alex again."

He continued balanced the tray of coffee on his forearms, and walked down the street alongside Wes. They were almost back to the beach when a passer by's arm collided with the tray of coffee and slammed it into Kurt's chest. To Wes, Kurt didn't seem all that bothered by the warm beverages dripping down his front as he gathered the now empty cups from the pavement.

"Man, you okay?"

"I'm fine," Kurt smiled half-heartedly, "I think I prefer coffee to slushies actually."

He turned and threw the cups in the bin, glancing down the street to find whoever had attempted to ruin his perfect morning. Seeing only a mailman wandering towards them, Kurt looked down and swatted Wes' hand away from his chest where he was dabbing his sweater with a napkin,

"I am a stain removing prodigy and this will not ruin my morning." He tugged at the hem of his sweater, pulling it over his head, "Though if I can't fix it I'll probably cry so have some tissues and ice cream on standby."

ooo

Kurt couldn't wait until breakfast was over. He sat at the camp table Darien had set up and listened to David excitedly ramble on about driving down to Chicago. Across from him, Blaine was poking at his pancakes with disinterest.

"You okay Blaine?" Darien said as he glanced at Kurt and winked.

Blaine rubbed his eyes and yawned, the cool ocean breeze ruffling his luscious curls. Kurt found himself lost in observing Blaine's ragged appearance; much the opposite of his usual groomed exterior. He let a tiny sigh escape his lips as he imagined waking up next to Blaine, his hair messy and his clothes rumpled –

"Yo Kurt, when you're done daydreaming, we're going for a swim." David said, waving his hand in front of Kurt's face.

Kurt jumped in his seat a little, eliciting a sleepy smile from Blaine, "Go ahead, I'm going to find a laundromat so I can get the stains out of my lucky sweater. I'll bring back some more coffee when I'm done."

He folded his sweater across his forearm and headed back to the main street. It was only a short walk and Kurt could remember seeing a laundromat on his way to the diner with Wes earlier, so he wandered along at a leisurely pace, singing into the wind,

Maybe I need some rehab

Or maybe just need some sleep

I've got a sick obsession

I'm seeing it in my dreams

I'm looking down every alley

I'm making those desperate calls

I'm staying up all night hoping

Hitting my head against the wall

A woman walking her dog smiled politely as Kurt skipped past her, singing louder,

What you got boy is hard to find

I think about it all the time

I'm all strung out

My heart is fried

I just can't get you off my mind

As he came up to the tiny laundromat, Kurt found himself alone and continued to sing as he busied himself with cleaning his sweater. He set the machine to wash and swished around the room, feeling like he was living in his very own musical.

Because your love, your love, your love is my drug

Your love, your love, your love –

Kurt hated it when everything happened in slow motion. Only bad things ever happened to him in slow motion. He didn't think anything bad could follow him from Lima; but here he was, shoved against the wall with his hands shielding his face. It had been months since he'd been even remotely close to bullied, but his instincts to defend himself flooded back like he had never left McKinley.

He peered past his forearms, not really sure what to expect. As he collected his thoughts, he found himself almost relieved that it wasn't Karofsky standing in front of him. Alex gave Finn a run for his money in the height department though, towering over Kurt. Clearly he was pissed off, still drunk, and wanted to take his anger out on Kurt. He stared at Kurt like a lion sizing up its prey and grinned cockily,

"Now that you don't have any of your bodyguards around, you want to really get to know me?"

Kurt held his head high, "Do you have a problem? Because if you're just bitter about me not letting you take advantage of Blaine, you really need to grow up. And while you're at it, you might want to sober up before you do something really stupid."

Having learned to be nimble around those wielding slushies at McKinley, Kurt slipped past Alex and paused just long enough to realise that he felt more afraid than he had in a long, long time. He jogged down the street to the cafe he'd been at that morning and took a seat in the back corner. A few deep breaths and calming thoughts later, Kurt fumbled his phone out of his pocket and dialled Darien's number. After what sounded like eons of ringing, his friend picked up,

"I told you Kurt; two sugars and no milk."

