Chapter 3 – Semper Paratus

A sharp bang on the door startled Kurt and Jess.

Despite their initial fears, it was just everybody returning from their rescue mission. Beth and Hannah had returned in tow. Kurt sighed in relief, but was also wary about speaking to Hannah.

He knew he had to pull her aside and talk to her about the whole situation; it was rather him doing it than Mike. Everything was still fragile.

He also had to speak to Mike about what had transpired between them. He needed to know whether the drunk kiss was just that, drunk, or whether it was a spark of something more between them. Mike must have known that Kurt had been in love with him ever since elementary school, he must have. Then again, Mike was fairly oblivious about things regarding himself.

Kurt definitely wasn't confused about his feelings, but he knew that Mike would be. Kurt didn't know if it was just a spur of the moment alcohol-fuelled thing or whether Mike had been thinking about boys (read: Kurt) for a while now. He wasn't sure which outcome was going to come out of tonight, but he desperately hoped for the latter.

He wasn't sure which conversation to have first, he didn't want to alarm Hannah for nothing, but he also didn't want to potentially alienate her if things worked out with Mike.

Luckily, he wouldn't have to choose right this second because Hannah flitted upstairs to her room, Beth following in hot pursuit. The latter turned to Kurt with a sad smile.

"Don't worry about her, Kurt. She'll come around."

Kurt nodded and addressed the others, who were shivering from the deep winter cold.

"What's with the baseball bat, Kurt?" Josh grinned, nodding to the weapon placed by Kurt's side.

Kurt looked deadly serious. "Someone was looking in the window earlier and it scared me. It wasn't one of you guys was it? Playing a joke or something?"

Sam shook her head. "You'd know if it was."

Jess sighed. "Then it means that somebody else is here up at the lodge with us. Someone we did not invite."

Emily snorted. "As long as it's not Rachel Berry, I can cope with it."

Matt, Mike and Chris laughed quietly.

Kurt rolled his eyes fondly. "Even potential psychopaths dress better than her."

The group who had been outside ran to their luggage to get something warmer to wrap up in and assembled around the newly lit fire. Kurt's worries of a serial murderer vanished instantly as soon as Mike sidled up next to him.

Mike prodded his leg awkwardly. "Hey."

Kurt smiled. "Hey yourself. You warm enough in that?"

Kurt gestured to Mike's thin jumper and snow-covered jeans.

He shrugged. "I'm good for now. Although I know where to go if I need warming up." His smirk said it all.

Kurt shrugged. "I mean, Ashley's big blanket is cosy, but I don't think fits two people."

Mike snorted. "You know what I mean."

"I do. Which is why we can't talk about this yet. I need to talk to Hannah first."

Mike nodded. "I thought that might be the case. Well I'll be here whenever you want to talk."

Sam muttered something about going to run a bath. Kurt subtly locked eyes with Jess and smirked. The girl shook her head slowly, eyes narrowed. Kurt knew that glare way too well. It reeked of his own creation. It was his signature look that said "You're a bitch".

As the conversation swelled, Kurt took that moment to excuse himself, trudging up the snow-beaten staircase. He was not looking forward to this impending conversation, but he knew it was necessary and everyone would feel better afterwards.

He knocked on the door hesitantly, exhaling deeply when the resounding "come in" met his ears.

He poked his head around the door. Beth was nowhere to be seen. Hannah was sat cross-legged on her bed, leaned over a small book which Kurt guessed was her journal. Upon seeing Kurt, she quickly made to stuff it under her bed.

"Can I come in?" He wondered.

Hannah smiled and nodded.

He sat opposite her on her bed and sighed. "Look, Han, I want to say that I'm really sorry."

"You have nothing to apologise for, Kurt," she replied swiftly.

"I know," Kurt muttered. "I just want to apologise on behalf of the situation. It's tough, I know it is. You know I do."

"Patty," she whispered.

Kurt nodded, chuckling. "But I know this is on a bigger scale. We fell for him around the same time, I think. Believe me when I tell you that I had no intention of doing anything with Mike tonight. It took me completely by surprise and I think it did him too.

"I just wanted to come and clear the air and make sure we're still okay. You mean so much to me, Hannah, but I understand if you need some time or some space to process whatever happened tonight."

Hannah shook her head. "Kurt, I've been completely unfair to you tonight. Like you said, we fell for him at the same time and we've been through this together. We always talked about him and shared fantasies about him and I completely overreacted. Running off was dumb, I just need to be a big girl and handle it. If my feelings in any way stopped you from being with him, please don't let them. I'll be fine."

Kurt bit his lip. "Are you sure? I don't know if that's what's going to happen, but I don't want to hurt you at all."

"You won't. Go, go be with your man. I'll be down in a few minutes for the awkward re-integration into the group."

Kurt grinned. "I'll think of a good game we can play to make it easier. Thanks Hannah, for being real cool about all this."

"Are you kidding, thank you, Kurt! I don't know that many people would've had the consideration to come and talk to me, even if you didn't really need to. I appreciate it all the same."

Kurt wished her well and slipped out the door. That had gone...a lot easier than he had expected.

But now it was the hard part.

Making sure that Mike was into him was a risk he didn't think he could take if not for the kiss. It said a lot, but some things were still left up in the air.

When he returned to the group, Mike was missing.

Jess answered his unspoken question. "I think he went to your room."

Kurt nodded. Perfect.

"Get it, Kurt!" Emily cheered as he walked away. Kurt took a little bow as he walked across the hall towards the room that he and Mike would be sharing.

The room that he and Mike would be sharing.

