Chapter One: In Which Mercedes Steals the Spotlight

Looking back on it, Mercedes would claim that it was all her idea to head to Ohio's cheesiest live action theme park. But Kurt would like to credit Finn and Puck for their absolute insufferable nature at an ungodly morning hour and his father for wanting to get his son outside of his isolated bubble that he had begun to develop.

June 5 2010

9:31 a.m.

Loud footsteps pounded down the stairs to Kurt's bedroom (unfortunately shared with Finn Hudson, his dopey and intellectually challenged sort of step brother) and Kurt buried his head further into his silky sheets-bought on sale on a Vogue backwater website- and prayed that his quiet morning would resume.

"Kurt!" A large and meaty finger poked his shoulder and quickly retreated. Kurt simply mumbled a curse and buried further under the sheets.

"Dude," that was definitely Finn's voice. He would be the first on Kurt's hit list for waking him up after he stayed up all night planning future junior year outfits. "Can we use the room?"

Kurt wanted to ignore Finn (and most probably Puck as well), but considering he didn't want to be in the same room as either of them at the moment, Kurt mumbled an affirmative and quickly retreated upstairs to take a shower in the upstairs bathroom. He didn't want to be around Finn or Puck when they started their almost five hour marathon of Call of Duty. It usually ended up that more than a few pieces of furniture had stains on them and the shouting (trash talking as Finn had explained, was all part of the sportsmanship) became unbearable and wasn't even blocked out by his best sound blocking headphones.

It took him almost 45 minutes to shower, run through his facial routine, and take several moments to observe himself in the mirror. Kurt still felt the same- his face may be thinner and his prepubescent chub had melted off in the last few months of school. Most due to spending his time after school doing Pilates; some had been from the stress of bullies. He'd worry himself sick over going to school some days. Being thrown into dumpsters, teased and whispered about, and given rude looks whenever he would open his mouth in class. It had whittled him down on the inside.

The only thing that had kept him going had been Glee club. Glee club had been his shinning light in the darkness of high school. He had learned to accept himself as a gay young man and he most certainly learned the love his own singing voice (even if it was a little too high to be popular in anything beyond musical theater).

Kurt focused on his flaws when he looked in the mirror- his pale skin, his lanky limbs, and wide eyed expression that showed he was too green. He didn't have experience with romance- something he desperately wanted. He wanted someone for himself. A person he could relay his frustrations, his dreams and passions to. Someone who would want to go out to dinners and walk around town, hand in hand, without worrying about someone looking at them funny. More importantly, someone who understand the frustrations and confusion of being a gay person in a predominately straight world.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" Burt Hummel usually spent most of the early summer days at his shop. It seemed when spring and summer hit, the large majority Lima wanted to get something fixed with their cars. Thus meaning Burt spent backbreaking hours in the shop slaving over the cars of the same people who would leave anonymous voicemails of hate toward his son.

"Oh, just took a half day," Burt smiled (did his face look more pale than usual). "Did the boys kick you out of the room again?" The Hummel-Hudson family wanted to move into a large household. It was another reason Burt had been working so many hours so that he can save up enough money to make a sizable downpayment on a house that they all could share.

"Yeah, I left on my own-," Kurt huffed. "I didn't want to listen to gunfire and heckling for five hours straight."

Burt looked sympathetically at his son. He'd been holed up in his bedroom since school had let out a week ago. Mercedes had texted him and they had spoken over Skype for several hours into the night but they had yet to hang out in person. It was frustrating because now the mall was overcrowded with neanderthals- all more happy to heckle at him if he had one shopping bag. So now he hid in his room, looking at Ebay for sales, and arranging his closet.

"Someone gave me a few tickets to that new theme park at the edge of the town. Why don't you and Mercedes take trip out there- my treat." Burt held out both the tickets and his emergency credit card. Kurt barely hesitated taking both and texting Mercedes.

Sent:

(10:05 a.m.): Dad gave me two tickets to that new theme park…. Any chance we can take them and then head off somewhere else with the credit card?

A few moments later, Kurt's IPhone dinged.

(10:07 am): Boy, you best not be talkin' bout that fairy tale wonderland theme park with those hunky boys?

(10:07 am): The Happily Ever After Park off the highway. Hunky boys? I think you are overestimating Lima….

(10:08): Trust me Kurt. We are going- perhaps we can find a man for you in the midst of all those tights and dancing boys. There gotta be at least one gay person in Lima besides you.

Kurt huffed in exasperation, but he appreciated the thought that Mercedes too thought that there had to be some hope on the gay front in Lima. Or at least in Ohio. He hardly believed he was the only gay teenager in the entirety of Ohio- but if there were more than just him he certainly felt they hid it more than he ever could.

(10:10 am): Well then you are driving so I can take a look at their website and see for myself if I can 'spot the gay' as Finn would put it. Perhaps I can find my Prince Charming amongst these toads.

