Saturday, July 21

The following weekend found the boys in Blaine's car, heading up the highway toward Westerville.  Kurt sat back to enjoy the ride, occasionally singing along when a good song came on the radio. 

Once they'd turned onto city streets and were approaching Blaine's house, however, Kurt began to feel a little nervous.  He'd met Blaine's parents many times, of course, but that had been years ago.  Regardless of what Blaine said about his parents being “completely fine with it,” Kurt couldn't help but worry about how they'd react to him in his new role as “the boyfriend.”

“Relax,” Blaine said, squeezing Kurt's hand as he parked in the driveway.   “They're going to love you.  Because I love you.  And because how could anybody possibly not love you?  Have you met you?  You're totally lovable!” 

Kurt returned the pressure of Blaine's fingers, smiling at his boyfriend's over-exuberance.  “Okay,” he said.  “Let's do this.”

The boys gathered their bags full of dirty laundry from the trunk, then made their way up the steps to the front door of the imposing house.  Blaine let himself in with his key.  “Mom, Dad, I'm home!” he called out.

When there was no answer, Blaine walked into the kitchen and picked up a note from the table.  Reading it silently first, he then explained to Kurt, “My parents had to go to one of their charity things, and won't be back until 4:30 or 5:00.  Cooper is out with friends until after dinner, and he wants to meet up later for Karaoke.  So it looks like we've got the house to ourselves for a couple of hours.”

Kurt let out a sigh of relief at getting to put off what he was still afraid would be a slightly awkward meeting.  

 “C'mon,” Blaine said, heading up the stairs, “let me show you my room.”

Kurt followed his boyfriend eagerly, curious to see what Blaine was like in his native habitat.  Standing in the doorway of the bedroom, Kurt noted with amusement that Blaine had obviously been in a hurry when he'd left for camp at the beginning of the summer.  Dresser drawers stood half-open, and several clean outfits that Blaine had apparently considered and then discarded lay on his unmade bed.

“Oops, sorry about the mess,” Blaine said.  “I didn't realize I was going to be having company.”  He quickly gathered up the stray clothing and tossed it into his dresser, pushing the drawers closed with one hip.

“Don't worry about it,” Kurt said.  “I'm not your mother.”

“Nope.  If you were, you wouldn't be allowed in my room,” Blaine joked.

Kurt wandered over to a corkboard on one wall.  He was surprised to see an old photograph of himself and Blaine, arms around each other, laughing into the camera.  “Where'd you get this?” he asked.

Blaine came over and wrapped his arms around Kurt from behind.  “My mom took that at the beginning of the summer when we were twelve.  I've always loved that picture.  It reminds me how happy we were to see each other again after having been apart all year.”

“I always missed you so much,” Kurt remembered.  “I lived for your letters.”

“Me too.  I kept every one you ever wrote me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, wanna see?”

Blaine opened his closet and pulled a box off of the top shelf.  Inside were hundreds of envelopes.  Kurt recognized the progression of his handwriting over the years, from his childish printing, to his loopy cursive, to the hybrid combination of the two he'd settled into as a teenager.    

“I'm really sorry I stopped writing so often when we got older,” Kurt said with a little catch in his voice.

“Hey, it's okay.  We've talked about all that, and I understand.”

Kurt draped his wrists loosely around Blaine's neck.  “Have I told you lately that I love you?”

“I love you, too,” Blaine said, tipping his head for a kiss.  “You know,” he added, pulling back slightly, “my parents won't be home for a couple of hours yet.  Do you think I could talk you into taking a shower with me?”

“Hmmm…. We've never done anything like that before.”

“Nope.  We're shower virgins.”

“So this is another one of those ‘losing our virginity together' moments that you were talking about?”

“Yep.  If you want it to be, that is.”

Kurt hesitated for a moment.  For some reason, this felt like a big step.

Kurt knew that he was in a process of self-discovery this summer, and one of the things he'd learned was that, although he didn't have to worry about Blaine pushing him sexually, he did have to be careful not to push himself.  So he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to gauge how he really felt about this before giving Blaine an answer.

“I'd like that,” he said at last.

Blaine beamed at him, taking his hand and leading him down the hallway.  They stopped at a closet to gather a couple of fluffy cotton towels and washcloths.  Once they reached the spacious bathroom, Kurt began to feel a little self-conscious.  

Blaine, free of inhibitions as usual, immediately began stripping off his clothes.  Kurt wasn't sure where to look.  He solved the problem by pulling his own shirt over his head, effectively blocking his view of Blaine's body.  Then, sitting on the closed lid of the toilet, he bent down and stared steadfastly at the floor as he removed his boots and socks before standing up to remove his pants and, finally, his underwear.

Meanwhile, Blaine had turned on the water, and was testing the temperature with one hand.  “Look – we've got this cool rainforest shower head,” he pointed out.  

Kurt smiled at him indulgently.  He found Blaine's enthusiasm about his enormous, ceiling-mounted shower head – just like his enthusiasm about almost everything else in his life – to be endearingly contagious.  “It looks great, Blaine.”

Finally satisfied that the water temperature was to his liking, Blaine stepped into the shower, holding out his hand to help Kurt in after him.  His touch was casual and friendly, and Kurt felt himself beginning to relax.  He dared a glance at his boyfriend's naked body.  

Given that they'd been (kind-of – Kurt really wasn't sure how he defined everything yet) having sex, he guessed that it was odd that he hadn't seen Blaine naked before (at least, not since they were kids).  But up until this moment, all of their encounters had been fully clothed: cuddled up together in their pajamas, just letting their bodies do what came naturally.  Now, giving himself permission to look at last, Kurt was pleasantly surprised by what he saw.

The first thing he noticed was how muscular Blaine had become.  Of course, they weren't kids anymore, but it was more than that.  The past six weeks spent riding and working with the horses, not to mention lifting 100-pound hay bales, had left Blaine toned and fit.  Glancing down at his own body, Kurt was surprised to discover that his own muscles were more defined, as well. 

Kurt noted with interest that Blaine had a little more hair than he did, but other than that, basic male anatomy seemed to be the same.  Dragging his eyes back up, he found Blaine looking at him, amused.  “You were totally just checking me out, weren't you?”

Kurt grinned back.  “Maybe.”

“Well?”

“Well, what?”

“Do I pass inspection?”

“You'll do.”

Blaine flicked a washcloth at him.  “You are such a brat!”

“Hey!” Kurt said, grabbing the washcloth and wrapping it around the back of Blaine's neck to bring him closer, “you'd better behave yourself if you want to have any chance of getting lucky here, mister.”

“Oh my god,” Blaine said, eyes abruptly dilated and voice dropped low.  “Are you serious?  I thought I was lucky enough just getting you to agree to a platonic shower together.  You mean we're actually going to get to do stuff, too?”

“We'll see,” Kurt replied, suddenly coy.

“Okay, well, now you're just a brat and a tease.”

“Admit it – you love it.”

In an instant, Blaine's mood changed from playful to serious.  “I do love it.  And I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Kurt said, pulling Blaine in for a kiss.