SUNDAY

It was a lovely ceremony. Definitely not something he would want for himself, but the cruise boat wedding was perfect for his dad and Carole because it was low frills, kind of tacky, but at the end of the day really sweet. He was grateful they went with the least religious verbiage offered up by the wedding planner.

Though he was upset that because the wedding was on a cruise boat, Kurt was not allowed anything to do with the actual wedding planning or reception, he tried to tell himself that this is what his dad and Carole wanted and if that made them happy, then he was happy too. Of course, if would have made him even happier if his dad would have forgone his baseball hat for the ceremony and if there were more health-conscious options of food during the small reception, but he shoved his criticisms as far down as he could and kept telling himself that he would have full control over his own wedding someday.

As it was, Kurt Hummel was seventeen years old, a junior at McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio, and now stuck on a cruise boat with his dad, stepmother Carole and her son (his stepbrother) Finn for the next few days. It was a pleasant surprise to say the least when his dad and Carole announced they were getting married. But, when they told him and Finn that instead of a honeymoon, the Hummel-Hudson clan would be taking a family cruise, Kurt immediately blanched at the plan. Though he and Finn were fine sharing a room (now that Kurt had gotten over his crush on his straight friend-turned-stepbrother), how was he supposed to survive four days of sun and no Internet connection? Things got even worse when his dad limited the amount of luggage he was allowed to bring with him, forcing him to leave an entire carryon full of Vogue magazines back in Ohio.

Kurt sipped his champagne slowly, savoring the taste but reminding himself not to indulge too much. The last time he had anything to drink, he threw up all over his guidance counselor’s pumps and that was something he never wanted to repeat. The reception for his dad and Carole was a bit silly, since it was only the four of them in the room, but he found himself brushing stray tears from his cheeks as he watched the bride and groom cling closely to each other as they danced slowly to some 80s power ballad that seemed to mean something to them.

Finn was off trying to flirt with the bartender who was told in advanced that only the happy couple was allowed any alcohol, as the boys were underage. Kurt shook his head and turned his attention back to his parents, but was only able to stomach their adorableness for a second before he wandered over to a chair in the corner of the room and sunk down into it. He sighed, knowing it was selfish to be jealous of his dad and Carole. It was just that they had something Kurt wished he had – someone to love. Someone who loved him. Hell, someone who would hold his hand and walk with him down the hall. Their dancing was a stinging reminder that his own junior prom was coming up in less than two weeks and he didn’t have a date.

As he was told he could keep his phone on until the boat started moving, Kurt opened up a text message from his best friend, Mercedes, and read it for the millionth time. “Just say the word, Boo, and you can have all this escorting you to jr prom.” It was so tempting to just say Yes. He wanted to go so bad. And true, while he would rather go with a boy (as a boyfriend this late in the game would definitely be out of the question – especially since he didn’t know any other out guys to begin with), he also didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity for fashion. Having mastered a sewing machine at a young age, Kurt designed a McQueen-inspired kilt that he was dying to show off to his friends at the dance. But he couldn’t go with Mercedes. He just couldn’t. He would rather wear his kilt and watch a movie in his room than be stuck watching all the heterosexual couples suck face in their store bought monstrosities.

An announcement over the boat’s loudspeakers shook Kurt from his seething about junior prom. Apparently the boat was going to be leaving port soon and that people had about thirty minutes to get to their muster stations for the mandatory safety speech.

The private reception came to a close as the newlyweds and their sons met up before splitting off to go to their rooms. Though they were in the same hallway, Kurt and Finn’s room was assigned to a different muster station than their parents. They agreed to meet at Burt and Carole’s suite after the safety meeting to get themselves acquainted with the ship as a family and discuss their itinerary for their few days on the boat.

After multiple reassurances to their parents that they could figure out where they were supposed to go without their help, Kurt and Finn took the stairs down several floors to find their room. Finn cut off his stepbrother to be the one between the two of them to open the door. As he fumbled with his keycard, Kurt crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, muttering that it shouldn’t take anyone that long to open a door. Just as he was about to roll his eyes for a second time, Kurt saw something – or rather someone – out of his peripherals. He saw a brief glimpse of a face, with tanned skin and raven eyebrows, distinct in their triangular shape. Kurt’s eyes weren’t quick enough to get a better look at this other boy, but his ears caught just enough of a voice to know that whoever he was, he was also on the boat with his parents, as a gentle tenor called out, “I know, I know, Mom. Meet you and Dad back at your room right after the meeting.”

