Chapter 27

Blaine used to think he’d seen Kurt at his sexiest. His Monday visit to the Hummel tire shop changed his mind, though. As Kurt and Finn had promised Burt, they had to spend most of the remainder of their summer vacation helping out at the garage. Neither was particularly thrilled – it kept them away from their respective boyfriend and girlfriend – but that was the condition on which they had been allowed to go to California, and the trip was worth the sacrifice. Especially for Kurt.

The coveralls he was forced to put on were as far from fashionable as Rachel’s reindeer sweaters, but they weren’t half as terrible as the grease that got on his hands, and somehow everywhere else. The previous night Kurt had reluctantly told Blaine not to come round the shop, claiming he’d be busy. The real reason was that he didn’t want his boyfriend to see him like that.

But as soon as Blaine crossed the doorstep at the garage, he knew he was right to disregard Kurt’s words. The view he chanced upon was steaming hot and incredibly alluring. Kurt had his back to him, leaning over the hood of some car, the cursed coveralls clinging to his butt and emphasising his assets. For a moment Blaine couldn’t make himself look away and Kurt felt his gaze on himself.

‘Blaine! You weren’t supposed to-,’ he said on turning around. His voice trailed off the second he saw the direction of his boyfriend’s look and his blown pupils.

Blaine finally managed to lift his eyes to Kurt’s face and grin at him.

‘I know, I just wanted to see you.’

He crossed the last few feet between them, and kissed Kurt, cupping the back of his neck in his hand. He didn’t care Kurt’s hands and right cheek were smeared with grease; his boyfriend was more irresistible than ever.

‘No making out in the shop!,’ Burt’s voice came from the other side of the garage.

Kurt giggled against Blaine’s lips. How could he even be mad with him for this?

‘I have to work,’ he sighed.

‘Then work, I’ll sit here and watch you.’

‘Don’t you have anything more interesting to do?’ Kurt shot him a doubtful glance.

‘No,’ Blaine replied without hesitation.

‘Really? But you heard my Dad – no making out in the shop.’

‘No making out, I swear.’ Blaine put his right hand to his heart. ‘I can wait till your lunch break.’

Kurt smiled with satisfaction at the mischievous glint that appeared in his boyfriend’s eyes.

‘Okay, just pretend to be helping me,’ he said. ‘Dad will love you for that even more than he already does.’

‘For knowing my way about cars?’

‘No, silly.’ Kurt elbowed him lightly. ‘For being an unpaid workforce.’

The morning passed quickly on work and banter. Blaine proved to have some knowledge of cars, and helping his boyfriend seemed to be enjoyable for him. They stole a couple of short kisses whenever Burt disappeared in his tiny office, but they counted the minutes that still had to elapse before Kurt’s lunch break.

Finally the clock struck twelve, and they had a full half hour to themselves, with the meal completely forgotten. They snuck out the back door to the small yard behind the shop that was used for cigarette breaks by the employees. For once, Kurt didn’t have to worry about ruining his clothes, and ending up horizontally on the short grass couldn’t possibly make him feel guilty. Especially since the only windows that came out onto the yard from the shop were right under the roof.

‘You look incredibly hot like this,’ Blaine said in between long deep kisses.

‘Really?’

‘Totally.’

‘I thought I looked like shit, actually, but if you don’t mind this,’ Kurt waved at his outfit, ‘I guess I could bear with having you around from time to time.’

‘From time to time?,’ Blaine asked, raising his eyebrows.

Kurt snickered.

‘Okay, preferably every day.’

He dragged Blaine back down for another kiss, but it didn’t last as long as the previous ones and Kurt pouted.

‘Hey, I want a kiss.’

Blaine’s face turned serious.

‘You know in a year we won’t be seeing each other every day, right?,’ he said. ‘You’re graduating, I’m not. You’re going to leave for New York, and I’m going to stay here.’

‘I’m trying not to think about it,’ Kurt admitted. ‘It’s too scary to think I’m not gonna be able to see you whenever I want to.’

‘I could try to graduate early.’

Kurt brushed his fingertips along Blaine’s jaw line in a caress.

‘If this is what you want,’ he said. ‘But you won’t lose me.  It’s going to be tough, but we’ll make it, right? No matter if you graduate with me or not.’

