Chapter Two: A Light in the Fog

Kurt, your dad and I talked, and I think Blaine will be a good fit for you.  But you need to know that if for any reason you don't feel comfortable with Blaine, you can let me know and we can switch to Nick or Meghan, or Scott, or even me.  I want you to know that you control that decision.”

“Thank you,” offered Kurt.  He would have added more, but that was the moment that the lifeguards -Scott and Blaine- breached the surface at the edge of the pool, inhaling deeply.  Kurt couldn't pull his eyes away from the tanned, athletic men, one of whom was, in a quick practiced motion, climbing deftly out. 

“Hey, Bec.  Jeff said you wanted me to meet someone?”  The young man who looked to be the same age as Kurt walked over to the umbrella table and snatched a towel off of a chair. 

“These are the Hummels.  Kurt needs some lessons.  I recommended you,” explained Rebecca.  She nodded towards Burt before wandering off to supervise the pool set up.

Blaine remained standing, gently wiping the droplets clinging to his head and chest with his towel.  Once he finished, he tossed the towel on to the closest chair and held out his hand to Kurt. 

“Hi. I'm Blaine.”

Kurt slid his hand into Blaine's, and held the other boy's gaze.  He'd read in some magazine that gay men held eye contact longer than straight men.  He certainly hoped their research was accurate, since Blaine didn't seem to be in a rush to drop Kurt's gaze or his hand.  God, his eyes were amazing.

“I'm Kurt.  It's nice to meet you.” 

It took a few more moments before the boys dropped their hands back to their sides.

Blaine wrapped his arms around his chest, rubbing his hands along his upper arms nervously.  “So, you're looking for lessons?  Diving? Stroke refinement?  Trying to shave seconds off your best time?”  Blaine tried to figure out why Rebecca had recommended him for this specific job.

Kurt suddenly found the ground to be the most interesting place in the universe, staring at the concrete and tracing cracks with the toe of his shoe.  “No, not exactly,” he explained softly.

Blaine cocked his head to the side and took in Kurt's distress.  It didn't really make sense to him.  “So…what kind of lessons are you looking for?”

Kurt was an absolute ball of nerves.  Admittedly, this sucked.  He could add this to his life's top 10 most embarrassing moments - along with pee balloons, slushies, and being tossed in the dumpsters at school.  Kurt took a deep breath and decided to just admit everything.  If the guy laughed at him, well, then there were other people here who could teach.

“Idon'tknowhowtoswim,” he blurted before taking a deep breath and settling himself.  “I don't know how to swim, and my stupid school has a stupid rule about having to pass a swim test and if I don't then I don't graduate.  So here I am. Happy summer vacation, Kurt,” he rambled, waving his arms around to emphasize his points.

“Oh,” was all Blaine was able to get out before he was interrupted by Kurt again.

 “And Dad said he'd take away my car if I didn't get my butt in the pool and learn to swim, so even though there are a thousand things I'd rather be doing with my vacation than jumping in a chemical laden pool that will dry out my skin and turn my hair green, according to that other guy Jeff, here I am.  No offense.”

“None taken,” Blaine managed to get in while Kurt was taking a breath.  God, was he ever going to stop talking long enough for Blaine to say more than three syllables?”

“Rebecca said that you wouldn't mind working with me privately.  Because I realize that you probably don't get many 17 year old guys who can't swim walking in off the street asking you for lessons.”

“None as handsome as you are,” Blaine confessed quietly.

Kurt was about to continue his rant when Blaine's words sunk in.  “Excuse me?”

Blaine startled and shook his head as if to clear it.  “Shit. Oh my god.  I said that out loud didn't I?”  Blaine flushed a deep red that almost matched his swim trunks.  He began to apologize profusely.  “Kurt?  Mr. Hummel? I am so completely sorry.  That was so unprofessional.  I-”

“Blaine?” Burt cut him off.  “When are you available to start?”  He smiled wryly.  It'd been barely two minutes, and he knew he liked this kid.

“Are you sure, Mr. Hummel?  I…what I said…I mean…are you sure you still want to use me?”  Blaine asked in shock.

“Kurt?”  Burt's answer to the question was to defer the choice to his son.

“Yeah.  We're sure, Blaine.”  Kurt answered with a smile. 

