The next morning, the boys woke up together in a warm clump and quickly realized that they had fallen asleep holding hands. There was some awkward blushing, and mumbled apologies and quick exits to the bathroom to change. Kurt dressed himself in a black button up, sleeves rolled above his elbows and a pair of red skinny jeans; not his worst fashion choice by far, and certainly not his wildest. After all, Blaine was there.

However, a few minutes later Kurt noted that Blaine was just as awkward as him- at least, in some departments. He had a strange taste of clothing, for one, deciding to wear a pair of pale yellow jeans that he had rolled up to his calves and a deep green Henley.

The morning passed gradually as they ate pancakes and bacon on the couch, and watched the sky change colors through the living room window. Later that morning, they moved from the couch to the floor, heads facing towards the window, and answered Elizabeth when asked, that it provided a better view out the window and the brewing storm.

“I thought you had work today?” Kurt asked, twisting around on the floor to look up at his mother.

“I still do. I switched shifts with Mr Baxter so I’ll be working the late shift.”

Kurt watched her walk into the kitchen before twisting back around to his original spot next to Blaine.

“Want to watch a movie? I don’t have many –mostly musicals- so it’s okay if you don’t”

He saw Blaine perk up at the mention of musicals.

“Do you have West Side Story? Please say you have West Side Story.”

An hour later, they were curled on either side of the couch covered by a large blanket. It had just started raining, and the soft pitter-patter was making Blaine sleepy. Kurt, however, was wide awake –or as awake as he could be for West Side Story.

“I don’t get this musical.”

Blaine looked up from his side of the couch, confused and squinting sleepily.

“You don’t get it?”

Kurt sighed, and started talking, moving his hands to emphasize.

“No, no, I get it. It’s Romeo and Juliet, but Christ, why would Tony go to that fight? Why would Romeo kill himself?” He crossed his arms, scooting a little closer to Blaine, causing the boy’s heart to flutter. “I just don’t understand it. It’s supposed to be for love, but it’s ridiculous. Do they not realize that it’s ridiculous?”

Blaine snorted, which gained him a light slap on his arm.

“Don’t laugh! I’m serious!”

Kurt’s exclamation only made Blaine laugh harder, and soon Kurt joined him. Before long, they were wiping tears from their eyes and trying to catch their breaths.

“Seriously though, I think it’s ridiculous.”

Kurt said once they had calmed down enough. Blaine looked down and shook his head.

“I guess it’s a little ridiculous, but I think it’s romantic. Loving somebody so much that you can’t live without them.”

Blaine smiled shyly, looking down.

“I hope I love somebody that much one day.”

He looked up to see Kurt smiling at him.

“I suspect one day, you will.” Kurt whispered. Softly linking hands with Blaine for a moment before both boys blushed and returned their attention to the movie.

After their fit of laughter, the boys hadn’t noticed that they had moved closer to each other but as the last scenes of the movie played out, Kurt felt a weight drop onto his shoulder. Blaine had fallen asleep, and while he looked young in the waking world, he looked even younger when he was asleep. Kurt watched a curl fall over his face and smiled, laying his head atop Blaine’s a giving into sleep too.

00

When Blaine woke up he nuzzled his face into his pillow. It was squishier than normal, and warm. He opened his eyes, and flushed tomato red when he realized his pillow was one of Kurt’s thighs; Kurt was currently part way on top of him, head resting near his hip. He wasn’t sure what to do, and was thankful that he hadn’t gotten and erection while they napped, because that had been happening a lot lately. He was trying to get himself to stop thinking about erections when he felt Kurt move above him.

“Kurt?” he whispered. “Are you awake?”

He felt a little more movement before Kurt shot up and off the couch, frantically moving his hands and babbling out an apology.

“Oh my god, Blaine, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you because we don’t know each other that well or, like, at all, I’m so sorry, pleaseforgiveme.” He covered his face and sat back down as his cheeks turned a warm pink.

Blaine took Kurt’s hands away from his face and smiled – trying to catch Kurt’s eye.

“It’s okay. I think I fell asleep on you first anyways.”

Kurt ducked his head and smiled.

“Yeah, you did. Your curls tickle, by the way.”

