Childhood: Warmth

The sand was darker and thicker than usual because of the day before; the rain was definitely gone but its moist presence was still hovering over the town.

The sandbox was, also, the freshest place to be –the shade under the tall oak being the first one in the list- something Blaine was grateful for, since that morning the weather was pretty hot. Being mid November already, the chilly wind had grown to blow defiantly and reach every corner, yet some days the sun was more adamant. Just like today.

Blaine continued to play the same game he had the day before, bored to the core: how long was he supposed to dig the shovel in and then lift a million of fawn grains, just to let them fall next to his feet? He glanced over at his friends who were having fun without him, near said tree, running after each other. How Blaine wished he could do the same. Why couldn't he, though? Why did they have to be so angry at him? What had he done wrong? Nothing!

He got off on his feet and sprinted towards them, a hesitant smile already plastered on his face. He joined the children running in circles and laughed out loud, just like he had been doing two days ago. But then, almost everybody was silent and his squeaking laughter resonated in the playground. He came to a halt and noticed everyone staring at him.

"Hey, why are you playing with us?" a hardly developed voice demanded, walking to him. Blaine idly stood there, the ghost of the grin vanishing into a silent pout. "Who invited you to play with us?" the kid, that was slightly taller than him, repeated as he walked closer with three other boys who pranced behind. Blaine rubbed the palm of his hands up and down his trousers lightly and avoided the glower of the boys in front of him. "Did we say you could come and play with us?" Blaine was still waiting to see what happened, without intervening. "Get out of our playground, Blaine!" the little kid shoved him and Blaine almost tripped on the grainy floor. As the group forged, he stumbled backwards, trying not to fall.

"It's not yours," he mumbled and they stopped in perplexity. "It's not your playground!" he raised his voice. "And… it wasn't my fault…" he lowered again, his last words, drowned by the impish children.

"We don't want you to play with us, no one wants to be your friend anymore, Blaine!" he continued to preach as few of the kids behind him nodded with suspicious frowns. "No one likes you, let it go," he finished depreciatively and stuck out his tongue to Blaine, just before another kid pushed him again, making him lose his balance. He quickly grasped and tugged at the air, standing on one foot for a brief moment before he collapsed onto the pavement, stretching his right arm backwards, to prevent the impact as much as possible. Just as he crashed with the ground, his arm bent, scratching his wrist and an instant later, his elbow.

No one was watching anymore and Blaine just stood up again and dusted off his knees. His dad had told him to stay away from those kids and he had tried to refute. Well… Maybe he was right. After all, not even Brandon had defended him.

With his left hand, he pushed the elbow nigh to his face and inhaled sharply when he brushed the deeper graze.

"Ouch," he squealed under his trembling breath.

"Alright kids, everybody in, come on!" an adult, feminine voice called that very moment. Blaine turned his messy head and spotted his teacher nearby the broad door, motioning them in with a sweet smile. She scanned the now –almost- empty place and spotted Blaine sitting alone, in the middle of the large yard. "Blaine, honey, come on in, you're the only one left!" she encouraged him with a warm smile. She held the boy's stare for a second until he swallowed and placed his hands on the floor, as to stand up.

Elizabeth nodded, satisfied and from the same place, peered in the classroom. They were all cackling and chatting animatedly, playing with the rubber numbers and the wooden blocks. When she twisted her neck back to Blaine, she saw the kid lying on the floor with an expression of fear and shame in his face.

"Oh my God, Blaine?" she hurried to his side and crouched next to him. "Blaine, are you alright?" she pressed, making the boy sit up on his buttocks and clasp his hands together, getting rid of the dirt on them. He winced again and hid them with wide, scared eyes that flew to Elizabeth pretty, blue ones. "Blaine, what happened sweetie?" she asked in a soft voice. She was not going to scare the boy even more by forcing him to do anything. He fidgeted lightly and she could notice how he was nibbling the corner of his lip. "Nothing will happen, we don't have to tell anyone if you don't want to," she offered.

"Not even my dad and mommy?" he asked with a sadly hopeful glimmer in his hazel eyes.

"Not even them, Blaine, but I need to know what is that happened," she approached again.

His pouted lips quivered and he dramatically countered his head, fixing eyes in a distant random spot behind him as he stuck his right arm out, showing his teacher the superficial cut in his arm. She gasped softly and took the kid's arm in her hands, feeling him tense a bit. She mopped before patting Blaine's knee.

