Disclaimer:

"Glee" belongs to Ryan Murphy

"Dalton" belongs to CP Coulter

As Blaine and Kurt walked slowly through the midst of campers, an angry looking boy stormed out the door of the nearest camper, swearing under his breath. Blaine looked at him and sighed. "What?"

"They're at it again. I'm not putting up with it now." The boy had a dark look in his eye.

"Derek – "

"Forget it. They can deal with it themselves. It's Logan's fault he can't see what's been in front of his face the past three years." Derek walked away.

Blaine sighed. "That's Derek Siegerson. He's one of the strong men. This is his camper, along with his friend's."

A quick glimpse in the window showed a tall blonde with emerald green cat eyes. He was arguing loudly, though the words were indecipherable, with a slightly smaller boy with wavy oak brown hair and brown eyes.

"The blonde one is Logan Wright, he's the sword swallower here. The other one is Julian Larson– the fire breather. He, Logan, and Derek all arrived here earlier than any of us. Logan's a little…" Blaine struggled for the right word. "…eh, temperamental. I don't know Julian and Derek put up with him." I don't know how I put up with him.

The boy Julian burst out the door. "You just don't understand!" he yelled. He bumped into Blaine and Kurt, scowled, and stormed away.

Logan appeared at the door, sneering, lips pursed. His intense eyes alighted on Blaine and Kurt, scanning them. Kurt felt as though he were prize horse being looked over by a jockey, being judged.

"New guy?" Logan's tone was amiable enough, but Kurt noticed a stony look in his eyes as he looked at Blaine.

"Yes." Kurt was surprised at the sudden hardness in Blaine's voice and he turned to him. Blaine's jaw was set as he looked Logan in the eye.

Blaine was the only one who noticed the slow smirk making its way across Logan's face as he stared at Kurt. Kurt was oblivious to this, as he kept looking at Blaine. Blaine put a protective hand on Kurt's shoulder. "Logan – Kurt, our new costume designer. Kurt, our sword swallower."

Logan stepped down from the camper and held his hand out to Kurt, a charming smile gracing his face. "A pleasure." he said, voice like honey. Kurt found it polite and a little unnerving. "Same." he managed.

Blaine had seen enough. "C'mon Kurt, I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew." He used the hand on Kurt's shoulder to maneuver him away from Logan, leading him towards a high tech camper.

Logan stuck his hands in his pockets casually and watched them go, a calculating smile on his face.

"What's with you and Logan ?"

Blaine took a moment to snap out of his thoughts. "…what?"

"You two looked like you wanted to kill each other." Kurt stopped him on the grass.

Blaine sighed. "Logan and I…have a history, to say the least."

"Is he your ex?"

Blaine nodded. "Yeah, and…it wasn't very pretty. I resent him for what he did to me and…" Blaine stopped. "Well, it's ugly. I'll tell you more later, when we have more time."

Kurt pursed his lips, but didn't argue.

Blaine knocked on the beat-up trailer. "Drew? Saturo? Anyone home?"

A moment later, an Asian boy with goggles and a perky smile opened the door. "Hi Blaine, c'mon in! Drew and I are testing a new chemical that might help us with the fireworks finale!"

Blaine's eyes widened as he considered whether actually taking Kurt in there would be safe. But before he could speak, Saturo laid eyes on Kurt. "New guy?"

"Uh, yeah. Kurt, Saturo Kogo. He helps make the all of the fireworks and explosions for the show." Saturo blushed, smiling proudly. "Yep! C'mon in!" He stepped aside to let the two in.

The room had scorch marks in various spots on the ceiling and walls. The bunk in the corner was unmade. Tables were piled haphazardly with multicolored boxes, test tubes, Bunsen burners, and other equipment that look dangerous to Kurt.

Hunched over a beaker in the corner was a boy with messy brown hair. He had a pair of goggles on too and his tongue was sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he very carefully squeezed a drop of red liquid from a tube. Blaine immediately put an arm around Kurt and led him to a large wall in the corner, blackened with age and explosives. As soon as they got there a small explosion rocked the room, smoking curling over the top of the wall.

Saturo's cheery voice sounded. "You can come out now!"

Blaine and Kurt peeked out warily. Both Saturo and the other boy's faces were covered in soot and their hair stood up on end. They pulled off their goggles, the clean skin around their eyes contrasting comically with the soot on their faces.

