A/N: so, here goes my attempt at a summer!Klaine fic. It's going to be a multi-chapter and I hope you all like it! Please review, else I get paranoid!

He knew that he was being petulant. He knew it was childish. He knew that it wouldn't change anything. But he didn't care, quite frankly. He was going to sulk whether they liked it or not.

"Blaine, honey..." although her voice was muffled by the door, Emily Anderson's concern was clear just from those two words. The pet names were usually reserved for after his father had made a particularly ignorant remark. "Is everything okay? You've been in there quite a while..."

So maybe locking himself in the family bathroom hadn't been his proudest of moments; but there was something quite calming about the cool press of the tiles into his back, and the steady drip of the tap. Actually, the latter was quite annoying, but he really couldn't be bothered to stand up and turn it off. Anyway, it was better than the sheet music, which was spread across his bedroom, mocking him, or having to go downstairs and listen to his father's attempts to be sympathetic. Almost anything would be better than that.

"M'fine, Mom."

Even through the heavy wood separating them, he could hear her disbelieving sigh. She didn't push it, though, which he was thankful for. Blaine waited 'til he could no longer hear her footsteps in the hallway before he let his head fall back with a groan. It hurt more than he expected it to.

Great, now he was an unemployed spoiled soloist with an aching skull and a numb bottom. This evening was just getting better and better. And he couldn't even call Kurt because Mercedes was going away on holiday the following day and Blaine really didn't want to be that kind of clingy boyfriend. He wasn't that desperate.

Yet.

Instead, he would just sit there and obsess over what could have possibly happened for this to occur. Excluding Jeremiah (which he did because, honestly, he didn't really know what he had been thinking), he hadn't been turned down based on a performance for over a year. Even the kids at McKinley had loved him, and from what he had heard, that was quite an achievement.

Stupid McKinley. Simply hours ago, he'd been bemoaning their stupidly short summer holidays (well, compared to Dalton's). Now he simply disliked them for inflating his ego. Not that he wanted them to be hostile... But if Dalton was gay Hogwarts, then surely McKinley should have been his jolt into the real world.

He was definitely in the real world now.

And it sucked.

Hesucked. And not in the fun way. How had he become so arrogant? When had he begun to expect everything to be handed to him on a plate? When exactly had he turned into a full on prep boy? Stupid blazer.

Before his angst spiral could descend much further, his thoughts were thankfully interrupted by the tinny opening bars of "Candles" playing from his pocket.

The phone was clamped to the side of his head pretty much instantaneously. "I thought you were at Mercedes' house."

His boyfriend chuckled warmly, and Blaine's heart didn't feel quite so heavy anymore. "Well hello to you too, dear. Yeah, she kicked me out about ten minutes ago. Very suspicious. You're on the speaker in my car right now." Blaine made a little noise of contented understanding, causing Kurt to giggle again. "So whatcha up to?"

Blaine hesitated. He was pretty certain there was no way to say hiding out in the bathroom without sounding like a total dork. "Errr... Just hanging out really?" he offered nervously.

"Where are you, you sound all echo-y?"

"Errr... In my bathroom?"

Kurt was silent for a few moments. "Blaine," he finally said, "I swear to God, if you are pooping right now, I am hanging up."

"No, no, no!" Blaine assured him hurriedly. "I swear I'm not pooping!"

"Good, because else we would need to have a serious talk. Why exactly are you hanging out in your bathroom?"

Blaine sighed. He wouldn't lie to Kurt. He couldn't. "Six Flags rejected me."

"Oh… Well then, they're just idiots!"

"Kurt..."

"Did they say why?"

"I wasn't what they were looking for apparently."

"They're blind. And deaf. You are awesome, baby." Blaine's heart fluttered slightly at the use of the pet name. "And I'm not just saying that because I love you. I really thought you had that in the bag..." it was to his credit that Kurt didn't mention that Blaine had decided against all of his own song suggestions. He probably should have listened, in retrospect. Just another example of him thinking he knew best.

"Am I arrogant?" the words were tumbling out of Blaine's mouth before he'd even really processed them. Crap. The line was quiet, meaning the rush of blood in his ears seemed even louder. Please, please, please, he prayed internally, let Kurt say...

"No. No, why would you even think that?"

Blaine exhaled in relief. "Just..."

"I mean, you know you're good. But I wouldn't say arrogant..." his heart dropped slightly.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't be dating you if your ego was too big. Too much competition," Kurt joked but Blaine didn't feel much like laughing. Kurt's words only half-assured him. He settled instead for a non-committal grunt. "Blaine..." his boyfriend hesitated before continuing quietly, "There is a difference in becoming accustomed to succeeding and being arrogant. You work hard, and you're awarded solos because of that. You don't just expect them to be handed to you..."

