Okay, okay, I know, I'm a horrible, terrible, awful, dreadful person! It's been ages since I've updated...I wrote the beginning of this chapter a while ago, and then wrote the last 3/4 today...on two hours of sleep (Harry Potter wh-hoo!), so I hope it doesn't suck. And I know it's short, but I figured something was better than nothing? I promise (heheh) I'll try to do better! I love you all! Please don't hate me!
A few hours later, once Blaine's mom had come to pick him up, Kurt trotted into his mother's room to find her folding clothes. He stood in the doorway for a moment before she looked up. "Yes?"
"Mama, can I ask you something?"
"Of course," she said, setting down the half-folded towel and patting a spot on the bed next to her. "You can always ask me anything."
"Okay," Kurt said, and pulled himself up to sit next to his mother. He was quiet for a moment, thinking; she didn't rush him. "Why do you like kissing Daddy?"
If Elizabeth was surprised, she didn't show it. The only noticeable change on her elegant face was the slightest rise of her eyebrows. "Well..." she thought for a moment. "It's because I love him."
"But why do you like kissing him?"
Elizabeth thought for another moment. "Well...because...kissing is a way to show someone that you love them, besides just telling them. It's special, especially when the two people actually love each other. Like when I kiss Daddy, or when I kiss you."
Kurt mulled this over for a moment. "So...if you love someone...you should kiss them?"
"Well, not all the time," Elizabeth said. "But you should always make sure that a person knows you love them, whether it's by a kiss or by saying it."
"How do you know which one to do?"
"Sometimes it's hard to know, but you just have to listen to what your heart tells you."
"Mama, what if I wanted to kiss someone?"
Elizabeth surveyed her son seriously for a moment. "Well, I'd say that if you think it's the right thing to do, then it's okay. But," she added, "I think you're a little young for kissing at the moment."
Kurt nodded slowly, taking in the information. "Mama, can I ask you something else?"
"Of course you can, honey."
"What if I wanted to kiss Blaine?"
Elizabeth opened her mouth and hesitated. She shut it, thinking. After a moment, she looked at Kurt seriously and said, "Kurt, you listen to me right now, okay? It doesn't matter who you want to kiss, or who you love. All that matters is that you do love, Kurt, and that you love them. It doesn't matter what anyone else says or thinks or does, Kurt. All that matters is you and the person you love, whomever that may be."
Kurt blinked at her, and she laughed. "That was a little heavy, I'm sorry. What I'm trying to say is that it's okay if you want to kiss Blaine, honey, and it's okay if you love him." She ran her hand over his hair once. "But I meant what I said earlier; you're a little young to be thinking about kissing or about love."
Kurt wrinkled his nose. "Kissing is gross."
"It won't always seem that way," Elizabeth said, laughing again."Is there anything else you wanted to ask me?"
Kurt thought for a moment. "When will I be old enough for kissing?"
Elizabeth looked at her son thoughtfully. "Probably not any time soon...but when you're ready, you'll know."
Kurt sat in silence for a while before nodding slowly. "Okay," was all he said before sliding off the bed and going back to his room.
A few weeks later came the start of the new school year. Kurt was going to be in the second grade, and so was Blaine. It was Blaine's first day at this school, because he'd moved to Lima at the beginning of the summer. The night before their first day, Blaine had come over to play at Kurt's house.
"Are the kids at your school nice?" Blaine asked timidly as they lay side-by-side on the navy blue bed. That was one thing Kurt liked about Blaine: he didn't always need to be moving or playing or screaming. Sometimes he liked to be still and quiet and talk, just like Kurt did.
"Sometimes," Kurt replied. "But sometimes they can be mean."
Blaine frowned at the ceiling, his brow furrowed. "But...you won't be mean, right?"
"Of course not!" Kurt said. "You're my best friend, and I would never be mean to you."
Blaine sat up and looked at him seriously. "Promise?" he said, holding out his pinky finger.
Kurt stared at it for a second before nodding resolutely. "Promise."
They linked pinkies and shook.
The first day of school was always important to Kurt. It was a day of first impressions, and it set a tone for how the rest of year would play out.
