"Hey Kevin," Kurt greets the boy who always plays guitar for him while he sings.

"Heya," Kevin replies with a smile from where he sits in the corner of the coffee shop. "Friend of yours?"

"Oh yeah," Kurt says. "Kevin, this is Blaine. Blaine, Kevin. He plays the guitar."

Blaine shakes the boy's hand and smiles. "Beautiful guitar," he notes, gesturing to the instrument leaning against the wall.

"Thanks," Kevin says. "I've had it for years."

Suddenly, Blaine and Kevin are talking guitars and violins and god knows what else because Kurt can't follow along and he's never seen two people take such a liking to each other so quickly. He goes to the counter and orders a beer, which he gets for free since he's singing that night and he smiles gratefully to the young girl behind the counter who he's seen here many times before. When he returns to the corner to rejoin Blaine and Kevin, he has to stop himself from frowning because Kevin is making Blaine laugh. He's making him laugh that laugh, the one that makes Kurt's heart lurch and makes him shiver and Kurt now wishes he knew whether or not Kevin was gay.

Why did he not know the answer to that yet?

He suppresses the urge to slip his arm around Blaine's waist because Blaine isn't his anymore. He hasn't been his for five years and Kurt has absolutely no grounds to be jealous but he can't fucking help it.

Instead, he drags Kevin and his guitar outside so they can run through a few songs really quickly, leaving Blaine alone in the middle of the coffee shop and left to his own devices. Kurt wants to feel a little guilty, thinks he should, but he doesn't. When they make their way back inside, Blaine has a beer in his hand as well and he's smiling at the young girl behind the counter and Kurt rolls his eyes when she blushes at something Blaine says. But he ignores him as Kevin seats himself on a chair with his guitar in his lap and Kurt settles onto a stool. The patrons seem to understand what's happening and Kurt notices how Blaine's eyes dart around and then finally come to look only at him.

"Hey guys, it's Kurt and Kevin, back again," Kurt begins and he gets a small wave of laughter from his audience. "Thanks for coming out and for those who've never been, thanks for being here anyway."

He nods to Kevin who plucks the opening strings of the first song of the night. When Kurt opens his mouth to sing, he's an octave higher than the song is normally done, but he captures the audience's attention immediately.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.
Now it looks as though they're here to stay.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly,
I'm not half the man I used to be,
There's a shadow hanging over me,
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

Why she had to go
I don't know she wouldn't say.
I said something wrong,
Now I long for yesterday.

Kurt can't stop himself when his eyes flit around the room and finally land on Blaine, who's standing completely still, beer still in his hands and an unreadable expression on his face.

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play.
Now I need a place to hide away.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Why she had to go
I don't know she wouldn't say.
I said something wrong,
Now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play.
Now I need a place to hide away.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.
Mm mm mm mm mm mm mm.

As the song ends, Kurt sees the irony in it all. He chose this song already, before Blaine stumbled back into his life yesterday. But the short, bittersweet song is almost a little too perfect and he nearly misses the generous applause he gets from the audience. He tears his gaze away from Blaine and smiles to the patrons of the establishment before taking a swig of the beer he'd set on the floor. He thanks them and says something witty that makes them laugh. And then he moves on to the next song they'd practiced.

They've adapted the next song as well, and Kurt's able to tap into his lower range, and his voice resonates a bit more hollowly, a bit deeper in his chest.

A slow strangle with your feet on the floor
I've got 14 angels and we're sleeping alone
In the back of a cave, where the rest of us go
To feel normal

I call baby up, leave me alone.
I'm in pain but I won't let you Band-Aid my wound
I am mad at a stage where I can't even handle my own, can't even handle my,

You give me a quiet mind and I...
I love you
You give me a quiet mind and I...
I love you
Until the end
Until the end

Give me strength to be kind, to combine
All the good things in life that are so hard to find
But I have and I won't let them go like I do with my friends, my friends,

Still hearing voices, from front, from behind
They're the reasons I choose, when to live, how to die
When to cast, when to reel
When to buy, when to steal
When to fiend for the friends that taught you
Being inappropriate will

Give me a quiet mind and I
I still love you
You give me a quiet mind and I
I love you
You give me a quiet mind and I
I love you
You give me a quiet mind and I
And I love you
Until the end
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh

When he's done singing, they gain the same amount, if not more applause than before.

Kurt looks past them to see Blaine standing with a sad smile, clapping softly and giving Kurt a barely perceptible nod before finishing off the beer in his hand.

Kurt finishes his beer as well and the young girl behind the counter brings him another. He accepts it with a grateful smile. They're not even half way through the set list and Kurt thinks he might actually be drunk by the end of the night at this rate.

