Notes: This little ficlet (which was supposed to be a drabble...) was inspired by my little brother. He's five, outgoing and ridiculously chatty, but he gets so shy when he sees another little girl. It's so cute and funny. (Side note: child voices are awful and I hate them.)

The restaurant in this, Zizzi's, does some of the best lasagne I've ever had, although it's a bit on the dear side (at least for a student) so it's been ages since I've there so I don't remember if it does kids' menus. And I don't know if you have them in the US.

Enjoy!

Blaine loves Chuck-E-Cheese. He loves the pizza because it's the most tasty he's ever had, and he loves the music because the people who work there let him stand on the tables to sing if he wants to, and he loves the ballpit even though Cooper always throws the balls at him and the Chuck-E-Cheese in Columbus has a proper arcade and at that one Cooper always gets Blaine a toy from the claw machines.

But his parents don't love Chuck-E-Cheese at all. They love restaurants with boring music and only four crayon colours, and he gets told off if he doesn't sit nicely. Cooper doesn't love Chuck-E-Cheese or boring restaurants. Mom says he only loves girls because he's a teenager, but Blaine thinks that's kinda stupid because pizza is much better than girls.

"Hello, there, welcome to Zizzi's. How many?" the hostess asks.

"Four," his dad answers. "One kids' menu."

"Would you like a booth or a table?"

"I would like to sit in a boof please!" Blaine bursts out, bouncing on his toes. His dad huffs even though Blaine was polite and his mom asks for one of the tables around the edge which are half booth and half table.

The hostess smiles at Blaine so of course he grins back widely at her. "Of course. Right this way."

"I don't like grown up restaurants because they're more boring than Chuck-E-Cheese but I have to say"—he says carefully to make sure he's saying the phrase exactly the same way as his dad does—"that the boofs are much more bouncier and that's better."

"I'm glad to hear it," the hostess says. "You're a very polite young man."

Blaine beams up at her. "Thank you, miss!"

The hostess laughs and then sets their menus down on the last table along the wall. Cooper drops down on the very end of the booth and moodily shoves his phone in his pocket and his parents sit down on the proper chairs so Blaine climbs up on the booth-side. He pulls at his bowtie and his vest so they're not twisted and then looks at the next table. There's a dad and a mom and a little boy with a pretty silver shirt on and they're all eating the main course.

"Cooper, read the menu for Blaine, would you?" his mom asks.

"No, I don't need that, I can read it myself!" Blaine says. He can't quite see the top of the page because he hasn't hit his growth spurt yet – which he's really looking forward to because then he'll be taller than Cooper and then he'll be able to hold stuff above his head – so he takes it off the table and lies it on the seat next to him.

When he looks up, he sees the boy from the next table looking at him. He quickly looks back down at the menu but he can still feel the boy watching him. It makes it a bit hard to concentrate on reading. Specially because he needs to speak out loud and not just in his head to make the letters make sense and he seems to have forgotten how to talk.

"Do you know what you want, Blaine?" his mom asks. Blaine looks up at her and shakes his head. "Are you sure you don't want Cooper to read it to you?" He shakes his head so quickly that his neck hurts.

Something rests on Blaine's arm and Blaine looks to see the boy with the pretty silver shirt – who has pretty blue eyes too – has scooted over on the booth so that there's hardly any space between him and Blaine's menu. Blaine's stomach flutters.

"It's okay if you need help," the boy says.

Blaine shakes his head again. "I can read," he says quietly.

"Me too. I picked my food myself."

Blaine looks back down at the menu but he seems to have forgotten how to make the letters into sounds. His stomach feels heavy now. He pouts and tries not to cry.

"Look." The boy picks up the menu and carefully scoots even closer to Blaine, and he holds the menu against the edge of the table so they can both see it. "I got this food to eat first. Mmma-ca-ronn-ee and ch-eese," he sounds out slowly, putting his finger under each letter as he says it.

"I like macaroni and cheese."

"Me too. But there is other stuff too."

Blaine looks up at the boy again. He's really pretty, like the creepy dolls in his nan's house except not creepy. He's also really nice because he's not making fun of Blaine forgetting how to read even though Cooper would just laugh at him.

"You have the macaroni and cheese," Blaine points out.

"Okay. Now you need to pick a drink."

Blaine recognises the D and then the R and then the I and N and K. He silently puts his finger on the word and looks up at the boy, who mouths the word and then grins at Blaine. Blaine grins back and wiggles on his bottom, making the other boy giggle. He likes making his new friend laugh.

"What's your name?" he asks boldly. "I'm Blaine." He holds out his hand because that's what his dad does at work dinners and his mom says it's polite. His friend takes Blaine's hand and it makes Blaine happy that his new friend is polite. None of the boys in his class know how to shake his hand and they're mean a lot.

"My name is Kurt Hummel."

They both give a huge shake which almost flips Blaine's menu onto the floor.

Kurt's parents and Blaine's parents spend a lot of the rest of the meal talking because Kurt doesn't move from next to Blaine. Blaine ends up squished between Kurt and Cooper, and even though Cooper's elbow keeps hitting his head while he plays Snake on his phone under the table Blaine is really happy. Kurt let him borrow one of his Power Ranger action figures and Kurt says they got married in the car so this is the reception, and it makes Blaine's stomach fizz like when he eats Pop Rocks.

Kurt is his new best friend, Blaine decides when he and Kurt both want chocolate ice cream. He's even better than Cooper because Cooper sulks when they play Blaine's Mickey Mouse tape in the car.

"Kurt, you're my best friend ever," he tells him. Kurt beams and turns bright pink and Blaine feels like he's eaten three whole bags of Pop Rocks, but then he looks worried.

"I've never had a best friend before," Kurt whispers. "I don't know how to be a best friend."

"It's okay," Blaine says. "Best friends just always want to play with each other first and make pretty bracelets, and they sing together and get married."

Kurt nods. "My mom says my dad is her best friend."

Blaine doesn't know if his parents are best friends, but he supposes if they're married then they must be.

"Can we have our party at Chuck-E-Cheese? The one in Columbus has claw machines and if we're married than Cooper has to get you a toy too."

Kurt nods and then darts forward and pecks Blaine's lips, parting with a "mwah". He looks really happy which makes Blaine's entire body fizzle, which doesn't really make sense, but that's okay. His best friend is the most awesome best friend ever, and Blaine can't wait until their reception at Chuck-E-Cheese.

End notes: Follow me out on Tumblr – thuslynope :) [end self-pimping]