The food court at the North Hills Mall was always an interesting place. There was a never ending plethora of people, noises, and smells. When Kurt went shopping with the girls, they always set aside sometime to just sit at a table with a smoothie and people watch. Kurt had favourites. He liked the little old couple who would argue over the crossword while drinking coffee. It never failed to make him laugh when the wife would send her husband back over to the condiment counter to snatch a handful of sugar packets that she then stuffed in her purse. Kurt bet that they hadn't actually bought sugar since the eighties. Kurt also enjoyed watching the never ending cycle of preteen girls who tried and failed desperately to act like they were twenty five. It amused him at how people the world could be so disconnected sometimes. Today though he only had his eyes on one person. A boy with dark brown hair, slicked back with way too much gel, who was on the shorter side but had gorgeous golden, brown, eyes framed by a set of perfectly, triangular eye brows that had captivated Kurt the moment he saw them. The boy was currently third in the line for smoothies and the group of preteen girls in front of him were most definitely trying to flirt with him. He seemed to humour them which Kurt thought was very kind as he himself would have rolled his eyes and told them to find someone their own age. Not that girls ever flirted with him; his sexuality was a little too obvious. Kurt had come to like admiring this boy from afar, relishing in the fact that he, and only he, got to call the boy his boyfriend.

To Kurt: How r u doing KK? –B

To Blaine: I'm alright. just checking out some guy in the smoothie line. –K

To Kurt: Should i be worried? –B

To Blaine: No, i think ur good. He kinda reminds me of a hobbit. Not really my type. -K

To Kurt: Oh ur so sweet KK –B

To Blaine: i love u too...now, where's my smothie? –K

Kurt smiled as Blaine made his way back with two pineapple smoothies. He didn't fail to notice that Blaine took a sip of his before passing it to him. Kurt scowled at him but Blaine just gave him a wink and a shrug. Kurt couldn't help but grin at this, not that he was actually angry in the first place. It was nice that they were comfortable enough with each other to do that sort of thing, to just play with each other. Another reason Kurt liked the food court was that it was easy to blend in. Most people were too busy eating to look around and see what their neighbours were doing. Even though they were in a sea of people, Kurt felt like he was a just another fish and not some creature on display. He didn't flinch or whip his head around when Blaine slipped their fingers together. Kurt squeezed back while his silver, blue eyes remained locked on the golden brown pair across from him. He smiled. It was nice to have Blaine's hand back in his again. Back where it belonged. Back where it would have been all morning if they had been able to blend in.

Blaine had picked Kurt up that morning to head to the mall to shop for back to school clothes. Not that either boy was excited to return to school but Kurt insisted that they get an early start on the annual shopping mayhem that always started around mid August. As usual Blaine had been at the Hummel front door right on time and had had a medium drip sitting in his cup holder and a non-fat mocha latte sitting in Kurt's. Today it had read 'For my porcelain prince'. Kurt had grinned brightly at the endearment. All too often people placed Kurt into the princess category and even though he had a box of tiaras under his bed, Kurt didn't like the title, Kurt never was, wanted, nor would be a princess. Blaine got that. Without even discussing it, Blaine just knew. Once Blaine had ran around to the driver's side and hopped in, Kurt leaned over and gave his own prince a quick peck on the cheek. It was nice to know that they were on the same page in their fairytale story book.

