“Okay, no one said that we'd be climbing through a swamp.”

Blaine looked over his shoulder to see Kurt, straddling a massive muddy puddle, his hands held out to the side for balance and his face contorted into a grimace. The canopy of the trees surrounding them cast shadows on the ground, the setting sun trickling around the leaves, patterning the forest floor. At least the parts that weren't covered with water.

“I'm sorry, dude,” Sam called from up ahead. “It wasn't like this last time. It must be because it rained this week.” He frowned apologetically in Kurt and Blaine's direction. “I promise we're almost there.”

“The beach should be dry. It's just because the trees are blocking the sun here and it can't get to all the water.” Finn swiped aside a branch that obscured the path. “You know. Evaporation,” he added proudly, apparently recalling his basic knowledge of the water cycle. He adjusted the strap of a large duffle bag that he had swung over his shoulder before turning around and continuing along the “trail”.

“C'mon,” Blaine said, offering his hand to help Kurt side-step the pool of water. Kurt took it, but the look of distaste remained on his face as he hopped to the next portion of dry land.

“Thank god I decided to wear old clothes.”

Blaine smiled, and gave Kurt's hand a squeeze before guiding him forward so they could catch up. Puck, Finn, and Sam were already far ahead, tromping fearlessly through the muddy patches of the understory.

“Why, were you considering dressing up?” Blaine's voice lilted with amusement.

Kurt just glared at him, clearly not in a light-hearted mood. Blaine's smile twitched wider.

 “I don't know why I agreed to this. It's not like Puckerman ever has good ideas.”

“Aw, that's not entirely true. I bet you'll have fun once we get there. The meteor shower's supposed to be beautiful. And you agreed to it because you knew I wanted to go. Which I appreciate, by the way.” Blaine tugged their clasped hands to his lips while they walked, pressing a kiss to them.

Kurt's expression softened a little, and he even looked like he was tempted to smile. Then the path curved and they came face-to-face with puddle that must have been two inches deep, spanning the trail so thoroughly that they'd have no choice but to climb directly through it. Blaine glanced guiltily at his boyfriend, who blinked coolly at the scene in front of them.

“I really, really hate camping.”

***

Puck was right about one thing—the beach was completely empty, concealed by the curve of the shore. Which was fortunate, since camping on it was technically prohibited. The forest opened up directly onto a large strip of white sand at the edge of the lake, giving the boys a good quarter mile of privacy where they could set up the tent.

Apparently, Puck had heard of the spot sophomore year when he and some friends were searching for a place to hang out and drink without the risk of getting caught. He'd taken some of the other guys for trips up there the previous summer, to swim and build bonfires when the weather was warm enough.

It was past dusk when Blaine finished helping Finn with the tent. He got up and stretched the stiffness in his muscles that had accumulated from kneeling for almost an hour. Sam and Puck were stoking a diminutive fire a few yards away, bickering over whether or not they needed more kindling.

Blaine looked around to see where Kurt had gone. He spotted him sitting at the edge of the water, silhouetted against the distant shoreline and the purple sky just above it, motionless and facing away. Blaine went over to him.

Kurt was huddled in the sand, cross-legged, the light breeze rippling the fabric of his t-shirt across his broad shoulders. He didn't look up when Blaine approached, just kept peering out at the surface of the lake.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Kurt turned his head towards Blaine, a gentle smile sprouting across his lips. “I usually charge more than that.”

Blaine patted at the pockets of his own shorts, faking a look of faint distress. “I forgot my wallet. Think you could be charitable?”

Kurt gave a tiny laugh, just under his breath, and looked down at the sand. He raked the fingers of one hand through the white grains of it. “It really wasn't anything at all.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“Yeah, well.” Kurt's eyes met his again, and he shrugged. Blaine scanned the blue of them for any underlying significance, wondering whether he should press for more. Kurt seemed to catch on to what he was doing. “Blaine, really. It was nothing.”

