My first fan fiction ever. I haven't been inspired to write for a long time, so I'm thrilled that I got an opportunity to write again. Please let me know what you think and what should happen next, I'd love to know what you think! Thanks!

~Alia

The boy's stance was nervous but determined as he drew closer, his hazel eyes meeting blue ones in an unwavering stare. Slowly, he encircled the taller boy with strong arms, closing the small distance between them. With a slight smirk he placed his hand around the boy's neck, pulling him closer…

Kurt Hummel opened his eyes, only to be blinded by the morning sun. He sat up and buried is face in his hands. Of course it was a dream, he thought bitterly, tears sliding down his unwashed cheeks. Why would he be interested in a servant? Kurt sighed and glanced out his window, panic filling in his chest as he realized that he was late; his back ached from the memory of the last time this happened.

Scrambling up from his bed, he hit his head on the low ceiling. Hard. Kurt winced and rubbed his now pounding head. He glanced around the servant's quarters, seeing that all the other beds were empty. Why had no one waken him up? Kurt thought as he hurriedly threw on a pair of pants and his poor excuse for shoes. Even though Kurt knew that many of the servants didn't like him, he thought that at least the ones he called friends would have woken him up. Tears sprang to his eyes for the second time this morning. Kurt shook his head, as if that could somehow erase the fact that he wasn't accepted. His back lit on fire at the thought of how late he really was. Kurt raced out the door heading towards the servants' entrance of the castle.

As he ran, his thoughts raced as well. Oh God, my hair is a disaster. I didn't even get to run a comb through it. I didn't even get to go to the water basin to wash my face. Even though the castle really had no standards for the lower servants to maintain, Kurt prided himself in putting an effort into his appearance. This was something that a lot of the other male servants did not understand, so of course, they made fun of Kurt for it.

As Kurt sprinted closer to the massive building, he realized that he should probably walk from here. The guards were easily excited when they saw anything that looked remotely suspicious. The Neanderthals rarely thought before shooting their arrows at a running figure. Unfortunately, too many servants had been injured in this way. Taking this into consideration, Kurt slowed his pace to a speedy walk as he came up to the servant entrance.

As he walked through the entrance, past the clearly distracted guards, Kurt thought that he was safe from the snide remarks from the men. He ducked his head and tried to walk as quietly as humanly possible.

"Somebody's late, huh Hummel?" a manly voice grumbled.

Kurt spun around, eyes as wide as saucers. Some guards have been known to beat servants, for little to no reason at all. His heart was beating rapidly as he squinted into the sunlight trying to identify the speaker, but he immediately relaxed as the face smiled at him.

"Noah!" he squeaked excitedly as he ran to give his childhood friend a hug. Both Kurt and Noah (or Puck as many called him) had been brought to the castle to work as servants when they were only six years old. Both of their families couldn't afford to take care of them, so like many families did, they were given to the castle. Both boys were trained to be guards from the moment they arrived. But as they grew older, the former knight, William Schuester, noticed that while Puck filled out into an ideal guard and possibly even a knight, Kurt was more interested in the young prince that would come by and play with them occasionally. He would get distracted from his lessons whenever the young prince came to join them, and this was, of course, a very undesirable trait for a future guard.

So now, as Puck guarded the castle as well as its occupants, while Kurt scrubbed the floors and cleaned – doing woman's work, as his body was not fit for working in the fields with the men. A sad reminder of yet another reason the other males didn't like him. Even though seeing Puck reminded Kurt of what he missed out on, he was still delighted to see the boy he grew up alongside.

"How have you been?" Puck questioned as Kurt calmed down enough to speak normally.

"I've been wel-" Kurt started only to be shot a you-know-that-I-can-read-you-like-a-scroll-don't-lie-to-me look. Kurt sighed and continued, "I'm acceptable; I've gotten into a bad habitat of sleeping in. I've had my fair share of lashes in the last few weeks," he laughed nervously, "Speaking of which, Lady Sylvester said that next time I was late I'd get 50 lashes," Kurt winced at the thought of receiving more lashes on his still healing back side.

