Chapter 10

They were running late. They were absolutely running late and yet there Kurt was, sitting on the couch, his pants and underwear around his ankles, with Blaine kneeling on the floor between his legs, his head bobbing enthusiastically as he moaned around Kurt's cock. Kurt had his fingers buried in Blaine's curls, tugging him forward and thrusting up as much as he could in this position, trying to fuck his mouth, feeling the heat boiling in his stomach as he felt himself getting closer, and it only took a few more seconds for him to come, groaning loudly and tightening his grip on Blaine's hair as his cum filled his mouth. Swallowing, Blaine eventually let go of Kurt's cock, releasing it with a soft pop and licked his lips with a devilish grin before climbing up on the couch, straddling Kurt and kissing him deeply.

“Mmm, you're so delicious, gorgeous.” He muttered against his lips and smirked when he felt Kurt's hands sneaking down to undo his belt. “I thought you said we're going to be late?”

“We are, but…”

“Leave it, gorgeous.” Blaine said, nipping Kurt's bottom lip before leaning closer to whisper in his ear. “You'll make it up to me in the evening.”

“We'll see about that.” Kurt replied with a grin, pushing Blaine from his lap. Dressing himself quickly, he tried to smooth all the wrinkles on his suit and fixed his tie that was hanging loosely around his neck. Glancing at Blaine, he noticed his wild hair and sighed. “Do something with your hair, would you?”

“And whose fault is it that it looks like that?” Blaine retorted, trying to make it look a bit more presentable in front of the mirror. “You seem to enjoy tugging it, not that I'm complaining.” He added with a wink.

“Of course you're not, you love it.” Kurt said, looking at him pointedly and grabbing his keys, remembering exactly how it affected Blaine every time he did that.

“Not denying it, gorgeous.” Blaine said with a grin as they left the apartment. While waiting for the elevator he glanced at Kurt's watch. “Anyway, what are we going to say at the office?”

Kurt looked at him, raising his eyebrow before sighing deeply, in mocking defeat. “Traffic can be a bitch in New York, Mr. Anderson. An absolute bitch.”

Blaine was sitting in the conference room, staring outside the window, deep in thought. He had a feeling he was missing something, something that would help them crack the case, something significant they needed to move forward. Kurt was currently in a meeting with his boss and judging by the expression on his face before he went there, he wasn't really looking forward to it.

Sighing, Blaine rubbed his eyes, groaning internally in frustration. Sebastian was good, he had to give him that. In every crime scene there was nothing, nothing that could connect him directly to being there, he left no evidence behind, nothing, except those damn…

“Business cards.” Blaine whispered to himself, sitting up suddenly and almost falling off the chair. He was sure the crime lab already processed them, but he knew about paints and inks more than anyone did; maybe he would be able to pick up on some hints. Feeling new energy inside of him, he quickly ran down the stairs, looking around the lower part of the office, searching for Mike or Santana. Not seeing either of them, he decided to approach another agent, a blonde guy who was currently pouring himself some coffee.

“Hey, where are the business cards that Smythe leaves at the crime scenes?” He asked.

“The evidence room.” The agent replied curtly, the British accent lacing his voice, as he looked Blaine up and down.

“Okay, could you grab them for me?” Blaine asked impatiently, not wanting to waste any more time on some idle small talk.

“And why would I do that?” The agent said, making Blaine wonder if he was really that dense or if he had some other kind of problem.

“Because I don't have the access to it and I'd like to take a look at them?” Blaine replied slowly.

“The lab already did that.” The agent said with a shrug and moved to walk around Blaine, but the forger was faster, stepping in front of him to block his way. “Besides, I'm not going to give evidence to a criminal so you could tamper with it.”

“Excuse me?” Blaine asked as calmly as he could though he was sure his eyes were blazing with fire. “You do realize why I am here, right?”

“Honestly, I don't see the point.” The man replied, rolling his eyes. “We can handle it. We don't need help from a good for nothing criminal who thinks he can play cop.”

Figuring punching a federal agent would probably do him no good, Blaine clenched his fists in effort to stop himself from snapping. “Who the hell are you?” He gritted out.

“This is special agent Adam Crawford, the Interpol liaison with the FBI.” A familiar voice sounded next to them and when Blaine glanced to his left, he saw Kurt standing there, watching them with narrowed eyes, taking in Blaine's tense posture and Adam smirking smugly. “Everything okay here?”