"Drew, this is Kurt." Saturo began. "He's the…?"

"Costume designer." Blaine finished smoothly. Kurt smiled at the two, unwilling to shake the soot-covered hands of the chemists.

Drew grinned. "Nice to have you! You're gonna love it here!"

"I can tell." Kurt's eyes sparkled.

The sun was setting across the treetops in the west, painting the sky a multitude of pastel colors. Everyone was settling down and getting ready for the night. Kurt watched as he and Blaine maneuvered their way through the maze of campers: Julian sulking his way back to his camper, Derek by his side; Reed leading the elephants back into their large caravan, Shane waiting patiently at the gate: Wes and David waving as they walked past, arm in arm.

Blaine smiled wistfully at Kurt when they reached the gate that led to parking lot where Kurt's car was parked. "So you'll be joining us…?"

"Tuesday." Kurt said confidentially. "Though I wish I could just stay. But, I've got stuff to pack."

Blaine smiled again. "I wish you could too." Did he really just say that? "But you'll be here soon. We're leaving for Indianapolis on Wednesday, so you'll be out of here in no time."

"Great. That's just what I need." Kurt stopped at the truth of his words, swallowing and looking at the ground. Blaine cocked his head at the look and asked, "Kurt…why are you joining the Cirque?"

When Kurt's silence met him, he backtracked. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want, because, you know, we only just met and all…"

"No, it's okay…" Kurt sighed. "My father died of cancer about a month ago."

"Oh, Kurt…I'm sorry."

Kurt shrugged, though it was clear that the words affected him deeply. "Not your fault. Well, he accepted me for being gay, but no one else really did. Well, I was taken into custody by my grandparents and they're set on – " Kurt swallowed, looking, for the first time, nervous. "- straightening me out."

Blaine frowned. "That's awful." He reached out and placed his hands on Kurt's shoulders, comforting words flowing into his head. But they stopped short, when he saw Kurt wince. "Kurt, what's wrong?"

Kurt shook his head. "Nothing."

Blaine gave Kurt a sorrowful, affectionate, but nonetheless searching stare before sighing and lowering his hands back to Kurt's. "Well, you'll be away from them soon. Here, where's your cell phone?"

Kurt pulled out a small, worn phone. Blaine took it and added his number. "There, you can call or text me if you need help. If you don't show up on Tuesday, I'll call. If you don't answer, me and some of the guys will come by your house. Give me your address." Kurt did so, and Blaine put it on his phone.

Kurt smiled gratefully. "Thank you, for all of this." An unshed tear shined in his eye. "It means a lot to me."

Blaine shrugged, smiling. "Stop thanking me. I've done nothing."

"You've willingly become the first friend I've had in a long time."

Blaine raised his eyebrows and Kurt shrugged, still looking at him. Blaine squeezed his hands.

Kurt sighed. "Well, I've got a curfew."

Blaine raised his eyebrows. "It's four forty-five."

"Yeah, well. I've got dinner and a few preaches to listen to." Kurt shrugged, looking down. "So…I'll see you on Tuesday?"

"Definitely." Blaine nodded.

Kurt reluctantly pulled his hands away from Blaine's, turning to the gate. He pushed it open. "See you." he said quietly.

"Yeah." Blaine waved and smiled. "Good luck." he added.

Kurt nodded in thanks. "Thanks."

Blaine watched as Kurt made his way across the parking lot, slipped into the driver's seat of his car and drove away from the campground. He sighed, leaning against the fence and watching. Whatever Kurt had gone through – or was currently going through – it was going to end that Tuesday, and then Blaine would make sure that Kurt's new family would take care of him.

Blaine was going to take care of him. Whatever it took.

AN: GAH! I'M SO SORRY FOR LACK OF UPDATE! I've been on vacation for the past week and a half, and I haven't gotten much time to write.

I was planning on cramming the rest of the characters into this chapter and then my best friend(waves) told me to just introduce them along the way. So the rest of the characters will be introduced later.

I thought Julian's job would be cool, considering his power in Meta. The Jogan is crappy, and I sincerely apologize to the many Jogan fans out there.

See you guys later! And thanks to all that have been sticking with this fic, despite my neglectance.

Love Lala, xoxo