Kurt sat up straight when the blaring sound reached his ears. It was a fire alarm. He grabbed his sweatshirt and walked hurridly out of his room. He had to think for a minute about where he was. He decided that he shouldn't walk through the office. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he walked through a classroom and back into the kitchen.
By the time he was in the kitchen the fire alarm had stopped. He put on his sweatshirt and stared at the mess in front of him.
Standing on a step stool in front of the stove was Amelia, trying to make pancakes and sadly failing. The pancakes were almost black, and the pan had started to smoke. At least she has the sense to remove it from the heat. At the sink there was a little boy covered in suds as he cleaned the dishes. Then, Kurt saw Blaine, wearing only a pair of flannel blue pajama pants and chef's hat, run through the halls with a little boy and girl on his back, holding on for life. Blaine's strong muscles flexed as he came to stop in front of Kurt.
"Good morning!" he exhaled loudly. "Do you like pancakes?" All the children burst out laughing. Kurt smiled widely, and the two children slid off of Blaine and ran into the kitchen.
Kurt took his thumb and swiped across Blaine's chin to show Blaine the overwhelming amount of flour on his face.
Blaine just smiled widely. "Are you ready for your interview, Kurt?"
Kurt took a deep breath. He needed this job. "Yeah. Where to do we begin?"
"Well we'll start-" Blaine paused, "Hold on. Attention students! Lexi, go shower. Amelia, put the dishes in the sink and head out to assess storm damage. Toby and Michael, I want you cleaning the bunks and feeding the animals. Go! Go!" Blaine shooed children away. "Anyway, Kurt, you have a few tests you need to pass before you can start working here. I'm pretty sure you're gonna get the job, though," Blaine winked.
He grabbed Kurt's hand and pulled him into the mudroom. He took one look at Kurt's shoes and jacket and shuddered. "Those won't do," he said under his breath. "What size shoe do you wear, Kurt?"
"An eleven, why?" Kurt asked, eyebrows raised.
Blaine grinned and went into the closet and grabbed a pair of bright green rubber boots.
"You're the same size as me. I'm pretty short, but I've got tall people feet!" Blaine wiggled his toes at Kurt before putting on the dirty pair of old blue boots and handing Kurt the green ones. "Put those on." He grabbed two brown coats from the closet and handed one to Kurt. "And this."
Once they were both dressed, Blaine led the way outside. The walked to the bunkhouses located across from the beach. One said "girls" on top and the other said "boys".
"First, we must see if the kids have kept their rooms clean. Do you want to check boys or girls?" Blaine said.
"Girls," Kurt said quickly. "Boys tend to be messier."
Blaine winked. "Fair enough. Check for made beds, clean tables, and clothes put away." Blaine instructed before walking towards the boys cabin.
Kurt took this as his cue to go to work. He walked into the girls cabin and was surprised by how neat it actually was. Both beds had purple sheets and blue pillows. The table had three chairs around it and a vase of flowers on top. In the corner, there was a small keyboard and guitar. All the clothes were tucked into the dresser neatly except Amelia's coat from the night before which was hung and hanging on a hook.
Satisfied with the tidiness of the bunkhouse, Kurt left and went over to the boy's house to find Blaine. Inside the boys bunkhouse, it was almost as clean as the girls, except there was laundry on the floor and the beds were poorly made. Blaine was instructing the boys on how to finish tidying, so Kurt stood in the doorway and waited.
When Blaine finished, he walked to the door and met Kurt with a grin. He grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the flower garden and the vegetable garden.
"Your next task is to weed the gardens." Blaine plopped down on the grass in front of Kurt so he was on his knees.
Kurt gulped. "I'll help, of course." Kurt dropped to the grass the same way Blaine did. The two ended up very close, face to face. Kurt had an extreme want to just kiss Blaine, but he knew he couldn't blow this.
"This shouldn't be too hard. My mom and I used to weed her garden together." Kurt said, deciding he could allow Blaine to know one of his demons.
"Really? I never did any stuff like that. I bet it built a great relationship. Do you still talk to her?" Blaine asked quietly. Kurt could tell his parental relationships had been unstable.
"It did build a good relationship. A good, short lived relationship. She died when I was nine. Cancer."
"I'm sorry," Blaine muttered. "Is that when it started?"
