Cooper.

Blaine hugged Cooper, trying not to look disappointed.

“I called- you weren’t home. Hey, is everything okay?” Cooper asked, his eyes shining with actual worry.

“No- yeah- I was taking a nap. Still not quite awake, I guess.” Blaine would tell him about what happened at Kurt’s house later (or maybe never). Now he had to figure out what this was about. Cooper Anderson on your doorstep - never not caused a scene.  He welcomed Cooper into the house, mindlessly walked towards the kitchen, and sat down.

Cooper sank into the chair across from his brother and noted how quiet the house was. “Hey, are Mom and Dad not home?” Blaine answered that with a look that successfully said ‘are you kidding me?’. Their parents avoided home like there were hellhounds chained in the backyard. “So what brings you here?” “he asked”, his eyes curiously studying Cooper’s.

“Well after your little ‘I have to figure out stuff’ stunt, I did some thinking.”

Oh, this is big.

“Figured I could use some thinking myself. So I spoke with Grandpa, he told me I could hold their accounts as a half-time job. I'm thinking maybe I can paint again?”

There it was. Their father was going to be so infuriated about this. He had two sons; he sent the first one to college, pressuring him to studying economics, then he forced his younger son (who was saying that he was gay, no matter what their dad had tried doing) into studying law. One and a half semesters later, Blaine came back and told him that he was unhappy, he had to figure out his life, and that he was going to give Martial Arts classes to people in the meantime. And now the ‘normal one’ had come back to tell him that he was  unhappy too, and that he also needed time to figure things out, and make a living by painting. Their father was going to be furious and though he didn’t like to admit it, that gave Blaine a little bit of a pleasure.

“So where are you going to live?”

“Here,” Cooper said in a serious face, then grinned. “Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” Blaine listened without interrupting, wondering if Cooper was finally going to do what he'd been hoping he would since Blaine had had to move back in with his parents. Mr. Anderson was a person who went by the motto of “my house, my rules”. That included a don’t ask, don’t tell principle. Blaine went with it because, well, he wasn’t making enough money to support him to have his own place, and also because his parents mostly weren’t home so he could pretend that he was living alone. Mostly. But Cooper wouldn’t go with that. He didn’t like Mr. Anderson slipping sarcastic comments into his conversations with Blaine, no matter how rare those were.

“I thought I could rent some place here, and when I brought up the subject with Grandpa, he was kind enough to offer to pay the rent.” Cooper stopped to look at Blaine with all seriousness that he could manage. “Little Brother, I want you to free yourself from Dad’s shackles and come live with me.”

Blaine was hugging Cooper without even remembering standing up and walking over to him. House searching was going to be so fun.

—

Kurt lifted his gaze from his notebook to look at Brittany, not bothering to hide his pout. He had no idea what Mrs. Bletheim was talking about for the last 15 minutes, which was out of character for him. He always had getting good grades in his mind so he could get out of there as soon as possible. Before Blaine, that was.

 “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what happened, Kurt. And if you don’t, I’ll have to go sit somewhere else because you’re sulking and it makes my happy unicorn bubble bust.” Brittany said, dreamily.

“He kissed me,” Kurt sighed. “And I kissed him back, and then I threw him out without saying anything, and that’s it.” Telling someone what happened made it real and heart-breaking at the same time. Kurt didn’t know why he freaked out like he had, and he was still very confused about ... well, everything. He liked Blaine and he liked kissing Blaine. The only explanation was that he had panicked. He wasn’t used to getting that kind of close to anyone and he didn’t quite know if he was even ready for more. Kurt knew that most of his friends had been doing this for at least 5 years, and he surely didn’t have a problem with kissing Blaine; it was just that he was surprised by the feelings it induced. He would probably get used to it if they were to do it again. But even if they did, Blaine was twenty. Would kissing really be enough for him? Kurt kept reminding himself that he was the guy who liked Broadway musicals because the touch of the fingertips was as sexy as it got. He was a hopeless romantic. He saw how some of his friends threw themselves around while he thought he wasn’t ready and he had always felt like he was instead waiting for someone, patiently waiting, trusting that he'd find him one day. What if that someone was Blaine? And what if Kurt was so used to thinking of this as a dream that even the slim chance of it becoming real scared him?

Kurt wasn’t sure how much he had said out-loud as he drifted in his own thoughts. He realized Brittany was talking about something and he probably missed the whole story.

