It was spring and they had finished their homework so they had got permission to go outside before dinner. The sun was baking down on their heads and Blaine could feel his black curls sucking up so much sun that he imagined his face to be completely scarlet when they got back inside.

"Wouldn't it be cool if some rich family came and adopted both of us?" Kurt asked as they watched a baby frog struggle to jump through the tall grass. It stopped, as if it knew they were watching and wanted to gather up strength to take another, more impressive, jump. Blaine's eyes were locked on the frog as it continued to slowly jump its way towards the bushes.

"I don't know. I don't think I could have another mom. I had a mom and dad once. And a brother. I couldn't get a new family instead of them," Blaine responded, turning the question over in his head, tasting the concept of some strangers sweeping in to replace his parents and brother.

"But I don't want you to get adopted without me. Or me to get adopted without you," he hurried to say. He had never considered that option before. That maybe some day someone would walk in there and pick him or Kurt, but not both of them, and they would be separated. Maybe never see each other again. The thought turned around in his belly and he was afraid that he was going to throw up.

"But if we got adopted by the same family we would always be together. And if the family were rich we could get a room together and have all kinds of awesome stuff, and all the books and music and Disney movies we would ever want," Kurt exclaimed eagerly. Maybe he had given it a lot of thought.

"Mhm, that would be cool. I like that. We could make like a pact; that if someone comes to adopt one of us we say that we won't go without each other," Blaine proposed and hoped that Kurt would make that promise with him. That way they were sure to stay together forever and never have to worry again.

"Yes. I wanna do that. And when we get adopted we can tell them that we want one huge bed instead of two small like we have now. When you sleep you're like a cat and take up a lot of space," Kurt laughed and presented his little finger.

"Sorry," Blaine mumbled and felt his ears go red. He actually always laid as close to Kurt as possible whenever they shared bed. He hurried to lock his little finger with Kurt's to seal their pact and started to wonder if he dared dreaming of them actually being adopted together.

xXx

After having begged Miss Pillsbury for a long time they were finally allowed to run outside to play in the rain. It was pouring down, but Blaine liked the way his curls stuck to his forehead. Kurt didn't like the rain particularly much, but he agreed to go outside because he knew how much Blaine loved it.

The day before they had found a cat in the bushes, so after having jumped in puddles for some time Kurt talked Blaine into go looking for the cat. They rummaged around the bushes for a long time until they couldn't see the house anymore. The cat wasn't there and the boys got disappointed.

"Maybe he had better things to do," Blaine suggested with a shrug before he slid on the wet grass and fell on his bottom making Kurt gasp from the shock.

"Did it hurt?" Kurt asked and looked down at him. Apparently he had been just as startled as Blaine had by his fall. He was white in the face and his eyes were round and dark from the shadows of the leaves and the gray sky. In there it was nearly as dark as in the dormitory when all lights were out when they were about to sleep.

"No," Blaine lied, but his voice didn't sound anywhere nearly as brave as he wanted it to. He could never lie to Kurt, not even pretend, and he had to bite his lower lip to not break into crying.

Kurt dumped down on his butt to sit next to Blaine in the muddy grass. Their rain suits were luckily enough perfectly waterproof so their clothes didn't get wet from sitting there.

"We can always sit here until it doesn't hurt anymore," Kurt suggested casually, pretending that he hadn't heard Blaine say that it didn't hurt. He sat so close that when he moved to find a comfortable position their rain pants squeaked against each other.

They stayed in the bushes for a while, waiting for Blaine's butt to not hurt anymore while they listened to the rain drum on the leaves over their heads. Eventually they heard Miss Pillsbury call for them and they got up.

As Blaine started to walk towards the garden opening Kurt grabbed around his wrist. Blaine turned confused around, but before he could ask what was wrong Kurt had pressed his lips against Blaine's. It was quickly over, and the second he broke away he ran towards the door of the house, leaving Blaine in the rain with the print of Kurt's soft lips burning on his.

They didn't talk during dinner, and when they watched a movie before bedtime they coiled up on the beanbag together the way they always did.

