WEDNESDAY

McKinley High School’s gymnasium was covered with sparkling crepe paper and there were balloons raining down from the ceiling. Kurt looked around and saw all his friends from the glee club smiling and cheering him on. Mercedes called out and started pointing behind him, like he was supposed to turn around and see something.

Or someone.

Kurt spun on his heels, holding a hand up to steady his Prom King crown. Laughing as he slid the golden halo up off his forehead, his eyes lit up when he saw Blaine walking toward him.

The older boy was dressed to the nines in a form fitting tux and smart looking bowtie. His curly hair was straightened out a bit and gelled back, making him look like he stepped out of the 1950s or something. Blaine crossed toward Kurt, with a hand held out. “May I have this dance?”

Kurt blushed but immediately accepted. “You may.”

Hands clasped, Blaine pulled Kurt close to him and it seemed like everyone else disappeared. As they swayed together, Blaine sang along to the song that was playing over the loudspeakers.

“… We can dance, until we die, you and I… we’ll be young forever. You make me feel like I’m living a teenage dream, the way you turn me on. I can’t sleep. Let’s runaway and don’t ever look back, don’t ever look back.”

Blaine’s voice soon morphed into that of Katy Perry and Kurt’s face scrunched up in protest. “No, I want you to keep singing to me, Blaine, ” he mumbled in his sleep as Blaine fumbled to turn off his phone’s alarm. He would have been more embarrassed, but “Teenage Dream” seemed oddly fitting when he looked down at Kurt and thought how falling asleep with someone so wonderful had always been one of his own teenage dreams.

Blaine reluctantly flipped on the bedside lamp, squinting when the light brightened the room. However, the older boy couldn’t help but smile as he watched Kurt try to snuggle closer into his side. As much as he enjoyed watching Kurt sleep, the sun was due up in a few minutes and Blaine really wanted to share that with Kurt.

“Kurt,” Blaine said softly as he gently nudged the other boy. “Hey Kurt… it’s time to wake up.”

The younger boy took a moment before opening his eyes to try and quickly piece together what was real and what was not. The school dance was obviously a dream, but that voice – Blaine’s voice right then – that was real. And the up and down motion of the warm body he seemed to be pressed against was real too. Kurt Hummel just spent the night in bed with another boy – that was something that happened.

He also knew a lamp had been turned on, so Kurt took his time opening his eyes to adjust to the light in the room. As his eyelashes fluttered open, his blue eyes met hazel and he almost had to catch his breath.

Blaine was leaning up on his elbow and looking down at Kurt. His shy smile, surrounded by a dusting of stubble, was impossibly cute and borderline unbelievable. Kurt wanted to reach up and run a hand through Blaine’s curly mess of bedhead, but he somehow managed to restrain himself.

“Hi,” Kurt whispered, voice thick with sleep.

“Morning.” Blaine bit his lip. “Did you, um, still want to watch the sunrise with me?”

Kurt thought it was adorable how nervous Blaine was when he asked that question, like he actually thought Kurt was going to say No even though they just spent the whole night sleeping on each other. His first instinct would normally be to tease or sarcastically comment that he was content to wake up that early but didn’t want to bother with looking at the probably gorgeous sunrise, but Kurt held his tongue. Blaine was looking at him with such hopeful eyes – being completely vulnerable in the moment, whether he knew it or not – that Kurt could only swallow and give a small nod. Though it was already discussed that they liked each other, Kurt was still so unsure of what was going on between them because it was just all so new to him to be on the receiving end of any sort of non-platonic affection.

Soon they were seated on Blaine’s balcony, their chairs pressed close together and hands entwined.

The sky was already stunning with shades of blues and pinks as the sun made its presence known at the horizon. Both boys could feel that this was more than just the dawn of a new day.

Feeling the weight of the moment, Blaine looked down at their clasped hands. He was so overwhelmed by how perfectly their fingers slotted together and how even though it was such a new experience for him, Kurt’s hand in his already felt natural – like it was specifically meant to fit there.

Kurt saw Blaine out of the corner of his eye and bit the inside of his cheek, not knowing how he was supposed to react. His heart was both bursting with exponential happiness, but breaking at the same time because this was their last day together for the unforeseeable future. Their schools were almost a couple hours apart and he didn’t know Blaine’s stance on whether he wanted to actually pursue some sort of… something. Having never been in this situation, Kurt was unsure if what he and Blaine had was considered a relationship or if that was something Blaine even wanted with him.

Blaine could feel something shift in the way Kurt’s hand was holding his and looked up to find the other boy trying not to make it obvious that he was looking at him. “What?”

The younger boy wanted shook his head. “Nothing. I’m just,” he shook his head and sighed, “I’m just really glad to be here right now. With you.”

A warm feeling spread across Blaine’s chest as he took in Kurt’s words, feeling pleased with himself for reasons he didn’t quite know. He brought their hands up to his lips so he could give Kurt’s knuckles a gentle kiss like the night before. Kurt smiled at the gesture and gave Blaine’s hand a reassuring squeeze.

They sat in silence and watched the sun. Each boy had a hundred questions to ask the other, but neither wanted to disrupt their peaceful morning by saying the wrong thing.

Eventually, Kurt spoke up. His voice was laced with regret as he said, “I should probably go back to my room. Finn might still be asleep and if I can get in there before he wakes up than I’ll be completely in the clear with our parents.” When he continued to ramble, Blaine held back a small smile. “I mean, I don’t think he’ll tell on me, but I also don’t want to owe him forever because you know he’ll hang this over my head as long as he can and –”

“Kurt,” Blaine interjected softly. “It’s okay.” He wanted Kurt to stay, but if he wasn’t ready to face the Inquisition that would be his parents, he assumed Kurt wouldn’t want to have to explain anything to his family when the fact was that nothing happened. That wasn’t the whole truth, though because a lot actually happened and Blaine was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he got his first kiss and slept – actually slept – with someone. It was the first time he felt brave enough to open his heart up to someone else and let him have the opportunity to handle it however he wanted. Blaine was eternally grateful that the person to whom he entrusted this incredibly fragile and almost broken entity was Kurt.