“It would be if special agent whatever would give me what I nicely asked for.” Blaine growled, shooting daggers at the British agent and if looks could kill, the man would be dead already.

“Hello, Kurt.” Adam said with a smile and the way he said Kurt's name along with the sweetness lacing his voice made Blaine boil inside. “Can you imagine, he wanted to see Smythe's business cards! God knows what he wanted to do with them.” He added in a stage whisper, eyeing Blaine disdainfully and shooting Kurt a proud smile, as if he expected to be rewarded for his exceptional behavior. Reward being Kurt's kisses Blaine suspected, judging by how lovingly Adam was staring at Kurt.

“His job, probably.” Kurt replied dryly, raising his eyebrow, completely ignoring the heart eyes Adam was sending his way and Blaine's angry expression slowly morphed into a smirk. “He's here to help, did you forget about that?”

“Come on, Kurt.” Adam looked at him incredulously. “You can't be comfortable with letting him close to the evidence!”

“On the contrary, I'm very comfortable with that.” Kurt said coldly. “Especially if he has some kind of idea how to use it against Smythe.”

“Oh, please, what could he possibly find that the lab didn't already?” Adam exclaimed, staring at Kurt in disbelief. “And how can you know he won't mess it up on purpose to double-cross us and help out his buddy?”

“Because I trust him.” Kurt replied simply, stepping between the two men, having a feeling Blaine wouldn't be able to stay calm much longer, especially if Adam kept insisting he was Smythe's buddy. “And this conversation is over now, so I suggest you get back to your work, agent Crawford.” Kurt finished definitively, fixing Adam with a cold stare until the man turned around and walked away, mumbling something under his breath.

Sighing deeply, Kurt looked around the office. “You.” He said to one of the younger female agents standing nearby making her immediately straighten up with wide eyes. “Get the evidence from Smythe's case and bring it to the conference room.”

“Yes, sir.” She replied quickly before scurrying away, almost running in the direction of the elevators.

“You can be scary if you want to.” Kurt heard from behind him and when he turned around, he saw Blaine looking at him with... respect? He wasn't sure, he was usually good at reading people but Blaine could be hard to decipher sometimes.

“Sometimes I have to be.” He replied with a shrug and after a few seconds, he gestured at his office, looking at Blaine questioningly. When the forger nodded in agreement, they climbed the stairs and when they entered Kurt's office, he shut the door and the curtains, making the room completely shielded from the outside.

“Did you mean it or did you just say it to get the Brit to fuck off?” Blaine suddenly asked, breaking the silence, looking at Kurt with an unreadable expression on his face.

“Mean what?” Kurt replied with a question even though he had a feeling he knew what Blaine was referring to.

“That you trust me.” Blaine clarified.

“I did.” Kurt said after a few seconds, looking Blaine straight in the eye. “I do trust you.”

The truth was, he didn't even know he felt that way until the moment he felt anger spreading through his body when Adam insinuated Blaine could betray them. With a surprise, he discovered that somewhere along the way he really did start trusting Blaine, the man that not so long ago he was ready to swear he hated with every fiber of his being. Incredible how quickly things changed.

When Blaine didn't say anything, Kurt shifted on his feet and cleared his throat. “I suppose I should also apologize for Adam's behavior.”

“Don't worry about that, handsome.” Blaine waved his hand dismissively. “I don't care what he thinks about me. Although, he seems to care a lot about you.” He added with a sly smirk.

“Don't even remind me.” Kurt groaned, leaning against the wall. “He's been trying to get me to agree to go out with him for months.”

“Why don't you?” Blaine asked, ignoring the wave of possessiveness rushing through him at the thought of Kurt going out with Crawford. What the hell, he thought with irritation, trying to shake it off.

“I don't know.” Kurt shrugged. “Just… not my type, I guess. And he's kind of a dick.” He added, rolling his eyes.

“I see.” Blaine hummed, taking a few steps closer until he was standing right in front of Kurt. “You know what, I changed my mind, agent Crawford definitely hurt my feelings.” He said with a pout, placing his hands on the wall, trapping the agent between his arms.

“Oh?” Kurt fought hard not to grin.

