It was the day of the competition. Kurt first waking thought was ‘holy shit’. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and glanced over at the clock, where it blinked 5:42 at him. He didn’t have to be up until six but he figured he was awake now and there was no way he was sleeping anymore. He sat up and he noticed his phone was flashing at him.

“Courage” the text read. Blaine had gotten up this early just to text Kurt. Blaine wasn’t meant to be meeting Kurt until at least 9am at the competition yard. Kurt couldn’t hide the smile on his face. Blaine was literally the cutest human being on the planet.

But Kurt pulled himself together and got out of bed. He had to focus now.

Today was the day.

Luckily Socks had been in a rather good mood this morning so getting him in the horse box, getting Kurt, Burt and Socks to the competition and getting Socks back out of the box had all gone rather smoothly. The dressage competition started at 11 and Kurt was on seventh out of 15 competitors. It was about 9:15ish, Kurt had kind of lost track of time.

Kurt was sat outside Socks’ stable area. Each horse and rider got a section of a stable to themselves. It consisted of a stall, small tack area and a ‘relaxation area’ for the rider which had a mini-fridge and sofas.

Kurt suddenly heard a familiar voice from outside. “Kurt?”

Blaine popped his head around the corner; he was in jodhpurs and a red polo shirt, a smile plastered on his face. “Hey! I brought you a coffee”

“Oh Blaine, you are a star, thank you!” Kurt took the coffee gratefully. Kurt flopped himself down onto one of the sofas and Blaine joined him once he had gotten rid of his bag. “So how are you feeling? Nervous? Excited?”

“Mixture of every feeling possible I think” Kurt replied.

“You’ll be fine. Socks will be fine” Blaine smiled encouragingly and placed a hand on Kurt’s shoulder.

“Well, well, well, Anderson”

Blaine’s eyes flickered towards where the voice came from and stood up when he realised who it was. “Sebastian. Always a pleasure” Blaine said coldly, regarding the taller man who was now stood by Socks’ stable. Socks clearly didn’t like the man and his ears had pricked backwards.

“What are you doing here? Thought you had given up the riding game ever since your stupid little pony died”

“Don’t you dare call Samson stupid in front of me. Or at all. And it’s none of your business what I’m doing here”

Sebastian looked between Blaine and Kurt – noting that Kurt was the one in competition clothing – and smirked. “Ah, I see, you’re just the groom. Did the pretty pep boy not get his pony back from Daddy?”

“Oh shut up Sebastian, you’re just jealous because I won that competition and no matter how hard you tried to protest, me and Samson won. And you know full well it’s your fault my horse died. Now, piss off and go annoy someone else” Blaine said. Kurt eyed Blaine curiously – he had never seen Blaine mad and it was actually quite interesting. However, Kurt did not like this guy.

“No way Blainers, you’re the one who let your horse die. So who are you then?” Sebastian nodded towards Kurt.

“I’m Kurt Hummel. And if you don’t mind, you are freaking out my horse and angering my groom so I would appreciate it if you would get out” Kurt gave a condescending smile. 

“And if I don’t?” Sebastian took a suggestive step towards Socks, who pounded his foot on the floor.

“Everything okay in here boys?” Burt stepped out from behind Sebastian, closely flanked by Finn. Now Sebastian was taller than Kurt and Blaine but he didn’t quite reach Finn’s height or Burt’s threatening look.

“Sebastian was just leaving” Blaine narrowed his eyes at the guy. Sebastian sniffed and turned on his heels out of the area.

“Who is he?” Kurt asked Blaine, who was fuming silently.

“Sebastian Smythe. He went to my old yard, me and him never really got along. But I beat him at a steeplechase competition. It wasn’t even a major one but he tried to tell everyone I cheated. I didn’t obviously. Whatever, what is he even doing here?” Blaine sat down on the sofa, his head resting on his chin.

“Blaine, look forget about him, he’s a prick. Not to sound big headed, but let’s focus on me instead okay?” Kurt scooted along the sofa until he was next to Blaine.

“Yeah, you’re right, sorry. It’s your day” Blaine’s smile returned.

Dressage Time.

Kurt was sat on Socks ready to go into the arena. He wasn’t too worried about this part of the competition. Blaine was just putting the finishing touches to Socks’ mane and double checking everything looked perfect.