…

Blaine Anderson knew he had about ten minutes to himself before his mom knocked on his door to remind him of the plan he had literally just repeated to them. Though their rooms were near each other, for some reason they had different muster station assignments. He wasn’t their only child, but he was their youngest son and the only Anderson child on this family cruise as his older brother, Cooper, was busy filming a series of Free Credit Rating Today commercials.

Dropping his Dalton duffle bag on the floor, Blaine shucked his backpack off and placed that on his bed. He flopped down next to it and threw his arm over his forehead. This was definitely not how he thought he would be spending spring break of his junior year of high school, but he realized things could be worse. At least he wasn’t still in Ohio.

Rolling over to try and get more comfortable in his last few minutes before he had to go upstairs, Blaine found himself face to face with a folded towel. He had heard from friends who had cruised before from this company that towels folded to look like animals were always left in one’s room, but this towel didn’t look like any animal – it looked like a vagina. His arm involuntarily swung out and knocked the offending towel off his bed. He was pretty sure even if he was straight, he wouldn’t want that looking him in the face at the moment.

Blaine immediately got up, picked up the towel and shook it out before hanging it in his room’s bathroom. Looking at his watch, he figured his mom would knock soon, so he went back to his bed and opened up his backpack, which was full of books. Blaine knew he was going to have to spend some time with his parents, but he decided before they left that he was going to try and get some reading done. His private school’s curriculum was rigorous, but he had a whole week off and was looking forward to finding a quiet spot on the boat and plow through as many books as he could.

Like clockwork, there was a knock on his door a couple minutes later. With a genuine smile, he greeted his mother with another reassurance that he would meet her back at her room as soon as the meeting was over.

…

Kurt sighed as he looked around at the other people at their muster station, wishing this safety speech was over sooner rather than later. He had never been on a cruise, but all of the information seemed like common sense. As the life vest demonstration droned on in front of him, Kurt’s eyes fell onto a shorter boy across the room. Not wanting to stare, Kurt tried to steal quick glances back at this other boy when he could. The eyebrows made him fairly certain that it was the same boy he saw earlier in his hallway. However, he was standing alone among someone else’s family. Kurt was immediately intrigued by this boy’s quiet stoicism. Instead of looking bored like most of the other people in the room, this boy looked like he was somewhere else – deep in thought. Kurt wondered what the other boy was thinking about, but was quickly distracted by Finn’s elbow which had jabbed him quite hard in the ribs.

“Ow, Finn. Jesus.” Kurt smacked a hand at his stepbrother’s arm, trying to make the taller boy stop squirming around so much.

Blaine was bored. His family had been on several cruises before, so this safety schpeal was nothing he hadn’t heard before. Wishing he wasn’t alone, he started to look around at the other passengers, thinking that if something happened to the boat, these were the people he would be stuck with. Glancing around at the large family of strangers he somehow managed to stand among, he sighed.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a boy across the way hitting a taller boy he was standing next to. He chuckled, thinking how he and his brother would likely be doing the same thing if they were stuck listening to the life vest speech again. Blaine’s giggles stopped abruptly when he got a better look at the boy doing the smacking – he was gorgeous. Even though he was at least 50 feet away, Blaine felt himself swoon a bit at this other boy’s pale skin and upswept hair. He quickly eyed the taller boy this stunning person was smacking and saw that they looked nothing alike. A stab of jealousy for someone he didn’t even know briefly flashed across Blaine’s eyes. He instantly felt angry for allowing himself to be so affected by someone he didn’t even know.

Blaine didn’t have a boyfriend. He never had one and figured he likely never would – at least until college. Though his parents were not upset in the slightest that he liked boys, Blaine never had the best luck with guys. He came out the summer before his freshman year of high school and was promptly beat to a pulp after the Sadie Hawkins Dance that fall because he attended with his friend, Jackson – the only other gay kid he knew. They weren’t dating, they just wanted to go to their first high school dance and it made sense to go together. The three guys that jumped them broke Jackson’s arm, but beat the living crap out of Blaine, forcing him to spend his Thanksgiving break in a hospital bed with stitches in his head, a fractured wrist and a broken hip. When he was healed enough after extensive therapy to go back to school after winter break, he was enrolled into Dalton Academy – a private school in Westerville, Ohio that had a zero-tolerance harassment policy. He was safe from being bullied, but kept to himself. There were other out kids at his new school, but he was too scared to let himself like anyone. Blaine dove into his schoolwork, determined to get into a great college and out of Ohio so he could finally just be himself.