The two boys had walked into the mall hand in hand with their fingers intertwined. They had broken a part quickly though as they entered the first store and started picking out clothes. Blaine had grabbed one or two things for himself while Kurt had already unloaded a stack for both him and Blaine in the dressing rooms and was back to prowl for more. They had very different taste in clothes but Kurt understood that and made sure his selections for Blaine were things that he would like. Once Kurt had sufficiently looked through the store, they headed to the change rooms. Kurt had a rule about change rooms: everything must be shown unless it was truly awful and thus began the clichéd fashion show. Both of the boys were soon giggling and strutting and posing and just having fun with each other as they worked their way through the pile. When Kurt had put on his last outfit, a baggy turquoise sweater with fitted tan pants, he walked out to find Blaine leaning up against the door frame in a fitted white V-neck and a pair of light wash skinny jeans that might have been just a little too skinny. Blaine slipped both of his hands into Kurt's and gave the boy a quick peck on the nose to pull him out of his trance. Kurt had blushed and dropped one of his boyfriend's hands motioning for him to turn. Kurt hand blushed even more as Blaine twirled, slowly under his arm and Kurt caught his own gaze travelling to his boyfriend's nicely accentuated rear. Kurt was still uncomfortable looking at Blaine's body. It just seemed a little invasive, like it wasn't his place to look. Kurt also felt that if he was looking at Blaine then Blaine could look at him and he wasn't sure how he felt about that. In some ways Kurt wanted Blaine to look and to like what he saw but on the other hand Kurt was afraid of what all that would lead to. What if Blaine didn't like Kurt's body? It was just a lot to take in. Blaine had given Kurt another quick peck on the nose and decided to get the outfit along with a few other pieces and headed back in to change. It was then that Kurt had notice the sales lady. She had turned away quickly but not before Kurt caught her staring at his and Blaine's' exchange. She didn't seem offended, it was more just shock. As the boys were paying for the clothes, Kurt notice her gaze again lingering just a little too long at their clasped hands. She didn't seem hateful but the attention did start to make Kurt uneasy.

Kurt continued to notice people's eyes on him and Blaine throughout the day. There were a few old ladies who muttered rather loudly about the disgrace that the two boys were being. Blaine just smiled warmly at them and rolled his eyes once they had past. Kurt was always amazed at how dapper and charming Blaine could be even when he was being damned to hell. While the smile on his own face had vanished and his body had tensed up, Blaine had just let it slide right off his back. Blaine was right though. Sometimes you just had to pick your battles. The eighty year old women and her hand bag posed no physical threat to their safety and although Kurt didn't think that it should count as an excuse, the women had grown up in a very different society and hopefully wouldn't be around much long to influence today's. There was no reason to get worked up.

Throughout the day though, Kurt did get worked up. Everybody seemed to stare, and gawk, and point, and do a double take at their clasped hands. As far as Kurt could tell, there was no malice coming from the onlookers, they were simply looking. It still got to him though. Nobody took notice to the straight couple that walked by with their hands in each other back pockets but the two boys holding hands seemed to grab and keep everyone's attention. It made him feel like he was on display, like he was some sort of freak being paraded around for the upper classes' entertainment, for their dinner table conversations. It made him feel like a fabled beast that had just been spotted for the first time. It made him feel stripped of himself and left with only a label that spelled out 'LIKES BOYS' across his chest. It was ok when he did that to himself amongst his friends but to have strangers do it for him without his permission was something different. There was also the fear of a hateful pair of eyes lurking somewhere amongst the others. He felt vulnerable, exposed, nervous and his palms got sweaty. He had pulled his hand out of Blaine's to hopefully end the looks and prevent his boyfriend from feeling his sweat.

"Sorry."

Hearing that simple, single word, Kurt swore he felt his heart shatter. He realised that Blaine must have notice the stares too, knew why he pulled away, and was now blaming himself. Kurt had looked over at his boyfriend and seen that sad smile that came with the overwhelming feeling of defeat. They both needed a break.

It was there, sitting in the busy food court, his fingers locked with Blaine's once again that he saw his boyfriend's true smile return, the one that bared his perfect, shinny teeth, the one that reached his golden, brown eyes and beyond, the one that started from deep within his sole and radiated outward and into Kurt's. It was there that Kurt realised how wrong he had been. He had caused that smile to disappear. He had been the one to let the stares get to him. He had been the one to let those people touch him, touch them. This would be something they would always have to face, something they would need to push through. They couldn't let things like this get to them because there would always be bigger, tougher, scarier things to come.

Kurt leaned forwards and carefully pressed his lips to Blaine's. He could feel Blaine's smile against him and it was a wonderful, knew feeling that he wanted more of. They lingered together a fraction longer then they had ever before and as Kurt gently pulled away he whispered a soft apology against Blaine's lips.