The adorable grin, unsure stance and bright hazel-colored eyes were enough to get Kurt's attention. The thick, curly brown hair and tanned skin caused his gaze to linger. In the end it was the smooth, sweet sound of his voice that caused his feet to stop altogether. Although it would seem that his mind registered the sound of the stranger's voice, it hadn't yet connected it to words.

“I'm sorry?” Kurt asked, trying to focus on what the other man was saying rather than the way the other's tight red pants and black V-neck shirt seemed to hug their figure in all the right places.

“No, I'm sorry, I should have been louder.” The shorter male said, thick eyelashes fluttering as his eyes quickly glanced down.

Kurt watched as the man nervously latched on to the strap of his messenger bag, slowly rocking back and forth on his feet. Kurt felt the edges of his lips turn upwards as he watched him, somehow growing fond of what he assumed was a nervous habit. Finally those gorgeous eyes met his again and Kurt noticed how the breath in the back of his throat seemed to catch.

“I-I was trying to find the Meeting Grounds…but I think I'm lost.” The stranger said, looking up to Kurt with one of the most pitiful ‘help me' looks he had ever seen.

Kurt looked him over again, this time instead of getting caught up in those tantalizing eyes he searched for the mark. His brows rose once he finally found it, halfway hidden by the shirt he had been admiring earlier. He couldn't really tell what it was from the angle but he assumed the lines were forming the tip of a wing, the possibility that it could match his own causing his heart to beat at a slightly faster rate. Kurt quickly tried to slow it, knowing that often the hope of finding the match he had been searching relentlessly for years had been crushed many times before. He felt the grip of his right hand around his coffee tighten and tilted his head slightly as he continued to look at the other.

Anyone could tell by looking at him that he was obviously a submissive. The way he couldn't make eye contact for no more than a few seconds a dead giveaway. The nervous fidgeting and now that the wind had picked up slightly, the soft scent of honey suckle and lavender was another sign. Kurt finally looked away from the submissive, looking for an armed guard, a worried parent or older relative but when he found nothing like that looking their way he glanced back to look into those eyes once again.

“Did you get separated from your group?” Kurt asked gently. He was hoping not to scare the beautiful creature off, but the long amount of time he had been staring at him seemed to have made the other male even more nervous than he had been at the beginning.

“Uhm, no Sir.” The submissive answered politely, though shakily. “I came here by myself.” He said, pushing his chin out slightly, as if trying to show Kurt he was more confident than he let on.

“You do realize that it's extremely dangerous to be alone in New York just hours before the Meeting ceremony begins, right?” Kurt asked slowly, watching as the submissives shoulders tensed. “Surely you came with someone?”

“No, they woul-…I'm sorry, just forget it,” the shorter male blurted out, respectfully dipping his head before quickly turning on his heel.

“Wait!” Kurt said quickly, relieved when the other stopped. “I'm sorry, I was just surprised to see a submissive out on their own like this.” He said trying to give the shorter male a reassuring smile. “It's just not something you see every day, you know?”

“Sure.” The other man said quietly, once again rocking back and forth on his feet a few times.

Kurt could tell the submissive was flustered and he was sure he saw the male's hands trembling slightly. He had read many books and taken classes on submissives, after all he had been waiting to meet his ever since he could remember. Everything he had studied led him to believe that though this was normal behavior for an unclaimed submissive, something still seemed off. Had someone hurt him? Kurt found himself looking over him yet again but he didn't notice any bruises or scrapes on him. It wasn't unlike submissive's to be roughed up if they weren't claimed and were walking around on their own, especially right before a Meeting. It was very dishonorable to do so as a dominant, and you rarely found this happening along the upper side. Why the Meeting Grounds were held in such a sketchy part of New York Kurt would never understand.

“So no one is escorting you then?” Kurt asked, smiling when the submissive shook his head silently. “What's your name?” Kurt asked gently, stepping a few feet closer to the curly haired submissive when a native New Yorker bumped into them on their way past him.

