By the time their first semester approached its end, Saturday brunch had become sort of a tradition for them. Kurt was on his way there early this Saturday, both needing to get out of his apartment where Rachel and Jesse were busy singing duets and just wanting to see Blaine. They hadn't seen each other very often lately, both of them being busy with assignments, study groups and work. There had been texts and phone calls, of course. Sometimes for a few minutes on their way to their respective appointments, sometimes for hours at night, depending on their schedules. But it wasn't the same as talking face to face and Kurt missed their easy conversations, missed seeing Blaine's face when he talked to him.

It hadn't taken a very long time for Blaine to firmly establish himself in Kurt's life as his closest friend, the one person whose advice and opinion Kurt valued above all else.

They had missed the last two Saturdays, the first one because Blaine had a study group and the next because Kurt had had an audition – for yet another part it turned out he couldn't get. They had never gone without seeing each other for more than two weeks ever since they'd become friends on the plane to New York.

Kurt pushed open the door to the little cafe they had discovered during their second week in New York – it was conveniently located halfway between Blaine's dorm and Kurt's apartment. Kurt had hurried to get there, so of course Blaine wasn't there yet. He'd been texting him all morning, though, from the moment he got up. It wasn't anything unusual or out of the ordinary. Kurt had learned early on that Blaine, while not being very quick to share things about his personal life or his past, was exactly the kind of guy who liked to share basically everything about what he'd had for breakfast or the flavor of this new toothpaste he had bought the other day. His phone buzzed again and he glanced at the message quickly.

Almost there. The woman next to me on the subway has the cutest dog you've ever seen. I'll try to take a picture when she's not looking.

Kurt sighed, making his way over to the counter, feeling a little impatient. His weeks had been so packed full of work lately, the prospect of this lazy Saturday morning had been the one thing he'd really been looking forward to. Now that he was here, he wanted it to begin already. He ordered their usual, paid for everything and sat down at the table right opposite the door so he'd see Blaine arrive.

They were usually alone on those Saturday brunches. Rachel had joined them once, and just a few weeks ago, Blaine had brought his friend David, the one from his old high school. Kurt had liked him and it had been nice to finally meet someone from Blaine's old life, but he actually preferred having Blaine all to himself during those mornings. He needed those conversations with him alone, even if they talked about nothing but that off-Broadway production of ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ they'd seen together or the poor fashion choices of the people passing by outside the large windows.

Kurt had been waiting for only ten minutes when Blaine finally showed up, dressed casually in jeans and a hoodie, no gel in his hair. He'd given up on that about a month after meeting Kurt, and after many, many phone calls and texts from Kurt centered almost entirely around the topic of curls and the overuse of hair product.

His face broke into a bright smile when he spotted Kurt and Kurt smiled back and got up to hug him hello.

Hugging Blaine didn't feel weird at all to him anymore, that had stopped a long time ago. He had quickly discovered that Blaine liked hugs rather a lot and he'd learned to accept it, get used to it, and had actually grown to like it. He still wasn't the kind of guy who went around cuddling strangers, but with Blaine... well, it was different with Blaine.

“You look good,” Blaine greeted him, pulling back from the hug and sitting down in his chair.

“I feel good,” Kurt replied. “You look... comfortable.” He grinned at Blaine, who picked up his coffee to take a long sip.

“Well, I feel comfortable,” Blaine answered. “You already bought us coffee. I think I kind of like you.”

Kurt laughed at that. “And I expect nothing less.”

“So, how is everything?” Blaine wanted to know.

“You mean everything I haven't texted you about yet?”

“You've been texting a lot lately. I started to ignore your texts about a week ago.”

Kurt shook his head. “Says the guy who sent me a running commentary on his subway ride from the dorm to the cafe. Complete with pictures.”

Blaine shrugged. “You know you love my texts.”

“Well, I know that you love your texts. Look at my phone.” He pulled it from his pocket to wave it around in front of Blaine's face. “It still hasn't recovered. It looks tired. Have you ever seen a phone looking tired before? Seriously, Blaine.”

