”Hi!” says a voice from over the wall one day while Blaine is playing in the garden with his toys. He looks up to see a round-faced boy with soft-looking chestnut hair grinning at him.

“Hello,” says Blaine, nervously. He’s usually nervous around new kids because of the mean boys and girls at his school who make fun of him because he’s little for his age. Most of his classmates join in when it starts. He doesn’t really have any friends.

“My name’s Kurt, and I know your name’s Blaine because your mommy was talking to my mommy yesterday and she said that that’s your name.”

Blaine doesn’t really know what do do with this statement, so he fiddles with the loose thread on his favourite teddy’s nose.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” asks Kurt, with a concerned frown. Blaine shakes his head. For some reason he feels like he’d be safe playing with Kurt, but he can’t be sure so he doesn’t want to get himself into a bad situation.

Just then, Blaine’s big brother, Cooper walks into the garden.

“Hey, Blainers, Mom asked me to check on you to see that you’re not getting into trouble,” he says, ruffling Blaine’s hair. He hates it when Cooper does that.

“Don’t call me that,” he says, grumpily and his brother grins.

“It’s fun,” he says with a shrug. Then,noticing Kurt for the first time, he smiles. “Blaine, you didn’t tell me you were talking to a friend.”

“He’s not my friend,” says Blaine.

“That’s not very nice,” says Cooper, frowning at this little brother.Then, turning to Kurt he asks, “What’s your name, Champ?”

“Kurt Hummel,” he says with a smile. “And I know me and Blaine aren’t friends yet, but I want to be his friend. I was going to ask if he wants to bring all his toys to have a tea party with my toys.”

“That sounds like fun, Kurt,” Cooper smiles softly. “What do you think, B?”

Blaine bites the inside of his cheek. It does sound like fun, but there’s still that nagging worry at the back of his mind.

“Would you feel better if I came too?” whispers Cooper so that only Blaine can hear and Blaine nods truthfully. Cooper would make sure that Blaine didn’t get hurt at all. His big brother nods to him in understanding and turns back to Kurt.

“Say, Kurt, do you think that there’s room for me at that tea party?” he asks and Kurt considers him for a moment.

“Do you have your own toys?” he asks.

“Yeah,” says Cooper.

“Good, okay, then you can come too if you want,” he nods in approval.

Fifteen minutes later they’re next door in Kurt’s backyard sitting around an ornate wrought-iron table, sipping imaginary tea and introducing their “guests” to each other.

“This is Lucy,” says Kurt, holding up a worn and frayed rag-doll to show Blaine and Cooper. “She’s a princess. I know it doesn’t look like it but my mommy told me that long ago an evil wizard got hold of her and turned her into a doll. She also told me that she’s not waiting for her prince to come rescue her and change her back like the princesses in the movies - she says she’ll turn back into a princess when she finally believes in herself. I’ve been helping her try but so far it hasn’t worked.”

Kurt actually looks a little tearful at this and Blaine cautiously takes his hand. Kurt smiles gratefully and Cooper feels that his heart might explode at how adorable it is.

“What about your guest, Blaine?” says Kurt, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. Blaine smiles.

“This is Rory the dinosaur,” says Blaine with a grin as he holds up a dark green T-Rex with light green spots. “He wishes he was a big dinosaur, but he doesn’t mind being a little one. I want to be a dinosaur when I grow up so that I can show Rory how to become a big dinosaur.”

“I’m sure you’ll be the best dinosaur in the entire universe,” says Kurt with a huge grin. “Maybe even the whole world!”

Cooper chuckles and glances over to his “guest” a stuffed rhino he had won for Julie Holloway at the bowling alley last night. They were partners for a science project and Cooper had had a crush on her forever so he had taken the chance and asked her if she wanted to go out with him sometime. Halfway through the date, despite winning her the toy and doing his best to be the perfect gentleman, she told him that she just wanted them to be friends and asked him to not mention the date to anyone.

It hurt a little to look at it now because he really did like Julie. What he needed now was a new story for it. Something that would make it easier to interact with.

“Cooper, what about your rhino?” asks Blaine, feeling much more comfortable now that he’s familiar with his environment and is definitely becoming friends with Kurt.

“I… uh…” says Cooper berating himself for not being able to come with a good story. He wanted to be an actor. This should be easy for him.

“I think his name is George,” says Kurt, encouragingly and Cooper grins.

“Yes,” he says, putting on a posh English accent. “Yes, his name is George. He used to be in love with a girl rhino named Janet, but she said that she doesn’t want the other rhinos to make fun of her so she told him that she didn’t want to be his girlfriend. George thinks a little differently to most animals, you see, and the other jungle animals are scared of him. George gets a little lonely sometimes, but he feels lucky today because he gets to spend the afternoon with you two awesome kiddos.”

Cooper tickles them as he utters the last sentence and both boys squeal with laughter.

“Stop, Coop!” says Blaine in between gasps for air and even Cooper is laughing now. It’s hard not to. They both have adorable laughs.

Cooper spends the rest of the afternoon chasing the boys around the garden as they play every pretend game that they can collectively think of. Much too soon, Judy Anderson is standing in the back doorway of the Hummel house telling Cooper and Blaine that it’s time to go home.

“You can play again tomorrow,” she says with a smile as she picks up a protesting Blaine. He yawns widely.

“Okay,” he says, snuggling into her shoulder.

“Cooper! You almost forgot George!” says Kurt frantically, rushing over with the toy rhino with a deeply concerned look on his face.

“I tell you what, Kurt,” says Cooper, getting down on his haunches so that he’s eye-level with the small boy. “George is going to get awfully lonely living in my room seeing as he’s the only toy there, and you do such a great job of looking after him and all your toys, as a matter of fact. So do you want to keep him for me?”

“Yes!” breathes Kurt excitedly, clutching the rhino to his chest.

“What do you say, Kurt?” asks Liz Hummel with a smile.

“Thank you, Cooper,” he says, a small blush creeping into his cheeks.

“You’re welcome,” says Cooper with a grin. “And Kurt?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for being Blaine’s friend.”

Kurt doesn’t say anything, but throws his arms around the tall boy’s shoulders and Cooper knows that Blaine and him are going to be okay. They’re going to become the absolute best of friends.

Blaine will finally have someone.