A/N: Infinite thanks to the inspiration for me to start this fic: Muchaha10! I have to give her credit (even for chapters like this one and the past few that I'm really just pulling out of thin air and aren't based off of her art directly). She is a brilliant talent!
I really wanted to get the second day done with, which is why this is a bit lengthy. I didn't want to have to make it into a whole other chapter, so I just didn't split it up! I apologize for the length in advance (:
The inside of the store was extremely impressive. There were so many racks of clothes and shelves of jeans that Kurt felt like he might just die from heart failure. The walls were all white and the tile on the floor was also white, accenting the clothes and seeming to illustrate the fact that these pieces were both tasteful and expensive.
Kurt was sure his mouth couldn't drop any further and he could feel his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets. This was better than any dream he could've conjured up.
Blaine squeezed Kurt's shoulders under his hands, conveying his own excitement. He let his hands drop and stood beside Kurt, just taking in the other boy's reaction.
"So what do you think?" he asked after a moment.
Kurt's mouth just opened and closed wordlessly in shock. He shook his head, trying to regain his wits about him and fished out his pad of post-it notes again, scribbling a message quickly. He reached over and stuck it on Blaine's forehead a little harder than he should've.
Blaine just laughed it off and read the note.
"Blaine, I don't even have any money. You don't have to do this!" The message was underlined furiously and written in all caps.
Blaine just crumpled the post it with his hand and stuck it in his jacket pocket.
"Kurt, you are the most ridiculous person I have ever met," he dodged Kurt's attempt to push his shoulder. "I want to do this for you and you are going to like it." He said the last line with mock authority as if that settled the whole matter.
Kurt shook his head and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
Blaine smiled. "Great, because I rented out the whole place. So it's just us."
Kurt looked around, registering for the first time how the whole store seemed oddly deserted. A questioning look crossed his face, but before he could try to attack Blaine again, Blaine grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the suit section.
"Now, my father is hosting a ball in a couple of days and you are definitely at the top of the guest list. Which means you need to look fabulous in a suit all your own," Blaine said.
Kurt rolled his eyes, but Blaine just grabbed a few different jackets and color combinations and pushed Kurt towards the changing rooms.
"Not a word out of you," Blaine demanded, "Just go try them on and thank me later."
Kurt stuck his nose in the air, pretending he was mad at Blaine for trying to buy him nice things as he trudged off to the dressing rooms.
Of course it was all too much and he debated on telling Blaine to just not bother with him at all. But he'd be lying to himself if he said he wasn't excited about the whole thing. He'd never even touched clothing as fine as this before. And to be able to call it his own? That might be too much for his little heart to bear.
He clutched the clothes to his chest for a moment, just hugging them before he hung them up on a clothes hook. He removed his cardigan and shirt to try on a few dress shirts and vests. He finally decided on accenting with the color green because it made his eyes pop nicely.
After much debate, he chose a simple black jacket with a smooth lapel collar. He buttoned the front button and stood back a bit, looking at his reflection in the mirror from all angle. He smiled widely as he realized he looked better than he ever had in his whole entire life. When Blaine saw him in this ensemble, he would just have to kiss him.
He did a small celebratory dance as he thought of the possibilities.
"This is really happening…" he thought to himself.
After a few more minutes of admiring himself, he reluctantly changed clothes again and hung up the suits neatly, careful not to wrinkle them.
Finally when everything was back in order, he grabbed the mass of hangers in his hand and headed back out to where Blaine was sitting.
"What did you decide on?" Blaine asked curiously.
Kurt shook his head as he pulled out his post-it pad again.
"It's a secret. I'm not telling you. You'll just have to be surprised," he wrote before walking past Blaine and sticking it on his back.
Blaine laughed and struggled for a minute trying to reach it. When he finally read it, he started to protest.
"But Kurt…" he followed closely behind him now.
