They stepped through the waist-high gate and were immediately caught up in a whirlwind of color and sound. Small children dashed about, vendors called out for prospective customers, and peals of laughter echoed through the dark sky. Hand-in-hand, they milled about, watching young boys shooting at plastic targets in vain attempts to win large stuffed animals, smelling the intoxicating scents of cotton candy and funnel cakes, listening to the screams of teenagers on the wooden roller coaster a few hundred yards away. The dead grass crunched under their feet as they wandered toward a booth.

"Step right, up, gentleman, if you dare!" A middle-aged man in a red-and-white-striped vest gestured toward his attraction, the bright white light above him illuminating his excited, albeit tired, face.

Blaine looked at his boyfriend. "What do you think?"

Kurt shook his head. "You know me. I have the athletic prowess of an elephant." He paused. "Well that was a bad analogy."

Blaine laughed, and then removed his wallet. "Fine then, wimpy." He handed the man a few crumpled bills, and lifted a plastic ring from the wooden peg from which it hung. "I guess I'll have to be the man here. I'm going to win you that Hello Kitty up there." He nodded to where the stuffed toy dangled from the roof of the booth.

Kurt giggled, and then composed his face seriously. "You had better, or else I'll have to live with the shame of dating someone who can't even get a ring around a few milk bottles."

With that, Blaine deftly tossed the first of his three rings into the pit in front of him. His goal was to snag the blue bottle that sat directly in the middle of a block of twenty-five—and he did just that. Kurt whooped appreciatively, and wrapped his arms around Blaine's neck.

"Calm down," Blaine chuckled. "It isn't as though I cured cancer or anything."

The carnie removed the Hello Kitty toy from the roof and handed it to Blaine, who, in turn, bestowed it upon Kurt, who beamed. The carnie then cleared his throat, which caused both boys to look at him in surprise.

"You two might want to tone it down," he advised. "Not everyone around here's very...accepting...of unorthodox relationships."

Kurt's heart stopped. He hadn't really thought of that. It was so natural for him to express his feelings for Blaine, whether it be through hugging, hand-holding, arm-linking, or full-on kissing. He had long since grown out of his nervousness concerning their relationship; nothing that felt so right could be wrong.

Blaine, however, had thought of that before. He knew that at events such as county fairs, all kinds of people showed up—including those opposed to homosexuality. He also knew that he would die before he would allow anyone to stifle the love he shared with Kurt.

Before either of them could respond to the carnie, they heard a shout. "Hey guys! Where've you been?"

Both boys wheeled around. Approaching them quickly was Finn, so immense that he easily parted the crowd, with Rachel on his arm, scurrying to keep up. Behind them trailed Puck arm-in-arm with Mercedes, who was laughing uproariously over something Puck just said to her. (Kurt smiled at this. Even though Puck and Mercedes' relationship had quickly gone awry, he was very glad that they had remained fairly close friends.)

Kurt embraced his step-brother when he arrived, and Rachel after him. Blaine fist-bumped Finn and kissed Rachel on the cheek, earning eye-rolls from the entire party.

"One time..." Blaine muttered under his breath.

Kurt quickly slid his arm through Blaine's once more. "Where would you guys like to go first?"

Simultaneously, Finn, Puck, and Blaine yelled, "ROLLER COASTER!" to which Kurt and Rachel responded with a resounding, "NO!"

The boys groaned. "Let me guess," Puck said. He pointed at Kurt. "You don't want to mess up your hair, and you—" He pointed to Rachel. "You don't want to hurt your voice."

Both nodded vigorously.

Blaine squeezed Kurt's arm with his own. "Come on, babe, it'll be fun!"

Kurt opened his mouth to protest, but stopped when he saw Blaine's face. His eyes twinkled in the many lights of the fair, and the warm summer breeze had lifted a single strand of his hair from his ridiculously over-gelled head and was tossing it about in front of him. He looked so excited and adorable that it was almost sickening.

So instead, he replied with an exasperated, "Fine!" and allowed Blaine to guide him toward the wooden structure, leaving a betrayed Rachel behind him.

The group of six had almost made it to the end of line for the ride when they were stopped by two burly guys in jeans and torn t-shirts. They strode across the six's path, arms crossed and mouths pulled down into grimaces.

The one on the right spoke first, his voice husky and hard. "We don't want your kind here, fags."

The other young man nodded, a look of disgust plastered on his tan face. "Someone oughta knock some sense into you nutters. No one wants two dudes all over each other up in here. Take your blasphemy somewhere else."

Kurt shook, clinging to Blaine to prevent himself from collapsing. Before either of them could react, however, Finn and Puck moved first. Almost as if they'd rehearsed it, they walked around and stood tall in front of the two boys, stances strong and faces set. Rachel and Mercedes, too, moved to block Blaine and Kurt from the bigots' views; they each took one by the arm and tugged him back a few steps.

"You have something to say to my brother?" Finn growled, fists balled up at his sides.

Puck cracked his knuckles. "You stay away from my boys, or you'll know exactly how it feels to have sense knocked into you, Puckerman style. I ain't afraid to go back to juvie."

Kurt was too shocked to shake anymore. Blaine rubbed the arm he held, trying to regain some feeling in his knees.

The four big guys stared at each other for another minute, each pair daring the other to make a move. Neither did, however, and when the offenders noticed that many people were beginning to stop and watch the confrontation, they sneered and stalked off angrily.

Kurt released a shaky breath and, dropping the Hello Kitty on the ground, fell heavily against Blaine, who wrapped both arms around the other boy's shoulders. "Sh..." he whispered into Kurt's ear. "Hey now, it's alright." Blaine met the eyes of Finn and Puck over Kurt's head, and thanked them silently. The two smiled back.

"Hey guys, can you wait here for a second?" When the other four nodded, Blaine ushered Kurt through the crowd and over to a darker, more secluded area. "Hey." He lifted Kurt's chin up so their eyes locked together. "Are you alright?"

Kurt nodded, and inhaled deeply. "For a minute there...I thought we were goners." He laughed humorlessly.

They were silent for a second, seemingly at a loss for words, until Blaine spoke. "You know that...that if Finn and Puck weren't there...that I would have fought those morons, right?" When Kurt didn't answer, he continued. "I would've gotten my ass kicked, but I would have done it to protect you."

Finally, Kurt whispered, "I know, you idiot, why do you think I was so scared?"

They fell silent again, but only for a moment, as both soon burst into laughter. Blaine wrapped Kurt up in a hug. "Oh Kurt...I don't care. I don't care that a lot of people out there don't approve of us, of you and me together. I don't care that we make them uncomfortable, or that they think we're wrong. Because I will kiss you without fear up on the Jumbo-Tron at Yankee Stadium in front of thousands—nay, millions—because I love you, Kurt Hummel. You hear me? I love you."

Without a word, Kurt grabbed Blaine's face and kissed him. They were no longer at the Allen County Summer Fair. There was no one around them. They weren't even sure they were breathing. All they had were their faces and their lips and their hands and each other—and it was more than enough. For the longest time they embraced each other, completely at peace, until they fell apart, gasping and laughing uncontrollably. Holding hands, they returned to the group.

"Man!" Mercedes exclaimed when they stopped. She was clutching Kurt's Hello Kitty, which she immediately returned to him. "Boo, watching you two, I thought you were never going to kiss him! It was agonizing to watch."

Kurt stuck his tongue out at her, but laughed all the same. "Well, we always have been a little slow."

With that, the group of friends charged forth into the night, prepared for the worst, but only finding the best.