Kurt opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it as he heard the door creak open.
"You found her." Blaine smiled, walking over to the mirror "Hey, Brit." He said and put a hand up to the glass. Brittany smiled and placed her own palm to his through the mirror.
"She says she wouldn't mind going with the Red Queen." Kurt said, confusion plain in his voice, Blaine smiled. And Brittany shrugged
"She's beautiful." He said, as if that explained everything
"She is," Blaine agreed "but she's also terrible, she doesn't understand that the White Queen is the only one who could possibly get her out, so she's trying to attack us and steal Brittany." Kurt nodded, so Blaine continued "and if she got a hold of her, she'd probably try to break Brittany out and-"
"Poof," Brittany interrupted "I'd be gone." Kurt nodded again.
"But once you're out…you'll go with her?"
"If I want to." Brittany said "She'll have to be nice, though. I don't like mean people." Blaine laughed
"Brittany is very easy going." Blaine said, Brittany nodded enthusiastically.
"Hatter likes me a lot" she said proudly "we're best friends!" Blaine laughed
"that's right."
"He came up here and talked to me every day, he told me how sad he was because he lost his love, that's you!" she smiled brightly "I tried to cheer him up, but now you're back, so he's happy again!"
The only thing that Kurt seemed to take away from that was the word "love", Blaine loved him? How was that even possible? They met once when they were kids, Kurt didn't even know Blaine was gay!
"You love me?" Kurt squeaked, Blaine nodded, giving him a 'well, DUH' expression.
"Of course I love you, I've loved you since we were children." He said calmly
"So…you're gay." Kurt said, more of a statement than a question, Blaine and Brittany looked confused.
"I'm what?" Blaine asked, and Brittany chimed in with a
"What does that mean?" Kurt resisted the urge to face-palm.
"You're a boy, and you like boys. That's what gay is."
"Really?" Blaine said, "I thought it was called love…" Kurt bit his lip, how could they not know this?
"And you've gone around telling people you love me…" Kurt said slowly,
"yes."
"And nobody cares that you're in love with another boy?" Blaine laughed like it was the most ridiculous thing he's ever heard
"Kurt, nobody here cares who you're in love with. As long as it's real, and as long as it's true, the rest doesn't matter." Tears sprung to Kurt's eyes, and Blaine looked concerned, he towed Kurt out of the room, calling a goodbye to Brittany as he went. He pulled him into a small room and sat him down on the loveseat in the middle of it.
"What's wrong?" he asked, keeping a hand on Kurt's back.
"Nothing…I'm…happy" Kurt said, laughing through his tears "Back home…people would tease me because I like boys." He explained "they would hit me, throw me into dumpsters, push me into walls and call me names." Blaine looked horrified
"They did that…because of who you loved?" Blaine gasped, Kurt nodded. Blaine pulled him into a tight hug, which Kurt hesitantly returned.
"Well, nobody would do that here." Blaine said and rubbed small circles on the small of Kurt's back.
"I'm scared." Kurt admitted, Blaine looked down at him
"Why?"
"Because…I think I love you too." Blaine smiled widely
"That's nothing to be frightened of" he said sweetly, Kurt laughed
"It is when I've only known you for a day."
"You keep forgetting that we've met before." Blaine reminded him, Kurt sighed.
They stayed like that for a while, Kurt was absolutely scared shitless. Kurt Hummel was a skeptical person, Kurt Hummel protected his heart, he did not go around giving it to men he'd come across two times in his entire life. Yet here he sat, hopelessly falling for this strange man he knew almost nothing about.
"There's food in the dining hall." Blaine said softly "you should eat something." Kurt nodded as he and Blaine stood up. Blaine led him through hallways and down staircases until they emerged in a large room with a long table set in the middle of it. There was food lining the table and plated set up down the length of it. Others were sitting there, too. They were all dressed in white, the girls wore dresses and the men wore casual dress clothes. Kurt and Blaine took their seats closest to the Queen, who smiled widely at both of them
"Are you ready, Kurt?" she asked
"What for?"
"Training, you've got training for a week starting tomorrow." Kurt nodded, anything to help him get through it, he thought.
"Absolutely" he said, sounding only slightly nervous.
Kurt slept soundly that night, exhausted from the day. He woke dreading what he knew was going to happen. He was going to sweat. A lot. Kurt hated sweating, he found it disgusting, but he'd rather sweat and be more prepared than not sweat and die. So he made his way out to the courtyard, after dressing himself in the baby blue tank top and white shorts someone had set out for him, not even bothering with his hair. He arrived to find one of the Queens guards, the darker one with the Mohawk, completely decked out in fencing gear. He gestured to a smaller suit identical to his own, and Kurt put it on, along with the helmet and boots. He picked up his Foil, also identical to the one the guard was holding.
"Noah Puckerman," the guard said "call me Puck." Kurt nodded at him.
"Let's begin." Puck said, a smile playing on his lips.
Puck lunged and hit Kurt directly in the chest with his Foil. Kurt looked stunned
"You're not going to teach me first?" he asked, slightly panicked, Puck shook his head
"I'm going to give you tips while you fight. I believe in hands on teaching." Kurt sighed
"I really don't know how to do this.", Puck crossed his arms
"I forbid you to use that kind of thinking." He said seriously "your natural instincts are to protect yourself," he continued "just do that, don't think…just move." Kurt took a deep breath and nodded
"Alright, go ahead." He said and Puck lunged at him again, Kurt instantly sidestepped and Puck missed him by an inch. Kurt smiled to himself as he continued dodging and blocking Puck's jabs and slices. He found it easier than he thought, he just related it to dancing…and then it made sense. He fought back, finding that he was much quicker and lighter on his feet than Puck. At the end, he had two more jabs on Puck than Puck had on him.
"See?" Puck smiled "you're a natural." The boys removed their helmets and suits. Kurt's earlier assumption had been correct, he was sweating like a pig, but he had done it…and he'd been good. Feeling confident and only slightly disgusted by his appearance, he headed back into the castle to get a shower.
(AUTHORS NOTE: alrriiight we're getting there! I love your reviews guys, I really, really do, but I seem to be getting more alerts/subscriptions than reviews…so if you could accompany your alerts/favorites with reviews that would be AWESOME, nothing makes a writer feel better than some feedback :D )