“Blaine.”

Blaine. Kurt smiled, the name somehow causing his toes to curl within his shoes in delight. He mentally chided himself, not wanting to get his hopes up. There would be no way to know if Blaine was his until the actual meeting, and more than likely the gorgeous person standing in front of him probably belonged to someone else. It was just how his luck went when it came to these types of things it seemed. Oh, how he wished though.

“Kurt.” Kurt said, slowly extending his empty hand out for the submissive to take. He had to fight to keep a neutral face as Blaine gave him a surprised look, then awkwardly took it in his slightly smaller one. Kurt could feel his heart race once again as the submissive's warm skin pressed against his, the hand seeming to fit perfectly inside of his. God, he knew it was going to fuck him up later when someone else would claim the beautiful creature.

After a few more awkward moments and slight shake of hands Kurt eventually let go, a slight laugh leaving him when Blaine immediately hid his touched hand behind his back. “I can take you there, I'm actually scheduled to participate myself.”

“Really?” Blaine asked, looking up at Kurt once again. Kurt found himself longing for those eyes whenever he couldn't see them. “That would be great!” he said excitedly, eyes widening in glee.
Kurt's own brows rose slightly when the excitement and joy quickly drained from the submissive's face, gaze down towards the ground once again. He knew that some of this was normal, but was it him or did Blaine seem ashamed for showing such emotion?

“I apolo-…I mean,” Blaine stuttered, pausing for a moment before he took in a slow breath of air. “I would be honored, Kurt- I mean sir.”
Kurt laughed. “Blaine, you have my permission to call me by name.” Kurt said with a nod, mustering the strength to turn away from him. He pointed his chin forward slightly, indicating they needed to start moving. “It's this way, at least you were somewhat on the right track.”

“Oh.” Blaine said, sounding surprised. “I can't thank you enough.” He finally said, Kurt glancing towards him as they continued to walk.

“It's not a big deal,” Kurt paused, frowning as something came to mind. “Though you should be careful about who you stop and ask directions from. You could have asked the wrong person and they could have done something awful to you.” He added, now that the haze that the beautiful submissive seemed to have placed on his mind had settled slightly. Kurt noticed that the sound of the other pair of shoes hitting pavement had stopped so he did as well, turning to see a look of fear taking over Blaine's adorable face. It took a moment to figure out what had caused such a reaction and once realization had finally dawned on him he wanted to kick himself.

“Hey, no, I didn't mean me.” Kurt said quickly, taking a step towards the frightened submissive. When Blaine took a hesitant step back in response Kurt quickly put his hands up in a non-threatening way trying to show that he was harmless towards him. “I'm from the Hummel family line, I'm sure you must have heard of it. We have never hurt a submissive.” He said calmly, relieved when Blaine's shoulders seemed to relax slightly.

“I have…heard of them that is but-“Blaine stopped as Kurt pulled the cool, thick band from his middle finger.

“Here.” Kurt said as he took a few steps closer to the submissive to show him his identification ring. He rolled the cool metal between his thumb and index finger a few times before it quickly enlarged, a holographic imagine appearing within it.

“Kurt Hummel, the only son of Burt Hummel. Actively searching for submissive. No abuse reports recorded…” Blaine read aloud, Kurt noticing the submissive's once rigid stance relaxing slightly.

“See?” Kurt asked, tapping the side of the large band. The hologram disappeared before the band shrunk to the size it was before, Kurt quickly pushing it back onto his left middle finger.

“I didn't mean to dishonor you or anything, just when you said that I got really worried and-“Blaine rambled quickly, not only rocking back and forth on his feet but gripping at the strap of his shoulder strap again as well.

“Blaine.” Kurt said, feeling his breath catch once again when that hazel gaze snapped up to meet his own. “It's okay, I completely understand. I really didn't mean to frighten you. I should have thought about that before I said anything, so I'm sorry.”

