As his big brother had instructed, he immediately tried to find some way of disguising himself. As he passed by a row of deck chairs, he spotted a dark coat and hat, and looked around hastily before grabbing them and making his way to B-Deck.

Thankfully, no one questioned him, and no one seemed to recognize him with the hat and coat.

Then he stopped dead in his tracks.

There was Kurt -- with Finn and Rachel. He looked miserable.

Blaine fell into step behind them, waiting for the moment he could get Kurt alone.

Then Kurt stopped.

"I'm going back to the cabin." he told Finn, "I'm not feeling like myself. I'll see you two later."

Then he turned around, and nearly froze in his tracks.

Blaine's heart was pounding as he put a finger to his lips, and extended his hand. Kurt's own trembled as he reached out and took it, surprised when Blaine pulled him into a deserted hallway.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed finally. "If you get caught, --"

"I don't care," Blaine said softly. "I had to see you, Kurt."

Kurt slumped against the wall, his expression forlorn.

"Sebastian followed me last night, Blaine," he said. "He saw us, and he told my father." he knew it was best to leave out the 'one-on-one' meeting the man had requested. "I can't see you anymore, Blaine --"

Blaine touched his shoulder, gripping it gently.

"Look, I know off this ship, that I don't have a shot with you." Kurt inhaled sharply. Blaine did like boys. "That I won't ever have a shot with you -- but maybe I don't give a shit anymore. Maybe I just want to be happy for once. Maybe I want you to be happy too, and last night, Kurt -- you were amazing, and I --"

"Blaine --"

"Kurt," Blaine held up a hand, staring earnestly at him. "Please...please just -- if you go back, I --"
Kurt touched his hand, gently removing it from his shoulder.

I'm doing this to protect you from Sebastian...as much as it's killing me inside because I don't want to go back...

"Please don't come back here again, Blaine." he said, and oh God, he could feel tears forming in his eyes. "Good-bye."

He turned and hurried away, wiping his eyes on his sleeve.

----

Blaine didn't know what to do.

Cooper had told him to come straight back to the cabin after he spoke to Kurt, but he couldn't do it. He didn't want to --

His feet were moving without thinking, and before he knew it he was up on the boat deck, slumping down onto one of the benches with his head in his hands.

Suddenly a hand gripped his curls, forcibly yanking his head back. His eyes widened with fear when he recognized the face leering down at him.

Sebastian.

Oh God.
----

Kurt couldn't concentrate. He thought he'd done the right thing by telling Blaine to go back to Third Class, that they couldn't see each other anymore...but he couldn't deny that he didn't have feelings for the other teen.

More importantly, he had a very bad feeling that something was wrong. Something wrong that was happening to Blaine.

He stood up from his chair so quickly that he startled Rachel and Carole, who'd been conversing over what would be tonight's dress for dinner.

"Have either of you seen Sebastian?" he asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. He couldn't explain it, but he knew somehow that if Sebastian wasn't in his cabin, and Blaine was still up on the deck, his feelings were completely justified.

Carole looked surprised.

"He went up to the boat deck for some air, according to your father." she said. "Why do you ask?"

"He -- I need to talk to him," he said, trying to keep his voice down. "Would it be alright if I head up there and look for him?"

Carole was silent for a moment.

"I suppose so," she said finally. "But don't be too long, Kurt."

It took everything in him not to bolt out the door and walk out as calmly as he could.

Once he was up on the deck, he broke into a run.

---

"Your brother should be in handcuffs down in the bowels of the ship, you know." Sebastian mused, "but I think this is much better revenge, don't you? Shame really -- you're so pretty."

Blaine wanted to scream. He wanted to run, find his brother and let Cooper take care of this bastard.

But he couldn't and he was so stupid for not listening to Cooper --

A finger lightly grazed his cheek.

Blaine closed his eyes, silent tears making their way down his cheeks. He didn't want to see it, as much as he was ashamed to admit it. He didn't want to watch that man take away what little dignity he had left.

He felt a hand grip his wrist, pull him up forcefully, pulling him along roughly, and he silently begged for someone to notice -- for someone to put a stop to what was going to happen.

No one did.

He was thrown to the floor suddenly (it didn't feel like he'd broken anything but wow, did his shoulder and side hurt), and curled into a ball to protect himself.

Somewhere behind him, he could hear yelling.

"Sebastian get the hell away from him!"

Blaine's eyes flew open and then there was a smacking noise and Sebastian swearing loudly as he stumbled backward.

Then Kurt was there, crashing to his knees beside him, trying to assess the damage. When he seemed sure that Blaine wasn't seriously hurt physically, he grabbed his hand and pulled him up, as he yelled for him to run.

---

They tore down one of the stairwells until they reached C-Deck, and Kurt finally stopped, turning and cupping Blaine's tearstreaked face in his hands.

"Are -- Are you alright?" he stammered. "He didn't --"

Blaine let out a choked sob and slumped against him, shaking his head.

"He -- He was going to." he sobbed. "H-He said it was to get back at C-Cooper for the night we saved you, and -- and that it was a shame b-because he thought I was p-pretty."

He dissolved into a mess of unintelligible words mixed with sobs, and Kurt held him, rubbing his back and whispering that it was alright, Sebastian couldn't hurt him anymore, and that he was safe.

They pulled apart and Kurt reached for his hand, lacing their fingers together.

"I won't let him touch you, ever." he promised.

Blaine smiled weakly, murmured a "thank you", and wiped hastily at his eyes.

"Kurt -- what I said before, you don't have to --"
Kurt sighed.

"Blaine, don't." he said quietly. "You don't have to take back anything you said earlier...I do need to apologize for the way I treated you though. You have to understand -- I was trying --"

Blaine nodded in return, but said nothing. He understood.

Kurt hesitated, then leaned forward.

"I don't want to go back." he breathed into the dark haired boy's ear.

There were no words to describe Blaine's face when Kurt said those words. He didn't say anything either, and Kurt sure as hell wasn't certain how to approach the boy after what Sebastian had nearly done, so he did the only thing he could think of (and God, he hoped no one was watching), lifted their entwined hands, brushing his lips against the soft skin on the back of Blaine's hand.

Blaine stared at him, mouth slightly agape. Kurt was starting to feel really awkward and stupid -- maybe Blaine was just too traumatised -- maybe he didn't want to be with Kurt anymore...maybe --

The feeling of soft lips pressing gently against his own practically yanked him from his thoughts. Blaine had closed what was left of the gap between them, and the kiss was so gentle, and Kurt had never felt like this before in his life, and then he broke their hand hold to twine his fingers through Blaine's curls, a soft moan escaping his lips --

Blaine broke the kiss, slumping against Kurt's chest, as the brunette tried to stop his heart from pounding out of control.

The two exchanged a sheepish smile, before Blaine hesitantly let two fingers trail along Kurt's cheek, down his neck, stopping at his Adam's Apple, stroking the skin lightly.

Kurt jumped a little, the sound of voices reaching his ears, accompanied by footsteps.

If they were caught --

"Come on," he said breathlessly. "Let's get out of here."

Blaine leaned against the wall, folding his arms across his chest.

"Where?" he asked.

Kurt looked thoughtful.

"I have an idea," he teased before heading for the stairs. "Follow me."