"This is ridiculous," Blaine Anderson told himself. "You're in sunny Italy, in Rimini, on the beach. It's incredibly hot, you're sweating like a pig and you're too scared to go in the water?  For God's sake, it's only water! Just put your feet in it already!"

If only it were that easy.

The worst part was that he knew his fear was irrational. He had watched people swim in the sea a thousand times and never had anything bad happened to them. Yet he could not bring himself to go in the water.

It wasn't even the water itself he was scared of. He could take a bath or a shower without a problem, he actually really liked the feeling of the water against his skin, but as soon as he as much as came near a swimming pool or a beach, he could feel the panic rising in his chest. It didn't make any sense. If anyone ever asked him why he was scared of swimming, he wouldn't have been able to give them an answer, because the truth was he didn't know. There was no reason for him to be scared, he just was.
So that is why Blaine Anderson now found himself sitting on Rimini beach, trying to talk himself into going in the water, but not succeeding in the slightest. He was pulled from his thoughts, however, by a big green-and-white-striped beach ball falling in the sand right next to where he was sitting. Blaine jumped about half a meter in the air. He already was easily scared, but it was even worse when he was in the middle of a panic attack. After trying to calm down for half a minute, he noticed a boy who looked to be his age running in his direction while yelling at another guy, who was just coming out of the water.

"Oh my god, Finn, you idiot! You were supposed to throw it to me, not to the other side of the beach!"

The boy came to a halt right in front of Blaine and immediately started apologizing. "I'm so sorry, my brother's hand-eye coordination has never been very good. I hope he didn't hurt you. Oh God, he didn't hit you in the head, did he?"

Blaine took a minute to take in the boy standing in front of him. He was tall and very pale, he had broad shoulders and the most beautiful face Blaine had ever seen.  He knew he'd better look away before he started drooling over this boy who looked like an angel. The fact that he was dripping wet certainly didn't help matters.

"Are you okay?" the beautiful boy asked, and that's when Blaine realized he really had been staring for longer than was deemed appropriate.
He tried to formulate an answer in the form of a coherent sentence, but all that came out of his mouth was a squeaked "Yes!".  Great, Blaine thought. Now you've definitely made a good first impression.
Beautiful Boy didn't seem to mind Blaine's less than elegant answer though, because he just smiled and said, "Alright then. Can I ask your name?"
"Yeah, sure. I mean, Blaine! My name is Blaine."
"Nice to meet you, Blaine. I'm Kurt. So, would you like to join us in the water? I promise I won't let Finn anywhere near that beach ball again."

Oh, shit. What could he say to that? He couldn't possibly tell Kurt the truth. If he told him about his fear of swimming, surely Kurt would think he was pathetic. He'd probably walk away and wouldn't want anything to do with Blaine ever again. So he needed to make up an excuse. Come on, Anderson, think! What's a good excuse for not swimming?

"I uh... I can't, because I uh... I burn! I mean, when I'm in the water, I burn really easily. So yeah, I can't."
Okay, good. That sounded believable. Didn't it?
"Oh, that's no problem! I burn easily too, so I always have a bottle of sunscreen with me. You can use some!"
Oh oh... Not good. Abort mission! Abort mission!
"That's very kind, but I really can't. My uh... my brother is waiting for me. I really need to go before-"
"I'm sure your brother won't mind waiting a little longer. Come on, it'll be fun!" Kurt said with an excited look on his face as he took Blaine by the hand and started pulling him towards the water.

This was spiraling out of control. Blaine tried to get away from Kurt's grasp on his wrist, but the boy was stronger than he was and they were approaching the water very quickly. He was having another panic attack, this one much worse than the last one. He needed to come up with a better excuse, but he couldn't think of anything to say.
"No, please, I can't! I really can't! Please let me go!" Tears were pricking in his eyes. He really needed Kurt to let go of his hand. He couldn't go in the water, he really couldn't.

