#early!Klaine

[klaineccfanficlibrary]

Do you know of any ‘puppy love’ fics where Kurt and Blaine are still young and in high school but they know they’re in love with each other ??

Try out our early!Klaine tab which has a lot of the widely known fics about their early days, or the early!klaine search on A03.

Some of the most popular early Klaine fics are these:

The Architects of Life by misqueue

Follows the development of Kurt and Blaine’s relationship in the canon timeline from 3x05 “The First Time”.

~~~~~

Shiftings  by @chazzam  

The shift in their relationship didn’t come out of left field at all. Beneath the surface, things had been changing all along.  This fic describes what changed in Kurt ant Blaine’s relationship to make him realize that his feelings for Kurt were more than just friendship.  

~~~~~

and here are some I really like:

Fade Into You by Lady Callista

Nine moments between Kurt and Blaine showing all the love, trust, and just plain adorableness that they’re known for. From before their first kiss until after their first time, enjoy these moments that somehow got misplaced or were just not appropriate for television.

~~~~~

Evolution by Misty Day

Once upon a time, Kurt Hummel was boy with wishful thinking.

~~~~~

How Burt Hummel was eventually won over by Blaine Anderson by exeterlinden

The bottom line was: Burt was a little protective. He didn't like seeing his son get hurt.

~~~~~

What It's Like Being Your Boyfriend by flaming_muse

“You don’t know what it’s like being your boyfriend.” When Kurt flings that sentence at him, it stops Blaine in his tracks and sticks in his head long after the feelings of hurt and betrayal have healed.

(check out flaming_muse's other early fics also.

~~~~~

Also, extremely popular for their early Klaine fics is rainjoyswritings - here is their masterlist. I recommend Close, Motel, Do not disturb.

[williamwheeler]

we talk a lot about how before blaine, kurt had never met another gay teen (who was out, that is), and how isolated that made him feel. but what about how the only gay person that kurt knew in real life (as far as we know) was sandy ryerson, a self-proclaimed “predatory gay,” that we're introduced to for the first by seeing him touching a student inappropriately

thinking about how kurt's crush on finn is twisted into some form of harassment even though we only saw him... what? sign him a song? staring at him a bit? introduce their parents to each other, surely as some sort of evil stratagem to get closer to finn and seduce him??? how is that worse than, say, finn – in front of god and everyone –singing i want jessie's girl while circling rachel, or coming up with a scheme to make quinn feel pressured into kissing him?

well i don't think it's worse, but, according to burt, since kurt “wasn't afraid to show” his crush, it makes it more justifiable for finn to sling around slurs (for what will unfortunately not be the last time)

and then kurt's interest in sam and desire to sing a song with him is somehow distorted into him “not understanding that no means no,” even though sam said YES! he ACCEPTED! no means no but sam didn't say it!!!!! and then burt, the one person who's supposed to know kurt better than anyone, agrees with finn, that maybe kurt is being pushy and “taking advantage” of poor sam

“so a gay guy can't be friendly to a straight guy without being predatory?” yes, kurt was attracted to sam and wanted to spend some time with him. but he would never force himself on him in any way. that doesn't matter, though, because even the people who are supposed to be the closest to him, who are supposed to see him for who he is, still don't get him. kurt's treated as if he has some sort of disease or if he's a threat; he's treated as if he's sandy ryerson

similarly, when blaine reveals his crush on sam to tina he feels the need to say “i'm not some predatory gay, so nothing's gonna happen.” and this makes me wonder if blaine has also had previous experiences of crushing on straight boys in the past, and if he was also ostracized for it. even if he hasn't, he clearly knows how society perceives a gay guy crushing on a straight guy

i just hate to think of these two lonely boys being isolated and mistreated for feelings that they can't control, that they don't even plan to act on, and being treated like predators for it

[rockitmans]

Send me a Ship and a Number and I will Write a Kiss

…on a scar.