Puck's eyes widened in shock as Kurt finished speaking, pity etched into his dark, manly features. Kurt's face turned an unbecoming shade of red and stared at the sand at his feet as he started drawing shapes with his toes. Kurt had been raised in an...Unconventional way, to say the least, so when someone actually cared what he was going through it was almost embarrassing.

Puck cleared his throat, "You know," he said with a devilish smirk dancing on his lips, "I'm technically of higher rank then 'Lady Sylvester' - I think I could help you think of a way to get you out of those lashes." A wide grin broke out onto his face, before his face became comically serious. "Sir Hummel, I think I require your services in the palace,"

Kurt giggled (yes, giggled), as Puck led him into the gorgeous palace; even through the servant's entrance it was breathtaking. The marble floors glistened with a freshly cleaned shine, the walls covered in elaborate tapestry with pictures of hunting scenes and well as dragons and Pegasus. The morning sun shone through the stained glass windows causing the whole castle to sparkle and shine. Kurt smiled; sometimes he forgot how beautiful the palace was when all he got to do in it was clean. But seeing it when he was shirking his chores was oh so much more exciting.

As Puck continued to lead Kurt farther into the labyrinth of the castle, he became more and more transfixed at the tapestries as well the paintings of the royal family that hung magnificently on the stone walls. For some reason, the palace seemed empty of authority; only other maids and servants ran around. None of them seemed to question the fact that Kurt wasn't working although he clearly was a servant. That's what you get for having a guard as your friend, Kurt mused as yet another servant scurried past them, not even bothering looking up.

Kurt shrugged to himself, and let himself get lost in the artwork. He had never been to this part of the castle; his cleaning section was closer to the banquet halls as well as the enormous staircase. Kurt was so lost in the pictures of battles and stories that it took him a moment to realize that Puck had stopped abruptly in front of him.

Ooph. The noise echoed through the corridor as Kurt collided with Puck's back. Puck turned and shot him an annoyed glance. Kurt then realized that they had come up to two very large doors, and that was the reason for the sudden stop. The young guard looked both ways and behind him before slowly sliding a silver key into the shining lock. Then with a gentle push the doors whooshed open revealing another very grand room. But this room was clearly dedicated to the young prince, as the artwork was all of Prince Blaine of Athoshia the Third.

Kurt felt his eyes widen as he looked at the life-like paintings. His blue eyes magnetically drawn to the painted hazel ones; the prince had been painted in a very regal position (Kurt couldn't help but wonder how uncomfortable that position must have been to hold for all the hours that the painter copied his likeness). Although there were many paintings of the Prince, Kurt was drawn to this one in particular because for once the artist had captured Blaine perfectly. The pools of hazel in his eyes, his defined chin, the soft structure of his cheekbones, and his skin tone was that perfect tanned color that he only got during the summer when he had to train outdoors a lot.

Puck was unfazed by the room of Blaine. Even though Blaine had been Puck's friend too, he didn't find it necessary to stare or even to stay in the room for an elongated amount of time. He walked right through the room and went to open the next door. Not until he turned around to hold the door open for Kurt did he realize that the other boy wasn't behind him. Puck smirked when he saw that his friend was lost in a picture of the prince. Puck was about to call out to Kurt and tell him to hurry the hell up because he wasn't supposed to be in here, but something stopped him. The expression worn on Kurt's face was… blissful. He seemed to forget all about his worries and chores and was just lost in the painting. Now Puck wanted that for his friend, but why didn't Kurt get that look when they passed pictures of the land of the dryads and faeries? Or even at the painting of the young princesses?

Puck knitted his eyebrows together as he watched the pale boy gaze into the painting. Kurt look mesmerized as a smile danced upon his lips. Wait! Puck had seen that look before: one of the other guards, Samuel, often got that look on his face when he talked about Lady Quinn. What's going on with him? Puck thought rapidly as he tried to push the idea out of his head. Kurt's not… is he? Puck shook his head and cleared his throat noisily. Kurt snapped his head towards Puck, his eyes round, afraid, Kurt sped walked over to him stammering an apology along the way.