Luckily, Kurt seemed to have noticed the absolute terror in Blaine's voice and let go of his wrist immediately.
"Hey, hey, I won't make you if you don't want to, it's okay. Are you alright?" he asked, clearly concerned.
Blaine wanted to say he was fine, turn around and run away as fast as possible, but his panic attack prevented his body from doing what his mind wanted him to do. All he could do was stand there, crying and whimpering like the pathetic baby that he believed himself to be.
"I can't, please don't make me go in there, please, don't make me, please."
He was full on sobbing now. He wouldn't have been surprised if Kurt had just left him there. Why would he stay with Blaine? He'd known him for less than ten minutes and here he was, in the middle of a crowded beach, crying for everyone to see with Kurt standing next to him. For most people, it would have been a very awkward and uncomfortable situation, but Kurt didn't seem to feel that way. He put a hand on Blaine's back and started rubbing circles to calm him down.
"Shhhh, it's okay, you don't have to go in the water, I won't make you. It's alright. Just take a few deep breaths, okay? Everything will be fine."

Usually it didn't help at all if people touched him during a panic attack, but for some reason Kurt was different. His hand on Blaine's back actually did have a soothing effect on him and after a few moments, his sobs had died down to quiet sniffles. Kurt was the one to break the silence between them.
"Come on, let's sit down for a while." He fell to his knees in the sand and gently tugged Blaine down with him.
"You can talk to me if you want to, but I won't make you if it makes you feel uncomfortable."
It was the kindness in his voice and his look that showed absolutely no judgment that helped Blaine make up his mind.
"I'm afraid of swimming. I don't know why, it's just the way it always has been. Whenever I get close to a swimming pool or a beach, I get really nervous. Usually I can calm myself down after a while." With a sad  chuckle he added: "After all, I've had years of practice, so I've become quite good at getting panic attacks under control."
He chanced a look at Kurt's face, but when he saw the pity in his eyes, he quickly looked down again and started digging his fingers in the sand in front of him to distract him.
"Anyway, today was worse. I was watching all these people in the water and  they were all having so much fun. I just wanted to be able to go in there and feel the same way they did, so I was trying to convince myself to go in. Clearly that was not such a good idea."

He honestly didn't understand why Kurt was still sitting next to him. After his confession he felt even more pathetic than before, even though he had to admit he felt a little lighter after having told someone about his fear. Except for Kurt, his brother Cooper and his parents were the only people who knew about his phobia. He'd never had the courage to tell his friends about it, so whenever one of them had mentioned swimming or going to the beach, Blaine had always come up with an excuse. With Kurt however, he felt obligated to tell the truth. He'd had a mental breakdown in front of a boy he'd only just met, he felt like he owed him an explanation, but he was convinced that Kurt would judge him for his irrational fear. Kurt kept on surprising him though.

"I could help you if you want," he said. The statement made Blaine look up again, sure that Kurt was joking, but he found the other boy looking back at him without any trace of mockery in his face. Noticing Blaine's hesitation, he added: "I'm serious. I love to spend as much time in the water as I can, so I work at a swimming pool as a lifeguard in my spare time. The owner of the pool is a good friend of my father's, so he lets me use the pool after closing time once in a while. You could come with me sometime and I could teach you how to swim. It'd be just the two of us, so you wouldn't have to be scared of anyone else finding out about your fear if that's what you're worried about."

"Alright." Blaine took himself by surprise with his quick response, but he found he really did want to take Kurt up on his offer. He strongly doubted the boy would succeed in helping him overcome his fear, but at least he'd be able to say that he tried. More than anything, he wanted to try. And it seemed like Kurt meant it when he said he wanted to help, so why not let him? Blaine knew this wasn't something he could do on his own, he'd just never had the courage to ask for help. Right now though he wasn't asking, Kurt was offering. All he had to do was accept. So that's what he did.

