Somewhere between the Iron Dragon and the Mantis, Blaine tried to make a getaway.

"What're -- where are you going?"

Turning, Kurt grabbed at Blaine's arm as he tried to get hold of him, but the darker-haired boy was already slipping away, bumping into a thin girl in a flowery tank holding a snow cone, and it was his instinct to touch her elbow and apologize that got him caught.

Dozens of people moved around them and Kurt's face was pinched with confusion as he looked at Blaine, tilted head prompting an explanation.

"Um," Blaine said. "I have to go to the bathroom."

"There's not even a bathroom the way you were headed."

"Yeah, I'm kind of lost."

Kurt sighed and looked somewhere beyond Blaine's left shoulder, taking his hand to pull them out of the way of a large group passing by. Behind them a roller coaster roared down a hill, its thundering eclipsed only by the screams of its riders. They sounded thrilled; Blaine felt nauseous.

Still holding Blaine's hand, Kurt said, "Why do I get the distinct feeling you're backing out on me?"

It was something like 93 degrees in Sandusky, Ohio, which made it the perfect day for standing around in lines at Cedar Point just to spend no more than two minutes at a time feeling like you were hurtling into the pits of hell...if you liked that sort of thing. Which Blaine didn't. He was fine paying fifty bucks to hang out on the carousel and bumper cars all day. He was also fine walking through lines with Kurt only to pass right through the cars and out the gate when they reached the front. And he was more than fine smoothing his hands over Kurt's windswept hair later, listening as he enthusiastically described the ride for Blaine, complete with hand motions.

Blaine laughed shakily and zeroed in on the hem of Kurt's Marc Jacobs shorts. "You're very perceptive," he mumbled.

Kurt craned his neck around, and Blaine guessed he was looking at the ominous hills of the Millennium Force towering in the near distance. When he turned back, he was smiling thinly. "Look, if you really don't want to do this, I won't make you--"

"Not really what you said before."

"--but I just think it would be good for you to experience this, Blaine, I really do," Kurt finished in what was almost a plea, clasping both of his boyfriend's hands and lowering his head just slightly so that their gazes were level. He probably wasn't even being flirtatious on purpose, though it was always difficult to tell with Kurt.

Blaine sighed. "But if I change my mind at the last second, it's okay?"

Kurt turned around to look at the coaster again, Cedar Point's pride and joy until the Top Thrill Dragster came along with all 420 of its feet and stole the Millennium's glory. "I'm pretty sure they've got separate boarding and exiting stations," he explained when he was facing Blaine again. His shoulders lifted in a small, apologetic shrug. "Once you get far enough, you pretty much have to ride."

Blaine thought about their first ride of the day, how he had wanted to go on the carousel twice that morning and Kurt had let him pick the horses both times. He thought about how Kurt had agreed to wait for an entire hour after they'd eaten lunch before riding the Scrambler. And then he thought about the way Kurt had smiled and squeezed his hand on the Blue Streak (which had been pretty scary), and the breathless kiss he'd gotten when the train pulled back into the station.

"Well, I said I'd do it," he told Kurt resolutely.

Kurt positively beamed. "I won't let you fall out and die, I promise!"

"Comforting."

Kurt began leading the way to the roller coaster once again, heading for the railroad crossing. He looked over his shoulder as Blaine caught up and added wickedly, "If we do die, at least we die together."

"Okay, you really need to stop."

When Kurt froze suddenly, something like hope rose from Blaine's stomach and he smiled just as Kurt said, "Oh, you had to go to the bathroom, didn't you?"

Blaine deflated. "Oh. Um. No. That was just a poorly planned escape."

Kurt's lips stretched into a satisfied grin. "Thought so. Just checking."

----

Twenty minutes later, they were pretty well lodged in the long, snaking line for the Millennium Force. According to the sign at the entrance there was an hour and a half wait, and there were a good thirty people filling in the line behind them. Escaping now would be difficult.