"This is a little more important than coffee." After hearing Darien tell the others to shut up, Kurt continued quietly, "Alex followed me into the laundromat. I don't think he stopped drinking after we left... I'm assuming he's mad at me for not letting him practically rape Blaine last night –"

"Where are you?"

"Hiding in the diner. Please don't tell –" Kurt groaned as he heard Blaine demand the phone from Darien,

"Kurt, what's wrong?"

He sighed and slipped into his sickly sweet I'm-not-fine-but-I-won't-admit-it tone, "Don't get so worked up, it'll only make your headache worse. I just rang to see if you guys wanted food since you're all normally begging for a second breakfast back at Dalton. I swear you're all distantly related to Hobbits. Though carrying the coffee is going to be hard enough with these useless stumps for hands, so on second thoughts, if you want food you're going to have to get it yourself."

Before Blaine could catch the nervous waver in his voice, Kurt hung up on his boyfriend (honestly, he just loved saying it) and rested his forehead on the table with a groan. Couldn't something, anything, go smoothly when he was involved?

ooo

Every time the bell on the door of the cafe chimed, Kurt jumped a little in his seat. When a shadow fell across him, he nearly choked on his heart. Thankfully he peeked up and recognised the golden mane standing before him,

He raised a hand to his lips dramatically, attempting to lighten the mood, "Oh Aslan, you gave me a heart attack!"

"Shut up Tumnus and tell me what the hell happened." Darien sat across from Kurt and looked far from amused.

He pulled at a loose thread on his bandages and frowned, "You know, maybe I overreacted. It's just been so long since I've had anyone push me around and I wasn't exactly expecting it..."

Darien shook his head, picking up the tray of coffee from the table and tilting his head towards the door, "Come on, let's pick up your sweater and get back to camp. Blaine's pretty keen to get out of here. And I promise that if I see that dickbag Alex, I will welcome him to Darien's Snack Shack. Chef's special; knuckle sandwiches."

"Let's just get out of here. This is supposed to be the best summer ever, but it's started off with more drama than a day at McKinley. I am so not equipped for that anymore."

They popped back to the laundromat to collect Kurt's damp, but stain-free sweater, then began to head back towards the beach. Kurt was part way through a complaint about the unnecessary strength of the sunlight when Darien's ringtone interrupted him. As Darien conversed with whoever had called him, Kurt muttered,

"Who in their right mind would have that as their ringtone? It's terribly harsh on the ears for one. Secondly–"

"Don't speak about Metallica like that. They are gods of rock! Do you hear me whinging about your ridiculous "Classic Pop, aka: Play When I Want to have Vocal Sex with Blaine" mix?" Darien turned back to his phone and cringed, "Yes, I'm still here. Can't you handle it on your own for a few minutes? Kurt and I are on our way. No, I don't think leaving Kurt in town is a good idea. Because Blaine is his boyfriend and I'm sure he'd like to be there when he inevitably works himself into a hyperventilating mess."

Darien shoved his phone back into his pocket and pressed his temple in frustration, "I'm surrounded by idiots."

"Now who's quoting The Lion King, hmm?" Kurt chuckled as he nudged an elbow into Darien's side playfully. "What's Blaine done? He didn't try to start a fire did he?"

The two Kombi vans came into sight, but more importantly Blaine came into earshot, "I don't understand what his problem is. I told him I'm with Kurt and he goes and threatens me! I don't even remember kissing him, but apparently that's a binding contract around here!"

Kurt slipped a hand into Blaine's and squeezed his fingers gently, hoping the contact would calm him down a little. They opened the side door of their van and sat down, Blaine staring pensively out to sea while Kurt selfishly reached up with his free hand and ran his fingers through the curls behind Blaine's ear. When he could bring himself to tear his eyes away from his boyfriend, Kurt realised that David, Wes and Darien were now passing a football between themselves on the beach. Taking the rare moment of complete privacy, Kurt broke the silence,

"He came to talk to you too? I know you don't really recall much about last night, but do you remember why you started drinking with him in the first place? Something must have convinced you against your judgement, because you're the master of rational thinking."