Together they stood, hands still wrapped around one another, and walked back into Blaine’s room. Reluctantly, Kurt pulled the handle down and opened the door. He took one step out into the hallway before turning back around to face Blaine.

“Dad and Carole said we had mandatory family time this morning, but I can’t wait until tonight to see you again.” Blaine’s cheeks quickly became stained pink. “There’s, uh, trivia this afternoon where we had it yesterday. We can meet there. I mean, if you want to.”

Blaine nodded. “Yeah. I mean, of course I want to.”

Kurt smiled, “See you later then.” His eyes darted down to Blaine’s lips the exact moment Blaine’s lowered to his.

They hesitantly leaned toward each other, Blaine’s head tilting ever so slightly because that’s what he remembered seeing people do in the movies and on television. Taking in a quick breath, Blaine’s eyelashes fluttered shut and soon his mouth found Kurt’s… knuckles. Confused, the older boy’s eyes snapped open and found himself staring at Kurt’s fingertips. He pulled back as Kurt guiltily removed his hand from in front of his mouth.

“I didn’t brush my teeth yet,” Kurt whispered sheepishly. He knew he ruined the moment, but would have been mortified to kiss Blaine with anything less than minty-fresh breath.

Blaine bit back a smile and leaned in again. Kurt jerked back slightly on instinct, but melted into the touch of Blaine’s lips gently landing on his cheek. Smiling, he wrapped his arms around Blaine’s back and hugged him closely. They stayed like that for several moments before Kurt finally allowed his arms to drop. With a smile, he walked backward, unwilling to let Blaine out of his sight for any longer than he had to. When he finally reached his own door, he waved to Blaine before turning around to let himself quietly back into his room.

Preoccupied by thoughts of Blaine, Kurt failed to notice the empty room service tray that had been hastily placed in front of his dad and Carole’s suite just a few doors down the hall.

…

Once inside his room, Kurt breathed a grateful sigh that Finn was still asleep. He quickly crossed to where Finn’s phone was resting on the counter by his bed and grabbed the note he had written the night before. Tiptoeing to the bathroom, Kurt shut the door behind him and looked at the note. Part of him wanted to keep it, as a memento of the first night he and Blaine spent together, but a larger part of him thought that he should probably destroy all evidence because no one but he and Blaine needed to know what did or did not happen. Plus, the note was blackmail against Finn and if he wanted to keep his own secret safe, he should probably let Finn get away with his drunken escapades. Kurt tore the note into the tiniest pieces be possible could before brushing his teeth.

When he was finished in the bathroom, Kurt lay down on his bed but he couldn’t sleep. His mind wandered to Blaine and he tried to think of how he could broach the topic of what was going on between them and if Blaine wanted to continue that post-cruise. Though deep in thought, he was not so far gone that he didn’t hear a piece of paper being shoved under the door.

Kurt got off his bed and went over to the door, bending down to pick up the paper. It was a note from Carole. Apparently she and Burt already had breakfast so the boys were expected to get breakfast on their own and meet them on the top deck for a family game of mini-golf at 10:00am.

…

Vanessa knocked on the door to her son’s room and was instantly greeted with a wide smile and a big hug.

“Morning, B,” Vanessa chucked as she embraced her youngest son. “Someone must have slept good. Did you and Kurt have fun last night?” Blaine tensed in his mother’s arms, wondering frantically how she knew about their night together. “You must know the whole boat like the back of your hand by now with how much you two have been walking around.”

Blaine exhaled a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding. He remembered that he told her at dinner the night before that Kurt was asking for a curfew extension so they could hang out a little bit longer than they had the previous couple nights. He explained that they liked to walk around and talk, blushing when he admitted that it was really easy to talk to Kurt. It almost surprised him how encouraging his parents looked when he asked if it was okay that he was spending so much time with Kurt and they immediately said yes.

“Yeah,” Blaine said as he ended their hug. “We had fun. Walking around, I mean. It was great.”

The Andersons went to breakfast, though it was oddly quiet for most of the meal. Vanessa and Ethan kept eyeing each other, trying to somehow telepathically tell the other one to bring up their relocation and his school transfer. They were flying into Columbus the following evening and it would be bad form if the first Blaine heard about their new house in Lima was when they pulled into the driveway.

“Blaine, sweetie,” Vanessa started slowly, “we have… something to tell you.”

Ethan’s eyebrows slid up as he watched his son look back and forth between his parents, completely clueless about what he was about to be told.

“Yeah?” Blaine asked, beyond confused and now horrendously worried that his parents were going to spring some sort of horrific news on him. He wracked his brain, trying to figure out what they could be so hesitant to tell him. Blaine put his fork down, assuming the worst. “Is someone dying? Does someone have cancer?” He tried to read the truth in his mom and dad’s eyes, but was coming up short. “Mom?”

“No, bud, it’s just that… your dad and I wanted to spend some time with you this morning.” Vanessa chickened out. “We’re going to go to the art auction as a family, okay?”

Blaine was still confused. “O… kay.” His eyebrows furrowed, unsure why his mom would phrase it like that. Going to the art auction was not a big deal, because it sounded like whatever his mom was going to tell him was going to be some sort of game changer and an art auction definitely wasn’t that.

Ethan clapped a hand on his son’s back and gave him a smile. “Great. That’s settled.” Blaine nodded slowly as he picked his fork back up and slowly stabbed a piece of waffle. His dad startled rubbing circles on his back, like he was trying to make him feel better about something, but as far as Blaine knew everything was still fine even though his parents were acting weird. “Oh, and we’re meeting up with Kurt’s family for lunch later.”

