likesboys | we can burn brighter than the sun

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we can burn brighter than the sun

"So she knows about you, and she... kind of knows about what we are to one another, although I'm willing to bet that she hasn't stopped to think about the anatomy of it," Kurt says, seated next to Blaine in a cozy booth near the back corner of Life of Pie, a cafe with a specialty in pastries and baked goods. "Actually, I doubt that she's been exposed to much male anatomy either, so intimacy might be off the cards for now. Unless she asks about it. Oh god, what do we do if a Disney princess asks us about bumping uglies? I'm not sure my brain could handle it."

For the past ten minutes, Kurt's words have been flying at a mile a minute, starting as soon as the server walked out of earshot. Underneath the table, he grabs at Blaine's hand, holding tightly to it to try and gain some confidence and calm.

Not that Blaine is likely to know how to tread these waters any better than Kurt does.

"Anyway, she is at least okay with us knowing all about her world and her story. I actually suspect that she came here before the end of her movie. Well, really, it's obvious that she did given her hair," Kurt speculates, rolling his eyes and bumping palm to forehead. "I'm not as calm as I should be right now."

Pouting, Kurt leans over slightly, briefly resting his chin against Blaine's shoulder. "I just really want her to like you," he confesses.

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Blaine pauses with a forkful of apple pie halfway to his mouth, blinking at his boyfriend. Kurt's been excitedly babbling about introducing him to Rapunzel for at least the past ten minutes, but the mention of possibly talking about their sex life is just about the last thing Blaine had expected. Is that something a Disney princess is even capable of, he wonders, finally bringing his bite of apple pie to his mouth before setting the fork back on his plate.

"I absolutely won't make any mention of anything below the equator," he says, giving Kurt's hand a firm squeeze under the table while offering a warm, humoring smile. He grabs his napkin with his other hand, politely dabbing at his lips. Then, "Why are you so nervous, babe? I really doubt it could go any worse than when I met Korra."

His grin widens as Kurt rests his chin on Blaine's shoulder and he closes the small space between them to press a kiss to the tip of Kurt's nose. "I promise to be a perfect gentleman, okay? May all my descendants be forever cursed if I am not."

Rapunzel is running late, and this bothers her. That's rude, isn't it, to be late? They were doing construction on her street and she was a bit overwhelmed by all the machinery, so she took a longer route to avoid it.

She's excited to meet Kurt and his boyfriend and she wanted to look nice, so she put on a lavender lace dress with soft pink tights and sandals, and she has purple ribbons woven into her hair. She even has on mascara and lip gloss, which she picked up after watching a commercial on the television.

The pie place is just up ahead and Pascal crawls down to get into her bag as she rushes inside. She spots Kurt and the boy that must be Blaine sitting next to him, and she grins when he kisses Kurt's nose. "Hi, guys!"

She goes over and leans over to kiss Kurt's cheek and then turns and does the same to Blaine before sitting across from them. "I'm so sorry that I'm late! I cut through the park and these girls taught me how to play hopscotch. But I'm here now. Hi Blaine! It's so good to meet you!"

She reaches out to touch the back of his hand and Pascal sneaks out of her bag, eyes peeking up over the table and looking around before he flicks his tongue out to grab a slice of bread from the basket on the table and disappear back down into the bag with it.

A Disney princess just caught Kurt in the midst of being kissed. On the nose. By his boyfriend.

Maybe, had it been anyone else, Kurt would find it incredibly endearing and rather apropos, but currently, he can't help but blush a deep red as he turns to greet Rapunzel, not even having time to get a word in edgewise before he's receiving another kiss. It's sweet, and light, and everything that he'd expect from Rapunzel.

And it only makes him blush even more, until his head feels dizzy from it.

"Oh no, no no, don't apologize for being late," Kurt says with a broad smile, sitting up straighter and quickly reaching for the spare menu he'd asked the waitress to leave, turning it for Rapunzel. "It's a city, unexpected hurdles are bound to pop up. I'm just so glad that you're here! And yes, Rapunzel and Pascal, meet Blaine. Blaine, meet Rapunzel and Pascal. Who seems to have gone in hiding."