And this year, Kurt had a best friend. That was already a pretty good start.
Their parents had decided that Kurt and Blaine's mothers would alternate carpool duties every three weeks, but for the first day, the boys were riding with their respective mothers alone.
"Are you excited for your first day, Blaine?" Mrs. Anderson asked her son as they pulled out of the driveway.
Blaine nodded, a little uncertain.
His mother looked at him over her shoulder, sensing his hesitation. "It's okay to be nervous, hon."
Blaine shrugged."What if the other kids don't like me?"
"I'm sure they will," she replied matter-of-factly, "and anyway, you'll always have Kurt."
Blaine smiled to himself. "Yeah."
Kurt was the first person to enter the classroom-besides the teacher, of course, who instructed him to find the desk with his name on it. He walked between the rows of desks, among the nametags emblazoned with flowers and bumblebees and footballs, finally finding his own, somewhere in the middle and decorated with a cat face. He wrinkled his nose; it was better than a football, at least.
After he set his backpack down and lined his pencils up nice and neat, he set off looking for Blaine's desk, and after a moment, he found it, decorated with a puppy dog, the first desk in the first row...very, very far away from Kurt.
"Is something wrong?" the teacher, Ms. Kimmel, said.
"Not really," Kurt said. "But Blaine is my best friend and he sits way over here."
"Yes," Ms. Kimmel said, looking over at the door as more children came in. "The desks are arranged alphabetically; this way everyone can make new friends!" she said enthusiastically before hurrying over to greet the new kids.
Kurt frowned. He still wanted to sit next to Blaine, but he kept quiet and returned to his seat.
A few minutes later, Blaine appeared in the doorway, his dark curls carefully brushed to one side and looking nervous. He scanned the half-full room for a moment before spotting Kurt and making a beeline for him.
"Hi Kurt!" he said excitedly, paying no mind to the nametags as he slid into the chair next to Kurt. Kurt opened his mouth to point out Blaine's mistake, but was cut short by a burly boy-Kurt remembered him from his birthday, Dave, maybe?-came up and shoved Blaine roughly to the ground. Blaine looked up at him, his brown eyes wide with a mixture of fear and shock-who was this kid, and why was he being so mean?
"You're in my seat," Dave said, sitting down and shoving his backpack under the desk.
Blaine just stayed sprawled on the ground, looking open-mouthed back and forth from Dave to Kurt, who just stared at the floor and fingered the blue plaid bowtie around his neck. After a moment, he stood up, brushed himself off, and dragged his bag to the front of the room.
"Okay, class!" Ms. Kimmel said, clapping her hands once and grinning around at all of them. She was pretty, and young, with straight brown hair and bright green eyes. "I'm very pleased to meet you all, and I think we'll all be great friends! Now, I see you've all brought your things to your desks, so now I'd like you to take your bags to the cubbies in the back..." she gestured with a slender hand, and seventeen heads turned to look. "They all have nametags that match your desks."
There was a surge of noise as all of the students rushed to be first in line at the row of cubbies; Kurt hung back, finally stuffing his Lady and the Tramp backpack in between Dave and a girl named Delilah's cubbies.
The rest of the day was painfully boring, at least to Kurt. They played lots of get-to-know-you games and learned the rules of the classroom, and Kurt evaluated a handful of his classmates.
He already knew Blaine, of course, and sort of the girl next to him, Rachel. She was very attention-y and always volunteered to go first in the games.
And then there was Dave, the mean boy from the park on Kurt's birthday. He didn't really do much besides pushing Blaine down that morning, but that was enough to show what kind of kid he was.
Blaine didn't say much to Kurt for the rest of the day, and kept his eyes pointed to the floor. At recess, he raced out of the room before Kurt could even stand up, and huddled under the jungle gym, criss-cross-apple-sauce and face in one palm.
Kurt lingered by the swings for a minute, watching Blaine sit under the playset alone, drawing shapes in the sand with the tip of one finger. He finally worked up the courage to walk over to his friend.
"Hi Blaine," Kurt said, hooking his legs over the bottom bar and his arms around the next one up, his feet dangling a few inches from the ground.
"H'lo," Blaine said sullenly, not looking up.