…

Finn and Kurt found their parents waiting on a bench on the upper level of the deck at 10:09am.

“Sorry we’re late,” Kurt apologized as he greeted his dad with a hug. “Finn needed a third bowl of cereal.”

“No worries, kiddo,” Burt replied as he gave his boy a squeeze, grateful his son was the kind of guy who still gave hugs. “Now who’s ready to get their ass handed to them?”

Carole rolled her eyes at her husband before giving her own son a good morning hug and kiss on his cheek.

The course was only nine holes and there were no other people up on the deck, so they decided to play twice through in order to get a proper 18-hole game in. For some reason, they were letting Finn keep score. His math wasn’t terrible, but he kept misplacing the tiny pencil.

During one of the frequent lost pencil breaks, Carole sided up to Kurt and wrapped an arm around him, giving him a loving shake. “Having fun?”

Kurt smiled widely as he looked over to Carole. He took a deep breath of fresh air and happily answered, “Yeah, I am. This is nice. I mean, we probably shouldn’t have let Finn keep score…” They both chuckled as they watched Finn empty out a fourth pocket of his cargo shorts. Kurt called over to his stepbrother, “It’s behind your ear, Finn!”

Finn looked up in alert and saw his mom and Kurt both nodding at him, indicating that he should trust what Kurt said. He put a hand up to his ear and grinned when he found his missing pencil there. “Thanks, bro!”

Carole smiled, but bit her lip as she looked back over toward Kurt. She hadn’t told Burt that she saw Kurt sneaking out of Blaine’s room that morning, but she needed to know that Kurt was being safe because Burt would have to know about it eventually.

“Um, are you having fun with Blaine, Kurt?”

Blue eyes widened as Kurt looked over at Carole to see an almost worried look in her eye. “What are you talking about?”

Carole winced, not knowing how to tell him without wholly embarrassing him. “I was just putting our room service tray out in the hallway and… I saw you leaving his room this morning, sweetheart. Were you two at least safe, honey?”

Kurt’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline as he opened his mouth, but only little noises of protests escaped from his throat because he was too in shock to form any words.

It was Carole’s turn to putt, so she put on a cheery smile and took her turn, doing a little curtsey when Burt applauded her for getting one under par on the hole. Burt’s turn was next, so Carole walked back over to Kurt, hoping he’d be willing to confirm her suspicions.

Kurt’s face was beet red, but as soon as she was next to him again he whispered, “We didn’t sleep together.” He shook his head, frustrated in the moment. “I mean, we slept together in the same bed, but we didn’t sleep together.” Carole gave him a silent look that asked are you sure, but Kurt found the courage to look her square in the eye. “Carole, I swear. We just slept.” She was not satisfied with his answer, knowing something else must have happened for Kurt to look that giddy that morning. “Okay, fine,” Kurt hissed. “We kissed too.” He looked down at his shoes, wishing he could melt into the Astroturf that covered the putt-putt golf course. “Please don’t tell my dad.”

It was honestly more information that Carole expected Kurt to give her and she knew it wasn’t her place to tell Burt what was going on with him and Blaine. “I won’t. But you should.”

He knew she was right, and he was planning to – just not right then. It was one thing to keep the bullying from his father, but if Kurt wanted to try and see Blaine after the cruise, he knew he had to be up front with the status of their whatever he and Blaine were.

“Your turn, Kurt!” Burt exclaimed. Kurt gave him a weak smile and walked over to the green. Just as Kurt pulled his putter back to hit the ball, Burt said, “Oh, I forgot to tell ya, we’re having lunch with the Andersons later. It’ll be nice to get to know that Blaine kid some more, yeah?”

Kurt’s ball sailed off the green and onto the track that surrounded the course.

…

“Oh my god, Carole thought we… you know… had sex last night,” Kurt whispered to Blaine as they stood in line to get stir-fry for lunch. “She saw me leave your room this morning. She asked me if we were safe, Blaine.” Kurt’s cheeks flushed as Blaine held back a giggle. “It’s not funny.”

“It kinda is,” Blaine admitted, but then Kurt scowled at him and turned around to face the front of the line. “Listen, if it makes you feel any better, my parents have been acting weird.” Kurt rolled his eyes and shifted so that he was facing Blaine again, waiting for him to explain. “I mean, they don’t seem to have any idea about last night and I’m hoping to keep it that way… but this morning they kept looking at each other all worried-like and then my mom started to give me one of those ‘B, we need to tell you something’ speeches, but it was just that her and my dad were taking me to the art auction, which was dumb, by the way.”

“B?” Kurt asked, eyebrow raised in curiosity.

“What? Oh, like you don’t have a nickname.”

“Hey sexy,” Sebastian interjected as he stopped next to them in line. He had a chocolate soft serve cone in his hand and began licking it suggestively while eyeing Kurt.

Kurt just rolled his eyes, “Oh my god, Sebastian, please just go away. Like, forever.”

Blaine grimaced as Sebastian went to town on his cone, enveloping the entirety of the whole cold dessert in his mouth and waggling his eyebrows at Kurt.

Sebastian sucked at the soft serve and smacked his lips before winking at Kurt and walking away, bumping Blaine’s shoulder in the process.

“He’s vile,” Kurt muttered before turning his full attention back to Blaine. “As I was about to say, no, I don’t have a nickname. And yes, it does sound like your parents are acting weird. It’s like they need to tell you something but don’t know how.”  Blaine stood there, speechless. He was in awe how Kurt could completely brush off Sebastian’s advances and then address him – Blaine Devon Anderson – like he was the only person in the room. The attention was flattering and a bit overwhelming. “What?” Kurt asked.