“Yeah, and I think that you, as his boss, should make it up to me.” Blaine said, his voice dropping lower as his hazel eyes darkened.

“Mmm, should I maybe kiss your hurt feelings better?” Kurt purred, grabbing Blaine's leather jacket and pulling him closer.

“Seems like a good start.” Blaine mumbled against Kurt's lips before leaning in and closing the gap, moving his hands from the wall to put them on Kurt's waist, feeling the warmth of his body through the thin material of his shirt.

Kissing back, Kurt gripped the jacket tightly with one hand, circling his other arm around Blaine's neck and he smiled into the kiss when he felt Blaine pushing him gently against the wall and pressing his body with his own. Breathing through his nose, Kurt closed his eyes and let himself get lost in Blaine's scent, consisting of his cologne, coffee and something else that Kurt could only describe as Blaine. They kissed slowly, without any rush, their lips moving together perfectly and Kurt let out a small gasp when Blaine slid his tongue into his mouth, squeezing his waist as he deepened the kiss, which was turning out way more sensual than any other kisses they had shared before.

Kurt's head was spinning, was it from the lack of air or something else, he didn't know, but when they pulled away, all he could think about was how much he didn't want it to stop. Breathing heavily, they stared at each other in silence, Kurt's heart beating wildly as he looked into Blaine's eyes, once again admiring their color, a mixture of hazel and honey, even though they were much darker at the moment than usually. Hyperaware of Blaine's warm hands on his waist; he slowly loosened his grip on the leather jacket, smoothing the wrinkles with his hand.

“Satisfied?” Kurt asked in a whisper, not trusting his voice, still keeping his arm wrapped around Blaine's neck, reluctant to let him go just yet, not missing the way the forger's gaze dropped to his lips for a split second.

Without a word, Blaine surged forward and kissed him again, hard, knocking the wind out of Kurt, pulling away after a few seconds. “For now.” He breathed out against Kurt's lips and they stood still for a moment before Blaine slowly removed his hands from Kurt's waist and the agent slid his arm down from his shoulders, immediately missing the warmth of Blaine's body when the forger took a step back. Breathing in deeply, Kurt tried to compose himself when there was a sudden knock on the door. His head snapping up, he shoot a panicked glance to Blaine who reacted instantly, crossing the room quickly without making any sound, sitting down on one of the chairs next to Kurt's desk and schooling his expression into a bored one, leaning back and presenting a perfect picture of nonchalance. Straightening his shoulders, Kurt walked to the door, opening it and seeing the female agent he spoke to earlier.

“I put the box you asked for on the table in the conference room, sir.” She said quickly, words stumbling out of her mouth.

“Excellent.” Kurt replied and the woman nodded, smiling nervously and started to walk away. “Thank you.” He added when she was about to go down the stairs and the wide, relieved smile she flashed his way made him snort in amusement when she was out of his sight.

“Looks like Crawford is not the only one with a crush on you.” Blaine's voice sounded right behind him, making him jump and glare at the forger as he snickered.

“Stop sneaking up on me.” Kurt hissed, but Blaine's grin only grew wider. “Besides, everyone here knows I'm gay.”

“She doesn't seem to be bothered by that.” Blaine said, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

“Shut up.” Kurt rolled his eyes before pushing Blaine in the direction of the conference room. “Come on; tell me what you came up with.”

“Well.” Blaine started, opening the box and taking out the business card Sebastian, or rather Hunter, left at the latest crime scene. “I thought that maybe if we could figure out where he's getting them from, we'd be able to trace his steps somehow. I'm assuming he wouldn't go to a regular printing house, but have it done somewhere… more private.”

Sitting at the table, he started examining the card carefully. “This is a high-class paper. Expensive. That already narrows it down a bit, but maybe I can do better than that.” Blaine said after a minute, looking closely at the card. “Did the lab test the ink?” He asked Kurt who was sitting on the chair next to him, quietly watching him work.

“Yeah.” The agent replied, reaching for the laptop standing on the table. After typing for a few seconds, he pulled up the results the lab sent in and he turned the laptop to Blaine. “There you go.”

