Kurt stared. He couldn't help it. His seven year old mind was still full of its joyful innocence, where nothing matters. The boy, who was currently the object of his gaze, looked to be about his age, maybe younger. Kurt couldn't tell. He was small looking, smaller than Kurt anyway, but he was wearing smart clothes. That's why Kurt was staring. He had never seen anyone wear such nice clothes. He had on a light blue polo, dark jeans, and, Kurt’s favourite part, the striped bowtie perched above the buttons and tied neatly below his neck.

'Kurt? Kurt, honey, we're going,' Kurt looked at his mother, his lower lip sticking out slightly. 
'I don't wanna go, mommy. The museums my favourite place in the whole, wide world.' He gestured wildly with his arms. Elizabeth sighed, and looked at her watch. 
'We can stay for ten more minutes. How does that sound?'
'You're the best!' he hugged his mom around the waist quickly, before running off to find out who this interesting boy was. It didn't take long to find him. He was in the hall of ocean life, lying on the floor with everyone else looking at the gigantic whale figure suspended from the ceiling.
'Hi.' said Kurt. The boy’s eyes widened slightly, taken aback by the boy looming over him suddenly. He sat up. 
'Hi.' Kurt scuffed his feet a little, and sat down next to the boy. He stuck out his hand.
'My name's Kurt.' The boy put his hand in Kurt’s. It was warm and soft.
'I'm Blaine.' He said. Blaine. Kurt smiled. He liked Blaine. He had soft hands and pretty brown eyes that made him think of chesnuts from that time his mom had roasted some at Christmas.
Blaine stared at their joined hands, as if unsure of what to do. Kurt giggled and moved his arm up and down vigorously. 
'This is my favourite place too.' Kurt said. Blaine let go of his hand, and Kurt felt a flicker of disappointment. Blaine stared at him with his big brown eyes.
'You don't talk much, do you?' Kurt said, tilting his head. Blaine looked away, his eyelashes fluttering prettily against his cheeks. He had nice eyelashes as well. 
'My mommy said not to talk to strangers.' He said quietly.
'I'm not a stranger though. I'm Kurt. And I'm seven so it's okay.' 
The boy suddenly grinned really widely at Kurt. 
'Okay. I love this place too! I like the uh whale!' Kurt looked up with Blaine. 
There was a pause.
'Can... can I hold your hand again?' Blaine asked quietly? Kurt blushed a little but smiled.
'Sure.' Because holding hands is nice and Blaine has the softest hands Kurt had ever felt, apart from his moms of course. Blaine tentatively reached out and took Kurt’s hand in his own. It was nice. Sitting there, holding hands, watching people coming and going. But then Kurt’s mom walked over, and Kurt reluctantly let go of Blaine’s hand, but not before introducing them.
Ten minutes later they were in the car with the phone number for Blaine’s mom and a very happy Kurt.
'You seemed happy.' His mom said to him. 
'Oh yeah! Blaine's super nice and the whale room is his favourite too! And he's got really soft hands and his eyes are real pretty.' Elizabeth smiled to herself as she listened to her son natter. She knew Kurt was different, she had known for ages. And if her son was happy then by all means, she was going to be over the moon.
~~~~~~
Kurt bounded over to the door.
'Hi!' he grinned, and immediately grabbed the hand of a cold looking Blaine, dragging him to his room as their moms talked. 
'This is gonna be so much fun,' Kurt squeaked as he sat on his bed, 'we can watch movies and eat popcorn if my mom says yes and it'll be the best sleepover ever!' He felt like he was going to explode. Blaine looked away shyly.
'I... I've never been on a sleepover before. Actually... I've never had a best friend before.' He scratched his nose as Kurt gawked at him.
'Never?' Blaine nodded. Blaine was the nicest guy ever, and he wore neat clothes. Why would no one want to be friend with him?
'The other boys laughed at my clothes. They said my bowties were stupid.' Kurt’s eyes darted down to the red and green Christmas themed bowtie. 
'Well.' He started, his small hands on his small hips. 'I think they're awesome. I think you're awesome.' Blaine blushed a little. 
'Anyway,' he continued. 'I'm your best friend now and we're gonna have the world most fabulous sleepover!' He giggled when Blaine grinned his huge toothy grin, the same one he gave Kurt when they had first met.
'That's not fair! You can't do-' he was cut off by a snowball to the back of his head. 
'Hey!' he shouted, whipping around. He could feel the snow already melting, dripping down his back.
