The second he walked in the hallway, he smelled it. Mommy must be making breakfast! He ran to the kitchen, and sure enough, there she was smiling down at him from the stove.

"Good morning, honey." She said, pouring some batter into the waffle iron. "I woke up with Daddy this morning before he left for the garage, and decided to make you some Mickey waffles." Her smile matched Kurts as she said this.

"Thank you, Mommy!" he made his way to the table, where there was already a bowl of fruit and yogurt waiting for him. He climbed onto the chair and popped a grape into his mouth as Mommy placed a Mickey on his plate. He ate his breakfast eagerly, wiggling his little feet above the ground.

Kurt took a bath and after trying on 3 shirts, he decided to go with a Power Rangers one because it was the same color as the new shoes Mommy bought him earlier that week. He brushed his teeth and his hair all by himself before walking back out to the kitchen.

"Well, look at you, handsome!" Mommy was dressed now, too, and drinking her coffee. "Let's hit the road!"

Kurt followed her out to the car, and as soon as they were both inside, she looked at him through the mirror and smiled. "Are you gonna be okay today? I hope this is a better day for you."

"Yes, Mommy, I'll be alright." Kurt smiled back at her. Mommy was really concerned about him, especially after Miss Faye called and told her about what happened the other day at school. But after talking with Mommy and Daddy about it that night at home, he really did feel better.

And for whatever reason, he hadn't told anybody about meeting Blaine. But Blaine had made him feel a lot better too.

He had looked for his new friend the day before at lunch time, and didn't see him. Maybe he would see Blaine today! He kissed Mommy goodbye and ran to line up for class.

"Blaine! Blaine! Over here! BLAINE!"

Kurt turned around quickly. What was going on?

He and Shelby were making mud pies by the fence and, "BLAINE!" Shelby was practically jumping up and down. "Kurt, look! It's my brother! I want you to meet him-Blaine!"

And sure enough, first-grader Blaine Anderson was jogging across the field towards the sound of his name.

Kurt was nervous.

He didn't know why, but he was nervous. Blaine was... Shelby's brother?

He got up and dusted off his knees as Blaine made his way toward them. "Um, Shelby-" Kurt began, but he was interrupted.

"Hiiii, Shelby! I could hear you from the tunnel slide and.. Oh, hi, Kurt!" The boy grinned brightly.

"Um, hi.." he said bashfully.

"Kurt!" Shelby grabbed his hand and wiggled it ecstatically. "You didn't tell me you knew my brother!"

"I- I didn't know he was your brother."

She chuckled, "Well, now you do!" She dropped his hand.

Blaine leaned up against the fence so that his forearms and forehead were pressed against it. He was playing with a stray curl and grinning down at them.

"Kurt and I met the other day.. Oh! I have that same shirt in green!" Kurt looked down at what he was wearing.

"This one?" he said pointing to his belly.

"Yeah! You like Power Rangers? I always pretend to be the Blue Ranger. Did you watch the episode where Goldar got a Zord and almost beat them!"

Kurt had indeed seen this episode and was glad that he had something like Power Rangers in common with Blaine. He looked up to the first-grader, and now that it had been a few days since they met, Kurt was kind of weary that he had been such a mess before. But Blaine didn't seem to hold that against him at all. So Kurt became more confident as he talked about Zords and villains with his friends until the bell rang to go back to class.

"Kurt, you have to come over soon so we can play!" Blaine hollered as he walked through the field backwards towards his class line.

"Yeah, Kurt," Shelby said, grabbing his hand and leading him back towards the kindergarten building. "We can all play together! Except I like playing princesses. Blaine doesn't like that as much and plays Power Rangers or ninjas more."

Well, Kurt thought that he'd really like to play both. But just the the fact that he'd been invited over and the thought of playing with Shelby and Blaine outside of school...he definitely had to tell Mommy about this.