Blaine smiled and shook his head. “Nothing. I just… nothing.” They shuffled forward a few steps in line before Blaine had the nerve to lean in and whisper in Kurt’s ear, “You amaze me.”

…

Burt and Ethan were the first two back at the lunch table because they were the least picky eaters of the group. They sat down across from each other and sat in comfortable silence for a moment before Burt finally asked, “So, you tell your kid yet that he’s changing schools?”

Shaking his head, Ethan swallowed his bite of hamburger before he answered. “No. I thought Vanessa was going to tell him this morning at breakfast, but… I don’t know why we’re making this harder than in has to be. I mean, ‘we’re moving and you’re going back to public school’ shouldn’t be that hard to tell an eighteen year old.”

“What shouldn’t be that hard to tell an eighteen year old kid?” Blaine asked as he set his tray down on the table and then sat in the chair next to his father.

Ethan was startled by the sudden appearance of his son and Kurt, who sat across from Blaine. “Oh, uh, nothing. I mean, nothing important really.” Burt shot Ethan a look before wiping his own mouth with a napkin. “We’ll talk about it later. Right now I want to hear about you, Kurt,” Ethan said as he directed attention away from his son and onto the boy across the table. “Your dad told me you help out in his garage sometimes?”

Kurt nodded as he swallowed his bite of stir-fry. “Yeah. Been working on cars since I was in middle school.”

This was news to Blaine and he almost choked on a carrot when he briefly pictured Kurt bent over the hood of a car. He was knocked out of his reverie when his dad patted him on the back.

“Blaine and I tried to restore a ’59 Chevy in our driveway a few summers ago. We thought it would be fun, but we honestly had no idea what we were doing,” Ethan explained.

The youngest Anderson smiled good-naturedly, remembering the countless hours he and his dad spent trying to fix that car. Blaine came out to his father while they were researching how to fix the carburetor. To his credit, Ethan stopped what he was doing, gave his son a huge hug, and then asked him to hand over the wrench already. They laughed a lot that summer and Blaine was forever grateful to have spent that time with his dad who loved him just as much the day he came out as he did all the years leading up to that moment.

Soon Carole, Vanessa and Finn found their way back to the table and the families settled into easy conversation. The Anderson parents were eager to talk with Kurt and Finn about their school, hoping them discussing public school would help for when they later tell Blaine about having to leave Dalton.

Midway through lunch, Kurt’s foot found Blaine’s ankle under the table and they shared what they thought was a private smile upon contact. Burt was on his way back from filling up his cup of water when he saw them playing footsie and he smirked to himself as he sat down.

“So Blaine, what grade are you in?”

Blaine tore his gaze from Kurt and looked up at Burt before answering, “I’m a junior, sir. Just like Kurt and Finn.”

“You can call me Burt, kid,” Burt said before launching into another question. “You planning on going to college after high school?”

Kurt peered up at his dad and then over to Blaine, trying to give him an apologetic look about his dad’s questioning. Blaine didn’t seem to mind, though, because he respected Burt Hummel an awful lot for raising such a great son. “Uh, yes, sir, I mean, Burt. Though, I’m still not sure what I want to study. I was thinking probably education or something with music. Maybe even music education.” He shrugged before putting another forkful of his lunch in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

Vanessa and Ethan looked over at each other and raised their eyebrows. This was news to them, as Blaine hadn’t really discussed what he wanted to pursue as a career later on.

Lunch became less of an interrogation and more of a general conversation about life in general. It went without saying that the Andersons were a family with a lot of money as they told stories about other trips they had taken. They weren’t bragging or anything, it was just factual information that they traveled a lot even before Blaine was born. Kurt was in awe of the places they had been and felt awkward for a moment when he realized the monetary and education gap between Blaine’s parents and his own father. However, he quickly saw that Blaine’s dad and his dad were nothing less than genuinely friendly toward each other and that Vanessa and Carole were getting along like they had known each other for years. Even Finn was fitting in, talking with Blaine, Burt and Ethan about football and basketball. Kurt secretly wished they could have joint family meals like this after they got back to Ohio.

…

The two families had such a good time at lunch that they all agreed to go to trivia together. Kurt was a little disappointed when it turned out to be sports trivia, but smiled when Carole and Vanessa asked him to sit with them while the rest of their families grabbed pencils and slips of paper, eager to try and out-smart each other.

Vanessa and Carole ordered frozen cocktails from a waiter that was walking around and they convinced Kurt to get a virgin pina colada. The three of them sipped their drinks and talked quietly while their boys listened in to the cruise staff member who was reading out the trivia questions.

Midway through the trivia, Blaine turned around to sneak a peek at Kurt and saw the younger boy sipping his drink and grinning back, even with a straw in his mouth. Blaine flashed him a huge smile and winked before focusing back on the trivia task at hand.

Seeing the interaction between their sons, Vanessa and Carole shared a look and chuckled. The boys were too cute for words and it warmed both their hearts to see their kids so happy. They could tell what Kurt and Blaine had was more than just a crush and thought it was adorable to see these two usually guarded boys so open and flirty with each other. Carole nudged Kurt and gave him a knowing look, to which Kurt blushed and tried to make it look like the inside of his drink was the most interesting thing in the room.

Soon, the trivia questions were finished being read and one by one, the answers were revealed. Vanessa, Carole and Kurt all laughed when they heard various groans coming from their families a few rows up.

After all the answers were given, the cruise staff member raised the cheap trophy in the air and asked who thought they won. Kurt looked as several hands shot up around the room, but saw that none of the Anderson, Hummel or Hudson men was among those most confident.

No one in the room got all twenty questions right, nor did anyone even get nineteen or eighteen correct. When the cruise staff member wanted to know if anyone got seventeen right, Kurt was a little shocked to see Blaine thrust his hand in the air.