Blaine laughed and took some of the pancakes Kurt hadn't touched (and wouldn't, even though he always ordered them for Blaine). “Listen,” he started. “It looks like I can get out of work next weekend and if I manage to finish all of my school work during the week, I thought that maybe, if you're free Saturday night, we could see a movie or something.”

Kurt took a deep breath. “I can't,” he answered. “I have... plans.” Well, he hadn't really meant to start their lazy Saturday small talk like this.

Blaine was pouring syrup over his pancakes and didn't look up. “Oh, that's okay,” he said. “Guess I wasn't fast enough. So,” he continued. “What kinds of plans? Hot date?”

Kurt bit his lower lip, looking away, feeling himself blush.

Blaine looked up now, his eyes widening in surprise. “Oh my god, Kurt, you have a date. You do, don't you?”

Kurt finally met Blaine's eyes, grinning at the way Blaine's fork with a piece of pancake on it was suspended in the air halfway to his mouth. “Yes, actually. No need to act so surprised.”

Blaine put down his fork, quickly reaching across the table to take Kurt's hand. “Oh, no, no, no, I didn't mean it like that. I just—”

Kurt laughed. “Relax, Blaine, I know.”

“Why... why didn't you tell me?” Blaine still hadn't let go of Kurt's hand, and Kurt didn't really want him to. It calmed him, made the fluttery feeling in his stomach that had been there ever since he'd agreed to that date the day before ebb away slightly. So he closed his own hand around Blaine's fingers, taking another deep breath.

“I wanted to tell you. I just thought...” he paused, unsure how to phrase this. “I didn't want it to be weird or anything.”

“Why would it be weird?” Blaine asked.

“Well... it's just that we, you and I... we hang out all the time, you know, and I didn't want you to think...”

Blaine was silent for a second. “I'm glad you're going on a date,” he finally said. “I'm glad you've met someone.”

“You are?” Kurt felt... well, it had to be relief, that feeling flooding through him all of a sudden.

“I am. So, who is he?”

“He's in one of my classes,” Kurt began to explain. “His name is Ted. We talked a few times, but just, you know, about the weather and stuff. But... well, apparently he likes me, or that's what he said yesterday. He's out of town this weekend, but he invited me to dinner next Saturday. And I'm... I said yes.”

Blaine squeezed his hand, giving him a reassuring smile. “That's... that's really great, Kurt. I know this is what you wanted and I'm so happy for you.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “Jeez, Blaine, it's not like we're getting married or anything. It's just a date. Still...” he swallowed. “I'm a little... nervous. About all of this. What if I make a complete fool of myself? I have no experience with this kind of thing... you know... dating.”

Blaine smiled at him. “You're not going to make a fool of yourself, Kurt. You couldn't if you tried. He's going to love you. I'm sure that you'll have a great time.”

Kurt gave him a skeptical look. He kind of loved Blaine for being so supportive, but he wasn't so sure. There was so much that could go wrong, after all... from choosing the wrong outfit to not finding anything to talk about to spilling his drink over himself, or worse, over Ted.

“I just... I've never done this before. I want to, you of all people know how much I want to. But... it's just... I don't know.” He sighed. “Is it normal to feel like that about something that should be great? I'm looking forward to it, I really am, I'm just... nervous.”

“I think it's perfectly normal to feel that way,” Blaine reassured him. “I know how important this is to you. But if you're worried about leaving a good first impression – well, you've already done that, haven't you? Otherwise he would have never asked you out.”

“I guess so,” Kurt said, staring into his coffee cup, sounding far from convinced.

“Hey, Kurt.” Blaine leaned forward a little, his voice serious. “Look at me.”

He waited until Kurt finally met his eyes before he continued. “This Ted guy – he asked you out, right? Which means two things. One: that he has very good taste—”

Kurt smiled at that, the affection in Blaine's eyes making his stomach relax a bit.

