Blaine had never been to a show before, he'd never even been inside a theatre. The whole idea was very exciting and he couldn't wait to see the actors onstage. "Momma! Momma, what's the show about?" he questioned for what had to be the millionth time in the past ten minutes.

"I already told you Blaine, it's about a prince who rescues a princess from a wicked witch." His mother answered, sounding exhausted, although you probably would sound that way too if your six year old son kept asking you the exact same question every time you turned around.

His father got their tickets at the box office while their mother and Blaine stood to the side. "Do you think I could be a prince when I grow up?"

"You want to be a prince?" his mother asked.

"Yeah! I wanna be brave and have lots of courage against wicked witches so I can save people!" He said excitedly. His mother laughed.

"I'm sure you would make an excellent prince, Blaine, now come on, we're going to go inside and find our seats."

Blaine followed his mother and father inside, pointing to the front row. "There's good!" His mother laughed. "No, Blaine, we can't just sit where we want, we have to sit in the seats that are written on our tickets." She handed him on of the tickets as it was passed to her by Blaine's father. "What does that say?"

"C5." Blaine replied.

"Can you find seat C5?" his mother asked, knowing Blaine would love the challenge.

Blaine looked around until he found the row with the letter C on it, counting the seats out loud until he reached the one with the 5 on it, in C6 was a little blue eyed boy with light brown hair. He was neatly dressed, Blaine even noticed he was wearing a bow tie, and he was sitting next to an extremely pretty woman who looked just like him, and next to her was a man with a baseball cap.

"Blaine, take your seat, the show's going to start soon." He heard his mother say as she sat in seat C4.

Blaine bit his lip and looked back at his mother nervously. "Momma, can I sit in your lap?" he questioned hopefully.

Blaine had a tendency to be extremely shy around people he didn't know, especially kids his age since they tended to pick on him, and he wasn't sure how comfortable he was sitting next to a little boy he'd never met.

"Why do you want to sit in my lap?" His mother asked curiously. Blaine simply shrugged.

"Blaine, you're six years old now, no more acting like a baby. Now you sit in your own seat and watch the show like a big boy." His father said sternly, Blaine sighed, pouting a bit as he sat down.

"Hello!" Blaine turned his head at the high pitched voice, surprised to see the little boy next to him was kneeling on his seat and leaning across the arm rest towards Blaine.

Blaine waved.

"Are you excited to see the show?" the boy asked happily, but before Blaine could even open his mouth to respond- "I am! I'm here with my mommy and daddy, we see shows all the time! It's really fun!"

"I've never seen a show before." Blaine admitted shyly.

"Really? You're going to like it a whole lot, trust me! My names Kurt, like from the Sound of Music! That was the first show I ever saw. What's your name?"

"Blaine." He replied softly, unable to match the other boys excitement no matter how hard he tried.

"Nice to meet you, Blaine!" Kurt said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too, Kurt." Blaine replied, finally smiling himself. Kurt's smile was contagious.

"So, I guess you don't know about theatre etiquette."

"Theatre what?" Blaine asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"Theatre etiquette, it's the rules of being a good audience member when you go see a play."

Blaine bit his lip nervously, he didn't know there were rules he had to follow.

"It's okay, I can teach you, I've seen lot's of shows, so I know all about theatre etiquette. First rule, is you have to dress nice when you come to the theatre, that's why I wore my favorite bow tie. I see you already got that covered though..."

Blaine looked down at his little navy blazer before looking back at Kurt.

"Next is that you have to be really quiet when the show is going on, no talking, or else you'll distract the actors."

Blaine nodded, that made sense.

"Third rule is that you have to clap after all the songs, and you gotta laugh at all the jokes."

Dress nice, no talking, clap, and laugh. This wasn't so bad after all, Blaine could handle these rules.

"And the last rule is that you can't eat or drink anything inside the theatre, got it?"

Blaine smiled and nodded.

"Good!" he said with a smile before sitting back in his seat.

Blaine looked up as he noticed the lights slowly turning off, looking back at Kurt.

"Did the power go out?" Kurt shook his head.

"No, that just means the show is about to start." Kurt replied, his eyes fixed on the stage as he waited excitedly for something to happen.

"Oh." Blaine replied, looking back at the stage.

"You know, I'm gonna do that someday." Kurt whispered excitedly as he pointed to the stage.

"Turn the lights off before the show starts?" Blaine questioned.

"No! Perform! Sing songs and act onstage!"

"Oh."

"Do you sing?"

"In my room along with my Disney tapes." Blaine whispered.