“You're sorry?” Blaine whispered, eyes wide as they continued to gaze up at Kurt.

Kurt couldn't quite wrap his mind around how surprised Blaine sounded. Had no dominant ever apologized to him? Surely his father had taught him that a dominant should treat him as….That train of thought trailed off once the flash of Blaine's own identification ring caused from the afternoon sun caught his attention. He knew nothing of this submissive, all he knew was that his name was Blaine and he hadn't offered to show him otherwise.

“Of course I am.” Kurt finally said, smiling once he noticed the slight blush to Blaine's cheeks. The ring on his finger began to vibrate twelve separate times indicating that it was already noon. The way Blaine jumped and looked to his own meant that he too became aware. “We should get going if we are going to catch the bus to the Meeting Grounds. Wouldn't be good to be late.” He said, smiling slightly when Blaine gave a slight nod and a nervous twitch of his lips in response.

They began walking again, Kurt sneaking glances at the submissive between sips of his coffee. He was upset when he had finally tipped back the rest of the now cold liquid in the cup, having to throw his only ‘coincidental' excuse to look at the curly headed submissive away a few trash bins along. “So, have you been looking for long?” he finally asked, the question clawing at the back of his throat relentlessly. He looked around Kurt's own age, but submissives seemed to be younger than they looked most of the time. Blaine glanced up at him, smiling slightly before looking forward again. His fingers were still loosely curled around the strap of his bag as they continued walking down the sidewalk.

“About a year, but it seems like an eternity to me I guess.” Blaine said, looking in a window of a shop they were passing by. “Sounds stupid, right?”

“No.” Kurt said immediately, not even having to think about his answer. “Even before I was of legal age to start looking I was researching on how to do so.” Normally dominants and submissives started their search for each other once they turned eighteen. Had Blaine decided to wait, or was he really only around nineteen? He stopped himself from asking, not wanting to freak the submissive out again.

“Wow, I wish I could have done that.” Blaine responded quietly, his thick eyebrows pulling together for a few moments as he seemed to remember something he didn't particularly enjoy.

Kurt watched him for a few more steps before letting his curiosity get the best of him. “Did your family not want you to get that involved before it was time?” he asked, knowing strict families allowed no such thing. Of course It was all in their best interest, submissives could and have gotten attacked trying to meet their so called dominates from chat rooms and other such things. Online predators would lie about their matching marks and lure the submissive out of their protected homes to do horrible things to them.

“Oh…Sure.” Blaine responded after a few moments of awkward silence. Kurt wanted to press the issue again but he didnt want to push the submissive into walking away from him. A sick churning overtook his stomach as he thought of all the things that could happen to Blaine if a dishonorable dominant got a hold of him.

There was quite a line at the bus stop once they arrived but thankfully there were three buses parked along the side walk with that same destination flashing across the top of their panels. For a moment he had wished he had drove instead like his father had wanted but once Blaine's shoulder brushed against his arm he knew the crowded buses was completely worth it. After all he never would have gotten to see or help the submissive he couldn't help but stare at now.

“There are so many people.” Blaine said, his voice sounded in awe. Kurt glanced at him before scanning the crowd around the buses. He had actually seen buses packed way worse than this, the overcrowding actually being one of the main reasons he normally drove himself to these events and was a little surprised by Blaine's apparent shock.

“Is this your first big city meeting?” Kurt asked, a little surprised when Blaine nodded. “It's crowded at first but once we get to the actual grounds it's not so bad,” He explained. “I've been to a few smaller towns that had Meeting Grounds and the bigger cities generally do the same thing.” Kurt said, hoping to comfort the submissive but it didn't seem to help because Blaine's hazel eyes still seemed to be trying to take in everything at once. The shorter male's fingers had begun to tremble again like they had earlier as well, but so were a lot of other submissive's waiting in line.