Apparently Kurt hadn't expected Blaine to accept his offer so quickly either, but his surprise soon turned into excitement. "Okay then! When do you want to start? Are you free today?" Blaine had to bite back a grin. Seemed like at least someone was eager to start these swimming lessons. "I actually wasn't lying about my brother waiting for me. I'm supposed to meet him for dinner in half an hour. But I don't have any plans for tomorrow evening... If that works for you of course!"
"Tomorrow is perfect," Kurt replied. "Why don't you meet me here at 8 and we'll go to the pool together?"
"That sounds great. I'll see you tomorrow then."
"See you tomorrow, Blaine," Kurt said, and with a smile and a little wave in Blaine's direction, he turned to leave.
"Oh, and Kurt!" Blaine called after him.
"Yes?" Kurt asked as he turned around again.
"Thanks.  For offering to help and for... for everything."
"You're very welcome, Blaine", and with that, he sprinted towards the water again.

The next day, they met on the beach like they'd agreed and walked to the swimming pool together. Since they'd only just met, they had a lot to talk about, so conversation flowed easily. They carefully avoided the topic of Blaine's phobia and talked about their families, their friends and their schools. As it seemed, both Kurt and Blaine lived in Ohio, but Kurt and his family had been invited by a friend of his father's, the one who owned the pool, to spend the summer holidays in Italy, while Blaine was staying with his brother, who was renting the apartment of a colleague actor.
They were both in their school's glee club and they both loved Rent, fashion and Marion Cotillard. Really, they were bound to be friends. Animated chatter and laughter filled the air between them, until they arrived at the swimming pool and Blaine stopped moving altogether.
"It's going to be alright, you'll see," Kurt said, putting his hand on Blaine's shoulder in a soothing gesture. "Just remember that, no matter what happens, I'm here to help you. You don't have to do this on your own."
Blaine wanted to answer, say "thank you", say anything really, but standing in front of this building he suddenly felt so nervous that he couldn't get his voice to cooperate, so he just nodded instead.
"Come on, let's get inside," Kurt said and gently pushed the other boy towards the entrance.

Ten minutes later found the two boys standing at the edge of the shallow end of the pool in their swim trunks, Blaine completely tense and Kurt trying to give him his space. After a few moments of the two of them just standing there, Kurt broke the silence.
"We'll start out slow. I promise I won't let anything happen to you, but if at any time you feel too uncomfortable, just tell me and we'll stop, okay?"
"Okay. Can we just start now? Before I change my mind?" Blaine asked softly.
"Of course. Why don't we begin with just sitting on the edge? You don't even have to put your feet in the water yet. Just sit on the edge with your legs crossed in front of you, like this," Kurt suggested as he did exactly that, waiting for Blaine to follow his example. Blaine didn't look like he was planning to move anytime soon though.
"Come on, it's alright," Kurt urged, holding out his hand. Hesitantly, Blaine took the hand offered to him and sat down next to Kurt, pulling his knees up and releasing Kurt's hand to hug his knees to his chest.
"Good. Now look into the water. It's very clear, isn't it? You can see the floor, it's not that deep at all."
"I guess," Blaine replied, clearly not at ease so close to the water.
"Okay, Blaine, can you look at me for a second?" Kurt asked. Blaine did as he was asked. "I need you to try and relax a bit, Blaine. I know this isn't easy for you, but you need to at least try to trust me. It's not going to work if you don't. I promise nothing bad is going to happen. I'll be here with you all the time, you'll be safe, I swear." At Kurt's reassuring words, Blaine let out a shuddering breath and started to relax a little. Kurt was right. He had been so nice to Blaine since he met him on the beach the day before. He had even offered to help him overcome his fear. He wouldn't let anything bad happen to Blaine. If he could just let go a little and trust Kurt, everything would be okay.

