AN- Sorry guys, this has nothing to do with my 'Friendships' and 'Falling' universe. This is a present for Lauren, who was drawn a picture by the EXTREMELY talented Muchacha10 and asked for a fic from me.
I hope you like it anyway!
It starts out innocently enough.
They're watching movies in the living room, curled up together on the couch. Blaine's head is resting on Kurt's chest while the taller boy runs his hands idly through Blaine's curls, silently thanking everyone and anyone for the fact that his boyfriend went gel-free for the day.
No one's home. Burt and Carole are out on their own date night. This isn't odd at all; the Hummels have no qualms about leaving Blaine and Kurt alone together. Burt knows that his son is not ready for sex if their recent talk is any indication. And, over the last few months, he's managed to figure out that Blaine is not about to pressure Kurt into anything he doesn't want to do.
Finn is at Rachel's. The newly reunited couple tries to spend as much time together as possible, considering Rachel's plans to move to New York right after graduation. Kurt is waiting for his lovable but a doof stepbrother to realize he could go with his girlfriend to the big city and save them both the heartache.
As Kurt and Blaine snuggle, their attention focused solely on the movie, they hear the quiet rumbling of thunder in the background. Kurt's hand stills in Blaine's hair and the shorter boy mutes the TV, listening closely. A few seconds later, more thunder, this time louder. Blaine sits up, his face eager.
"A storm!"
He quickly pushes a few buttons on the remote and switches from the movie to the weather channel. They're reporting on the breaking weather: a storm is on its way. They start listing the counties in which the storm is headed to, advising occupants to stay indoors and gather any candles or flashlights. Blaine eyes the list; Lima is in one of the counties.
He turns to Kurt, a grin plastered on his face, but it falls quickly as he takes in his boyfriend's paler than usual skin and wide eyes.
"Babe? You okay?"
Kurt forces a smile. "Totally fine. I should, uh, I should call my dad. And Finn. Make sure that they're okay."
Blaine tilts his head to the side when Kurt doesn't move. "Would you like me to call them?"
"Sure," Kurt squeaks.
He hands Blaine his phone and Blaine goes through his boyfriend's address book, finding Burt's number easily. He hits 'call' and waits. Burt picks up on the second ring.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Mr. Hummel. This is Blaine."
"Is everything alright? Where's Kurt."
"Everything's fine, Kurt's right here next to me. He wanted to call you because a storm was coming in but-"
He hears Burt sigh. "Did he freeze up?"
"Uh, yeah."
Burt says something that sounds like a swear. "I was afraid of that. Kid's scared to death of storms."
Blaine smiles softly to Kurt, holds up one finger, and slips out of the living room. "Don't worry, Mr. Hummel, I'll take care of him. I just need to know where your flashlights and candles are. Oh," he adds as though suddenly struck with a thought, "And your game closet, if you have one."
Kurt pulls his knees to his chest and stares at the television, listening to the news reporter drone on about what to do in case of emergencies. He hates emergencies. He hates storms. The thunder is always too loud, the lightning way too bright and...
He shudders. He hears Blaine moving around throughout the house. Probably getting things ready. Kurt's too scared to feel embarrassed by how he's acting and it's not like Blaine hasn't seen Kurt in states of worse. Besides, Blaine loves him too much to care about stupid phobias.
He's instantly brought back in time the coffee shop, the dopey look on Blaine's face, the smile, the not forced out, completely unexpected 'I love you'. His own surprise, the scalding hot coffee in his mouth that he forgot how to swallow because, wow, did Blaine really just say that? And, finally, his own response. A little quick but true nonetheless.
Then another loud boom of thunder and he's back in his living room, arms tighter around his knees.
"Kurt?" Blaine pokes his head in. "You doing okay? You kind of…screamed."
"F-fine," Kurt replies, blushing slightly. "I…I don't like storms."
Blaine smiles kindly and walks further into the living room. His hands are full; flashlights and candles abound. He dumps them all onto the table and kisses Kurt's forehead.
"I'm almost done, I promise."
"What did my dad say?"
"He and Carole are going to be stuck at the restaurant. He doesn't want to get caught in the storm while on the road but he'll be here as soon as he can. I also called Finn, he's fine to stay at Rachel's."
"And…you?"
"I'm not going anywhere, babe," he promises, pressing his forehead against Kurt's.
Kurt sighs deeply in relief. "Good."
