A/N: So this is something I just had to write that I might turn into original fiction down the road. I'm writing it directly to the site because it's -4 degrees outside and 35 degrees in my house so it's too damn cold to handwrite the chapter first. And as I'm on my phone, I can easily bury myself in blankets and write without my hands freezing. So, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee, sadly and no, I've never been to the Bermuda Triangle. If I had, I probably wouldn't be here now.
I was late. I was very late for the crew appointment. And though I was a newcomer, fresh out of college at twenty-two, lateness for my first project would surely not be tolerated. I had yet to meet Dr. Blaine Anderson, the captain of our mission, a voyage to the depths. The depths of what you ask? The Bermuda Triangle of course. Such an investigation could only be lead by the best of the best and Dr. Anderson was certainly the best, despite the fact that he was one year my junior in age. He was somewhat of a genious in age old scientific mysteries and legends.
When I answered the ad in the paper, looking for a crew of ten people to embark on a voyage they may not return from, I was intrigued by both the idea of the mission and the face of the young scientist. There was no doubt that Dr. Anderson was impeccably handsome. A part of me wondered if I had responded for the mission or just for the opportunity to get close to him.
Still, I considered myself a young professional and I straightened my tie as I hurried up the steps to the facility in which the chosen crew was having its first meeting with the doctor.
Scrambling through the door, I immediately checked with the woman at the desk for the location of the meeting hall. Once she had pointed me in the right direction, I hastened my pace as I headed off toward it. To my surprise, I found that Dr. Anderson was the only one in the room when I arrived.
"Am I not late?" I asked the man, who was pouring himself a glass of champagne. He looked at me and smiled and I felt my breath hitch. A smile that beautiful on such a gorgeous man was certainly a death sentence for any gay man, such as myself.
"Not at all," he replied. I was slightly confused and he must have noted my confusion so he went on to explain. "I purposefully noted the time as being an hour earlier than I intended to assure that no one would actually be late." Well, that was a clever tactic. I had to applaud the man for his witty nature. It was clear now why he was such a brilliant scientist, despite the fact that he was only twenty-one years old. "Champagne?" he asked me, holding out a second glass. I accepted it with a nod of thanks.
"So, I am assuming I am the first to arrive?" I questioned. He nodded his head sipping his champagne. Setting his glass down on the counter by which he stood, he held out his hand, which I took immediately.
"Dr. Blaine Anderson, but you may call me Blaine," he introduced, that smile gracing his face once more. "And you must be Kurt Hummel." I was surprised by the fact that he remembered my face just from my application to the ad. I had found it slightly odd that he requested a photo along with the application but I had done as he had asked.
i smiled back in return. "Yes, that would be me," I replied. We broke the handshake and I could help but notice the tingles that had shot up my arm when my hand made contact with his. I wondered if he had felt it to. If he did, he gave no indication of it. "So, we are waiting on nine more people, correct?"
He nodded his head, picking up his glass of champagne once more and sipping it ever so delicately. I marveled at his grace and precision. It fit well with his outward appearance. He had an array of dark curls that were gelled down neatly to his head. He was of shorter stature than myself, standing perhaps on five-eight or five-nine. His skin was nicely tanned and his facial structure was well toned. He had triangular eyebrows set perfectly above the most beautiful hazel eyes I'd ever seen. In short, the man was a mere marvel placed upon the earth for all to admire his radiant glow.
"Here comes someone now," he said and I turned my head to see a very short and petite woman with long brown hair. She was beaming and the look in her eye suggested I wasn't the only one who found Dr. Anderson attractive. A pang of jealously shot through my body though I could not fathom why. It wasn't like Blaine was my boyfriend or anything.
"Dr. Anderson," the woman said, offering her hand. "I'm Rachel Berry. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Her voice was a bit on the high end and she sounded way too cheerful for my taste.