Blaine was the only one with that amount of correct answers, so he was waved up to the stage to collect his prize. He leapt out of his seat and jogged up the steps to the stage, curls bouncing with each step. Accepting his trophy, he made his way back down to his seat and plopped down next to his dad, earning high 5s from Finn and Burt.

When second and third place finishers (none of whom were Ethan, Burt or Finn) were given their medals, most of the trivia crowd in the room dispersed. Kurt, Carole and Vanessa walked up to the front of the room to congratulate Blaine and offer their condolences to the trivia losers.

Amid the laughter, Blaine assumed an earnest guise and held out his trophy to Kurt. “Here,” Blaine said softly so that only Kurt could hear him. “I won this for you.”

“Blaine,” Kurt said in shock as Blaine tried to get him to take the trophy. “I can’t accept that. You won it because apparently you know a lot more about sports than I thought and I…” his voice drifted off when Blaine looked insistent. “Thank you,” he murmured as he finally accepted the trophy. It was silly, this five inch piece of junk that boasted the name of the cruise line on its base. It was silly, but was from Blaine, so that meant Kurt would honestly treasure it as if it were a Tony Award.

The older boy smiled and slid a hand into Kurt’s before bringing their clasped digits behind his back so that no one else in their group would see. Kurt’s cheeks flushed pink at the gesture and he gripped tightly to the trophy, wanting to explode with happiness right where he stood. “So, what’s next?” Kurt asked the rest of the group, hoping they were going to do something else together because it was fun getting to spend time with everyone.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Finn pulled a folded itinerary out of his pocket. Carole smiled to herself and shook her head as her son looked intently at the list. “Um, there is towel animal folding up on the top deck or it says that in here they are going to teach people how to do the ‘Time Warp.’” Finn yanked the paper down from in front of his face and glanced over at his stepbrother. “We already know how to do that, so you wanna fold towel animals?”

Blaine’s eyebrows shot up as he glanced at the boy he was holding hands with. “Hold up, what?”

Kurt shrugged, “We were going to do Rocky Horror for the school musical this year. Finn was Brad.”

“Yeah, and Kurt was that weird dude,” Finn said with a smile, thinking back on the school musical that never was.

Blaine was confused by Finn’s comment, as there was definitely more than one “weird dude” in Rocky Horror. Kurt seemed to pick up on Blaine’s confusion and supplied him with the correct character, “Riff Raff.”

“Reeeeeeaaaaalllllly,” Blaine responded to Kurt before addressing the rest of the group. “Well, I vote for ‘Time Warp’.”

Kurt squinted his eyes at Blaine, wondering what angle he was trying to play. It was impossible to say no to the borderline begging heart eyes Blaine was giving him, so Kurt couldn’t help but to agree. “Fine. But only if everyone does it.”

Burt shrugged, more than happy to make a fool out of himself to see his kid happy. “I’m in. I remember seeing that Rocky Horror thing with your mom at the movies a few times.”

Vanessa wrapped an arm around Ethan and said, “We’re in too.” Ethan’s eyebrows shot up, as he was planning on talking his way out of it. “Oh come on, you,” Vanessa teased at her husband. “This’ll be fun.” She looked over at Carole, “How about you?”

Carole chuckled, “I think I could handle it. Although, shouldn’t someone stay in the audience to take pictures?”

In the end, Carole ended up taking pictures and video of the Anderson/Hummel/Hudson group up on stage. Blaine dragged Kurt to the front and then paid extra close attention to the instructor, wanting to get every step right. She clicked several shots of Kurt looking at Blaine with a look of utter adoration on his face and hoped the pictures wouldn’t come out blurry.

It was fun for Carole to watch Finn try and coach Burt with the steps, putting arms on his shoulders to guide him in the right direction on turns. “It’s in the words of the song, Burt,” Finn laughed as he patted his stepfather on the back with encouragement. “They literally tell you that it’s a jump to the left and then a step to the right.” Finn might not be the brightest boy or the best dancer, but he was becoming a better man every day and Carole was so proud of her son.

Ethan and Vanessa hung to the back of the group, giggling between each other and not really trying that hard to get the steps right. They were just enjoying being together and watching their son doing what he loved with someone he seemed to care a lot about, even though he had only met Kurt a few days prior. Every now and again during the lesson, they would hear Blaine’s laugh over top of the rest of the noise in the room and it was a welcome sound after years of their youngest son repressing his feelings.

When the lesson was over and the group did their last full performance of the dance along to the music, Carole clapped as everyone made their way down off the stage. “That was great, guys,” she exclaimed to the families. “Very coordinated. Well, most of you,” she said as she planted a kiss on Burt’s lips.

Burt just shook his head, but was smiling because it was actually a lot of fun. He turned to Ethan and Vanessa and asked, “Did you guys have afternoon plans, or you wanna see what else is going on?”

Blaine looked over at his parents with expectant eyes, hoping they would say they wanted to keep hanging out with Kurt’s family. Ethan smiled, “What’s next on that list, Finn?” As Finn pulled the itinerary back out of his pocket, Ethan turned and winked at his son, knowing he would agree to do just about anything to keep his kid beaming like he was.

It turned out there was an 80s music revue going on in one of the theaters on the boat. The two families walked together and found seats just as the lights were dimming. Though Kurt and Blaine were still sitting near their families, they made sure to sit next to each other. In the dark, their hands found each other’s and they remained clasped throughout the show.

The 80s revue definitely was not the greatest piece of live theater Kurt had ever seen, but he was at least glad it was something his whole family would probably enjoy. He smiled when he saw his Dad and Carole bopping their heads along to the music. Biting his cheek, he even snuck a look at Blaine’s parents. Though he didn’t know Mr. and Mrs. Anderson very well, they seemed really nice and it was almost a privilege to meet people who didn’t think there was anything wrong with their son being gay. Kurt knew he was lucky with his own dad and now Carole – they never told Kurt to be anyone but himself. But, he heard horror stories from other kids at the PFLAG meetings of parents who practically disowned them for something they had no control over.

