Kurt Hummel was seven years old, and the library was one of his favorite places on the whole planet. He went there with his mommy and his daddy a lot, and never failed to find new books which interested him. A lot of the time the books he wanted were too long, or had too many big words, so he decided to wait a few years before he tried to read them.

Today after school his mommy and daddy picked him up and told him they were going to the library. He jumped up and down squealing excitedly before running out to the car, his mother and father following right behind him.

They got to the library, and Kurt noticed that it wasn't the one they usually went to.

"This isn't our library." He observed.

"Nope. But this one's on the way home from your school, buddy." Burt informed him.

Kurt nodded his little head, unbuckling his seat belt, and waiting for his parents to get out of the car as well. He took one of their hands in each of his, and swung them happily as they walked into the library.

This library was a lot smaller than the one he was used to, but it was still full of books, and that's all that really mattered to Kurt. He walked around with his mommy and daddy for a while, but they were looking at boring older-people books, and he wanted to see if he could go find some Goosebumps that he hadn't read yet.

"Can I go over there?" Kurt asked, pointing in the direction of the children's area.

"Of course, sweetie." His mom nodded. "But don't leave that area without telling us first, okay?"

"Okay, mom." Kurt said, skipping off to look at some books.

He was crouched down on the ground, looking through book titles, but not finding any that interested him. He sighed. It was never hard finding good books at his library. He walked through the shelves, looking for any book that might catch his eye, when he saw a little boy about his age sitting in a chair. He had curly hair, and the prettiest eyes Kurt had ever seen. He was reading a big book, and Kurt was impressed. Most kids his age hated reading. He decided now was as good a time as any to make a new friend.

Being seven years old, Kurt didn't have much of a sense of personal space. The chair the other little boy was sitting in was large, and he was certain there was enough room for him to squeeze in beside him.

And that's exactly what he did.

He climbed up on the big chair, squishing himself in next to the other little boy who sighed. Kurt tried to get his attention. He cleared his throat, but the boy didn't budge.

"Hi." He said, after a few moments of sitting there in silence.

"Hi." The other little boy replied.

"What are you reading?" Kurt inquired.

"The Hobbit." The curly haired boy told him.

"That's a big kids book, though."

The curly haired boy shrugged, "I guess."

"You must be pretty smart." Kurt thought he saw the other boy smile. "How old are you?"

"Six. Almost seven."

"Wow. I'm a whole seven years old, and I can't read that." Kurt was thoroughly impressed at this point. He definitely wanted to be friends with this boy. Although, from the fact that he hadn't looked up from his book once their whole conversation, Kurt wasn't sure the other boy wanted to be friends with him. He decided to try one last tactic before giving up.

"I'm Kurt." He said with a bright smile.

"Blaine." The other boy sighed, closing his book, and looking up at Kurt.

"That's a real nice name. I like it."

"Thanks." Blaine smiled, and Kurt decided he really liked it when Blaine smiled.

"Wanna be my friend, Blaine?"

"Sure." Blaine said, but Kurt thought that maybe he didn't sound so sure.

"Could you...Could you read me some of that?" Kurt asked hesitantly. "I mostly read Goosebumps and stuff, 'cause I don't think I'm quite smart enough for stuff like what you're reading."

"Um...Mhhm." Blaine nodded, and then he began to read. "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. It had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle."

Kurt listened in awe. He liked when Blaine read. He didn't sound six. Not at all. He sounded at least eight. And Kurt liked that. He liked a lot about Blaine, he thought, for how short a time he'd known him.

"The door opened on to a tube-shaped hall like a tunnel: a very comfortable tunnel without smoke, with panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs, and lots and lots of pegs for hats and coats-- the hobbit was fond of visitors. The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill-- The hill, as all the people for many miles round called it-- and many little round doors opened out of it, first on one side and then on another. No going upstairs for the hobbit: bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars, pantries (lots of these), wardrobes (he had whole rooms devoted to clothes), kitchens, dining-rooms, all were on the same floor, and indeed on the same passage. The best rooms were all on the left-hand side (going in), for these were the only ones to have windows, deep-set round windows looking over his garden, and meadows beyond, sloping down to the river." Blaine continued.

"Hey, Blaine?" Kurt interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"I like it when you read. You sound real smart."

"Thanks." Blaine said, turning away from Kurt a little, and Kurt was pretty sure his cheeks were turning pink. Kurt liked that, too. When Blaine's cheeks turned pink.