THE ROOM THAT HE AND MIKE WOULD BE SHARING!

Kurt's heart hammered in his chest as he thought about the expectations for that night. Was he ready for that? He didn't think so. He shook his head to clear it as he turned the doorknob slowly.

Pushing the door open, he stepped inside.

Once Kurt was inside, he gasped at what he saw.

Mike Munroe, the object of his affections, was naked. From head to toe.

"Kurt!" Mike shrieked, grasping his towel and placing it in front of his crotch.

Kurt chuckled. "Getting a little head of ourselves are we?"

Mike grinned, flashing his teeth. "I was just about to take a shower. I guess I should thank you for getting the only room with an en-suite bathroom."

"I do what I can. I guess right now isn't the best time to talk."

Mike sat on his bed. "I can hold off for a few minutes. For you."

Kurt smirked. "Well, I can't. Get. Dressed." Kurt's tongue swiped across his lips when Mike fiddled with his clothes. He slipped on his underwear under the towel and looked to Kurt.

"Better?"

"I guess."

"I can't believe you haven't seen me naked before. We had Gym together our whole lives."

Kurt shook his head. "Well, I don't peek, Michael. Although if I'd have known how tonight was going to pan out, I'd have peeked years ago."

Kurt sat on the other bed opposite Mike, just as he had done with Hannah and smiled. "So where does this leave us?"

Mike gaped. "Right in there with the tough questions, aren't you?"

"I like to be straight to the point."

"Nothing about this is straight, Kurt," Mike joked. It definitely did take the edge off of a conversation like this to have Mike joking about it. It definitely did Kurt a favour and he was thankful for the levity.

"Then answer me this. What is this exactly? I'm pretty sure you know where I stand now, so this is pretty much all on you and what you want to do. No pressure."

Mike sighed. "Kurt, I'm pretty much the most oblivious person you'll ever meet. I had no idea Hannah liked me like that until Beth told me a few hours ago."

"But Hannah was even more obvious than I was. And I offered to give you a full body massage."

"Wouldn't say no to that now," Mike winked. "Seriously though, I have no idea when people are into me.

"What I do know is that earlier was the best kiss I've ever had."

Kurt pouted. "It could be alcohol talking, though."

Mike shrugged. "Well, how about we test it out now that we're both pretty much sober?"

Kurt looked away for just a second. "I suppose I wouldn't be averse to that."

Mike beckoned him closer. "Let's see if JD really does rule my life."

As soon as he was in touching distance, Mike grasped Kurt and pulled him thrush against him. His lips met Kurt's chin before he dragged him up to Kurt's own lips, connecting the two firmly.

Mike leaned back on the bed, Kurt falling against him. Kurt instinctively spread his legs, so he was straddling Mike.

Kurt moaned into the kiss and his hands wandered up to Mike's hair, giving it an experimental tug. Judging from the resounding groan that slipped from Mike's throat, Kurt assumed he liked it.

Kurt reluctantly broke the kiss. "So?"

Mike ran his tongue along his lips. "Not bad."

Kurt smirked. "Judging by the thing that's currently digging into my leg, I'm not sure you know what 'not bad' means."

Mike laughed. "Fine, maybe it was amazing."

"That's better."

Kurt rolled off Mike's hard body, lying next to him. "We still need to talk."

"I thought we made some excellent points already."

"I'm serious. I have a question."

"I'm all ears."

Kurt smiled. "What made you come and kiss me earlier? You could've kissed anyone else in that room, boy or girl. Why me?"

Mike turned to him, leaning on his elbow. He reached out and fixed Kurt's hair back into its prior place. "Because...you're the most amazing and interesting person I've ever met. And you look beautiful when you're happy. You look beautiful all the time, really.

"Look Kurt, like I told Sam tonight, I've been jerking off thinking about you since I first learned what it was. I didn't think anything of it at the time and just assumed it was because of how comfortable we've always been with each other. But then I started actually thinking about it. And how it made me feel.

"And I can't think about anything else."

Kurt pressed his lips gently to Mike's hand. "Good answer. I feel it fitting to tell you that I've been in love with you for years now. You say you didn't know, so I can level the playing field."

Mike breathed unevenly. "Love, huh?"

Kurt's eyes widened. "I don't want you to feel like you have to feel those feelings. Okay, I'm going to lay out some options right now.

"One: we boil this down to alcohol and adrenaline and call it off before it gets complicated."

"I don't want—."

Kurt held up his hand patiently. "Let me finish for a second.

"Two: once we get back from the lodge, we can go on a date. See how it goes, see how we feel. Just because I have feelings for you doesn't mean we're going to work out romantically.

"Is there a third?"

Kurt shook his head. "I was just making it up as I went along, I thought I'd think of more solutions."

Mike chuckled. "Well I'd like to choose option two. I want to take you out. I know I definitely feel something for you, Kurt. Nobody is that good at kissing, there's a connection here. So I want to explore that. If it works out, great, if it doesn't, then we tried our best and we'll remain the awesome best friends we've always been. Nothing has to change."

"Do you think we could survive that? Crashing and burning and pretending like nothing happened?"

Mike shrugged. "I think we could. Failed romance doesn't erase our platonic history, Kurt. But I have a feeling everything's going to work out just the way we want it to." Mike kissed Kurt's mouth squarely. "I should take that shower."

Kurt pressed a hand to Mike's chest. "Yeah...you should. I should get back."

Mike grabbed his things and slipped into the bathroom as Kurt left for the main living room again.

When he got there, everybody was in a dither.

"What's going on?"

Sam turned to him, aghast. "We can't find Beth."