'Ughgg.' He winced. Boy was it cold. But then he spotted Blaine, darting out from behind the shed, and threw his handful of snow as hard as he could. SMACK! It hit Blaine right in the face. He stood there, too stunned to speak, before wiping the snow off his face with a gloved hand. Kurt was about to laugh and run away from the oncoming storm he knew was coming, but instead, Blaine sprinted inside, tears running down his face. Kurt stood with his mouth open. What was that about?
 
He found Blaine in the bathroom with the door locked.
'Blaine?' He said, standing awkwardly by the door. He heard a sniffle.
'What do you want?' Came the reply. 
'I... I'm sorry I hit your face, I didn't mean to, I was aiming for your... your body or something. Can I come in?' A few seconds later he heard the lock clicking and the door opened to reveal Blaine, his face red and his eyes slightly puffy. Kurt followed him and Blaine sat down on the floor, his back to the bathtub. 
'It really hurt.' He said. 'And- and it messed up my hair.' He ended almost in a whisper. 
'Your hair?' Blaine nodded.
'It took me ages to do it like this. I did it special for you. And then you ruined it.' Kurt looked at Blaine’s hair. Normally, it was pushed back, with a little gel to keep it down. But Kurt noticed that today it was smoothed down carefully, and he could see the little lines where a comb had been pushed through. 
'I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd done your hair special.' 
'Yeah, well I did.' Blaine shivered suddenly.
'Blaine! You're cold. Come on, my mom said we can have warm milk and watch a film.' He offered Blaine his hand, and was relieved when Blaine took it.
'I like your hair like this.' Kurt said. 'It's soft. Like your hands.' Kurt continued pushing his fingers through Blaine’s damp hair. It was really curly, now they had both washed, and Kurt loved it. Just then, Elizabeth walked in.
'I think it's time for bed, boys.' She said. 'How was the film?' They both shrugged. It was nothing special. Just the usual, princess-rescued-by-handsome-prince-and-they-end-up-getting-married film. 
After they had been settled in, both squished in Kurt’s twin bed, because Blaine was small for his age and Kurt was thin, Kurt turned to Blaine. 
'Did you like the film?' He whispered, because it was the night, and in the night you were supposed to whisper.
'Yeah.' Blaine whispered back. Kurt hummed quietly.
'Do you think...do you think that maybe one day you'll rescue a princess?' Kurt asked quietly. Blaine screwed up his nose in thought.
'Maybe... I'd like to be the one who’s saved. You know, by a handsome prince.' He said after a while. Kurt beamed.
'Same! I think it's okay... I mean, if a princess can marry a prince, why can't a prince marry a prince?' Blaine murmured in agreement, shuffling closer and taking Kurt’s hand in his.
'Have you ever kissed anyone? Like in the movies?' Kurt could feel Blaine’s warm breath against his neck. It was comforting. He shook his head.
'Neither have I.' And after a minute, 'I wonder what it feels like.'
Kurt tilted his head, so he was looking into Blaine’s wide, brown eyes. They really were very pretty.
'Maybe... maybe we could try it? Just to see how it feels?' He looked at Blaine’s hair, unsure of why he was so nervous. 'I mean- only if you want to I mean.' Blaine moved even closer, so they were almost nose to nose.
'I do,' He breathed. Kurt’s belly squirmed; he could feel his cheeks heating up. 
And then Blaine’s lips were on his. They were warm, slightly dry and soft, softer than Blaine’s hands and his hair. They stayed like that for a minute, neither moving except when Blaine put his hand hesitantly on Kurt’s shoulder, their quiet huffs of breath the only noise. 
Then they broke apart, and Kurt looked at Blaine and Blaine looked at Kurt. 
'That was nice.' said Blaine. Kurt nodded, his eyes wide. 
'I- I think we should go to sleep now.' He was about to roll over, when Blaine said,
'Can- can I hold your hand? While we sleep? It's just, sometimes I- I get nightmares, and usually my mom’s there to tell me okay but now she's not-' Kurt cut him off.
'Sure.' He grasped Blaine’s soft little hand, which fit so nicely in his own, and ten minutes later they were asleep.
~~~~~
At 8 o'clock the next morning, Elizabeth walked into her son’s room. She saw Kurt tangled in the sheets as always, and Blaine lying still, undisturbed. Their hands were lying in the space between them, Kurt’s on top of Blaine’s, like they had fallen asleep holding hands. Elizabeth gave a small, almost imperceptible smile, before leaving them to sleep the morning away.