The announcer said “Kurt Hummel on Dressed Up Socks” Yes, he knew it was a strange competition name but he didn’t want to change Socks’ name so much.

Blaine patted Socks’ neck and gave Kurt a huge grin. “Good luck, you’ll be great!”

Kurt walked into the arena and stopped in the centre and gave his salute. He glanced to the side where he saw Burt, Carole, Finn and Rachel all sat watching him with expressions of encouragement and anxiety. He took a deep breath in and moved Socks forward into a walk, turning right when he reached the top of the arena. Socks vaguely remembered the routine from practice and immediately went into a trot, which gave Kurt some confidence. The trot went on down the side until the H end of the school where Kurt sat back and Socks moved into a canter.

A twenty-metre circle later and Socks was back into a walk. Down a diagonal line of H to F Kurt gave and retook the reins and gathered them back up straight into a trot.

After a few circles, transitions and a collected canter down one side, Kurt made his way back into the middle and saluted once more.

Leaving the arena he was met with a dirty look from Sebastian but he thought nothing of it.

Blaine greeted him with a huge smile and he helped him get off Socks. “Kurt, that was brilliant! Your score must be one of the best ones!”

Kurt smiled – he personally thought one of the transitions had taken far too long and he would end up getting a penalty on it.

The announcement came bursting through the arena and its surrounding areas “Kurt Hummel’s final dressage score is 40. 20”

Kurt’s eyes widened and he turned to Blaine. “What?” he asked in shock.

“I told you it was good! Forget good, it was fantastic!” Blaine was beaming at him. Kurt looked out to the audience where Burt gave him a huge smile and thumbs up.

After all the other competitors had gone and Sebastian Smythe had ended up with a score of 45.80 after his horse had stumbled down on side –an event which Blaine found rather amusing.

It was revealed that Kurt was in fourth place with Sebastian in sixth. This was better than Kurt could ever had expected. He had five hours to wait for the cross country – it was an evening event on a flood lit course. Unfortunately all he could do in those few hours was freak out.

“Thanks” Blaine said to the girl who had just come to each competitor with the stats for the cross country course. He scanned it quickly - 6km, 10:06 time limit, 36 jumps – not too difficult but it was a tough time limit.  But Kurt could pull it off.

“Kurt? Cross country course stats for you” Blaine smiled, flopping down on the couch next to Kurt, handing over the paper. Kurt’s eyes raced over the paper but he smiled. “Doesn’t seem too difficult huh?”

“You’ll be fine, Socks can handle the cross country and you are an excellent rider” Blaine smiled, poking Kurt on the shoulder. It was only them and Socks in the stable area now. Finn and Rachel had gone wandering somewhere and Burt and Carole had gone to eat.

Kurt put down the piece of paper in his hands and turned to face Blaine, sitting cross legged on the couch. “Look, I know you don’t want to talk about it but who is Sebastian really? He’s seem like more than just someone who tried to accuse you of cheating” Blaine sighed and faced Kurt, sitting in the same position as him.

Blaine started playing with his hands, wringing them together and looked down at them. “He tried to blind me and he ended up ultimately killing Samson” Blaine said quietly.

“He what?” Kurt shrieked, causing Socks to jump from where he was resting in his stable, protesting with an annoyed whinny.

“Shush boy. Blaine. Is that true? That’s awful. ” Kurt asked. Blaine still didn’t look up and Kurt let him tell the story in his own time.

“Samson was my best friend. I had him since I was seven years old and he was a cracking horse. He really was. He moved brilliantly. Sebastian comes from a very rich family and he was only in the horse business for the money his father makes off racehorses. Sebastian mistreats his horses Kurt, not seriously, like they get food and clean bedding but he hits them hard if they don’t do something right first time. So when he moved to our yard, I kept Samson out of his way. Samson is the son of two prize horses and therefore worth a lot of money, so obviously Sebastian wanted his mitts on him. His dad even asked my dad if he could buy him but I refused to sell Samson. Anyway, our yard has an annual steeplechase competition and I entered on Samson. On the final straight, Sebastian’s horse tripped over a piece of tree root and then me and Samson over took him. I won. Sebastian tried to convince everyone I had cheated by distracting him or something but no-one believed him” Blaine paused for breath and he finally glanced up at Kurt who was smiling sadly at him.