Partway through the show, Blaine leaned his head onto Kurt’s shoulder. Kurt initially tensed, but when Blaine whispered, “Is this okay?” in his ear, Kurt sighed and eased into the back of his chair. Though he wondered how he was just supposed to go back to a daily life without Blaine in it when they got back to Ohio, Kurt was definitely enjoying living in the moment.

After a medley of Journey and Bon Jovi songs, the revue ended and the lights came up. All the parents saw how cozy Kurt and Blaine were in their seats, but no one said anything even though it would have been so easy to tease them.

There was about a half hour left before they were supposed to go to dinner, so everyone went back to their respective rooms to change and freshen up. On the walk, Kurt and Blaine whispered between each other, promising to meet up outside of Kurt’s room around 10:00pm so they could hang out one last time on the boat before they reached port the next morning.

…

Once back inside their room, Finn ripped off his shirt and threw it in the corner. Kurt rolled his eyes at his stepbrother and commented, “You should just fold that now and put it in your suitcase.”

“I’ll do it later,” Finn replied, yanking on a fresh t-shirt. “Or tomorrow morning before we leave.”

Kurt shook his head and went to their closet, pulling out a fresh button-up top. It was definitely not as nice as something he normally wore to school, but it at least looked better than a t-shirt for when he hung out with Blaine later.

“You look nice, Kurt,” Finn said as he watched his stepbrother carefully button his top.

Kurt paused at the compliment and gave Finn a grateful smile in the mirror. “Thanks.”

There were a few moments of silence while Kurt finished getting ready. He leaned his face close to the mirror and made sure his hair wasn’t falling over his forehead.

Finn flopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. “So, are you and Blaine, like, boyfriends now?”

Kurt was shocked at how nonchalant Finn’s question was and his mouth dropped open as he sputtered before finally answering, “Um, uh, no.” He scoffed as he continued, “I mean, we’ve only known each other a few days and it’s not like we live near each other or anything.”

Those all sounded like excuses to Finn. “I don’t think that matters. Like, he likes you and you like him.” Finn shrugged. “He’s cool. You two are good together.”

A small smile found its way to Kurt’s face and didn’t leave throughout most of dinner.

…

Vanessa and Ethan caught their son more than once staring across the dining room at the table where Kurt sat with his family.

“Who ya staring at there, B?” Vanessa teased as she brushed a curl off of her distracted son’s forehead.

Blaine couldn’t help but smile. It was weird that he found himself falling for someone under the watch of his parents since he usually kept any feelings at bay to focus on just getting through the rest of high school in one piece, but at the same time he didn’t mind his parents’ teasing. They both mentioned to him a few times apiece that they liked Kurt and it made him feel good that they seemed to be encouraging whatever it was that was going on between him and the other boy.

“Thanks for letting me spend so much time with Kurt the past few days,” Blaine said, making sure to flash sincerely grateful smiles to both his mom and dad. “God, I can’t believe spring break is almost over. Oh, Monday I’m going to be late getting home from school,” Blaine said as he stabbed a piece of broccoli and popped it in his mouth. Though he spoke as he chewed, he did hold his napkin over his mouth as the other family at the table glared at him. “Wes is extending Warbler practice since we missed a whole week of rehearsal. I mean, it’s just for a nursing home performance, but…” Blaine stopped talking when he saw his mom and dad eyeing each other like they had been that morning during breakfast. He put his napkin back down on the table and threw his hands up, a bit frustrated. “Okay, what is going on?”

Vanessa smiled with her mouth but her eyes betrayed her as she looked at her son. “Sweetheart… you won’t be at Warbler practice on Monday.” She looked over at Ethan for verbal support.

Ethan sighed. “Blaine,” he started. The youngest Anderson turned toward his father, hoping whatever he was going to tell him made more sense than what his mom was saying. “Son, I got promoted at work and had to transfer to a different branch of the firm.”

“That’s great, Dad,” Blaine said, a confused expression still on his face. “Congratulations! I mean I know you were waiting to hear back about that. But, I don’t get what that has to do with Warbler practice on Monday.” He looked back and forth between his parents, wishing they would just get to the punchline already.

“We’re moving, B,” Ethan almost blurted out. “Or moved, rather. My office isn’t in Columbus anymore, son. So, while we were on the cruise, your mom and I had the movers bring all our stuff to the, uh, new house.”

“Wha-, but…” Blaine said, eyes wide as he tried to process what he was being told.

Vanessa put a hand on her son’s shoulder, but he didn’t register the gesture. “It’s a beautiful place, B. And we made sure there was a room for your piano and all your books. But, sweetie, you won’t be at Dalton anymore.”

Blaine’s heart started beating harder and harder against his ribcage. No more Dalton? He had flashes back to his last school and the taunting and getting beat up after the dance and the screams that fell from his mouth when that knife carved into his forehead. “But, I can board there,” he said quickly, thinking he had found a solution to keep himself safe. “Can’t I board there? Can’t I… Mom?” He felt tears well up in his eyes as he watched his mom sadly shake her head No. He didn’t want to cry at the dinner table in front of a bunch of strangers, but he also couldn’t believe that his parents were springing all this on him the night before they were to go home.

Home.

He didn’t even know where home was anymore.

Blaine knew it was rude to leave right then, but he had to get out of there. He needed air and a chance to collect himself before he asked his parents for more details about where they were going to be living. But, for the moment he needed to not be where he was sitting.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered lowly as he scooted his chair back. He stood up and kept his eye on the door, determined to make it outside before he lost it.