"Come on, honey, get up," she whispered and bounced on her feet before stretching her legs. The boy gaped up at her, almost breaking his neck, she was so high up above, with the unadulterated and recent desperation in his eyes.

"But you said you wouldn't tell them!" he accused her and flinched when he realized how rude he had been and how she would now definitely call his parents and tell them everything.

"I won't, Blaine," she stated and held out her hand. "Come on, sweetie, take it."

"You promise you won't call my parents?" he persisted, not quite locking eyes with the woman.

"I promise."

If Blaine hadn't been so afraid and shaken about the whole thing, he would have loved to hug her as she led him in, holding his small hand tightly.

Blaine gasped and let out a shy "ouch."

"I know, it burns a little," she wrinkled her pointy nose with a sympathetic smile. "But we'll be over in no time," she proceeded as she pressed the cotton delicately over the folding skin of Blaine's hurt elbow.

The fact she wasn't asking or pushing Blaine into confessing how he had done that made him feel both relieved and anxious. He didn't want his parents to know he had no friends left, that nobody liked him or that, even worse, they had inflicted a stupid, ugly cut in his arm. He continued to have a concentrated and sad grimace, firm in his factions while Elizabeth, from the chair she was sitting on, opened a drawer next to her and pulled out a pretty band-aid with pretty colors. She applied it on his now clean, fair skin with the tip of her tongue between her teeth. "There you go," she whispered focused on her duty. When she finished she glanced up at Blaine with the same adoring beam from before. "That wasn't as terrible as you thought it would be, now, was it?" Blaine giggled timidly and she accentuated her smile. "Now down we go, honey, come," she stood in front of Blaine and took him from under his armpits to put him down, since he was sitting in a rather tall counter. The second he lost contact with the wooden desk, he hauled forward fretfully and clutched his arms around Elizabeth's neck, nestling his head in the tender curve. And even though she seemed taken aback, he felt a huge relief and something that distantly reminisced of belonging when his feet touched the ground and she didn't let go. The hug wasn't weak either and she was holding on to him just as much as Blaine was onto her.

When they pulled apart a moment after, they exchanged smiles: Blaine's shy, hers between compassionate and thankful. Suddenly, they heard footsteps coming from the hallway far down which some more classrooms held crowds of different-aged children, and a second later the door was heavily pushed open by a panting, thrilled kid with shiny eyes and a radiating smile.

"Mommy, mommy! Mercedes, invited me over to—" he let his small mouth fall open in a shape of a perfect 'o'. "Who… Who is he?" he blurted out with a curious, somewhat untrusting tilt of his head.

"Kurt, this is Blaine, one of my kids," the simple smile repeated to graze and ignite her sugary, delicate face and Blaine couldn't help but kind of admire her. "Blaine, honey, this is my son, Kurt."

"Hi," the dark haired one greeted shyly and waved his hand.

The little boy eyed him warily and frowned when Blaine blushed and then he was smiling kindly at him and stretching his arm out, swelling his chest. Blaine's tongue darted out between his uneasy lips and stared at the hand. It was snowy, small, rounded and it looked warm.

Doubtful Blaine held his right arm close to his chest before letting his hand glide slowly through the air until it was close enough to Kurt's, calm in place and encouraging. He slithered his thumb into the soft crook between Kurt's own and his pale index finger before wrapping the rest of his fingers around his pleasantly cushioned palm.

He looked up and the smile was still on Kurt's face, his blue, glinting eyes adorned with dark tawny eyelashes, staring right into his. He couldn't help a smile that refreshingly flowed to settle in his no-longer-uneasy lips.

He was right, it was warm.

Ok, so I now came up with a more clear idea for this. Originally, it was going to be very simple, hardly a proper story. I was going to do one chapter per.. huh, period, if you will? Like, one for Childhood (the first one being a prologue, an introduction), another for adolescence, then grown ups and then when they're elder and that would be it.

But I gave it a second thought and I think I'm going to develop a bit more.

My biggest problem is that I just don't want to remind people too much of Swing Sets, cause honestly, it is not my intention and I am not trying to copy anything (here they hold hands but.. it's Klaine, it started with holding hands, so.. idk).

Still, I hope you like this, and please please please, I'm still on the fence about this whole thing (I'm writing it, but still...) so if you can review, spread the word IF YOU LIKE IT and.. whatever, I'd really appreciate it :)

Looooooots of love for all of you.

PS: Everyone just assumes Kurt's mom is called Elizabeth. Idk.