Blaine rubbed the back of his head, thinking about his work schedule.  “I'm usually available in the mornings between 7:30 and 8:45, at lunch which is 12:15 to 1:15, and during open swim from 3:30 to 4:15 – although I can trade with one of the other guards so I could be available any time between 2:30 and 5pm.  That's my schedule Mondays through Thursdays.  Fridays are special schedules – a lot of day camps come here and swim, so it's totally crazy around here – but we could make it work if that's the only time you have.”

Kurt looked back at his dad.  “I have plans with Mercedes and Tina tomorrow afternoon.”

Burt gave Kurt a pointed look. “Sounds like your morning is free then.  Do you need me to drive you here?”

“God, no, Dad.  I'm not 12.  I am completely capable of getting myself to my swim lesson,” grumbled the teen.  Turning back to Blaine, Kurt asked, “Is 8:00 okay?”

“Yeah, sure, no problem.  Don't forget your towel and goggles if you have them.  We've got some extras, so you can borrow ours, or if you want to try ours out before you buy your own pair, then you can do that too.  It was really nice to meet you, Kurt.  Mr. Hummel.  I'll see you bright and early tomorrow.”  Blaine offered a half wave, and walked over to the edge of the pool before turning back.

“Kurt?” he called.

“Yes?”

“You'll want to eat something first.  I mean, you'll probably not feel like eating because of nerves, but trust me, you'll actually end up feeling better if you manage a piece of toast or something.  Maybe some juice.”  He shrugged, unsure if Kurt would be offended by his unsolicited advice.

Kurt nodded.  “I'll try,” he answered back.  Walking over to his father, Kurt raised both eyebrows.  “So, about that shopping trip we need to go on?”

Burt stood up chuckling.  “Come on, bud.  $200 is your limit.  That's for everything.”

“Daaaad.  I need swim shorts, at least two swim shirts, sunblock, special lotion, special shampoo and conditioner, a hat, and goggles.  We can't put a price on skin safety, now,” argued Kurt walking back towards the pool office.

Burt waved goodbye to Rebecca Michaels who, clipboard in hand, was checking kids in and directing them to the appropriate class.  “Nice try, Kurt.  I just did put a price on your safety.  $200.  Anything more comes from your wallet, mister.”

After saying a quick goodbye to Jeff, who was already at the counter selling passes for lap swim, they walked quietly out to the truck. 

“Thanks, Dad.”

“You're welcome.  You know I'm really proud of you for doing this.”

“Proud enough to make it $250?”

“Don't push it.”

For as blistering hot as the summer days could be, summer mornings could be quite chilly.  Blaine shivered underneath his red hooded sweatshirt with LIFEGUARD written in white down the length of the arms.  He sat on one of the desks in the office, drinking his medium drip coffee and eating a toasted bagel with cream cheese.  Rebecca had to be at the pool by 7:30 every morning, and most days he, Nick and Jeff rode with her – choosing to wake up slowly in the office instead of driving in later.

Nick was curled up on a towel on the floor breathing heavily.  He'd gone out with his girlfriend to see a midnight showing of some movie – and was trying to catch up on his sleep.  Jeff was outside in the lifeguard chair, keeping an eye on a pool full of adult lap swimmers.  Lap swim ended at 8:00, so Blaine and Kurt would have the pool to themselves for his first lesson.

Blaine munched on his bagel, focusing on the process of chewing and swallowing.  He was startled to see the lap swimmers climbing out of the pool.  He figured Kurt would have been here early.  But here it was, six minutes past 8, and no Kurt.

Rebecca popped her head in the office.  “Wasn't Kurt coming in today?”

He shrugged then swallowed his breakfast.  “I thought so.”

Rebecca thought about it for a moment. “Blaine? Go check the front.  I bet he's out there.”

“Shit, Bec, I bet you're right.”  Blaine was annoyed with himself.  Kurt came in through the front yesterday.  Why would he think to use the side entrance?  Sure enough, as Blaine rounded the pony wall, he could see Kurt standing outside, glancing at his watch and peering through the glass.  Blaine quickly bent down to unlock the first door and then moved to the second door and set the push bar so it was in the unlocked position.

“Hey, Kurt!  Sorry about that.  We forgot to tell you how to get into the pool yesterday,” apologized Blaine.