Blaine has a plan.
It's all thanks to his little sister, really. She was like Kurt when they were kids, terrified beyond belief of storms. And, in order to help her through it, their mother always had a plan.
A plan Blaine is enacting right now.
He knows that Kurt keeps his sheets in the closet upstairs but also knows his boyfriend might pitch a fit if he uses Kurt's expensive, silk sheets for what he's doing. So, he ventures into the downstairs closet and finds enough sheets that are definitely not Kurt's.
Then, he stops at the other closet and dives in, searching for any and all games that he knows Kurt would like. He even finds a couple coloring books that had surprisingly not been colored in. With all this gathered in his arms, he heads back to the living room.
Kurt is right where he left him; on the couch curled up, eyes locked on the TV. Blaine's heart clenches at the fear in his boyfriend's eyes and his confidence in the plan goes up tenfold. He places his pile of stuff on the floor, then walks to the kitchen grabbing chairs from the dining table and hauling them back in the living room.
By the third chair, Kurt looks up.
"What are you doing?"
"You'll see!" Blaine calls as he slips back towards the kitchen.
Kurt's eyebrows furrow but he makes no move to get off the couch. He just watches Blaine come back in and start setting up the chairs, finally deeming them placed well.
"Hey, babe? Could you come over here for a sec?"
He stumbles towards his boyfriend and feels his nerves leave slightly when Blaine beams at him.
"Thanks. Could you help me throw this blanket over the chairs?"
Kurt gives him a puzzled look but takes the other end of the blanket and drapes it over the wood. Blaine goes to move away but Kurt stops him.
"This isn't even, honey…"
Hiding a smile, Blaine grabs the end again and they drape it over a couple more times before it looks even. Then, Blaine pulls tape out of nowhere and tapes down his end.
"Catch!"
Kurt barely does so. But he does manage to tape his end down rather evenly. He knows Blaine probably didn't.
A boom of thunder and Kurt drops the tape. Blaine is at his side immediately.
"Why don't you pick out another sheet to place over this one? This way, I can't make them clash horribly."
"You would," Kurt manages to get out.
Blaine smiles, accomplished, as Kurt slowly begins to ignore the storm and pick out their next sheet. Over the next twenty minutes or so, the boys work together, draping and taping and folding and creasing until they have exactly what Blaine set out to make.
"A fort?" Kurt asks with a small grin.
"Crawl in," Blaine suggests, coming up behind him. He kisses the back of Kurt's neck. "I'll join you in a sec."
Kurt does as asked, marveling at how much cozier it felt in here than out there. Blaine pokes his head in to hand Kurt a pile of pillows, then disappears once more. Kurt arranges the pillows comfortably, then lays down, his eyes on the entrance.
Blaine finally crawls in, pushing a stack of board games, coloring books and crayons along with a couple flashlights.
"I left the candles outside," he says. "If push comes to shove, I'll light them out there. But, I figure, we have flashlights in here so we're fine."
"I have an idea," Kurt says. He hesitates for a moment, then crawls out. Blaine wants to go after him, but Kurt says for him to just wait. He's back ten minutes later, a box in his hand.
"Lights?" Blaine asks.
"Twinkling lights," Kurt corrects. "I know the power might go out but…"
"I'll plug them in," Blaine promises. "You can hang them up. Did you want me to grab a blanket for us to sit on while I'm out?"
"Sure," Kurt puts the lights up quickly, then looks through the games. He recognizes Candy Land (his favorite as a kid),Chutes and Ladders, Sorry, and a couple jigsaw puzzles. The lights suddenly turn on, making the fort seem even more magical, and Blaine returns with a blanket seconds later. They move things around until the blanket is spread on the floor beneath them.
"Why did you do all this?" Kurt asks.
"My mom used to make a blanket fort for my sister when it stormed," Blaine explains. "It kept her mind off everything and made her feel safe. I just wanted to make you feel safe too."
Kurt kisses him. "I love you."
"Love you too," Blaine whispers.
They play Candy Land first and Kurt royally kicks Blaine's ass. He kisses Blaine's pout away and lets him pick the next game.
It thunders as they play Sorry and Blaine watches Kurt carefully for any panicking. His boyfriend, however, seems too preoccupied with the game to care and Blaine's smile widens, even after he rolls a one.
They don't play Chutes and Ladders. Instead, they put together one of the puzzles, a Disney one Kurt had as a kid, that Blaine fully approves of. It's all the princesses together, with Cinderella right out in front.