"A pleasure indeed Miss. Berry," Blaine replied. "Please, call me Blaine. None of that doctor stuff. It's much too formal and the eleven of us will be spending quite some time together in the near future." He turned to look at me and nodded his head. "This is Kurt Hummel." I put on one of my closed mouth smiles and held out my hand for her to shake, which she did with such enthusiasm I was slightly afraid she would break it off my wrist.
"Hello Kurt," she said in her overly cheerful way. I nodded in return, not feeling like it was safe for me to speak when the first thing out of my mouth would surely be a sarcastic remark, which would not get us off on the right foot. As Blaine had said, we were going to be spending quite a bit of time together. Best to get along rather than make enemies.
After that, the other eight members of our expedition crew seemed to pour in. I was lost in introductions, feeling my hand was shaken for more times in the matter of five minutes than it had ever been at any other greeting I had attended.
Soon, we took our seats and Blaine made his way to the front to the front of the room to stand at the podium. There was a white screen behind him and a projector sitting in front of him. I sipped my champagne, intrigued about the content of this first meeting.
"Good afternoon," Blaine began, gracing us all with that smile. "As you know, I am Dr. Blaine Anderson but you may call me Blaine. If you are sitting in this room right now, it is because I have personally selected you to take part in a voyage to what is known as the Bermuda Triangle." He took a moment to walk out from behind the podium and come to stand in front of it, sliding his hands in his pockets. "Now, I want you all to be very aware that given the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, there is a high possibility that we may not return. But at least we will learn where it is things disappear to, should that happen." Chuckles went up around us all and Blaine smiled again. "Why don't we start with introductions? Best to be well acquainted with those we will be working in close quarters with for the next several weeks." He held out his hand toward the woman on the end and we all turned to look at her.
"Hello, my name is Quinn Fabray. I am twenty-two years old and quite looking forward to this voyage," she said. Quinn was very beautiful and there was no doubt in my mind that had I been a straight man, I would be quite smitten with her. A traditional blonde beauty she was.
Introductions continued as the man next to her smiled at us. "Sam Evans, twenty-one. I needed some excitement in my life, so I figured why not apply for this little adventure." So apparently, we were giving our reasons for applying to the expedition.
"Santana Lopez," the woman next to him said. She was Latina with dark hair and a fierce expression on her face. "Twenty-two and I like a challenge." Short answer though it was, it seemed to tell enough about her.
It was my turn next. "Kurt Hummel. I'm twenty-two and just graduated college with a degree in scientific study. I figured this would be the perfect first venture into my field," I said, crossing my legs delicately and inclining my head to the side.
Rachel was seated next to me. "Rachel Berry, twenty-two and I'm using this as a chance to meet new people." Well, that was not what I'd expected.
The man next to her was freakishly tall and I felt short compared to him. I could only imagine how short Blaine might feel in comparison. "I'm Finn Hudson, twenty-two. I've heard of Dr. Anderson's studies and have been an avid reader of his articles. So I jumped at the opportunity to work with him." Well, if Rachel's explanation wasn't expected, this was surely a bigger surprise. No offense to the big guy but he didn't strike me as particularly smart.
Next to him was another blonde woman, this one with hair longer than the first. "Hi!" she chirped. Was she even more cheerful than Rachel? "I'm Brittany S. Pierce and I think I'm twenty plus two years old." I raised an eyebrow. This woman was a strange one. "Lord Tubbington told me to apply because he said I would meet some dolphins." Say what? Okay, she really was odd. I could see that I wasn't the only one thinking that.
"Noah Puckerman," the man on Brittany's other side, who was sporting a mohawk, spoke up. "I go by Puck. I'm twenty-two and wanted to test my sea legs because I was thinking about joining the navy." I didn't have the heart to tell him not with that hairdo.
"I'm Mercedes Jones," the dark skinned woman on Puck's other side said. She was the first one I felt I could sincerely be friends with, aside from Blaine of course. "Twenty-two and like Kurt, I have a degree in scientific study." Yes, we would certainly get along.
Blaine nodded to the final man, seated on Mercedes' other side and I noted he was of Asian descent.