"There we go," Kurt murmured as he watched the tension slowly flow from the other boy's body. "Could you let go of your knees for me? Just put your hand in the water for a moment, let it flow around your fingers."
That didn't sound hard at all. Yes, he could do that. He slowly let his hand sink into the water and carefully moved it around a bit. It was just like when he was doing the dishes, just water around his hand, nothing special.
After a minute, Kurt gave him his next instruction. "Okay, now I want you to put your feet and legs in there as well. You can do it as slowly as you like, take all the time you need." Very slowly, Blaine started to move his feet closer to the water. For some reason, putting his feet in it seemed a lot scarier than doing the same with his hands. Kurt was with him though. As long as Kurt was there, nothing bad would happen. So he did as Kurt had asked and let his feet touch the water. That wasn't really that bad. Just water around his feet. After getting used to the feeling for a few seconds, he started to let his legs sink in the pool. It took him a while, but Kurt had said he could take his time, so it was okay. About a minute later, Blaine was sitting on the edge of the pool with his legs up to his knees in the water of the pool.
"That's great, Blaine!" Kurt beamed. "You're doing very well! I told you it was going to be alright, didn't I?"
Blaine smiled shyly at the praise. He even started blushing a little. That really didn't have anything to  do with the fact that Kurt had a very pretty smile though. Or with the way in which his eyes seemed to sparkle when he smiled. No of course not, why would he notice any of those things?
"We can just sit here for a while if you want, but I'd like for us to actually go in the pool later," Kurt continued.  "It may sound scary, but I know you can do it."
As soon as he heard the words ‘go in the pool', the small smile on Blaine's face disappeared completely. Sitting on the edge like this was one thing, but actually go in the pool? Just the thought made him tense up again. Kurt, noticing his discomfort, placed a hand on the small of his back and soothingly murmured: "It's okay. We don't have to go in immediately, we have time. Even if we have to sit here for an hour before you feel ready." 

The words were meant to calm him down a little, but calm is not how Blaine felt at that moment. Instead, he suddenly became very aware of Kurt's warm hand on his back. It wasn't the first time Kurt had touched him, and it wasn't like Blaine minded, because he definitely didn't mind, but now, with no other people around, just Kurt sitting next to him on the edge of the pool, Kurt's touch was the only thing he could focus on. It felt really nice, but it made him feel nervous at the same time. No other boy had ever touched Blaine like this, casually, like it was no big deal for a boy to touch another boy. Did this mean Kurt was gay too? Maybe Kurt even liked Blaine like Blaine was starting to like him! Maybe he should do something to show Kurt how he felt, like just take his hand and see how he reacted. Kurt had held his hand before, so that should be okay, right? But what if he got it all wrong? What if Kurt had only held his hand to comfort him and nothing more? What if he didn't like Blaine that way? What if he wasn't gay after all?

"Blaine? Are you all right?" Kurt asked, effectively ending Blaine's inner monologue.
"Yeah, uhm, it's just... I'm just nervous, that's all." It was true. Just not for the reason Kurt thought he was nervous.
"I know. Just take another deep breath and go in when you're ready."
There was no way Blaine felt ready to do that yet. Then again, he doubted he would ever feel ready and Kurt's hand, still on his back, didn't do anything to calm his nerves, so he decided to just do it without thinking too much. When he slowly pulled his feet out of the water and got up, he heard Kurt's surprised intake of breath and hurried to explain: "The longer I wait, the harder it'll become to find courage, so I'm just gonna do it." Kurt nodded in understanding. Then, after a short pause, he heard Blaine whisper: "Will you go in first?"
"Sure! " Kurt assured him as he made his way to the ladder leading into the swimming pool. Once he was up to his waist in the water, he turned to Blaine, gave him an encouraging smile and held out his hand once again. "Why don't you sit on the first step and then take my hand, so I can help you into the water?"
Blaine looked a bit hesitant, standing on the edge and looking at Kurt's hand like it was a dog that could bite him if he made a wrong move, but eventually he sat down on the first step like Kurt had suggested and took Kurt's hand.