The little green lizard is instantly recognizable, appearing briefly to steal a slice of bread before disappearing beneath the table once more. It’s… quite surreal if Blaine lets himself pause to really think about it for awhile; this is the second person he’s met in the past month whom he’d previously only known, not only as a fictional character, but as animated. (Or, maybe third if he counts Pascal.) After everything else he’s been through in Darrow, this might actually be near the top of the list of weird things.

In that respect, he can sort of understand the why Kurt’s face is a deep red, though there’s something about it that’s a little unnerving in a way he can’t quite place. Kurt’s certainly never been embarrassed about their relationship before, never felt any kind of shame in it. So why now? Just because she’s a Disney princess? Is Kurt really worried that Blaine will do something to make Rapunzel not like him? What would that even be?

Shoving those questions aside, Blaine keeps his smile wide and warm as he turns his gaze on the very beautiful girl sitting across from them. And wow, yes, her hair is even more impressive in person. No wonder Kurt’s been envious.

“It’s wonderful to meet you, too,” he says, quite honestly. “Kurt’s said only wonderful things about you. You’ve been here for awhile now, right? Are you… I mean, it must be a big adjustment from what you’re used to. How are you handling all this?”

"Oh, yes. I've discovered that most places don't approve of me bringing Pascal inside, so he usually stays in the bag." Pascal pops his head over the table again, looking around suspiciously. "Which is silly, really. He's not hurting anything."

She opens the menu and peruses it, eyes widening a bit at the selection. "I've never had pumpkin pie. Is it good?"

Pascal turns orange at the mention of pumpkins and uses his tongue to snatch a sugar packet off of the table. Rapunzel wordlessly takes it away and he huffs, diving back into her bag.

"I'm settling in alright!" She grins broadly at Blaine and tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. It really needs to be re-braided. "I'm learning new things every single day. I discovered the radio the other day. All that wonderful music, right at your fingertips! And Kurt told me about Halloween. I'm very excited about it. It sounds like so much fun."

Rapunzel seems to be as comfortable as can be in conversation, which Kurt can only attribute to a deep love of people and a desire to understand them, something that hasn't stopped in the slightest in spite of how different this city must feel to her, as Blaine pointed out. He relaxes, shoulders easing as he slides just an inch or so closer to Blaine, reaching under the table to squeeze his knee. It's been a very, very long time since they've had a group meet like this, and Kurt finds himself suddenly missing his friends from home, though also very grateful to have people in Darrow as well.

"I'm pretty sure it's partially thanks to the fact that not all animals are as calm and intelligent as Pascal clearly is. And when you make an exception for one, soon people start clambering for an exception for all of them," Kurt says, grinning as he watches the both of them fight over a sugar packet. It's probably not the healthiest of things, Kurt thinks to himself, and it makes sense that Rapunzel would take it away.

"Pumpkin pie is, in my opinion, amazing. But I'll get a slice of berry in case it isn't your type of thing, and we can share," Kurt says, leaning forward to rest his chin against his palm. "But ooh, yes, Blaine, I was telling Rapunzel about costumes and we started talking about possibly working together on them. It would actually be really cute if the four of us could find a theme for our costumes. Or maybe five, if we include Eugene."

It's very much like watching a live-action cartoon when Pascal pops up again to steal a packet of sugar and Rapunzel wrestles it away from him, and Blaine has to take a minute to bend his mind around to the fact that this is his life now, this is normal.

Blaine smiles at her mention of the radio, finding her opinion of it rather endearing. He's always love radio himself, of course, but after having one for his entire life, the novelty has definitely worn off. It's simply something he takes for granted now, something he simply knows will always be available so long as there's electricity and radio waves and music to be heard. It's kind of nice to be reminded of how miraculous it really is.

Kurt's speaking again before he can say as much, clearly excited and passionate about the idea of costuming. It's nice to see Kurt so happy about something, nice to see him with a friend who shares a common interest, but there's a low tug in Blaine's belly, too. Something weird and uncomfortable he quickly tries to shove aside as he smiles again, just a little more forced. "Eugene?"

"I'll try the pumpkin then, with extra whipped cream." She puts the menu down and then looks down seemingly at her lap, bag hidden by the table. "You can have some cream. Will that work?"