Twenty or so minutes passed before the bus doors finally opened, the chatter of the crowd that had gathered becoming more excited as everyone pushed against one another to board. Kurt kept Blaine in his line of sight at all time, instinctively moving behind the submissive once they got closer to the doors. He planted his feet in the ground as he let Blaine board the bus at his own pace, keeping people from pushing against the fidgety submissive as he boarded.

Kurt was a little surprised that after Blaine had tapped his identification ring against the pad of the fare-box to pay his passenger fee, but he was also elated. He did the same, the bus by now almost completely packed. There was no way they would be able to find a seat considering quite a few people were already standing and grabbing a hold of the straps above their heads. Kurt quickly looked at their option before pointing to a little section where there was a small gap between a few people. Blaine followed his gaze and quickly made his way over, smiling up a Kurt nervously as he followed.

“It's going to be unbearable in a second.” Kurt said with a little laugh, smiling as he grabbed the little loop next to the one Blaine had grabbed. He continued to watch the submissive carefully, noticing that the other's hands were now obviously shaking. Before you had to have an eye for detail to notice it, not that Kurt was trying to take in every little detail of him or anything. Oh, who was he kidding?
“You okay?” Kurt asked, noticing when Blaine's head dipped forward once the bus finally pulled out into the street.

“Y-Yeah.” Blaine whispered shakily. “Not a fan of small spaces.” He admitted, biting his bottom lip slightly when the passenger standing beside him accidentally pressed up against him.

“We should be there in about ten minutes, okay?” Kurt told him softly, watching as Blaine closed his eyes, eyebrow pulling together in distress. He hated this, no he couldnt stand it. Just watching the Blaine react made him hot under the collar for some reason. When the same passenger bumped into Blaine he snapped. “Hey, watch it!” he basically barked, ignoring the quick sorry they gave in return. “I'm sorry Blaine, hang on.” Kurt whispered after bending down towards the submissive's ear. Another little nod was all he received in return, making his stomach tighten uncomfortably.

The roads began to get bumpier, people having to hold on to their straps tighter as the bus commuted on-wards. Every bump caused Blaine's face to become even more distraught and soon Kurt noticed that he seemed to be swaying a bit more than what the shake of the bus provided. Suddenly a very nasty pothole on the road made itself know, flinging half of the buses passengers to the side. Including Blaine.
Kurt reacted before he had the time to process it all, throwing his arm out as Blaine's grip failed to keep him upright. Kurt managed to grab the submissive by the arm after fumbling with what Kurt would no likely appreciate later, the smooth cotton V-neck. Blaine whimpered slightly as Kurt managed to pull him up into a standing position once again.

“Blaine, are you-“Kurt stopped, the V-necked shirt pulled just enough to where he could see more of the submissives mark. What he had seen earlier had definitely been the tip of a wing, but now he could see the elaborate detail of a single wing in flight. The feathers were long and the elegant thinning and thickening of the lining of the mark was multicolored of gold and reds, not a solid line of color.
Blaine quickly pulled his shoulder from Kurt's grip, breaking his stare. “A-Are you okay?” Kurt asked, finding himself breathless after he had seen more of the other's mark. Blaine tilted his chin slightly before closing his eyes once again, as if he was trying to pretend he wasn't there. When the submissive had pulled back his shirt had slid back into place, only allowing Kurt the tease of the tip of the wing he had seen at first. What he had seen looked so much like his own mark that he couldn't help but notice the hammering of his heart against his chest.

Could Blaine possibly share his mark? Could his five year search finally be over? Kurt took in a deep breath for what felt like the millionth time after meeting Blaine that day to stabilize his thoughts. He couldn't do this to himself again, every time he got excited nothing became of it and he was left heartbroken and miserable all over again.

Holding in a sigh as he realized that the hopeless romantic in him wouldn't shut up he then turned his concentration back to Blaine, taking in every detail of the submissive's face hoping he would be able remember the curve of his nose and the flutter of thick eyelashes. Secretly he knew he could never forget even if he tried.