Studying the list of the ink's components, Blaine let out a surprised sound. “Well, this is unfortunate. For Sebastian, I mean.” He clarified with a grin and Kurt impatiently gestured at him to elaborate. “I don't have anything to back my words with except my own expertise and knowledge, but you have to believe me when I say that this kind of ink is rare. Very rare. I know you're probably wondering why your lab…”

“I believe you.” Kurt interrupted him, trying not to get his hopes up at the possible development in the case. “If it's so rare, then there shouldn't be a lot of people using it, right?”

“Exactly.” Blaine agreed, a bit astonished how Kurt didn't doubt him at all. “In a matter of fact, there are only two people using it in New York and Sebastian could have gone to only one of them.” Seeing Kurt look at him questioningly, he sighed. “The second one is out of the business, has been for years. And even if he wasn't, he's a good friend of mine and he wouldn't help Sebastian even if that weasel paid him with diamonds.”

“I'm going to need their names.” Kurt said, taking out his notebook and handing it to the forger.

“Kurt, please.” Blaine said quietly and it made Kurt pause, it must have been the first time Blaine called him by his first name, except that one time in prison when Kurt showed up to offer him the deal. “He's been above board for a long time now, he turned his life around. He's a good guy and I give you my word that he had nothing to do with it. Please, don't look into him.”

“Okay.” Kurt eventually said after watching Blaine intently for a moment and noticing nothing but sincerity in his eyes. “The name of the guy you think made those then.”

“That one I'll give you with pleasure.” Blaine said, the grin making its way back on his face as he wrote down the name. “Just a warning, he won't talk to you unless he knows for sure you have something on him. And we have nothing except for my word.”

“Don't worry.” Kurt replied, taking the piece of paper and reading the name, Malcolm Creebs. “We'll send Santana undercover, she'll get him talking. And when she has some kind of proof, we'll get him.”

“Tread carefully, he's been doing it for a while, he's good.” Blaine warned, but Kurt only smirked in return.

“Ah, but so is she.”

A few days later, the undercover operation was in full progress and Santana was working on finalizing the transaction with Creebs, so they could catch him red-handed and use that fact as the bargaining chip to get some intel on Smythe. It wouldn't be long before that, but for now all they could do was wait, something Kurt hated, but there was nothing else he could do. He only hoped it would get them closer to finding Smythe because they could really use a solid lead right now.

Making himself some tea, Kurt watched Blaine who was lying on the couch, reading one of the books from Kurt's shelf, Satine curled up on his lap, purring in delight when Blaine scratched her behind her ear from time to time.

“What's on your mind, gorgeous?” Blaine suddenly asked, not looking up from the book, a smirk ghosting on his lips. “You've been staring for a while now.”

“What did you miss the most?” Kurt asked after a moment, figuring there was no way to stall since he had been caught. “When you were in prison.” Kurt clarified when Blaine looked at him with a quizzical expression on his face.

“Music.” Blaine replied quietly after a few seconds, setting the book aside as he sat up, gently pushing Satine away.

“Music?” Kurt repeated, grabbing his mug and hesitantly moving closer before sitting down on the other end of the couch. He didn't know how to explain it, but for some time, he had been thinking about how much of a mystery Blaine still was and all he wanted was to know more about him. He didn't understand it, but he felt something pushing him towards Blaine and he didn't know how to resist it. Or maybe he simply didn't want to.

“Yeah.” Blaine said, staring ahead of himself. “I had my sketchbook and my pencils, but I've always searched for inspiration in music. It used to be a big part of my life and it's been… hard, living without it.”

“That's what this song you sang was about, wasn't it?” Kurt asked, remembering how emotional Blaine sounded then, right after he moved in, when Kurt heard him sing for the first time. And the last, so far. “It was about music.”

Blaine turned to look at him, arching his eyebrow. “Is speaking Italian one of your secret talents?”

“No.” Kurt shook his head, biting his lip. “I… I vaguely recognized the song and looked up the lyrics.” Seeing Blaine look at him questioningly, he sighed. “I was curious. You sounded very… passionate about it and I wanted to know what made you feel that way.”

“There were moments when I thought I would go insane.” Blaine admitted quietly and Kurt felt a sudden stab of guilt in his chest. “No, stop it.” Blaine must have noticed something changing in his posture because he immediately shook his head. “You were doing your job. And it's not like I was an innocent angel.” Seeing Kurt staring at him with wide eyes, Blaine chuckled quietly. “Don't look at me like that. Believe me; I was just as surprised as you when I came to that realization.”