“And two: he obviously likes you. You have nothing to worry about. You're awesome, Kurt. That Ted is one lucky guy to get a date with you. Just keep reminding yourself of that and you'll be fine. Hell, I'll remind you every day until next Saturday, if it helps.”

“Thank you,” Kurt answered, his eyes not leaving Blaine's. “For saying that. Seriously, thank you.”

Blaine shrugged, grinning at him and letting go of his hand to take another sip of coffee. “I meant it. And if things really do get too awkward or anything, excuse yourself to go to the bathroom and call me, I'll calm you down and tell you how great you are until you're okay again.”

Kurt laughed, his stomach calm enough to finally eat something. “Oh, Blaine,” he said. “I really don't know what I'd do without you.”

“You'd do fine, even though your life would be decidedly less colorful,” Blaine remarked, turning his attention toward his pancakes again.

“You're right about that,” Kurt replied, grinning. Because, well, it was true.

**

“I have nothing to wear.” He was freaking out, going through his wardrobe, phone trapped between his ear and shoulder while deciding against one outfit after the other.

“Good to hear your voice, too.” Blaine spoke slowly, voice still sleep-heavy and a little hoarse. “My week was uneventful, thank you for asking. How have you been?”

“Blaine, this is an emergency. You have to help me. This is all wrong, everything's wrong, I'll have to cancel, I'll have to call Ted right now and cancel, I can't—”

“Hey, no, calm down,” Blaine cut him off. “Breathe, Kurt. And tell me what's wrong so I can help you.”

“It's Saturday, Blaine.” Kurt felt like he was going to start hyperventilating any second now. “I have a date, remember? And I have nothing to wear. Nothing.”

“Kurt?” Blaine's voice sounded tentative, careful. “You know it's just after seven in the morning, right? When is your date?”

“We're meeting at eight tonight, why? What does that have to do with anything?” Seriously, he couldn't believe Blaine. Dammit, he knew what time it was. But he had a real problem here and his best friend didn't seem to care.

“Kurt, it's seven am on a Saturday,” Blaine repeated. “Why aren't you sleeping?”

“Weren't you listening, Blaine? I need your help.” Kurt sighed exasperatedly, angrily shoving aside one of his formerly favorite shirts. It was wrong, all wrong, why had he ever bought any of this? What had he been thinking? Everything in here was too hideous for words.

“Why didn't you ever tell me I have horrible taste in clothes? Did you think it was funny, letting me go on my first date like this? Looking like a complete idiot?”

“Whoa, okay. Where's this coming from, now?” Blaine sounded confused, and possibly a little scared, and Kurt suddenly felt guilty for taking all of this out on him.

He ran a hand over his face, feeling stressed out and so young and so stupid. “I'm... sorry. I shouldn't have called you. I'm just... I'm kind of...”

“Freaking out a little, because you're going on a date with a guy you actually like tonight?” Blaine finished his sentence for him.

“Yes,” Kurt breathed. “Do you think it's too late to cancel?”

“I think there's no reason for you to cancel,” Blaine answered simply.

Kurt considered if he could pull it off to just bail on his date with Ted and change his address and phone number and transfer to another college so he would never find him to ask him about it. “But I have nothing to wear. And I feel weird. My head hurts. And I'm cold. I think I'm coming down with something. Maybe Ted will be okay to reschedule...”

“Kurt?” Blaine said.

“What?”

“Don't call Ted. Don't cancel. Don't do anything. I'll be there in an hour. And I'll bring breakfast.”

Kurt leaned his head against the frame of his closet. “I'm not hungry.”

“Yes, you are,” Blaine insisted. “Go take a shower, watch TV, read a book or something. And stop thinking about tonight. I'll be there soon, all right? Kurt?”

Kurt was silent for a moment, feeling like such a loser who had to wake up his friend early on a Saturday because he was freaking out about something other people did every day. God, he was such a small-town boy. “You don't have to, Blaine. I'll be okay.”

