Brittany’s party was already in full swing by the time Kurt and Blaine arrived. They could hear the voices of their fellow Glee club members coming from the backyard as they strolled up to the front porch. Blaine pressed the doorbell and took a step back to admire the beauty that was Brittany’s house. He released a low, impressed whistle.

“What exactly do Brittany’s parents do?” Blaine wondered as he scanned the marble columns flanking either side of the porch.

“They’re co-owners of the Chick-fil-A branches all across Ohio,” Kurt answered, shrugging lightly. “At least that’s what I gathered when Brittany so eloquently said they ‘work at the place where the chickens live’.”

Suddenly, the front door swung open to reveal Brittany with her blond hair dampened, clad in nothing but the smallest blue and white polka-dotted bikini Kurt had ever seen. He silently thanked every higher power that Blaine liked boys—he wouldn’t stand a chance standing next to the physically flawless specimen that was Brittany S. Pierce. Despite their preferences, however, both boys caught themselves gaping at Brittany’s apparent lack of clothes. The sight was difficult not to stare at—sexual orientations aside.

“Kurt,” Brittany greeted with a wide grin. She threw her arms around her friend’s neck and brought their bodies together. Kurt’s arms stiffened awkwardly at his sides—there was far too much skin exposed for Kurt to know what to do with his arms that didn’t seem wildly inappropriate in his conservative eyes. Brittany released him and stared at Blaine pleasantly. “You brought your bird friend.”

Blaine shot a bewildered look toward Kurt in a silent request for an explanation—he still hadn’t quite mastered the art of understanding Brittany.

Kurt leaned in toward Blaine, lowering his voice. “She still thinks you’re a Warbler.”

“Still?” Blaine wondered, eyes flickering toward Brittany. She seemed blissfully unaware of their conversation. “We were in Glee together and I sat in front of her in chemistry for an entire semester. We were lab partners.”

“You mean you’re not a bird?” Brittany asked, grasping to comprehend. Blaine nodded slowly. “That explains why you were so good at chemistry. Maybe I should apologize to Lord Tubbington for the time I yelled at him for refusing to do my algebra homework...”

This time, Blaine felt it would be best not to ask for any elaboration. Kurt, sensing his boyfriend’s apprehension, smiled brightly at his hostess. “So, Britt, where’s the party?”

The pretty blond snapped back to her previous oblivious state. “Everyone’s in the backyard swimming. Did you know that swallowing too much pool water could make you throw up?”

“Yes, Britt, I’m aware,” Kurt replied with the patience of a saint. He grabbed Blaine by the arm and led him into the foyer of Brittany’s immaculate house. “I hope this epiphany didn’t come to you from personal experience.”

“Who’s Epiphany?”

“Blaine! I hope you brought a swimsuit.”

Brittany’s backyard, Blaine and Kurt decided unanimously, was even more magnificent than the front of her house. A pair of French glass doors led out to the wide concrete patio, rimmed by rows of blooming colorful flowerbeds. A massive oval-shaped pool was situated further out in the freshly trimmed lawn where many of the New Directions members were splashing and laughing. A small drink bar was set up beside the pool along with plenty of wooden lounge chairs.

“Kurt and Blaine are here!” Brittany announced as she stepped onto the patio with the two boys. They were greeted with loud, enthusiastic calls. “Did you guys know Blaine’s not a bird?”

Her comment was more or less ignored as Puck perched himself on the tip of the diving board. “Cannon ball!”

The mohawked boy hurled himself into the pool as he brought his knees to his chest mid-air. The splash traveled clear across the pool, prompting several complaints and giggles from the girls.

Blaine smiled and turned toward Kurt who was squinting into the sun. “Are you going in?”

Kurt snorted as he rested his Gucci sunglasses on the bridge of his nose. “Do you know what chlorine does to my hair?”

“Do you know what it does to mine?” Blaine countered with a laugh. He made hand gestures that implied small explosions sprouting in all directions from his dark hair. “C’mon, no one’s going to care what your hair looks like.”

“Go, go, enjoy the chemicals,” Kurt waved him off as he started heading toward a vacant lounge chair beside Quinn. “I’ll be over here coating myself in sunscreen and soaking in the vitamin D.”

Blaine shrugged. “Suit yourself.” The shorter boy stepped out of his flip-flops while he lifted his gray V-neck over his head.

And Kurt nearly tripped over his own feet as he made his way to the chair.

Kurt remembered Blaine telling him about his short stint on the varsity soccer team at his old high school, but this was the body of someone who took physical activity a bit more seriously than half a semester of soccer. Kurt’s eyes could watch nothing else as Blaine dived into the water, resurfacing with a grin as Sam and Mercedes swam over to him.