Love the list and tempted to send ore than one number in one go . . but I won't be greedy . . 😊

from the kiss list / see the rest

Notes: Mentions of the fact that Blaine has scars caused by his Sadie Hawkins experience but no details about it.

~~~~~

"So I can't help but notice," Kurt says. "That no one else is home." 

He smiles mischievously and pulls Blaine down next to him on the bed. Blaine feels the affection unfold in his stomach. He loves Kurt like this. Cheeks flushed and eyes bright and so obviously interested that it soothes some of Blaine's constant insecurities. 

"Hmm," Blaine hums like this fact had completely escaped him and the thought hadn't been thrumming under his skin for the whole car ride here. "Yeah. I guess my parents are both out tonight."

Kurt doesn't bother to act coy. His arms slide over Blaine's shoulders and then their mouths meet, soft and warm. 

It still feels so new. Kissing Kurt. Even though it's been a few months now. Months of sweet, shy kisses that have melted into heated making out. They've learned how to turn their heads to perfectly fit together. Blaine knows that Kurt's nose fits in the groove of his cheek. He knows that Kurt makes a gorgeous, needy little noise if Blaine's teeth catch on his bottom lip. He knows that his hand always finds Kurt's cheek or jaw, eager to keep him close. 

It's unusual for them to get any real privacy and Blaine doesn't fully know what he expected from suddenly getting some, but he loves how it’s turned out. Just the opportunity to kiss slowly and lazily, a constant catch and release of mouths and shared breaths until his ears are flushed and his lips feel swollen and Kurt's eyes are dark and heavy. 

Blaine can't believe how good kissing feels. He could happily never stop kissing Kurt. 

"Can I…?" Kurt breaths, trailing off. He toys with the buttons on Blaine's shirt. 

"Hmm?" Blaine can't stop staring at Kurt's mouth. Slightly red and damp. Completely kissable. 

"Can we take our shirts off?"

Blaine freezes, breath catching nervously. He wants to see Kurt so badly and trail his fingers across Kurt's perfect skin. Map out the shape of him without clothes in the way. But. That would also mean exposing himself. And he doesn’t know whether to warn Kurt about the scars. The ones that spider from his hips and up across his ribs. But the warning will just invite more questions. He doesn’t want to talk about Sadie Hawkins right now. Not because he doesn’t trust Kurt. But because he just wants to be with him in the moment and not invite his past into this bubble they’ve created.

Of course, not telling him means that Blaine might have to watch his face turn to shock or disgust. Blaine is not ashamed of the scars. And he doesn’t think that Kurt is the sort of person to care about them either. But there’s always that small level of doubt. 

"Blaine?" Kurt prompts gently. "Sorry. It's too soon. Forget I-"

“No,” Blaine interrupts. He cups Kurt’s face. “It’s not that. I want to. Just… do mine first.”  He doesn’t want to talk about the scars. But he does want to get the reveal over with.

Kurt catches Blaine’s eye as he reaches for Blaine’s buttons again. He makes quick work of them, hand sliding warmly over Blaine’s collarbone as the sliver of skin is exposed. Blaine shrugs out of the shirt before he can change his mind, letting Kurt pull it away eagerly like a kid tearing wrapping off a gift. 

He hears the way Kurt’s breath catches. “Wow,” Kurt murmurs. He sounds reverent rather than appalled so Blaine chances a glance at his face. His eyes are soft with open adoration. It makes Blaine’s own breath stutter. He thinks Kurt must not have noticed the scars somehow, as impossible as that would be. But Kurt places his hands directly over the worst of them in a gentle caress. 

“Does this hurt?” he asks. 

“No. They’re old scars.”

Kurt gives him a knowing look. Like he knows as well as Blaine that some scars never truly heal. “Can we lie down?” 

Blaine wants to protest that Kurt still has his shirt on but if Kurt looked at him the way he is now whilst half naked, he might just combust on the spot. So he just nods. He lets Kurt push him down. Kurt doesn’t quite straddle him but he does hover over him, pressing another lush kiss to his waiting lips before turning his attention to Blaine’s chest again. 

It’s startling when he puts his lips directly on Blaine’s bare hip. Blaine’s breath punches out of him. For all the kissing they’ve done, it couldn’t prepare him for Kurt’s lips on the more untouched parts of his body. It feels so intimate, the way Kurt’s lips softly press the path of the most obvious scar. Blaine shivers, hand fisting uselessly in the sheets. 

“Is this OK?” Kurt checks, voice low. “You’re trembling.”

“It’s OK. Better than OK. Good even,” Blaine babbles and Kurt grins down at him, head slightly cocked. 

“God, you’re gorgeous. I’m kind of feeling insane that I get to see you like this.”  