“This is not up for discussion,” Blaine answered. “One hour. Just try to relax until I'm there.”

“Okay.” Kurt sat down on the edge of his bed, pressing the phone closer to his ear. “And Blaine? Thanks.”

“Anytime,” Blaine said, sounding so serious, Kurt had no choice but to believe him.

He had showered and tidied up his room, carefully putting back (and apologizing to) all the clothes he had angrily scattered across the bed and floor earlier, and was watching TV in the living room when he finally heard that familiar knock. He almost tripped over his own feet in his haste to get to the door.

Blaine greeted him with an affectionate smile and a tight hug and Kurt could practically feel the knots in his stomach untying themselves until he could actually smile back at Blaine.

“I brought coffee,” Blaine said, “and waffles.”

“I can't believe I woke you up on a Saturday morning to bitch at you, and you actually got up out of bed to buy me waffles.” Kurt buried his head against Blaine's shoulder, hugging him more tightly before stepping back. “Which I'm not even going to eat. I'm a terrible person.”

Blaine frowned at him. “Don't say stuff like that about my best friend. Besides, we would have met for brunch in two and a half hours anyway, right? I should totally be up by now.”

Kurt had to laugh, against his will, and Blaine grinned, proud to have made Kurt feel better already.

They had breakfast on the floor of Kurt's room, not wanting to be interrupted by Rachel or Jesse, even though it was rather unlikely that either of them would be getting up any time soon. Jesse was finally putting on his own musical, something entitled “Stars Over Ohio” - and he was rarely ever home before midnight.

And Rachel had been working a late shift, and even though she didn't seem to need a lot of sleep, it was unlikely that she would be getting up this early.

Still, just in case, Kurt didn't really feel like explaining to them why Blaine was here this early on a Saturday, not if he didn't have to. This was pathetic enough as it was, he didn't need the whole world to know about his early-morning freak-out.

“Are you feeling any better?” Blaine asked, looking at him across the pile of breakfast food and coffee in cheap paper cups.

Kurt thought about it, feeling a warmth in his chest that had nothing to do with the sip of hot coffee he'd just swallowed. “I am,” he answered. “Thanks to you.”

“So, are you going on that date tonight, then?” Blaine asked.

Kurt nodded slowly. “I think so. I...” he shrugged. “I mean, what's the worst that can happen? And I want to, I do, I'm sorry I freaked out like that. I'm sorry I woke you up so early, I should have—”

“No,” Blaine interrupted, holding up a hand to signal Kurt to stop talking. “No, stop it. It's okay. You needed me, and here I am. I know you'd do the same for me, right?”

“Yes, of course.” It wasn't anything Kurt even needed to think about. He knew it was true. He'd walk to the ends of the earth for Blaine. And yet... “I still should have been able to do this by myself. I don't know what's wrong with me.”

“There's nothing wrong with you,” Blaine told him firmly. “And now let's see about those clothes for tonight. I'm sure we'll find something.”

**

With Blaine's help, it actually took him less than half an hour to put together an outfit that didn't suck. He was actually quite happy with it, not only because Blaine assured him repeatedly how great he looked and how lucky Ted was to go out with him and that he would have the best night ever and that everything would be all right.

They finally ended up in front of the TV again, watching... something, neither of them were really paying attention to it. Because once the wardrobe crisis was resolved, Blaine had started telling him about a little club that had just opened near his campus. They were having open-mic nights several times a week that Blaine had already decided to attend as soon as possible. It didn't really take much convincing on his part to make Kurt promise to go with him, and they were in the middle of an animated discussion about which songs to sing and whether or not they were brave enough to try a duet, when Rachel showed up, dressed in pink Hello Kitty pajamas, dark circles under her eyes and her hair a mess.

“Morning,” she yawned, shuffling past them on her way to the kitchen, stopping only to give them a sleepy and slightly confused look. “What's Blaine doing here?”

“It's nice to see you, too, Rachel,” Blaine said, amused.