“God, Hummel, could you be more obvious?” Santana suddenly appeared beside Kurt wearing a red cutout one-piece suit, smirking down at him with crossed arms. “Someone needs to fill you in on the sacred art that is ‘Discreet Eye-fucking’.”

Quinn lowered her sunglasses so that her alluring green eyes peeked over the frames. “She’s right, you know.”

Kurt stammered inarticulately before plopping himself down in a lounge chair indignantly, reaching into his canvas bag for a bottle of sunscreen. “I don’t know what you two are talking about.”

“Clearly, you’re not getting any,” Santana carried on in a slightly annoyed tone as if Kurt’s feigned naivety was a problem. “Otherwise that fine display of man abs wouldn’t have knocked you about ten feet back.”

“Santana, please,” Kurt insisted huffily as his cheeks reddened. The slender boy squirted a generous amount of oil-free sunblock into his palm and rubbed it along the length of his pale arms.

The raven-haired girl shrugged easily and popped her hip out as she hovered domineeringly over Kurt. “I’m sorry, but if you two are going to be living together—“ She accented the words heavily. “—then you better get on that before things get awkward…or before Man Hands cockblocks you into oblivion.”

Santana nodded her head toward Rachel who was sitting by the edge of the pool, dangling her feet into the water as Finn floated on his back in front of her. They seemed happy, Kurt noted. Perhaps their conversation didn’t go as badly as he thought it would. Or, Kurt feared, the conversation hadn’t happened yet…

“Hey, guys,” Kurt was torn from his thoughts when a dripping Blaine approached them. Water droplets glittered in the sun as they clung to his naturally tanned skin. His mass of dark hair was completely matted against his head, but he still looked as gorgeous as ever. He looked at Quinn and Santana. “You two aren’t swimming either?”

“How are people supposed to see how hot I look in a swimsuit if I’m hidden under the water?” Santana scoffed matter-of-factly. Blaine chuckled while Quinn leaned back in her chair. The blond girl was still wearing a turquoise sundress with no plans of getting into a bathing suit.

Quinn’s lips twitched upward in a humorless smile. “Stretch marks.” Her slightly morose reply didn’t elicit any further inquiry—everyone knew what Quinn had gone through only two short years ago. The teenaged socialite was probably too prideful to wear anything but a bikini, yet too insecure to showcase the stretch marks across her stomach.

Kurt caught sight of Santana wagging her eyebrows suggestively and silently motioning toward Blaine while he looked away. Kurt simply scrunched up his nose disdainfully. He hadn’t even thought about…that stuff. Kurt’s mind was too busy being plagued with thoughts about how fairytale-esque their new life together in New York would be. But now that Santana had mentioned it, it made some sense. Wasn’t that what one does with the person they love? Isn’t that the next logical step in their relationship? Kurt had never been comfortable talking about sex, let alone instigating it—he didn’t even know where to begin. Kurt stole a quick glance at his boyfriend’s gentle hazel eyes. Did Blaine expect them to have sex now that they would be living together?

“Don’t be lame!” Puck called out from the pool. He scowled at the three non-swimmers and motioned wildly for them to join everyone else.

“Forget it, Puckerman,” Quinn spat out venomously. She readjusted her large sunglasses and made herself comfortable on the chair.

Brittany appeared at Santana’s side in an instant and the two girls quickly hooked pinkies. It was remarkable how much Santana’s grin shifted from devilish to kind as soon as the tall blond made contact with her. “I’ll get in if Britt does, too.”

“Just don’t swallow the water,” Brittany warned her friend before they both leaped into the chilly water at the count of three. The two girls resurfaced, laughing riotously and wiping water away from their eyes.

Puck turned his intimidating glare back to Kurt who had just finished applying his sunscreen. He then flickered his gaze to Blaine and pointed accusingly at the shorter boy. “Anderson! Get him in the pool now—by any means necessary!”

Puck’s demand was followed by a loud chorus of “throw him in, throw him in”—courtesy of the fellow male members of New Directions. Kurt, eyes wide with terror, shot a panicked look at his boyfriend. Blaine merely chuckled and shook his head.

“I would never do that to you,” He smiled affectionately.

“But we would!” Sam and Mike swiftly charged toward Kurt from behind, grabbed him by the arms, lifted him out of the chair, and carried him toward the edge of the pool in one fluid swoop. Kurt, completely startled, did nothing but squeak in protest and flail his legs in a futile attempt to break free of his friends’ grasp.

“Sam! Mike!” Kurt shrilled as the two stronger boys held him steadily above the pool water. “Let me go now!”

Smiling impishly, Sam shrugged in compliance. “Whatever you say, Kurt.”

And they released him. Into the water.

The cold water swallowed Kurt’s entire body, stabbing him with a million icy pangs in contrast to the warm summer heat gently tickling his skin. He floated back to the surface and gasped for air while his friends clapped and cheered around him. Glowering, Kurt spat out a mouthful of chlorine water and wiped his eyes with the back of his equally drenched hand. Oh, how he felt the urge to kill.