…

Kurt was practically doubled over with laughter as Carole finished telling them a story about the time she caught a six-year-old Finn playing with a tampon in the bathtub. “He thought it was a one armed octopus!” Everyone but Finn burst into another fit of giggles.

“Oh my god, Carole, that is priceless,” Kurt commented as he wiped a happy tear from his eye. Moments later, he saw Blaine storm out the door of the dining room. “Oh my god,” Kurt said, seriously concerned with why Blaine was leaving like that. He quickly looked over to where Vanessa and Ethan were still sitting and saw that they looked distraught, but more so that they were disappointed in themselves as opposed to Blaine.

Burt watched his son watching the boy he liked walk out the door and it made his own heart hurt a bit. As soon as Kurt looked to him for approval to follow, Burt nodded his head. Kurt immediately excused himself and went to follow Blaine.

When Kurt made it out into the lobby in front of the dining area, he didn’t see Blaine right away. Spinning around in exasperation, Kurt was going to head down to Blaine’s room when he saw a familiar head of curls off in the distance. Without thinking, Kurt began to run after the older boy.

“BLAINE!”

Though his mind was racing with how his whole world seemed to be falling apart, Blaine heard Kurt’s voice behind him. He didn’t’ stop walking, but he did slow down a little bit. Blaine couldn’t just stop – if he stopped, he was going to cry and he didn’t want Kurt to see him cry.

“Blaine, please,” Kurt called more softly that time, asking for trust but expecting none and almost gasped when Blaine stilled. The older boy didn’t turn around, but he did remain in one spot, allowing Kurt to catch up to him. To his credit, Kurt didn’t ask what was wrong. He figured if Blaine wanted to tell him, he would on his own. Instead he offered a hand to Blaine and asked, “You want to walk around for a bit?”

With a shaky nod, Blaine laced his fingers with Kurt’s and the two of them head outside toward the strip of walkway near the boat’s railing.

They walked in silence for a while. When they got to the part of the ship where they normally turned back, Blaine tugged on Kurt’s hand and wordlessly motioned for the other boy to follow him.

Together, they walked up a staircase leading toward the very front of the boat. Kurt giggled to himself and then was almost embarrassed when Blaine gave him a questioning look. The younger boy shrugged, not caring at that point about what he was about to say. “Sorry, I just was getting a bunch of Titanic feels. But if this ship goes down, I expect you to make room for me on that door, you hear? I don’t care if this water is warm.” At that, Blaine broke into a small, but genuine smile. It pained Kurt to see Blaine’s beautiful eyes clouded by tears. With his free hand, Kurt tentatively reached up and ran his fingers through Blaine’s hair. Blaine’s eyes slid closed at the contact, his shoulders releasing a little bit of the tension that had built up since he left the dinner table. Kurt brought his hand down from the soft curls and rested it against Blaine’s cheek, using his thumb to brush away the solitary tear that had snuck down from the corner of Blaine’s eye.

Blaine opened his eyes before he reached up and slid his other hand into Kurt’s. With all hands occupied, Blaine leaned forward until his lips met Kurt’s. They stayed together for a few moments, each wondering to himself what was going to happen to them when they reached the mainland. Eventually, the boys pulled back to look at the other, taking in this beautiful person in front of him.

“You were right about my parents wanted to tell me something,” Blaine started quietly, tearing his gaze from Kurt to look down at their joined hands.

Kurt shook his head, “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

At that, Blaine cocked his head and looked back up at Kurt. “I want to.” He sighed and looked over the front of the ship and down to the water below. “Maybe not here,” he said softly. “But I want to.”

Kurt nodded, realizing he should probably not interrupt Blaine again if he was so willing to share whatever it was with him. They walked hand and hand to the Serenity Deck and dragged two lounge chairs together before climbing on and snuggling close into each other. Kurt was grateful that there were hardly any other people on the deck and no one seemed to mind that two boys were wrapped up in each other’s arms.

“So, apparently my dad got the promotion he was hoping for at his firm and he got transferred,” Blaine explained. “And, um, I guess when we get back to Ohio tomorrow, it’ll be to a new house. And,” he started to get choked up but managed to get the rest of his news out. “I’m getting pulled out of Dalton. I have to go back to… to public school. And, last time, I just – the dance, and… Kurt, I can’t.”

Kurt’s first instinct was to pull Blaine in closer, so he wrapped his arms tighter around Blaine’s waist and back. He kissed Blaine’s temple and felt the older boy shudder in his hold, unable to stop the silent sobs from coming. Blaine allowed himself to be held for a few minutes, finding both comfort and strength from Kurt’s embrace. When the shaking slowed to stuttered breaths and finally to rhythmic rises and falls of his chest, Kurt smiled and planted a soft kiss on Blaine’s forehead. “You can, Blaine. You are going to do amazing things at whatever school you’re at.”

Blaine scoffed at Kurt’s confidence in him. “You don’t know that.”

“Hey,” Kurt exclaimed as he pulled back a little so he could look Blaine in the eye. “I am never wrong.” At that Blaine gave a tiny smile. “Plus,” Kurt continued as he snuggled back against Blaine, “public school will give you a daily opportunity for fashion. I mean, I’m sure you looked nice in your Dalton uniform, but think of all the different clothes you can wear when you’re not restricted to whatever it is private school kids are stuck putting on these days.” Kurt was kind of joking, but part of him was already thinking about what kind of outfits would look best on Blaine. He wondered if Blaine would let him pick out some wardrobe pieces, or let him play around with his hair. Kurt shook the thought, knowing he should be focusing on Blaine’s present problem and could ask about the other stuff later.

With a heavy sigh, Blaine confessed guiltily, “I kind of left the table without even finding out where we moved to.”

