Author's Note: I'm about to introduce some OC's, so hopefully you like them or at least don't hate them too much. If you don't know what grits are, I recommend you try them. And I realize that shallowness is not the reason that the Atlantic Ocean is warmer than the Pacific, but I'm not sure if Blaine would know that and it's not really important to the story.

The next day dawned bright and sunny. Blaine's mom cooked them a breakfast of what looked like vaguely yellow sludge.

"Um… what is this?" Kurt asked, watching it slide off his fork.

"Grits! Try it," she said.

Kurt put it in his mouth and swallowed. "It's good," he said, surprised. The grits were hot and had a similar texture to porridge, but they tasted like cheese.

"Thank you," she said, smiling.

Blaine, who had been watching Kurt doubtfully, tried a mouthful. "You're right. It is good."

"Where did you learn to cook this?"

"It's one of those charming Southern dishes they have here. Someone gave me the recipe, so I decided to try it."

Blaine's mom actually seemed pretty nice. Kurt smiled at her, but the smile slid off his face at Blaine's next words.

"So, we're going swimming after breakfast, right?"

"Swimming?"

"Yes. That is what you do at the beach, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Okay. We'll go swimming."

Kurt finished his bowl of grits. Up in his room, he slid on his swimming trunks and slathered on ridiculous amounts of sunscreen, cursing his fair skin. He looked at himself in the mirror, hoping Blaine wouldn't be too disappointed.

Blaine met Kurt at the back door of the house. "Are you coming, Mom?"

"No, I'm fine. You two go on ahead."

"See you later."

Blaine tried not to stare at Kurt's bare chest, but he was just so beautiful. His skin was light and flawless, except for a few freckles on his shoulders.

Kurt looked away, embarrassed. "Sorry I'm so…" he gestured to his stomach.

"What are you talking about?" Blaine asked. "You look amazing."

"Thanks."

They ran into the waves, hopping on the burning sand.

"Wow. The water's actually pretty warm," Kurt said.

"Yeah, I've heard that the Atlantic is warmer than the Pacific. It's shallower, I guess."

"Well, I wouldn't know. I've never been to either before."

"Really? Never?"

"Nope. My parents never had enough money."

"You poor, deprived child," Blaine said sympathetically. "Well, we'll just have to spend as much time on the beach as possible."

They swam for a while, then sunbathed on their towels, basking in the sun.

"Hi! What are your names?"

Kurt opened his eyes to see a blonde girl standing over him. Why was she talking to them?

"I'm Blaine, and this is Kurt," Blaine introduced them. "You?"

"I'm Katie, and over there are my cousins." She pointed to some teenagers a little down the beach.

"You guys looked a little lonely, and I was wondering if you wanted to come hang out with us."

Kurt opened his mouth to say no, but Blaine got there first. "Sure!"

Kurt got up reluctantly, and the girl led them over to her group.

"Hey guys, this is Kurt and Blaine."

The others smiled at them and said hi.

"Kurt, Blaine, this is my little sister, Anna," she gestured to a skinny girl with curly brown hair, "Ellie," another girl with brown hair, "Harry," a boy with blond hair, "and James," a rather cute brown haired guy. They all looked around Kurt and Blaine's age. "We have a lot of other cousins who are here too, but they're all younger," she explained. She had an unusual accent.

"Are you Australian?" Kurt asked.

"No." She looked a little annoyed. "I live in New Zealand."

"I thought that was part of Australia."

"It's not," she said shortly. "Different countries."

"Sorry," Kurt said.

"It's okay," she smiled. "I just get that a lot, and it can get annoying after a while."

Kurt and Blaine spread out their towels next to the others.

"So you're here visiting family?" Blaine asked.

Anna spoke up. "Yeah, but it's nice to be home."

Kurt was confused. "I thought you were from New Zealand?"

"We are. We moved there a few years ago, but we grew up here."

"Oh. How long are you here?" Kurt asked.

"We're in the States for a month, but we're staying at the beach for two weeks. We've been here a couple days already," Katie said.

They seemed friendly, but Kurt was disappointed that he couldn't spend more time with Blaine. Still, it was cool to meet people from the other side of the world.

Blaine was talking to them animatedly, and they already seemed charmed by him. Just like everyone is, Kurt thought.

Kurt watched him, admiring his tanned skin and the slight ripple of muscles in his arms. Blaine's hair was curly, free from the normally copious amounts of gel he put into it, and it made him look even sexier than usual.

Bad Kurt. Stop checking out your boyfriend in front of the potentially unfriendly strangers.

Blaine looked over at him and dazzled him with a wide smile.

So much for that, thought Kurt. He smiled back, then looked away.

He noticed that Katie's eyes were lingering on Blaine's chest. She was checking him out too! But they don't know that we're together, he reminded himself. Can I say anything? Or is it better to keep quiet? he wondered.

Blaine had no such concerns. He put his arm around Kurt and pulled him close.

"Oh! Are you two together?" Katie asked.

Blaine kissed him on the cheek. "Mmhmm," he said, smiling happily.

"You make a cute couple," she said.

The others agreed, but the blond boy looked a little uncomfortable. He didn't say anything, though.

"How long have you been going out?" Ellie asked.

"A couple of months now. We went to prom together."

"That's so cool!" Anna exclaimed. "I wish I could find a girl who'd go out with me."

"Are you gay too?" Kurt asked, surprised.

"I'm bi," she replied.

Maybe they would get along better than Kurt had thought.

"I didn't know that!" Harry said, looking at her in shock.

Anna shrugged. "I only figured it out recently," she said. "And I haven't seen you guys for a couple of years, so it wasn't exactly the first thing I was going to say."

"Still…" Harry said. "You could have told us."

"Katie already knows."

"She told me months ago," Katie added.

"I guess things have changed a bit since I last saw you," Ellie said.

"I guess so," the other girls agreed.

"Any other earth-shattering revelations we should get out of the way?" Anna asked the others.

"I don't think so," they replied.

Kurt leaned against Blaine contentedly. He found that he was glad Katie had invited them to join their group. They'd have some people to hang out with and and excuse not to see Blaine's dad.

He kept quiet mostly, letting Blaine do the talking. It was nice to sit here in the sun, arm around his gorgeous boyfriend, with people who seemed to completely accept them. "Do you know what time we have to go back?" he asked Blaine.

"Mom said we could stay out all day."

"Yay!"