New York, January 10th 2020
 
Past 4 A.M.
 
                Rachel and Quinn were still in the bathroom. Both were feeling too numb to get up just yet. They had been in the same position for hours.

‘We should probably go to bed baby.’ Quinn said trying to convince herself to move.
‘We should go see Blaine now.’ Rachel replied, although she did not sound very motivated.
‘We can’t, even if he’s awake, he still has an early class and it’s an important one. Do you think he would even go if we told him about Kurt now?’
‘I feel bad keeping him waiting though.’
‘I know, me too.’ Quinn sighed in Rachel’s hair.

The brunette made a move to get up but fell right back in her fiancée’s arms.

‘We really need to go to bed though.’ She said, laughing softly.
Quinn nodded. It took them a few minutes to finally manage to get up from the cold bathroom floor. Both women could barely feel their legs. When Rachel tried to take a step, she stumbled and fell against the wall.

‘Ouch.’ She hissed in pain.

Quinn, who was feeling a bit steadier, walked to her and helped her move back to their room.
They fell together on the bed, laughing quietly.

‘Remind me to never do that again.’ Rachel said trying to catch her breath.
‘Yeah, same for me.’ Quinn replied as she was trying to get them both under the covers. It took her a few attempts but she finally managed.
Rachel scooted closer and they lay in a close embrace as they both fell asleep.
 

***

 
                Blaine woke up after what felt like only a few minutes sleeping. His head was killing him and he felt dizzy. He tried to take a few deep breaths before finally shucking the covers and sitting down. He turned to his bedside table and saw that it was only 5 AM. He groaned, he could easily get back to sleep for another hour before getting ready for his class. But he knew it was useless. Even if he lay back down, he wouldn’t be able to close his eyes without thinking of Kurt. The other man had haunted his dreams.
Blaine was mad at himself for not moving on, for having fallen for Kurt so quickly. He was mad at Kurt for making him feel this way, for not being there. He needed him there. Why couldn’t he be there?

He slowly got up and shuffled to his wardrobe to get something to wear. He found some old sweatshirt and a pair of skinny jeans at the top of his messy pile of clothes in the closet. He then walked to his bathroom and started the water of the shower. He knew better than getting in immediately, he was feeling cold and he was not risking cold water. As he passed by the sink, he took a second to look at his reflection in the mirror. He looked awful.
He turned back to the shower and took off his t-shirt and sweat pants and then, climbed in.
 

                In the other room of the flat, the noise of water running woke one of the two women fast asleep. Quinn looked around in the darkness to see where it was coming from. She leaned over Rachel to reach for the lamp. Rachel groaned in her sleep and hid her face in her fiancée’s breast.
After a few seconds, Quinn understood that what she was hearing was Blaine taking a shower. She yawned and lay back after putting the light out. As she was trying to find her position again she felt Rachel moving away from her.

‘Why did you put the light on?’ she asked her in a sleepy voice.
‘Go back to sleep baby, it’s nothing, just Blaine in the shower.’ Quinn reassured her softly.
‘Why is he taking a shower at…,’ she turned to look at their alarm clock. It read 5:17 AM.
‘I don’t know. Let’s go back to sleep.’
‘But if he’s awake then we can go see him.’ Rachel sounded more awake by the second.

As much as Quinn loved her, she was tempted to just knock her out so that she could go back to sleep.

‘I’m going to see how he’s feeling.’ Rachel chucked the covers not caring about her fiancée’s protests of leaving her alone, it being so cold and to put the covers back up this instant!

Rachel stood up and looked for a robe to put on. It really was cold at this hour. Quinn turned her back to her and mumbled in the covers about not getting any for at least a week. Rachel doubted her threats were very serious though, there was no way, Quinn could make it longer than two days. Yes, she was that good she thought with a tiny smirk.

A bang came from the other side of the flat and Rachel was brought back to the present. She walked silently around the bed and got out of the room. She tried to be quiet as she closed the door. The she decided to prepare something to eat. She was starving. And it was common knowledge that she was grumpy before breakfast.
As she started looking for something in the fridge, she heard Blaine enter the kitchen.

‘Rach?’, he was surprised to see her up this early. He tried to think if she had an early call back for her auditions planned today but then he remembered that it was on Wednesday.

She turned to look at him. She had to hide a gasp when she saw how terrible he looked. His eyes were still a bit red rimmed and puffy. He was paler than usual. But that was not the worst. It was how his gaze was downcast. Usually, his eyes were always shining with joy or mischief, the latter being when he hung out with Jeff and Nick. But right now, they looked like there was no light in them anymore.
She did not say a word and walked to him. When she was close enough she just couldn’t help herself. She brought him closer and held him in a tight hug. She felt him resist a bit at first. But then he melted in the embrace and held on even tighter.