With a sigh, he dared to look back at the beautiful boy across the room. Blaine didn’t have the best gay-dar, but he assumed that this other boy must be with the taller guy next to him from how comfortable they were around each other, and the ease at which they touched each other, even if it was just some smacks on the arm. Though there was some frustration showing on the face of the gorgeous stranger, Blaine saw that there was also love and admiration behind his eyes too. The jealous feeling surfaced again and Blaine wished for a fraction of a second that someday he would have that with someone.

To everyone’s delight, the safety meeting ended and the masses of people started to disperse. Blaine lost sight of the boys he had been staring at and secretly hoped not to run into them again because it almost hurt to see them enjoying something he told himself he couldn’t have.

On the walk back to their room, Kurt stayed a few steps behind Finn, craning his neck to get a better look at the other people making their way down the hall. He hoped to get a glimpse of the lonely boy from the meeting. Kurt knew absolutely nothing about the shorter stranger, but the melancholy look on his face made Kurt’s insides churn with want to reach out to him somehow. With so many people on the boat, though, Kurt tried to tell himself that he was likely not going to run into him again.

…

Blaine spent part of the afternoon with his parents sitting at a table and discussing their itinerary for the cruise. The Andersons were well versed in cruising and knew which activities they knew they wanted to make time for and what they could definitely skip. Blaine liked trivia, his mom wanted to schedule some spa time, and his dad was content to just not be at his office. Ethan Anderson had also packed a stack of books he wanted to read during their trip and winked at his son, making a silent agreement to steal some time to relax and read in each other’s company while Vanessa was off getting her nails done.

Ethan and Vanessa decided together before the cruise that Blaine would be responsible for choosing the activities and shore excursions they would do once they stopped at the port cities. They wanted him to have as much fun as possible on this trip because things were going to be different once they got back to Ohio. It pained them to keep it a secret from their youngest son, but he would be starting a new school once his spring break was over. Ethan had been promoted within his law firm and the Andersons had to relocate. During the cruise, the Anderson’s house in Westerville was being packed up and their belongings were to be moved into their new house in Lima. It was going to be too far for Blaine to commute to Dalton and though they could have let him board there, they thought it would be better for him to matriculate back into public school for the remainder of his high school career. They weren’t sure how Blaine was going to handle the news because he was so fond of Dalton, but they worried that he was losing himself the longer he stayed at the private school.

Blaine was a bright and bubbly child, always making up silly songs and dancing around – completely unapologetic for being himself. But then, after the Sadie Hawkins incident, Blaine became someone else. He was still Blaine in the sense that he was still polite as ever and a great student, but he was more reserved and calculated. It was his insistence to smother his naturally curly hair with gel so that he fit in better with the other boys at school. He stopped wearing bowties and colorful socks and wore something similar to his Dalton uniform at all times, even on the weekends when he went out.

Vanessa and Ethan looked at each other before turning their attention back to their youngest son. He looked more like he used to, with Vanessa having convinced him that he should pack comfortable clothes for the cruise. She made sure that his hair gel was accidentally left back in Ohio and snuck a few of his favorite t-shirts into his duffle bag. Blaine was talking more animatedly than usual, excited for their snorkeling excursion the following morning. Before she realized what she was doing, Vanessa reached over and ran a hand through her son’s hair. He stopped talking and smiled at her, slightly confused for the gesture, but appreciative just the same. He loved his parents and was grateful they felt the same way in return. He asked aloud if either of them brought the tropical fish field guide with them so they could look up what fish they saw. Ethan clapped a hand on his son’s shoulder and assured him that the book was in his room.

…

Kurt scanned the list of activities and wanted to roll his eyes but refrained because he could tell how much his dad and Carole really wanted him and Finn to enjoy themselves. He told himself he would bite his tongue and do things with his family because he didn’t want to ruin his parents’ combination wedding/honeymoon week. Burt and Carole explained that they weren’t going to go anywhere by themselves since their sons would be graduating in a few years, and that they’d rather spend the money on a family vacation.

Burt didn’t seem too thrilled about the list of things to do on the boat and would have been content to just sit and read somewhere quiet since that was something he didn’t get to do too much of at home. But, seeing the look on Carole’s face when she saw the different spa packages that were available and Finn’s interest in the different sports trivia made Burt glad that they were able to do something together like this.