Blaine would agree but Kurt’s mouth is back on his body and all he manages is a groan. He throws a hand over his face. Heat spreads from every point of Kurt’s lips on him. His hips shift helplessly against nothing. The simmering arousal from making out, slightly quelled by his anxiety, roars back into life. Blaine reaches for Kurt, finds his hair, wraps his fingers through it. 

“So gorgeous,” Kurt repeats half like an assurance and  half like he just can't help himself. 

By the time he's finished mapping Blaine's scar and is making his way up Blaine's throat instead, Blaine barely knows what to do with himself. He's hard and aching. He's breathless and flushed and incoherent. He wants Kurt's body on him, wants to get at his bare skin, wants to devour him. 

Kurt's face meets him back at eye level and looks down at him. He looks flushed too, bright eyed with arousal and looking at Blaine's lips. He nuzzles their noses together and Blaine melts. He hooks an arm over Kurt's shoulders and pulls him close so Kurt is half on top of him and their foreheads are pressed together. 

"You're perfect," Kurt says, quiet into the space between them and Blaine didn't know how much he needed to hear it. 

"So are you." Blaine slides a hand under Kurt's shirt, trailing over warm skin. He wants to make Kurt feel the same as he does. Adored and content and stupidly horny. "Let me show you."

[transboypatrickmurray]

its always "ily" and never "there is a moment when you say to yourself, “oh, there you are. I’ve been looking for you forever.” watching you do [...] this week…that was a moment for me. about you. you move me."

[hevanderson]

ribbons down my back from hello dolly is a s2 kurt song. to me

[1908jmd]

migasm:

I have more where this came from.

Prepare to see FULL version by Christmas!

*getsshot*

I’m so guilty for klaine.

UPDATE:

Full version available in my DA gallery! (NSFW)

[klaineineverylifetime]

Bide & Stay

Title: Bide & Stay (2013-14)

Author: lurkdusoleil

Words: 30k (total);  POV: Blaine;  Rating: E

Summary: Kurt and Blaine are souls meant to meet again and again. But sometimes they don’t quite catch each other. (And later, even reunited soulmates have to figure each other out.)

Review: This is not your typical soulmate story but a literal exploration of, “my soul knew something that my mind and body didn’t know yet.” This story manages to nail their dynamic while transposing it across time with all the obstacles and climate changes thrown into the mix (and yet you never really lose the sense of them as individuals, either). It’s got supernatural themes without dipping too far into the paranormal—it really just is them, in every lifetime, and who they might be and how they might cope if, in some of those lifetimes, they missed each other.

[the-ebon-hawk]

God I really experienced glee: never been kissed in real time

[callmebrycelee]

Advice from a Queer Almost-40 BuckTommy Shipper

Over the last several months, there's been a one-sided war brewing between Buddie shippers and BuckTommy shippers. As we get ready for Season 8, I want to give all of you fellow BuckTommy/Tevan/Kinley shippers some advice:

Do NOT let them ruin something truly groundbreaking and special.

I repeat:

Do NOT let them ruin something truly groundbreaking and special.

Let me take you way back to the early-2010s. Glee was quite popular in the cultural zeitgeist. The show spawned a plethora of ships including Finchel, Brittana, Samcedes, and Fabrey. However, there was one ship that reigned supreme on Beyoncé and Al Gore's internet. If you were on Tumblr during this time you definitely remember the chokehold Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson aka Klaine had on the Glee fandom.

Now I'll admit, at first, I was into the two glee club gays being together but then episode 2x06 aired. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, episode 2x06 titled "Never Been Kissed" is episode where closeted football jock Dave Karofsky cornered Kurt in the boys' lockerroom and kissed him. What followed was some of the best storytelling in the history of the show.

Over the next few seasons, we watched Dave Karofsky come to terms with his sexuality, apologize to Kurt for his relentless bullying, finally embrace his sexuality, get outed, and attempt to un-alive himself. Those of us who initially hated Dave and his initial treatment of Kurt became fans of him due to how realistic he was. If you went to high school in the early-2000s, chances are you either knew someone like Karofsky or you were him. That's why he resonated with so many of us in the queer community.

However, the showrunners weren't invested in Dave and Kurt becoming an item. You have to remember, this was the era of listening to the fandom and giving them exactly what they wanted. The fandom wanted Rachel and Finn to be together so that's what we got. The fandom wanted Brittany and Santana to be together so that's what we got. And what the fandom wanted was Kurt and Blaine.