“I don't come in here?”  Kurt was clearly confused.

“Nah.  Come on, walk with me.”  Blaine walked down a cement pathway that let around the P.E. building towards the athletic fields.  “The summer custodian unlocks the gates to the pool every morning so we can get in.  Everyone comes in through the side gate for lessons.  We don't unlock the front door of the pool office until after lunch when we have to sell passes for lap and open swim.  That way we don't have to worry about someone sneaking in and stealing the money or our things,” Blaine explained.

“Makes sense,” Kurt offered.  “I'll come this way from now on.”

Blaine opened the smaller gate that led onto the pool deck and motioned for Kurt to move through.  Kurt was dressed in brightly printed swim shorts in blue, green and purple with a white swim shirt trimmed out in the same print as his shorts.  He was carrying a chocolate colored straw hat – clearly Jeff had given him directions to the local swim shop that carried their favorite lifeguard supplies.  He'd admired that specific hat for a while.

“You found him.” Rebecca smiled at Kurt before disappearing inside a storage closet.

Jeff walked by and gave Kurt a head nod.  “Good luck, Kurt.  Don't let Blaine give you any grief.”

“'Kay.”

Blaine walked them around the pool so they were closer to where the umbrella table stood.  “You should lay your towel on one of the chairs so the sun can warm it.  The deck is cold in the morning, and you'll want the heat when you get out of the pool,” he explained.  Looking Kurt in the eye, he asked point blank, “You ready for this?”

Kurt's throat was dry already.  “No.  Not really.”

Blaine nodded with understanding. He reached down and pulled off his sweatshirt, baring his tanned skin to the world. “It's okay.  We'll go slow.  I'll need you to tell me what you're comfortable with and what you're not.” 

Kurt's thoughts went to a very naughty place.  “That's what he said,” he blurted before blushing.

Blaine's laughter rang out over the pool deck.  “Come on, Kurt,” he chuckled, placing his hand under Kurt's elbow.  “Let's go sit on the side of the pool and talk.”

Kurt allowed himself to be guided to the corner of the shallow end.  Blaine sat down plopping his feet into the water.  “Come sit and put your feet in, Kurt.”

Taking an impossibly deep breath, Kurt edged over towards Blaine and sat down.  He folded his legs under himself for a moment.  “What's that noise?”

Blaine listened for a moment.  “Oh, that's just the water spilling into the gutter.  See?” He pointed to the opposite edge of the pool.  Kurt could see there was an opening of about eight inches between the pool deck and the tiled wall of the pool.  The water constantly spilled over, keeping the water circulating.  “Can you put your feet in the water, Kurt?”

Nodding, Kurt unfolded his legs and dropped them in.  He hissed at the contact.  “It's colder than I expected.”

“It's warmer once you jump in.”  Blaine saw the fear flash across Kurt's face.  “No, no, no. Kurt, we're not jumping in today.  I promise.  I just want to talk to you.  You need to be able to trust me if we're gonna do this.  It's hard to trust someone you've just met.  So, I'm Blaine Anderson.  I'll be a senior at Dalton Academy in the fall.  I have one older brother, who lives in L.A.  I've been swimming since I was four and diving since I was nine.  I love the water, the sound of rain, Disney movies, singing and college football.  My favorite holiday used to be Valentine's day.”  He caught Kurt's questioning look.  “Ah ah, I can't tell you everything today.  We'd have nothing to talk about tomorrow.  Where was I?  Oh, I rebuilt a car with my dad two years ago.  And, I love Roxy music, Pink and Katy Perry.”

Kurt laughed quietly.  “I wonder if this is what it feels like to speed date.”

Blaine grinned.  “No idea.  So...what's your story?” he asked pointedly.

“Story?”

Blaine sighed.  This process was going to be two steps forward and one step back.  “Okay, clearly being around water makes you nervous.  Let's not start out by ignoring the elephant in the room, or the whale in the pool if that fits better.”

“You are a dork,” Kurt teased.

Blaine acted shocked.  “God, usually it takes people at least 20 minutes to figure that out.  I'm impressed.”  He dropped the humor from his expression.  “Don't deflect, Kurt.”