"That's not what you said before regionals," Blaine countered sadly.

"Don't put words in my mouth, Blaine. I said you got all the solos, which was true." Kurt's tone hardened and Blaine immediately regretted his accusatory words. Kurt was right -of course - and thinking logically while Blaine was just caught up in his own pity party. "Being rejected is not something you're used to." His boyfriend's voice was soft and comforting again and for about the millionth time, Blaine marvelled at how lucky he was to have him. "Shock and arrogance are not the same thing. And you are not arrogant."

Blaine managed a weak smile. "I'm being silly, aren't I?"

"Just a little. But don't worry, I think it's adorable," Kurt quipped, only half teasing.

"I love you."

"I'm glad."

"We're playing this game now, are we?"

"What game?"

"Kurt!"

"Blaine!"

"Right that's it - I'm never leaving this bathroom again."

"You know there is a line between adorable and weird..."

"You're mean."

"You love me anyway."

"Fine," Blaine huffed in mock annoyance- Kurt had him there, that was for sure. "I am leaving the bathroom! Happy now?" he could practically hear his boyfriend's eyes rolling through the phone as he hauled himself onto his feet and out the door.

"Hey Blaine..."

"Yes Kurt?" Blaine said, balancing his cell between his jaw and his shoulder to wave at his mother who had just appeared from her own room and was now beaming happily at him.

"I love you."

He paused mid gesture - he didn't think he would ever get used to hearing Kurt say those three words to him.

"I love you too." Smiling to himself (and pointedly ignoring his mom's hastily stifled squeal), he ducked into his room and surveyed the damage. He let out a little hiss. "Ouch."

"What?"

"Oh nothing…" even though Kurt couldn't see, Blaine still flushed embarrassedly at the paper-covered state of his floor. "I might or might not have thrown some sheet music around in a hissy fit earlier…"

Thankfully, rather than informing him that he was in fact arrogant and ridiculous and promptly breaking up with him, Kurt simply chuckled. "Well, you do have a particular penchant for that. I think I still have some of Nick's geography notes which got muddled in with mine during Misery…"

"Sorry about that." He bent down and began to sift through various scores when he was suddenly reminded of something. "Hey! I thought of a positive side to all this!"

"Pray tell."

"I can help you out with your Pippa Middleton musical now! Seeing as I'll be here, rather than in Chicago, we'll be able to hang out all summer!" Blaine bounced happily on the balls on his feet and waited for his boyfriend to respond with equal levels of excitement. However, he didn't and Blaine's happy mood evaporated as quickly as it had appeared. "I mean, only if you want to that is…"

"No, no, no!" Kurt insisted hurriedly, and Blaine's panic subsided just a little. "Of course I want to…"

"But?"

"But… I sort of thought you'd be gone all summer and one of the guys who works for my Dad had to take emergency leave so I said I'd cover for him…"

"Oh…"

"I'm sorry Blaine… It's just, what with him having to train up Finn and two of the other mechanics going away at different points, he just really needs me."

"Of course," Blaine attempted to sound cheerful, "That's totally understandable. I totally get it… Yeah… So when do you start?"

"Monday. Blaine, I…"

"Can I see you tomorrow then?" Blaine interrupted, trying not to let the desperation creep through. Monday... so soon. And then it was the whole summer, with him stuck at home and Kurt off working. If he'd been slightly less despairing, he would have appreciated the irony of the flip from what they had originally thought the summer would be like.

He could hear Kurt wincing. "I'm sorry baby. I said I'd drop the Jones' off at the airport. And then Finn's dragging me along to some male bonding thing at Puck's. I can get out of it! Or ask if you could come too…"

Blaine shook his head sadly. "They're your friends Kurt; I'm not going to drag you away from them."

"It won't be so bad. I mean, it's not like I'll be working every day and I'll be free in the evenings. Just you wait, Anderson – we're going to have a great summer," Kurt assured him decidedly.

How Blaine wished he could share Kurt's optimism.

Despite his occasional lack of faith, Blaine really did strive to be a good boyfriend. He was always punctual for their dates, always honest, showered Kurt in compliments and made sure he always knew just how amazing he was. He was careful not to ask for too much and was always respectful of their boundaries (even if most of them had been set down by Burt rather than either of them . He charmed Carole, talked football with Finn and made sure Kurt was always home before curfew and never too obviously disheveled.