Kurt said something about being fascinated by the level of detail the artist put in. But Puck had too many other thoughts playing in his head to really notice the stammering boy's excuse.

Awkwardly, the two boys walked further into the palace. A dreaded silence hanging over them as they walked. But sure enough, after several more winding hallways and turns, they finally came across another set of doors. Smiling, Puck opened the doors to reveal a small, indoor garden, complete with a fountain in the middle. Several squealing girls raced towards them all shouting Kurt's name. Kurt's eyes lit up at the sight of his friends, and he delightedly hugged them all.

"Let me breath, let me breath," he laughed, "Ladies I haven't seen you in ages!"

Just as the sky is quiet before a thunderstorm, the young ladies went silent, even though their happiness still shone in their eyes. Then finally, one broke the silence.

"Unicorn!" Lady Brittany cried happily as she once again embraced the tall boy.

"Kurt, as you know I auditioned to sing at the Prince's birthday gala," an annoying but loveable voice spoke up, and Kurt's eyebrows shot up waiting for her to finish. "I, of course, got the part," Lady Rachel finished excitedly.

Kurt opened his mouth to say his congratulations but was interrupted by another chorus of voices telling him about everything that had happened since they last met. Which apparently was a lot, because it took a while to get completely filled in.

Lady Brittany had gotten to dance with the Prince at the last ball. Lady Santana got a new dress made especially for her because she wisely complimented the Queen. Lady Rachel had gotten slapped by the Queen for not being quiet (Kurt bit back a laugh on that one). Lady Tina had snuck out to meet one of the visiting Prince's pages named Michael, who apparently fell for her so fast that he requested to move to the palace to work as a page here. The ladies rambled about their many adventures (and misadventures for that matter) and even though Kurt loved them all to death, it made him a bit jealous that while he scrubbed, they sang for the royal family. Nevertheless, Kurt sat through the whole conversation with a grin on his face.

"Ladies," Kurt started with a warm smile (he had a feeling that Lady Rachel was going to go on yet another rant about Lord Finnegan, and as much as Kurt loved her, he couldn't sit through another one of those). "As amazing as it was to see all my favorite maids of honor and get caught up on all the latest palace gossip," he said with a wink, "I'm afraid I must go, there's a very large staircase calling my name," he stated with a singsong voice in hopes that they wouldn't pity him.

The ladies groaned about him having to leave too soon. It wasn't often that they got to have a little ladies chat, because of their rank differences. Even though they got to see Kurt a lot it wasn't proper to ever speak to him in a formal setting. They all embraced once more before Kurt turned to Puck and said in a dramatic tone, "Take me to the stairs!"

Puck laughed but gladly complied; palace gossip wasn't really his thing. He could honestly care less about the dresses the girls wore (unless they showed what he wanted to see) or how they felt about royal issues. But Kurt seemed to enjoy every minute of it. Puck wondered why Kurt got along so well with the girls, it was… strange.

Puck continued to think about this as he led Kurt towards the grand staircase that he knew Kurt would spend the rest of the day scrubbing, only for it to be covered in muck by the next morning. He carefully avoided the 'Prince Blaine' room, for he didn't want a repeat of earlier.

Upon arriving at the palace's grand staircase, Kurt noticed that someone had already brought a bucket of soapy water and a pile of rags at the top of the stairs. Probably Mercedes, he mused. As Kurt turned to say good-bye to Puck, a bellowing Lady Sylvester interrupted.

"KURT! WHERE HAVE YOU BEE-" her yell suddenly died in her throat at the sight of Puck, who stood next to Kurt with his arms crossed over his chest. "I-I mean, w-where have you b-been, I was w-worried." Kurt opened his mouth to reply but Puck cut him off.

"He was assisting me with some business around the palace, I hope that's okay?" Puck's voice resounded with authority even though he was several years younger then Lady Sylvester.

