Blaine couldn't believe his luck. He was one of the lucky few astronauts able to go on a mission to a potentially habitable planet that could be useful if conditions on Earth got too hostile. He had been training his whole life for an opportunity like this, and it had finally paid off.
It was better than he could ever have possibly imagined it to be: his face on magazines and TV programmes, interviews for internationally acclaimed publications, and his parents were finally proud of him.
Even Cooper, his brother, had offered his congratulations, suggesting that they could do interviews together when Blaine came back from his mission.
Blaine had sighed and rolled his eyes at his older brother's unique way of showing his appreciation.
When the time finally came for the mission to set off, Blaine and the other astronauts climbed onto the rocket to the tune of cheers and applause from the people assembled at NASA to see them off.
Blaine got a hug and a kiss on the cheek from his mother, and a firm pat on the back from his dad. Cooper gave him a bone-crushing hug, before shoving him towards the rocket with an affectionate ruffle of his dark curls.
Blaine went through the take-off with the usual pain, which was somewhat dulled by the rigorous training. When they were able to, the astronauts unbuckled their seatbelts, enjoying the anti-gravity.
The novelty of being able to float around freely would never wear off for Blaine, who couldn't help but smile as he saw his reflection in the mirror: himself, upside down, his curly hair floating around his head like a bizarre lion's mane.
The journey to the planet passed without any event. By the end of the third day, Blaine was sick of space food, and was craving his mother's Sunday roast and apple pie instead of freeze-dried spaghetti with freeze-dried ice cream for dessert.
Finally, they reached the planet. From far away, it looked like Earth: mainly blue, with various green and brown patches of what must have been land. Blaine and the other astronauts donned their helmets and stepped out onto the ground, looking around cautiously.
The planet had slightly less gravity than Earth, so everyone's steps were slightly springier than usual, but in general, it was the same. One of the other astronauts got out a splint in a protective container and set it alight so as to test the oxygen levels. Blaine and the others took a step back.
The astronaut moved the splint out into the open air.
After a moment of tension, it burst into an almost blinding green light with a bang, the force of the explosion throwing everybody backwards. The lowered levels of gravity meant that everybody flew further than they usually would have done.
Blaine woke up with his head spinning. He opened his eyes by just a crack, but had to close them again when the light made the dizziness worse.
Blaine took a deep breath and forced his muscles to relax, his neck bending past the collar of his space suit. Something that felt like grass tickled the back of his head. After allowing himself a brief moment of relaxation, Blaine realised that he should be wearing his helmet. His eyes flew open and he jolted into a sitting position, groaning when the edges of his vision turned black and fuzzy.
He lay back down, trying to take deep breaths, calm down and think logically. His helmet was right next to him, but there were large cracks zigzagging across the glass in the front of it. Despite this, if the need arose, he could wear it for protection if he was attacked. Even so, since he was still alive after being unconscious for an immeasurable length of time without his helmet on, the planet must have oxygen on it, therefore must be habitable.
Barely a moment after the thought had crossed his mind; Blaine heard a movement somewhere to his left. He gulped audibly, forcing himself to stay still. If there were any living things on this planet, they could be violent, especially towards unknown beings which had arrived on a rocket that would most probably be threatening to them.
Blaine kept taking deep breaths, his eyes squeezed firmly shut.
That was, until he felt a gentle touch on his cheek. It had felt almost human: the texture of skin, but so much softer and with a calming quality that most human contact lacked. Blaine tried not to allow himself to be lulled into a false sense of security.
Whatever was touching him moved to stroke his hair, brushing a stubborn curl from Blaine's forehead. Though the curl fell straight back to where it had been before, Blaine heard the person breathe out a chuckle.
"I know you're awake," Came a voice. It was a voice like no other Blaine had ever heard: it was unmistakably a male voice, yet it had a higher pitch than most. Blaine felt a strange yearning to hear the voice singing.
Well, it was a person, Blaine thought. A person who didn't want to murder Blaine for intruding on his planet.
Because of this realisation, Blaine reconsidered opening his eyes. He wanted to see the person who had such a beautiful voice, and he was curious to see his surroundings
After building up his courage for a moment or two, Blaine gradually pushed himself into a slightly more upright position. When he wasn't assaulted by a fresh wave of dizziness, he opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was the wings. They looked like they would usually be a white or cream colour, but a light was hitting them from somewhere, causing them to look a golden-yellow shade, tapering off to a darker shade at the tips of the wings.
They looked incredibly soft, and the only thing stopping Blaine from reaching out and touching them was he knowledge was that his hands were covered by the gloves of his space suit.
Finally, Blaine tore his eyes away from the wings to see the rest of the person. He had lustrous-looking, chestnut coloured hair; skin as pale as snow; and eyes that couldn't seem to decide between green, grey and blue.
His slender figure was covered by some kind of white cloth that covered his torso and upper legs, ending just above his knees.
When Blaine realised what he was doing, a blush coloured his cheeks. He had been staring at the boy for what felt like hours, his mouth agape. The boy – no, the angel – smiled and tilted his head to the side slightly.
"Where do you come from?" He asked gently.
"Another planet," Blaine said quietly. "Earth."
The angel looked contemplative for a moment.
"My name is Blaine Anderson," Blaine said, smiling slightly.
"Kurt," The angel replied. Blaine realised that Kurt hadn't looked away from his eyes for a good while. "Kurt Hummel."
"Are you an angel?" Blaine asked, transfixed by Kurt's eyes, which seemed to change colour every few seconds.
Kurt smiled. "I think you're the angel," He said gently, twisting the curl on Blaine's forehead around his finger.
"But…your wings," Blaine said, gesturing towards the large wings protruding from Kurt's back. Kurt fluttered them gently, causing a gentle breeze to cross Blaine's face, making him chuckle slightly.
"I might have wings, but you're…beautiful," Kurt said quietly, a blush tinting his cheekbones a dusky pink colour.
Blaine couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You think I'm beautiful?" He asked.
No one had ever shown any romantic interest in Blaine, save for a boy called Sebastian, who Blaine had had a – mostly sexual – fling with during high school. Even so, now that he'd turned twenty-one with no real romance in his life, he had given up hope of finding someone.
"I think you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Kurt said as he moved closer to Blaine, curling an arm around the back of Blaine's neck and bending his legs so that they rested under Blaine's own.
Emboldened by Kurt's movements, Blaine reached up to touch Kurt's face with his gloved hand. Kurt's hand wrapped around his wrist.
There was silence as the two boys looked into each other's eyes, Kurt's wings flapping gently every so often.
They both subconsciously leaned towards each other, their lips getting closer with each passing second. Kurt gently stroked the soft curls at the nape of Blaine's neck, and let his eyes flutter shut as he closed the distance between himself and the astronaut.
The moment Kurt's lips met his own, Blaine knew he wouldn't be going back to Earth.
A/N
Completely inspired by this wonderful, wonderful drawing by rocketssurgery on Tumblr: rocketssurgery . tumblr . com/post/19739118888/angels-lend-us-their-wings-so-that-we-may-find-our (just delete the spaces between the dots!)
I definitely recommend that you go and look at all of her art, even if you didn't enjoy my story all that much! She's a very, very talented artist!
I hope you enjoyed my little fic, and that it does the amazing picture that inspired it even a little bit of justice!