"… So that’s then Lord Tubbington decided that he wasn’t in love with Mr. Dino, my pet dinosaur plushy, and walked away without sleeping with him again.” Brittany leaned in to Kurt, lowered her voice down and continued, “I suspect that’s when he started smoking cigarettes.” She nodded matter-of-factly and continued on listening what Mrs. Bletheim was saying.

After a moment of confusion, Kurt turned to her. “Britt, what the hell are you talking about?”

“Well, all I’m saying is- it’s not a big deal, Kurt. Like hello- you're gonna have sex if you're into somebody. It's natural.” She smiled.

Kurt hesitated for a few seconds. “Is that from Jersey shore?” He wrinkled his nose, and when Brittany nodded, he couldn’t help but laugh, earning a death-glare from Mrs. Bletheim.

Usually, nobody knew what Brittany was talking about, but what she just said actually made sense to Kurt. He was still somehow disturbed by the idea of that kind of intimacy but yeah, he liked Blaine and he at least owed him an apology for how he'd acted. He was going to do this without wasting any more time, the glee club could survive one day without his backing vocals.

Later that day after school, he climbed into his car and drove to Blaine’s house. He parked his car in the driveway, rang the bell once, and waited. Kurt was already feeling nervous which made him impatient, tapping his calves to distract himself. When no one came to open the door, he fought the urge to leave and instead walked around the house to check if Blaine was out on the back porch. When he rounded the last corner and saw it, he froze.

Blaine was sitting on a love seat with a book in his hands with a man - a very good-looking one, might Kurt add - asleep on his shoulder. If Kurt hadn't felt so heart-broken at the sight, he would have thought it looked very domestic and adorable. He didn't realize that he was staring until Blaine looked up to see him, surprised.

"Oh hi- I... I'll just go. You obviously have ... something going on right now,

" Kurt blurted out. Blaine jumped to his feet, startling the man that was sleeping on his shoulder.

"Kurt, no, wait." Blaine said, biting his lip, which made him look like he was trying to hide a smile.

Kurt tried to ignore him, still confused, and started to walk to the front of the house to get to his car.

"Kurt,” said Blaine as he grabbed Kurt's shoulder and turned him to face him, now with a full smile on his lips, “that's my brother, Cooper.”

Kurt glanced back at the other man, who waved at Kurt with the same kind of smile (which could easily mistaken as a knowing grin) as Blaine had. He could see the resemblance now. Kurt waved back awkwardly,  and thought, damn, if they both look like this, what do their parents look like? Trying not to think about meeting them one day, he glanced back at Blaine, who looked both apprehensive and amused at the same time.

"So what brings you here?" Blaine asked.

Kurt, a little bit flustered, answered, "Well, I wanted to talk to you... But actually, it can wait." He motioned towards his car.

"You don't have to leave, Kurt!” Blaine called after him.

"No, I'll just see you tomorrow," Kurt answered, without bothering to look back at Blaine again. As he walked, he could have sworn he heard Cooper laugh and Blaine shush him loudly. When he reached his car and got in, he his heart was racing. Kurt closed his eyes for a moment and thought about how what just happened was nothing, how he only went to see Blaine in order to apologize and how embarrassing it had turned out, and made a mental note to not make assumptions ever again. He jumped in his seat when he heard the passenger door quickly open and close, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that Blaine was sitting next to him.

Kurt opened his mouth, but couldn’t say anything. He wondered why Blaine was turning him into bumbling idiot who never knew what to say. Admittedly, Kurt often felt unacknowledged and undervalued at school (even in glee club), and certainly sometimes he was misunderstood, but he was never socially awkward. But the second he suspected Blaine of being interested in him in some way other than “just friends” or “some kid he was teaching martial arts to” panic and chaos were everywhere and “Hello, Kurt Hummel, that weird kid”.

Blaine interrupted his thoughts by saying his name. Nothing more, only his name.

Kurt inhaled slowly and looked at Blaine. Really looked. Not at his pretty face, beautiful eyes, ridiculously-kept hair, and his full lips. He gazed at Blaine and no matter how cliché it is, he tried to look into Blaine’s soul. He thought about their short amount of time together- they hadn't known each other for long- but Blaine had already helped him in so many ways. Blaine had been a friend to him in ways that almost none of his friends at school were. Blaine had been his mentor because he knew what it felt like to be in his position. Blaine had a kind soul and Kurt knew that he felt lost so what if Blaine was also helped by having Kurt in his life?

