Blaine’s fingertips are just rough enough to make Kurt shiver when he trails them up, around, down Kurt’s ribcage. Just rough enough to soothe him. Kurt doesn’t know how Blaine could get those fingers to do what they did, to make him feel the way they did. But he’s certainly glad Blaine’s figured it out. They’re lying wrapped up in each other on a big blanket in Blaine’s backyard, Kurt snuggled close to Blaine’s chest and gently rising and falling with each deep breath Blaine took. Kurt angles his head so he can look up at Blaine’s face, closed-eyed and slightly smiling as he continues tracing Kurt’s ribs. Kurt plucks a dandelion from the grass and blows the dainty fluff into Blaine’s face. Blaine sputters and lets out a laugh.

“Hey hey hey! Hold on….I think she told me- yeah…you know, Italians call dandelions pisacan, which means “dog pisses”? Because dandelions are so often found on the side of pavements. So thanks for blowing dog piss in my face, Kurt. Boyfriend of the year.” Blaine chides.

Kurt is trying his best to keep his elegant giggle from turning into an unattractive cackle, but it’s proving difficult.

“Alright. Number 1: I don’t think I even want to know how you know crude Italian slang for common flowers. Number 2: You don’t have a dog. Number 3: I just picked it from the grass. No pavement. No dog piss. Satisfied?” Kurt laughs, rolling his eyes at his strangely knowledgeable boyfriend.

“Not quite.” Blaine leans over to Kurt’s lips, stained red from the cherry snow cones they had earlier that day (Kurt had protested, claiming they were far too similar to slushies, but Blaine had broken him, as he tended to do). Blaine smiles against the kiss, triggering a matching one from Kurt. And then they’re both laughing, and Blaine wraps his arms around Kurt and leads him to lie back on his chest. Then there’s a knock on Blaine’s backyard gate, and a little boy of maybe eight bursts into the yard.

“Wh-what?” Kurt mutters, his eyes squinting at the sunlight.

“That’s my neighbor, Charlie. And I do not know why he’s here…” murmurs Blaine, his voice getting quieter as Charlie grows closer.

“Hi, Blaine.” Charlie spits out nervously.

“Hey buddy! What’s going on?” Blaine’s sitting cross-legged now, Kurt’s shoulder resting against his own.

“I just…I just wanted to talk to you. “ Charlie bites his lip, looking like he’s holding back tears. The kid has white-blond curls and a pale, rosy-flushed complexion. His eyes are almost startlingly green and quickly welling up.

“About what? C’mere, little man!” Blaine opens his arms, his face concerned and a little scared. Charlie collapses into his lap, burying his face into Blaine’s shoulder. The little boy still says nothing, just breathes heavily, frantically.

“Talk to me, bud.” Blaine knits his eyebrows worriedly. Charlie pulls up from Blaine’s shoulder, now wetly specked with tears.

“’Kay…” Charlie catches his breath. “Blaine…you like boys, right?”

Blaine gives a softly sad smile and catches Kurt’s eye.

“Yes, I like them very much.”

“Is this the boy you like?” Charlie asks. Blaine nods.

“Hi Charlie. I’m Kurt.” Kurt holds out his hand; Charlie gives a limp shake and a little smile.

“So what’s going on?” Blaine says quietly, his face knotted with concern. Charlie hesitates for a moment, wringing his little hands together.

“It’s just…I like boys too.” says Charlie, a tear escaping his eye.

“Why’s that makin’ you cry?” Blaine takes Charlie’s tiny hands in his big ones and looks at him with wistful eyes. Kurt’s quickly feeling his heart break. Blaine’s the only openly gay boy Kurt has ever met- it’s hard (and uncommon) to come out in Ohio, and Kurt knew what it was like to be a young kid feeling all these feelings. Kurt has no doubt that Charlie’s sure. Kurt had been sure since he was three.

“Everyone teases me. Everyone. They call me bad names and some of my friends have stopped talking to me. And my mommy…she says stuff about you, Blaine.”

“Wh-wait, what? No, never mind. So…you think your mommy doesn’t like boys who like other boys?” Blaine is still holding Charlie’s hands, and Kurt’s watching tears spill onto Charlie’s dirty red t-shirt. Charlie shakily nods. If Charlie’s mom was the woman who lived in the stone McMansion to the right of Blaine’s house, Kurt wasn’t surprised. Many a time he had caught her throwing a nasty look at the two of them when Kurt dropped Blaine off from a date and shared a good-night kiss.