Blaine hesitated, but Kurt's expression stayed clear and resolute, so he finally nodded.

“Okay.” He leaned in to brush their lips together, just a grazing impression of a kiss, and Kurt inhaled deeply through his nose. Blaine pulled back, putting mere inches between them. “You should come help with the fire. At this rate, Sam and Puck are never gonna get it going. You can impress them with your surprisingly good wilderness skills.”

“I do build excellent bonfires.”

“Which is sort of weird,” Blaine replied, grinning. “Considering you hate camping so much.”

“Just because I can survive living like a barbarian doesn't mean I want to.” Kurt stood first, reaching out a hand to help Blaine up. He took it and they both got to their feet, heading towards the sounds of Puck's shouting.

“Dammit, Sam, I almost had it!”

***

“I see one!”

“Sam, you don't have to point every single one out. They're everywhere.”

All five of the boys were sprawled on their backs on blankets, staring up at the stars. Every few seconds, there would be another flicker where a meteor shot past, leaving a white streak in its wake. The shooting stars intersected one another, creating a weave that was interspersed with the white dots of galaxies, standing out against the blue-black.

They'd spent an hour as the sky grew darker chatting around the bonfire that Kurt had successfully ignited, roasting the marshmallows and hot dogs they'd packed for dinner. Puck had distributed the beer he'd hidden in a small cooler. Everyone had accepted, (though Blaine hesitated, seeking reassurance in Kurt's eyes before he took the bottle. The last couple times he'd imbibed alcohol had not ended so well, but Kurt seemed to have more confidence in him now).

“They remind me of Rachel,” Finn said a little sadly, gazing at the heavens, and Blaine tilted his head to offer a sympathetic frown. It had only been a week since she'd boarded a train to New York.

“Me too.” Kurt's voice floated up from beside him. Blaine's hand blindly sought out Kurt's in the space between them, and they seamlessly laced fingers. “Those stupid stickers she used to put on everything. God, I miss her.”

“Hey, we didn't come here for sappy reminiscing.” Puck sat up on his elbow and leveled them all with a glare, lifting the bottle he was clutching and taking a long sip.

“We came here to watch stars,” Kurt replied, not bothering to look down. “I'd say that's pretty sappy.”

“Hey, meteor showers are awesome. They're giant balls of fire in the sky.” Puck whacked Kurt on the knee. “I'm talking about you guys blabbing about how they make you think of your girlfriends. It's gross.”

“I actually think of Quinn, not Rachel,” Sam piped up. His head was resting inches from Blaine's ribs, on the opposite side of Kurt. “We used to hang out in the astronomy classroom a lot when we first started dating.”

Blaine glanced down to offer Sam a teasing smirk. “Really? And what is ‘hanging out' code for?”

“The astronomy room.” Kurt gave their intertwined hands a small shake, and Blaine's eyes flicked to his. “How come we never ‘hung out' in the astronomy room?”

Blaine heard Puck heave a sigh. “You guys suck.”

***

Sometime around two, Blaine woke up to Finn's deafening snore. He heard a grunt when Puck must have reached out and kicked him, and then the tent fell into the sound of the heavy breathing of sleep. Except for Blaine, who was suddenly bewildered by the fact that Kurt was no longer tucked into the space between him and the door.

He sat up quickly, gaze darting around to try and find him, but he wasn't inside. Sam rolled over in response to his movements, but no one else seemed to notice. Blaine was panicking a little bit, but then he noticed that Kurt's sleeping bag and pillow were gone as well, and he had an inkling as to where he might be. As silently as he could, Blaine exited the tent, closing it up behind him slowly.

The darkness made it difficult to spot Kurt immediately, but then he saw a distant, shadowy shape, a short walk down the beach. Blaine approached as quietly as he could, shivering a little. It had cooled off and he was wearing nothing but the boxers and shirt he'd brought to sleep in.

“Did it get too crowded in there?”