Blaine buried his face in his friend’s neck. She felt warm and, right now, it’s what he needed. Someone to hold him and remind him that he was not alone. He could not stop the tears. He had amazing friends and he knew they loved him more than anything but he had felt so alone.

Rachel’s heart broke when she felt something damp running down her neck. Blaine was crying. She could not stop the feeling of guilt taking over her.
She slowly broke the embrace and put both her hands on Blaine’s cheeks. She used her thumps to wipe his tears.

‘Oh Blaine…’ she tried but she did not know how to continue this sentence.
‘I’m a mess.’ He said trying to laugh but it did not reach his eyes. ‘I’m sorry for breaking down like this in your arm Rach, I just…’
‘Shh, you don’t need to apologize for anything.’ She soothed him. ‘Actually…’ she started but got interrupted by Blaine’s phone ringing on the table.

Blaine walked to get the call wondering who could be calling him this early in the morning.

‘Blaine! You need to come meet us outside right now.’ Nick said in a pressing tone.
‘What?’ Blaine was confused. What did his crazy friends want? He was also shocked that they were actually already awake.
‘No questions hobbit, just come outside the building, we’re waiting for you in the cab near the entrance.’ Jeff instructed him.
‘Guys, I have a class in a bit more than an hour. What the hell are you up to?’ he demanded to know.
‘We’ve found a great way to find Kurt, now stop wasting our time and get your ass here!’ Nick ordered him.

His friends hung up leaving Blaine in a state of shock. What was their crazy plan again?  

‘Who was it?’ Rachel asked him.
‘Jeff and Nick, they want me outside for some reason.’ He replied still feeling confused.
‘What are they up to so early?’
‘They said they found a way to find Kurt.’ He answered feeling a bit in a daze.

Rachel did not know what to say. Her brain was screaming to tell Blaine that she knew who Kurt was but another part of her did not feel ready yet. She had hoped that Quinn would be by her side as she told their friend everything.

‘But, what about your class? You know you can’t afford to miss it Blaine.’ She said instead hating herself a bit for not being brave enough.
‘I know, but…’ he sounded conflicted. Rachel was right though. If he missed this class, he’d risk being banned to sit for the exam and he really needed to pass. ‘You’re right, I’ll call them and tell them to come up here later.

Rachel wanted to kick herself. Blaine was so defeated again. The little light of hope that was there seconds ago in his eyes was gone.

‘Look Blaine,’ she started before he dialed his friend’s number. ‘Maybe you can go see what they’re up to, then you tell them to drive you to the school and you can continue whatever it is you were doing afterwards.’

Blaine smiled at her.
‘Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Better go now though or I’m sure they’re going to kill me for keeping them waiting for so long.’ He walked to her and gave her a quick hug before taking his phone, keys and strap bag and walking out.

Rachel leaned back on the counter and sighed. She’s better call Nick and Jeff to give them a good reason to let Blaine go to his class.
She went to her phone and dialed quickly.

‘Blaine, move your ass!’ she was greeted by Nick sounding bossy.
‘It’s not Blaine, seriously don’t you check the ID caller before picking up?’ she said a bit exasperate. It was still early and she was not keen on dealing with the mad duo, but she had to do this, for Blaine.
‘Rach? Why are you calling us?’ Jeff asked surprised.
‘I have a secret to tell you both but you need to promise me you won’t speak a word of this to Blaine.’ She continued in a rushed voice.

She had a few minutes left tops until Blaine had joined them in the cab.

‘Oh, this sounds interesting’ Nick said with glee. ‘Tell us more, Berry’ he demanded.
‘Promise me first.’ She urged them.
‘We promise not to tell Blaine about the dirty secret you’re about to tell us’ they said in unison.

She rolled her eyes at them automatically thinking this was about sex.

‘It’s about Kurt.’
Silence.