 As he felt the other boy's soft  hand against his, he was struck with a sudden burst of bravery and he slowly interlaced his fingers with Kurt's, trying to gauge his reaction and hoping with all his heart that Kurt wouldn't draw his hand back. He didn't. He only smiled and gave his fingers a little squeeze of encouragement.
"How about I count and you jump in the water on the count of three? I promise I won't let go of your hand. I'll catch you, okay?"
 "Okay. Yeah I think I can do that."
"Good. You ready?"
"Yeah, I'm ready"
"One..."
Oh boy, he was really going to do this.
"Two..."
He was about to jump into a freaking swimming pool.
"Three!"
This was it. He pushed himself off the ladder with his free hand, but when his feet touched the floor of the pool, he stumbled a bit and started panicking as he saw the water quickly coming closer to his face. He needn't have worried though, because within seconds Kurt's hands were around his waist, steadying him. Blaine gasped a little at the contact, because Kurt's hands on his naked skin were like an electric current running through him.
"It's okay, I've got you," Kurt smiled reassuringly, moving one of his hands to rest on Blaine's shoulder, and that's when Blaine realized his hands were gripping Kurt's arms. When did that happen? He didn't remember putting his hands there. In his flash of panic he must have grabbed the first thing he could reach, which seemed to have been Kurt's arms.
"Yeah, you got me," Blaine breathed out, barely audible over the sound of the water sloshing around them. And that's when it hit him: he was actually standing in the pool.
"I did it. I really did it."
"You really did it," Kurt agreed, a big smile lighting up his face.
Maybe these swimming lessons wouldn't be so bad after all, Blaine thought, a matching smile forming on his own face.

Six weeks later, Kurt and Blaine were standing on Rimini beach again, at the exact same spot they'd first met.

After Blaine's first swimming lesson, they'd met up at the pool a couple of times a week. Sometimes they'd continue doing exercises to get Blaine used to being in the water. Other times, when Blaine was feeling too anxious, they'd just sit on the edge of the pool with their legs in the water, like that first time, and just talk. During the third week, Kurt had started teaching Blaine how to swim. And now, after Kurt had assured him that he was ready at least 20 times, they were about to go swimming in the sea. Even though he felt a lot more at ease in the water now than two months ago, Blaine was still a bit anxious. The sea wasn't exactly the same as a swimming pool after closing hours.

However, just like every single time at that swimming pool, Kurt was here with him, and just like at the swimming pool, he wouldn't let anything happen to him. Over the course of the last few weeks, Kurt had become his best friend. Blaine still felt more for Kurt than just friendship, but he hadn't found the courage to talk to him about it yet, so he'd settled for being friends. If anything else was meant to happen, it would happen. For now, friendship was more than enough for Blaine.

"You ready for the big moment?" Kurt asked, pulling Blaine from his thoughts.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Blaine answered with a smile. He might still be a bit scared, but he knew he could do this. If Kurt believed in him, so would he.
"Let's do this then. On the count of three?"
"On the count of three," Blaine agreed, taking the hand Kurt was holding out for him.
They started counting together. "One... Two... Three!" and they were running towards the sea. They didn't let go of each other's hands once their feet touched the water, they just kept running, all the while laughing excitedly.
"We did it!" Kurt yelled once they were up to their waists in the water.
"Yes we did! We really did!" Blaine agreed with a big grin on his face, and before he could say anything else, Kurt's lips were on his in a chaste, but nonetheless,  enthusiastic kiss, his arms winding around Blaine's neck. It took Blaine a few seconds to get over his initial shock, but after that he put his own hands around Kurt's waist, kissing him back with as much enthusiasm as he was getting. It was heaven. Until Kurt pulled back with a shocked  look , that is.
"Oh my god, I can't believe I just did that! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that, I don't know what came over me, I'm so s-"  Before he could continue, Blaine cut him off with another kiss, just a gentle pressure of his lips against Kurt's until Kurt gave in and started moving his lips against Blaine's.
"Kurt?" Blaine asked as he pulled back.
"Yes, Blaine?"
"I really like you."
"I really like you too," Kurt replied as a big goofy grin took over his face.
"Kurt?"
"Yes, Blaine?"
"Will you please stop freaking out now and kiss me again?"
"Since you asked so nicely."