The hike on the island of St Croix was gorgeous. Dave filled his camera's entire memory card with shots of the mountains and the colonial ruins, and although Puck talked most of the time about his exploits in the casino the night before, he clearly had a great time, too. Kurt stayed behind in town to do some shopping, but met them for smoothies afterwards.

"You would have liked the tidal pool halfway down the mountain," Puck told him. Kurt seemed more quiet than usual, but that might have been Dave's imagination. "Hey, that kid you were hanging on after karaoke - did you score?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, Puck," Kurt said with a smile. "He was a little young for me, anyway, don't you think?"

Dave was glad to hear it. "Definitely too young," he agreed, finishing his smoothie.

"No matter," Puck declared. "You'll have your pick of guys tonight. I swear I won't leave that dance floor until I see you've got a hot guy on your arm."

Dave gave him a look, because that sounded dangerous, and a lot like what he'd been up to a few days ago, attempting to hook Kurt up with every random guy who walked by. But Puck held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, Kurt gets to pick!" he said. "I'm just going to, you know… feed them to him."

Kurt shuddered. "That makes me feel like a boa constrictor or something. Gah."

That wasn't quite the image Dave had had in his mind, but he was not going to say anything about it. "You guys are going to have to have your fun without me. I'll be the one in the corner doing the crossword."

"It's your vacation, too, babe," Puck said, giving him a sloppy and very inappropriate kiss. "I'm not going to get in your way."


Puck dressed up in the suit jacket he'd packed, but he wore a black t-shirt underneath instead of the button-down, and tight jeans that emphasized several of Puck's most appealing attributes. The ensemble just made Dave want to put his hands all over him, but he thought he might be able to restrain himself if he didn't have quite as many drinks tonight.

"You're making me feel underdressed," Dave said, when Puck caught him changing his clothes for the third time. "I don't have anything more fancy than a good pair of khakis."

"Should I say you look hot in them anyway, or that it doesn't matter what you're wearing because I plan to take them off you later?" Puck fixed his lapel and grinned, posing. "Tell me I look awesome."

"I'll tell you," Dave assured him, holding open the door for him. "Trust me, I'll tell you. I'm almost afraid to find out what Kurt's wearing."

Kurt looked elegant, of course, because he would have rocked any look, but tonight he'd gone understated, in a grey silk shirt and tie and tailored slacks. Dave was sure the label on his shoes had some significance, but he didn't have any idea what it was. He complimented them anyway.

"You can't fool me, David," Kurt said, and leaned in to kiss his cheek. "But you're very thoughtful."

Puck smirked. "Hey, Kurt, do I get a kiss if I give you a fake compliment, too?"

Kurt considered this, then took his arm. "I think you get a snide comment and the right to be the first to dance with me."

"Deal." Puck actually looked like he was looking forward to this. But then, Puck kind of threw himself into everything he did, no matter how ridiculous it was.

The dance floor was crowded already. Dave chose a booth by the door, where he could see the whole room, but in which he wouldn't feel too stupid working on a crossword while his boyfriend was dancing. It was a Tuesday crossword, anyway, and he could do a Tuesday in his sleep. He ordered a couple of beers and some fries, and a bowl of shelled edamame.

Kurt smiled when he saw the appetizer. "Is that for me?" he said, taking one and popping it into his mouth. "Or are you really eating Japanese on a whim?"

"I was thinking of the first time you and me and Vincent went out," he said. Then he froze, realizing what he'd said. "Uh - Kurt. God, I didn't mean to bring him up."

"It's okay, David," Kurt said with a little smile. "It's not like I'm not always thinking about him already. I can have a good time without him. That doesn't mean he's ever far from my mind." He took a handful of the green soybeans and nibbled them one by one. "And I do love edamame."

"Yeah, okay." Dave still felt awful, but he was willing to be pacified by Kurt's words. And Kurt did seem fine. When Lady Gaga's voice echoed out of the speakers, Kurt bounced up, giving him a wave.

"I'm off to get my groove on. Don't worry. And enjoy your crossword." He dashed off. Dave had to smile. Kurt hadn't changed much. Aside from being tanner and having more highlights in his hair, he didn't really look a whole lot different from the last time they'd danced together.