"Me too! Which one do you like best?"

"Probably the Little Mermaid, or Beauty and the Beast. I like singing the candle song."

"Be Our Guest."

"Yeah."

"Maybe we could sing onstage together one day!"

"I don't know, Kurt... I never sang in front of people before, I don't even sing when my parents are in the room."

"I put on shows for my mommy and daddy all the time, they love it. You should try singing for your mommy and daddy one day."

"No... I'd be way to scared."

"Well, maybe you could sing in front of me first, then maybe you'll feel braver and will sing for your mommy and daddy."

Blaine smiled. "Okay, Kurt!"

"Look! The curtains going up, the shows starting!" Kurt said excitedly.

Blaine stayed quiet the whole show, watching and doing his best to laugh and clap at all the right moments (mostly copying Kurt), hoping to be a good audience member.

Once the witch came onstage, he sunk down in his chair, sticking his thumb in his mouth, a nervous habit of his.

"What's wrong?" he heard Kurt whisper.

"She's scary." Blaine replied softly.

"No she's not, she's just an actress, she's only pretending to be scary, I bet she's really nice in real life." Kurt whispered back in an attempt to make Blaine feel better.

"You mean, she's just playing pretend?" Blaine asked, Kurt nodded.

"Oh. Good, I got scared that she was going to come into my house and steal me from my parents like she did to the princess."

"No, she wouldn't do that. She's just an actress playing a part." Kurt said softly before returning his attention to the stage.

The two were quiet again until a fight scene between the prince and the witch. Blaine shifted uncomfortably in his seat as the prince hit the floor, and the witch used her dark magic to lock the princess up.

"Shouldn't we do something?" Blaine whispered as he poked Kurt in the shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Kurt whispered back, confused.

"She got the princess, and the prince got knocked down, shouldn't we go up there and help them?"

Kurt giggled. "No, Blaine... I already told you, they're just acting, nobody's really hurt or in danger."

"They're still playing pretend?"

"Of course."

"Are you sure? The princess looks really scared."

"She's just pretending to be scared, Blaine... she's okay."

Blaine bit his lip. "Okay, if you say so."

Blaine wasn't sure if Kurt was right or not, but either way, the princess and the prince did end up safe in the end, and the lived happily ever after. At the end of the play, as all the people on stage bowed, and all the people in the audience clapped, the man who played the prince suddenly walked to the edge of the stage.

"We would like to invite all the boys and girls out there to come onstage and sing and dance with us!" All the kids raced to the stage, although Kurt probably moved the fastest, only to stop when he realized Blaine was sinking further into his seat.

"Come on!" He said excitedly.

Blaine shook his head.

"Blaine, this is our chance to sing and dance on a real stage! Come on!" He said again.

"No way, I'm too scared." Blaine replied.

Kurt walked back into the audience. "Why?"

"I can't sing and dance in front of all these people."

"Why not?"

"What if I'm no good at it? What if I look silly?"

"Did you ever see the Wizard of Oz?"

Blaine wasn't really sure where Kurt was going with this. "Of course."

"Remember the lion?" Blaine nodded.

"Well, he didn't think he had any courage, and then at the end of the movie he found out that he had courage the whole time. You think you don't have courage, but maybe you will if you just go onstage and try to have fun."

Blaine bit his lip nervously before slowly sliding out of his seat. "Okay."

Kurt smiled, probably more than Blaine had ever seen him smile before, before taking his hand and leading him up onto the stage.

Blaine watched all the other kids running around, and singing random songs, and dancing, and laughing as their parents took pictures of them with the different characters, even noticing that Kurt took a break from dancing around to wave at his mother who was snapping a picture of him, but he didn't move, simply standing there and trying to see if he could spot his parents in the sea of people filling the audience.

"Hello." he heard, looking up to see the princess from the play standing over him. He looked at her with wide eyes, his shyness getting the better of him.

"Hi!" He recognized Kurt's high pitched voice as the slightly taller brown haired boy hopped in front of him to say hello to the woman in the pink dress.

"You have a very pretty voice!" Kurt said happily as Blaine hid behind him shyly, only peaking out at the princess as she smiled and kneeled down to Kurt's level. "Well thank you!"

"When I grow up, I'm going to do plays too." Kurt told her proudly.

"Oh, really? Well, I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job." She replied.

"Thank you! Can my mommy take a picture of us together?"

She smiled. "Sure, does your friend want to be in the picture to?" She asked as she looked back at Blaine.

