Kurt hitched his bag higher up on his shoulder and adjusted his scarf before shoving his hands back deep into his pockets. His audition hadn't gone well, he still had to work at the diner tonight after a full day of classes, and he was listening to the Once soundtrack which always made him feel melancholy and why was he doing this to himself again?

He stilled in his tracks, shut his eyes, and fell into his mantra.

He was going to be successful someday. He was going to reach a large audience. He was going to make an impact on someone's life. He was going to make his life worth something someday.

Silently quirking his lips into a crooked smile, he started walking again only to immediately stop when spotting a canary on the side of the street. The little bird's head turned in his direction towards the sharp sound of boots skidding against the sidewalk.

“What in the world are you doing in New York, little fella?” Kurt muttered, bending over to get a closer look at the bird, its yellow color appearing more vivid against the gray cement.

The canary hopped a short distance away, repeating its hop multiple times before finally taking flight. For whatever reason, Kurt followed, happy to see a bird that wasn't a damn pigeon. He tried to seem nonchalant about following the canary, trying not to make the action noticeable as he passed body after body but wasn't ashamed to pick up speed if the canary nearly got out of sight in the crowd.

“Hey,” a stranger's voice huffed out, not accusatory but surprised.

Kurt ran a hand over his face, feeling his face heat up. “I am so sorry—”

“NYADA.”

“What?” Kurt got a good look at the person before him, feeling the heat crawling up the back of his neck increase significantly and spread to his face.

“You go to NYADA too,” the boy mentioned, placing a finger against the pin on Kurt's lapel and straightening it after noticing he had knocked it askew.

“You're… really observant for someone who just got ran into by a random idiot on the street,” Kurt noted, still trying to find his normal breathing pattern after the collision.

“I like trying to figure people out,” he simply answered with a shrug. “And I assume that you were in such a rush because you are late for your audition at Telsey + Company.”

“How did you know?” Kurt asked with a forced laugh because he most certainly was not chasing a canary across New York in some sort of metaphorical sense of self-discovery of all things to cause one to bump into a stranger.

“Because I am also terribly late and the open call ends in about an hour.”

“Oh my God, I better get going,” Kurt rushed to say, making to pass the boy and get out of the embarrassing situation as soon as possible until he felt a gentle grip on his shoulder.

“Wait, I could walk with you?” he offered. “If you'd like…?”

“Kurt,” he filled the silence when the boy trailed off, looking at him expectantly.

“Blaine,” he said with a wide grin, offering a hand. “Nice running into you.”

“Nice running into you too.” Kurt smiled, letting Blaine lead the way.

-

In the waiting room, the two got out their resumes and audition books, quietly complimenting each other's headshots and discussing past stage credits. The numbers being called got closer and closer to theirs. Kurt, having not planned on auditioning again for the day, wasn't nervous one bit because he honestly wasn't even sure what exactly he was auditioning for. He felt a little ridiculous being there, sure, but it was worth it to have met Blaine. Blaine, however, was having the worst case of anxiety.

“I'm sure you'll do fine,” Kurt encouraged, feeling his face flush because of the way Blaine looked at him.

“Thank you,” he murmured, wide eyes watching Kurt intently.

Blaine's number was called and he was up suddenly, his hands noticeably shaking.

“Hey, break a leg,” Kurt said, reaching out to still a shaking hand by taking it in his own.

“Thanks.” Blaine flashed a nervous smile and was soon gone.

The audition lasted a short amount of time. Blaine was out as soon as he went in, it seemed like. Yet, Kurt had still managed to miss him in that amount of time.

“How'd it go?” Kurt blurted out.

“I feel good about it. We'll see,” Blaine said, a bit breathless but smiling.

Kurt was up.

“Well, break a leg!” Blaine told Kurt, meeting Kurt's eyes.

“Thanks. You too.” Kurt made a face at his own words when he realized what he had said. “I mean, Im sure that you did... I—Im just gonna go.”

Kurt rose from his seat and made his way to the door, followed by a warm laugh from Blaine.

Kurt allowed himself to smile. He had a good feeling about Blaine.
-

The directors called out the names of the contenders that would be called back, none of which belonged to Kurt or Blaine. Knowing the drill, Kurt grabbed his audition book, about to head out until Blaine stopped him, placing a hand on his forearm.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“I know its probably strange for me to,”—Blaine cleared his throat—“I—Wow, I'm really bad at this, but... do you want to grab some coffee?”

Kurt's mouth broke into a smile against his will.

“Sure.” Kurt nodded enthusiastically. “I… I'd like that.”