Near the bottom of the ship’s activity list was something that did catch Kurt’s eye – a nightly LGBTQ meeting. As the Hudson-Hummel family walked toward where they were having dinner, Kurt tugged on his dad’s sleeve just like he used to when he was a little boy and quietly asked if he was allowed to attend the meeting. Kurt and Finn were only seventeen, their parents set a nightly curfew for them since there was no way for them to get a hold of each other since no one could text or call. The LGBTQ meeting wasn’t supposed to be over until a half hour after Kurt’s curfew, but seeing how much this meant to his son, Burt said his he could go. For the first time since after the wedding that afternoon, Kurt gave his father a genuine smile. The Hummel men shared a big hug, causing Carole to silently ask her husband what was going on. Burt gave her half a smile and she knew that he would explain later what was going on.

…

Dinner was fairly uneventful for the Andersons. They were seated at a table with another family, and though they tried to make friendly conversation, they quickly learned that the other five people at the table were quite rude so they mostly kept to themselves. Blaine was seated in between his parents and gladly kept up conversation with them. But, there came a point where they began speaking around his back and his attention began to wander. He almost dropped his fork when he saw a familiar face across the room.

Though Kurt was tall, he felt sandwiched in between his dad and Finn because they were both broader than he. Elbows were constantly being knocked and Finn kept trying to sneak bites of food off of Kurt’s plate, claiming whatever Kurt ordered looked way better than the pile of food he had. Kurt glared at his stepbrother, silently threatening him to stop spearing chunks of sweet potato. Finn thought he was being sneaky, but quickly stopped what he was doing when Kurt grabbed his wrist and guided it away from his plate. After being scolded by Carole for misbehaving at the table, Kurt gave Finn a fake smile and then said through gritted teeth that the next time Finn took something from him, he was going to shave off one of Finn’s eyebrows in his sleep. The Hudson-Hummels finished their dinner with relatively no more interruptions between the boys.

Blaine thought to himself that he would give anything for a boy to smile at him like the gorgeous boy smiled at that oaf of a guy he was sitting next to. Taking his frustration out on his salad, Blaine stabbed at pieces of lettuce before taking a deep breath and calming himself down. He didn’t want his parents to know just how lonely he was because what eighteen year old wants to talk relationship woes with their mom and dad?

As dessert was brought out, Blaine’s attention was called back to his table when his mom started asking him about his summer plans. He still had a few more weeks of school but knew his parents expected him to get a job or at the very least volunteer somewhere to help pad his college applications. Already thinking about his options, Blaine mentioned that he was planning to audition to be part of the musical revue at King’s Island because he would be earning money while doing something musical theater related. He wasn’t 100% sure that’s what he wanted to major in, but at the very least, the audition would be good experience. By the time the Andersons were finished with their molten chocolate cake, Blaine was disappointed to see the beautiful boy from earlier was already gone.

…

It was nearing 10:00pm and Blaine was sitting alone on his suite’s balcony, watching the water crest in small waves as the boat sailed on. He had already said goodnight to his parents and promised them repeatedly that he would be ready to go with them to breakfast at 8:00am. Since he was legally an adult and they trusted him implicitly, Blaine was not given a curfew. Instead, he was told to be responsible and make smart choices should he decide to wander the boat on his own at night. Ethan and Vanessa knew their youngest son as well as he would let them and figured he would probably read or walk around for a little bit. He wasn’t a partier and though he was a born performer, Blaine was actually fairly introverted, so they didn’t expect him to get into any trouble their first night there.

When fat raindrops began falling from the night sky, Blaine went into his room and flopped down on his bed. He reached for his book on the counter, but accidentally grabbed the boat’s activity list as well. A quick look at that night’s options told Blaine that there was an LGBTQ meeting starting in a few minutes in a lounge a few floors above. On a whim, he slid on his sandals and grabbed his wallet and room’s keycard. He figured if he didn’t feel comfortable, he could always leave.

…

Kurt walked into the lounge completely unsure of what was going to happen. He had never been to an LGBTQ meeting by himself before and was nervous about being around other people who were like him. He always felt that being different made him who he was, but what happened if the other people didn’t like him? When he got into the room, he let out a small sigh of relief. There were a few dozen people already there and most of them looked friendly upon first glance.