The sound a raspberry being blown wafts up from her lap and she rolls her eyes in fond exasperation as she reaches for her water cup. "Eugene is my boyfriend, to adopt the term." She sounds a bit dreamy as she says it, because she's still riding the high of them making things official. And kissing. Kissing is nice. "If you've heard my story like Kurt says people have, you might know him as Flynn."

She smiles at Blaine, but she deflates a little at the expression on his face. She's still new at learning to read people, but he seems uncomfortable, and his smile doesn't match his eyes. Rapunzel wonders if maybe she's done something wrong, looking from him to Kurt and back as she sets down her water glass and folds her hands in her lap. "If the two of you have something planned for the holiday, we wouldn't want to intrude."

Kurt's eyes light up at the way Rapunzel refers to Eugene, sweet and adoring and it's just so new and fresh. New love is always alluring in that way, Kurt thinks, and even though he wouldn't trade what he has now with Blaine for the world, he also can't help but wonder a little bit about how he must have seemed in those early days, heads over heels with an oblivious Blaine. "Yeah, Flynn Rider," nods Kurt, turning back to face Blaine. Of the two of them, Kurt suspects that he's a bit more of the Disney buff, so maybe Blaine just hasn't realized.

Except then he notices that something's a little off, and judging by Rapunzel's expression, he isn't the only one. At once, he reaches under the table, finding Blaine's hand and giving it a squeeze. "You okay, honey?" he asks, trying to wrack his brain for what might be throwing Blaine off and coming up blank. "We didn't have anything that elaborate planned yet. Both of us have been kind of busy with school, it's midterm season so that means lots of tests, but. Well, I knew that I'd be making matching outfits for myself and Blaine, since that's kind of our thing." He glances at Blaine again, brow knit in concern. "Sorry. I should have told you about it earlier instead of springing it here."

Weirdly, Blaine is relieved to learn Rapunzel has a boyfriend, and of course he recognizes the name Flynn right away even without Kurt's further hinting. It's fully ridiculous, he realizes. Even if he and Kurt were still having problems, even if they were still broken up and Kurt wasn't giving him any reason to doubt their relationship, Rapunzel is very clearly a girl. And Kurt is very, definitively gay.

But, at the same time, Blaine knows sexuality can be fluid. Kurt's never given any real indication that he might be attracted to women, even very specific women, but they're both young. And maybe Kurt hasn't really considered it much himself.

He's being ridiculous. He knows this. He tries to shove his gnawing insecurity to the background and smiles wider.

"Oh! No, that's-- I mean, I don't think we have anything planned, do we?" he asks, turning to Kurt and giving his hand a squeeze at the same time, more for himself than for Kurt, grounding himself. Or at least attempting to. He doesn't answer Kurt's question though, if only because he isn't really sure how to do so. Especially right here in front of a Disney princess. "If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them. I'm not great with the actual designing and creating, of course, but I love brainstorming."

Blaine seems to perk up and Rapunzel is relieved. Her smile goes from something tight and unsure to open and warm, and she relaxes a bit in her chair. "Well, this is my first Halloween, so I'm really open to suggestions. But I sew! And I designed most of my own dresses."

The waitress comes by to take their order and Rapunzel asks for the pumpkin pie with extra whipped cream and a hot cocoa, grinning in anticipation.

Adding another slice of berry pie to their order, Kurt sits up more fully as well, mimicking Rapunzel's movements. There's something about her energy that's easy to piggyback off of, something kind but energetic in a way that Kurt hopes to be himself, and he gives Blaine's hand another squeeze before relaxing the hold a little, though he doesn't let go.

"I really enjoy themed outfits that come from films or television. Once, Blaine and I dressed up as a couple of reality TV stars. People who open their lives up to be watched by an audience of millions. It was a lot of fun," Kurt says, glancing over at Blaine with a pleased smile and bumping his shoulder against Blaine's, before letting his gaze hover between the two of them.

"Maybe we could have a long movie marathon, catch Rapunzel up on some of our favorite movies and see what appeals."

Blaine smiles softly at the memory of their costumes from a couple years ago, still comforted by the feel of Kurt's hand in his. It'd been somewhat ridiculous, but undoubtedly genius. And Kurt had looked alarmingly attractive in that black wig, gold dress, and animal print jacket.

"That sounds like a good starting point," he says before turning his attention back to Rapunzel. "Are there any kinds of stories you like better than others? Like... certain genres or anything?"