And he did so without complaint, because honestly, he rather enjoyed it. His heart swelled whenever Carole called him sweetie or Burt greeted him as kiddo. Seeing Kurt blush whenever Blaine checked him out never failed to widen his smirk. Making Kurt happy made him happy.

So of course, when he received a text from Kurt asking if, rather than Blaine picking him up at 8 for their Tuesday night date, he could give him a lift home from the shop at six and then they could hang out there until the film, he immediately said yes, no questions asked.

In fact, he was ten minutes early; he'd been driven out of his mind with boredom over the past couple of days and relished the opportunity to get out of the house as soon as possible.

Practically humming with excitement, he smoothed down his very carefully selected outfit (hey, it had killed a couple of hours) and strode into Hummel Tires and Lube. His eyes quickly located his boyfriend, who was bent under the hood of a rather beaten up looking pick-up in a set of rather form fitting grey overalls. To be honest, he wouldn't be surprised if Kurt had tailored them himself. Blaine could appreciate the end result however it had been achieved though and he did for a moment before remembering that checking out your boyfriend's ass in his dad's garage was hardly appropriate behaviour. Instead he settled for sidling up behind him. "Hey you," he practically purred.

"Crap," Kurt swore loudly, almost hitting his head as he leapt up and sent a spanner clattering to the floor. Blaine frowned - not quite the reaction he'd been going for.

"You okay?" he ventured cautiously as he bent down to retrieve the dropped tool. Kurt wordlessly accepted it from him and resumed what he'd been doing. "Kurt..."

Kurt gave one final wrench before dropping the hood and turning to face his boyfriend. Blaine was struck by how gorgeous he looked; really he didn't know why Kurt bothered with all his fancy getting ready routines. He took Blaine's breath even now, with his hair all messed up and a streak of oil across his forehead where he had clearly gone to wipe off the sweat in the blazing Ohio sunshine. "Sorry," he sighed wearily, breaking Blaine out of his trance, "Just kind of stressed. Dad had to take Finn to the hospital and I..." His eyes widened in horror as he trailed off, "Please tell me you're early and it's not six o'clock already..."

"I'm early and it's not six o'clock already... It's about 5:53... Why's Finn gone to the hospital?"

"Not important right now," Kurt dismissed as he began to run across the garage, "Oh double crap! Mark?"

Another guy in the uniform overalls (although he didn't look nearly as good as Kurt did in his) poked his head out from around the corner of the office. He was about 30 or so with cropped blonde hair and a weather beaten yet kind face. He was also very tall; Blaine had a tendency to notice these kinds of things first about people. "What's up Kurt?" he called as the lithe boy skidded to a halt in front of a workbench.

"You busy?"

"On the phone with a customer, sorry."

"And Andy?"

"He's out on a call."

"Crap," Kurt swore again, desperately rooting through one of the toolboxes in front of him.

"Baby, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that we're closing in 5 minutes and my Dad was meant to be back by now and I need to go through the book and count up before I send Mark home and I don't where Andy is with the truck and I haven't done Mr. Thompson's oil change yet and he's coming in tocollect first thing tomorrow morning and my stupid stepbrother..."

"Okay, breathe baby," Blaine leapt in before his boyfriend could give himself an aneurysm. "Just breathe... In and out... There we go..."

"It's just..."

"I know... But stressing out won't help anyone. So, here is what we're going to do - you're going to go and do the books and ask Mark to start closing up and give Andy a ring..."

"But Mr. Thompson…"

"Ah ah ah, let me finish. I'll do Mr. Thompson's oil." Blaine smiled proudly.

"Are you..."

"Yes, I'm sure. You just need to point me in the right direction."

Kurt shook his head disbelievingly. "God, I love you," he muttered as he darted away again to find Blaine some overalls. Blaine simply beamed after him.

Forty minutes later and Blaine was turning his keys in the ignition and pulling out of the lot with a sleepy but satisfied Kurt beside him.

"See, that wasn't so bad, now was it?" Blaine said, only a tiny bit smug.

"I suppose not... And Mark was very impressed with you."

"It was only an oil change Kurt."

"But still, you did it well and I was very proud." Kurt reached out across the console and gave his free hand a light squeeze.

"Gee, thanks," Blaine rolled his eyes good-naturedly, although the affect was rather lost as he lifted their intertwined hands to his mouth and pressed a dry kiss to Kurt's skin. "So what exactly happened to Finn?"