“Watching TV,” Kurt answered. “What happened to you? You look like the bird lady from Mary Poppins.”

“I hate late shifts,” Rachel stated, as if that would explain everything.

“I know,” Kurt said. “Want to join us?”

“Sure,” Rachel answered. “In a minute.” She yawned again, continuing on her way to the kitchen, stumbling in the general direction of the coffee maker.

“So, about that club... next weekend?” Kurt asked, turning his attention back to Blaine.

Blaine nodded. “Next weekend sounds good. Meet me at my dorm around seven and we'll go there together? I mean, we'll probably talk again before then, but... Does that sound okay?”

“Sure.”

“Where are you going?” Rachel let herself fall onto the couch between them, a bowl of cereal in her hands.

“Open-mic night in a new club near Blaine's college,” Kurt explained. “Next weekend.”

Rachel was very awake all of a sudden. “Where? When? Can I come with you? Oh my god, I have so many ideas already... there's this song I've been working on since I was five and I—”

Blaine and Kurt exchanged a look, both of them trying very hard not to laugh. There was no power in the world that could keep Rachel Berry away from a performance.

“Of course you can come with us,” Blaine said and Kurt nodded, patting Rachel's shoulder affectionately.

“I'd actually prefer it if you came along. I need some real competition. Private School Boy over there doesn't count,” he told her, smirking at Blaine. He'd heard Blaine sing. His voice was amazing. Kurt could listen to him for hours and not get tired of it, and he'd told Blaine as much. No need to remind him of that, though.

“Careful what you say, Kurt. You wanna make this a competition?” Blaine grinned back at him. “It's on. I'm so gonna crush you next weekend.” Blaine had heard Kurt sing as well, and Kurt remembered tears in Blaine's eyes and the word 'amazing' being uttered a lot. The memory still made him smile.

“Bring it on,” Kurt answered, sitting up a little straighter, his eyes never leaving Blaine's.

“If you spit into your palms before shaking hands, I'm going to throw up,” Rachel said, a disgusted look on her face. “Besides, I can beat both of you without even trying.”

“Well.” Kurt crossed his arms in front of his chest, laughter bubbling up inside of him again, all the nervousness from earlier long forgotten. “We'll see about that next weekend, won't we?”

**

“Give me something to talk about,” Kurt hissed into the phone as soon as Blaine picked up.

“Um, what?”

“I need something I can talk about with Ted, something general enough that he will have something to say about it, but more original than the weather or the quality of the food.” Kurt sounded impatient, even though he was still talking barely above a whisper.

“Kurt, where are you?”

“In the men's room. I have about three minutes. Think of something quickly, come on, Blaine. Please.”

Blaine was quiet on the other end for a second. “I take it it's not going so well?”

Kurt shook his head, even though he knew Blaine couldn't see it. “I tried everything, but, god, that guy is boring. His taste in music is appalling, he has no favorite movies or actors or places, and everything he likes about New York is that 'there are a lot of people here.' I even tried talking about cars, but I have no idea if he's ever even been near one, judging from how much he knows about them. We have nothing to say to each other.”

“How about your classes? Teachers? Your fellow students?” Blaine suggested. “I know it's not stuff you want to talk about on a date, but maybe it'll start off a conversation about something else?”

“I don't know.” Kurt sighed. “I think I'm going to call it a night soon. We have absolutely nothing in common. The only thing he seems interested in seems to be the table cloth, considering how much time he's already spent staring at it.”

“I'm sorry, Kurt,” Blaine said. “I know you were looking forward to this.”

“Hey, no.” Kurt opened the bathroom stall he had locked himself in, quickly checking that Ted hadn't followed him in here for some reason. “It's okay. I didn't expect my first date to turn out to be my soul mate. There will be other dates.”

“So, what are you going to do now?” Blaine wanted to know.

Kurt thought about it for a minute. “Go back in there, finish dinner, and then tell him I have to be up early tomorrow and need to get home.” He shrugged. “It will kind of suck to be home that early, but it's probably better than sitting here in complete silence for another hour.”