Kurt's smile instantly grew. "Yeah! Blaine, let's get a picture of us with the princess, then my mommy can give the pictures to your mommy!"

Blaine was a bit nervous, but allowed Kurt to pull him to the front so that he could be seen, smiling shyly for the picture before watching as the princess hugged Kurt, gave him a wave, and then walked away.

"What do you want to sing?" Blaine blinked at Kurt's question.

"Who me?" Kurt nodded.

"I don't know... you pick."

Kurt thought for a moment before smiling.

"Be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test... Blaine, you're suppose to sing with me!"

"I am?"

"Well yeah, the whole point was so that we could sing together on a real stage, remember?"

Blaine bit his lip.

"Come on unfold your menu, take a glance and then-" Kurt cut him off.

"Why are you singing so quietly? You're really good, you should sing louder!"

"I am?" Blaine asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah! You're a great singer!" Blaine smiled, until he noticed the witch walking up to them.

He ran and hid behind Kurt, who instantly waved at the witch to make sure she had their attention.

"Don't call her over here!" Blaine whispered, but it was too late.

"Hi! You did a very good job!" Kurt said with a smile as he looked at her.

She smiled back. "Well thank you, what's your name?"

"I'm Kurt, and this is Blaine."

"Hi, Blaine... why are you hiding?"

"He's scared. I tired to tell him you were just pretending to be mean, but I don't think he believed me."

"You know, Blaine. I'm really not that scary. I'm actually pretty nice."

Blaine bit his lip and looked her over.

"See, Blaine? I told you she was nice! She was just acting." Kurt said, smiling.

Kurt was right, she was really nice.

"Just because I look scary doesn't mean I am. People aren't always what they seem."

Blaine smiled a bit, but still didn't say anything. Just because he wasn't afraid of her anymore, that didn't mean his shyness suddenly disappeared.

"Can we get a picture with you like we did with the princess?" Kurt asked.

"Sure! Where's your mom?"

"She's right there next to the guy with the hat, he's my daddy." Kurt said as he pointed to them.

After taking the picture, running around the stage a bit, and a few more verses of Be Our Guest, Blaine had come out of his shell a little more. "Wow, Kurt... I never knew how much fun being on a stage could be!"

"I told you so! Plus you found out you're a really good singer!"

Blaine smiled.

"Kurt, sweetie, it's time to go home." Kurt looked back at his mom and sighed.

"I gotta go, but maybe we could have a play date together sometime."

"Okay! We could sing more Beauty and the Beast!"

"Yeah! Bye, Blaine!" he said before practically tackling the smaller boy with a hug.

"Bye, Kurt!" Blaine said as he hugged him back, watching as Kurt skipped over to the edge of the stage. He wasn't quite sure how they were going to find one another to schedule that play date, but he figured his mom would know what to do if he mentioned it to her later.

"Oh! Blaine!" Blaine turned his head to see Kurt waving in an attempt to get Blaine's attention as his father picked him up.

"What?"

"Don't forget!"

"Forget what, Kurt?"

"Courage!" Kurt shouted as his father carried him off.

Blaine smiled before running over to his own parents. "So, did you have fun today, Blaine?" his mother asked, he smiled. "Yeah! I love the stage!"

...............................................................................................................................................................................................................

If the two had managed to stay in contact, or even if Blaine had recognized Kurt that day on the stairs in Dalton, he might've found it ironic now that the boy who gave him the confidence to sing and join the Warblers was now the boy who needed a confidence boost himself. The boy who's last words as a kid to him had been "courage", was now receiving "courage" texts from the boy who had been too scared to go up onstage, and perhaps the most ironic thing of all... was that their first song onstage had been Be Our Guest, which was sung by the candle in Beauty and the Beast, and their first onstage duet as a couple was going to be Candles by Hey Monday.

Of course, Blaine hadn't realized that the Kurt who was currently asking if anyone had ever literally died onstage because of how nervous he felt, was the same Kurt who had dragged him up onstage when they were six. Just like Kurt hadn't realized that the Blaine who was currently telling him that they were going to kill this thing with how awesome they were, was the same Blaine who had been too scared to go up onstage until Kurt told him the story of the Lion in the Wizard of Oz.

Just as the two boys were about to walk onstage, Blaine smiled as he looked back at Kurt. "Oh! Kurt!" Blaine whispered loudly as they started towards the stage.

"What?"

"Don't forget!"

"Forget what, Blaine?" he whispered as they took their places on the stage.

"Courage!" Blaine said just as the boys behind them began to sing.