Chapter 8

Kurt and Blaine took a quick shower and realized after they finished that they hadn't brought any clothes into the bathroom with them. Blaine blushed as he fitted his towel tightly around his hips, grumbling about how Cooper would tease them. Kurt shrugged, figuring Cooper had probably suspected they were having sex or he wouldn't have knocked on the hotel room door. And they hadn't been on Cooper's bed so it should be fine. Blaine helped Kurt wrap the towel so it wouldn't fall down and they went into the main room.

Cooper rolled his eyes and muttered, "Teenagers."

They got dressed quickly, Blaine averting his eyes from his brother's amused gaze and Kurt wanting to eat.

Blaine frowned at the food spread on the table. "I though you wanted to go out to breakfast so we could talk."

"This is for your boyfriend," Cooper said, pointing at Kurt. "I wasn't sure what he'd want so I figure he likes sugar."

"What are these?" asked Kurt, picking up a puffy, circular thing with a hole in the middle and frosting.

"Donuts. And I brought you a mocha," Cooper added, placing a giant cup in front of Kurt. "Me and squirt will be back in less than an hour. Please stay in the room. Please. I know you're not a kid, but seriously. Blaine won't listen to me if he's worried about what you're doing."

"Hey," Blaine protested. Cooper glared at him with his eyebrows raised. Blaine let out a huffing shy. "You're right."

"See, was that soooo hard to admit to?"

Blaine stuck his tongue out at his brother. "Yes."

Kurt like the donuts, especially the one with chocolate frosting. He slowly sipped his coffee while flipping through his new books.

The learn to read ones were a nightmare. It took Kurt a few minuets to realize that the picture on each page started with the letter shown. Which was all fine and good except he didn't know what most of the pictures were. Letter A was on the page with a crocodile like the one in Peter Pan so that was easy. And B was on a page with a bright orange and black butterfly. But was it a generic term for butterflies or the specific type? He turned the page. C had some sort of animal that walked on all fours with pointed ears, a long, sleek tail and fur. Kurt tiled his head. He'd never seen one before. The next page, D, had another animal on four feet with floppy ears and a short stubby tail. Again, he had no idea what it was. He slammed the book shut and shoved it across the table.

The Fairie-ality books had detailed pictures of fairy clothes and furniture made from flowers, leaves and twigs and almost no words. Kurt studied every page, trying to figure out how to make the clothes. He would look amazing in the leaf boots, especially with the ribbon pants and a flower shirt.

Not that he would need them. He would be spending most of his time human sized. Maybe he could make some big ones. It was something to consider. Kurt wondered what Blaine would think of it. The picture of the shirt and pants made out of peacock feathers would look good on Blaine, especially because he liked the song about peacocks.

Kurt thought about the dollhouse belonging to Blaine's mom. The furniture was horribly uncomfortable, but it was close to the right size when he was small. Blaine had told him that the dorm room was cramped with a large desk and shelves, a bed half the size of the one at his home and a tiny attached bathroom. He continued flipping through the books. Based on what Blaine had described, it was barely big enough for one person and they would be crammed in unless...

The desk sounded like it was pretty big, so the shelf would have to be as well. Kurt had no idea what Blaine might keep on the desk, but if he could convince him to clear it off, he could put dollhouse furniture on it and they'd have plenty of space to spread out.

The longer Kurt thought about it, the better it sounded. He had experience decorating his home and now that he had access to as many human materials as he wanted, the possibilities were endless. It might even help him feel more at home. He needed a list.

Glancing around the room, Kurt's eyes fell on a pad of paper next to the thing that Cooper called a phone. It looked so little like Blaine's phone, that Kurt suspected he'd been kidding. He tried using the pen next to it, but words in his language came out messy and difficult to read. Grabbing his wand out of Blaine's bag, he enlarged it. He smiled to himself. The more he used his magic to grow and shrink things, the easier it got. He still wanted to practice a bit more before he suggested shrinking Blaine. Kurt pointed it at the paper, delighted when it wrote neatly and he could get to work.

He wrote down the things he wanted to make and what materials he wanted to use. Kurt would be using several things in the books for inspiration while making enough changes so it wouldn't be an exact duplicate. Kurt squealed. This would give him something to do while Blaine studied, especially if Kurt didn't want to spend all of his time learning how to read.

Kurt happily sketched and made lists, looked through the books, and imagined how impressed Blaine would be when he saw all of Kurt's ideas. He ate another donut, careful not get crumbs on his work. It didn't take long for him to have enough furniture drawn to fill at least three houses. Kurt narrowed down his options, trying to take Blaine's tastes into account and what would be feasible. He felt confident he could create anything he drew, as long as he could get the proper supplies. Kurt had no idea where some of the feathers and flowers in the book had come from and how rare they might be. He'd never seen a bird with bright orange, red and green feathers in the woods where he lived.

He continued to plan and draw, humming to himself, until Blaine and Cooper returned. Blaine immediately walked across the room and wrapped his arms around Kurt. "Miss me?" he asked, placing a kiss behind Kurt's ear.

"Yes, but look!" Kurt held up a drawing of a table and chairs made of twisted vines for the legs, leaves for the seats and a thin oblong slice of wood for the top of the table. Kurt knew he would feel elegant having a meal with Blaine.

"Oh," breathed Blaine. "That's amazing. Are you going to make it?"