Lady Sylvester just nodded rapidly and walked briskly out of the room. Kurt sighed, he knew that he'd hear about this later; even if it wasn't a lashing, he was sure to get in trouble. Lady Sylvester didn't like her authority shaken.

Puck laughed as soon as she was out of sight. "Good-bye Kurt, I really should be getting back to my post," He said with a grin, then his grin vanished as he gestured towards the stairs. "Good luck,"

Kurt awkwardly laughed, hoping that Puck didn't pity him. "It's fine, and thank you for everything,"

Puck smirked and jogged out of the foyer, leaving Kurt alone with the monstrous set of stairs. Kurt sighed, so we meet again. He trudged up the dirty stairs to his bucket, and began the tedious process of scrubbing and drying each step appropriately. Although he loved being able to look at himself after each stair had been properly washed and dried, he had done this one too many times to actually find any joy in that.

As he scrubbed, Kurt couldn't help but hum. The foyer was empty and any noise made in it echoed beautifully. Gently, he hummed a song he had overheard a few nights ago while he was cleaning outside the ballroom. He loved the foreign music, it was just so magnificent.

A few minutes later he had finished one stair, Kurt looked behind him at the ninety or more stairs that awaited his attention. Kurt ran his fingers through his hair; This is going to take a while.

Blaine

"Blaine, we've been through this, you must marry, Athoshia needs a future queen." Blaine's father, King Jacob the first, looked at him with a silent begging in his hazel eyes.

"I told you already Father that I have no interest in marrying," Blaine shot back with defiance in his tone, "Why can't I just rule by myself? I don't need a wife,"

King Jacob sighed heavily, placing his face in his hands, "Blaine, just think of the kingdom," he pressed his lips together and walked briskly out of Blaine's bedroom.

Blaine groaned as he fell onto his over-stuffed bed. He gazed up to the intricately carved ceiling and wondered briefly how the mason managed to get up there. Blaine curled up into the fetal position and thought about the prospect of marrying a woman. Truthfully, he didn't even know himself why he was so against marriage. He tried to come up reasons in his head for why he hated the idea so much, but no matter how complicated his excuses got, they never seemed quite right.

Blaine rubbed his hands across his face, laying down isn't helping he decided. He had always thought better when he walked around the castle grounds. So with that he sat up and strode over to the mirror. He studied the face staring back at him as well as what the reflection was wearing. Blaine groaned again when he realized what he looked like; he looked regal. Even though this was expected of the young prince to look this way, Blaine found himself hating it. He would much rather be training with the other young men instead of lounging around the castle.

With one last glance at the mirror, he quickly attempted to fix his much too curly hair. Blaine smirked as it snapped back into the exact same position. Oh well, Blaine thought, it's not like I have anyone to impress.

Casually, Blaine sauntered out of his room into the long hallway where the royal family resided. Secretly, he hoped that none of his numerous sisters would see him; as much as he loved them he was in no mood to talk.

Blaine decided that he would head to one of his favorite places in the palace, the garden that was just outside the grand foyer. Without much thought he trotted through the hallways making all the necessary turns to reach his destination.

Just as he had nearly reached the foyer, Blaine walked by a very annoyed look Lady Sylvester. She mumbled some formality and kept walking, barely sparing the young prince a moment of her time. Blaine resisted a chuckle until she was out of earshot. Lady Sylvester looked hilarious when she was angry. Still laughing at the sight of Lady Sylvester, he came to the grand staircase.

Although Blaine came here almost daily, he had never actually come across the servant who so diligently cleaned it everyday. Blaine sauntered down the stairs, only to run with a servant covered in grime and rags.

Normally, Blaine didn't give servants much attention, not that he was rude, it's just he didn't want to distract them and get them into trouble on his behalf.

But this time, Blaine froze as a tall, pale boy looked up from his work. A gorgeous boy with beautiful blue eyes stared back up at him.

Kurt.

So what do you think? What should happen next? Honestly I have no idea where this story is going to go so I'd love some input. Please review :D