“Sebastian has a few anger issues. A few nights later, I was trying to sleep but I just couldn’t. You know when you sense something is wrong? You don’t know what but you just know something is wrong. I biked down to the yard to check on Samson and his stable door was open. Sebastian was in Samson’s stable, hitting him with a large stick. At the time I didn’t think, I pushed Sebastian out of the way and shoved him on the floor. We fought for a bit and then he grabbed a handful of grit from the stable floor. He got the grit in my eye and well, it fucked my eye up pretty well. I had look like a pirate for two weeks. So I had surgery and my eye is fine now but I got out of the hospital and went to the yard to see Samson. I took him out for a ride and I noticed a car following me. Sebastian. I had to stop at a crossroads and he didn’t. The car went straight into the back of Samson’s legs and it frightened him beyond belief. He wasn’t hurt, just scared so Sebastian drove off. But then when the noise of a car or an engine went off he freaked out. He bucked, he reared, and it got so bad I couldn’t ride him out anywhere.  I don’t think Sebastian meant for what did happen to happen, he just wanted to render Samson useless. But I left for the day, thinking I had shut his stable door properly, the lock on his stable had always been a little loose. The yard tractor started up and Samson freaked out, kicking his door and it fell off the hinges. Samson ran out straight into the opposite wall of the barn. He died on collision”

“Blaine, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have made you say all that”

“I would have told you at some point anyway” Blaine smiled sadly.

“Are you gonna be okay? You don’t have to stay for the rest of the day if you want”

“And miss the competition? No way, I told you I would be here for you” Blaine’s smiled cheered up a little bit.

“But –“

“No buts. I’m staying”

Kurt sighed and reached out for Blaine’s hand, squeezing it gently. “Thank you for everything. You’ve been a star, really you have”

Blaine placed his other hand over Kurt’s and kept it there. “It was all you” Blaine replied.  Both of them looked up at the same time and their eyes locked. Mutually, they leant forward, their lips almost touching when …

“Kurt?”

Springing apart, as Rachel wandered into the room, Kurt answered “Erm, yeah?”

“Sorry, was I interrupting something?” she said, looking at the pair. Yes, they both thought.

“No, what’s up?” Kurt said, finally turning away from Blaine.

“They were asking all the riders to start getting ready for the cross country, I thought I’d better tell you”

“Right, okay, thanks, I’ll see you soon” Kurt said, he was still flustered from the-almost-kiss.  

“Bye” Rachel gave them a strange look but she left anyway.

“I’ll go get Socks ready” Blaine said, standing sheepishly and heading towards the stable. Kurt proceeded to bang his head against the wall once Blaine had left.

Kurt was in the line-up for the beginning of the cross country. Blaine was stood with Rachel and Finn, near the finish line, watching the screen that followed the riders as they went round the course.

The shot was fired and Socks went into a fast canter to start with, flying over the first few jumps perfectly.

“No!” Blaine cried, when Socks went too fast around a corner, therefore the balance on the next jump was wrong and the pole fell down. 4.00 penalties, Blaine thought to himself, that’s not too bad it’s okay.

The rest of the jumps weren’t too bad; there was one very close shave on the water jump where Socks slipped but he got it back and there were no penalties. Blaine noted the time was now 9:11 and Kurt still had two jumps to go, he may end up with time penalties, he thought, screwing his face up a little.

Socks stumbled coming out of the final jump and Blaine winced, grabbing Rachel’s wrist as he looked away. “Blaine, he’s fine, look they’re nearly finished” she said, turning his head back to the track. Blaine could see Kurt appearing up the long straight now, Socks had gone into a gallop, clearly tired but still giving his all.

Kurt’s final time was 10:08, giving him 1.20 time penalties, over all 5.20. It was still a really good score.  Overall, Kurt now had 45.40 penalties, remaining in fourth place, so he was still qualifying for the next competition. The guy in first place had, although fortunately for Kurt, fallen off in the cross country, injuring his ankle therefore he couldn’t carry on. If Kurt could get through the show-jumping with less than 4:00 penalties, he could qualify for the next competition.

Tomorrow would tell.