There were bottles of water and cans of soda on a table off to the side. Grateful for the prospect of something to hold to keep his hands occupied, Kurt crossed over and grabbed a can of Diet Coke. He opened it and took a small sip, scanning the room to see if there was anyone that looked like someone he could try and get the courage to talk to later. While he was trying to covertly look around, a man went up to the microphone on the stage of the lounge and introduced himself as Kyle. He said that for that night, they would just have an open mingling session to get people talking and that meetings over the next few nights would be more structured. He encouraged everyone to introduce themselves to each other, which made Kurt a lot more nervous than he already was.

Taking another sip of soda, he turned around and saw familiar eyebrows across the room. He didn’t know how, but he managed to swallow the soda in his mouth before choking on it when he saw the other boy looking back at him. They started walking toward each other, each unaware how their feet knew what to do or where to go. The distance closed – fifty feet, then forty, then thirty. Shy smiles sprouted as they walked closer, until Kurt noticed the other boy’s eyebrows go up and his smile completely falter. Kurt was confused until he felt a hand grab his arm and swing him around, stopping him in his tracks.

“Hey, sexy.”

Kurt’s eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets as he found himself face to face with a smarmy looking boy about his age. He wasn’t used to anyone coming onto him and would have maybe shaken the whole thing off as an icebreaker if this other boy didn’t look like he was actually trying to undress Kurt with his eyes. “Um…”

A humorless laugh escaped the mouth of this stranger from whom Kurt wanted to get away. “Aw, speechless. That’s cute - I like ‘em quiet.” Kurt’s mouth dropped open and then quickly shut as the other boy continued to talk. “I’m Sebastian. And you are?”

Blaine closed in on the pair of boys. He recognized a look of panic on the beautiful boy he was initially walking toward and felt his heart surge with anger. Without really thinking, he took bold final steps toward the boys until he was standing behind the one who had hold of the beautiful boy who was struggling to get out of his grasp. Reaching out, Blaine put a gentle hand on the beautiful boy’s shoulder, stilling him and his offender. “There you are.” Blaine couldn’t believe the words were flowing out of his mouth with such ease and false confidence. “I’ve been looking for you forever.”

As Sebastian turned his head to look at whoever was interrupting his acquisition of that night’s hook up, Kurt’s eyes widened when he saw it was the boy with the eyebrows, but then softened immediately to pretend like he was expecting him all along. Acting was always a passion of Kurt’s and he was determined to put on an Oscar worthy performance if it meant getting this aggressive guy’s hands off of him sooner.

“Oh, hey,” Kurt said in mock surprise. “Sorry I got held up.” He shrugged his arm hard, forcing Sebastian to let go. With a grateful smile, he turned to the boy with the eyebrows and looked him square in the eye, desperately wishing that telepathy were a real thing.

If Blaine weren’t so busy trying to help this stranger out, he was sure his heart would have stopped or at least skipped a beat. The beautiful stranger was even more stunning up close and the swirly blues, greens and grays of his eyes would have made Blaine’s knees weak. Instead, he gave an understanding nod and offered a friendly smile. A returned smile from the other boy gave Blaine courage he didn’t know he had. He forgot about the other boy in front of him and the taller boy he had seen this beautiful stranger with earlier and asked in a hopeful voice, “So, did you want to take that walk?”

Kurt nodded quickly. He didn’t know this other boy, but somehow had a feeling that he was much safer to be around than this Sebastian creep who grabbed him. Without a second glance, Kurt followed his rescuer across the room, through the lounge’s entrance and out a door leading to the boat’s deck.

As soon as they were alone and Kurt was sure Sebastian hadn’t followed them, he stopped walking, as he was unsure if he should actually go with this other boy. “Um, thank you for that, in there” he said softly.

Blaine nodded, silently accepting the other boy’s gratitude. He nervously ran a hand up his neck and through the hair on the back of his head. “I normally don’t… but he… I just…” He sighed, wishing he were actually the confidant person he was just pretending to be. “I didn’t see your boyfriend and it looked like that other guy was bothering you. But I don’t want to bother you either, so I’ll just –” Blaine stopped talking on his own accord because he dared to look up at the other boy and found him staring with a completely puzzled look on his face.  “What?”

Kurt cocked his head at this stranger who seemed so sure about things about him even though they were very much strangers. “Boyfriend?” He almost laughed. “I don’t have a boyfriend!”

“Oh! But…” Blaine was confused and embarrassed.

“But?” Kurt wasn’t trying to be rude, but he was honestly intrigued at what this boy with the eyebrows thought he knew about him.