Just then, his mommy and daddy walked over.

"Hey, buddy. Makin' a new friend?" Burt asked.

"Mhhm." Kurt nodded. He then whispered to Blaine, "Wanna come over to my house? I can ask my mom and dad. You could read to me some more, or...Or somethin'."

Blaine nodded his head shyly.

"Hey, can Blaine come over? He's my new friend and he's real smart and I like him a lot." Kurt looked over at his new friend, and his cheeks were turning pink again.

"Sure, honey." Elizabeth said to her son, kneeling down in front of him where he was sitting on the chair next to Blaine. "Just let me and your father talk to his parents."

"Where's your mom and dad?" Kurt asked him. Blaine pointed to the DVD section, where Kurt saw a pretty lady with wavy dark brown hair, and a man with black hair in a fancy business suit.

"We'll be right back, kiddos." Burt told them, and then he and Elizabeth went to speak with Blaine's parents.

"How come you read such big books anyway?" Kurt asked.

"I dunno." Blaine shrugged. "I like 'em."

"But how do you understand them? I get stumped on the big words, and how tiny they are on the pages makes my head hurt."

Blaine just shrugged again.

"You don't talk much, do ya?" Kurt asked, scooting a little closer to Blaine on the chair and nudging Blaine's shoulder with his own.

"Guess not." Blaine scratched his arm awkwardly.

"Hey, come on. You gotta have something to say."

"I'm just...shy." Blaine said.

"Well, I like how your cheeks are turning all pink." Kurt said. And he felt like maybe that was a funny thing to say, but he wanted to say it, and so he did.

"Oh." Blaine said, his cheeks turning even more pink.

"It's kinda cute." Kurt said, and he thought that maybe now his cheeks were turning a little pink as well.

"Um...Th-thanks."

"I think you're gonna be my new best friend, Blaine."

"I've never had a best friend before." Blaine told him.

"Nuh-uh. You gotta have one. You're practically the smartest guy on the planet."

Blaine shook his head, "Everybody says I'm weird, 'cause I like to read and stuff. But I don't think I'm weird."

"I don't think you're weird either." Kurt said affirmatively.

Just then, Burt and Elizabeth came back over.

"Alright, kids. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson said it's alright if Blaine comes home with us for a while. We got your phone number and address from your parents, and we gave them ours, so you can go home whenever you want to, okay, Blaine?" Elizabeth asked.

Blaine nodded, and hopped up off the chair.

In the car on the way back to Kurt's Blaine squirmed a little in his seat. He'd never had anyone ask him to come over before, and he was excited and nervous all at the same time.

They pulled into Kurt's driveway, and they all got out of the car. They went inside, and Kurt took Blaine's hand in his, dragging him upstairs.

"I want you to see my room." Kurt said excitedly.

Blaine nodded.

Kurt opened the door to his room, and Blaine looked inside in awe. Most boys their age had Power Rangers and trucks and stuff from outer space all around their rooms. But Kurt...Kurt had princesses. And a tea set. Sure, he had some stuff boys their age played with, too. But Blaine didn't know any other boys besides him who had any dolls.

"You like dolls and girly stuff?" Blaine asked.

"Mhhm." Kurt nodded. "Do you...Do you still wanna be my friend?"

"Huh?" Blaine asked, confused.

"Some people, just...When they find out I like to have tea parties and stuff they don't wanna be my friend any more. Most'a my friends are girls."

"Oh." Blaine frowned a little. "I...I love tea parties. Wanna have one with me?"

"Yeah!" Kurt said excitedly. "Let me go ask my mommy to make us some real tea! I bet she will since you're a new friend. It counts as a special occasion."

"Okay." Blaine smiled.

"Be right back."

Kurt ran from the room, and Blaine set his copy of The Hobbit down on Kurt's dresser. He looked around awkwardly before sitting on the bed. He liked how you couldn't tell just by Kurt's toys whether a boy or a girl lived in the room. He thought that was neat.

Kurt came back into the room, sitting on the bed next to Blaine.

"I think your room's real neat." Blaine told him.

"Yeah?"

"Mhhm."

"Wanna dress up for the tea party?"

"Sure!" Blaine was getting excited now. The only person he ever had to play tea party with was his own mommy.

"Wanna be the boy or the girl?"

"Can we...Can we both be the boy?"

"I don't think so." Kurt mused. "Don't you ever watch any movies? There's always a boy and a girl doin' everything."