"Oh, then I guess I'm a reality star too in my own way," she says with a giggle. "People just didn't know it was reality."

She rests her chin in her palm as she watches Kurt and Blaine. They're ridiculously cute together, and it's easy to see how much they care about each other. She's glad they've found that, and she wonders if she and Eugene paint such a lovely picture for everyone to see.

"Oh!" She says as a sudden thought occurs to her and she bolts upright. "The other night, Eugene and I watched a wonderful movie. Someone gave him a list of classics that we've been working through. It was called the Wizard of Oz. Have you seen it?"

She picks up Pascal and places him on the table, heedless of their rules. She taps at the black tabletop and he instantly flushes that same shade, spinning around in a circle. "We have a Toto!"

"Yes, and you would make an absolutely adorable Dorothy," Kurt says at once, raising a hand to briefly rest against his cheek in thought. His expression relaxes, picturing her with reddish brown hair, a basket to carry Pascal around, sparkly red shoes. None of it would be very hard to procure. Of course, the question would then be who Flynn would dress up as.

And himself and Blaine in turn, if they decide to all go as a set. Then again, all the talk of reality stars already has Kurt thinking about a couple of other options based on their late night marathons.

"But here's a question. Which role would you want Flynn to play? Cowardly lion, so you get to boss him around all night? Ooh, and whether or not you want to dye your hair a different color. There are lots of temporary, organic dyes that would work well with your hair and wash out after a couple of weeks — but I don't know if you want to spend so much time on your hair. It'd be totally up to you to decide; I think you could pull blonde off if you said you were drawing inspiration from the books. I don't think they specified her hair color in those."

“Oh, the Wizard of Oz!” is excellent, Blaine agrees, already grinning at the idea. And Kurt’s right, she would make a wonderful Dorothy, with or without the darker hair. Blaine has little doubt Kurt would easily be able to whip her up an outfit similar to Dorothy’s in the movie and he could help out with shoes, he’s sure. The others would be more difficult, of course. Especially the lion; coming up with that much furred fabric might be interesting.

They could always go a slightly different route, too. Maybe simplify some of the costumes, modernize them. Kurt would have a field day with that, Blaine’s sure.

“I kind of like the idea of being Scarecrow myself,” Blaine says, smiling wide at Kurt. “I kind of lack a brain sometimes. It seems fitting. Plus, I look pretty fetching in overalls if I do say so myself.”

"I don't know if there's enough hair dye in the world," she says with a chuckle. "Besides, I don't even know if it would work on my hair. It sort of just... never gets dirty. Thank god! Can you imagine if I had to shampoo it?"

She takes a sip from her mug and thinks for a minute, smiling at Blaine warmly as he speaks. "The tin man for Eugene, I think. Since I watched him find his heart, in a way."

"Ugh, you're just trying to make me jealous," Kurt complaines, subconsciously ruffling the hair at the nape of his neck before smoothing it out again. "My hair requires a great deal of styling every single day. And let's not talk about Blaine's gel routine." With their hands still linked under the table, Kurt draws a circle in the middle of Blaine's palm, soft and constant.

"Ooh, it looks like our pie slices are here," adds Kurt, pointing to the tray brought over by the server, who places it gently atop their table. Reaching out for the berry pie he ordered, Kurt scooped up a little of the whipped cream by the slice and holds his finger out for Blaine.

Though Kurt had his wonderful heart long before Blaine ever arrived, Blaine can’t help but think Kurt would make a better Tin Man and, if Blaine’s memory of the movie serves him at all, he thinks Flynn – or rather, Eugene’s – hair is really very fitting for the Cowardly Lion. On the other hand, her reasoning is quite adorable. And Blaine will honestly be happy with whatever Kurt wants. The costumes will be amazing regardless, he’s sure of that much.

Kurt’s still holding his hand now, drawing an idle little circle in the palm of his hand, gentle and soothing and Blaine squeezes gently if just to let him know the touch is appreciated.

“Believe me, you don’t want to see me without the gel,” he tells Rapunzel very seriously, though there’s a smirk on his lips too, well aware of the teasing he’s endured both to his face and behind his back regarding his hair. As far as he’s concerned, they really just don’t understand.