“You know, your mommy’s still gonna love you, Charlie. No matter what you are.” Blaine squeezes Charlie’s hand, gives the same reassuring smile he had given to Kurt on the first day they met.

“She’s not gonna be mad?”

“I mean, she might not be the easiest at first, but of course she’ll love you either way. My parents were pretty tough, but it didn’t stop them from loving me.” Blaine replies.

“What about you?” Charlie asks, turning to Kurt.

“My dad’s the greatest. Blaine’s right- you’re still going to be their son, they’re still going to be just as crazy about you, even if it takes them awhile to warm up to the idea.” Kurt says, feeling like crying.

“So should I tell them? My mommy and daddy?” Charlie scoots up in between Kurt and Blaine, rapidly glancing at the two of them. Blaine looks at Kurt as if to say “You wanna take this one?”

“That’s up to you. I didn’t tell my dad until I was sixteen, but it would have been a he-…ck of a lot easier for me if I had done it earlier.”

Charlie looks conflicted, gnawing on his fingernails and wrinkling his eyebrows together, and Kurt doesn’t blame the kid.

“What’s it been like for you two….liking boys?” Charlie questions. Kurt has no idea what to say, and Blaine looks equally at a loss for words. What were they supposed to say? Kurt wasn’t about to tell a six year old boy that he received diatribes and death threats just for being who he was, but he didn’t want to lead him on, thinking that everyone’s going to shower him with clouds of glitter and smiles whenever he walked down the hallway in a kilt and lace-up combat boots.

“People…” Kurt takes a deep breath, hoping this doesn’t come out too badly. “Some people can be mean.” Charlie nods at this, evidently not coming as news.

“But when you find someone, someone who’s worth it, it doesn’t even matter. And in the meantime, just stay strong. Stand up to them. Because you’re so much braver than they will ever, ever be.” Kurt’s voice is getting softer and softer, and he blinks back a few tears. Charlie crawls underneath Kurt’s arm, and Kurt pulls him in closer. He so rarely interacted with children- his cousins are all older, he’s an only child, and was never much of a camp counselor- that the feel of such a small body in between his arms was a little unusual. But he likes feeling Charlie’s body relax, whether it was from his words or his hug or maybe a bit of both.

Blaine begins rubbing Charlie’s back and says quietly, “You’re so brave, Charlie. You’re brave and you’re not alone.” Charlie slowly looks up from Kurt’s shoulder, actually smiling now.

“You alright?” Kurt says, patting the boy’s shoulder. Charlie rapidly nods.

“When will I find someone?” Charlie asks, his voice high-pitched and faint. Blaine and Kurt smile at the question.

“Not sure I can tell you that, man.”Blaine says to the boy. “But they’ll come. And then they’ll…they’ll be your whole life and everything that makes you happy.” Blaine, gnawing on his bottom lip, stares absently at his own fingertips weaving together. “And it’s just…they’re worth every single thing you’ve ever gone through. They make every name that anyone’s ever called you just…not even matter.”

Kurt’s crying. He didn’t mean to, really, but it’s all too much- this little boy that Kurt sees his little self so much in, this not-so-little boy who’s just…saying all these things, things that Kurt never thought anyone could ever feel for him, and Kurt loves him. He’s in love with him. Blaine grabs Kurt’s hands in his own, dragging his thumb lightly over the thin web of skin between his index finger and thumb. Through eyes fogged with tears, Kurt sees Charlie, looking completely awestruck.

“Thanks, you two.” Charlie’s smiling big now. Blaine lets go of Kurt’s hands and gives him a hug, then Charlie goes to Kurt for one too. Kurt hugs him in close, trying to put some unsaid things in the pat on his back. Charlie gives a content sigh and runs back towards his house. Blaine sits back down and Kurt lays his head in his lap.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” Kurt says, clutching Blaine’s hand to his chest. Blaine says nothing at first, just smiles- knowingly, amorously.

“I love you.” Blaine whispers. He leans down to Kurt, pressing a kiss to his forehead, breathing him in.

“And I love you.” replies Kurt, touching a fingertip to Blaine’s nose as Blaine hovers over him. And Kurt kisses him, and Blaine’s everything that makes him happy, too.