Kurt sighed and closed his eyes. "Sort of. Not the cutting, but the depression." Kurt contemplated telling him more. "I was bullied a lot, too. They called me a fairy princess. That wasn't so bad, though. Some things were...worse." Kurt felt a lump begin to form in his throat.
"Kurt..." Blaine whispered softly.
"Can we stop talking about this please?" Kurt said quickly in a barely audible voice. "I'm not ready to tell you," Kurt quietly laughed, "I just met you."
"I know we just met, but I do want you to know that you can trust me, Kurt." Blaine whispered. He slipped his hand over Kurt's in the cold dirt of the garden. Kurt could feel the tears welling in his eyes.
"I think we're finished-with the garden." Kurt cleared his throat and stood up. He wiped his hands on his jeans and backed away from Blaine. Blaine stood up as well.
"I guess you're right. Ready for the next test?" Blaine tried to catch Kurt's eyes, but he was looking at the ground. "We're going to tend to the animals. Specifically, you're going to milk a cow."
Kurt looked at Blaine, baffled. "Oh no I'm not. If you want me to cook, fine. I can clean. I'll even teach the kids, seeing as that's what I'm interviewing for. But I'm not milking a damn cow."
Blaine smiled and nodded in the direction of the barn. "Follow me, Kurt."
Kurt slowing started following Blaine, albeit a little aprehensive. As the two entered the barn, Kurt was amazing at just how campy the whole thing was. There were a few horses, one goat, and two cows.
"I guess you could milk the goat if you want. She's a kicker, though. And she'll chew on your clothes." Blaine said, his voice echoing around the spacious barn. The walls were wooden and the stables were poorly painted, probably by the children. The saddles and the bits were hung on the walls neatly.
"I'll milk the cow. How? Can you-show me how?" Kurt was still avoiding eye contact with Blaine.
"Sure, give me your hand. I'll show you how. It's pretty easy." Blaine led Kurt over to the first cow. "This one's name is Jess. She's very nice. Jess, meet Kurt. He's going to be spending a lot of time with us, I think." Blaine paused and finally caught Kurt's eyes. "Okay, Kurt. So it's pretty easy. You just wrap your hand around the teet, and squeeze. Put one finger down at a time, and be gentle." Blaine showed Kurt once.
"Alright, I got it. Thanks." Kurt pushed Blaine aside with his hip and started to milk the cow. "How am I doing so far?" Kurt asked as he filled the bucket under the cow.
"Amazingly," Blaine murmured under his breath. He cleared his throat, "Good job, Kurt. Keep going until the stream idea down. I'm going to do the other two and the goat."
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Once Kurt and Blaine had finished with the animals, it was already noon.
"Lunchtime," Blaine sighed as he and Kurt walked back to the house. "It's time for your final test. You have to make lunch for me and the kids. Part of the reason I was looking to hire some help is that it's hard running a school by myself. It's like being a single parent. I needed a partner to help me out."
Kurt stopped and looked at Blaine with wide eyes.
"No! No, not that kind of partner. Well, at least, not yet. I need to make sure that these kids are taken care of first. I really worry about Amelia sometimes. She's all I have left." Blaine looked at the ground and the two continued walking.
"She seems perfect to me, Blaine. She's a lot like you, from what I can tell. She's got your eyes." Kurt was glad that Blaine was looking at the ground instead of his flushed face. "I wouldn't worry too much."
Blaine reached beside him and took Kurt's hand into his own. Kurt squeezed it to reassure Blaine that everything would be okay.
"I would love to work here. I was a little afraid at first, you know, it's the middle of nowhere. But it is truly beautiful here." Kurt paused, "So, what's for lunch?"
Just then, all fours kids ran up to Kurt and Blaine. The two quickly separated their hands to avoid awkward conversations with the kids. Amelia, Michael, Lexi, and Toby had finished their chores and wanted to eat lunch.
"I want pizza!" Amelia shouted.
"I want salad." argued Toby.
"Chicken nuggets for me." said Lexi.
"Let's have pasta!" Michael suggested.
"I have an idea," Kurt called out above all the bickering children. "Why don't we have hotdogs on the beach?" All the kids looked at him with awe.
"That sounds marvelous." Blaine said, looking at the children and then Kurt. "How can we help you prepare it?"