Except, then, he'd been wearing a kilt and a tiara, and I was a total asshole to him. He sighed. Not the best memory to dredge up. They'd had plenty of good times since then, and Dave knew he wasn't that guy anymore, but he wondered if Kurt might be thinking about it, too.

By the time Dave saw Puck again, Lady Gaga had declared several times she was born that way, and the Scissor Sisters had insisted in Bee-Gees-like falsettos that they didn't feel like dancin', no sir, no dancin' today. Puck was still wearing the suit jacket, and Dave considered telling him to take it off, but figured there was already enough testosterone in the room.

"This for me?" said Puck, breathing a little hard and taking a long drink of one of the beers. He was smiling, though. "Man. These guys are hard core. We're going to have to pull out the Single Ladies routine. Remember that?"

"How could I forget. And no." Dave took a drink of his own beer. "No dancin' today."

That made Puck laugh. "Dude, if they happen to play it - and I promise neither of us will request it - would you do it then? Kurt would love it."

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever." He let Puck give him a kiss, and gave the jacket a little tug. What the hell. "And you're not going to wear that all night. Take it off."

"What, and start a sex riot?" Puck waggled his eyebrows, but he obligingly shed the suit jacket and hung it up on the back of a chair. Dave took a few indulgent moments to bask in the hotness of his boyfriend in a tight t-shirt and jeans. "Bye, babe. Enjoy the view."

He watched Puck's ass do its own dance on its way back to the floor as LMFAO informed the crowd that party rock was in the house tonight, and everybody was going to have a good time.

Dave had finished a quarter of his crossword when he realized Kurt wasn't dancing anymore. He was standing at a table with a tall, slender guy in glasses, talking animatedly, a drink in his hand. Had Kurt ordered that? he wondered. He hadn't noticed. Maybe the guy had bought it for him. Kurt didn't look unhappy. On the contrary, he was definitely flirting. Now he had the guy by the arm and was dragging him over. Dave braced himself and put on a smile.

"David, you've got to hear - you'll never believe it." Kurt's face was practically sparkling. "Marcus, this is my best friend David. David, Marcus is a languages professor. At Yale."

He was handsome enough, in a nerdy sort of way, and Dave guessed he might look a little like Vincent under that tan. "Nice to meet you, Marcus," he said. "Help yourself to edamame."

"Thanks," said Marcus, but he didn't.

"I had to tell you. Marcus was telling me the meaning of the song that's playing? The numa numa song? I'd never really thought about it, but he told me it's Romanian. Isn't that interesting?"

Dave guessed it was, but Kurt was already going on. "Marcus, tell him the lyrics."

Marcus looked like he might want to apologize, or possibly run away. Dave felt a little sorry for him, under the spell of the Kurt Hummel charm. "Uh, well, sure:

I gave you a call to tell you how I feel now.
Hello, my love, it's me, an outlaw.
Hello, hello, it's me again, Picasso,
I gave you a call, and I'm awesome
But you must know I'm asking you nothing.

You want to go but you don't, you don't take me with you
you don't, you don't, you don't take me with you
Your face and the love under the linden tree
remind me of your eyes."

Kurt laughed hysterically, leaning on Marcus for support. "Oh, my god. Dave, can you believe it? It's like the lyricist wrote it for us."

"In Romanian," Dave added blankly, sending Kurt into more gales of laughter. He gave Marcus his own apologetic look. "Uh, sorry about this."

"No problem," Marcus said, looking somewhat bemused, but Dave guessed he would be willing to humor Kurt in order to dance with him. Who wouldn't, he thought.

Marcus took Kurt back to the dance floor to groove to Adam Lambert imploring his lover to give him his naked love. Before he went, Dave made sure Kurt could see his nod of approval. "He's cool," Dave said. Kurt just shrugged.

"I'm dancing, David, not trolling for dates. But weren't those incredible lyrics?" Kurt shook his head, marveling.

This time Dave made it through nearly two-thirds of the crossword before Puck came back to drink the rest of his beer. Dave had ordered him a second one, but he didn't think Puck even noticed. He didn't show any signs of quitting dancing, either, though Kurt had clearly been claimed by Marcus for the evening.

"You've done your good deed," Dave pointed out with the last of the fries.

