Chapter 24

‘Some people might think we really suck at ice skating,’ Kurt chuckled, as he laced his skates. Their bruises have just started to turn into an ugly greenish, Blaine’s a little more slowly than his friend’s.

Blaine responded with a short bark of laughter, but he didn’t like walking around looking like he’d been in a fight – mostly because that was exactly the case. Kurt wasn’t thrilled about it either, but he was determined to put all this behind him, and humour helped a little.

The skating rink was Kurt’s favourite place in winter in Lima. It made him feel like a kid again, and reminded him of those many times he would go there with his parents so many years ago. Almost every winter Sunday used to be skating day for the Hummels before Elizabeth’s death. Burt tried to keep up the tradition, but memories stung and something always felt wrong.

Kurt had decided to try and go back to visiting the rink regularly the previous year, this time not with his father, but with his best friend. Despite initial hurdles, Blaine proved to be a skilled skater and if he happened to fall – which was rare – he did it as gracefully as possible. And when he’d look up with his puppy eyes, an extended hand would wait for him to pick him up, and he would smile broadly.

‘Should you even be skating already?,’ Blaine asked after a moment, eyeing Kurt with concern.

Kurt rolled his eyes at him.

‘I’m good as new. It was just a mild concussion and I’ve been fine almost a week.’ He stood up cautiously and stepped out onto the ice. ‘Can we please go and have fun?’

He outstretched his hand towards Blaine, who took it with a sigh and heaved himself up to his feet.

‘Just let’s be careful, okay? I really would rather not have to pick you up from the ice mutilated by other peoples’ blades.’

‘God, don’t be dramatic.’ Letting go of Blaine’s hand, Kurt sped ahead through the ice.

‘Just try and don’t get dizzy!,’ Blaine called after him.

Kurt turned swiftly, giving him a look of offended disbelief. With another deep sigh, Blaine followed his friend, going just a little bit more slowly than he used to the year before.

***

Blaine stopped abruptly by one of the barriers and spun around. He could swear he’d caught a glimpse of something he wouldn’t have expected to see in a public place in Lima, except maybe outside of the infamous gay bar Scandals. It took him a few seconds to find the two figures in the distance again, but eventually he succeeded.

The two boys couldn’t be more than a few years older than Blaine and he eyed them curiously, trying to establish whether his first instincts were right. They couldn’t be brothers; one had an outrageous head of blond hair, the other was a brunette, slightly burlier than the former. He reminded Blaine of Karofsky, and he pushed the thought hastily away. The way the pair was holding hands could be taken for them helping each other to keep their balance, if not for the fact that they were capable of that without any assistance.

Blaine was so focused on watching what he assumed to be the only gay couple in Lima, apart from Hiram and LeRoy Berry, that he didn’t notice Kurt coming to a halt right next to him.

‘What’s so fascinating?,’ Kurt asked, startling Blaine.

Instead of speaking, Blaine nodded in the direction of the two boys ahead of them.

‘Oh.’ Kurt examined the pair Blaine had indicated. Oh yes, without a doubt those guys played for their team. The blonde was particularly obvious; no straight guy would have hair like that. ‘Who would’ve guessed, seems Lima really is embracing the gay.’

Kurt’s hand went absently up to his bruised cheek. Blaine turned his eyes at his friend; Kurt seemed a little pensive, but otherwise fine. They stood for a moment in silence, their gazes stuck to the scratched surface of the ice beneath their feet.

The music blaring from the speakers over the ice rink changed from Last Christmas to Baby, It’s Cold Outside and Kurt smiled to himself.

‘I love this song,’ he said.

Blaine grinned back at him. ‘Me too.’

‘I have this silly wish that-‘ Kurt paused, for a second wondering why he was saying that at all and then why on earth shouldn’t he. Still, something made him mumble, ‘Nevermind.’

‘Come on, tell me.’ Blaine looked at him seriously; he would never laugh at Kurt’s wishes or dreams.

Kurt rolled his eyes and sighed.

‘I wish that someday I’ll get to sing that song with my boyfriend. If I ever have one.’ He bit his lip, feeling a blush creeping onto his face.

Blaine grinned and grabbed Kurt in a hug.

‘Sure you’ll have one. You could have plenty of boyfriends.’

‘I’d be fine with one, thank you,’ Kurt said into Blaine’s shoulder. He thought he wouldn’t mind staying like this forever, but he backed out to look at his friend. ‘You could have plenty of boyfriends, too.’