Blaine pulled Kurt's hand between both of his and brushed a finger ever so tenderly over his bandaged palm, still feeling visibly guilty for his injuries. He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and concentrated on his feet,

"I remember watching you and Darien disappear and thinking that you were mad at me–" Kurt's attempt at keeping his expression neutral failed, and Blaine laughed, "Every time you want to talk about me you go to Darien, what else was I supposed to think?"

Kurt rolled his eyes with a smirk, "Oh I don't know. Maybe that we were going to collect firewood and I had no choice in the matter."

"Oh, well that's error number one on my part." Blaine snickered to himself, "I can't believe I thought drinking would be solution to my insecurity. At first we were standing on the edge of the crowd, but that Nate guy spotted us and decided we needed to be introduced to everyone. He wouldn't stop asking about Darien and when David explained that he was definitely straight he said something about needing to mend his broken heart and offered us more drinks. When you'd been gone for more than a while I was going to look for you, but people kept handing me fresh drinks. It was stupid to accept them, I know. I'll remember that for next time. You know, I don't even remember seeing Alex. He only kissed me right? We didn't–"

Kurt leaned into Blaine's shoulder, "You're safe, no need to audition for Teen Mom."

"Oh thank God." He turned to look straight into Kurt's eyes and pleaded, "I really am sorry."

God, Kurt couldn't put into words how badly he wanted to kiss Blaine at that moment. It would be an appropriate way to tell Blaine he accepted his apology right? All he had to do was lean up a little... But he missed his chance and Blaine turned his head to stare out to sea.

Kurt sighed and shifted himself until he was sitting with his back against the door frame, his legs stretched out along the floor of the van behind Blaine. He stroked his thumb across the back of Blaine's hand, ignoring the stinging pain in his palm and closed his eyes. The gentle ocean breeze fluttered across his face, the sound of Blaine singing joined that of the gulls and his friends on the beach. Kurt tried incredibly hard not to smile stupidly, but he could feel Blaine moving to sit between his legs and almost burst into inappropriate laughter at the perfection of the moment. He had to force himself to keep his eyes closed as Blaine rested his head on his chest and pulled his arms around his waist.

In the middle of summer,

All was golden in the sky.

All was golden when the day met the night.

Summer, all was golden in the sky.

All was golden when the day met the night.

So he said, "Would it be alright

If we just sat and talked for a little while?

If in exchange for your time

I give you this smile?"

Lulled into a state of semi-consciousness by Blaine's voice, Kurt wasn't sure if the pressure on his lips was real or a figment of his imagination. He found himself kissing back and was discovered that he most certainly wasn't dreaming. Blaine's hands snaked into his hair, disregarding the unspoken rule that it was out of bounds to the touch of mere mortals. Pulling away, Kurt sang so quietly only Blaine was close enough to hear,

So he said, "That's okay

As long as you can make a promise

Not to break my little heart

Or leave me all alone in the summer"

Having Blaine so ridiculously close was making Kurt giddy. He could feel his cheeks burning, but to his relief realised that Blaine's were just as flushed. They remained curled up together as Blaine started to sing again.

Well he was just hanging around

Then he fell in love

And he didn't know how

But he couldn't get out.

Just hanging around

Then he fell in love.

ooo

Nothing could have ruined the absolute high Kurt was feeling, not even the sight of Nate approaching them. Blaine let his head fall back against Kurt's shoulder with an audibly frustrated sigh as Nate waved to them. He kicked absentmindedly at the layer of sand coating the parking lot,

"I just came to apologise for Alex's stupidity. You probably won't believe me, but he's normally pretty chill... I guess he just drank too much."

Blaine, suddenly caring much less about the matter shrugged, "We all do pretty stupid things when we're drunk. I know I've done worse."

Worse than getting someone drunk with the clear intention of taking advantage of them? What could be worse than that? Kurt would remember to ask about that later. There was still a whole lot he didn't know about Blaine's life before they met, and this just gave him even more incentive to push the subject. For now though, he was content to sit quietly and memorise the contours of Blaine's body.

Songs featured in this chapter: Your Love Is My Drug – Kesha, When the Day Met the Night – Panic! At The Disco