Blaine shook his head, "I don't think it's always gotta be like that. I think sometimes, maybe a boy and a boy just wanna be together, ya know? Like, like they wanna have tea together, just like a boy and a girl, and that's okay, too. Make sense?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I like that idea." Kurt said. "You're real, real smart."

Blaine knew his cheeks were turning pink again, just like Kurt had mentioned earlier at the library.

"Wanna wear this really cool blue suit that I got for my birthday last year? I bet it'll fit you." Kurt suggested.

"Yeah. Mhhm."

"It comes with a bowtie, so you gotta wear that with it."

"Okay. I don't mind." Blaine said. But he didn't know how to tie a bowtie. He hoped Kurt would. "Can you help me tie it?"

"Yep!" Kurt said, tossing Blaine the suit out of his chest full of costumes.

Blaine put on the suit, buttoning up the shirt, and seeing that it was a little too big. He was embarrassed. He was always so tiny.

"Um...It's kinda too big." Blaine said.

Kurt had just finished putting on his own suit. It was patchwork, and Blaine's eyes were transfixed on it.

"Your suit's real nice. It's colorful." Blaine told him.

"Oh, thanks. My mommy made it out of some of my old blankets from when I was a baby, and a couple of her old dresses. It's kinda real special." Kurt nodded affirmatively. "And don't worry about your suit bein' too big. You look super nice." Kurt smiled a huge smile. "Let me tie your bowtie."

Blaine handed him the bowtie, and Kurt tied it up for him. Blaine looked down at it, and it looked kinda wonky. He was pretty sure Kurt hadn't done it right, but he wasn't gonna say anything.

Kurt set the little table up with all his little dishes for tea, and then his mom brought up the tea, as well as some cookies.

"Thanks." Blaine and Kurt said in unison.

"No problem, boys. Let me know if you need anything." Elizabeth smiled. "You both look very handsome." She added, before leaving the room.

"Your mommy's nice." Blaine commented, as Kurt poured their tea.

"Thanks. I like her a lot, too."

Blaine waited for his tea to cool down before taking a sip.

"This is yummy." Blaine said.

Kurt nodded enthusiastically.

They finished their tea in silence.

"Hey, Kurt?"

"Yeah?" Kurt asked, taking a bite of a cookie.

"Could you read to me? Since I read to you earlier. Could you read your favorite Goosebumps book, maybe? I haven't read many of them."

"Sure." Kurt nodded.

He went over to his book shelf and dug around.

"Sit on the bed." Kurt told him, as he sat down on the bed himself.

Blaine climbed up next to Kurt, resting his head against Kurt's headboard.

"This one's called Night of the Living Dummy." Kurt told him, before he began to read.

He tripped over a few words at the beginning, and Blaine thought that maybe he sounded a little nervous. But once he got the hang of it, he was the best reader Blaine had ever heard. He closed his eyes and listened.

Just as Kurt was finishing chapter one, Elizabeth came upstairs to tell them that Blaine's mother was there to pick him up.

"Awww." Kurt whined. "Does he hafta go?"

"Yes, dear." Elizabeth said. "He can't keep his mom waiting forever, can he?"

"Guess not." Kurt sighed. "Wanna come back tomorrow? We can read to each other some more."

Blaine smiled so big his cheeks hurt, "Yeah. Yeah, if our parents both say it's okay." Blaine looked up at Kurt's mom expectantly.

"It's alright with me if it's okay with your mommy."

"Yay!" Blaine clapped his little hands a few times. "Bye, Kurt!" He picked up his book and skipped out of the room. He'd wanted to give Kurt a hug, but he didn't know if that was allowed.

Blaine spent every day at Kurt's house that week. They finished both The Hobbit, and Night of the Living Dummy. Blaine read a lot faster than Kurt, so they finished at about the same time.

Kurt was secretly a little jealous of Blaine's ability to read, but Blaine was his best friend, and you weren't really allowed to be jealous of your best friend. Not too much, anyway.

On Saturday, Kurt decided he wanted Blaine to spend the night. They had been best friends for eight whole days, and that definitely warranted a sleep over. Kurt was sure of it.

They were in his living room watching SpongeBob, when he decided to ask if Blaine wanted to.

"Wanna stay over tonight?" He asked.

"I've never stayed away from my mom for a whole night." Blaine shrugged. "I might miss her."

"Please? You're my best best best friend, and I want you to stay the night. We'll have so much fun, you won't even have time to miss your mommy."

"Well....Okay." Blaine conceded.