Neither of them mentioned the kiss, but when the lights were off in the dormitory Blaine couldn't stop thinking about it. He closed his eyes and imagined that it had lasted a little longer, and that Kurt hadn't run away when it was over, so they could have walked back to the house hand in hand. He didn't know what it meant but he liked it, even though he wasn't sure if he was supposed to like it.

xXx

It was Saturday and Silverlake was taking the younger kids on a field trip to a playground in a big forest where they were to spend the entire day. The older kids were doing something else, and it wasn't unusual for them to split in groups that way.

When the bus stopped they had to walk for fifteen minutes through the woods, but when they finally got to the playground it was huge and Miss Pillsbury had to yell to make them all sit down on a group of benches to make them listen to the rules.

They had to keep within the barriers of the playground, which was actually just a fence around the square which wasn't much more than ten inches tall. They were to play nice and safe, and if anything happened they should find a grown-up. When the grown-ups called they should come back. That was it; they were released to play as crazy as they wanted.

Kurt didn't take Blaine's hand, but walked away from the benches by himself. Blaine was left alone to stare after him. After a minute sitting there he had enough of Miss Pillsbury's huge, concerned eyes staring at him, so he awkwardly got to his feet and started to walk by himself in the other direction.

"Blaine? Where are you going? Aren't you coming with me?" Kurt called over the square and Blaine stopped. He wasn't sad anymore; Kurt still wanted to play with him.

He turned around and saw Kurt staring at him from the other end. He rolled his eyes and sighed heavily to show that he definitely hadn't been upset that Kurt had walked away from him without as much as a word.

"I guess I could do that," Blaine called back in a fake bored voice. He scraped a little in the ground with his boot, but he couldn't stay away any longer. Even two minutes away from Kurt were a pain. He started to clumsily run over the square and when he reached Kurt he was heaving for air but followed him silently as they walked towards the forest.

The walked in between the trees, both of them well aware that it probably was a little too far away for the grown-ups to be pleased with them, but they would much rather be alone, than to have everyone constantly hovering over them.

When they were so far away that they couldn't see the playground anymore Kurt stopped by a big, old oak tree. They let their backpacks bump to the ground before they sat down and rested their backs against the trunk. A beam of sunlight was streaming down on their faces through the ceiling of leaves, and birds were singing over their heads.

Blaine thought it was nice to sit there with Kurt. The air was hot, but not so hot that it was uncomfortable. Blaine was sitting on a clump of moss, and he could feel it being wet through his shorts. He knew that he would get into trouble with Miss Pillsbury when he came back and she saw the stain, but he didn't care.

Kurt had pulled a deck of cards from his backpack. Apparently he already knew that he wasn't going to run around on the playground like everyone else. It didn't surprise Blaine. Kurt hated anything where he could get dirty, so whenever he rushed himself into stuff like that it was mostly because Blaine talked him into it. Like that one time when Blaine was 5 and wanted to do finger painting badly and Kurt had agreed to be there and watch him while he was painting, but Blaine quickly dug Kurt's fingers into the painting, and they ended up laughing so hard that they accidentally pushed the painting tray on the floor.

Kurt spread out a blanket and Blaine sat down in front of him. Kurt dealt the cards and they played in silence. They could hear the screaming and laughing from the kids playing and Blaine kept his ears constantly tensed to hear if the grown-ups called for them. But they didn't.

After some time he was starting to get hungry but he knew that they would get into trouble if they ate before the entire group was called for lunch, so he tried to ignore his stomach growling in objection.

Kurt sent him glances across the blanket, and Blaine was certain that he knew that he was hungry. He probably was too, and Blaine figured that he was trying to keep their focus elsewhere until they were called back to the playground.

After they had played for a long time Blaine was bored with the game, so he absentmindedly let his cards drop. When Kurt dropped his as well Blaine gathered them all and packed them away to stowe them into his backpack.

