Kurt wasn’t entirely sure about this. As far as he was concerned, this really hadn’t been one of Mr. Schuester’s best ideas. He knew that the Ohio Show Choir Winter Formal was supposed to be about making new friends and fair play and all of that, but he was pretty sure that everyone else was just here to scope out the competition.��He knew for sure that was what Rachel had planned for the evening. He would have to remember to keep an eye on her, and make sure she stayed away from Sunshine Corazon – lest she attempt to send her to another crack house or something. Never a dull moment with the New Directions, that was for sure.��On the upside though, he did get to dress up, and his costume was nothing short of fabulous.
�
His outfit was relatively simple, and classic: a white dress shirt, covered by a silvery vest, black dress pants, and a tiny little black cape at the back. The finishing touch was a beautiful silver mask- after all, what was a masquerade ball without a mask? The lines of it flowing along and enhancing his high cheek bones, while the silver stood out starkly against his naturally flushed cheeks. He was a vision. Or at least that was what Mercedes had told him, and Kurt would take the compliment wherever it came from. He didn’t want to be narcissistic or anything, but he did quite enjoy being told when he looked nice.
�
He glanced around the ballroom, watching his friends dance together. Brittany and Mike were carving up the dance floor, showing off their moves to an upbeat song. Kurt giggled, tapping his foot along with the music.��The song ended, and Mercedes plopped herself down in the chair next to him.
�
“Kurt! Why aren’t you dancing?! You need to show off your moves!”
�
“Oh, you know. Just checking out some of the competition.��I thought I would make sure we got some intel while the rest of you were off slacking and having fun” he said jokingly.
�
“Checking out the competition, eh? Well. Don’t look now… but more of our competition just walked in….”
�
Kurt whipped his head around, trying his best to see. He had to crane his neck a bit�and scooch up in his chair before he saw them. But when he did…
�
“Oh…” he said breathlessly. He couldn’t think of anything else to say. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t�breathe.��Reminding himself to inhale, he turned back to Mercedes and tried to insert himself back into their conversation.
�
“…The Warblers… Kurt?”
�
The Warblers. �

---

Blaine pulled his simple black mask down over his eyes, and stepped into the gymnasium at the head of the Warbler pack. Earlier in the week, there had been an hour-long debate over whether or not they would wear their uniforms to the Formal or not, but in the end it had been decided that each boy could choose his own outfit. Blaine had to admit that he was somewhat at a loss—he had never been terribly fashionable, and found the identical Dalton uniforms both comforting and convenient.

Left to his own devices, he had chosen simply. A black dress shirt tucked into a pair of black slacks. Where those like Wes and Jeff had opted to showcase their personalities in more vibrant colours, Blaine had picked an outfit that he felt allowed him to blend easily into the background.
He had no trouble recalling what had happened to him at the last co-ed dance he attended, and he had no intentions of repeating that incident.
However, when he had stood in front of his mirror before leaving his house, he had been blind to the way that the collar of his simple black shirt framed the hollow at the base of his throat. And that the plain mask highlighted his thickly lashed eyes, their colour almost tawny gold against the monochrome black.

As the Warblers fanned out behind him, Blaine was unaware of the striking image he projected. The gaggle of colourful and excited boys spilling into the dance floor only drew attention to his unintentionally elegant figure. A raven lost in a flock of songbirds.

Drawing in a breath to steady himself, Blaine quickly scanned the room. The streamers and the multi-coloured lights had turned McKinley’s gym into the traditional high school dance floor, and he fought to suppress memories of the fear and pain he had endured after his last night of such festivity.

Inexplicably, he found his gaze drawn to the table where he recognized the female soloist from New Directions sitting, presumably with her fellow Show Choir members. Beside her, he could just make out the profile of a boy wearing an elaborate silver mask. There was something about his cheeks, the blush of excitement under the most delicate skin, that had Blaine taking an unconscious step forward.

---

Kurt slid slowly back into his chair, ripping his gaze away from the Warblers, and one of the single most hauntingly beautiful people that he had ever seen in his entire life. He had been staring, and his father had told him once that staring was rude. But he just couldn’t help it. There was just something so alluring about the other boy, and Kurt could not put his finger on it.

Mercedes and Rachel were going on about something or other, Kurt didn’t know. He didn’t even care. Nothing mattered except the dark haired boy that had just walked into the gym. He squirmed in his chair a little bit, and risked another quick peek back at the Warblers. To his surprise, he noticed a pair of gold-brown eyes staring right back at him, he caught those eyes with his for just a moment, and quickly turned back around. It hadn’t been much, just a flicker of gold behind heavy dark eyelashes, but Kurt couldn’t help but feel like those eyes had been looking directly at him.

That couldn’t be right though, could it? No way. There was no way that Warbler had been staring at him, right? Right. This was crazy, he was being crazy. Totally cra-

“Kurt? Are you okay?” Rachel asked him, concern in her voice.

“Wha-? Um. Yeah. Totally. Everything is totally awesome.”

---

For the briefest second blue-grey eyes met his, and Blaine felt his breath catch in his throat. Then the moment had passed, and the boy had turned back to his friends. Not allowing himself to feel dejected, Blaine turned back to the Warblers.

“Well, boys, why don’t we make our presence known?” He nodded towards the stage where the DJ played, but a microphone stood conspicuously empty. Grinning, the flock turned as one and, skirting the dance floor, moved onto the stage.

Wes stepped over and had a quiet word with the DJ, as Blaine stepped up to the mic. Silence fell as the music slid to a stop, and every eye in the room turned to face the stage. Grasping the stand in one hand, he brought his lips to the microphone and began to sing, with the rest of his Warblers doowop-ing in perfect eight part harmony behind him.

“Although loneliness has always been a friend of mine, I’m leaving my life in your hands. People say I’m crazy and that I am blind—risking it all in a glance.”

Unbidden, his gaze fell once again to the table in the back, where he had seen the beautiful boy in the silver mask.