Chapter 17

The worst of the midday heat they spent strolling through the California Heritage Museum half a block from their motel. The exhibitions might have not been riveting, but it gave them a way to spend the time away from the scorching sunlight pouring from the sky.

As soon as they had a late lunch in them and the weather let up a little, they gathered their towels and swimsuits to finally go to the beach during the day. It was crowded and loud, but neither of those things distracted Kurt and Blaine from the sudden worry of getting half-naked in front of each other. They had gone a little further than they’d planned in making out in the morning, but they kept their clothes on. And somehow, even the thinnest layer of fabric made a world of a difference.

Kurt stripped off his shirt keeping his eyes down abashedly, afraid to look around. He could swear everyone was staring at him, pointing fingers and giggling, and Blaine lost all his pride of being with him. Eventually, the urge to take a peek at his boyfriend won, and Kurt glanced up sheepishly.

It seemed nobody was looking his way. Nobody gave a flying crap about what he looked like. (He didn’t even have to spend more than a half minute on scanning their closest surroundings to conclude that there were many boys and men far less presentable than himself, including his own brother.) Nobody gave a crap, except for one person.

Blaine was staring, ogling even. He froze with his polo shirt in his hand, for the first time given the opportunity to really look at Kurt. Look at him as his boyfriend, shirtless, stunning, and absolutely desirable. Watching him like this was risky in public, though, if only he wanted to avoid embarrassing himself, so he looked away, not even aware he’d been caught.

‘Blaine?,’ Kurt asked quietly enough for nobody else to hear.

‘Hm?’ He still wouldn’t lift his eyes back up.

‘You were kinda- staring,’ Kurt mumbled.

‘Was I?’ Blaine bit his lip, failing miserably in his attempt to act like he wasn’t guilty.

Kurt nodded solemnly, but a grin broke out on his face before he could stop it.

‘You were, but- it’s kinda hot.’

For once Blaine could feel blood coming up to his face, instead of the opposite direction. He shot Kurt a grin, flattered.

‘Do you want me to help you rub the sunscreen on your back?,’ he asked, a playful sparkle in his eyes.

‘That would be very kind of you,’ Kurt replied and handed Blaine the bottle.

The sensation of Blaine’s fingers running over the skin on Kurt’s back was more pleasant and more arousing than Kurt would ever be willing to admit. The sun was still hot, but he shivered under the touch, his lips unknowingly arched in bliss.

‘Hey, Gay Teen Wonders,’ Santana’s voice reached them from the side; they’d almost completely forgotten about the rest of their friends. ‘I thought you’d be more bearable now, but right now, I just want to tell you to get a room.’

Kurt rolled his eyes at her. ‘We already have a room, Santana, thanks for your concern.’

‘Then use it the way motel rooms are destined to be used,’ she replied, a devilish smile creeping out from under her carefully constructed bitchy façade.

‘We’ll keep that in mind, thank you,’ Kurt replied, sweetening his voice a little excessively.

Meanwhile, Puck was eyeing a couple of girls lying on the sand next to them, clearly caught up in the curves of their butts and the fact they both untied their bikini tops to tan evenly. Earlier they’d sent him smiles and one waved at him with a look that could only be seductive.

‘Dude,’ he turned to Finn eventually, ‘do you think you two could- you know- hang outside of the room for a couple hours?’

Rachel heard the suggestion and responded before her boyfriend could even open his mouth.

‘Absolutely not,’ she said firmly. ‘We’re not leaving the room so you could have a threesome, Noah! Don’t you think you’ve knocked up enough girls already?’

Santana gave her a judgemental look, before getting up and dragging Brittany away on a walk along the water’s edge.

‘I just knocked up Quinn-,’ Puck said in his defence.

‘Exactly. One too many.’ Rachel pushed her sunglasses up her nose and laid back.

‘Why didn’t you back me up?,’ Noah asked the other boys in a loud whisper.

Kurt and Blaine were chuckling under their breath all the while, but Finn looked dead serious, torn between supporting his girlfriend and helping out his way too horny friend.

‘You know, we could give you our room, but-,’ Blaine started.

‘But we wouldn’t be able to sleep there anymore, knowing what happened there,’ Kurt finished the sentence for him.

‘And we’d rather have the room to ourselves, right?,’ Blaine whispered into his boyfriend’s ear.

***

‘What did you mean earlier?,’ Kurt asked quietly, when they had a moment without any of their friends around.

They were stretched out on a huge towel spread over the sand, facing each other and barely able to keep their hands to themselves. Holding hands was one thing, feeling each other up in public was something entirely different. They only allowed their eyes wander, following the droplets of sea water that slowly disappeared in the sun, as they were rolling down the other’s chest before evaporating altogether.

‘About what?’ Blaine watched Kurt biting down on his lip before answering; it was insanely hot.

‘About the whole “we’d rather have the room to ourselves” thing. You didn’t mean like- sex?’ Kurt’s voice dropped to a whisper.

Blaine cupped his boyfriend’s face with his hand, caressing Kurt’s cheek with his thumb.

‘I meant I want some alone time with my boyfriend, it doesn’t matter what we do, as long as we’re together.’

Kurt nodded, relieved and comforted by the answer.

‘I just- I’m not sure I’d be ready for that, yet,’ he muttered. ‘I mean, this morning- It was an accident, really, and I didn’t think anything like that would happen this soon, you know? This whole thing with us, it’s still really-‘

‘Unbelievable?,’ Blaine offered.

‘New. And I would hate to screw it up by bad first time experiences for both of us,’ Kurt explained. Having his best friend for his boyfriend made conversations like that much easier than they’d be with anyone else. There was nobody else he could open himself up to like that.

‘Maybe it wouldn’t be bad.’ Blaine shot him a mischievous smile.

‘Maybe.’ Kurt rolled his eyes and sighed. ‘But I want to take it easy, baby steps. Are you fine with that?’

Even though he was quite sure he knew the answer, he held his breath.

‘I’m fine with whatever you’re fine with.’

‘Good,’ Kurt said, before leaning to place a kiss on Blaine’s mouth.