It was the day of the show-jumping now. Kurt had got down to the stable early, he couldn’t sleep properly. Sitting on the couch, worrying and drinking coffee probably wasn’t helping his nerves that much. Sighing, he knew he would be okay but if he didn’t qualify, it would all seem like a waste.

An hour later, Blaine had turned up with the rest of Kurt’s family and they got to work making sure Kurt knew his way around the show-jumping course. Kurt had a pretty good memory so it wasn’t too much of a problem. They were more worried about what would happen if Socks had another fit if he sees coloured poles and Kurt ends up being disqualified.

A woman’s voice suddenly came from the door. “Umm, hello, is this the Hummel tent?”

Kurt stood up and walked towards where the voice was. He was face-to-face with a woman who looked incredibly familiar but older at the same time. “Hi, yeah it is, can I help?”

“Kurt Hummel? My, haven’t you grown up into a dashing young man” the woman smiled at him warmly before adding “You probably have no idea who I am huh?”

Kurt regarded the woman before he suddenly realised who she was. “Sharon?”

“You do remember me!” she beamed at him. This was the woman who let Kurt name Socks, who brought him one of the greatest joys he had in his life, of course he remembered her!

“How are you? It’s so great to see you!” Kurt laughed as he hugged the woman.

“I’m great thank you sweetie. I was wondering if it was definitely you when I heard your name being called yesterday! And it was, really good cross-country run as well by the way”

“What are you doing here anyway?”

“The guy who injured himself yesterday in the cross country, that’s my son”

“Oh my god, is he okay? It looked like a pretty nasty fall!” Kurt said, concern filling his eyes.

“He’s gonna be okay, he broke his ankle but he’s survived worse”

“Well tell him I’m glad he’s alright” Kurt vaguely remembered the guy – before they had gone out to the cross country, he had wished Kurt good luck but they hadn’t really had a proper conversation. Now Kurt thought about it, he did look a little bit like his mother!

“I will” she smiled as she noticed Socks behind him. “No way, is this my little Socks?!” surprisingly, Socks recognised the woman and allowed her to pat his neck comfortingly. Kurt told her how he had rescued him and she told Kurt “Well at least it was you who found him”

“Anyway I better get going, I will see you soon! Bye Kurt!” she kissed him on the cheek before leaving.

Although Kurt was over the moon to see her again, he now had one more person he needed to impress at the show jumping.

It was time. Kurt was next to go on, his breathing had become faster and he was scared. Really scared, so much could go wrong here but so much could go right. Blaine was with him, as groom he got to stay with the rider and horse before they went on.

“Kurt, you’ll be great. It will be okay I promise” Blaine said soothingly, placing a hand on Kurt’s thigh again patting it in comfort.

“What if it’s not Blaine?” Kurt replied, not looking at him, staring straight ahead at the course.

“Kurt Hummel!” the announcer cried. Kurt shut his eyes briefly. He was about to go when he suddenly felt warm breath by his ear “Good Luck” Blaine whispered and he kissed Kurt on the cheek. When Kurt looked back, Blaine had gone.

Kurt took a deep breath and moved Socks into a trot. He felt the horse stiffen beneath him as he saw the coloured jumps but he kept going. Kurt only had 1:53 to do the course in.

Socks went over the first couple fine but the fourth jump had a rather elaborate floral decoration next to it and it put Socks off. He went over it fine but not in the middle, and the pole fell to the floor. 4.00 penalties. Kurt couldn’t afford to get anymore penalties or otherwise he is out of the next competition. “Come on boy” Kurt whispered to Socks. The encouragement seemed to do something to the horse and he picked up speed and balance.

They flew over the last few jumps with one close shave. The pole wavered but it stayed in place. Before Kurt knew it, he had finished with a time of 1:52. So close, but he had done it! He had qualified!

Going back to the stable area, he jumped off Socks and was greeted by a beaming Blaine. “Kurt, you did it! That was fantastic!”

Kurt did the only thing he thought was right at that moment. Grabbing the corner of Blaine’s shirt, he pulled Blaine in and kissed him. Blaine took a while to respond, mainly because of the shock but he kissed Kurt back and slipped an arm around Kurt’s waist, bringing him closer. They pulled back mutually and Kurt rested their foreheads together.

“What was that for?” Blaine said smiling.

“for being you” Kurt said, simply, closing the gap between their lips once more.