Kurt lifted his head from the pillow underneath him. He'd been on his back, wrapped in the sleeping bag, watching the sky where a few lingering meteors were shooting past. Blaine couldn't make out much of his eyes except for the shine in them, reflecting the moon the same way the lake was.

“Not really,” Kurt replied. “I just wanted to watch a little bit more. I'm kind of regretting it now. S'Cold.”

“Make room.” Blaine got down on his knees and unzipped Kurt enough that he could slide in with him. He couldn't quite get the zipper back up all the way, but Kurt tilted enough to curl up behind him, giving them space to fit.

“Much better,” Kurt spoke from behind Blaine's shoulder. Breath ghosted across his ear and made him shudder.

“I tend to have that effect.”

Kurt nuzzled into Blaine's neck, and hummed a low agreement. Blaine sat a few seconds in silence before speaking up again.

“You've seemed a little distracted all night,” he began. Kurt responded by nosing further along his back, to the space between his shoulder blades. “I know you said it was nothing, but I was just wondering...”

No response came from behind Blaine, just the tightening of Kurt's arms across his waist, pulling him impossibly closer. He waited for what seemed like a minute and he could feel Kurt's eyelashes grazing his shirt when they moved.

Finally, Blaine twisted himself in the constraints of Kurt's hold and the blanket surrounding them until they were looking right at each other. “Is it about NYADA?”

Ghostly gray light illuminated the indecisive look on Kurt's face. “Sort of. Not really. It's more about the summer.”

Blaine blinked patiently at him, waiting for elaboration.

“I was expecting to spend it soaking up as much of you as I could. Getting ready to say goodbye, at least for a while. After I said I never would.” Kurt's voice was quiet, contemplative and barely above a whisper. “But now I'm spending it saying a whole other set of goodbyes, and I'm still getting used to that.”

“They're not goodbyes. It's just a delay.”

“Well.” Kurt sighed gently, his ribcage expanding and shrinking in Blaine's arms. “It doesn't seem that way at the moment.”

All Blaine could do was nod.

“I just—“ Kurt paused and his voice sounded not only soft, but a little weaker now. “I'm very glad that I have you. I can't imagine—“

This time it was Blaine that cut him off, shoving their lips together in a messy approximation of a kiss, hindered by the obscurity of night. Kurt was quick to tilt his head and right them, lips lining up perfect and familiar while his hand flew to Blaine's neck, fingers tangling in the loosened curls just above.

Blaine knew that, in the very darkest, most selfish part of himself, he was relieved. He was so many conflicting things, really. When Kurt had shown him the rejection letter, he'd flickered between enraged, disbelieving, and unwaveringly sympathetic in a matter of seconds. But there was still that glimmer of relief inside himself that he hated. The one that ensured that Kurt was his for longer— that they wouldn't have to say goodbye so soon and Blaine wouldn't have to scramble to accommodate for distance. He would never tell Kurt, of course, because it was terrible, but that didn't stop it from existing beneath the layers of him. He knew Kurt was probably aware of it, an unsaid acknowledgment of his greediness. Blaine was grateful for the silence.

Kurt's grip tightened and Blaine felt the tiny pressure of his hair being pulled but he kept pressing forward for more and more until they parted, breathless. “You have me. You always will. I promise,” Blaine managed after swallowing down air. It seemed like such a small comfort to be offering.

So Blaine surged forward, mouthing at the skin of Kurt's neck, startlingly fervent. He wasn't entirely sure what had come over him—his cognizance was falling behind his actions, but he knew that he wanted to make Kurt feel him there. Always there.

He flicked out his tongue, tasted the skin beneath Kurt's collar. A few grains of sand that had wandered into the sleeping bag ended up in his mouth, but he ignored it and dove in again, lower, nipping along Kurt's collarbone.

“I love you.” Kurt was gasping, breathless and possibly startled, but far from protesting. He lilted upwards into the touch when Blaine reached to tug the fabric of his shirt aside.