Kurt lifted a little hand to wipe the sweat from his brow. It might have been hot outside, but that didn't stop Kurt from running out the front door to the Suburban in the driveway.

"Kurt, honey," Mommy hollered from the doorway, "you forgot your towel!" She smiled, shaking her head as she approached the car. Kurt was already inside waiting for her.

He was so excited! Because it was so, so hot out, Mommy and Mrs. Anderson agreed to have a play date. That meant Kurt was going over to Shelby and Blaine's house to play on the Slip-n-Slide and maybe, if he was brave enough, swim in the pool!

The ride to her house couldn't have been longer. Kurt was practically squirming in his booster as they pulled in to the driveway. Shelby was standing in the garage, holding an Otterpop for him.He jumped out of the car and ran to meet her in the cool shade.

"Hi, Kurt! I grabbed you cherry-flavored because I know you don't like it when your tongue turns cool colors." And this was true. Kurt couldn't explain it, but it just bothered him having a purple or blue or green tongue, he thought it was gross. He didn't realize he'd shared this opinion with his friend, but gladly accepted with a "thank you."

"Hello, Shelby." Mommy was walking into the garage. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm fantastic! Now that my best friend is here!" She smiled up brightly, revealing a set of purplish teeth, clearly from all the grape Otterpops she'd eaten that day.

"Well, Kurt and I are both happy to be here. Where is your mother, dear?"

"Oh, she's in the kitchen. C'mon, Kurt. I want to give you the grand tour before we go swimming!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him along. Her sticky fingers didn't bother Kurt much. Shelby was definitely the dominant personality in their friendship, but Kurt didn't mind because although he was usually quite shy, he was comfortable with her, and she seemed to understand him even when he didn't speak.

Kurt and Mommy followed her inside, happily accepting the air-conditioned temperature drop. As they made their way to the dining room, Kurt could hear people shouting happily in the next room over. He wanted to know what was happening in there, but as they left their mothers to greet each other, Shelby was already pulling him along towards a set of stairs.

"I want to show you my room!" Shelby exclaimed as they pranced up the stairs. And when they reached her doorway, oh boy, was Kurt amazed at what he saw.

The room was painted a very light purple and there was a bed in the far corner of the room. Starting above and draping over the bed was a light white canopy. There was a desk with a Barbie laptop on it, and ...Oh my. There was the biggest closet Kurt had seen in his whole short life. Shelby had to have known Kurt would appreciate this, and led him inside. There were white Christmas lights decorating the walls of the closet, and oh the clothes. Shoes and shirts and skirts and dresses. There was a whole wall just for necklaces and headbands that glittered. In front of this amazing wall was a trunk of dress-up clothes. Kurt, who hadn't said a word since arriving, just had to look at his friend. And then they were in a castle, having tea with swans and hiding from dragons.

After they had enough fun playing out fairy tales, they changed into their swimming suits and Kurt wondered for the first time where Blaine was.

His question was answered quickly, because there Blaine was right in the living room.

He was watching a game on TV with his daddy. Mr. Anderson was a tall man, with eyes just as piercing as Blaine's, but blue. He looked at the little ones as they entered, and then back at the game, cheering loudly.

Blaine got up off the couch and made his way toward them. "Hey! Are you guys done playing? Mom told me you were here, Kurt," Blaine's eyes were wide and sorry. "But Dad asked me to watch the game with him while you played princesses."

"That's alright," Kurt didn't want Blaine to feel bad, and by the look in his eyes, Kurt could tell Blaine felt really bad. "We can all play together now!" He said this brightly, hoping it made his friend feel better.

"We're going to play on the Slip-n-slide. Do you want to come?" Shelby tilted her head and waited for her brothers answer.

"Sure!" He looked over his shoulder at his dad, eyes still glued to the TV. "I'll be out when the game is over." He seemed less enthusiastic about this, but Blaine offered Kurt a little wave from the couch as Kurt and Shelby departed towards the backyard.

