Sunday, June 17 – Saturday, June 23

When the first campers began to arrive on Sunday, Kurt couldn't believe his eyes.  “Were we seriously ever that little?” he asked Blaine.  “How are we possibly going to teach those munchkins how to ride?”

“Don't worry,” said Blaine.  “We learned, and so will they.”

Ryan had made it clear that all staff were required to attend the Sunday campfires as “community-building time.”  Mondays through Thursdays, each staff member (other than the counselors) would be assigned to one night off of campfire duty.  Kurt was given Tuesdays off, and Blaine had Thursdays.  Ryan explained that he always gave the members of each team separate nights off, since, “togetherness is good, but not too much togetherness.”  On Fridays, everyone would come together again for the final campfire of the week.

Kurt felt excited about their first campfire, especially when he saw that Blaine was bringing his guitar.  Although Kurt could faintly hear Blaine strumming in the other room every night while he was in the shower, Blaine always put his guitar away by the time Kurt came out of the bathroom.  Kurt hadn't wanted to put Blaine on the spot by asking him to play for him, but he was curious to hear how Blaine sounded without the muffling sound of the water.

Sitting down on one of the six logs surrounding the campfire, Kurt noticed that several of the other staff members also had guitars.  He already knew that Ryan and Matthew played, and now he saw that Mark, Chord, and Jacob obviously did as well. 

Once all of the campers were seated, and David had explained the procedures for making s'mores (at which point the assembled boys erupted in cheers) it was time for campfire songs.  The counselors passed out songbooks, but Kurt didn't need one.  He still remembered all of the old songs – Git Along Little Dogies, Home on the Range, Old Cowhand from the Rio Grande, Happy Trails, etc.

Once they'd sung their way through most of the traditional songs, Ryan asked if there were any requests.  This being the first night, the campers seemed to be feeling shy, and no one spoke up.  

Blaine offered, “I've got a song you might like, and it even kind-of has a horse in it.”

There was a chorus of encouragement, so Blaine began to play.  Kurt immediately recognized the tune as an old Monkees song – Daydream Believer.  He wondered fleetingly what the song had to do with horses, before all thoughts were pushed out of his head as Blaine began to sing.     

Of course, Kurt had heard Blaine sing before.  They'd sung together every night of every summer as kids.  And tonight Blaine had been singing along, just like everyone else.  But this was different.  No one else seemed to know the words to the first verse of the song, or at least no one else was joining in, and Blaine's voice ringing out on it's own was the most beautiful thing Kurt had ever heard.

By the time Blaine reached the chorus, Kurt realized that his mouth was hanging open, and tried to cover by singing along.  Most of the staff, and a few of the campers, joined in as well.  At the end of the chorus, though, everyone stopped and let Blaine sing the next verse as a solo.

You once thought of me

As a white knight on his steed

Now you know how happy I can be

Oh, and our good times start and end

Without dollar one to spend

But how much, baby, do we really need?

At the mention of “a white knight on his steed” Kurt had a momentary “oh, there's the horse connection” thought, but then quickly did a double-take.  Why did Blaine just wink at him?  Kurt glanced away in confusion, but when he looked back, Blaine's eyes were still on him, and Blaine seemed to be singing just to Kurt.

Kurt told himself firmly to stop being silly.  He wasn't a little kid anymore, and he knew what these feelings meant.  But it was not appropriate to have a crush on his best friend.  Especially when said best friend was straight.  And his co-worker.  And his roommate.  

Oh, my god, this summer was going to kill him…

Just as they had done when they were 12, Kurt and Blaine got up at 6:00 each morning to go round up the horses.  Not having any precocious campers to assist them, they shared the responsibility with the other four “horse whisperers.”  Each pair spent four days riding out to gather the herd, and two days tossing out the hay.  (Ryan and David fed the few horses they kept in on Sundays.)

The first week of camp, Kurt and Blaine rounded up the horses with Robert and Zach on Monday and Tuesday, and with Matthew and Harry on Wednesday and Thursday.  On Friday, it was their turn to feed, while the other four went on the round-up.  