Blaine responded by inching lower, nose grazing over the cotton covering Kurt's sternum. The zipper of the sleeping bag made a metallic sound as it opened wider to accommodate Blaine's venture. He kissed Kurt open-mouthed on his clothed belly, where there was a barely-noticeable softness to him, nestled in the middle of all of his angles. He lifted a hand to ruck up the hem of the shirt, getting at bare skin.

He could feel Kurt growing hard beneath his chin. Blaine nuzzled into it, remembering the way Kurt's mouth had turned down when he was looking up at the sky. Blaine wanted to make him feel anything but sadness, or at the very least wanting to occupy it with him.

“Blaine.”

 Kurt's voice was choked, and all Blaine could see was the line of his jaw, his head tilted back on the sand.

 “They'll hear us.” Kurt sat up, eyes blown wide and wanting, in conflict with his words

“They're fast asleep,” Blaine whispered back. He rested his cheek on Kurt's hip, gazing at him. Kurt's hair was no longer smoothly styled, but sticking up in odd directions, and it struck Blaine how much he did love him. Especially like this, unkempt and so visible to Blaine even in darkness, like he could see everything that existed beneath all the guises Kurt built to hide behind.

“You're perfect,” he added, without much thought, as if it was a simple observation, like he was pointing out the weather.

“You're trying to seduce me.” Kurt raised an eyebrow, his lips curving upwards. His voice had dropped even lower, and Blaine could hear the sound of the lake over it.

“Is it working?” He rested a palm flat on Kurt's thigh, just beneath the edge of his boxer briefs. Blaine massaged the thick muscle with his fingertips.

“I don't know…” Kurt's breath hitched when Blaine slid his thumb a centimeter higher. “Are you sure they won't hear?”

“Not over Finn's snoring, no.” Blaine's patience wavered, and he tilted his neck to graze the bulge of Kurt's erection with his lips, making him shiver. “Please?

Kurt's expression softened, a look of pure tenderness sweeping over him. It was a look that was exclusively Blaine's to recognize and have and keep. And there was no glint of steel in it, like there had been when they'd spoken earlier.

Blaine gripped the waistband of the briefs, slipped them down and over Kurt's hips, as far as they would go down his legs. He could make out the line of Kurt's cock, curved towards his stomach. Blaine wasted no time pressing his mouth to it, beginning at the base of the underside and caressing his way upwards. Finally, he took a hold of Kurt and sucked the tip of him between his lips.

“Oh, God.” The moan was enough to make Blaine twitch in his own boxers, though it was a little loud despite all his reassurances about privacy. He was torn between pulling off to shush Kurt and continuing, when he heard Kurt clap a hand to his own mouth, solving the dilemma for him.

Blaine stroked Kurt slowly with his hand while he let his tongue skim over the warm, sensitive spot beneath the head. He could hear Kurt's labored breathing, sense his chest rising and falling faster, almost feel his pulse picking up. Blaine swallowed, taking in a little bit more.

Kurt released a whimper from between his fingers and used his free hand to get a vice grip on Blaine's shoulder while his whole body arched, so much that Blaine almost had to pull back for fear of choking.

“Sorry,” Kurt mumbled, the syllables barely discernable.

Blaine situated himself again hummed around Kurt, looking up at him through his eyelashes, meeting his gaze until Kurt's head fell back again onto the sand.

After about two minutes of alternating between sucking around Kurt's cock and stroking what he couldn't reach with his hand, Blaine tasted the slight bitterness of pre-come. He pulled off to catch his breath against Kurt's hip, resting his aching jaw. He continued to jerk Kurt off in fast, confident strokes while he inhaled and exhaled against his skin. Blaine could smell him—the way Kurt's familiar scent always grew a little muskier during sex. When he was alone in his own bed, Blaine would try to recreate the scent in his mind, though the different tones of it, aside from Kurt's soap, were unidentifiable to him until they were combined as a whole.