He was used to waiting in hot, crowded lines since he'd been doing it all day with Kurt, but normally he didn't have to strap himself into a death machine at the end. Then again, it wasn't like he was a stranger to death machines. He often put himself behind the wheel of a car, and those could definitely be said to be death machines, but at least he was in control then. Of course, statistically, motor vehicle deaths probably outweighed roller coaster deaths by something like 12,000%, which made him wonder how getting on a coaster was scarier than piling into a car. Maybe it was the several hundred-foot drops or the rusty old chains. Did the Millennium have a rusty old chain? What he needed to do was look up the official stats on amusement park deaths and their causes, but that was only if he survived riding --

"Hey, Kurt, so..." Blaine began shakily as they passed out of the sunlight and underneath a large blue tent as the line crept forward. "Tell me about, uh, what Finn's been up to this summer. You haven't talked much about him. How is he? How's Rachel?"

Kurt looked up from his nails and eyed Blaine suspiciously. "What?"

He rubbed his hand over his face. "I'm imagining death. I need distractions."

"Oh, Blaine. If you need some distractions, I can find far more interesting topics of conversation than that." And he did. Blaine listened while Kurt talked about Project Runway and his class schedule for the coming school year and the McQueen exhibit at the Met that he wanted to go to so, so badly. He could listen to Kurt talk for hours and usually ate up every word. He liked the facial expressions Kurt made when he got really into a topic and the way he would always stop to say, "Well, what do you think?"

They focused on more pleasant aspects of the ride, such as...well, there really weren't any. But Kurt guessed they were going to end up on the red train and Blaine thought they'd wind up with green.

Blaine noticed the way some of the people around them were hanging onto their significant others as they shuffled through line, the way girlfriends and boyfriends alike leaned into their sweetie's hold. Though he knew that things were...well, they were different for him and Kurt, he also knew that Kurt had an irresistibly slim waist, one that looked so delicate but was so solid, so perfect because it was Kurt's and everything about Kurt was closer to perfect than Blaine had ever known.

So Blaine just went for it because he wanted to. He slid his arms around Kurt's waist and--

"Don't. It's too hot."

"Um. Okay." Blaine backed against the metal railing, knocking his ass against someone's hand on the other side. They both recoiled immediately, but Blaine was so mortified at having had his ass touch a stranger's hand that he moved too quickly and stepped on Kurt's foot.

"Are you...?" Kurt sighed, squinting into the sun to look at Blaine, who was standing with his back to the person in front of him in line. "I realize we're being driven like cattle alongside something like one tenth of the entire population of the country, but you are having some personal space issues right now."

"Yeah. And you are having some anti-boyfriend issues, so..."

"Oh my god." Kurt reached out suddenly, a flash of pale skin as his hand grasped Blaine's, wrist curving 'round so he could cup Blaine's fingers from behind, thumb smoothing over his knuckles. He looked at Blaine pointedly.

"Yes?" Blaine asked, lips going taut as he tried not to laugh.

Kurt rolled his eyes, the faintest hint of dimples beginning to frame his mouth. "The line's moving," he said, pulling Blaine's hand toward him even though the intention was to get Blaine to move in the opposite direction to fill the growing gap in the line. As Blaine stepped backwards, neck twisting to look over his shoulder, he pulled Kurt with him, his thumb making idle circles against his boyfriend's fingertips.

Silence settled between them as the chatter of their surroundings seemed to pick up, hundreds of conversations rising and jumbling together in the hot July air. Blaine looked to the station, trying to figure out how many more aisles they had to shuffle through. Fewer aisles meant fewer times he might accidentally make eye contact with the person whose hand he'd totally grazed with his ass. But fewer aisles also meant a faster line, which meant his doom would be upon him just that much sooner.

"Hey." Kurt moved closer, lifting his foot from the ground to knock his knee gently into Blaine's thigh. Their eyes met, blue searching for brown with a tenderness that made Blaine want to laugh from how much it tickled him right in the gut. Kurt asked, "Are you freaking yourself out?"

Humming in thought, Blaine looked back to where the line expanded into a long incline leading into the station. His eyes involuntarily squeezed shut as a train of cars unexpectedly roared by on the tracks somewhere behind him, fear pressing up against the sides of his ribs. When his eyes opened a moment later, Kurt was watching him with an expression between concern and endearment. Blaine gave him a wry smile. "No," he said, "I think the ride's doing a good enough job of freaking me out on its own."