"Daddy?!" Kurt called, and Burt came out from the kitchen where he had been attempting to help Elizabeth fix dinner.

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Can Blaine spend the night?"

"Sure. Lemme just call his parents."

Kurt and Blaine went back to watching their show, and a few minutes later, Burt came back out, letting them know that Blaine's parents would be dropping off the things he'd need for spending the night.

When their episode of SpongeBob ended, the doorbell rang. Burt answered it, and Blaine's mommy came in.

"Blaine, honey, I brought you some pajamas, a toothbrush, and your favorite pillow." Blaine's mom said with a smile.

"Thanks, mom!" Blaine rushed over to her, giving her a hug.

Kurt heard him whisper "I'm gonna miss you." before she gave him a kiss on the top of the head, told him to have fun and left.

"I think I'm gonna miss my mom." Blaine said, sitting next to Kurt on the couch again.

"It's okay. My mommy and daddy are here." Kurt said. "And me. I'm here."

"Yeah. I guess that's true." Blaine smiled.

After dinner, Burt started up a fire in the fire place for them to all roast marshmallows.

"Mmm. I love marshmallows." Kurt said, after swallowing his first one.

"I've never had 'em before." Blaine admitted.

"No way!" Kurt half shouted. "You gotta try one right now now NOW!"

Blaine giggled. He liked how excited Kurt got sometimes.

"You're silly. I'm cookin' one right now."

"Cook it faaaaaasteerrrrr."

"I can't." Blaine argued.

Kurt reached over and started tickling him, before Burt told them to be more careful around the fire.

"Sorry, dad." Kurt said.

Blaine's marshmallow finished cooking and he blew on it, trying to cool it off. He then stuck the whole thing in his mouth at once. It was sticky, and it stuck to the roof of his mouth a little. But it was definitely the yummiest thing Blaine had ever tasted in his life.

"Whaddya think?" Kurt asked, jumping on top of Blaine.

"It's really yummy." Blaine said after he swallowed his whole marshmallow. "The yummiest."

"Good. But now I'm gonna tickle ya."

Kurt began tickling his rib cage, and Blaine had to stop himself from squirming too much. He didn't want to accidentally kick someone.

"Kurt! Kurt stop!" He laughed. "Stop or I'll tickle you back!" He threatened.

Kurt quickly climbed off of Blaine and ceased tickling him.

"Okay, okay, I stopped."

"Alright, boys. Let's watch a movie, and then it's time for you two to go to bed." Elizabeth said.

"Can we watch Lion King?" Blaine asked. "That one's my favorite."

"I love that one!" Kurt said excitedly.

And so they watched The Lion King.

Kurt and Blaine climbed up onto the couch, and snuggled in between Burt and Elizabeth. Blaine felt safe and happy and comfy and warm. He really liked Kurt and his parents. They were all real nice, and real cuddly.

The movie ended, and Elizabeth followed the boys upstairs to Kurt's room, forcing them to brush their teeth before bed. She then tucked them in, and gave them each a kiss on the top of the head.

"G'night, boys."

"'Night!" Blaine smiled.

"Goodnight, mom!"

Elizabeth turned out the light, and left the room, closing the door behind her.

It was silent for a few minutes, and Blaine tried not to talk, afraid that maybe Kurt was already asleep, but he just couldn't sleep.

"Hey, Kurt?"

"Yeah, Blaine?"

Good. He was awake.

"I think....I think I miss my mom."

Blaine felt Kurt scooting closer. Kurt grabbed his hand, and Blaine felt his cheeks turning pink again.

"I love you." Kurt said, leaning over and kissing Blaine on the cheek.

"What...What was that for?" Blaine asked. And he was pretty sure his cheeks were probably red now. They felt warm.

"Whenever I get scared or sad, my mommy always makes sure I remember that she loves me. And she always always kisses me on the cheek. It's the most important part."

"Oh....Thanks." Blaine said.

"No problem. Do you still miss your mommy?"

"Yeah. But...But not so much, anymore."

"Good." Kurt sighed.

Blaine scooted a little closer to him, holding his hand a little tighter.

"Kurt?" Blaine asked, after a few minutes.

"Hmm?"

He was pretty sure he'd just woken Kurt up.

"I love you, too."

"Good. 'Cause I want you to be my best friend for forever and ever, and maybe even after that."

"I'd like that, too." Blaine said, resting his blushing cheek on Kurt's shoulder, and falling into a beautiful dream-filled sleep.