He looked at Blaine, and saw the worry in his eyes, saw the hints of rejection… and realized that he put those feelings there, and he didn’t want to do that anymore. He wanted to give Blaine hope because he needed it, they both did. He reached out and put his hand over Blaine’s jaw, closer to his neck. Without hesitating, he pulled Blaine towards himself and kissed him.

It both was and wasn’t like their first kiss. It was because the spark was still there, making Kurt want to stay in that moment forever and made him believe that he actually could. If they kept going, now would be forever and the sky wouldn’t get darker, they wouldn’t age, his family wouldn’t worry about him. It wasn’t like their first kiss because the panic wasn’t there this time. His mind finally knew that closeness was all that he needed; there was no freaking out.

Blaine broke away for a second, and held Kurt’s face close with both of his hands. He exhaled slowly but passionately, and locked his eyes with Kurt’s. Kurt could no longer see hurt in Blaine’s eyes. He now saw passion in them. He now saw lust, or what he thought was lust, given that he had never seen anyone look at him with lust-driven eyes before. He now saw hope, and he had put it there.

Neither of them said anything, they didn’t have to. Blaine moved his lips forward, capturing Kurt’s with his open mouth. Kurt wanted to be closer to Blaine with all of his body but the car was restrictive about that and the only way he could imagine that would bring their bodies together involved moving a little bit too fast and he didn’t want this to be too fast. He wanted them to take their time, he wanted this to be sweet, he wanted this to be able to be something. He cupped Blaine’s cheek with one of his hands, to change the angle so that he had better access to Blaine’s mouth and lowered his other hand to Blaine’s waist. That was the closest he could get for now.

He slipped his tongue into Blaine’s mouth, with the hope it would get what was he was feeling across. He had no idea about how he knew what to do-he had never been this close to someone before- but he knew. He was probably too sloppy but he didn’t care. Neither did Blaine, it would seem. He felt Blaine’s hand at the back of his own neck- gripping tightly, but gently. He felt Blaine’s other hand cover his own that was resting on Blaine’s waist. Kurt heard himself let out a soft moan and opened his eyes, as Blaine brushed their lips together. He looked at Blaine through half-lidded eyes. His face, his eyes and and his eyelashes looked beautiful in the light of the setting sun. Beautiful, like, dashingly beautiful. Beautiful, like, the most beautiful person Kurt had ever seen.

Blaine had his thumb over Kurt’s cheek and was studying him as if Kurt was the most interesting kid he’d ever seen. The attention almost made him feel self-conscious; he smiled a bit, flushed. Blaine chuckled softly - the sweetest noise ever and Kurt melted at the sound. He was leaning in for another kiss when he heard the melody of Seasons of Love fill the car and he jumped in his seat instead, startling Blaine. Kurt reached for his phone, attempting to silence it without even checking the caller ID but Blaine gestured from the passenger seat and murmured, “It could be important.”

Kurt sighed agreeably and held the phone to his ear.

“Hey Dude! Just got home- where are you guys?” Finn.

“I don’t know, Finn. It’s a work-day. Carole and Dad are probably still at work?” Kurt tried not to sound annoyed and he looked at Blaine apologetically, instantly feeling better when Blaine smiled at him reassuringly.

“Oh yeah…” Finn sounded like he was thinking something over. “Whatever, dude. Can you come home as soon as possible? I have big news.”

“What big news, Finn?” Kurt demanded; it wasn’t going to be easy to bring him home right now.

“Dude just… Pretty big. Come home, okay?” Finn hung up the phone before Kurt had a chance to object.

Kurt closed his eyes and took a huge breath, as if doing so would help him go back in time.

“Have to go home?” asked Blaine, as he stroked Kurt’s arm. Kurt nodded. He didn’t want to leave, he wanted to stay there forever but he had to go home sometime, right? And he liked to think that they had all the time in the world to continue this later. He looked at Blaine and smiled while Blaine leaned in towards Kurt to capture his face in his hands for a loud, chaste kiss. “Call me?” asked Kurt.

Blaine opened the passenger door and jumped out with a grin. “You bet I will, Mister.” Kurt couldn’t help but grin in return. When Blaine grinned like that, no one could simply not grin. It had that effect on people.

Kurt drove off, wondering if what happened had really happened and kept smiling like an idiot.

—

 “That’s the big news Finn? That we’re doing (I've Had) The Time Of My Life for Sectionals? Seriously? You made me come home for that?” Kurt didn’t even try to hide the upset tone from his voice.