They both sat against the tree trunk. The bark was cold and clammy through his t-shirt, and the smell of wet, rotten leaves on the forest floor made his head heavy. He was already tired, but didn't say anything because then Kurt would say that they should go back and he didn't want that. He wanted to stay there alone with Kurt.

They started talking about the few different flowers that were showing around them, and about the insects they saw. Kurt thought they were gross, but Blaine found them fascinating. A butterfly flew over and sat on the blanket at their feet and even Kurt's jaw dropped. It was big and blue, with purple and black almond shapes on its wings, as if it had eyes there.

Blaine watched as Kurt slowly crawled closer and let his finger onto the blanket in front of the insect. To their joined surprise it took a few strokes of its wings and was suddenly seated on Kurt's finger. Blaine laid down on the blanket next to him while they watched all the details of the tiny creature.

"I think we should go back. Your hand is ice cold," Kurt declared when the butterfly had taken flight and disappeared between the trees.

Blaine got embarrassed. He hadn't even noticed that his hand had slid so close to Kurt that he was nearly holding it on his wrist. It was true though; his hands and toes were freezing and he felt like they had been out there forever, so he had to agree that it was time.

They stood up and helped each other fold the blanket. Kurt made sure he hadn't forgotten anything and started to head back towards the playground. He only took a few steps before he stopped and turned in horror when he heard a bump to the ground behind him.

Blaine had stepped on a branch that slid under his foot and he fell to the ground. Kurt quickly ran to his side, staring at him in concern.

"Are you okay?" he asked and offered Blaine his hand to help him get back up. Blaine took his hand and shook his head. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth and tried saying something he would start crying. He was already embarrassed by how clumsy he always was.

He tried getting up, but he fell back down to sit on the ground. It hurt too much in his ankle to support on it, especially walk on it. Now he cried. It was stupid, but he was tired, he was hungry, and now he couldn't get back to the playground. He was stuck in the forest.

Kurt found out the blanket and put it on the ground at the tree where they sat only a few minutes before. Then he helped Blaine over to sit back against the trunk and folded the rest of the blanket around him before he stood up.

"I'm gonna go get Miss Pillsbury. Then she can help you back," Kurt said. The message hit Blaine like a train and he started crying hysterically.

"No. Kurt, don't go. Don't leave me here alone. Please," Blaine wailed. He felt pathetic but didn't care. He was scared and cold. What if Kurt left to get a grown-up, but couldn't find back to him? Then he would be left to sit there alone forever.

Kurt silently walked to the tree and nudged to Blaine's knee with his foot.

"Then move a little so I can sit there too. They'll find us as soon as they call for lunch and we don't show. It's gonna be any minute now," Kurt said and crawled inside the pocket they had formed in the blanket. He wiped away Blaine's tears and Blaine stopped crying. As long as Kurt didn't leave him it wouldn't be so bad.

"Are you hungry?" Kurt asked. Blaine sniffed and nodded. He couldn't stop staring at how shiny Kurt's eyes were, and how much the blue in his irises resembled the color of tinkerbells. Whenever they were drawing he would always try finding that exact color of blue, but even after three years of knowing him he still hadn't succeeded.

Kurt dragged over his backpack and opened the little room at the front. He rummaged a little around before he found out a little container. It was one of those the older kids used, and Blaine wondered what he could be keeping in that, and especially how he had even got one of these.

"I helped one of the big girls with her dress the other day, so she gave me cookies. I asked for those with chocolate and cranberries - your favorite," he explained and offered Blaine one. His favorite, not Kurt's favorite with raisins. But Blaine's.

"Thank you," Blaine mumbled thickly. He took the cookie Kurt held out to him and smiled at him in gratitude. He marveled at how considerate it was of Kurt to do that. He could just have asked for those with raisins. Blaine liked those too.

They ate the cookies in silence. It felt like they sat there for ages, and the sun had stopped shining down on them a long time ago. Blaine let his head fall to rest on Kurt's shoulder and Kurt let his fingers slide into Blaine's under the blanket, resting them on Blaine's knee.