Kurt tried to lift a hay bale by himself and almost collapsed.  “Oh my god,” he groaned.  “What are we feeding these horses?  Bricks?”

“Weren't you listening when Ryan warned us that the bales weigh over 100 pounds, and we should lift them together?” Blaine asked.

“Apparently not,” Kurt said ruefully, rubbing his back.  

“Are you okay?” Blaine asked, concerned.

“Yeah, I'm fine.”

By that evening, though, it was clear that Kurt wasn't really fine.  His back had seized up, and it was difficult for him to stand upright to walk.  When a hot shower failed to help, Blaine held up a bottle and patted the bed.

“C'mere,” he said.  “I borrowed this liniment from Zach.  He swears it will have you feeling better in no time.”

“Is that the stuff he rubs on the horses?” Kurt asked suspiciously.

“Yeah.  But it says right on the bottle that you can use it on people, too.  C'mon.”

Kurt walked stiffly over to the bed and lay down on his stomach with a groan.  Blaine straddled his hips and began pulling up his pajama top.

“What are you doing?” Kurt asked, flustered.

“Well, you don't expect me to put the liniment on over your shirt, do you?”

Kurt grunted, and shifted so that Blaine could remove his shirt.  The next moment he gasped as Blaine drizzled the cold liniment over his back.  The icy feeling quickly turned to heat as Blaine began to rub the liniment into his sore muscles.

Kurt sighed as Blaine kneaded his back, helping to ease the tightness he'd been carrying all day.  As the knots in his back released, Kurt felt his pain and tension melting away.  

“Mmmm…” he moaned.  “That feels really good.”

Suddenly Blaine's hands left his back as Blaine leapt up off of the bed.  

“Okay, um, good,” Blaine said quickly.  “I'm glad it helped.  Okay, well, I'd better let you get some sleep now, then.”

And with that, Blaine climbed up onto his own bunk and switched off the light.  Kurt was left alone in his bed to wonder what the hell had just happened.

On Saturday morning, Kurt was pleased to wake up without any residual soreness.  He was less pleased to discover that Blaine was still acting jumpy and strange.

Kurt tried to talk to Blaine a couple of times to find out what was going on, but Blaine just shrugged him off, and they were so busy that Kurt didn't have time to press.

That afternoon, though, once all but a few of the campers had left, Kurt asked Blaine if he'd like to go for a trail ride.  He knew that being with the horses always helped to calm his friend down.  He hoped that once they were away from the main camp, Blaine would be willing to talk to him about what was going on.

They headed out along Blaine's favorite trail – a narrow, shady path that followed the creek.  Blaine was quiet until the trail opened out into a secluded meadow.  Then he slid down off of his horse and ground-tied her.  Kurt followed suit.

“Kurt, can I talk to you about something?” Blaine asked hesitantly.

“Of course.  You know you can always talk to me about anything.”

“How did you know you were gay?”

Kurt was surprised by the question.  “It was pretty obvious,” he said.  “I got crushes on boys instead of on girls.”

“But how did you know they were crushes?” Blaine persisted.  “How did you know you didn't just really like them, and admire them, and want to be like them.  You know, like maybe they were your role-models, or something.”

“Well, I've had plenty of role-models, like my glee club coach, or David and Ryan.  But I never wanted to kiss any of them.  If you want to kiss someone, it's a crush.”

“What if I want to kiss you?” Blaine asked, so quietly that Kurt almost missed it.

“Then I think you should.”

Kurt couldn't believe he'd been so bold.  The instant the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to take them back.  Blaine couldn't possibly mean that he actually wanted to kiss him.  It was just a hypothetical question, and now Kurt had gone and made things awkward.  He looked down, embarrassed.   

Kurt was just opening his mouth to explain that he'd been joking, when he felt Blaine's lips on his.  He barely had time to register the kiss before Blaine was pulling away again.

“I think I'm gay,” he said.

“Oh, thank god,” Kurt sighed, leaning in for another kiss.