A splash came from behind Kurt as Blaine jumped into the water as well. A cheeky grin played about his full lips. “It wasn’t that bad, was it?”

“Some boyfriend you are,” Kurt complained, squinting unpleasantly as the taste of chlorine still lingered in his mouth. “You didn’t even try to save me.”

Blaine leaned against the water and backstroked a circle around Kurt. “I had to get you in the water somehow.”

“Dude! That was awesome!” Finn swam clumsily up to the pair, grinning like a fool and giving Blaine a congratulatory high five. Kurt scowled.

“No, Finn, it certainly was not awesome,” His stepbrother corrected bitterly, tugging at his drenched shirt that was now clinging to his chest. “I’m still wearing my clothes in case anyone cared to notice.”

Blaine smiled apologetically and snaked his arm around Kurt’s waist under the water. The slender brunette flushed lightly.

“Just throw it in the dryer, man,” Finn suggested indifferently. “Don’t be so difficult—“

“Speaking of difficult people,” Kurt began pointedly, flashing his eyes toward Rachel who was now talking animatedly to Tina and Mercedes from the pool’s edge. “You and Rachel look as happy as clams…I take it you two resolved everything?”

Finn fidgeted under the water. “Well…we haven’t exactly…talked about it yet.”

Blaine stole a look at Kurt’s face just in time to watch his expression morph into pure outrage. He found the sight to be quite hilarious especially when Kurt’s hair was sticking straight to the sides of his face. “Finn! What is wrong with you? I thought you were going to talk to her after graduation!”

“I was!” Finn whined, pausing to make sure no one had heard Kurt’s outburst. “But I kinda…chickened out.”

Kurt’s arms crossed against his soaked chest. “I hope you’re pleased with yourself, Finn. At the rate you’re going, you might as well wait until the day before classes start to tell her that you’re staying here in Ohio—“

“Shhh!” Finn flailed and splashed his arms through the water recklessly, shooting a panicked glance over his shoulder to make sure Rachel hadn’t heard them. Indeed, she continued to smile and laugh along with her friends, completely oblivious to the conversation taking place on the other side of the pool. “I’ll tell her when the time feels right…”

“Whatever you say, Finn,” Kurt huffed dismissively. The taller brother took the opportunity to swim away. Kurt watched as Finn approached Rachel, evidently saying something to make her giggle happily. Arms crossed, Kurt swiveled around in the water to face Blaine.

“My hair looks ridiculous, doesn’t it?” He deadpanned. Blaine simply nodded.

The sun had long been set on one of the most gorgeous summer days in Lima. The pool water was still and calm as it reflected the bright moonlight from above. The night itself seemed quite serene as the party drew to a close and the members of New Directions decided to spend their night stargazing on Brittany’s open, grassy lawn.

“I can’t believe we won’t get to do this anymore,” Tina muttered softly into the quiet night. She rested her head on Mike’s shoulder as they cuddled closer together.

Mercedes looked down at her hand that was clasped tightly in Sam’s and smiled ruefully. “We’ll make it work. When we all come home for holidays—“

“It won’t be the same,” Puck cut in bluntly as he tossed his muscular arm around Lauren’s shoulder. “Let’s be serious—college changes people. Our lives will be different, you know?”

A silence was cast over the Glee members as they reflected on their time together. Unlikely friendships were made, soul mates were discovered, and hidden talent had been recognized. Kurt glanced upward at the endless sky of twinkling stars, feeling an unexpected twinge of sadness. He hadn’t planned on missing McKinley High School in the slightest—most of his memories involved being thrown into dumpsters or some form of public embarrassment. But his Glee friends… they were what got him through those years. They were always there for him. He looked to his left and saw Quinn sitting cross-legged in the grass beside Artie’s wheelchair, Mercedes and Sam holding hands, and Santana laying her head in Brittany’s lap. To his right there was Puck and Lauren gazing up at the sky, Tina and Mike cuddling close together, and Rachel leaning back against Finn’s broad chest.

And then there was Blaine.

Kurt was leaning his head against Blaine’s shoulder as the shorter boy wrapped a comforting arm around his waist, keeping him close. Kurt peeked upward at the relaxed face of his boyfriend. His dark hair—that now appeared rather frizzy and unruly from the chlorine just as he had predicted—seemed even darker in the dark night. And Kurt couldn’t help but notice how similar Blaine’s sparkling hazel eyes looked to the brilliant stars above them. Blaine seemed to sense Kurt’s gaze on him and looked down with a soft, tender grin. He squeezed the slender brunette a bit tighter to his own body.

Looking into that pair of hazel stars, Kurt knew, without a doubt, that his new life would be everything he expected it to be—and more so—because he had Blaine.