Blaine has to take a deep breath to calm himself, before he is able to speak up.

“Maria? Would you like to join me on a walk around the deck?” Maria blinks, surprised at Blaine’s suggestion. “A-Are you talking to me?” Blaine rolls his eyes inwardly.

No, my other fiancée that is called Maria.

“Of course. We haven’t spent time lately, so I want to talk with you about a few things...”

Finally, Maria seems to process Blaine’s words. “S-Sure. Why not?” They rise from the breakfast table. Blaine’s mother shoots him an encouraging look, knowing exactly why he wants to talk to Maria. They start walking in silence, Blaine having no idea how and where to start. When they are half around the deck he can’t stand it anymore. He swallows hardly and takes another deep breath. “Listen Maria, I’ve been thinking…” Always her overenthusiastic self, she cuts him off immediately. “Oh really? What about? Have you finally picked a date for the wedding?” Blaine stops her before he starts to feel even guiltier. “No, it’s not that. I’ve been thinking about this whole marriage thing in general. I mean, the only reason we are engaged for is to please our parents, right? And they want our marriage just to have an advantage in business right? I mean, we didn’t decide to marry; we didn’t even know each other. Don’t get me wrong, I like you, but I don’t feel connected to you the way I should. I’m sorry, but I don’t think that I can do it, that I can marry you.” Blaine isn’t sure if Maria understands every breathless word he said, but he can tell that she understands what he is talking about by the way her face falls and she stares at him in shock. Meanwhile they have arrived in front of the café and Blaine wishes they were somewhere private, not in the middle of such a crowd. “Are you kidding me?” Blaine flinches at the piercing sound of her voice.

“Please, be quiet, everyone will stare at us-“ “I don’t care! They can hear that you are an asshole! How dare you to break our engagement! And without a reason? I demand an explanation!” This is the moment, Blaine feared the most.
I have to tell her something. She won’t leave me alone until I do.

“Please… don’t freak out, okay? I-I met someone.” Of course Maria yelled nonetheless.

“I knew it! What’s her name hm? Who is that whore that wants to steal me my fiancé?”

Blaine still feels guilty, but the way Maria is throwing insults for Kurt at him is too much for him. “I am not your property Maria! And you have no idea what we have, so don’t you dare to call someone a whore you hardly know a thing about!” By now a lot of people stopped to stare at the fighting ‘couple’, but neither of them notices. “So I know her? Tell me what it is about her. Does she have bigger breasts? Is she good in bed? Tell me what she is able to give you that I can’t!” Blaine returns her look as calmly as he can. “Love Maria. He loves me and I love him too. And you don’t know what it’s like, otherwise you wouldn’t want to marry me.” Everything is quiet and Maria stares at Blaine as if he just slapped her in the face. Her next words are barely a whisper. “H-He?” Blaine feels a twisting in his stomach and the rushing blood colours his cheeks.

God, what have I done? Everyone is going to know now. Why couldn’t I shut my mouth?

“Oh god, I feel sick. What do you mean ‘he’?” In that moment, Blaine’s eyes get caught by the very familiar shape of Kurt leaving the café with his stepmother. All he can do is stare at Kurt, shocked by his appearance.

He should be the last person watching me breaking up with her. He deserves to be left out. It’s not his fault that I’m engaged.

Maria follows Blaine’s line of sight and watches back- and forwards between the two boys. “It’s him, isn’t it? God, how could I have been so blind not to notice these perverted looks you give him? This is disgusting.” Her voice is still quiet in shock, so the people that were watching them slowly continued doing what they did before the two had caught their attention. In that moment, Kurt’s eyes find their way into Blaine’s. Blaine quickly tears his gaze away, embarrassed of the trouble Maria is making and the situation Kurt caught him in.

“I’m sorry Maria. I just can’t-“ “Oh don’t worry. Something like you I wouldn’t want to marry anyways. I can’t wait to get off the ship and away from you.” Maria hisses and with that she storms away. Blaine takes a deep breath in order to calm himself. He immediately searches for Kurt’s face, but he isn’t there anymore. There still are a few people watching him, so he tries to get away from them as far and as fast as he can.