"I never understood why she was the most popular princess," Kurt muses as he searches for pieces.
"Same," Blaine says. "Belle is obviously the best. She's book smart and she's got a better song."
"I always liked Jasmine," Kurt says. "She was such a badass. And Aladdin wasn't bad to look at either."
Blaine leans forward and kisses Kurt's shoulder. "Have a crush on Prince Ali, do we? Well, I know what I'm being for Halloween this year."
Kurt looks over his shoulder and glares playfully at him. "You wouldn't dare."
"Oh, wouldn't I?"
Kurt hides a smile, then sighs.
"Thank you. For all this."
"No need to thank me. I'm the boyfriend, sort of my job to do things like this. It's like…remember that one time? We were in my room and there was a spider crawling on the ceiling? And I freaked out because I'm terrified of spiders. What did you do?"
"I laughed at you."
"After you laughed at me."
"I got a cup, trapped the spider, and let it out of the house. Then I took you out and bought you ice cream."
"Exactly. You took care of me. I'm just doing the same. It's the joys of coupledom."
Kurt abandons his puzzle to sit on Blaine's lap. He wraps his arms around Blaine's neck and pulls him in for a deep kiss.
"I love you so much, Blaine. I'm so lucky," he whispers.
"We both got lucky," Blaine assures him.
They kiss again. Blaine's arms travel up Kurt's back, pulling him closer. Kurt hums a little into the kiss and pulls away with a sly smile.
"You brought coloring books?"
Blaine grins bashfully. "I love to color."
"It's so mundane though," Kurt slides off his lap and Blaine whines. "And super easy."
"Hey. Those lines are a bitch to stay inside of."
Kurt giggles. "You can color. I'll watch."
"Fine."
Stubbornly, Blaine grabs the book and pack of crayons and flips open to a random page. He colors, his tongue darting out in concentration. When he's finished, he brandishes the paper at Kurt proudly.
"I stayed in every line!"
Kurt smiles, and starts to fold the paper up. He turns away so Blaine can't see, then back with a wide grin.
"Voila!"
He holds out an Origami bird. Blaine's mouth drops in surprise.
"Where did you…" he trails off, then looks back at the coloring book. "Show me."
"Fine."
Kurt watches as Blaine grabs the crayons and finds another picture.
"You don't have to color every one, honey."
"Kurt," Blaine blinks up at him. "It's a coloring book."
Kurt just hides a smile.
Burt Hummel all but takes the door down when he finally arrives home.
Waiting out that storm, knowing Kurt was trapped here, probably scared out of his mind was one of the worst things he's ever had to go through.
"Kurt!" he calls the second he walks inside. "Where are you, son!"
"Kurt?" Carole also calls, coming in behind her husband. "Sweetie?"
They walk into the living room and stop dead. A giant fort built out of sheets takes up a quarter of their living room. Non-lit candles are spread around the room and Burt spies a couple of flashlights among the mess. He hesitates for a moment, then kneels down and pulls the entrance to the fort up.
"Aww," Carole cooes.
Blaine and Kurt are curled up together in the floor, Kurt's head resting on Blaine's shoulder, with Blaine's arms snug around him. Board game boxes are spread out all around them and a half-finished puzzle lies in one corner. Twinkling lights are hung around the ceiling of the fort, casting a glow on the boys' face. Also hanging are Oragami birds made from what looks like old paper that's been colored on.
And, the most obvious of all, are the slight smiles on both the boys' faces.
Burt has to hide one of his own as he lets the flap drop and stands up. He meets Carole's eyes, who's beaming, and wraps an arm around her shoulders, leading her out of the room.
"Why don't we call Finn and make sure he's okay?"
Back in the tent, Kurt sidles closer to Blaine, who's arms tighten around boyfriend, both still fast asleep. In about an hour, Finn will burst into the room loudly and wake them both up. They'll crawl out from their fortress of solitude with identical glares. Carole will interrupt the sure-to-be murder of her only son by calling all the boys in the kitchen for cookies and milk.
Blaine and Kurt will slowly take down their fort and put away their mess. They'll kiss goodbye softly and Blaine will promise to come back over and build another fort every time there's a storm.
But, for right now, they'll sleep peacefully, wrapped up in each other in their fort built out of sheets.
AN- So much fluff. One of these days, I just might go angst...I won't.