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“Coop, let’s go, you’re so slow,” Blaine whines, dragging out the last word and tugging at the bottom of Cooper’s shirt. Cooper ignores him, like usual. Blaine realizes that ever since Cooper grew a lot taller this year, he talks to a lot more girls. Blaine’s tried complaining to his parents. Mom just says that Cooper has puberty. Blaine wants to avoid puberty forever, because puberty is when you stop playing, and become mean, like Cooper is right now.
“That’s no way to talk in front of a pretty lady, Blaine, have some manners,” Cooper winks at Marissa. She giggles. Blaine rolls his eyes. He’s gotten used to Coop talking with so many girls at the park, but it’s never less boring. “Sorry,” he mumbles, and scuffs his shoe on the grass. He grins at the girl with all his teeth, the smile that gets grandma to give him cookies before dinner, and is unsurprised when Marissa says, “Oh, no worries! You’re the cutest, Blaine. Cooper, do you have to babysit often?”
As he continues the conversation, Cooper subtly pushes Blaine’s hand away from his shirt, and turns his full attention to Marissa. They’re so close to the edge of the playground. Blaine can see where the grass turns into pebbles and all the swings and monkey bars are just waiting for him to be played on.
Blaine turns his head to the sky and sighs, searching for something a little more interesting than Cooper and this girl talking about their weekends baby-sitting and their monster math teacher. He feels a tap on his shoulder.
Startled, Blaine whips his head around to see another boy, the palest person Blaine has ever met, like a ghost with freckle-dots on his face. Ghost boy laughs at Blaine’s expression before morphing into a mischievous smile, “You’re it!” and runs like a bullet into the playground.
Blaine needs no explanation, and darts after him, weaving between the swings, under the slides, and over the see-saws. Ghost boy shrieks with laughter every time Blaine does a fancy ninja shortcut to catch him, but still only manages to grasp air. He chases Ghost boy in circles, over and over, until their circles get smaller and tighter, and they’re both running so fast it feels like their bodies are diagonal, they’re going so fast! Finally, Blaine manages to tag Ghost boy on the shoulder and they both fall to the pebble-sand, laughing.
“Kurt,” a big man bellows from across the park. He has a baseball hat backwards on his head, and is running towards them, “You’re too quick, buddy, I can’t catch ya, show me some mercy!”
Blaine looks over at Kurt, sees his Ghost friend Kurt wave and yell back, “S’okay, dad! I got a new friend!”
Blaine beams, gets back up to his feet and holds a hand to Kurt to help lift him up, “Hi, my name is Blaine.”
Kurt takes his hand and lets himself be pulled up. “My name is Kurt.”
They smile at each other, with the excitement dancing in their eyes, not realizing they’re still holding each other’s hands. Kurt’s dad reaches them, catching his breath, and turns to Blaine, “Nice to meet you. What’s your name?”
“Blaine,” Kurt and Blaine reply in unison. “Jinx!”
“Alright, you guys can continue playing. Kurt, be nice, and stay where I can watch you. But first, Blaine, where’s your dad?”
With his free hand, Blaine points to Cooper on other side of the playground, still on the grass talking with the girl, “My brother’s there.” He doesn’t want to be rude, but Blaine really doesn’t want to talk with Kurt’s dad anymore. It’s always the same thing with grownups. His name is Blaine, he’s five and a half years old, grade 1 is fun. Kurt basically reads his mind, and primly tells his dad they’re in the middle of tag, and if they could “please stop talking and start playing again.”
Kurt’s dad chuckles, before turning towards a nearby bench and settling there.
Finally, they can play now. Blaine looks at their hands together, suddenly realizing he’s still grasping Kurt’s sweaty palm. Kurt jerks his hand away, “Oh, sorry!”
Blaine frowns a little, already missing Kurt’s warm touch, “That’s okay, I liked it.”
Kurt’s eyebrows come together in puzzlement before his face blooms into a bright smile. “We can play a new game. We can hold hands and dance. My mommy and I do it all the time.”
That sounds fun. Blaine loves dancing, but he finally caught Kurt, and that took so much work. “No, it’s your turn to be It! But after? We can dance after?”
“Okay!”
Blaine sprints. Kurt follows. After tag, they dance holding hands, and rarely let go of each other.