"Yes," said Kurt, wondering how best to bring up wanting to try shrinking Blaine. Growing the first time had been terrifying and Blaine may not want to. Regardless, Kurt was going to have the most lavish home on a desk that he could create.

"You told me your dorm room is small, so this way, there'll be more space."

"You're brilliant." Blaine surged forward, kissing Kurt. The wand dropped from his hand and Kurt reached up to grab the sides of Blaine's face.

"Ah-hem." Cooper cleared his throat loudly and both boys jumped. "Lovebirds," Cooper started, "I think we need to discuss a few things before we go to the museum."

Cooper and Blaine joined Kurt at the table. Blaine looked down at the last donut, fidgeting in his seat. "Cooper wants me to come to LA with him for school," Blaine mumbled. "It would get me away from my dad and you would have a lot more space than you would in a microscopic dorm room that I may or may not have to share with someone else in New York. He also has an audition for me for right after graduation. It isn't guaranteed, but I probably have the part it I want it. And they'll work around my schedule, so I won't miss any school."

"Okay," said Kurt. "That's good, right?" Blaine seemed very concerned about having a 'job' so he could have money that didn't come from his dad. Kurt was still pretty fuzzy on exactly what a job was, but he liked that Blaine's parents each had one that caused them to be out of the house for long periods of time each day.

It was at that moment he began to realize what Blaine was saying. He'd be at school and a job and how was Kurt supposed to fit into Blaine's life?

"It's great," Blaine said, "but only if you come with me."

Kurt let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. Blaine wanted him. "So what's the problem?" Something had to be causing the tension he could see in Blaine's posture.

"Los Angeles is really far away. It took about five hours to drive from Lima to Chicago. It takes a day and a half to drive from Ohio to LA, and that's if you don't stop to rest. You'd be really far away from your friends and family." Blaine fiddled with a crumb on the table.

"But we can still come back and visit. Not very often, maybe, but once in a while." Kurt tried to keep any expression off of his face. He was prepared to give up his home in the woods for Blaine, it was the only realistic way they could be together, but he needed to be able to see his friends and dad. Even once or twice year. Please, he begged silently, please don't make me give up my dad forever. I love you more than my life, but that's too much.

"Of course, we can visit," Blaine said quickly, looking up and grabbing Kurt's hand. "It just won't be as easy or often as it would be in New York."

"I thought you wanted to go to New York." Kurt would be going with Blaine, but he still needed to understand.

"I did...I still do," admitted Blaine. "In LA, Cooper had a three bedroom condo and we can have one of the rooms. You wouldn't have to hide all the time like you would in New York. And because he thinks he's got a thing lined up for me, I can start getting a resume together. Cooper wants to get you a ID card and some papers, but you may not be able to get a job even with it. I don't want to be dependent my parents and that's easier to do if I'm farther away. We can go to New York if you think that's better. I need to decide this weekend and mail my answers off."

"I'll go with you, to LA." Kurt's voice was firm and determined, even if inside he was terrified.

Blaine squeezed his hand. "I love you. I know this is crazy, but thank you."

Kurt finished his mocha while the two boys packed up their belongings. They would be leaving for home when they were finished at the museum.

The Chicago Museum of Science and Technology was in an enormous building. At Blaine's insistence, they headed for the Fairy Tale Dollhouse. Kurt was smitten. Blaine began reading from a description about how Colleen Moore, star of the silent screen, had designed and built it in the late 1920's for over half a million dollars, the many artists who had contributed to it and the book signed by several famous people who Kurt had never heard of until Blaine added that Walt Disney made the Peter Pan movie.

Cooper wandered off to see the rest of the exhibits leaving Blaine and Kurt to look at the dollhouse from every angel available.

After about a half an hour, Blaine leaned over and whispered, "Don't even think about shrinking and trying to sneak in there."

Kurt stuck his lower lip out. How did Blaine know that he'd been trying to figure out how to do just that?

"Don't pout at me, sweetie," said Blaine, playfully. "If I could shrink down, I'd be tempted, too. But you'll set off alarms and if they catch you, they'll take you away and stick you in a jar or something."

Crossing his arms, Kurt said, "All right. But I want a dollhouse. I know it won't be as huge as this, but mine will get lived in."

"What kind of a house do you want?" asked Blaine.

"Something with really large rooms. The one your mom has is nice, but I would feel closed in even with the missing wall. I want something large enough to fit the box bed and have room for other furniture." He didn't add that he wanted something big enough to comfortably fit two.

"I'll see what we can do."

Kurt was glad Blaine kept an arm around his waist, otherwise, he'd probably be trying to touch or shrink and get in trouble. They wandered around after that and it was interesting to see the model railroad. Once again, Blaine kept a hand firmly on Kurt. It would be so much fun to shrink and ride on top of the train. There were so many things to see, even if Kurt didn't understand what most of the human magic was, despite Blaine insisting it wasn't magic. Kurt wanted to roll his eyes. How could Blaine's phone not be magic? When Kurt had asked how it worked, Blaine could show him how to use it, but couldn't explain why it worked any more than Kurt could explain why he'd been able to make himself human sized.

They met up with Cooper at one thirty to grab some sandwiches and pile into the car. Kurt dozed on Blaine's shoulder dreading the return to Blaine's house. Tomorrow would be Sunday and they would be going to say goodbye to Kurt's dad and his friends before heading to Blane's school. Kurt was glad he could make himself big. His dad wouldn't be nearly so scary if Kurt could pick him up in his hand.