"Blaine, I really promise you're going to be fine," Kurt sighed for what felt like the millionth time, but there was no frustration in his voice, just earnest persuasion.

"I don't know..." He chewed on his lower lip.

"Well, I do. Do you feel like you're going to throw up?"

"Mm, no. Not really."

Kurt tipped his head to the side and smiled. He let go of Blaine's hand to make a circular gesture in the air. "Turn around."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it, Blaine."

He did, and was met by the sudden and comforting contact of Kurt's chest against his back as his boyfriend wrapped his arms around his waist, hands meeting against his stomach. Blaine closed his eyes and leaned back into the touch, enveloped in the smell of sunscreen and sweat and Kurt, who rested his chin on his shoulder and snuggled in close while Blaine made a happy little sound in his throat.

A quiet minute or two passed in which Blaine didn't think about dying at all, but he did think about the way his clothes were sticking to him and his temples were sweating.

"Um, Kurt?"

Kurt nuzzled his nose into Blaine's neck, and it felt like a space heater. "Hmm?"

"You were kind of right. It's too hot for this."

He thought for a second that Kurt might get irritated, but he just poked at Blaine's belly before stepping away. He gladly gave Blaine his hand when he reached for it.

----

According to the helpful and informative sign at the entrance to the line, the Millennium Force was, at its highest, 310 feet tall. That meant it was the height of approximately 55 Blaines (he'd had a lot of time to think about this). He tried to imagine stacking himself on his shoulders 55 times, but all he did was end up hurting his neck by looking too far up, which was especially dumb because all he had to do was look at the beastly hill nearby to see precisely how high up he'd be going.

Kurt squeezed his hand. "You're cute when you're nervous."

Blaine squeezed back. "You're cute always."

----

By the time they got underneath the ceiling of the station, Blaine was beginning to think that he really should have gone to the bathroom before. There were snakes in his stomach, and they were trying to push their way out one end or the other, and he began chewing his lower lip to distract from his bladder.

"Hey, so do you want to sit near the front or the back?" Kurt wanted to know, and Blaine figured it was probably just a question out of politeness, because of course Blaine wanted to be nowhere near the front. But the back could be kind of shaky, couldn't it? He didn't know very much about riding roller coasters, and most of his experiences had been on stupid rickety old wooden coasters because they were supposed to be somehow less scary than steel ones, although he wasn't sure anything was more frightening than feeling like one's brains were about to vibrate out one's ears at 65 miles per hour.

They ended up going for one of the middle cars, falling into line behind what Blaine could only guess were two twelve-year-old boys who were practically shaking with excitement. "I heard someone died on this ride!" one boy shouted at the other.

"No, you did not," Kurt cut into their conversation quickly, reaching for Blaine's hand and inhaling sharply at the ferocity of Blaine's returning squeeze. Leaning close to Blaine's ear so he wouldn't have to yell, Kurt asked softly, "How're you feeling?"

Blaine grimaced. "Pukey."

"Mm, you don't look green to me, sweetie."

Sweetie. That helped. Blaine liked that. He took in a shaky breath and looked into Kurt's eyes when he realized that his boyfriend was watching him. He laughed nervously. "I can't believe you convinced me to do this."

A smile brighter than the damn mid-July sunshine broke out across Kurt's face, and Blaine figured that maybe this was reward enough for reaching into what little reserves of courage he had within him to do this thing. Kurt assured him happily, "It'll be worth it. I promise."

An empty train rolled into the station, ready to claim its next victims. As the mechanical gates opened and all the next pairs in line crawled into the cars, Blaine looked around the twelve-year-olds and felt his stomach collapse when he saw what exactly he would be entrusting his life to: a seat belt and a small yellow bar, one that would cover his crotch and little else.

"Oh my god, Kurt, there are no thingees."

"What?"

Making an apprehensive sound in the front of his throat, Blaine mimed pulling an overhead restraint down over his chest. "No thingees. I'm gonna fall out and die."

"Yeah, probably not," Kurt countered dryly.

"I didn't know there weren't -- oh my god. No. I-I can't do this."

Kurt took both of his hands now, holding them tightly in the space between them while people around them talked and laughed to create a din that nauseated Blaine. Kurt said, "Blaine, roller coasters are supposed to be designed so that you're able to stay in the car even without restraints, based on physics alone."