“Oh,” Kurt replied, not really knowing what to say to that. “Well, regardless where it is, if you need help assimilating back into public school, I’ll be there for you. I mean, I won’t be there, but you could text me, or whatever.” Immediately, Kurt’s cheeks flushed because he just said out loud that he assumed Blaine would want to stay in contact with him after the cruise. “Um, only if you wanted to. I don’t expect you to – ” He stopped rambling and tried to collect his thoughts, deciding that he already spoke so much, he may as well address what he considered to be the elephant in the room. “Blaine… what’s going to happen, to um, to us, when the cruise is over? I mean, am I silly to even think that there is an us? Because I’ve never – umph”

Kurt’s words were cut off by Blaine’s lips closing over his. Assuming that was some sort of affirmative answer to his question, Kurt closed his eyes and sighed into the kiss, wishing he and Blaine could stay there just like that. Blaine tilted his head and parted his mouth a bit, experimenting with the access to Kurt’s mouth the different angle provided. He was sure he was doing something wrong, but was encouraged when a small, needy moan escaped from Kurt’s throat.

Pulling out of the kiss, Blaine couldn’t help but smile. “I think that there is an us and I can’t wait for us to keep doing that.” He was so scared about going to a new school – a new public school no less – but somehow knowing that Kurt was going to still be in his life made things that much more tolerable. “Look, Kurt, I don’t know what city I’m going to be in tomorrow night, but I do know that wherever I am, I’m going to be thinking about the most amazing, caring, beautiful boy that I’ve ever met.”

No one had ever said something so sincerely kind and flattering to Kurt in his entire life. He was glad it was dark out because his face and ears felt like they were on fire. “You can’t just say that,” Kurt said quietly.

“I’m not taking it back, Kurt,” Blaine whispered in Kurt’s ear before snuggling back down against the younger boy.

They sat silently for a few moments, listening to each other breathing and being presently content to be in one another’s arms, but still terrified of what the future held.

The quiet was interrupted when Kurt started chuckling to himself.

“What?” Blaine asked.

Kurt shook his head, “It’s just something Finn said earlier. I’m laughing because, and I can’t believe I’m going to say this out loud, but he was actually right for once.”

Blaine was curious. He hadn’t known Finn very long, but knew he was a bit of a goof. “What’d he say?”

“He said,” Kurt said softly, almost in disbelief. “He said that we were good together.”

Blaine beamed, “He really said that?”

Kurt nodded, “Mmm hmm.”

They snuggled in silence for a little longer before Blaine spoke up. “Kurt?”

“Yeah?”

The question was soft, but serious. “Are we boyfriends?” After a beat, Kurt burst into another fit of giggles, which caused Blaine some concern. “What’s so funny about that?”

“Finn asked if we were boyfriends and I told him no.”

“Oh.”

Kurt could hear the defeat in Blaine’s voice. “That was a few hours ago, Blaine.” He leaned over and kissed the top of Blaine’s head. “Things are different now.”

“Oh.”

They held onto each other until it was time for Kurt to get back to his room for curfew. The families were leaving the boat early the next morning to catch their respective flights to Ohio and the boys knew they wouldn’t be able to pull off the sleepover they had the night before.

…

In their hallway, Kurt and Blaine hugged each other hard, trying to memorize what it felt like to be held in the other’s arms because they weren’t sure the next time they would get to see each other in person. They parted with a kiss and a promise to text each other the following day when they got back home.

Refusing to say goodbye, Kurt quickly carded his way into his and Finn’s room because he thought he would get emotional if he were in the hall for much longer.

Upon entering the room, Kurt was surprised to find his stepbrother packing his suitcase. Finn looked up and flashed Kurt a huge grin. “Hey look, I’m being responsible!” Kurt crossed the room and threw his arms around his stepbrother, pulling him into a grateful hug. “Thanks man, but what’s this for?”

They pulled out of the hug and Kurt clapped a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “You’re a really good brother, Finn.”

The two of them finished packing while they listened to a playlist on Finn’s phone. Kurt was too happy to complain about the back-to-back-to-back rock songs and the noticeable lack of Lady Gaga.

…

Blaine finished packing and sat down on his bed. He leaned over and rubbed both his hands over his face and into his hair. With a sigh, he stood right back up and grabbed his keycard, not giving himself time to think before he left his room and walked down the hall. He saw a light on underneath the door, so he knew the room’s occupants were still up.

The knock was hesitant, but loud enough to earn an almost immediate response.

When the suite door opened, Blaine threw his arms around his father and spoke into his chest. “I’m sorry about how I acted at dinner. That was really selfish of me and I’m just – I’m sorry.”

Ethan hugged his son and rubbed his back a bit. “We’re sorry too, B. Your mom and I – we shouldn’t have told you like that.”

Blaine ended up sitting on the bed, flanked by a parent on either side.

“This isn’t an excuse, but we tried to tell you all week,” “Vanessa said as she looked at her son. “But you looked like you were having fun with Kurt and were in such a good mood that we didn’t want to ruin the rest of the trip for you… which I guess we kind of did anyway.”

The youngest Anderson shook his head, “No, you didn’t. Honest.” Blaine looked at both parents, with a small smile, trying to reassure them that he was fine. He wasn’t quite ready to tell them about Kurt and him being boyfriends yet, but they had to know that the last night of their trip was not a complete bust.

Ethan nodded, believing his son and sharing a knowing look with his wife that there was likely more to Blaine’s story. But, it was late and they weren’t going to question Blaine about what he had been doing for the past few hours since he left the dinner table. They had a whole day of traveling ahead of them and they had the patience to see if their son would open up to them as he slowly had been during the cruise.

“Why don’t you get some sleep, bud,” Ethan said. “We got an early day tomorrow.”

The Andersons shared a family hug before Blaine said goodnight to his parents and left for his room.

It took Blaine awhile to get to sleep, but when he did, he dreamt of a boy with blue eyes with a laugh that sounded like music.