Blaine met Kurt when they were seven years old. When walking his dog Bowtie in the park he’d seen a boy holding onto a tree and leaning into the stream to retrieve a hat that was snagged on a rock. The boy had hazelnut hair with skin as pale as bread, his features screwed in concentration as his hand shook and flexed in the empty air between him and the hat.

He ran up to the boy with Bowtie at his heels and asked if he could help. When he looked him in the face he got his first glimpse of bright blue eyes and pearly white teeth and the boy took his hand in Blaine’s. Not only was his skin as pale as bread but it was as soft as well and Blaine felt tingles like pins and needles in his palm.

Taking hold of the tree again Blaine leaned and closed the gap to the hat and looked up to see the boys staring at him with a beaming smile and the world fell away… literally. Blaine’s hand in the boys had begun to sweat and he fell out of his grasp and into the stream where he was dragged down quickly.

The boy and Bowtie ran after him up the stream until the dog made a giant leap into the water to swim after Blaine. They both went under the bridge and the boy with hazelnut hair ran to the end of the bridge and waited, and waited. He was twisting around frantically looking for help when he heard the dog barking and saw him pulling the boy up by the scruff of his shirt.

The boy ran to the waters edge and pulled Blaine up with both hands panting until they both collapsed on the springy grass. Between pants Blaine sat up and held the hat up tightly in his fist and exclaimed: “I.. I… G-Got it!”

The pale little boy who’d mostly been relieved that the boy with dripping dark curls was alive and on land suddenly grasped it in his hands and then flung his arms tightly around drenched and shivering Blaine. “Thank you! Thank you so much!” He said and released him holding out a delicate hand and pronounced, “I’m Kurt!”

Blaine looked into those twinkling blue eyes again and then gulped and took his hand and shook it almost business like, “I’m Blaine,” then winced. “My leg I think… I think I broke it.” As the shock had worn off Blaine’s eyes began to brim with fat little tears and Kurt looked concerned but defiant as he locked eyes with Blaine and said:
“Don’t worry, I’ll look after you.”

Blaine had indeed broken his leg but true to his word Kurt took care of Blaine. He went to his house everyday. The first time he came he brought a large pink bag full of colouring pens and drew elaborate curling designs all over his cast.

The next time he brought a little juke box and performed a dance for him complete with rolly pollies and a flip for the big finish (Kurt was learning to be a gymnast.)

On a day when the rain poured and hammered on the roof Kurt pulled all of the many books Blaine had on his shelves (Blaine wanted to be a librarian because he loved books so much) and Kurt built tall skyscrapers. He pretended they were in New York and told Blaine that it was his dream to live there and one day they would go together.

One day he brought an orange plastic box full of the most delicious cookies Blaine had ever tasted, made by him and his mum (the hat had been hers). Kurt had spread a picnic blanket on the floor of Blaine’s bedroom with care and set up little teacups with stars painted on them. They pretended to sip tea and ate the cookies, which were cut into stars to match the cups. They had to be really careful because these were his mummies from when she’d been a little girl and Kurt loved his mummy very much.

Some time after their tea party Kurt began to split his time between visiting Blaine in the morning and his mummy in the evening because she’d suddenly had to move into the big hospital in the city. His big and hairy father Burt would pick Kurt up from Blaine’s and they’d drive away together with Blaine leaning on his crutches in the porch as Kurt waved enthusiastically from the window.

But as the weeks went past and summer was coming towards the end Kurt’s waving was becoming less and less enthusiastic and sparkle in his eyes began to dim until they began to resemble the water Blaine had fallen into when they first met.

One night Blaine heard the sound of pebbles smacking his window and he looked out to find Kurt standing under his window, he whispered into the night, “Can I come up?” Blaine nodded and Kurt climbed up the porch trellis, along the roof and through Blaine’s window. The room was dark asides from the glowing stars Kurt had glued to his ceiling one summers afternoon.

Kurt’s eyes were dark and ringed with red and Blaine’s heart had melted, he wanted to do anything to make Kurt feel better. Kurt told Blaine what his mummy and daddy had told him earlier that there would be a day very soon where she wouldn’t be here any more. Kurt began to sob and Blaine awkwardly with his cast between them wrapped his arms as tightly around Kurt’s shoulders as he could, and told him: “I promise I will never leave you.”

Only a week later the boys dressed in black suits with little black bowties had stood side by side as Kurt’s mother’s coffin, covered in red and yellow roses, was slowly lowered into the ground. Kurt had cried silently and Blaine had clutched his hand as tightly as the day they’d met when they’d rescued his mother’s hat.

Shortly after they broke apart, Kurt walked hand in hand with his father away from the mourners and Kurt had looked back at Blaine with sad eyes and just the smallest of smiles pricking the edge of his mouth before he looked up at his dad and then disappeared through the trees.

Blaine’s cast came off the last day of summer and then the boys started elementary school together. Kurt was popular with the girls in his class who liked to run and dance with him but Blaine didn’t fit in. The children called him boring and made fun of his bowties. Sometimes they’d pull his curly hair or hide his books on tall shelves where he and his short legs couldn’t reach.

But Kurt stood true to his word from when they first met, he looked after Blaine and they stayed best friends through elementary school, middle school and eventually McKinley High School. Kurt became more and more popular and joined the famous league of cheerleaders called the ‘Cheerio’s’ run by the formidable coach Sue Sylvester while Blaine retreated further and further into his books and his shell. No-one could really understand why top of the pyramid Kurt Hummel would hang out with bottom of the food chain Blaine Anderson but as Kurt was true to his word so was Blaine.

He never left Kurt.