The bus finally rolled to a stop in front of the entrance to the Meeting Grounds, the rowdy passengers pushing excitedly against one another as they departed. Kurt still kept close to Blaine's side, a little worried that the shorter male was going to topple over again. Blaine seemed to perk up once he had a little more air, causing Kurt's own tightly wound shoulder's to finally relax. “Better?” he asked, stomach flipping in response to the bright smile Blaine sent his way.

“SUBMMISVES TO THE LEFT, DOMINATS TO THE RIGHT!” a man yelled, a few other people ushering people into the respective lines. Kurt glanced to Blaine, not wanting to leave his side. He realized then in the short amount of time he been around the submissive, he had become attached. This wasn't normally the case, considering Kurt had his own issues in the past he had just never been one to befriend easily.

“Kurt.”

Kurt's head snapped back to his side where Blaine was standing, staring up at him. The sound of his name coming from Blaine's mouth caused strange tingles to crawl up his spine. It had felt like nothing he had felt before, it was amazing. “Yes?” he asked, having a hard time finding his voice again.

“Thank you.” Blaine whispered, adorably rocking on his feet again. Kurt smiled, loving the blush that creeped across Blaine's cheeks once more.

“Anytime.” Kurt said quietly, frowning slightly when Blaine's attention was pulled towards the submissive line. That's right. He was going to have watch what seemed to be the most amazing thing happen to him walk away from him forever. He should let him, tell him goodbye and then let the beautiful submissive go about his way.

Kurt just couldn't, not this time, not with Blaine. “Here,” Kurt said, holding up the palm of his hand with his fingers splayed slightly. “You can have my number just in case you need any help inside.” He explained, noticing the look of slight relief flit across the submissive's face. Blaine hesitated for a moment before slowly holding his hand up. Kurt slowly pressed their hands together, their identification rings clinking together. Both rings flashed once showing that each other's information had been transferred correctly.

Blaine opened his mouth to speak but was quickly pushed towards the submissive line by a guard, leaving Kurt standing on the sidewalk alone. Kurt felt his stomach drop the further Blaine moved from him, his heart skipping a beat when Blaine pushed against the blue jacketed person who had been nudging him towards the end of the line to stand on his tiptoes and wave goodbye to him.

Once Kurt couldn't see Blaine anymore he moved to his own line, thoughts whirling as he waited for the line to begin moving. Could Blaine be HIS submissive? What was his mark? Was it like his? Would he find out today? Would he have to fight for him?

The line seemed to move agonizingly slow with the selfish want of hoping to catch up with Blaine soon after they had both entered. Maybe he could make it seem like a coincidence, well he would try at least. The last thing he needed was for Blaine to think he was stalking him or something. He began to calm himself once he approached the guard responsible for checking the dominants in.

The guard was a stocky built man with thinning red hair and round glasses that kept slipping down his nose as he stared down at the little computer screen in front of him. He seemed nice enough as he smiled towards the people who kept ignoring him to push their way inside, hoping to find their soulmate. Once Kurt approached he smiled back, slowly holding his ring beneath the sensor. He tried to ignore the gasp the guard gave when his information popped up the man's tiny screen.

“Mr. Hummel, sir! You should have used the V.I.P. entrance on the other side. Did one of our guards direct you here?” the man rambled on, causing Kurt to roll his eyes. Every time it was the same it seemed, couldn't he want to check in this way if he wanted?

“No, no. I chose to do this on my own. Everything clear?” he asked, annoyed by the mute little nod and the awestruck look the guard continued to give him. He now had a few admirers in the line behind him who had overheard his name. Really he should be used to it by now, but he wasn't and each time he experienced the stares and whispers he became slightly annoyed with his father but he could think of that at another time. Kurt walked in after the guard finally pushed the button to open the gates, eyes immediately darting around for dark brown curls and a flash of hazel.