“I'm not-”

“Sweetheart, let's not go there.  You are looking at an absolute master of deflection and avoidance.  ‘Sides, it will actually help me be a better teacher if you do tell me why you're scared of the water.”  Blaine paused before adding, “I mean, if you can.  I don't want you to open up healed wounds or anything.” 

Then he waited.

And waited. 

Underneath his fear of talking about those memories, Kurt was impressed.  Most people gave up.  Most people weren't patient enough.  But dredging up what had been one of his three worst memories took time, and energy.  And apparently Blaine was willing to wait for Kurt to find the words.

“I drowned,” Kurt answered quietly.

Blaine, who had been staring out towards the playing fields, snapped his head back to Kurt.  His eyes were impossibly big. “What?”

Kurt tried again.  “I drowned.  When I was six.”  His answer was devoid of any of the teasing or sassiness or even nervousness he'd been showing before.

Blaine's stomach plummeted. “Fuck.  Kurt, I'm so sorry.  I didn't-”

Kurt cut him off.  “No one knows, Blaine.  Well, except for my dad.” He picked at the edge of his new hat, needing something to hold on to.  “We were at family camp.  My mom and my dad and me.  We were sharing a big cabin in the woods with my mom's friends.”  Kurt stopped and several shaky breaths before continuing.

“One of the activities was canoeing.  Mom signed us up. The two of us.  Dad decided to stay at the kitchen hall to listen to the baseball game.  It was the World Series.  I remember my mom rolling her eyes at him before kissing him and telling him it was okay.  Anyway, we hiked out to this large pond where there were a couple of canoes and two lifeguards supervising. 

“We were having a great time.  Until another canoe hit ours.  I was wearing my life vest when we flipped.  I remember being underwater, looking up at the sky.  Somehow my feet got tangled up in some plants.  Then, the vest slipped off.”  Kurt ran his hand down his face as he struggled to share the whole experience.

“Kurt, you don't have to-”

 “Yeah, I kinda do, Blaine.  If we are going to do this, you need to know.  I need you to know.  So you get why this is so hard.”  Kurt glanced up from his hat.  “You know that scene in Goblet of Fire, when Harry runs out of air trying to save his friends?”

Blaine nodded.

“I ran out of the theater.  I told my friends I had the stomach flu and my dad came to pick me up.  But that's not why I threw up.

“I remember all of it.  Holding my breath until I just couldn't anymore.  I remember what it feels like to suck in lungs full of water and…and, well, my mom and the life guards were looking for me frantically.  But it was an afternoon in October and there wasn't much light.  And it was a pond.  Not a crystal clear chlorinated pool.  By the time they found me – I was dead.  Not breathing.  No heartbeat.  They did CPR and life-flighted me out of the camp to the closest children's hospital.

Blaine stared at Kurt in amazement.  “I don't know what to say, Kurt.”

Kurt shrugged.  “When I woke up in the hospital and found out that I'd ridden in a helicopter but couldn't remember it, I was so upset.” 

Blaine offered a small smile.  “What six year old wouldn't be? So no helicopter rides since?”

“Nah. But I'm hoping to save enough money to splurge on a helicopter tour of Manhattan when I go to New York for college.”

“That would be so cool.     College in New York and the helicopter tour.”

Kurt was grateful they had moved on to another subject.  “Where are you going to apply?” he asked curiously.

“I'm headed to OSU.  Diving scholarship.”

“Are you going to apply anywhere else?  I mean, what do you want to study?”

Blaine moved his legs in small circles in the water.  “I'll find something that works for me at OSU, Kurt.  My parents have eaten up my college fund sending me to Dalton for four years.  It sucks for the future, but it was everything I needed at the time.  So, money talks.  Stanford and UCLA have scouted me too, but OSU would be cheaper than relocating to California – even if I lived with my brother.  It will honestly depend on who can put together the best financial aid package.”  Blaine was resigned to his fate.  His parents had been upfront with him about money and college.  While he didn't love the idea of attending OSU, he'd made his peace with it.  He'd get a good education and move on.

“Fine, but riddle me this, Batman.  If you knew you wouldn't fail, what would you choose as a career?

“God, I'm having flashbacks of writing my college application essays.  Thanks.”  Blaine leaned forward to scoop some water into his hands.  He splashed the water into his face before answering, “Um, rock star?  Wizard?  Okay, in all seriousness, if I knew I would be guaranteed to succeed, I would be a writer.  Then, later, I would open my own restaurant.  I like to write.  And I really enjoy cooking.  Well, really I enjoy food.  Kinda like Remy in Ratatouille.”

