Chapter 20

Marina rolled over onto her back, throwing a forearm over her eyes to block out the sun. She could feel the blades of grass poking through the threadbare blanket underneath her, tickling the bends of her knees. She gasped for air in between uncontrollable giggles. Her high-pitched laugh only served to encourage her companion to elicit more of the intoxicating sound of her joy.

"Stop it, Jody!" she gasped between fits of laughter. "I can't breathe!"

"Stop what?" the dark-haired boy beside her asked innocently, tickling her exposed side once more, earning another squeal from Marina.

"Okay, I give up," she panted, and Jody finally withdrew his fingers and laced his hands behind his head. After a few moments of recovery, Marina rolled over and laid her head on the boy's chest, staring at him as he stared at the clouds above them.

"You're so mean," she pouted with a playful frown. She still took deep breaths while they laid there, but slowly her breath returned to normal, and her heart resumed a steady beat.

"You love me," Jody replied, a small, cocky smile gracing his face.

"I do," she admitted with mock defeat.

And she really did love the boy she met shortly after coming to New Lima. They met working on the gathering team. Marina was standoffish at first, unwilling to trust anyone outside of the small circle of protection that Santana, Kurt, and Blaine provided her. But Jody had been persistent. He'd been a relatively new addition to the community as well, having only escaped his old community a year prior. Marina envied the fact that he'd made it out on his own. Sure, he had the aid of the rescue team once he was outside of the borders of his old community, but he had to leave all on his own.

"Why did you do it," she remembered asking him a few weeks after they started talking. "Why did you leave?"

"I didn't like the idea of being married off to someone I didn't love," he replied. "Or being forced to work somewhere I didn't want to work, or having eighteen kids. What about you? Why did you leave your community?"

Marina had been slowly telling him the story of how she escaped her old community with her sister and Blaine and Kurt, dropping bits and pieces of the story like breadcrumbs in the forest. It was too much to tell all at once, and part of her was still wary of the people around her, despite there being no indication that anyone in New Lima meant her harm. Old habits die hard, she knew.

The two stayed there in the clearing for hours, basking in the sunlight and in each other, taking full advantage of their time off from gathering. Lately they'd been inseparable, eating their meals together, taking the same routes on gathering missions, barely tolerating the necessary moments of separation throughout the day. They even spent most nights together. Santana was almost always over at Brittany's these days, leaving Marina alone in the small room they'd adopted when they first reunited at New Lima. Jody shared a bunk room with three other guys around the same age, so sleeping over at his place wasn't really an option. Whenever they could, they cuddled up with each other at Marina's and whispered to each other long into the night.

Marina was in love with Jody. She felt comfortable and safe in his arms. For the first time in her life, she allowed herself to believe that love was something she deserved and could find with someone.

"Alright, are you ready for this?" Jeff asked with a broad smile.

Blaine returned the grin and took a deep breath. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Nick and Jeff held the board steady as Blaine carefully drove in the final nail. Upon hearing the sturdy thud of the nail being driven in, its head completely flush with the board, Blaine tossed the hammer to the side and rubbed his hands together.

"Alright man," Jeff said excitedly. "After you, let's check this baby out!"

With that, Blaine nodded and opened the door, the real door, to his new home. He almost felt guilty for how good it looked on the inside compared to some of the other dwellings in New Lima. He really didn't have much to feel guilty for though; the three boys had worked through almost every spare moment for the past six weeks putting this place together. Despite occasional protests from Blaine, Jeff and Nick insisted on outfitting his new bachelor pad (as they called it) with different amenities that they'd previously experimented with, like a functional indoor shower that pulled rainwater from a gutter reservoir system, and a fireplace. Blaine felt like a king in his new home.

"Now we just need furniture," Nick said.

It was true. Blaine's new home was as empty as it was beautiful. Some of the necessary furniture could be scavenged, but most of it would have to be built. The scavenging team was having to go farther and farther outside of the safe zone to find new, usable stuff, and asking them to find bedroom and dining room sets was an unreasonable request. The scavengers mostly focused on bringing back first aid and medical supplies, plus smaller gadgets and electronics.