Blaine felt himself turn a deeper red, and self-consciously tugged on a curl at the base of his neck. He didn’t like them all that much, and they had only ever drawn negative attention, but he liked knowing he was defying his father by not taming them. He came back from his thoughts, realizing that he had been staring at Kurt who was now amusedly staring back.

He had now seen Kurt sleep-rumpled twice, but this time was far less awkward than earlier that morning, and Blaine still thought Kurt looked beautiful.

His usually perfectly coiffed hair was slightly ruffled on one side, and his cheeks were a delicate rose-pink that contrasted strikingly against his pale skin. His eyes always held certain warmth, and they were never the same shade of blue. Those things on their own, they attracted Blaine, but that picture combined?

It made his stomach flop, and his chest feel warmer than the summer that the entire town was suffering under. He’d barely let himself wonder a few times if Kurt’s stomach flopped the same way when he saw Blaine; he didn’t want to get his hopes up just to be let down. He knew he wasn’t much of a catch.

A loud clap of thunder broke the boys’ lingering look, and Kurt jumped back a little at the sudden noise. Looking out the window, he saw that the rain was coming down harder than before they had fallen asleep, and he was hit by a sudden urge, jumping off the couch in a hurry and grabbing one of Blaine’s hands.

“Follow me! We’re going outside!”

Being dragged through the door and into the rain before he could protest, Blaine laughed as Kurt twirled around in the little space between the neighboring row of houses. Kurt grabbed Blaine’s hands and started to spin them around in fast circles until they were a laughing heap on the concrete. Kurt pulled them off the ground and brushed Blaine’s soaked curls out of his eyes.

Kurt dropped his hand from Blaine’s face, but neither of them made to move away. Kurt put a hand on Blaine’s waist and moved Blaine’s hand to his shoulder taking Blaine’s other hand in his. He caught Blaine’s gaze, asking quietly.

“Is this okay?”

Kurt watched Blaine look down to their joined hands and back up, nodding slightly. Kurt took the lead, and they moved in a simple box waltz. They inched closer to each other for warmth as the dance continued, and soon they found themselves nearly chest to chest.

Kurt didn’t realize they had stopped moving. He’d gotten lost in the warm honey of Blaine’s eyes and the way Blaine’s hand felt warm and heavy on his shoulder.

Kurt felt Blaine’s whole body shiver under his hands breaking his reverie. “Let’s get you out of the rain.” He said. An image of his lips against Blaine’s both soaked wet from the rain, flashed into his mind, teasing him with things he knew would never happen.

Blaine dropped his hand from Kurt’s shoulder, and the sudden loss of warmth had Kurt suppressing a shiver of his own that had very little to do with the cold. He led Blaine back inside and up the stairs to the bathroom to dry off.

“You can shower if you want. I’m just going to dry off.” He said, handing Blaine a fluffy dark blue towel.

“I think I’m just going to dry off too.” Blaine took the towel, draping it over the nape of his neck.

“Okay. I’ll bring you something to change into.”

Kurt took a towel out of the cupboard and was almost out of the bathroom when Blaine added, “Can you bring me another pair of your pajamas? They smell really nice.”

Kurt stopped walking and spluttered silently for a second, before forcing out a breathless, okay.

He continued to his room and hid his head under the towel, not caring that he was creating a small puddle of water on his carpeted floor. Pulling the towel down around his shoulders, he went over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of grey sweatpants and an old red shirt that read Hummel Tires and Lube.

Kurt put them on top of the dresser and peeled off his soaked black button up, throwing it into his hamper. His grey undershirt clung to his skin but wasn’t nearly as wet as his button up. He walked back down the hall and knocked on the bathroom door.

“Blaine?” He called tentatively. “I have your clothes.”

He heard movement on the other side of the door before Blaine was peeking around it, holding out a hand.

“Thanks, Ku-uh” Blaine’s eyes widened and he cleared his throat, “Kurt.”

Blaine averted his eyes to the floor, grabbing the clothes and shutting the door. Kurt stood with his head cocked to the side, unsure of what just happened.

On the other side of the door, Blaine leaned against the bathroom counter, eyes closed and breathing deeply.

This was not happening.

Kurt was just his friend. His incredibly kind, very attractive friend who he was staying with for who knows how long. He was not currently thinking about how much of Kurt’s skin he just saw, or about how his wet undershirt outlined his entire chest and he was definitely not thinking about how he now knew that Kurt had slight muscles that would no doubt start to really show in a year or two.