Kurt turned around and put a finger to Blaine's lips to silence him. He couldn't help but notice how soft Blaine's lips where and how hot his breath felt against Kurt's finger. They stood there for a few heartbeats before Kurt realized he should remove his hand. He gave Blaine a curt nod to show he wouldn't change his mind and Blaine just shook his head, smiling.
"You are something else," Blaine said, staring after Kurt as he went through some other racks. Blaine caught up to him and took away the pile of clothes he was still holding onto.
"Well, then I'm not letting you put any of this back. We're talking them all. So ha!" Blaine said triumphantly.
Kurt wrote "NO" on about twenty different post-its and stuck them all over Blaine's body in protest. Blaine just moved out of reach and hid behind a rack of clothes.
"Attacking me won't change my mind," he warned Kurt as he peeled off the post-its.
Kurt put his face in his hands and feigned exasperation. He ignored Blaine and went to look at some different clothes.
He could get used to spending time with Blaine if it was going to be this much fun.
An hour later, after Kurt had picked out a few more outfits, he felt satisfied with himself and wrote to Blaine, "Okay, I think I'm done now" before sticking it on his pant leg.
Blaine shifted the pile of clothes he was holding to the other arm and crumpled the note before throwing it at Kurt's head. Kurt just caught it calmly in his hand and rolled his eyes.
"Hey, no fair!" Blaine said. "You're not supposed to catch it."
Kurt just uncrumpled the note and stuck it back on Blaine.
The other boy just shook his head and said, "Well, thank God you're done. Any more clothes and I might have thrown out my back. Come on, let's go."
Kurt looked at him questioningly before Blaine explained.
"Guess I should've told you that I kind of own the place." He winked quickly as Kurt felt his mouth fall open for what seemed like the millionth time that day.
He stuck another note on Blaine's mouth.
"Is there anything else you haven't told me or do I just have to keep going through the day freaking out every few minutes?"
Blaine chuckled softly and wrote a note of his own.
"You'll just have to wait and see…" He stuck it on Kurt's hand before exiting the store.
Kurt followed closely behind, eager to see what would come next.
Blaine had obviously called the limousine driver ahead of time because now he was handing off the clothes to him.
"…hold onto these for me, Robert?" Kurt caught the last end of the sentence as the driver said, "Of course, of course", taking the clothes back to the car before driving off again.
Kurt already had a note prepared that he attempted to stick on Blaine's hair.
"Where to next?" it read, with a tiny happy face.
Blaine rubbed his stomach animatedly.
"Well, I'm kind of starving to death since we skipped breakfast, so let's go grab a bite."
Kurt's stomach let out a loud gurgle in response for him, which caused him to blush as he moved a hand to his stomach.
Instead of pretending he hadn't heard, Blaine nodded and said, "That's what I thought."
Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand again and they walked together towards a nearby seaside café. Kurt sighed contentedly as he realized no one was even giving them strange looks or anything – like they belonged there together.
It was a lovely outdoor restaurant and they passed under iron gate frames and stood in front of the maitre'd who politely addressed them.
"Good afternoon, your majesty," he said to Blaine with a quick bow of his head. "We're honored that you are dining with us on this fine day. Please," he gestured to the open tables nearest the view of the ocean, "Take a seat wherever you like and a waiter will be with you as soon as possible."
Blaine thanked him kindly and Kurt just flashed him a polite smile.
Still holding Kurt's hand, Blaine led them over to a nice table and pulled out a chair for him. Kurt put a hand to his chest as if to say "For me?" before sitting gracefully in the chair. Blaine pushed it in politely before taking his own seat across from Kurt. Blaine looked out across the shimmering water.
"What a view, huh?" he asked Kurt before turning back and smiling at him.
Kurt smiled a bit sadly, but nodded nonetheless.
Mercedes and Rachel had been hiding out overnight dangerously near the coast to avoid going back to the Kingdom. If they returned, the guards would swarm them and ask them questions that they didn't know quite how to answer. So they stayed away, knowing they were probably causing a lot of worry back home.
They'd spent the night, taking turns keeping watch in case any search party might stray far enough away from the kingdom to find them. They'd kept Blaine's castle in their view all the while and had seen the limousine pull away first thing in the morning.