Till this day, I still resent the fact that the showrunners and writers went the safe route when it came to couples on Glee. For the most part, all of their main pairings were expected and boring. Over a decade removed from the show, a lot of folks have come around to the idea that maybe Kurt and Blaine aren't the #couplegoals they initially thought. A lot of us will forever wonder just how different (and possibly better) the show would have been if they took a chance on Kurt and Dave.

Fast-forward to the year 2024. We have, on another Ryan Murphy show, Klaine and Kurtofsky 2.0. The moment Eddie came on the scene back in Season 2, folks on the internet started shipping him with Buck. Nevermind that these two were coded as platonic friends, here we had, once again, two good-looking guys played by two actors who have impeccable chemistry.

Much like Klaine, a lot of us see Buddie as boring. The ship smacks of cis straight women overlly fascinated by two good-looking, masculine guys. It reminds me of the overabundance of m/m romance written by straight women which have little interest in showcasing real queer male relationships and instead serve as fantasy fulfillment for straight women using two queer men as avatars to satisfy what they feel is lacking in their own heterosexual relationships. I don't necessary have a problem with those books existing but I do take issue with that kind of storytelling overshadowing queer male content written by queer male writers.

Whew! Now that I got that out of my system, let me tell you what I loved most about the latest season of 9-1-1. It seems the showrunners and writers of this show took note of what happened with Glee and they decided to go a different route. Instead of listening to the relentless noise on the internet, they have decided to not go the safe route.

Enter: Tommy Kinard.

The romance between Buck and Tommy is truly revolutionary. As someone who grew up consuming the queer media of the 90s and early-2000s, it is quite refreshing to have a couple like Evan Buckley and Tommy Kinard on primetime television. I love that many of the scenes between these two is just slice of life. Very similar to the scenes we get between Athena and Bobby and Chimney and Maddie. I've always said that true equality is when queer people can be just as mundane as straight people. Mission accomplished. Finally, we have two queer characters just existing and being happy. No AIDS. No gay-bashing. No Don't Ask Don't Tell. No epic coming out scene. Buck and Tommy are a shining example of what queer couples can and should look like in the 2020s.

So, back to my original point. When it comes to the great ship war, please do NOT let them ruin something so groundbreaking and special. If the showrunners wanted , they could have made Buck and Eddie a thing years ago. However, that's not the direction they wanted to venture. Thank you Tim Minear for not going the safe route. I look forward to all of the rich storytelling we will get in Season 8 and I have decided that whatever happens, I'm going to enjoy this era of 9-1-1. Oliver Stark and Lou Ferrigno Jr. are amazing actors but so are Angela Bassett and Peter Krause and Aisha Hinds and Kenneth Choi. All of the actors on this show, whether main or guest or supporting, are putting their whole self into crafting the characters we know and love. Regardless of what ship you champion, keep in mind that behind these beloved characters are real, human actors who do not deserve to be bullied and harrassed and threatened due to them simply doing their job. At the end of the day, everything we see on the screen is fiction.

Okay, this has gotten really long. Stepping off of my soapbox. Remember ladies and gentlemen, it's just a show. And although it makes us feel real emotions, 9-1-1 nor Glee is real life.

[henry-the-queer-artist]

(early) valentine's day klaine!!!!!!!

posting this on main because im actually kinda proud of it <3

[esilher]

« The early morning light filtered through the small airplane window, casting a soft glow on Kurt's face, his earbuds playing soothing music to calm his nerves »

So……… for this Klaine word scramble challenge 2024, I decided to illustrate the story « Leaps and Dives » from @annepi-blog. You can read it on AO3 And I will each time have to draw the word she chose for her own challenge. Chapter 1 : Earbuds

[klaineccfanficlibrary]

hi! i was wondering if there are any fanfics maybe in season 2 where blaine realizes he loves kurt but now he likes someone else? for example i never liked blaine going to talk to burt about sex and kurt, i read a oneshot where kurt scolds blaine, are there others like that?

I'm sorry if my English is not perfect but it's not my native language

Hi Anon, with perfect English! I'm not aware of any where Blaine likes someone else, after Kurt - maybe fandom does? Here was some I thought of, but check our early!Klaine tag. ~Jen

The (Mis) Adventures of Teenage Boys by flyblckbirdfly

This is a series of fics about the developing sexual relationship between Kurt and Blaine and all of the joys, embarrassments, and surprises they experience along the way.

Note: PDF and EPUB downloads are available here.