But lumber was something that he could get his hands on, and Nick and Jeff had proven to be excellent carpenters, so Blaine didn't sweat the fact that he may have to sleep on the floor for a while. He was just excited to have a place to call his own, finally.

Blaine bit his lip as he imagined Kurt living there with him. Despite his best efforts to push him out of his mind, he stubbornly returned, usually multiple times a day.

It had been almost two months since their fight, and Blaine's anger had all but dissipated. He ran into Kurt occasionally; after all, it was a small community. When they did bump into each other, they would stop and chat for a few minutes. Blaine was impressed and more than a little curious that Kurt never brought up their relationship during these encounters. Instead, he would ask Blaine about the house building effort, inquire about his job on the building team, and so forth.

In turn, Blaine learned that Kurt had started apprenticing with Doctor Wilson, the community's only physician. Wilson was a kind-hearted, elderly man, who insisted on seeing Blaine every few weeks to check on his still-healing stomach wound. Just a week prior to finishing his house, Blaine had received the all-clear from Wilson, and was told that he no longer needed to come in for check-ups, unless he noticed any changes. Blaine noticed that Kurt would make himself scarce during these appointments, for which Blaine was very grateful. The injury was already a constant reminder of Kurt, and having Kurt there while it was being examined by the doctor would have been too much to handle.

"Well man, we'll let you get settled in," Nick announced. Blaine realized he'd been standing in the middle of the living room, staring out of the window for who knew how long. He tended to do that lately. Nick and Jeff, Santana and Brittany, even Marina had long since stopped calling him out on it, all of them realizing that it was his way of dealing with everything that was going on in his life.

"Thanks guys, I really mean it. You have no idea how much—"

"Yeah, yeah," Jeff said, cutting him off. Jeff hated getting sentimental about anything, but Blaine knew he understood. "See you later, Blaine!"

Blaine waved goodbye to the two boys as they left, headed back to their own house not far away from his. Blaine was still walking around his new home, checking out the workmanship when he heard a light knock at the door.

Confused about who could be on the other side, Blaine opened the door and saw Kurt standing there with a covered plate in his hand. A small warmth began to spread in his belly at the sight of his former love.

"I hope it's okay that I stopped by," Kurt said sheepishly. "Santana told me you were finishing up today."

"No, it's fine," Blaine said nervously, shaking his head.

"I made you cookies, as a housewarming gift," Kurt continued, lifting the thin towel that covered the plate he carried. "Okay, so 'cookie' is a loose term. It's honey with seeds and berries and just a little bit of cinnamon. Wilson taught me how to make them. Turns out he can deliver a baby and make some killer party food."

"Oh, Kurt, you didn't have to," Blaine said, taking the plate from Kurt's outstretched hand. "Please, uh, come in."

He opened the door wide and Kurt stepped in and started looking around. Blaine wasn't sure he'd ever get used to how graceful Kurt was when he moved, as if he was floating instead of walking. Blaine stuck the plate of cookies in the windowsill and returned his attention to Kurt.

"This is really amazing," Kurt exclaimed, his eyes wide. "Wait a minute…is this a shower?"

"Pretty cool, huh?" Blaine answered lamely. He felt butterflies in the pit of his stomach, like the first time he'd ever looked into Kurt's eyes.

"Yeah," Kurt agreed. "Blaine, I can't believe you did all of this. It looks great. I'm so happy for you."

Blaine stood in front of Kurt and could see the sincerity in his eyes.

"Do you mean it?" Blaine asked.

Kurt faltered for a moment in his confusion. "Yes, I do."

Blaine wasn't thinking about the consequences of what he did next. He didn't think about what it meant or why he was doing it. All he thought about was that he was finally doing what he had spent the last few months telling himself he didn't need.

Kurt's lips were as soft and urgent as he remembered. Kurt elicited a small, surprised squeal when Blaine swooped in, but he quickly responded. Blaine begged for entry into Kurt's closed mouth with a swipe of his tongue and Kurt obliged, opening himself up with a small groan that Blaine involuntarily mimicked as he explored Kurt's mouth with his own.

It was pure heaven and Blaine never wanted it to end.