When The Ship Docks

Chapter 1: The Artistic Musician

"What?" Blaine exclaimed, outraged.

"You're going to wed Miss Berry," His father repeated, not bothering to hide the annoyance in his voice.

Blaine was at a loss for words, he needed space. A lot of it. Slamming the door behind him, he stormed out of the suite and started to make his way back onto the deck to find a place with some breathing space. He heard his father calling for him to 'come back' and to 'stop acting like an imbecile, child'. Over the years he'd learnt to tune out his father lectures and just his voice in general.

Being the youngest, Blaine thought he'd be able to pick who he married, that he'd love them when he chose to marry them. Blaine wasn't even sure if he wanted to marry anyone, he'd never loved a girl in that way before and was honestly starting to doubt he could love.

"Why isn't Cooper being forced into marriage? He's the eldest," Blaine grumbled to himself as he gave the floor a dirty look while he located the furthest end of the boat. He refused to look up and risk letting anyone see the frustrated tears gathering in his eyes.

It was only when Blaine walked straight into a rather tall man that he was taken from his thoughts. "Ouch!" He stumbled back and fell to the floor, landing painfully on his backside.

"Oh! I'm sorry, sir," the other man spoke as if he hadn't even seen Blaine in front of him, which confused Blaine until he looked up and saw the giant lumbering oaf from earlier that day.

He stood up and dusted himself off. "It is quite alright," he replied politely but forgot to hide the glare on his face as he looked up at the person in front of him.

"I was just in a rush to find someone and wasn't looking where I was going," -the oaf continued to ramble on until he was at a loss of breath- "I'm ever so sorry,"

"Like I said-"

"But I should've been looking where I was going, dammit," He cut off Blaine after a deep breath, the curly haired man was now bored of the apologetic tower in front of him and wanted nothing more than to get away.

"It's fine," he then walked around the still mumbling oaf as he continued towards the end of the ship.

Looking over the sea was one of the few things that relaxed him on long boat trips where he'd be suffocating in his family. It was calming watching the waves sparkle as they moved under the mid afternoon sunlight. There'd been times when he felt like the invisible leash around his neck had been tightened too far and he'd been tempted to join the fish in the icy water, though he'd never actually do it and he didn't want to find out what the freezing water would feel like smashing against him, taking his breath away.

He continued to stare out into the ocean for a few more moments, letting the gentle waves soothe him. It was peaceful. It was only when he noticed the scratching of a pencil on paper that he turned around and his eyes landed on the captivating blue eyes that had been taunting him all day, sat on a bench a few feet behind him. As the porcelain boy noticed he'd been spotted, he quickly glance away and Blaine turned to face him. For a few seconds he entertained the boy's nervous glances around the boat as he tried to appear as if he was looking at anything but the curly haired man. Then he moved behind the boy to glance over his shoulder at what he'd been drawing.

On the page was a half finished sketch of Blaine as he looked into the distance; he'd only managed to complete Blaine from the waist up and the rails he'd been leaning on before he'd been caught. The sketch was rough and quick yet somehow managed to be immaculate too. Blaine new very little of art and was definitely no critic but even he could see the way the drawing caught his mood at that moment.