~~~~~

Confused by xSlythStratasfaction

Kurt feels left behind when Blaine starts dating Rachel and ignoring him. Things have changed between the two boys. Will things ever go back to normal? Set during BIOTA and the beginning of SEXY. COMPLETE - ALTERNATE ENDING NOW UP!

Also, there was this ask where they do like each other, and it takes a bit of friendly intervention to help out.

[thnxforknowingme]

Klaine Valentine's Challenge Day 3

Texas Hold 'Em

Notes: For this challenge I'm writing snippets in my Mediator!Klaine AU. More info here. This is early on in the story, when Blaine and Kurt are first meeting.

“Was this house an inn back in the old days,” Kurt asked, “where people got into shootouts over gambling losses? Did someone catch you with an ace up your sleeve, or start a brawl over the riches you’d mined during the Gold Rush?” He observed the ghost’s rather nice outfit. “Or maybe you were some type of railroad baron. I don’t see spurs on your boots, so I assume you weren’t a cowboy.”

The ghost rolled his eyes. For someone who was definitely not born in the modern age, he pulled off 21st-century snark very well.

“I was not a cowboy, no, although my father owned a ranch.” He gestured out the window. “This whole neighborhood used to be my family’s land. This room is approximately where my quarters were, before the old house burned down.”

Kurt sat down in front of his vanity. “Oof, did you burn to death? That’s a rough way to go.”

Kurt usually tried to be more gentle when first discussing the manner of a ghost’s demise, but he wasn’t at his most tactful. It had been a long day, okay?

The ghost fixed Kurt with an almost patronizing stare. “It burned down in 1965.”

“Got it,” Kurt said. “So what, a horse trampled you? Smallpox? You fell off of one of those scenic cliffsides and into the ocean?”

“You have quite a macabre imagination,” the ghost commented.

“Comes with the job,” Kurt said.

“And what exactly is your…job?” The ghost asked.

“I’m a mediator,” he said simply. “Bridge between the living and dead. When someone kicks the bucket and has unfinished business, they come to me to tie up loose ends so they can move on to whatever’s next. So, what are you hung up on, uh…”

“Blaine,” the ghost said. “My name is Blaine.”

“Kurt,” Kurt replied.

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/739381076510785536/so-it-seems-our-flag-means-death-has-not-been#notes

I liked OFMD and I'm sad it's not getting renewed, but I agree that the fandom was especially toxic, even by the standards of currently popular slash-heavy fandoms. I wanted to read fic after s1 ended the way it did, and I read a little bit, but along with it having all the tropes that I can't stand in a lot of what is currently big with the MSF crowd (and that I'd been happy to have a reprieve from in my current main M/M fandom), the toxicity of the online fandom discourse made me quickly realize it was one that I was going to discuss among my current-friends-from-other-fandoms who also watched it, and my sister who watches it, and pretty much ignore the rest of the Internet. It was such a perfect storm of everything awful, from people who are overly invested in it to an unhealthy degree (I think I realized I wasn't gonna be active in the larger fandom around a month or so before the s2 renewal announcement, when I saw earnest PSA tweets telling people to "stop threatening suicide in HBO's replies if they don't renew OFMD"), to bombarding and parasocial obsessions with the creators and actors, to all the classic "anti" and purity police crap that plagues anything that gets popular on here.

The fandom it reminds me the most of, honestly, is Yuri on Ice fandom at its peak in early-mid 2017. Again, a show I love, but a fandom I absolutely do not miss. In some ways they are kind of similar shows: ones with canon M/M romances where they were not billed as that, and they were hinted from early on but people didn't trust it due to years of dealing with queerbaiting, where that sort of thing slowly crept up on people and then became the defining feature of how it was discussed everywhere. I wonder if there's a particular level of insanity that that type of thing breeds in its fans - or maybe, more broadly, "canon M/M with a large female fanbase." Like, you don't see this kind of thing in canon M/M stuff that's mostly watched by queer men rather than women, but there are shades of the insanity I also remember from Glee fandom (I was more active on the F/F side of things there, which had its own unhinged drama, but the Klaine vs. anti-Klaine stuff was so explosive that it was hard not to notice it if you were anywhere in that fandom, like a mushroom cloud in the distance). But YOI and OFMD do seem very... singular in the particular kind of obsession that they generate.

And I really wish people would shape the fuck up, because if they're going to act like this over and over again, that's just going to de-incentivize showrunners to make shows like this for that audience.

Driving Con O'Neill off Twitter was one of the worst parts of it, too. There was something so refreshingly earnest about how much he embraced the fandom, even the weirdest parts - saying with regard to NSFW fanart that "art is art" and retweeting stuff like his character in a crop-top that said "babygirl." It was so nice to see an actor who didn't usually have that kind of following embrace it wholeheartedly rather than steering clear. ....And then people had to be awful and creepy and obsessive and he left Twitter. I bet he's going to be a lot more skeptical of dealing with fans in the future!