“I saw you – at the safety meeting thing earlier. And then again at dinner. With him.” Even though it was dark out, Kurt could see the other boy blushing hard underneath the boat’s soft deck lighting. “He’s really… tall.”

Kurt tried to hold back a smile, but he couldn’t even though he was biting his lip. “That’s my brother! Well, stepbrother. Our parents got married this afternoon.”

“Oh.” Blaine’s shoulders dropped with relief, but he still felt dumb for his assumptions, especially because the beautiful stranger had likely figured out that he was staring at him every chance he could get that.  “Well, I should still leave you alone, though. I… yeah – ” He started to turn on his heel, wanting to run back down to his room and hole up for the rest of the cruise.

“No, wait!” Kurt couldn’t believe he was doing this, but he went for it anyway. “Do you want to walk around? I have curfew in a bit, but… since, I mean, we’re already supposed to be on one. A walk, I mean.” It was Kurt’s turn to blush and that made Blaine feel slightly more at ease.

“Yeah, okay,” Blaine agreed. “Um, I’m Blaine, by the way.” Well mannered, he immediately held his hand out to shake the other boy’s hand for a proper introduction.

“Kurt,” he replied, sliding his palm against Blaine’s. Their hands fit together perfectly as they gave a quick shake before dropping their hold, each afraid of being the one to hold on too long and make it more awkward than it already was.

“Kurt,” Blaine repeated, liking the way the other boy’s name sounded rolling off his tongue. They started walking. “So, um, curfew?”

Kurt rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Yeah. It’s not that my parents don’t trust me, but with us not being able to use our cell phones and text each other on the boat, they want me and Finn – that’s my stepbrother – back in our room by 11:00pm. We’re both seventeen, but it’s easier to just do what they want now so we can use it as leverage later.”

It was Blaine’s turn to chuckle, “That sounds reasonable.”

“So I’m guessing you don’t have a curfew?”

Blaine shook his head as they strolled past some empty deck chairs. “Nah. I’m not usually out late anyway and my parents said that they trust me since ‘I’m an adult,’ though being eighteen really doesn’t have too many perks. At least none that I can think of besides voting.”

Kurt snorted, thinking it was dorky but cute that the boy with the eyebrows thought the best thing about being a little bit older was voting.

There was probably about a foot between the two of them as they walked, each not wanting to encroach on the other’s space.

“I kinda thought that meeting was going to be more organized,” Kurt said softly. “I had never been to one like that before.”

Blaine could hear the disappointment in the other boy’s voice. “I’ve been to a few at school. I guess it really depends on who is running them.” He looked over at Kurt and smiled even though the other boy wasn’t looking. “I’m glad I went tonight, though. I don’t think I would have had the courage to ask you your name otherwise,” he admitted sheepishly.

Kurt stopped walking and turned to Blaine. At first he didn’t know what to say because he was flattered and confused. But when he saw the embarrassment across Blaine’s face, he gave him a knowing smile. “Yeah, I would have kept referring to you as ‘the boy with the eyebrows.’”

That caught Blaine off guard, but in a good way. So he wasn’t the only one who was looking… that made him have a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

A small beeping sound broke their pseudo moment. Kurt looked at his watch and sighed. “Whelp, looks like I gotta get back so Finn doesn’t rat me out.”

“Can I walk you to your room?”

Kurt knew what that question could imply, but coming from Blaine it honestly just sounded like he was asking to spend a few more minutes with his new acquaintance. “Yeah, sure.” They opted to take the stairs instead of the elevator and Blaine let out a chuckle when Kurt stopped them on the fifth floor and turned right down the hallway. “What’s so funny?”

Blaine pointed up a ways. “My room is up the hall a bit, on the left. I guess I don’t know why I laughed.”

“So… thanks for walking back with me, Blaine. Maybe I’ll see you around?”

With a nod, Blaine said, “Yeah, I’d like that. I have to go to breakfast and stuff with my parents tomorrow, but I’ll at least see you at dinner, right? We could maybe do something tomorrow night, or something?”

“Yeah, maybe.” Kurt smiled shyly as he pulled out his keycard. “Goodnight, Blaine.”

“Night, Kurt.”

They exchanged smiles once more before Kurt opened his suite’s door and gently closed it behind him, leaving a slightly smitten Blaine in the hallway.

Maybe the cruise wasn’t going to be so bad after all.