Blaine chuckled, his eyes sparkling happily.

‘I think I’d rather stick to one, too.’

They set off again, circling the rink together or splitting just to meet halfway. Kurt barely took his eyes off Blaine, who kept on eyeing the couple of boys furtively from a distance. A strange sensation was beginning to tug at the edge of Kurt’s consciousness. He’d always felt better, safer around Blaine, but now suddenly, he was barely able to stay away from him. They had hugged so many times, they were close physically on a daily basis, yet he had never before felt such a need to have his best friend next to him, Blaine’s arms wrapped tightly around his waist. He was making circles on ice like a planet gravitating a sun.

Only there was no sun, only Blaine.

Kurt stopped all of a sudden, consumed by his thoughts, unaware Blaine had also halted several meters away and was staring ahead. Following his friend’s gaze, Kurt saw the two other boys standing in the middle of the crowded rink, apparently fighting. The brunette seemed positively angry, the blonde was pleading. They were too far away for either Blaine or Kurt to hear what they were saying, their voices drowned by the loud Christmas music and laughter of children all around.

Trying to ignore the muddle his thoughts had turned into, Kurt slid up to Blaine. For another moment they stayed silent, watching as the brunette shrugged his shoulders and threw his arms in the air in a dramatic gesture, and skated away, leaving the other boy visibly devastated in the middle of the white cold expanse.

‘Do you think I- we- should…?,’ Blaine’s voice faded.

Kurt raised a querying eyebrow.

‘Should we what?’

‘You know… The guy just got dumped,’ Blaine mumbled, feeling heat coming up to his cheeks.

Kurt’s eyes bulged in shock as realization struck him.

‘You like him!,’ he said incredulously and the tiniest bit too loudly. A few people looked around, slightly surprised to see two boys instead of girls as the source of the conversation.

Blaine chewed on his lip for a second. Could he really like someone he’d never really met? He didn’t even know what the guy’s name was. Maybe he liked the idea of a potential boyfriend, and saw his chance. He didn’t have many guys to choose from. Not in Ohio, anyway.

‘I haven’t even met him,’ he answered vaguely.

‘But you want to,’ said Kurt, a tinge of sadness colouring his voice; Blaine didn’t notice it, too wrapped up in his own thoughts.

‘Yeah, I guess I do,’ admitted Blaine reluctantly.

For a moment Kurt felt as if something was crushing his chest, making it impossible for him to breathe. He swallowed, attempting to chase the sensation away. His success was debatable.

‘Wouldn’t it be kinda weird if some random guy walked up to him now, offering comfort? It would be a little creepy,’ Kurt forced himself to say. Somehow he maintained his regular tone of voice. ‘ Anyway, you don’t really know if he got dumped. Maybe they just had a fight.’

For some obscure reason, Kurt felt like he couldn’t let Blaine talk to the blond-haired boy. The idea of the two together awoke in him a strange composition of anger, misery and frustration.

‘You really think I shouldn’t?,’ Blaine asked uncertainly.

‘No, unless you want to change your name into Creepy McCreepster,’ Kurt said a little more sharply than he’d intended.

He looked back in the direction of the blonde, who had spent the last couple of minutes standing helplessly in the middle of the rink, apparently hoping his boyfriend would change his mind and come back. Finally, he gave up and skated away with his head hung low.

‘It’s too late now, anyway,’ Blaine sighed.

Kurt patted him reassuringly on the back, and his hand lingered a little longer than usually. He recoiled as soon as he realized it, in the hope he wasn’t the creepy one now.

‘Let’s go back to skating,’ Kurt said as casually as he could, turning away from his friend.

What the hell was wrong with him?

The following hour passed quickly; Kurt was focusing more and more intently on what was going on in his head, which resulted in an unprecedented number of collisions with other skaters and Blaine cracking up when Kurt landed on his butt.

Kurt couldn’t remember being this embarrassed around Blaine ever before. The blush that bloomed on his cheeks seemed to be giving him third degree burns as he scrambled to his feet from the ice.

And then, he caught himself staring blatantly at Blaine’s ass and his entire body. He’d only ever stared at Blaine like that once, that one late July day on the beach. Only then he definitely had not felt his heart hammering against his ribs and melting into mush at the same time, as he took in the beautiful view that was his best friend.

His best friend. Then why, why, all those feelings? He was not supposed to have all of those feelings. Not for Blaine, anyway.

But, undeniably, there they were.

He was falling for his best friend.