Three, two, one, the operator counted down, and the train started smoothly and swiftly from the get-go, moving up, up, up as soon as it entered the oranging sunlight.

Blaine shook his head. "That can't possibly be true."

Kurt insisted, "You are safe." He moved his mouth closer to Blaine's ear, lips dropping against the very tip of his jawbone. "I would never put you in a situation where you're not."

Kurt's warm breath felt oddly good against his summer-flushed skin, and he closed his eyes as Kurt's lips ghosted a gently curving path across his face to the valley before the bridge of his nose, pressing a kiss there.

"I love you," Kurt said matter-of-factly as he pulled away, grinning.

Blaine laughed despite himself. "I love you, too."

The rest of their wait seemed to take no time at all. Soon the two boys in front of them were eagerly piling onto the ride, and then there was nothing separating Blaine from the track except for a wobbly gate and a small stretch of concrete platform.

"We're gonna get the green train, by the way," Kurt said against his ear. "You were right."

Seeing the green train roll into the station felt like such a hollow victory, one that carved a hole right in Blaine's gut. He really, really had to pee now and wished he'd gone when Kurt had given him the opportunity, because then it wouldn't be their turn, then they would be a few pairs back in line, maybe standing behind that couple with the mirrored crescent moon tattoos. But the gate was swinging open and whether Blaine was ready or not, it was time.

Getting into the car was easy. He went first, stepping over the first seat to get across to his, then settled in and instantly reached for the buckle. Trapping himself in the metal death machine was a little bit more difficult, mentally.

"Find the seat belt all right?" Kurt asked as he pulled the seemingly useless bar down over his lap, taking a moment to adjust it until it locked where he wanted.

"Yeah, I got it."

"See? Don't you feel nice and snug already? You're not -- whoa, are you trying to cut off the blood flow to your legs?"

Blaine grunted as he stretched the tightened seat belt across his lap and struggled with jittery hands to force it into the buckle. "You may trust the power of physics, but I would still like the comfort of knowing that not even the devil could pry me out of this seat, okay?"

"The devil? Why the devil?"

"He's evil. Like this ride." Blaine looked around with desperation as he click, click, clicked the bar into place, knowing that if nothing else, at least his junk would be protected. "Are the ride attendants coming around to check us? Why aren't they--"

"Honey, breathe," Kurt instructed, sliding a hand over Blaine's knee. Just as Blaine turned to look at him gratefully, an attendant came by in a flash of blue and tugged on Blaine's seat belt and lap bar before hurrying down the rest of the train.

"What was--? No way she knows I'm safe from that!" Blaine protested, craning around to watch the attendant perform the same useless pull on the restraints of those behind him. "If I die, I'm suing her."

Kurt laughed. "No one's dying."

"Welcome aboard the Millennium Force! Today this steel coaster is going to take you up 310 feet only to drop you back down 300 feet to reach a maximum speed of 93 miles per hour!"

As everyone around him cheered, Blaine swore.

"Please remember to keep hands, feet, arms, legs, heads, and bellybuttons inside the ride at all times, and remain seated!"

"Why the hell would I try to stand?" Blaine muttered.

"Ladies and gentleman, have a great ride, and enjoy the rest of your day here at Cedar Point, America's rockin' roller coast."

The operator counted down their departure as stupidly quickly as he'd said everything else, and Blaine pitched forward to grip onto a thin metal handlebar towards the front of the car. He looked at Kurt who was beaming back excitedly as they began to move, then watched as sunlight washed over the people in the cars in front of them before they entered it themselves, tipping up steeply to head up the hill that -- holy shit -- suddenly looked a lot higher from this angle.

Blaine gasped, "Oh my god, why is this so fast?"

They were being pulled up the track more quickly than Blaine had ever felt a roller coaster move. There was no awkward clicking that indicated he was being forced to trust some rusty old chain -- the train just moved swiftly and smoothly while the only thing shaking the car was Kurt's bouncing knee.

"Seriously, this is too fast, holy shit, Kurt..."

"I know, that's what amazing about this ride," Kurt returned, either missing the point or ignoring it, turning bright eyes on Blaine momentarily before looking beyond him to the lake right beside them, completely exposed to its wind.