‘I hope so,’ Blaine replied, only partly convinced.

‘I know so.’

Blaine was just leaning to put his mouth to Kurt’s one more time, when the back door opened and Burt announced Kurt’s break was over.

***

Summer days seeped by in a similar pattern. Blaine would show up soon after Kurt at the shop, or they would arrive together after a sleepover, and even though they could barely see anything else than each other, they still managed to get all the assigned work done. Burt only shook his head at them, an unconscious smile tugging his lips up. Finn used to think he’d be working with his brother at the shop, but he ended up learning the intricacies of running the whole thing with his step-father. This way neither could feel guilty for interrupting Kurt and Blaine’s moments of innocent love and co-operation, while actually working.

It took a couple of days and a dozen compliments on Blaine’s part for Kurt to get over his working attire completely. He even began to understand the allure of greasy coveralls when Blaine was handed his own pair.

‘You look really hot in these,’ Kurt murmured into his ear as they were working late that morning. ‘My sexy butch boyfriend.’

‘I’m not butch,’ Blaine replied, trying to hold back a flattered smile.

‘But you are sexy,’ his boyfriend insisted, blue eyes boring into hazel dizzyingly.

Kurt’s lips were millimetres away from Blaine, when a wrench slipped from his hand, drawing Burt’s attention.

‘Hey, I told you something about that!’

They backed out, sighing. They knew Burt didn’t mean anything by the make-out ban in the shop, apart from wishing the workplace to stay professional. And both of them could swear the man was genuinely happy for them. Ever since that Sunday dinner after their return from California, Blaine had been a much more frequent guest at the Hudson-Hummel dinner table.

Each lunch break they had, they spent together, whether they were hanging out in the back yard, or getting actual lunch. Those where their moments. The half hour during the day when there were just them, no tires to change, nothing to fix, no customers to serve, no anti-make-out rules to obey. When they went out the first time to get something to eat, Kurt tentatively laced his fingers with Blaine’s. They’d never held hands in public in Lima, so their hearts sped up in anticipation of something bad happening. It was a risky experiment, but walking proudly hand in hand felt too good not to try it in Ohio.

A few heads turned curiously after them, and that was it. The next time they were going out, they didn’t hesitate about holding hands for a second.

One August afternoon, Blaine got so invested in the work, eager to help his boyfriend, he didn’t even notice how dirty he got in the process. His arms were soiled up to above the elbows, his face smeared in numerous places. Kurt chuckled at him kind-heartedly, attempting to remove a particularly nasty grease stain from Blaine’s forehead, but to no avail.

‘I’m afraid you’ll have to hit the shower, if you don’t want to scare the customers away,’ he said with feigned solemnity.

‘I’d rather scare them with grease than my hair.’

Kurt run his hand over Blaine’s gelled head with a sigh.

‘No one is going to run, dummy. Your curls are adorable. You don’t need any of that gel.’

He started tugging Blaine to the locker room and the showers.

‘But I look like Borat,’ Blaine protested.

‘So what? It doesn’t change how stunning you are,’ Kurt assured him and gave him a peck on the only part of his cheek that wasn’t dirty. ‘Now in you go.’

He pushed Blaine into the showers, forcing himself to stay in the locker room with his back to his boyfriend. Catching a glimpse of Blaine naked was tempting, but he was afraid it wouldn’t end with a glimpse, and he didn’t want to stare to obviously. He was also repeatedly telling himself that he’d get to see everything soon enough, under much more suitable circumstances.

Finally the water stopped running, and Blaine stepped back into the locker room with a towel around his hips. Kurt couldn’t help but sweep his eyes over the perfectly chiselled body, careful not to let his gaze linger too long on the piece of white fabric.

‘What is it?,’ Blaine asked at the sight of Kurt’s expression. He looked embarrassed and unsure.

‘Nothing.’ He shook his head vigorously. ‘It’s just- Inappropriate thoughts.’

‘Who about?,’ Blaine said mischievously.

‘You, who else?’

‘Good answer, I guess. But you shouldn’t be embarrassed about it.’

Kurt rolled his eyes, but a shade of red didn’t leave his cheeks.

‘I know.’ He bit his lip in hesitation. ‘Blaine?’

‘Mhm?’

‘Do you think we’ve taken enough baby steps?’