"Yeah," Puck agreed, looking satisfied. "He's all right. At least Kurt won't squash him with his big words."

They watched Kurt tear up the floor while CSS suggested they make love and listen to Death from Above. "Apparently he can speak Romanian," Dave said.

"Yeah, and four other languages." Puck looked like he was waiting for Dave to say something. "Kurt likes smart guys."

"He deserves that." Dave set down his pen. The last third of the crossword was thwarting him, but he knew from experience if he took a short break and then came back to it, his brain would sort things out on its own, and it would make sense after a while. "Well, you go ahead. I'm fine. It's a good view, anyway."

Puck laughed. "Okay, yeah, you must be pretty relaxed if you can admit you're enjoying watching a bunch of guys dance. I'll see you later, babe. Thanks for the beer."

Dave ordered a third round and resumed his crossword. To his surprise, the next guy who came to sit beside him was Marcus. "Hey."

"I think Kurt's going to make me translate this song for you, too," Marcus said sheepishly. "So I figured I'd get it out of the way."

Dave grinned, listening as the song played. "I actually took a couple years of Spanish, but go ahead."

His grin dropped away as Marcus told him what Paradisio was singing about in "Bailando."

Yes, sir, special effects
Yes, sir, a temptation

You and me at the party
You and me the whole night
You and me at the party
You and me

Dancing, dancing friends
Goodbye, goodbye crazy silence
Dancing, dancing friends
Goodbye, goodbye crazy silence

Yes sir, a crown of crystals, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yes sir, a great thrill of emotion, yeah, yeah, yeah

The moon was full
I dreamt of a palace
A paradise that's called Paradisio

Sensual dance
Romantic night
Melody

"Seriously? A crown of crystals?" Dave stared at the dance floor, trying to fathom the circumstances. "Huh. No shit."

"Kurt said something about you two at your high school prom...?" Marcus didn't prod further, but he definitely looked curious. Dave sighed.

"Yeah. Junior year... I was elected prom king, if you can believe that. And Kurt... it was a kind of mean joke, I guess, he was elected queen, by write-in. He and his boyfriend were totally cool about the whole thing, though. Kurt and me, we were supposed to dance, and the song was Dancing Queen, and..." He grimaced. "I was still in the closet. Really not a good scene."

Marcus looked horrified. "God, no. What did you do?"

"I ran," Dave admitted. "It took me almost another whole year before I could tell Kurt how I felt about him. I was pretty stupid, I guess, but - it was high school."

"How traumatic." Marcus was watching Kurt again. He sighed. "Well, I guess it's never too late for happy endings."

Dave raised an eyebrow. "I guess? I mean, we both figured out how to be happy. He's having a good time with you tonight."

Marcus gave him a strange look. "Uh - David, was it? - David, Kurt's not paying any attention to me. He's totally into you."

"No," Dave protested. "No, his boyfriend's in Spain, and he's - that's my boyfriend, over there. Uh, dancing with him." He shook his head. "Kurt's so over me."

But it was pointless, and he could tell Marcus thought so, too. "Sounds complicated," he said, standing up. "I'm not really in a position to deal with complicated, no matter how cute Kurt is. Tell him I said good luck."

Dave didn't watch him walk out. He would be damned if he was going to be responsible for spoiling Kurt's night, again. He took a deep breath and strode over to the DJ.

"Hey," he called over the noise. "You wouldn't happen to have that song, Single Ladies?"

He positioned himself strategically by the dance floor and tried to look appropriately disgusted when the song came on. Puck rushed right over to him and took his arm.

"What were the chances?" Dave said, rolling his eyes. "Okay, fine; a promise is a promise."

The delighted look on Kurt's face was totally worth a few minutes of humiliating hip-shaking, not to mention Puck's incredulous smile. Kurt led them through the whole routine to cheers from the rest of the guys on the dance floor, and Dave followed along as best as he could. Eventually it deteriorated into the usual morass of grinding and pointless bobble-heading, and Dave figured he'd slink back to his booth.

He was halted in his tracks by Kurt, sweaty, breathless and rosy-cheeked. "David," he said, eyes bright. "You - that was -"

Dave accepted his enthusiastic embrace, and even laughed. "Can't believe I remembered it." That was ridiculous, considering he still owned everything Kurt had ever given him, including a towel from the McKinley high school locker room.