“I love that movie,” remarked Kurt. 

“Me too.  Okay, random fact about Blaine Anderson -”

“Are these facts numbered?  Should I take notes?”

Blaine blushed, and pushed Kurt's shoulder.  “Shush.  Yes, they are numbered and there will be a quiz.  Anyway, as I was saying, Random Fact #13: I dream about food every night.  I think I consume more calories in my sleep than I possibly could awake.  I once had a dream where our swimming pool was completely filled with jelly beans.”

“Jelly beans?”

“Yeah, I was just kinda floating on top of them all.”

Kurt scoffed.  “That makes no sense, Blaine.  I mean, if you jumped in the deep end, you wouldn't be able to move and you'd probably end up suffocating.”

Blaine leaned forward again to scoop water, this time flicking the water drops at Kurt.  “Buzz kill much, Hummel?  Seriously, it was a dream.  And that wasn't even one of my weird ones.”

Kurt wiped the water from his face and kicked his leg towards Blaine, getting him wet.  “I'm not sure I want to know.”

“'Course you do.  Once, I dreamt I was a flying turtle.  Another time, I dreamt I was making out with this really cute guy from my history class.”

“That's not necessarily weird,” argued Kurt.

Blaine held out his hand in the universal sign to stop.  “Uh, yeah, it was.  Because in my dream, I was a girl.  Girl parts and everything.”  Blaine waved his hands in front of his chest, simulating breasts.  “I mean, what the hell is that supposed to mean?  So I ask Cooper – my brother – what he thinks, because he's like, ten years older than me, so he's got more experience and stuff.  Asshole sends me a book on dream interpretation.  But guess what?  No chapter on gender swapping.  Didn't really help out with the whole turtle thing either.”

Blaine slid into the pool in front of Kurt and clasped his hands together.  Without warning, he shot a stream of water up and onto Kurt's shirt.

“Hey!”

Blaine smirked.  “This is my turtle, Timmy,” he explained in a sing song voice.  “He doesn't like it when our friends don't want to come into the water to play with us.  So he spits at them until they do.”  He let another, larger stream streak over Kurt's head and chest.  “Timmy, that's not nice,” he told his hands.  Looking through his eyelashes, he gave Kurt his very best puppy face.  “Come play with us, Kurtie.  Pleeeease.”

Kurt laughed and kicked his foot up, splashing Blaine.

“I wouldn't do that, Hummel,” he warned, “Don't bite off more than you can handle!”

“I think I can handle you, Anderson.”

“Uh huh.”  Blaine sounded doubtful.  “Your safe word is manatee.”

“Excuse me?”

Blaine was all business.  “Your safe word.  If you start to panic.  Or you need a break.  Because as much as I enjoy talking with you, and flirting with you, I need to teach you to swim.  And occasionally, that means I'm going to push you past your comfort zone.  So, now you have a way to break through my thick skull and tell me we're too close to the edge.  Got it?”

“Yeah.  Thanks.  Now, where were we?” Kurt asked before sending another splash at Blaine.

“Oh, it's on like Donkey Kong, Hummel.”  Blaine sassed as he jumped forward to grab Kurt's foot.  He pulled gently, encouraging Kurt to join him in the water.

“Blaine!” Kurt called out in warning as his legs were pulled out from him. Soon he was balancing on his hands as Blaine had both feet locked under an arm.

Blaine held Kurt's gaze.  “Do you trust me?”

“What?”

Blaine asked again with more feeling.  “Do you trust me?”

“Are you freakin' Aladdin?”

“Would you be my Jasmine if I was?”  Blaine twisted and pulled, and without warning, Kurt was in his arms in the water.  He gathered Kurt to his chest, hoping his proximity would help Kurt feel more comfortable. “I can show you the world.  Shiny, shimmering, splendid.  Tell me, Princess, when did you last let your heart decide?”  Singing loudly, Blaine walked slowly until they were about five feet from the edge of the pool deck.

“Fuck, Blaine, put me down,” Kurt ordered, smacking Blaine lightly in the chest with his fist.  He seemed to be more annoyed than scared.

