“Dude, are you sure these are necessary? Don’t they give out a uniform or something?” Finn mumbled, his volume fading into almost complete silence at Kurt’s glare.

“There’s always a time for fashion, Finn. And besides, I have other things in there too. Like my moisturizer and my lotion, and other hygienic necessities.” He snapped. ‘Not like you would know much about that…’

“Hey, hey, that’s enough.” Burt called, rolling the largest of the three suitcases towards them.

“Dad, are you sure you can handle that?” Kurt frowned and moved to grab it from him.

“It’s just a suitcase, Kurt. I’ll be fine.”

Kurt watched his dad worriedly as Burt lifted the suitcase out of the car and onto the floor of the parking lot. Burt looked at him again, a smug look on his face. “See? I’m fine, buddy.”

Kurt rolled his eyes and looked back up at the towering school. It was old-looking, and had a sense of regency about it, even though the students it housed were the exact opposite. He grumbled to himself as the group made their way to the front gate and into the welcoming hall. Kurt couldn’t help but admire the furnishings; it was beautifully antique, with wooden browns and mahoganies standing as the two most prominent colors.

While Burt went to the front office to fill out paperwork (Finn tagged along), Kurt decided to do some exploring. He wandered to the far right side of the main hall that tapered down to a hallway housing a few classrooms. They were empty, so Kurt walked to the far left side of the hall. This hallway was much shorter, and had a door at the very end. Curiosity took hold of him, and before he knew what he was doing, Kurt was pushing the door open and finding himself in the middle of yet another hallway, this one running perpendicular to the door he came out of.

“It’s like a maze in here,” he muttered to himself. The walls were lined with doors upon windowless doors, and he assumed this was one of the dorms.

Kurt was about to head back into the main office, when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. Frowning, he leaned closer to the door that he could’ve sworn just opened. After a few seconds of nothing, he shrugged and turned around—

And then all of a sudden his vision was filed with curly black hair and bright hazel eyes and Kurt stumbled back, making a strangled sound.

The boy only looked amused, giving Kurt a very obvious once-over. His eyes lingered, taking their sweet time raking up and down Kurt’s body. Kurt blushed under the sudden attention, but caught himself and stood up straight. “Get out of my way, I was trying to get back to the front office.”

Mr. Hazel Eyes quirked an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

“Yes, it is so!” Kurt snapped and stalked passed him, their shoulders brushing as he passed. Kurt could feel the heated stare of the dark stranger focused on him as he strutted down the hall.

“Do you even have any idea where the front office is?” the boy’s smooth voice asked, stopping Kurt in his tracks. Kurt huffed and squeezed his eyes shut, not even bothering answering the question. He heard footsteps coming closer, and when he opened his eyes, Mr. Hazel Eyes was standing in front of him. A bit too close, actually.

“Didn’t think so. That’s the wrong way, babe.” The hazel-eyed stranger smirked. His eyes were trained on Kurt’s, oddly intense.

“Babe?” Kurt squeaked, feeling the blood rush to his cheeks.

“Yes, babe. Unless you’d prefer a different name, like Honey? Sweety-pie? Sugar booger?”

Kurt gaped at him. Was he serious? “First of all, no. Second of all, no. Third, I don’t even know your name. So if you’d excuse me.” He turned around and headed back to the door he came from.

“Blaine.”

Kurt paused with his hand on the doorknob. “…What?”

“My name is Blaine,” he called. “Get used to saying it, I’ll have you screaming my name by the end of the month.”

Kurt flushed deeply. “Goodbye, Blaine.”

He pushed through the door and found himself back in the main hall, face to face with his dad, who gave him a strange look.

“You okay, kiddo?”

“Yeah, just exploring. This is an...interesting school.”

Burt gave him a worried look. “Sorry, bud. But you had to come here after…y’know.”

Kurt sighed. “Yeah, dad, I know.” Burt looked sympathetic.

“It’ll all be over soon, kiddo. Then you can come back home.” He gestured to the police woman standing in the front office. “She’ll show you where your room is, get you all settled in.”

Kurt nodded and they said their goodbyes (Finn just clapped him awkwardly on the back), and then they were gone and Kurt was alone in the hall.

It was going to be a long year.