“But if it wasn't for me…”

“Kurt.” Blaine interrupted and Kurt was starting to realize that the sound of his name rolling out of Blaine's tongue was becoming one of his favorite things and he had no idea what to do with this information. “The only person to blame for me being in prison and for how dull my life has been is Sebastian. And me, for getting into the criminal world in the first place. None of this is on you.”

As they looked at each other, Kurt felt so many questions pop into his head, so many things he wanted to know. Why did Blaine start to commit art crimes, how did he meet Smythe, why did they start working together, if he ever wanted to stop… However, he knew now wasn't the time to ask. Before he had time to come up with something to say, his phone started ringing, so he put his mug aside, taking the phone out of his pocket. Seeing the caller ID, he quickly answered, feeling Blaine's gaze on him as he spoke to the person on the other end. After hanging up, he took a deep breath before turning to look back at Blaine.

“That was Santana.” He said. “They arrested Creebs, very discreetly so the word wouldn't spread on the streets. He'll wait in the holding cell until morning when I can interrogate him.”

“Excellent.” Blaine replied with grin, the serious mood fading away. “Well, gorgeous; feel free to thank me whenever you want.” He added, stretching lazily and leaning back against the couch, closing his eyes.

Smiling slightly, Kurt quickly made up his mind and moved on the couch, straddling Blaine and bending down to kiss him without any warning. Blaine's hands automatically rested on Kurt's hips as he gasped in surprise and Kurt didn't waste any time, slipping his tongue into his mouth, groaning when Blaine sat up straight, wrapping his arms around his waist. “How about now?” Kurt asked against his lips and Blaine smirked, moving one of his arms under Kurt's ass and suddenly standing up, bringing Kurt up with him, making him yelp in surprise.

“Now is perfect.” Blaine murmured, slowly starting walking towards Kurt's bedroom as the agent wrapped his legs around him, tugging on his curls to tip his head backwards so he could crash their lips in a hungry kiss. Stumbling a bit and somehow managing to turn the lights off on his way, Blaine finally reached his destination, kicking the door to Kurt's room closed, leaving Satine alone in the dark living room, curled up on the armchair, happily asleep.

That was, until she was abruptly awoken by the deep groans, gasps and screams of pleasure filling the apartment shortly after.

Later that evening, when they were lying naked in a mess of tangled covers, something caught Kurt's eye as Blaine stretched lazily, another thing that had been intriguing him for quite a while. Rolling on his side, he moved closer to take a better look at a simple silver ring Blaine wore everyday on his left hand, wondering if it had any special meaning to him.

“You were wearing this ring when I arrested you.” Kurt commented casually and Blaine opened his eyes to look at him with an arched eyebrow.

“I'm touched you remember such a minor detail about our first encounter, pretty boy.”

“Well, it was one of the best days of my life, of course I remember everything about it.” Kurt replied teasingly, making Blaine scoff. “And now, five years later, you're still wearing it. Must be really special.”

“You're being awfully curious today, gorgeous.” Blaine said with a smirk and Kurt only shrugged in response. “It was a gift, from someone I helped out when they had a rough time.” He explained. “So I kept it and I wear it as a reminder.”

“Reminder?” Kurt inquired when Blaine fell silent, not able to stop himself.

“To do the right thing.” Blaine eventually said, staring at the ceiling and avoiding Kurt's gaze.

Biting his lip, Kurt hesitated for a few seconds before speaking. “Like calling 911 when Smythe shot that man?”

“For instance.” Blaine nodded, absentmindedly playing with the ring. “And many other things.”

Silence fell between them and Kurt was sure they were done talking about it, so he was quite surprised when, after a moment, Blaine spoke again. “You know, I never wanted anyone to get hurt.” He said quietly and Kurt made himself comfortable on the bed, listening intently, sensing there was more to come. “That's why I got into art forgery; the only things that get hurt are people's wallets and their pride. Unfortunately, Sebastian and I weren't on the same page there.”

“When you asked me why I worked with him, I told you it's a long story, but that's not really true. I just wasn't in the mood to talk about it then.” Blaine said with a deep sigh. “The truth is, some of the jobs were easier to pull off by two people and having a partner was rather convenient. We met here, in New York, and he was good at heists and robberies. Having him taking care of some of the planning gave me more time to focus on the forgeries because that was solely my job; Sebastian could barely draw a stick figure.” Blaine chuckled but with no humor behind it. “But then it turned out that “not hurting anyone” wasn't exactly his style.”