Usually roller coasters made Blaine feel too confined, like he was one of those insane people stuffing himself inside a barrel to blindly plunge down Niagara Falls into frothing waters. But this was something completely different. The lack of restraints and Lake Erie stretching out to his left, flat and seemingly endless, gave him the sense of standing on the very tip of the globe. One small movement and he would upset his precarious balance, teetering one way or all ways, dropping off of Earth and out of orbit. He was so small and there was too much space around him.

But there was a hand moving across his back like it was dropping an anchor between his shoulder blades, and there was a voice in his ear, breathless with wonder as it asked, "Are you looking at the lake? This view is amazing."

There was Kurt.

They were moving much too quickly up the monstrous hill, and every time Blaine thought they must be at the top now, he realized that there was still more blue track ahead of them, pulling them up and up and up.

"Okay, we're high enough," Blaine declared, voice pinched with panic as he looked out at the lake and then at Kurt, because Kurt was close and kept him from falling much better than the useless lap bar ever could, and, "Oh my god, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die--"

"Not on my watch," Kurt swore as the first car in the train crested the top of the hill.

Every last nerve in Blaine's body was vibrating, and he concentrated on trying hard not to swallow, because what if he swallowed when they started going down the hill and choked on his own spit? Warm arms locked tightly around his shoulders and tried to pull him back so that the sky couldn't take him. He scrambled, white-knuckled hands shooting from the handlebar to clamp over pliant skin, his face ducking to hide in the safety of Kurt's neck, eyes squeezed shut. They were atop Mt. Everest now, entire nations spread out below them, and then, suddenly, they weren't.

Gravity tugged with all the strength of the planet, and they were thundering downwards like wind, bodies trying to fly out of the seats. It was like falling down and falling up at the same time. Blaine was screaming, trying desperately not to die as he plummeted down, down, down, and then they were rocketing to the right in a long curve, his body knocking into Kurt's as they were battered around. Kurt was laughing even over the roar of the tracks, and Blaine opened his eyes.

Everything was washed in orange light as they completed almost a full loop before hooking in the opposite direction, plunging into the darkness of a tunnel a moment later. Kurt's arms were still locked around his neck when they emerged back into the low sunlight, and Blaine was just beginning to think that maybe he was actually enjoying himself when they began shooting toward the sky again, and Kurt was yelling mirthfully.

The landscape was a streaky blur as the coaster shot groundwards again, leaving Blaine's stomach at the peak of the second hill. The little train fought against the bellowing wind and Blaine yelled nonsense ("Shit! Shit! Oh my god! Shit!") as his eyes traced the blue path ahead of them, plotting its curves and clenching his gut in preparation before their car even began turning and tipping them right, left, then right again before straightening out and popping up a small hill which still made his insides fizz and tingle.

Through a second tunnel, and then they were racing along a straight path riddled with twists and tiny hills that felt like jumps. Approaching the last long turn that would swing them around 180 degrees and send them speeding back toward the station, Blaine let out a holler that was more thrill than fear, and Kurt unhooked his arms from around Blaine's neck to throw them in the air, laughing.

Blaine pitched forward to grip the handlebar and closed his eyes against the wind, feeling it skim past his face and body like he was no obstacle at all, until everything slowed down and the ride rolled to a stop with the smallest backwards jerk.

Everything from his head to his feet buzzed with ghost vibrations while the rest of the passengers laughed and whooped and talked around him. They were hanging in post-ride limbo, waiting to be tugged into the exit station. After all the rushing air, everything outside his body felt intensely, impossibly still.

"Well?" Kurt asked breathlessly.

"Oh my god."

"Yeah?"

"Oh my god."

Kurt giggled and took Blaine's face in his hands, bringing them nose-to-nose. "That was so brave," he said thickly through his teeth. "I'm so proud of you."

Blaine chuckled and felt his cheeks burn. "Are you going to kiss me?"

"Mmhmm, yeah." And the train started moving just as Kurt covered Blaine's mouth with his own to kiss him slow and hard, thumbs brushing over his cheeks. He made a pleased little noise as he pulled back and Blaine sighed in relief.