Shelby shut the sliding door behind them. They had barely stepped outside and the sun was already causing them to glisten. They ran tippy-toed to the Slip-n-slide quickly to prevent their feet from burning.

Kurt and Shelby were playing with the water for a while before their mommies brought out lunch. The little ones thanked their mothers and sat down to enjoy their sandwiches and juice. Kurt was picking the crust off his PB&J when Blaine walked out through the sliding door. Kurt heard him, and looked up to see who was coming out. Kurt smiled as Blaine came and sat next to him and grabbed a sandwich slice.

Shelby, who always ate so fast Kurt thought she probably had super powers, scooted out of her chair. "All done!" she smacked, licking her fingers. "I'm gonna go get some Barbies. I have the ones you can turn into Mermaids in the pool!" She was almost shaking with excitement as she told him this, and didn't wait for Kurt to respond before running back inside the house.

"I hope you get come over more often" said Blaine, after swallowing a big bite. Kurt looked up from his plate. "It's a lot better than when Shelby has girl friends over. All they want to do is play dress up princesses." He scoffed at this, and rolled his eyes.

And well, Kurt took a gulp of his food and looked at Blaine with a furrowed brow. He didn't know what to say. After all, he and Shelby had just played princesses today, and it had seemed like Blaine looked really sorry he'd missed out. And hadn't Blaine said he didn't mind tutu's that day they met? Blaine seemed not to mind that kind of stuff before, and now Kurt was confused.

"We -" Kurt played with some crumbs on his plate. "Shelby and me, played princesses though" he didn't look at his friend as he waited for a reply.

Blaine seemed to realized he'd hurt Kurt's feelings. "No," he began, "I didn't mean it like that!" He turned to face his friend. "I don't mind playing princesses. Well, I like being the prince though. But when Shelby's girl friends come over, they all chase me around because they want me to kiss them!" Blaine spoke these last two words slowly and his eyes widened, as if he was fearful the girls in his mind might pop out of nowhere and kiss him right then. "That's why I don't like when they come over. I don't want to kiss girls." He screwed up his face, repulsed at the thought. "Kissing is gross."

Kurt took this in and considered- Kurt played with girls a lot. Heck, Shelby was his best friend, wasn't she? He liked playing with girls. But none of them had ever tried to kiss him. But really, he had no idea what Blaine was talking about. Kurt didn't think kissing was gross. If it was, why did so many people do it?

"I don't think kissing is that gross." Kurt stated honestly, looking Blaine in the eye. "Kisses are a way to tell a person you love them." He nodded affirmatively. "I kiss my mommy every night before bed," he added for emphasis.

"Kissing your mom is different though. She's your mom... I don't know" he took a sip of juice. "Maybe you just need a couple girls chasing you around your own house for a kiss before you'll understand."

Before Kurt had a chance to think about this, Shelby came running out with Barbies in hand, "Guys, guys guess what! Our mommies made us more treats!" And sure enough, right behind her were their mothers carrying a tray of homemade ice cream cookie sandwiches.

"Here you go, kids" and the children were reaching for the treats before the tray even made it to the table.

Mommy came and stood next to Kurt. He took a bite of his dessert and beamed up at her. He reached for her hand and squeezed it three times. "I love you too," she said, and squeezed his tiny hand with each word. She kissed him on the forehead. "You guys have fun -Oh, Julie, we have to get a picture of this!"

Kurt turned around to see what she was talking about. He giggled when he saw Shelby, already almost finished with her treat, and Blaine, face covered in ice cream, with chocolate in his teeth smiling back at Kurt.

Kurt, even at his young age, didn't understand how someone could be that messy. And as the three of them huddled in to take a picture, he was aware that Blaine was trying not to get him sticky. Except for on his arm, where he had reached to squeeze Kurt into the photo. Kurt thought he could live with a little sticky arm. As long as no one touched his hair.