His boyfriend groaned loudly. "Uncontrolled growth spurts happened to Finn. I swear that boy has no sense of balance - he tripped over his own feet as we were coming off lunch, went sprawling on the floor and managed to land awkwardly on his arm. Last time I saw him, his elbow was bent the wrong way."

"Ouch... Poor Finn."

"Poor Finn?" Kurt squawked indecorously, "Poor me! He's left us one mechanic down for the whole summer! We were quiet today and I've still been rushed off my feet for the past five hours!"

"Aww, brotherly love..."

"Oh hush your mouth Anderson."

"Make me," Blaine waggled his eyebrows in a manner which was meant to be suggestive.

Kurt just snorted. "How about you just focus on getting us home safe, rather than waving those triangles at me?"

Blaine mock pouted but obliged and pretty soon they were pulling up outside the Hummel-Hudson residence, both singing along loudly to the Rihanna song which was playing on the radio.

"Do you think…"

"No."

"You don't even know what I was going to say," Blaine protested, killing the ignition as Kurt began to clamber out.

"No, the Warblers totally couldn't pull off an acapella version of S&M." he didn't even turn around as he said it – he merely called over his shoulder as he sashayed up to the house. Blaine cussed under his breath - partly in annoyance 'cause he could have used some awesome show faces for that and partly out of pleasant surprise at how well Kurt actually knew him. Although it would be more than a little freaky if Kurt somehow had started to read his mind... "Are you coming in or what?"

Blaine smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, of course I am."

Sometimes, Blaine wasn't quite sure how he'd got here. How he'd got so lucky.

Now was one of those times. After cleaning themselves up a little, they'd decided to skip the movie and stay in and eat leftover lasagne instead, before curling up on the sofa together to watch some trashy sitcom. They'd started off with Kurt leaning on his shoulder, then with his head in his lap as Blaine played lightly with his hair line and now, after deeming the show as 'worse than Rachel's new penguin sweater', Kurt had him pressed into the cushions, their mouths moving together lazily.

Yup. Blaine really had no idea how he'd gotten so lucky.

Just when Kurt had discovered how to do something marvellous involving his tongue and Blaine's palate however, Blaine's luck ran out.

"Boys?" the slam of the front door carried through to the lounge and the couple hastily separated with a loud pop. A torrent of cusses tumbled out of Kurt's kiss-swollen lips as he hastily tried to straighten his shirt while Blaine shifted uncomfortably at the slight tightness in his trousers. "Anyone home?"

"In here, Dad." Kurt's voice sounded a bit rough and it really wasn't helping Blaine's, ahem, situation, to know that he was the one to cause that.

"Oh, hi." A rather tired looking Burt appeared around the doorway, appraising the scene in front of him with a knowing (if slightly disgruntled) look. "I thought that you were heading out, but then I saw both your cars…"

"Had to stay a bit late at the shop," Kurt interrupted with an explanation before his father's mind could create potential scenarios that would give him another heart attack, "And then we were tired so we decided to skip the movie and just stay here instead."

"How were things up there?" Burt asked with a wince, pre-empting Kurt's answer.

"Not so great. Busy. We finished at 6:40 and that was with Blaine helping out with an oil change."

"Lots of customers?" Kurt shook his head. "Well damn…"

"If Finn hadn't had been such an…"

"Hey! It wasn't Finn's fault," Burt reprimanded firmly. "These things happen, and we just have to deal with them the best we can."

"Is he okay?" Blaine inquired carefully, thanking God that his voice sounded relatively normal.

"He broke his arm. A clean break, but still, he'll be in a cast for the next couple of months or so." Burt sighed wearily, "Carole's with him; they're waiting to get the cast put on. So we'll all have to be extra nice to him for a while." He looked pointedly at his son, "It's his right arm, so he's going to be fairly frustrated for the next six weeks."

Kurt had the decency to look abashed as he rose to his feet. "I'm going to make them a cold spread or something for when they get home. Finn will be hungry," he said quietly before sweeping out of the room in the direction of the kitchen. Burt smiled approvingly after him before sitting down in the armchair next to where Blaine was.

"So, you helped out in the shop this evening?"

Blaine swallowed nervously. "Only Mr. Thompson's oil change."

"Well, thanks anyway… Don't suppose you want a job?" Blaine gave a little chuckle. Burt however didn't. "I'm serious kid. You actually know something about cars and it'd mainly be the small jobs and admin, but Kurt said that you didn't get that theme park thing and I'm a bit desperate here…"

A whole summer with Kurt? Blaine barely had to think about it.

"I'm in."