(10:11 am): Thats the spirit K! Coffee first though- if we are on a hunt, then we must have proper fuel for the chase ;)

11:30 am

After a stop at the local coffee shop, Mercedes and Kurt arrived at 'Happy Ever After' Theme park. It was a cheesy theme park that centered around all the common themes in fairy tales- including characters breaking out into song. It was actually rather cutesy and almost cavity inducing with its over the top decorations. There was a pivotal castle that was the main restaurant and gift shop. The surrounding park was full of rollercoasters and stands associated with the time period theme. At least there wasn't too many kiddy rides to have too many screaming kids. The only downside was that there was a central performance every day that involved the crown prince and his princess. The workers walked around in time period clothing. From the online website, all the actors and performers were unnaturally pretty and a grin that almost was painfully wide. The Prince looked especially hunky- his eyes were almost golden and his dark hair was gelled into waves that looked unnaturally neat. His grin wasn't as cheesy has the rest of the performers- his looked genuine.

'If only', Kurt had thought when he looked at the online website, 'this guy was gay. He was so handsome and was almost a personification of an actual Prince Charming.'

"Boy, you in there?" Mercedes waved in front of his face. She been calling his name since they had stepped inside the park. Kurt had spaced out and been staring rather strangely at a bush.

"Yeah. I don't know where my head had been lately. Perhaps I need more caffeine?" Luckily the theme park didn't skimp on 21st century amenities. There was a coffee shop right upon walking into the gates. It had a cheesy title: "Ye Old Coffee Stand' but it smelled like Starbucks quality coffee. Kurt ordered his usual non-fat latte and Mercedes drink looked like a mass of whip cream and chocolate syrup with some frozen coffee added as an afterthought. Kurt wasn't even going to comment about how many hours it would take to walk that off- they had been through the weight loss debacle last year with the Cheerios and it wasn't worth starting the day off on a sour note. Mercedes looked fabulous no matter what she wore and her own confidence in herself made her look even more beautiful, weight be damned.

"Where to first?" Mercedes scanned the crowd and the rides that they could see in the immediate vicinity. They all looked vomit inducing and steep- exactly what Kurt wanted. But poor Mercedes, despite her tough exterior, wasn't fond of too high rollercoasters.

"How about we go and take a lap around the park? See all the rides before we decide." Mercedes looked thankful that she didn't have to be rushed into a ride. The crowd thickened as they walked further into the park- families gathered around maps, couples holding hands and barely breaking their gaze as they looked into each others eyes, and several friends goofing off, taking selfies and giggling over the cheesy stands. The performers walked amongst the crowd, posing with children and parents, and making a general fake fuse over the usage of 21st century technology. Kurt hadn't seen the main performers- the Prince and the Princess- but the supporting cast were cheesy and over the top with their accents. Kurt had cringe more than once when they broke out into random song. It wasn't their voices that were particularly harsh, it was simply the lyrics. Too over the top and without music to back them up it really dulled down the overall aura.

But Mercedes loved it. She sang along when she got a hang of the songs they were singing and posed with the performers when they came over to fawn over her. The crowd seemed to think she was part of the performance and cheered when they finished off a song together. Kurt cringed in the background and hoped that no one would single him out to sing along- he'd barely gotten used to singing along with the Glee club. He wasn't particularly ashamed of his voice, but when he was singled out in a crowd of unknowns he wasn't sure of what the response would be. There was still that part of him that worried about bullies and hecklers even though the summer had begun and he was rid of his classmates for the next three months.

""Cedes, I am gonna head to the bathroom," Kurt finally managed to say to her after the third family had come up to her and had asked her for a picture- even though she wasn't in period clothing.

"Sure, sure," Mercedes waved him off and Kurt took a beeline to the first bathroom in sight.

And ran right into a performer. Well, not only a performer- the Prince Charming that Kurt had spent several minute staring at on the car ride over.

"I'm so sorry," Kurt's voice came out breathless and almost high pitched. Prince Charming merely grinned at him- wide and genuine like his pictures, corners of his eyes crinkling with laughter lines and bright golden eyes. His hair was curlier than his stock photo and glistened with the gel that held it in place.

"No, no, it's all my fault." Prince Charming said, looking just as embarrassed as he felt. "I should have looked before I opened the door." Kurt felt his face turning red as he simply stared at this boy- he was no older than Kurt was and simply radiated confidence even through an embarrassing situation.

Kurt mumbled an affirmative and tried to side step him. The coffee from earlier was really testing his bladder. But Prince Charming was in his way- blocking his path to the urinal.

'Oh god, another pretentious prick,' Kurt thought. But Prince Charming realized he was blocking Kurt and flushed a bright red color- still looking handsome despite the flush- and mumbled sorry.

"Uhm," Kurt cleared his throat. Prince Charming was still standing in the doorway with the door cracked. "Mind closing the door?"

"Yeah, uhm, yeah," Prince Charming quickly bolted out of the bathroom. Kurt wanted to smack his head against the wall in frustration but it was too unhygienic to even contemplate ruining his complexion for an embarrassing situation, even a high quality as this one.

"Oh my Gaga," Kurt mumbled, catching a glimpse of his bright red face and messy hair (why on today of all days did his hairspray decide to not work?), "I hope I never see that guy again"

Hey Guys! I know it has been a long while. I have been rather busy with work and my degree, but I have been wanting to get back into writing! Hope you all enjoy this chapter and give me some feed back.

Also, I have a Tumblr, so if you'd like to see all the other random things/ships/fandoms that I post about, follow me on there. Link is in my bio :)

Love you all and have a great week. I hope to post another chapter by Wednesday!