Kevin plays the opening chords of the next song. And then Kurt remembers exactly what this song is and holy shit how were these songs so applicable to his life right now?

If it makes you less sad
I will die by your hand
I hope you find out what you want
I already know what I am
And if it makes you less sad
We'll start talking again
And you can tell me how vile
I already know that I am

I'll grow old
And start acting my age
I'll be a brand new day
In a life that you hate
A crown of gold
A heart that's harder than stone
And it hurts a whole lot
But it's missed when it's gone

Call me a safe bet
I'm betting I'm not
I'm glad you that can forgive
Only hoping as time goes
You can forget

If it makes you less sad
I'll move out of the state
You can keep to yourself
I'll keep out of your way
And if it makes you less sad
I'll take your pictures all down
Every picture you paint
I will paint myself out
It's as cold as a tomb
And it's dark in your room
When I sneak to your bed
To pour salt in your wounds
So call it quits
Or get a grip
Say you wanted a solution
You just wanted to be missed

Call me a safe bet
I'm betting I'm not
I'm glad that you can forgive
I'm only hoping as time goes
You can forget
So you can forget
You can forget

You are calm and reposed
Let your beauty unfold
Pale white like the skin
Stretched over your bones
Spring keeps you ever close
You are second hand smoke
You are so fragile and thin
Standing trial for your sins
Holding onto yourself the best you can
You are the smell before the rain
You are the blood in my veins

Call me a safe bet
I'm betting I'm not
I'm glad that you can forgive
I'm only hoping as time goes
You can forget

When Kurt stops singing, he looks up once more.

Blaine isn't standing there anymore but there are four empty bottles on the countertop near where he had been.

Kurt drains his beer.

They finish the set list and people stop him to pat him on the back, say hello, offer him smiles and 'good job' and 'that was amazing'. He's finally able to say goodbye to Kevin and says he'll be in touch. He makes his way through the sea of people and out the front door, lighting up a smoke almost instantly.

"Your voice is still just as remarkable as it was five years ago."

Kurt lifts an eyebrow and turns to see Blaine standing against the wall of the coffee house, hands in his pockets, one knee bent with his foot against the wall behind him, looking damn good in his tight jeans and the sleeves of his plaid shirt rolled up to his elbows. Kurt doesn't know how he missed just how attractive Blaine looked like that. He'd been wearing the same thing all day. Maybe it was the way the moonlight, mixed with the soft glow of light seeping out from the open door of the coffee house played up his features. Kurt tried not to overanalyze it.

"Thank you."

"I couldn't…"

"It's fine," Kurt says, waving away whatever Blaine was going to say as he ashes his cigarette.

"You're…really good."

Kurt shrugs and takes another drag. Blaine doesn't say anything again but Kurt knows that Blaine is watching him, looking over at him through dark eyelashes and Kurt doesn't know how to feel.

"Let's take a walk," Kurt says eventually.

So they do. Blaine stays by his side, hands deep in his pockets, as if they were itching to get out and grab touch feel and he had to keep them inside otherwise they'd do just that. They walk a few blocks in silence and Kurt notices how the yellow light from the streetlamps makes Blaine look sad.

"Did you date anyone after I left?" Blaine finally asks.

"Yeah," Kurt replies. "Not until college, though."

"Anyone serious?"

"Only one."

"You aren't with him anymore?" Blaine wonders and Kurt thinks he hears a touch of hope in his voice.

"No."

"What happened?"

"He just…wasn't what I was looking for," Kurt decides to say.

Blaine nods and keeps his head down, eye trained on the ground. He kicks a pebble.

"What about you?" Kurt asks him.

"There were a few," Blaine admits. "None worth mentioning."

"Ah."

Silence settles between them and Kurt can't decide if he likes it or not. The early autumn air is chilly and Blaine looks kind of cold, so Kurt offers up his jacket. He has on a light sweater with an undershirt and Blaine's plaid shirt looks a little too thin, a little too worn. Blaine takes it without a word and he seems to accept the sentiment that goes along with it as well. But then he stops, causing Kurt to stop walking, and Blaine looks straight into his eyes.

"Why did you leave him?" Blaine more or less orders the question to be answered truthfully.

Kurt heaves a deep, calming breath and his lungs fill with cool, night air.

"I kept looking for you," Kurt says, "in him."

Blaine's eyes turn lighter and Kurt thinks he can see a soft sheen of tears forming there.

"You weren't there."

They go home. Kurt retrieves the blanket and the pillow and hands them to Blaine. He slips into his room.

They sleep.