After a morning consisting of a lot of swimming, and some sleuth work on Rachel's part, they'd finally located their wandering prince sitting in what looked like a seaside restaurant of sorts. This was lucky on their parts, because the boys were seated closest to water and Mercedes could hear Blaine's voice carrying down to where she swam while Rachel precariously climbed the rocks to get a better view of the couple.
"What's happening?" Mercedes whispered loudly up to Rachel who'd finally reached the top.
Rachel waved a claw at her to tell her to be quiet. "They're eating…pasta?"
Mercedes rolled her eyes. "I don't care what they're eating! What are they doing?"
She shook her head to herself at Rachel's knack for pointing out worthless information.
Rachel scoffed indignantly. "Well, I was merely pointing out that at least they're not eating seafood. I don't think I could handle that!"
Mercedes rolled her eyes and waited for some useful information.
When Rachel procured none, she splashed impatiently and prompted her.
"What's happening, Rachel? You're killing me down here. Are they kissing yet?" she hissed.
"Mercedes, please. You heard Sue as well as I did - the kiss has to be from true love and I doubt that even Kurt has made Blaine fall in love with him after just one day."
Mercedes narrowed her eyes with frustration."Yeah, well. They'd better get a move on or I'll…I'll grow legs myself and make 'em…"
Rachel waved her into silence again. "They're holding hands! How cute!" She tilted her head to the side as she wore a dreamy expression. "He really wants this, doesn't he, Mercedes?"
"Yeah, I guess so…" Mercedes conceded sadly. "Are they talking? I can't hear anything anymore."
Rachel angled herself to get a better view. "I think they're writing to each other…that's why you can't hear anything."
Mercedes nodded slowly. "Well at least he's communicating with him instead of pantomiming everything. That wasn't workin' out for him," she chuckled to herself.
"Gosh, Mercedes, I wish you could see the look on Kurt's face. It's like he's in heaven or something. Oops! They're looking this way!"
Rachel ducked quickly out of sight and lost her footing, sending her back into the cool water with a tiny plop.
Kurt looked to his right towards the edge of the precipice the restaurant was built on. There was an iron gate around the premises to ensure no one accidentally fell into the ocean, but he could see the edge plain as day. He could've sworn he'd seen a flash of a small crab peeking its head over the top, watching him.
"Rachel…" he thought to himself.
But now that he was looking, there seemed to be nothing there at all. He furrowed his brow in confusion as he felt Blaine's hand covering his again.
"Is everything alright?" Blaine asked gently.
Kurt reluctantly tore his eyes away from the ledge, convinced Rachel might come back again, and looked back at Blaine. The other boy's eyes were filled with genuine concern as Kurt regained himself and gave Blaine a smile and a quick nod.
"Good," Blaine smiled back and patted Kurt's hand once more before moving his away. "What were you thinking about anyways? You looked a little…" he searched for the right word, "distressed, I guess…"
Kurt picked up his post-it pad again, quickly thinking of something appropriate to tell Blaine.
"I was just thinking about my old friends," he wrote.
Well, that wasn't a complete lie.
He stuck it on the edge of Blaine's plate. The other boy read it immediately and wrote back.
Kurt watched as he scrawled a response, loving that Blaine was willing to write notes to him instead of talk, which would be the easier option for him since no sea witch had taken away his ability to talk lately…
Blaine interrupted his amorous train of thought by sticking his post-it on Kurt's forehead. Kurt sat there for a moment as he glared at Blaine playfully. Blaine crossed his arms and shrugged, waiting for Kurt to read his note.
He peeled it carefully off of his skin and read it.
"What about them? Do you miss them?"
Kurt swallowed the lump in his throat as he answered back honestly.
"Yes, a big part of me does. But also, a part of me is relieved to be away because they didn't always understand me. But I feel guilty for feeling that way, I guess." He didn't have to think twice as he stuck it on Blaine's jacket.