"Mike Chang," he introduced himself. "Also twenty-two and I'm starting college late so I thought I'd have one last adventure before diving in head first to my dance studies."
Blaine nodded his head as the door behind him opened and two people entered. One was an Asian woman and the other was a man in a wheelchair wearing glasses. Blaine smiled at them.
"Ah," he said. "I'd like you all to meet my associates. Dr. Tina Cohen-Chang and Professor Artie Abrams." The rest of us gave a polite acknowledging round of applause. "They will not be joining us on the actual voyage but instead will be monitoring our progress and investigation from my labs in this very building." That made a lot of sense. "Now, if you will direct your attention to the screen, we can get right into things."
He moved to stand in front of the screen, while Dr. Cohen-Chang took a place at the projector, turning it on and situating slides beside it. Professor Abrams held a slide clicker in his hand and with a nod from Blaine, he pressed the button. A picture of the location at which the Bermuda Triangle was said to he located popped up on the screen.
"As legend tells us, various ships and planes have mysteriously vanished when crossing through the gravitational pull of what is known as the Bermuda Triangle," Blaine started. Professor Abrams periodically clicked the slide clicker and the screen flashed through the different vessels and aircrafts said to have been lost to the triangle.
Blaine gave us all time to soak in the information as he named off the ships and planes and their date of disappearance while they flashed onto the screen.
"I don't want any of you to fear that we might be next, but the likelihood is very real." Blaine nodded to his associates and they turned the projector off. He walked back to the podium. "You were all chosen by me to take part in this adventure. You are all aware of the very real danger involved and so if any of you wishes to back out, I will give you the opportunity to do so now." Nobody moved, except to sip their champagne. Speaking in which, I realized my glass was empty. It would be quite rude for me to stand and refill it in the middle of the meeting. There was a tap on my shoulder and I turned to see Dr. Cohen-Chang standing there with the bottle in her hand. I thanked her silently and held out my glass for her to refill it. "Are there any questions?" Blaine asked. Puck raised his hand. Blaine nodded in his direction.
"Do you have any plans on how to return should we vanish into the triangle?" he asked.
"Excellent question Mr. Puckerman," Blaine replied. "At this point, no. There is no way of knowing what we might find on the other side, seeing as no one as ever returned from the triangle before. Any ideas of escape would have to be developed after it happened so that we may know exactly what we are dealing with." I could see Puck nod in understanding. I raised my hand.
"What will rooming situations be like?" I asked. I was wondering whether I would have to share sleeping quarters with another of the crew and I really didn't like that thought at all.
Blaine gave me a reassuring smile. "Each of you will have your own staterooms," he said shortly. I wasn't the only one who was relieved at that statement.
The meeting went on as more questions were asked and when things finally died down and started to wrap up, I was a bit relieved. There was so much preparation in the pre-voyage meeting and I was rather exhausted by the hours of discussion and planning and questions. I was ready to return home and crawl into bed, sleeping off my exhaustion.
Finally, Blaine held up a hand to call a halt to the discussion. "I do believe we've overrun the time I alotted myself for this meeting. So, on that note, I bid you all a good day. I shall see you bright and early at ninAmin the morning this Saturday at the port for disembarking." He nodded his head and we all broke, ready to head out and prepare ourselves for the week ahead.
I was still gathering my belongings after everyone else had left and was once again alone in the room with Blaine.
"I think I look forward to getting to know you most of all Mr. Hummel," I heard Blaine's voice say from behind me. My ears turned a bit pink.
"Please," I said, "Call me Kurt and that is really very flattering Blaine." I gave him a smile, which he returned. "I look forward to getting to know you as well. I'll see you Saturday morning."
"Saturday morning," he confirmed. We smiled at each other once more before I nodded my head to him and took my leave.
A/N: Ta da! So, what did you think? Obviously a little shorter than usual. But I feel like it flowed well and I didn't want to drag out the meeting or make things rushed. This is definitely AU, what with the different professions and stuff. Reviews make me smile! Happy reading!