--

It's not just the canon m/m aspect: it's the wholesomeness.

Yes, yes, they're all evil pirates, I agree, but watching S1 did give me the feeling of something that was supposed to be very progressive and light-hearted in particular ways. I don't think that's bad, but it does tend to attract some very over-sensitive fans with some very rigid expectations.

It's sadly par for the course that one of the random side character actors is the fun one and people are jackasses and desperately want the leads they ship to be the fandomy ones and/or just start creeping on any actor they can get a reaction from.

[kurtsascot]

its actually so wild to me that back in the early glee times people were defending kurt/blaine and doing the better boyfriend olympics thing, picking a side, saying x was always right etc….. like. idk. maybe its just me, but i became attached to klaine because they are messy???? i want them to fight, i want them to be a mess- thats what is interesting to me?? that they love each other and keeping fucking it up but they cant stay away from each other and keep trying??? theres something inherently delicious and desperate about that.

[wowbright]

Anderson’s Guide to the Birds of North America, Chapter 2: Touch

Summary: Fourteen scenes from the lives of Blaine Anderson, grad student and avid birder, and Kurt Hummel, clothing designer and Vogue writer, from before their first meeting during the COVID lockdowns of spring of 2020 through falling in love. Written for the Klaine Valentine’s Challenge 2025.

Also on AO3.

Chapter 2: Touch

“No fair!” Rachel squealed over Kurt’s music when she entered the living room and saw him doing his calisthenics on the rug in front of the television. She turned down the stereo speaker and set her hands on her hips.  “I told you I wanted to watch Tiger King!”

“You have a laptop!” Kurt gritted out between his twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth sit-up.

“But it's so much better on the big screen.”

“That makes it worse, because then I can't help but see it,” he panted out with thirty-one and thirty-two. “You know I can’t stomach it, Rachel.”

“I don't understand. It's like Housewives on steroids! So much backstabbing and intrigue!”

It was too hard to talk and do sit-ups at the same time. Kurt leaned back on his hands. “Because it involves animals. Aren’t you the one who started the Animal Welfare Club at McKinley?”

“That’s why I’m rooting for Carole Baskin and Big Cat Rescue!”

“Well, it's great you can enjoy it, but I can't. And I need to do my workout or I'll go stir crazy, and if I go stir crazy, I’ll make your life even more miserable than I'm already making it.”

Rachel crossed her arms and pouted. “Fine. I won't say another word about it if you make dinner tonight.”

Kurt scowled. He really didn't mind—he was a much better cook than Rachel, and it kept his mind busy—but it was better to let her think she was winning a concession from him. Winning made her happy, and if she was happy, she was less annoying, and he was less inclined to fantasize about throwing her off the fire escape. “I suppose I can do that.”

With a self-satisfied look, she spun around to head back toward her room.

Kurt grabbed the remote control from where it lay on the floor beside him and turned the speakers back up. He was greeted by the opening guitar riff of George Michael’s “Faith” and started back up on his sit-ups, trying to keep pace with the song’s rhythm.

Well, I guess it would be nice if I could touch your body I know not everybody has got a body like you

Kurt sighed. What he would give to have a man touch his body right now.

The early days of COVID had been so easy for him. Stay six feet apart from anyone and everyone? Perfect. He hated people being in his personal space in the first place. But now more than a month into it, he missed having the choice. It had been a while since he'd been in a relationship and, while he’d discovered the hard way that he wasn't one for random hookups, he did enjoy the occasional thrill of going out to the clubs and dancing with the throng, hands and hips and chests pressing up against him, men eyeing him like he was candy, touching him like he was something to be worshipped.

He was even starting to miss the dreadful first-and-final dates with strangers from the internet he forced himself to go on twice a month as part of a pact with Rachel—because, as she said, you couldn't find a man if you refused to look for one. He’d often gotten at least an awkward hug or handshake or cheek kiss on those.

These days, he and Rachel were each other's only source of touch. They cuddled on the couch most nights—unless they had annoyed each other so much that they weren't talking, which generally happened once or twice a week—and it met a need, but it didn’t fulfill it.

Well, I need someone to hold me but I’ll wait for somethin’ more

That’s what Kurt would have to do. He’d wait. He really had no choice while lockdown was in effect. Until then, he’d have to rely on Rachel and his boyfriend pillow Bruce and hope he didn’t go bonkers in the meantime.