He just felt like he had no reason to hide. What he wrote wasn't even a lie; it was the complete truth. He did feel slightly guilty for enjoying himself so much with Blaine when he knew Mercedes would be missing him and maybe even Rachel too.
Blaine stuck another note on Kurt's shoulder.
"What didn't they understand about you? I think you're great," it asked with a small smiley face.
Kurt couldn't conceal the smile that broke across his face before he wrote back.
"They just couldn't understand things that I wanted to try. I'm just trying to find myself and they weren't always supportive, you know?"
Blaine had his head turned and Kurt took advantage of it and stuck the post-it on his neck quickly.
"Hey!" Blaine laughed before peeling it off and reading it.
Kurt looked at the table; their plates had been empty for a while now, but they didn't feel the rushed need to leave just yet.
Blaine stuck his latest note into Kurt's open palm.
"I know exactly what you mean," it said, "I'm starting to find myself too…and I might rock a few boats along the way, so to speak."
Kurt looked up from the note to look across the table. Blaine's mouth twitched up into a half-smile as he looked into Kurt's eyes. Kurt took a deep breath and bravely placed his hand over Blaine's, squeezing it comfortably.
They looked at each other wordlessly in a long moment of understanding. Blaine cleared his throat nervously and stood up from the table abruptly.
"Let's get going, shall we?" he asked. Kurt smiled up at him and stood up as well. He reached down and laced his fingers through Blaine's again, partially scared that the other boy might pull away again. But Blaine let it happen this time and grasped Kurt's hand back while giving him a stunning smile.
Blaine led him out of the restaurant, nodding courteously to the maitre'd.
"Put it on my tab, Paul, will you?"
The man bowed briefly. "Of course, Blaine, of course."
Blaine waved at him. "Have a nice day!" he called as they walked away.
Kurt just looked at him in awe for a moment too long because Blaine turned back to him and caught him staring.
"What? Didn't your parents ever teach you manners?" he teased.
Kurt just rolled his eyes as they walked further into town.
A few of hours later, they'd managed to catch an early movie, buy more things Kurt felt he didn't need, and secure ice cream cones.
The whole movie theater experience was kind of mind-blowing for Kurt who'd never experienced anything like it back home. Apparently, people sit in front of a screen and images flash across it.
He'd been sitting there as Blaine went to go get something called "popcorn" and stared slack-jawed at the huge screen in front of him. No one else in the theater seemed to be paying attention to the pointless commercials as they waited for the film to start, but Kurt couldn't pull his eyes away from the screen.
It was all so foreign and fascinating to him. Blaine came back with the bucket of "popcorn" and sat down, just watching Kurt's reaction to the commercial playing about the concession stand.
"Don't tell me, you've never seen a movie before," Blaine guessed.
Kurt shut his mouth and stared at Blaine as if to say, "What do you think?"
Blaine just tipped back his head and laughed loudly. Once he stopped, he wiped his eyes at the tears forming there from laughing so hard.
"Oh geez, I shouldn't even surprised anymore, Kurt."
Before Kurt could retort, the lights dimmed suddenly.
The movie Blaine picked was one of those horror films, which caused Kurt to be freaking out half of the time. The music was scary and added to the suspense. Kurt always tensed as the music was building, feeling afraid for the characters. His anxiety caused Blaine to hold his hand the entire movie.
Every time something popped out of no where, Kurt would jump in his seat and squeeze Blaine's hand while all Blaine did was laugh at Kurt's reactions. The other parts of the movie, Kurt was honestly confused and questioned the protagonists' intelligence.
Why would they go upstairs if the murderer was in the house? Did they plan on jumping out of a window? Why couldn't they just use the front door? If the neighbor knew that a mass murderer was on the loose, why would he take a jog in a secluded forest? It was as if they were asking to be decapitated.
By the end of the movie, he was a bundle of nerves and he jumped as Blaine squeezed his shoulder.
"Let's go," Blaine said, holding out his hand yet again.