“Do you want me to come over tomorrow? We can eat ice cream and watch sad movies or something.”

Kurt felt a smile spread across his face. “Blaine, it's not like I broke up with my long-term boyfriend. I just had one bad date.”

“Yes, and it's my job as a best friend to cheer you up after that, right?” Blaine said. “So? Tomorrow?”

“Don't you have your study group tomorrow?” Actually, if he was being honest, he really kind of wanted Blaine to come over. Ice cream and movies did sound good. And he deserved it after a night like this, didn't he?

“Um, that got canceled,” Blaine answered.

“Well, in that case, yes.”

“See you tomorrow, then.”

“See you.” Kurt ended the call, and with a deep breath made his way back over to the table where his date was waiting for him.

**

“You know there's only the two of us here, right?” Kurt asked, amusement in his voice.

Blaine frowned. “Yes. Why?”

“Oh, I'm just asking because,” Kurt waved a hand at the coffee table, “you brought enough ice cream to feed the entire cast of Guys and Dolls and keep enough leftovers for tomorrow.”

Blaine kicked off his shoes before sinking back into the couch, making himself comfortable. “It's not that much.”

“Did you buy all of it in one place? Did they have any left after you were done?”

Blaine elbowed him in the ribs lightly. “Stop making fun of me. I love ice cream.”

“Yes, I can see that.” Kurt grinned, searching for the remote between the couch cushions. “What do you want to watch? I put in 'Chicago,' if that's okay...”

“Mostly, I just want to hear about your date,” Blaine answered. “How long did you stay after we hung up?”

Kurt blushed slightly. “Well, actually... a while.”

Blaine raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Oh?”

“Yes, I...” Kurt paused, biting his lip. “I think I was wrong about him, after all. I took your advice and started talking about college stuff, and... I don't know, that kind of did it. We just kept talking after that, somehow. It was... nice.”

Blaine leaned forward, picking up the chocolate ice cream. “That's great, Kurt.”

“He asked me out again.”

“Did you say yes?”

Kurt shrugged. “Yeah, I did. I mean, I know he's not... it's not ideal or anything. We still don't have a lot in common and... but he likes me, you know? It's just...”

“No, I get it,” Blaine cut in. “I do. I think it's good you agreed to go out with him again. You deserve this. And, you know, you don't have to marry the guy or anything. Dating is supposed to be fun, right?”

“Right.” Kurt sighed, leaning his head against Blaine's shoulder. “And it is fun. Once you get over the initial awkwardness. I guess that was to be expected, though. I'm still new to this, after all, and so is Ted, from what he tells me.”

“You're not the only ones,” Blaine told him through a mouth full of ice cream, putting the carton down to snuggle up closer to Kurt. “But it won't be awkward forever. You'll find someone soon enough, someone where it'll just be easy and comfortable from the start. You'll hit it off immediately and you'll talk late into the night and when you go home he'll tell you he can't wait to see you again and you'll get married half a year later and buy a house and adopt a lot of beautiful babies...”

Kurt laughed, burying his face into Blaine's shoulder. “You are so weird sometimes.” But, god did he hope Blaine was right anyway. “You're going to have all of that too, you know,” he added. “We'll both have that.”

Blaine nodded. “We will. I know I'll be at your wedding one day. If you'll invite me.”

“Of course you'll be at my wedding, you idiot.” Kurt ran a hand over Blaine's arm gently, enjoying the comfort and warmth that was radiating off of his friend. “And I'll be at yours.”

“That's settled, then.” Blaine shifted his leg slightly, pulling the remote out from under it. “Hey, that's why I was sitting so uncomfortably the whole time.”

“Idiot,” Kurt repeated affectionately, wrestling the remote from Blaine's fingers to press play while Blaine reached for the ice cream again.

One day, Kurt thought. One day. He just hoped it wasn't too far away.