“That wasn't a very Disney thing to say, Kurt,” chastised Blaine.

“Bite me,” Kurt sassed.

Blaine leaned in so his lips were next to Kurt's ear.  His whisper came out hoarser than he'd intended.  “You just tell me when and where, Princess.”  Kurt froze in his arms.  Blaine pulled his arm out from under Kurt's legs so that the other boy was standing in the shallow end of the pool.  He realized that Kurt was upset.

Kurt stared at Blaine.  “Don't call me Princess,” he choked out.

“Kurt -”

“I know you were just teasing and I know you didn't mean anything by it.  It's just – the assholes at school who insist on shoving me into lockers and throwing slushies at me because I'm gay – they call me princess.  Along with a whole assortment of other names,” he admitted.

“I'm sorry, Kurt.”  Blaine kept his arm around Kurt, rubbing circles on his back in an attempt to soothe the other boy.  Kurt hadn't recognized that he was standing in the pool with Blaine, yet, and he was worried about what Kurt's reaction would be when he did.

Kurt hadn't made any attempt to withdraw his arm from where it was wrapped around Blaine's neck.  He played with a few of the curls absentmindedly.  “What do your friends call you?”

“Anderson or Blainers or B.  How ‘bout you?”

“Mostly my friends call me Kurt.  Porcelain.  Boo.”

Blaine scrunched up his face, thinking for a moment.  “Nope.  Not liking any of those.”

Kurt pulled his lower lip between his lips, before nervously admitting, “You called me handsome, yesterday.  I liked that.”

Blaine grinned.  “You are, you know.”

Kurt shook his head.  “I don't think so.  Blaine?  Are you-?

“Gay?  Yeah.  I figured blurting out how attractive you are yesterday kinda made that obvious,” he said, the tips of his ears turning red.  “That and admitting I had a dream about kissing another guy.  Granted, I was a girl at the time, but…”

“I…well, I didn't want to assume.”

They paused somewhat awkwardly before Blaine decided to slowly draw Kurt's attention to his position in the pool.  “I also think you're really brave.”

“What? Why would you think that?”asked Kurt in confusion.

“Look down,” Blaine whispered.

“ohmygod”

The color left Kurt's face.  Blaine placed his hands firmly on Kurt's hips holding him in place.  “Kurt? Hey!  No panicking now.  It's too late.  You've been standing in the water for the past five minutes!”

Kurt looked up from the water into Blaine's eyes.  “B.b.b.Blaine?”        

Blaine reached down to take hold of Kurt's hands.  He could feel the younger boy shaking, trying desperately to combat his reaction to this stressor.  “I'm right here.  You're fine.  Focus on taking a deep breath in for the count of seven, hold for four, out for a count of eight.  Good.  Repeat that three more times.

“Remember, this is like a giant bathtub.  Well, it's a bit colder and missing the vanilla scented bubbles.  And we wouldn't be wearing swim suits.  Um shit, I mean, not that we would be naked in a bathtub together.  I mean…what the hell do I mean?  Who am I kidding? I'm sure you have some amazing boyfriend who is going to want to come beat the crap out of me after you tell him about this.”  Blaine had an annoying tendency of putting his foot in his mouth and choking on it when he was really nervous.

“No..no…no boyfriend,” stuttered Kurt focusing on breathing in and out.  “K.k.k.keep t.t.talking.”

“I'm gonna have to up my flirt game now that I know you're not spoken for, Hummel.” Blaine sassed, hoping to help distract Kurt.  He was happy to hear Kurt giggle nervously at his comment.  “You know, as the lead singer for the Dalton Academy Warblers, I feel an obligation to sing to you to make you feel better.”  Kurt may have been shaking his head in the negative, but he was certainly smiling at the idea.  Blaine quickly considered which of his favorite pool songs to sing.

In a loud, clear voice, Blaine began singing.  “On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese, I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed.  It rolled off the table and on to the floor.  And then my poor meatball rolled right out the door.” 

Both boys were startled to hear two other voices join in on the second line.  All three of them continued.  “It rolled down the driveway, then under a bush.  And now my poor meatball is nothing but mush.”

Nick called out, “This seems to be working way better than your Warbler Gap Attack, Anderson.”

“Shut it, Duvall.  I'm just trying to make Kurt feel better.”