Kurt looked around and realized they were the last ones in the theater. He grabbed Blaine's hand as they walked out of the movie theater and towards town again.
"So I'll take your reaction as the fact that you enjoyed it?" Blaine asked.
Kurt nodded his head. They walked in comfortable silence for a while. Blaine took him to a couple more stores, showing Kurt things he'd never seen before. They spent a considerable amount of time in a small music store as Blaine showed Kurt countless CDs he'd never heard of.
The store had a unique system where they scanned the CD and the tracks would be previewed for them. The whole concept baffled Kurt's mind as Blaine showed him his favorite artists. Though Kurt protested again, Blaine ended up buying him a few against his will.
While they were walking towards the beach, Blaine spotted an ice cream stand to his left.
"You know what I really want right now?" he asked Kurt slyly.
Kurt raised his eyebrows and waited for an answer.
"I want…" Blaine smiled, "Some ice cream. And I'm going to go get us some."
He walked out of Kurt's reach towards the stand.
"What flavor do you want?" he called over his shoulder.
Kurt just shrugged cluelessly. Blaine stopped dead in his tracks.
"Kurt, you have to be joking. You don't have a favorite ice cream flavor?"
Kurt just shook his head and shoved his hands into his pockets, smiling nervously at Blaine.
"You are ridiculous," Blaine joked. "You must live under a rock," he made a funny face at Kurt before continuing to walk towards the stand.
"You have no idea," Kurt thought to himself.
Blaine returned with two waffle cones full of ice cream.
"I got you chocolate," Blaine said like he was proud of himself, "because if you've never tasted chocolate, you're seriously missing out."
Kurt shrugged again as he licked the melting substance. As the glob of ice cream made its way down his throat, he thought he was going to die from how delicious it tasted: so sweet and cool on his tongue. Blaine had been right; he really had been missing out.
"I thought so," Blaine sad smugly as he devoured his own ice cream.
They walked onto the beach as they finished up their cones. Nearby there sounded like there was a party going on in one of those beach houses because music filled the air. Blaine stooped down and pulled off his shoes, letting his feet go barefoot on the cool sand.
Kurt did the same and wiggled his toes as the sand moved through the spaces. There was a cool breeze blowing across the water and Kurt let himself stand there and enjoy the way it felt for a while.
Blaine had dropped his shoes and the bag full of CDs near a rock and was now running towards the water. He ran until the he was barely in the tide and danced around a bit from how cold the water was before standing still and throwing his arms out.
Kurt laughed because Blaine looked like he was really enjoying himself.
"What are you laughing at?" Blaine asked, laughing himself. "I love the ocean at this time of day." He did a little jig to the music coming from the party.
Kurt set down his shoes by Blaine's and walked towards the ocean. He let the water run over his feet as he took a deep breath.
Here he was at the center of his life – he stood both on land and in the water with this amazing man beside him. This was both where his life began and what it'd evolved to. He copied Blaine and stuck his arms in the air, turning his face to the wind and soaking up this perfect moment. Blaine smiled at him.
"It's great, right?" he asked, continuing to dance by himself.
The song switched to a slower one and Kurt swayed to the beat as he listened to the words floating easily towards them.
Kiss me out of the bearded barley
Nightly, beside the green, green grass
Swing, swing, swing the spinning step
You wear those shoes and then we'll wear that dress.
Blaine turned to Kurt, smiling.
"I love this song," he said, grabbing Kurt's hand and pulling him closer. Kurt grinned back and continued swaying lazily to the mellow song.
Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight
Lead me out on the moonlit floor
Lift your open hand
Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance
Silver moon's sparkling
So kiss me
Blaine took Kurt's free hand into his other until they were facing each other and standing palm to palm. Kurt bit his lip nervously as he realized just how close of a distance they were standing to each other.
If he took just half a step forward, his chest would be touching Blaine's. But he stood still, watching Blaine with a mixture of fascination and scared anticipation. Blaine started singing the words softly, chuckling a bit as he sang.