Above, there was a feeble whine, and Blaine climbed his way upwards until he reached Kurt, who was still muffling himself with his palm. He smiled and kissed the ridges of his knuckles, until Kurt finally pulled his hand away and their lips could actually meet.

“Close,” Kurt murmured into the corner of Blaine's mouth, and the motion of Blaine's hand picked up, his wrist twisting. He straddled Kurt's thigh, desperate at this point for any contact at all. The cue didn't go unnoticed, and Kurt bent his knee enough to let Blaine rut against his leg, seeking relief.

Kurt was no longer stifling his gasping breaths, and Blaine couldn't find the effort to care. He was too focused on the push and pull of Kurt's body, the twitching of his hips with each stroke, hot and building. After a long moment, Kurt let out a cut-off cry, biting his lip to quiet it, and spilled onto Blaine's fist.

Blaine stroked him through it, until Kurt's grip on his shoulder tightened. He let go, wiping his fist on the edge of his own shirt and putting his hand out for balance. Kurt bowed upwards catching him in a searing kiss. With the stability from both arms, Blaine bore down on him, grinding until Kurt reached down and shimmied the waistband of his shorts lower. Kurt gripped him, holding him tight and expertly jerking him close to finish with precise jolts of pleasure that travelled up his spine.

He came with a groan, elbows shaking, his cock pulsing in Kurt's hand and coating his bare stomach. Blaine fell to the side, exhausted and buried his forehead in Kurt's shoulder. They stayed like that for a bit, their breath mingling together as their heart rates slowed.

“Well, at least there's that,” Kurt said in hushed tones into the cool air, and they both giggled a little.

“Almost as good as New York, right?” Blaine lifted his head, placing a peck on Kurt's cheek.

“Hmm… almost.”

“You can thank me for my wonderful ideas by carrying the bag when we go back to the car tomorrow.”

Kurt laughed, out loud this time. “That's what you think. Still wasn't my idea to go camping.”

Blaine curled closer, pulling the blanket back over them so it blocked out the chill. He laid his ear against Kurt's chest, inhaling in rhythm with the thumping of his heart while Kurt absentmindedly dragged his fingers through Blaine's curls. They'd have to wake up early to sneakily clean up, before the others noticed the way their clothes were wrinkled, but neither seemed to mind.

Blaine recalled the earlier moment when he'd wondered what had possessed him. He knew, just as he knew why watching Kurt staring out over the lake alone had given him a sinking feeling.

He hadn't lied when he'd told Kurt that it wasn't time to say goodbye to his hopes of NYADA. Blaine had been able to see it coming as soon as he'd had the rejection letter read out loud to him. He'd seen it too, when Kurt announced his decision to stay in Lima for another year.

Blaine was aware that it wasn't going to end up that way—that at some point, sooner than he could escape Ohio himself, he was going to have to say goodbye to Kurt. That this was, in fact, a summer to say farewell to one another. He'd been doing it in small ways, and this was just another one. A moment to burn into memory when they wouldn't be together to make more moments just like it. He was going to have to let Kurt go.

He traced his finger over Kurt's ribs in a paisley pattern, listening to sleep overtake him.

I love you, he thought. I'm going to miss you.

***

The following morning, they packed up in a hurry, wanting to make it out before the day got too hot. Kurt assisted in taking down the tent, but when Blaine offered the backpack with a hopeful smile, he crossed his arms, grinning.

“Oh no, nature boy. You can handle that yourself.”

On the way back to the car, Blaine strayed back, meandering around branches and shrubs behind everyone else. Most of the puddles had dried up, but he still watched the ground, lost in thought, wondering. How long?

“Penny for your thoughts?”

He looked up and saw Kurt, hanging back to watch Blaine over his shoulder. There was a tiny wrinkle of concern between his eyebrows.

“Just thinking about you.”

A bright smile blossomed across Kurt's face, making him squint. The sun pouring in through the trees made little flecks of gold stand out in his hair. He reached out his hand, waiting for Blaine to grasp it.

He did.