"Did I tell you my dad did the whole routine for me on the auditorium stage just before graduation?" Kurt nodded confirmation when Dave raised an incredulous eyebrow. "True story. He wore the glove and everything. I just about died." Kurt leaned his head on Dave's chest. "This - might have topped that."

Dave gave him one little squeeze, then let him go. "Glad to oblige. And, yeah, you got me to dance. Kind of. But this is it, okay?"

Kurt wasn't moving away from his spot against Dave's chest, and his expression... "I'd never make you do anything you didn't want to do, David."

Dave swallowed. He could have made a joke - hell, a whole series of jokes - about that comment, but the words stuck in his throat. "Kurt..."

"C'mon," Puck interrupted, taking Kurt's hand. "I love this song."

Dave watched while Puck led Kurt back to the dance floor, where Maroon 5 was extolling the virtues of his moves like Jagger. Kurt hadn't said one word about Marcus being gone. Dave let out the breath he was holding. "Okay," he muttered, trying to brush Kurt's sweat off his shirt. "Okay."

His crossword and his third beer were both complete by the time last call rolled around. "Last call is kind of a joke on a cruise ship," Puck was saying, making a face. "I mean, hell, you could drink all night if you wanted to."

"No thank you," Kurt said, with emphatic jazz hands. "I learned that lesson more than once." He leaned in and gave Puck a kiss on the cheek. "There. You earned that."

"Tonight was awesome," Puck grinned. "Even if that guy did ditch you. What happened to him, anyway? He just disappeared."

"Who knows." Kurt looked completely noncommittal about Marcus' vanishing act. He picked at his shirt distastefully. "God, I need about three showers. Anybody for swimming?"

Swimming in the middle of the night sounded like exactly the sort of thing Puck would love to do. Sure enough, he was giving Dave puppy-dog eyes. Dave didn't even bother to argue. "Sure. Whatever."

They all trouped back to their cabins to shower and change into their suits. Puck was strangely quiet. Dave watched him strip and head into the bathroom without comment, but when he came out again, Dave stopped him. "Everything okay, babe? You looked like you were having fun tonight. You were, weren't you?"

"Yeah, of course." Puck nodded. "It was hilarious. And Kurt had a good time. Single Ladies, man, I couldn't believe it."

"Yeah, I didn't expect them to actually play it."

Puck eyed Dave. "No… I saw what you did, requesting it. You didn't have to do that."

"Yeah, I did," Dave said, with a sigh. "That guy, Marcus, he ditched Kurt halfway through the evening, and it was because of something I said. I owed it to him."

Puck nodded. "And you're really going swimming at - one thirty in the morning?"

"What the hell. It's not going to kill me." Dave took a towel from the bathroom and handed one to Puck. "I can be a good sport, right?"

"Dave..." Puck put a hand on his chest as he tried to head out the door. "You're allowed to have fun your way, too. I mean - sometimes it can just be about what you want. You don't have to apologize for that."

"I'm not," Dave insisted. "I'm not apologizing. I'm just trying to take care of Kurt."

Puck nodded. "Yeah. You're good at that." Then he threw an arm around Dave's neck and pulled him into a kiss.

"Babe..." Dave kissed him back, and accepted Puck's embrace, feeling troubled. "Really, tell me - is everything okay?"

Puck just kissed him again. Dave didn't push him for more, but he held on to Puck's hand as they went to find Kurt.

But they found him leaning against the wall in the hallway, clutching his towel tight to his chest. Dave stopped in his tracks as he realized Kurt was crying. "Puck," he whispered, letting go of his hand.

"I can take this one," Puck said, glancing at Dave's face, which he was sure must look terrified. "You - just go on, and we'll meet you on the pool deck."

Dave didn't make him ask twice. He stared after Kurt, who was turning aside from Puck, trying to wave him away. I don't get it, Dave wanted to whine. What did I do wrong? I thought it had been a good night.

He headed for the elevators, not at all sure he was doing the right thing by leaving Kurt with Puck, but he didn't want to overwhelm Kurt if he was freaking out about - well, about Dave.

This night isn't over, he thought, stabbing the button for the pool deck. I can still make this right. Somehow.