"They will find us soon. I'm sure they will. We have been gone for a very long time now," Kurt mumbled and rested his cheek on top of Blaine's head. Blaine suspected that he was starting to get scared too, but pretended to be brave to not upset Blaine more than he already was.

Blaine was so happy that Kurt stayed with him. He was incredibly scared to be alone, even at home at the orphanage so he couldn't stand the thought of being alone out in the forest. He imagined to turn his head around and kiss Kurt like he had kissed him in the rain. He wondered if his lips really were so soft or if it was just something he had imagined because he liked it so much.

He squeezed Kurt's hand and shut his eyes. He didn't dare kiss him - what if it was only Kurt who was allowed to kiss him, and not the other way around, and Kurt would get mad at him for doing it?

It was so cold that they were nearly shaking. Blaine's ankle was throbbing, and he wanted to scream and cry from the pain, but didn't say a word.

Suddenly out of nowhere they heard voices calling their names and Kurt sat up straight and started calling back. Quickly two of the grown-ups showed and ran towards them as soon as they saw them by the oak tree.

"Boys, what are you doing here? You were told to stay back at the playground!" One of them spat out. They both seemed mad, but also relieved to find them in great shape.

Kurt hurried to blabber out with an explanation of what had happened. He said that they just wanted to get a little away so they could play cards but they could still hear the others, and then he proceeded to tell them about how Blaine had fallen when they were on their way back.

They looked at his ankle and decided that he couldn't walk back, so the man lifted Blaine up and carried him back to the playground. Everyone was waiting for them, and they were done with their lunch a long time ago, so they started walking back to the bus.

As Blaine was being carried back he felt like a child, a stupid three year old who was always clumsy and fell down on the wrong times, and didn't even have control of his own body so he always ruined everything for Kurt. But as much as he was mad at himself he knew that Kurt didn't think he was an idiot, which helped a bit.

Kurt stayed close to them. Neither of them said anything on their way back to the bus, but Kurt didn't stray away from Blaine for a minute. Every now and then Blaine looked down on him, and Kurt smiled consoling up at him.

When they came back to Silverlake the grown-ups wrapped gauze around his foot after he had been helped to take a bath. They said they wanted to wait and see what happened but if it was still swollen he would be taken to the doctor on Monday.

When the lights were off in the dormitory at night he remembered back on how safe he had felt with Kurt in the forest. The way he and Kurt had been wrapped up in the blanket, sitting close and holding each other's hands. He wished that he could walk over to Kurt's bed to at least say goodnight to him.

"Kurt? Are you asleep?" Blaine whispered through the dark, and someone hushed at him from the other end of the room. It was followed by complete silence.

He's probably sleeping. He was very tired, Blaine thought to himself. He was a bit disappointed, but hoped that Kurt would sleep well when he felt a hand push at his arm. He gasped but looked up to vaguely see the outline of Kurt holding a finger against his lips to tell Blaine to be quiet.

He moved over and Kurt snuck under the covers. His feet were cold against Blaine's skin where his pajama pants had crawled up his still healthy leg. Kurt pulled the sheets over their faces and grinned at Blaine.

"Can I sleep here tonight? I like your bed better than mine," he whispered with a smile, and Blaine nodded eagerly back. Warmth spread through his body and he wanted to hug Kurt instantly.

"I was worried about you. Does your foot still hurt?" Kurt asked, and put an arm over Blaine's belly as he always did when they shared bed.

"Not so much after they wrapped that stuff around it," Blaine answered truthfully, and bit his tongue. He felt like he was exploding from the thought that Kurt had worried about him.

They stared into each other's eyes through the dark for a while before Blaine felt his eyelids heavily drift. He yawned and knew that it was only a matter of time before he couldn't stay awake any longer.

"Goodnight, Blaine," Kurt whispered and kissed his cheek before he closed his eyes and fell asleep himself, clutching his grip around Blaine.

Blaine grinned to himself and closed his eyes as well while feeling the hot print of Kurt's lips against his cheek burn into his skin. It felt like a promise that he would always be safe. How could he not be when Kurt was lying there next to him?