“Darling? Are you in here?” Blaine stops punching the bag in front of him and turns around to face his mother. “I thought so.” She gives him a small smile and enters the gym completely. “When you were little you always played the piano when you were stressed or angry. But I think this is more effective. And I don’t have to be afraid you’d break something anymore.” Blaine can’t help but smile a little at that memory. “What you did was very brave Blaine. Most people would rather have lived a lie their entire life than admitting who they are to themselves. How did it go?” “She found out. I think no one else heard, but it’s most likely that she will tell it at least father. I just don’t know what to do.” He admits silently. “Well I hoped that wouldn’t be the case, but I guess she would have found out sooner or later. I’ll try to talk to her about your father; maybe I can convince her to keep it for herself until we figured out a way to tell him. He will be furious enough about the cancelled marriage. And I think you need to talk Kurt too. He deserves to know what’s going on between the two of you.”

Blaine can only nod, feeling very thankful for his mother. Ha can’t help but cross the distance between them and pull her into a hug, just like he used to do when he was younger, feeling save and loved in her arms.

Hours later, Blaine feels like he has searched every corner of the ship for Kurt, without a sign of him, not even in his room. Discouraged he walks back to his own room, his thoughts occupied by Kurt and his reaction to Blaine telling him he dissolved his engagement.

So when he opens the door to his room and finds Kurt actually sitting on his couch, he is surprised to say the least. “Kurt! I was just looking for you! How did you get in here?” The relief Blaine had felt moments ago quickly fades as he notices Kurt’s strain. “You might haven’t noticed, but I told Maria about us this morning. Well not exactly, I told her that I don’t want to marry her and she assumed that you are the reason.” Blaine makes sure to set straight that he hadn’t told her himself, in case Kurt isn’t feeling ready to tell people. Kurt clears his throat awkwardly. “Yes, I have noticed actually. But you shouldn’t have done that.” Blaine tries to swallow away the lump that is forming in his throat, but his voice sounds a little shaky nonetheless. “A-And why’s that?”

“I was wrong.” Kurt’s whispered words are barely audible and his eyes are fixed on his intertwined hands that are resting on his lap. “I don’t feel the same way like you. I thought I love you, but I don’t. I just liked the attention you gave me. My father is married and my stepbrother is engaged, and I always felt lonely you know? And you paid attention to me, you were there when I had no one. I’m thankful for what you have done for me, but I don’t need it anymore. I’ll find a girl that I truly love and I will marry her. I’m sorry I led you on, you have to believe me. It wasn’t intentionally, I hope you know that.”

Blaine feels as if someone emptied his inside and shreddered it.

I can’t believe it. He can’t be serious. This is some sort of joke, it has to be. Or my father found out and forces him to say all of this. There is no way he truly feels like this.

Blaine prepares himself to do something, to fight, when Kurt’s gaze finally meets his. His eyes are cold, their colour more like steel than the usual water-like blue. They seem to be as dead as Blaine feels inside, and he knows immediately that this fight is over and lost.

“I-I see. It seems like you have been thinking about this carefully.” Blaine does his best to keep his voice even and his eyes dry. “I’m sorry.” Kurt whispers once more, before he stands up and walks past Blaine and through the door. When he passes him, Blaine can’t help himself but inhale deeply and close his eyes, the smell reminding him of this morning. The morning where he thought he would never be as sad and lonely as he was before he met Kurt, let alone even lonelier. But now the door closes behind and his tears start to fall.

Blaine stumbles through corridors, almost blind because of his swollen eyes. A canon of ‘why is this happening? What did I do wrong?’ playing in his head. Somehow he manages to remain unseen by the rest of the passengers. He feels like the world is sliding from under his feet, and it isn’t before he falls hard on the floor, that he realizes the ship is shaking indeed. In shock he stays on the floor, but after a few moments the movement stops again. He stands up again and continues his way. A couple of minutes later he arrives at the door that hides the person he wants to see the most. He knocks and seconds later the door opens. “Hey mom.” His voice is quivering, and his mother is shocked by his appearance. “Oh honey, what happened? Is it your father?” Blaine shakes his head in resignation. “Kurt told me he doesn’t like me that way. He said I shouldn’t have told Maria.” He is almost afraid of speaking the words out loud. It makes it so much more real. “Blaine, I’m so sorry. Come here.” With that, she pulls him inside and into her arms. The façade he tried to keep up melts down immediately and his tears start flowing down again. “I-I just don’t understand it. W-We were so happy.” “I know baby, I know. I’m so sorry.” They reached the couch and Blaine tries to calm down, feeling his mother’s warmth and her hand stroking his gelled hair. After a while his breathing starts to slow down a little bit. Just as he opens his mouth to apologize for his breakdown, someone knocks at the door.