They were silent for a minute, and then-
"Blaine?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you...mad at me?"
Blaine stopped drawing; he looked up at Kurt, squinting in the sunlight.
"No..." he said honestly, then hesitated. "But why did you let that boy push me down?"
Now it was Kurt's turn to look at the ground; he shrugged, ashamed. "I dunno," Kurt said. "'Cause he's bigger than me. And he's been mean to me a lot. And I was afraid he'd be mean to me again."
Blaine's expression softened. "You were afraid?"
Kurt shrugged. "A little."
"Oh," Blaine said, scooting a little closer. "I didn't know you were afraid. I was afraid too."
Kurt gave his friend an odd expression, remembering that day of the storm, when they were afraid together in the dark. He remembered what Blaine had done for him, so without a word, he slipped through the bars and kneeled beside his friend, wrapping his thin arms around the boy and hugging him.
"Don't be afraid, Blaine," he whispered. "We can be brave together."
By Christmas of that year, Kurt and Blaine had grown even closer. They'd celebrated Blaine's birthday together, just the two of them, with a sleepover and a Disney party under a blanket fort in Kurt's living room. They didn't play at Blaine's much; his parents were sort of strict.
For Halloween, they were a dog (Blaine) and a cat (Kurt). Kurt carried a tin for Unicef instead of a bag for candy, so Blaine gave him half of his haul. They made matching handprint turkeys for Thanksgiving at school, and made plans to spend the night tons over Christmas break, and the day before Christmas Eve was one of those days.
On the 24th, Blaine was going to California with his parents to visit his grandparents, and he wouldn't be back until January 3rd-the day before they went back to school.
"I dunno what I'm gonna do without you for ten whole days," Kurt said that night as they lay in bed. Ten days was the longest they'd spent apart since...well...ever, really.
Blaine shrugged. "It won't be so bad, Kurt." he moved his hand under the blankets, searching for Kurt's; he found it and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "It's only a coupla days."
Kurt nodded, and they fell asleep in silence.
Two days after Christmas, though, Blaine called Kurt's house.
"Um, Kurt?" Blaine said timidly. "Can I...can I come over today? My...my dad is scaring me."
"Why?" Kurt asked sharply; even though he was only seven, he knew that being afraid of your parents was something serious. Mostly from watching those scary after school specials when his parents weren't home, but also because he was practically the only kid who'd paid attention when the woman from the local women and children's home came to speak about domestic violence.
But, oh yeah, Blaine.
"I'll tell you later, okay?" Blaine said, suddenly sounding very young and very small on the other end of the line. "My Mama's bringing me over now, okay?"
"Okay," Kurt said, and hung up the phone, running to tell his own mother.
Blaine came into the Hummel house and headed straight for Kurt's bedroom, and Kurt followed silently, leaving their mothers to chat.
Blaine sat on Kurt's bed, staring at the floor with a furrowed brow. Kurt watched, wanted Blaine to speak when he was ready. And after a minute, he way.
"Kurt, do you know what gay means?"
Kurt blinked, mulling it over. He thought he'd heard the word before, maybe...and then, yes! In West Side Story, Maria feels pretty and witty and gay! "Yes!" Kurt said. "It means happy, right?"
Blaine nodded, still looking confused. "But I think it means something else, too. Something bad. My Dad says we had to come home early 'cause my uncle's gay."
"Oh," was all Kurt could think to say.
"He seemed pretty happy," Blaine continued thoughtfully. "We were at my gramma and grampa's house, and my uncle was there, but not my Aunt Shelly. My Mama says they got a divorce."
Kurt nodded. He knew tons of kids whose parents got divorces.
"But my uncle had a friend there," Blaine said. "A nice man named Nick. He gave me candy." Blaine fell silent for a moment. "And then after dinner Uncle Jack and Nick took Mama and Dad and gramma and grampa back into the kitchen and then they started screaming, and my Dad made us leave." Blaine looked up at Kurt with big owl eyes. "He said it was 'cause Uncle Jack was gay."
And then it happened: something stirred in the back of Kurt's mind, something about gay...marriage? But what it was exactly, Kurt couldn't be sure.