Author's Note: Hey guys! I've been on a Klaine roll for weeks now and after a couple of doodles of what I later decided was Kurt in my French notebook, I started writing this. I may come in and change some stuff later. I'm tired of Kurt being the vulnerable one in the relationship, so I'm turning the tables. Mehehehe!

Setting is in New York in 1940. I'll try to make the story as accurate to the time period as possible!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kurt or Blaine, as much as I would love to have them :)

The Cirque

Blaine Anderson had never been to a cirque before, not until today. It was an overwhelming sight – one of the biggest tents he'd ever seen stood before him, three different peaks to it, with several train cars scattered around its perimeter. Thousands of people scuttled about him in a rush to get their candy before the show began. Blaine, however, stood frozen in place, entranced by the signs that were standing in front of him. 'Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey' was written on them in elegant yet exciting script, and beneath that were drawings of the elephants and the ring leader and all the other different attractions one could see.

It was his twenty-first birthday, and as a gift, his cousin and his closest friend, Angeline, had bought them tickets to the circus. She knew he'd never been but always yearned to go, so she figured he might as well go on his birthday. His parents were still living in Ohio, a long ways away from the hustle and bustle of New York, so of course they didn't attend.

Angeline gripped his hand tightly and turned to him, an excited gleam in her eyes. "This is only my second time to a Ringling Bros. circus. It is the most amazing thing you will ever see, let me promise you that! I can't believe you've never been to one before now…" She kept rambling about the different acts as Blaine led them through the crowd to the ticket booth.

The man in the booth smiled at them and commented on "what a lovely couple they were", hoping they had a great time at the circus and that they should come again soon. He let them through a small entrance in the tent.

It was much bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside; Blaine found it hard to believe they fit all these seats into the tent and still had room for a large stage in the middle. They quickly found their seats – they were in the first section closest to the stage, giving them a spectacular view of the whole stage. They sat down in the chairs and promptly burst out laughing.

"A couple?" Angeline giggled. "Little does he know that we're cousins!"

"I cannot believe he said that," Blaine laughed, bumping foreheads with his red-headed cousin. He opened his mouth to say more, but closed it quickly, thinking better than to spill his biggest secret. Since he was seventeen, he'd known that he wasn't attracted to females. It made what the ticket booth man said all the more silly. He still hadn't told anyone, not even Angeline, for fear that he'd be disowned from his parents, or worse. It wasn't a widely accepted thing for a man to be attracted to other men. Back when he was still living with his parents, he had witnessed many beatings on people who were only suspected to be gay – it was much worse for those who really were gay.

Blaine and Angeline watched as the seats filled up and chattered excitedly, pointing at some of the people who seemed to work in the circus. Some dressed in bright colors, others led the animals to their places.

Soon the lights dimmed and a hush fell over the crowd that had grown to a number that was probably steep of a thousand, way more than Blaine was expecting. A booming voice spilled into the tent over the huge speakers spaced around the stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus!" The man speaking took many dramatic pauses to add suspense. "Today we will be featuring the many talents of our animals, our trapeze artists, our dancers, our acrobatics, and many more! So, without further ado, let the show begin!"

The band started up with a bang – literally – as maybe as many as fifty clowns, some on stilts, poured onto the center stage. Blaine's heart pounded, thrilled, as the clowns elicited laughs from the crowd. Angeline giggled as he leaned forward in his seat like a child in a candy-induced trance, mouth agape and eyes wide open.

As the show went on, the acts got more and more intense, death-defying, and definitely lived up to Blaine's expectations. The trapeze artists caused numerous gasps from the audience as the flyers fell, only to be caught by the next person swinging on the trapeze. The lion and tiger tamers scared Blaine, though, as the cats' giant paws swung dangerously close to the tamers' faces. He wondered how anyone would be willing to put themselves in that situation.

After the tamers, the announcer came over the speakers once more. "And now, for the one, the only illusionist, Kurt the Magnificent!"