He was definitely not thinking about Kurt at all while he changed quickly into the boy’s wonderful smelling clothes.

Kurt was lying on his bed in a black and white striped sweater that always hung off his shoulder and a pair of white silk pajama bottoms when Blaine knocked to make sure it was okay to come in. Kurt sat up, crisscrossing his legs and watched Blaine shift awkwardly in the doorway.

“If you want to put your clothes in my hamper, we can do laundry and then heat up some spaghetti?” he offered, hoping Blaine would calm down.

He didn’t like when Blaine was so obviously unsure of himself. Blaine nodded his head, playing with the hem of his shirt. Kurt furrowed his brow, something was up.

00

“Why do I feel like something’s wrong?” Kurt huffed, an hour later, turning away from the dryer.

They had spent the entire wash cycle in silence, with Blaine mostly ignoring Kurt’s questioning looks and his gaze altogether. Blaine looked up, at Kurt’s statement, confused.

“What?”

Kurt shook his head, going back to transferring their clothes.

“I just mean that you haven’t said anything since we came back inside, and I swear you’re not looking at me on purpose.”

He pushed the dryer’s buttons with more force than necessary and turned around again to face Blaine, who was obviously blushing and looking at the wall with tired eyes.

“I- it’s nothing. I’m just being stupid. I’m sorry.”

Now it was Kurt’s turn to look confused.

“…Okay, well, I don’t think it’s nothing, but I’m not going to push you. I know we don’t actually know each other that well, but I think we know each other well enough to –Blaine? Are you okay?”

Blaine looked like he was about to cry and Kurt was about to start needlessly apologizing when Blaine was suddenly hugging him, clinging tightly to the back of his sweater.

Kurt was surprised but wrapped his arms around him regardless. Blaine started talking, voice muffled by Kurt’s sweater.

“You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. I don’t want to leave.”

He clutched Kurt tighter than he already was, and Kurt could feel his rapid heartbeat against his own chest.

“Blaine, you don’t have to leave. Why on Earth would you think so?”

Kurt start running a hand through Blaine’s soft curls to try and make him relax.

“School. I’ll have to go back to Dalton soon.”

Kurt had forgotten about Dalton, and he didn’t want Blaine to go either. They had ten days before school started.

It wasn’t enough time.

He wanted to be selfish and keep Blaine here, but he knew that would never be an option.

“Shh, don’t think about school right now. We’ve got plenty of time to see each other before then.”

Neither of them said it, but they both thought that there wouldn’t be enough time if they had years.

Kurt felt more than heard Blaine’s stomach rumble against his and pulled away to look at Blaine, sighing internally. He was gorgeous.

“Come on, let’s get something to eat.”

Blaine unwrapped himself from Kurt and shyly took his hand, letting himself be lead into the kitchen.

“What do you want to eat? I know we agreed upon spaghetti but if you want something else, we can make something.” Kurt said, rummaging through the fridge.

“Do you have cereal?”

Kurt looked around the door.

“Yeah, come pick some out!”

Kurt smiled softly

“We can have breakfast for dinner.”

The boys ate in silence, listening to the now raging storm outside. Kurt snuck looks at Blaine, and when he wasn’t Blaine was sneaking look at Kurt. When they were done eating, Kurt wordlessly took their bowls and put them in the sink. When he turned around, Blaine wasn’t at the table; he was leaning against the counter opposite Kurt.

“Can we watch another movie? I’m kind of tired.”

They picked out Anastasia, and laid on the living room floor under a small fortress of blankets.

This was Kurt’s favourite animated movie, and he quietly hummed along with Once Upon a December, unknowingly lulling Blaine to sleep.

Kurt dropped off not long after.

Elizabeth came home a few hours later, nearly stepping on the two boys who were now fast asleep. She let them continue sleeping and went upstairs to her room, knowing that tomorrow wouldn’t be an easy day for Blaine.

Of all the bad parent’s she’d encountered, she was starting to like the Anderson’s the least of all.

Blaine was a sweet boy, and made her son happier than she had seen him in a while. After she changed into pajamas and crawled into bed, she thought of the small boy in her son’s arms, and she hoped that she could better his life even a little bit –starting tomorrow.