Blaine first noticed the pale boy during lunch the second day of camp. He was just finishing up his apple and looked across the room and there he was, sitting alone at a table looking like a prince or maybe an elf? Blaine knew about princes and elves because he had found a really thick book in the library about a Hobbit and even though he was only nine, and some parts of the tale was scary he had read the whole thing under the covers, using his flashlight.

He lost sight of the boy as they headed to their new activities, but that afternoon when Blaine had to go up to his cabin to change after one of the bigger boys had capsized the canoe he sat in, he saw the boy sitting in the shade under a tree drawing.

"Whatcha doin?" Blaine said as he stopped in front of the boy. The boy looked up at him from where he was sitting.

"I'm designing," the boy said and turned his attention back to his drawing.

"Can I see?" Blaine asked. He wasn't sure what designing was exactly, but it had to be interesting because the boy seemed very caught up in what he was doing.

The boy huffed a bit, but then he slowly motioned for Blaine to come sit next to him.

When Blaine was seated the boy tilted the sketch pad so he could see.

Blaine felt his breath hitch as he watched in awe as the boy carefully leafed through pages filled with beautiful princesses in dresses in every colour in the rainbow.

"Wow..." Blaine breathed.

"Are you gonna laugh now?" the pale boy asked, his voice suspicious.

Blaine shook his head vigorously making his curls fly.

The two boys looked at each other for a while.

"Can you draw elves as well?" Blaine asked in a quiet voice.

The pale boy cocked his head to the side and thought for a moment.

"Like Tinkerbell?"

"No silly, Tinkerbell is a fairy. I mean like elves, that live in the woods, tall and beautiful and powerful. Kind of like you." Blaine blushed and stared at his hands, he had just called a boy beautiful. Dad said boys weren't beautiful. They were handsome or sporty or tough, not beautiful.

When he dared look up at the pale boy he found him wearing a small smile.

"You like elves?"

"Oh yes! I like elves and princes, and hobbits."

The pale boy looked at him, his face scrunched up in thought.

"What's a hobbit?" he asked.

Blaine wasn't sure how to explain, but he remembered one thing.

"They are like people, only short and they have curly hair... and big feet."

The pale boy laughed.

"Kind of like you then?"

"I don't have big feet!" Blaine said exasperatedly, lifting his bare feet up and wiggling his toes.

"Okay, so you haven't got big feet, but you have curly hair and you are smaller than me," the boy said with a smile.

Blaine thought about it for a moment, then he grinned.

"Do you wanna play? You can be an elf and I'll be a hobbit, and we can have an adventure."

The pale boy thought for a moment, but then he nodded.

"Okay."

"Cool! My name is Blaine, what's yours?"

"Kurt."