“Why did you stay with him then?” Kurt asked quietly. “Why not leave and not worry about it?”

“It'll probably sound stupid, but…” Blaine cut off, then turned his head, looking at Kurt for the first time in a while. “I kind of hoped that if I was there to keep an eye on him, I'd be able to stop him from doing stupid things. But there was a moment, after our last job together, when I realized that it was too late for him, that no matter how hard I tried, he wouldn't change. But before I had time to do anything about it, he sold me out and you know the rest of that story.” Blaine finished bitterly with a grimace on his face.

“I'm sorry for bringing it up.” Kurt said after a minute of silence, feeling bad for making Blaine share the memories that were clearly not the most pleasant ones.

“Actually, I think you deserved to know.” Blaine replied with a smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes as it usually did, and Kurt definitely didn't like it. “So don't be.”

“I appreciate it.” Kurt said, realizing that no matter how hard he had tried to convince himself back then when he was investigating him, he had never truly known Blaine. Those little glimpses into his life that he had gotten to see lately, those bits of his past, made him see Blaine in a completely different light and long gone were the days when he thought he was just another criminal that deserved to pay for their crimes. It took him a while, but eventually he came to the realization that maybe being a criminal didn't always have to mean being a bad person, and the more he got to know Blaine, the more he believed it was true. The bad thing was, along with this realization came a wave of feelings, feelings that Kurt refused to even think about, too scared of what could happen if he focused on trying to figure them out.

Not wanting to dwell on it, he decided to occupy himself in another way, moving closer and rolling on top of Blaine, making him look up in surprise and smirk, this time genuinely. “Well, well, agent Hummel, looks like I've created a monster.”

“Are you complaining?” Kurt asked, looking down at him with an arched eyebrow.

“God, no.”

Bending down, Kurt paused when their faces were barely an inch apart and Blaine didn't hesitate even for a moment, lifting his head to close the gap between their lips. Humming into the kiss, Blaine slowly slid his hands down to cup Kurt's ass before wrapping one arm around him and swiftly turning them over, eliciting a small laugh from Kurt that quickly morphed into a groan when Blaine rolled his hips down, smiling teasingly into the kiss and moaning when Kurt tugged his curls in return. Pulling away, he was met with Kurt looking at him challengingly and he smirked before diving back to kiss him deeply.

It was going to be a very long night and he planned on savoring every single minute.

Later, in a completely dark room, after they collapsed on the mattress and Kurt mumbled something incoherently before immediately falling asleep, Blaine lied on his back, thinking about why exactly he felt comfortable with sharing some of the past with the agent. Coming up empty, he glanced at the man lying next to him, deeply asleep after having been thoroughly fucked, and couldn't help but think that he was one of the most beautiful men he had ever seen and suddenly, he found himself wanting to stay. Sitting up with a startle, he closed his eyes, trying to shake the feeling off, and before he could do something undoubtedly stupid, he got up from the bed, putting on his underwear and quickly leaving the room, stepping into his own bedroom, closing the door and leaning against it.

What was happening to him?

“Okay, Malcolm, let me make this clear.” Kurt said, tiredly rubbing his temples, as he sat in the interrogation room, facing Malcolm Creebs who still refused to cooperate. “We will let you go. We will forget we ever heard of you if you tell me what I want to know.” He knew it seemed crazy to catch a criminal and then let them go without any kind of punishment, but Smythe was their priority for the moment and Johnson gave them the green light, so there he was, offering freedom to a man who stubbornly refused to accept it.

“Mention me, tell him how Sebastian sold me out and that it can happen to him any time.” Blaine's voice suddenly sounded in the earpiece Kurt was wearing and he had to try very hard not to smile. Blaine was watching the interrogation from behind the glass and his job was to study Creebs closely and try to figure out what would make him finally start talking.

“Do you remember Blaine Anderson, Malcolm?” Kurt asked and noticing how the man tensed, he continued without waiting for him to reply. “You do realize that Smythe sold him out because he was becoming inconvenient for him, right? He could do the same thing to you anytime, Malcolm. You probably mean nothing to him, so why are you insisting on being so loyal?”