His eyes light up as the pie arrives, giving Kurt’s hand one last squeeze before reaching to help the waiter divvy out their plates and grabbing a fork. His smile widens when Kurt dips his finger in the whipped cream and holds it out to Blaine. Meeting Kurt’s eyes, he leans forward to wrap his lips around it, humming immediately at the sweet mixed with the salt of Kurt’s skin. “Mmm, ‘s delicious,” he says, practically beaming as he turns his attention to Rapunzel as he drops his hand to Kurt’s leg under the table and gives a light squeeze. “Shall we?”

Rapunzel watches as Kurt feeds the dollop of whipped cream to Blaine, eyes widening a bit at the display. Her cheeks flush hot and pink and she ducks her head, giving them privacy while she reaches for her pie. It's not that she's scandalized or finds it improper, it's that she immediately imagines what it would be like to do the same to Eugene and is a little embarrassed. They've barely even begun kissing, and all of this is so new to her.

She lifts her chin and looks at Blaine when he addresses her, smiling sweetly back at him as she picks up her fork. "I don't mind if I do!"

The first bite of pumpkin pie is amazing, and she savors the flavor on her tongue for a moment before swallowing. "Oh wow. That's good."

Only after Blaine's licked the whipped cream from his finger does Kurt notice that Rapunzel's complexion has rosied significantly and her gaze wanders in the wake of the display, and his own cheeks partly start to match as he faces forward again, grateful for the squeeze of Blaine's hand on his leg. He's pretty sure that he's just scandalized a Disney princess, and it's interesting for him to think about how a filter meant for kids might have affected the minds of the characters living inside the tale.

And against his will, Kurt starts wondering whether or not Rapunzel and Eugene will need to be intimate before having children. How does it work? Surely they're not Barbie dolls.

The train of thought is all completely improper.

"I'm so glad you like it," Kurt says instead, trying not to draw overly much attention to Rapunzel's embarrassment. She's still with them, after all, right? "It's actually quite fun to make pumpkin pie, if you'd ever like for me to show you. The pie crusts aren't too hard, I'm sure that your skill with baking already has that down pat, but preparing the pumpkin is a little less intuitive. Makes you wonder how the first person who came up with the idea managed something like that.

Blaine also doesn’t miss the way Rapunzel quickly looks away, her cheeks a little pinker as she takes a bite of her pie. He doesn’t feel like the action was particularly scandalous in any way, but he supposes a Disney princess has a slightly different scale for that sort of thing. He starts to wonder if maybe he should apologize.

Before he can do so, Kurt’s forwarding the conversation, effortlessly easing the mild tension in a way only he can manage and, grateful, Blaine gives him another squeeze below the table.

“Fair warning, it is messy,” he joins in, his smile warming. “At least if I’m involved in any way. Kurt tends to be much more careful with baking in general despite usually coming away with streaks of flour all over his face. It’s adorable.”

"You two are really cute together," she says warmly, gesturing at them with her fork. They're so close with each other, so affectionate. "I hope Eugene and I are that cute someday."

What they have is still so new, and neither of them really seem to know what they're doing, but she's so happy with him and loves him so much. Maybe after this, she'll run home and give him a big kiss for no reason at all.

"I carved a pumpkin for the first time ever the other day!" She recalls her time with Elizabeth and how they'd gotten pumpkin guts strewn everywhere. She eyes the pie and takes another bite, looking at them curiously. "If you can show me how a giant gourd becomes this delicious dessert, I'm all for it."

"I'm sure that the two of you are equally as cute," Kurt says firmly, though his cheeks dust over with pink again at Rapunzel's assessment, glad that she seems to be so welcoming of Blaine and himself as a pair. Not being one to turn away compliments, Kurt does try his best not to take up too much of the time toying with Blaine — it'd be rude to make her into the third wheel — but he's gratified enough to keep his foot hooked with Blaine's as an anchor as well.

"Ooh, but yes, I'll have to show you how to strain pumpkin so that you can hit two birds with one stone the next time you carve a pumpkin," Kurt says seriously, his fingers briefly tracing along his jawline. Cooking can be a serious topic. "Meanwhile, you can help teach me how to bake all of your favorite pastries. And then Blaine and Eugene can help us taste test everything."

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we can burn brighter than the sun

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