"Well, that's done," he said, tipping his neck back and stretching his arms out wide just as they reached a stop. "Scariest two minutes of my life, check." Everyone around them was cheering out their satisfaction with the Millennium Force, and Blaine and Kurt smiled at one another before their lap bars clicked free.

"Get me out of this death trap!" Blaine enthused, fumbling with his seat belt and pushing himself to his feet before accepting Kurt's helping hand out of the car. He stumbled a little on their way to the exit gate and Kurt laughed, steadying him before linking their fingers again.

"Whoa there, drunken sailor," Kurt giggled, and Blaine looked at his wind-disheveled, red-cheeked boyfriend like he'd never met another person as amazing as him.

As they shuffled down the stairs with the rest of their fellow passengers, Blaine thought that he had never been more in love than in this moment -- with Kurt, with the world, and with himself.

"So would you do it again?" Kurt prodded, eyebrows quirked. "Have you been cured of your fear of roller coasters?"

"Um, not sure."

"We could test it out on the Raptor..."

"Ah, no." Blaine shook his head as they passed through the last gate and back into the hustle and bustle of the park. "Don't push your luck, Hummel."

Kurt tugged on his hand. "C'mon then. I want to go win you a stuffed animal."

----

An hour after sunset found Kurt and Blaine sitting on top of two large beach towels spread across the hood of Blaine's car. Blaine licked around his cone of strawberry ice cream, trying to keep it from melting onto his fingers. Beside him, his boyfriend went at his lemon sorbet with a spoon, fighting off a grin.

"Something funny?" Blaine asked defensively, swiping a tongue over his ice cream-dribbled lips.

Kurt pulled his mouth together tightly and shook his head. "No. Nothing. Just, you know...thinking."

Blaine reached back and grabbed hold of the stuffed firefighting Dalmatian from where it had been leaning against the windshield. He pinned it close to his side with one arm and took a bite out of his ice cream that made his teeth burn. "Thinking about what?" he pressed gently.

Around them, yellow and white headlights traveled in slow lines to exit the thinning parking lot. Their section was mostly empty by now, only a few dark cars and squalling seagulls sharing their space. Kurt looked toward the colorful flashing lights blinking around otherwise darkened silhouettes of rides, his lips upturned. Then he looked to Blaine as though he were a more impressive sight, and scootched over to lean against his arm and the stuffed dog.

"Just how you're the most...wonderful person I've ever known," Kurt finally responded, and Blaine's belly did flip-flops.

They kissed for a bit, long exploratory kisses that tasted like sugar and strawberry, until a large glob of ice cream dripped onto Blaine's leg and he scrambled for a way to clean it up.

"Messy," Kurt chuckled as he used his napkin to wipe up the melted ice cream. He eyed Blaine's cone. "Need some help with that?" He licked his lips and added, "It tastes pretty good."

Blaine snorted and eyed his boyfriend sideways. "That's gross."

Kurt kissed him and ran his tongue over Blaine's bottom lip. "Yeah, a little," he agreed when he pulled back.

A family of four came talking and laughing up to the minivan a few spaces away, so they lapsed into lightly chatting and eating their treats again, listening to the faraway sounds of rumbling roller coasters and screaming riders. Blaine could feel his tired thigh muscles jumping and knew they still had a long drive ahead of them. Kurt would pick the music and Blaine would sing along. Maybe Kurt would nod off, face pressed into the seat belt, but maybe he wouldn't. The highways would be dark and mostly empty, just how Blaine liked it.

He squeezed his stuffed animal. "We should do this every summer," he sighed.

Kurt smiled. "Yeah? Gonna try to break the world record for carousel rides?"

"Hmm, maybe. It's my new goal to get on every horse."

"Then I guess that's my goal, too."

Blaine's jaw went slack and he just looked at Kurt, heart pitter-pattering in a way he hoped translated in his eyes. He reached up to brush his fingers over Kurt's jawline fondly. "Love you, Kurt," he whispered. "More than anything."

Kurt lowered his eyes and leaned into Blaine's touch. "Love you, too," he said.

Blaine asked suddenly, "What about the unfashionable horses? There were a lot of those. Gaudy plastic gems and awful color combinations. Did you see that green and orange one?"

Kurt snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yes, Blaine. Even the unfashionable ones."