The audience clapped happily as a young-looking man promenaded onto the stage. He was dressed in tight, shiny black pant, a nice white dress shirt and a black tailcoat that fluttered nicely behind him as he walked. He was incredibly graceful as he came up onto the stage and bowed to the audience. His light brown hair was styled elegantly and shone from the lights. Blaine couldn't take his eyes off this illusionist – Kurt, they'd said – as he strutted towards a large cage holding an exotic bird.

This illusionist was the most handsome man Blaine had ever seen in his life. If he leaned forward anymore, he would have fallen off of his chair. Angeline took notice to this as she did everything and smiled slightly.

"Thank you, everyone, thank you!" Kurt gushed to the audience. His voice was higher than most males' were at his age but it seemed to fit him. "For my first trick, I'd like a member of the audience! Any volunteers?"

His hand shot up like a rocket, making Angeline laugh. His chances didn't seem great, though, seeing as all the kids in the audience were screaming at the top of their lungs to "pick me, pick me!"

Kurt turned on the balls of his feet, his arms outstretched, begging for someone to come forward. It seemed only the children wanted to volunteer – a boring choice to Kurt. They were too young for the tricks that he had in mind. He was about to give into one particularly loud boy in the third row when one man caught his eyes. He was definitely older than most of the volunteers. He had dark, curly hair and shiny brown eyes and was nearly falling off of his seat, he was straining his hand up so hard. Kurt smiled inwardly, and raised his own gloved hand towards the man. He was attractive, dressed relatively well, and was so excited that it was obvious this was his first time at the circus. The illusionist's heart beat faster. I could have some fun with this, he thought.

"You there, in blue blazer!" Kurt exclaimed, pointing at Blaine, who subsequently pointed at himself as if to say, "Me? Really?"

"Yes, you!" Kurt strode gracefully towards him and held a hand out as Blaine stood up from his chair. "Come up here, sir!" Blaine gripped the illusionist's hand and climbed up on the stage. The crowd clapped despite the stunning number of disappointed children. Kurt led him to the center and spun him around to show him to the people. Standing this close to Kurt, Blaine could see he had small, black triangles painted upside down underneath both of his eyes.

"Mr. Blaine Anderson here has volunteered to be in my latest trick," Kurt said, smiling at Blaine with a twinkle in his eyes. Blaine's own eyes widened. How could this man, who he'd just met and hadn't even spoken one word to, possibly know his name?

"So, Blaine, are you ready to begin?"

Blaine swallowed noisily and nodded at Kurt – of course he wasn't really ready, but then again, he never really would be. The illusionist took his hand once again and led him towards the large cage on the right half of the stage. The bird inside squawked nervously and swiveled its head around to eye Blaine with curiosity. Kurt tossed a piece of fruit in the cage.

"Lower the curtains!" Kurt exclaimed, raising a hand towards the ceiling. Two separate curtains were lowered from above their heads, both hung in a square shape. One came to rest around the bird's cage; the other stopped a few feet away from it.

"For my first illusion, I will take Blaine and the bird and send them to alternate dimensions. In other words, I will make them disappear!" The audience, especially the myriad of children in there, clapped vigorously for Kurt. "Do you think I can do it?"

Cheers erupted once again from the crowd.

"We shall see! Now Blaine, please step into the second curtain over here," Blaine led him over towards the curtain that wasn't hanging over the bird. Blaine swallowed again and moved the velvet curtain aside to let himself inside. Kurt kept it open a second longer and whispered, "You'll have fun, I promise. Don't lose yourself!" The curtains swung closed with a wink.

Blaine heard Kurt's voice faintly through the thick, red piece of fabric surrounding him. The crowd began whooping and clapping deafeningly, it seemed, but he couldn't hear much now. Suddenly, he felt his knees buckle sharply and he collapsed onto the floor. He heard Kurt's voice once more before everything went black.

Whoop whoop, first chapter down! I'll try to update every week or so but school can get in the way ;_;

Thanks for reading this far and please review! :) I appreciate all the comments!