In the room behind the glass, Blaine watched with a smile on his face as Malcolm finally broke, admitting that he was the one making the cards for Sebastian and writing down two different addresses he sometimes delivered them to. After Kurt finished the interrogation, promising him once again that Sebastian would never know about his involvement, he left Malcolm alone in the room, and seconds later, he walked in to the room Blaine was in.

“Those addresses he gave you are consistent with two places Clarington mentioned.” Blaine said, looking up from the laptop where he was going through the list of spots where Hunter and Sebastian used to meet. “Those coffee shops are in the same neighborhood as those apartments Creebs told you about.”

Nodding, Kurt didn't say anything, biting his lip and fiddling with his fingers nervously, staring blankly at some point on the wall above Malcolm's head in the interrogation room. “Hey.” Blaine walked up to him slowly, Kurt's head snapped to his left and he looked at him with wide eyes. “This is solid. We'll find him.” Blaine said quietly and Kurt took a deep breath before nodding again.

“You're right. We will.”

They prepared for the raids very carefully, planning every detail and trying to predict every possible outcome. They decided to send two separate teams so they could go into both of the apartments at the same time, one led by Kurt and the other one by Mike. Blaine had to stay at the Bureau, no matter how much he wanted to be at the scene, he knew they couldn't risk Sebastian seeing him and discovering he was out of prison. So there he was, sitting in Kurt's office, impatiently waiting for the agents to come back, hoping they would find something, anything, if not for his, then for Kurt's sake. He didn't say anything, but lately Blaine could see in his eyes that he was slowly losing hope and he was afraid that another failure might completely break him down.

Before he could dwell on the fact that he was actually worried about Kurt, the door to the lower part of the office opened and Blaine saw the agent walk into the room. He wasn't wearing his suit jacket or his tie, his shirt's sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his hair was disheveled, he must have left his gear at the armory and then come up here straight away, without stopping to make himself look like he usually did in the office.

“And?” Blaine asked immediately as soon as Kurt stepped into his office, a little out of breath from running up the stairs.

“We didn't find Smythe.” Kurt said and raised his hand when Blaine opened his mouth, effectively stopping him. “But those were definitely his hide-outs. In both apartments we found some of the paintings and other stuff he had stolen in the past few months. We packed it all up and it's being transported to the evidence as we speak and the tech guys are tearing the apartments apart, if there's anything there that could point us to Smythe, they will find it.”

“You didn't want to stay there in case they did find something?” Blaine asked and Kurt shook his head.

“I left Santana in charge and Mike has it handled in the second apartment. I figured you were going crazy in here, so I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer.” He replied with a small smile before tiredly plopping down on the chair behind his desk.

“You okay?” Blaine asked, eyeing him carefully.

“Yeah. I actually am.” Kurt replied truthfully. “Sure, there's a small part of me that is disappointed we didn't find Smythe there, but it's not like I expected him to just sit there, waiting for us. What matters is, that for the first time we actually found something directly connected to him and we're getting closer, I can feel it in my bones.” He said with a determined look on his face. “And I probably wouldn't have gotten here without you, so… thank you.”

Sitting down on the other chair, Blaine grinned. “Wow, that must've been hard to say.” He said teasingly, chuckling at the amused glare Kurt sent his way. “Don't thank me yet, gorgeous. Wait until we find him, then you can thank me in any way you want.” He added, waggling his eyebrows and Kurt couldn't help but laugh, smiling back at Blaine.

“I guess I can arrange that.”

Later that day, in the evening, somewhere in New York, Sebastian Smythe was eyeing the man standing in front of him. “I have a job for you.”

“What do you need?”

Handing him a photograph, Sebastian sat down, pouring himself a glass of whiskey. “The twink in the photo is agent Kurt Hummel from the FBI. And he's been getting on my nerves recently.” He said, his gaze darkening dangerously. “I need you to follow him around. Find out where he lives, where he goes to, what routes he uses and when he's alone. Don't approach him and, for fuck's sake, don't let him see you.” Nodding, the man turned around and left the apartment, and when he heard the sound of a door being closed, Sebastian stood up, slowly walking up to the window and looking at the view of the city during the night.

He was done playing games.