Kiss me down by the broken tree house
Swing me upon its hanging tire
Bring, bring, bring your flowered hat
We'll take the trail marked on your father's map
Blaine pulled Kurt close, laughing and enjoying himself. He seemed very relaxed and comfortable singing to Kurt and holding him near. Kurt felt more like himself than he'd ever felt before in his life and Blaine looked as if he was showing his true colors as well,
This moment was real.
Blaine kept on softly singing along, dropping his gaze to Kurt's lips.
Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight
Lead me out on the moonlit floor
Lift your open hand
Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance
Silver moon's sparkling
So kiss me
He pulled them deeper into the tide, laughing as the water washed up over the legs of their jeans. Kurt let out a little gasp as he felt how cold the ocean was against his flushed skin, but he couldn't help giggling himself. This was all so insane.
Blaine danced bit as the song continued into a musical break and Kurt couldn't help but move his shoulders to the beat. They spun around in a circle, still connected by the hands as they kicked up some water happily.
Blaine squeezed Kurt's hands and took a step towards him as the last chorus filled the air. His voice was a soft as he harmonized with the words and Kurt could feel his hot breath against his lips.
Was this it? Was Blaine going to close those last few centimeters and kiss him?
Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight
Lead me out on the moonlit floor
Lift your open hand
Strike up the band and make the fireflies dance
Silver moon's sparkling
So kiss me...So kiss me...
The last notes of the song drifted away and Kurt looked down the bridge of his nose to see Blaine's mouth slowly moving toward his. His heart was pounding in his ears, reassuring him that it was beating even though Kurt was sure that he'd stopped breathing all together. His stomach was in knots as he licked his lips nervously.
He let his eyes fall closed as he felt Blaine's mouth near his own.
Their lips were about to touch when a huge wave hit them, sending them both falling to the ground.
Kurt spluttered as the salty water washed over him while he tried to regain his footing. He stood up, shaken and more than a little disappointed. Blaine was still struggling against the wave as the undertow pulled him back.
Kurt just shook his head and offered Blaine his hand which the other boy quickly accepted. He hoisted Blaine to his feet before brushing himself off as best he could. His felt his face burning red, but he couldn't help it; he'd almost kissed Blaine and now he looked like a sopping wet fool. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Blaine was bent over, shaking. Kurt looked at him curiously, wondering if he was hurt. But he realized Blaine was doubled over with a fit of infectious giggles. He stood upright, still laughing and putting a hand over his mouth.
"Did you see that?" he asked, gasping for air between spurts of laughter. "We totally wiped out!" he said again with difficulty before almost falling over from laughing so hard.
Kurt couldn't help but laugh along with him – the situation was kind of funny, after all.
Soon they were both near to tears from how hilarious the whole thing turned out to be. They gathered themselves and then took a look at one another and how their clothes were pretty much ruined before cracking up all over again.
It took them a full ten minutes to stop laughing before they walked back up shore and grabbed their belongings and started walking back towards the castle.
"Oh, man," Blaine said with a grin as he slung his arm around Kurt's shoulders. "You are way too much fun to hang out with."
They finally reached the castle way later than they expected and by the time they made it upstairs, Kurt felt dead on his feet. He put his hand on the knob and smiled at Blaine, waiting expectantly.
"I had…a lot of fun today, Kurt," Blaine said softly.
He pulled Kurt into a warm embrace and held him close for a second before letting him go.
Kurt opened his mouth. "I had fun too, Blaine" he sang softly, trilling a bit at the end of the sentence.
Blaine smiled. "I am never going to get over that," he said as he gave one last squeeze to Kurt's hand. "Goodnight," he said, as he walked down the hall to his own room.
Kurt gave him a small wave before going into his room.
He closed the door behind him and quickly changed in his pajamas, not even bothering to shower. He fell facedown into his pile of pillows and let out a sigh of frustration.
Clearly, this was going to be more difficult than he thought.
He kicked back his covers, still slightly irritated before taking deep breaths. Tomorrow would be another day; everything always looked better in the morning anyways.