“Whatever.  Keep telling yourself whatever you need to in order to sleep at night. We both know the truth.”  Nick walked to the pool's edge and spoke to Kurt.

 “When you want the dirt on Blainers, you come talk to us.”  He pointed to Jeff and himself.  “We have a million embarrassing stories that we, as Blaine's best friends, are obligated to share with you.”

Jeff strolled over to Nick and slung an arm around the brunet's shoulders.  “And pictures. Don't forget the pictures, Nick.”

“How could I, Jeff? Pictures are worth a thousand words.  Each,” he emphasized.

“And the video, don't forget the video.”

“Shush, Jeffy.  Kurt, we just want you to know -”

“Since you're our friend -”

“That if you ever need the 411 on young Blaine Warbler –”

“Come find us.”

“Because we love him like a brother.”

“And since we both have brothers.”

“We're gonna treat him like one.”

If looks could kill, Jeff Sterling and Nick Duvall would have been two piles of burning ash.  “You two suck,” called Blaine.

“But we don't swal-”

“Jeffrey Andrew Sterling!”  Rebecca's tone was pure ice.

Jeff spun around to face his future sister-in-law.  “Sorry, Bec.”

“Dishes for the rest of the week and I might not tell your brother.”  She walked into the pool office, letting the door shut behind her.

Nick nudged Jeff.  “Damn! You got the full name treatment.”

Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand gently, pulling his attention back to him.  “It's 8:50.  Your lesson's been over for like ten minutes thanks to the Wondertwins there.  When do you want to come back?  You are coming back?” some anxiousness crept into Blaine's voice.

Kurt rolled his eyes.  “Of course I'm coming back,” he reassured.  He smiled slyly, “But, I need you to know, it's only for your amazing body.”

Blaine ran the hand not holding Kurt's over his chest.  “I'm okay with that.  It is an amazing body, isn't it?”

Jeff started making gagging noises from the side of the pool. 

Rebecca popped her head out of the office door.  “Jeffrey.” 

“Becca,” he whined.

“Two words: Poop Patrol” 

“I'll be swimming laps if anyone needs me,” Jeff shouted to no one in particular before executing a perfect dive into the pool.

Kurt chuckled.  These people were certifiable.  “Tomorrow?  Same time?” he asked Blaine.

“Perfect.”  Blaine walked Kurt over to the ladder so he could climb out of the pool.  “Like you,” he added after Kurt had wrapped himself up in his towel.

“Flirt,” Kurt accused.

Blaine held up his hands.  “Not denying it.  Is it working?”

“Maybe.  Ask me again tomorrow.”

“I will.”

“I hope so.”

“Have a good day, Kurt Hummel.”

“You do the same, Blaine Anderson.”

Leaning against the edge of the pool, Blaine rested his chin on his arms, watching Kurt walk away.  He couldn't remember ever feeling such instant connection with another person.  Whether or not he ended up getting Kurt to go out on a date with him, he had a gut feeling that Kurt was going to be in his life for a very long time. 

Nick jumped in to the water and moved to stand behind Blaine.  Wrapping an arm around Blaine's chest, he pulled Blaine back into his chest for an odd hug. 

Blaine loved Nick for many things, none more than Nick's absolute confidence in his own sexuality and unwavering support of Blaine's.  Their friendship was cemented in place at a swim meet their freshman year at Dalton, when a diver from Blaine's former high school walked by and sneered out, “You suck cock!” Nick stepped up, stood nose to nose with the other guy and replied just as loud, “Every chance I get.  Why?  You looking for a little something something, sweetheart?”

“So, Blainers,” he drawled out.  “Between us: See something you like?  Should I be jealous?”

Blaine reached up to grasp Nick's wrist.  “You'll always be my number one heterosexual life partner, Nicky.  But yeah, I like.  I like a lot.” 

Nick moved to place a wet kiss on Blaine's cheek.  “Good for you, babe.”  Then he grasped Blaine's head between his hands and blew a loud, wet raspberry on his cheek.  “Love ya, Anderson.”

Blaine shoved Nick away from him.  “Love you too, Duvall.”

They both finished with: “In a totally non-sexual best friends who will never have any benefits of any kind way.”

Rebecca walked by shaking her head at the boys' antics.