“Well, that, and Mr. Schue told me about our competition. Hey- where were you during the glee club practice anyway?”

“I was pracitising. With Blaine. Doesn’t matter, Finn!”

“Anyway, one of them is a choir of old people and the other is a group called … The Tattlers? No. The Warblers! From a fancy school called the Dal—” Finn's news was abruptly cut off by a bitchy expression from Kurt, which earned a guilty expression from Finn in return.

“I don’t care, Finn. Nothing that you told me meets the definition of exciting news. I was called home for this, god! Never again, Finn, never again.” Kurt stormed off to his room, and instantly regretted his grand exit because he was pretty hungry and didn’t intend to miss dinner. No matter how much he hated to take back a dramatic exit, skipping a meal horrified him more.

After the dinner, Kurt returned to his room to do his homework (a paper in French about one of their idols and the reasons to why the students idolized them in the first place) - something he could do even in his sleep. After he finished, he started on  his facial routine while he waited for Blaine to call. By the time that he had put his pajamas on, Kurt felt a little disappointed that his phone hadn't rang at all that evening. He figured that Blaine had been too busy to call, but then his telephone suddenly buzzed on his night table. He rushed to it, and this time smiled at the sound of Seasons of Love.

The tone of Blaine’s voice sounded like he was smiling. So what happened was real.

Kurt apologized to Blaine about leaving abruptly and told him about Finn’s excuse for calling him home. “So basically, he interrupted us to tell me about a song choice and that we’re competing against a bunch of old people and some guys called the Warblers or something.” He hadn't expected Blaine to be interested in his boring show choir competition news so he was surprised and confused when Blaine started to laugh.

“Blaine?”

Blaine collected himself enough so that he sounded merely amused when he said, “I’m sorry I just…. What are the odds?” He laughed again. Even though Kurt had quickly come to adore the sound of Blaine's mirth, he had no idea why show choir was so amusing. What odds?

 “Blaaaaine?”

“It’s just that… I was a Warbler in high school, Kurt. I went to Dalton Academy, remember?”

Oh my god…

Blaine was once a Warbler. Blaine was three years older than Kurt. If in some other universe they had been the same age, they still would have met. Ifs and maybes flew in Kurt’s head, a hundred different scenarios, and all of them leading to the same happy destination.

“So… If… Wow.”

Blaine chuckled again. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

The rest of the conversation flew easily, even though Kurt’s mind lingered on their earlier subject.  They hung up wishing each other good night and sweet dreams.

For so many years, Kurt had never been really happy. Sure, he had his moments with his family, he had his moments with his friends, he even had a perfect set of moments on the day his Dad married Carole, but he couldn’t recall a time that he was truly happy. But this was it. In that moment full of Blaine, he finally felt truly happy, not out of place for once, excited about the future. He wondered what he used to think about before his brain was so pre-occupied with Blaine but he couldn’t find an answer. Instead, he took a shower and sang his lungs out, in a concert to nobody in particular. It was a shame for his newly moisturized skin, but he couldn’t care less.

Before going to bed, Kurt checked his phone -just in case- not really expecting anything, but he found something anyway. He opened a new text from Blaine saying “Oh by the way, I strongly advise you to check the flower pot located on the right side of your front door first thing in the morning. Be thorough. x” which left Kurt with a huge smile on his face. He tried very hard not to run downstairs to check the door right then. Instead, he forced himself to go to sleep, which was hard with the thoughts of Blaine that wouldn’t leave his mind.

The next morning, Kurt was the first to wake up, without needing an alarm. For the first time in his life, he greeted the morning thinking, finally. He rushed downstairs to the front door, and quickly checked the said flowerpot. He had searched through the bushy plant -which was obviously too big for that flowerpot- thoroughly when his hands finally touched something. He shook the leaves out of his hair and pulled out what he had found. It was a plushy of two small Ninja Kittens with a note pinned to one of them. The note explained that the ninjas symbolized the two of them because ninjas were awesome and had super moves and marvelous martial arts skills and that they were fearless. At the end of the note, there was one more word, written in all capitals: COURAGE. The note was signed “Blaine”, with an x next to it.

Kurt had no words. Truly happy, he thought. Really, truly, absolutely, and finally happy. He returned inside and closed the door. He could swoon and flail when he got to his room. For now, he would just enjoy this brand new feeling, saving it to his memory so that even when he was a grey-haired old man, he would remember it and smile.