‘What about Blaine’s man?’ Nick asked suspicious.
‘Me and Quinn were both in high school with him. He was in the same Glee club. After graduation, we went together to the same college, NYADA in New York.’
‘Why didn’t you tell this to Blaine?’ they demanded to know sounding scandalized. ‘You’ve seen how down this whole research mission made him.’
‘I know. It’s complicated and I promise that I will tell him when he’s back at the flat.’
‘Why wait…’
‘Blaine has an important class he needs to attend to and he can’t be distracted,’ she insisted hoping they would understand, ‘If I had told him this morning, he would have ditched the class and be banned from sitting at the exam at the end of the month.’
‘So why telling us?’ Nick asked.
‘Because, I need you guys to give up on the plan you had, create an excuse, I don’t care, but Blaine can’t miss this class.’ She was now begging them almost because she knew how little they cared for education.
‘Ok, Berry, we got it. We’ll tell him something convincing enough and then we’ll pick him up right after his class and go back to the flat. That way we make sure you’re going to tell him.’ Jeff said ‘Of course he loves you Becka, don’t worry.’ He added as Blaine entered the car.
‘What?’ Rachel was confused at the sudden change then she heard Blaine’s voice in the background and understood that Jeff was covering for the call. ‘Thanks Jeff, I promise you, we’ll help Blaine find Kurt together.’ She ended the call smiling.
 
Jeff hung up with a satisfied expression and turned back to his boys.

‘Blaine, it’s so great to see you!’ he greeted his friend a bit too enthusiastically.

Nick shot him a questioning glance and he just tried to make him understand that things were good.

‘So, what’s your big plan?’ Blaine asked curious.
‘Well, we had an appointment with a professional to make a photofit of Kurt but he just told us that the cops need him on a serious case.’ Jeff explained feeling quite proud of his excuse. They did have an appointment though and it hurt him a bit to think of the $300 that he would lose.
‘A photofit? Really?’ You can’t be serious!’ Blaine said trying his best not to judge his friends. He knew that whatever plan they had had it would turn out to be crazy and unrealistic but this one was even worse than what he had imagined.
‘Well, it would have worked.’ Nick defended their genius idea, ‘you’d have described what you remember of Kurt’s face and then we’d have put hem all over the city!’
It took a great effort not to face palm at this.
‘You two are crazy’ he finally said laughing a little.

They both grinned because they knew that they were geniuses and Blaine was just too blind to see how great their plan was.

‘Well, if the appointment’s cancelled, then we’d better get you to your class.’ Jeff changed subject.
‘You are getting me to my class?’ things kept becoming weirder by the second. Since when, did his friends actually care about him getting to class?
‘Yes Dude, we know you have an important exam coming soon and you need to be at this class.’ Nick continued.
Blaine looked at them both. He felt like he was being scolded by his parents. This was so unlike them. Usually Rachel and Quinn were there to keep him in line.
‘Rachel just called you before I got in the cab, didn’t she?’ he said as the two tried to keep looking innocent.
‘No she didn’t. We’re not just about fun and games’ Jeff replied trying to sound offended.
‘And sex’ Nick completed with a smirk and a high five to his partner in crime. ‘We care about school too, studying is important!’ he nodded frantically looking serious.

Blaine burst out laughing as his two friends glared at him.

‘Right.’ He said deciding to drop it for now.

The cab stopped and Blaine realized they had arrived at the school. Jeff and Nick ushered him out telling him they’d pick him up after his class. He wanted to ask them why but then they had closed the door and the cab was already leaving him behind. He sighed and turned to climb up the steps and get to his class a bit earlier.
He entered the empty room and sat down at one of the desk in front. He took his books and notebook out of his bag and started re-reading his notes.

After three attempts at reading the last lesson, his thoughts wandered to what had happened that morning. Was it only him or were all his friends acting stranger than usual around him. He couldn’t help feeling like they were all hiding something. He shook his head at the thought. It was ridiculous, he was starting to feel paranoid too now. He’d better get back to reading.

The class started a few minutes later. Blaine did his best to stay focused all along but when he left, his brain felt all mushy and he did not remember what had been the main subject of their debate. He’d have to ask Clara if she could lend him her notes if he caught her in the library during the week. And hopefully, his notes were clear enough for him to be ready for the next class.

As he walked along the corridors he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He took it and read the text:

‘Meet us outside in the cab, we’re going to yours.’

Blaine wondered what Jeff and Nick wanted to do back at the flat. He shrugged and continued to walk until he spotted the cab outside. As soon as they saw him, they opened the door and gestured him inside.

‘So how was your class?’ Jeff asked him as he settled in the car.
‘As if you’re interested.’ He teased.
‘No, we’re really not.’ Nick added. ‘Back to business now!’
‘What?’
‘We’re going back to yours, we managed to get the guy for the photofit in the end.’
‘Guys…’ Blaine started
‘No, we’re doing this Blaine. I had to bribe him with $100 in addition to the $300 that I had already paid him to convince him to come after his appointment with the police.’
‘You really shouldn’t have wasted money Jeff.’ Blaine said tiredly.

He loved his friends, he truly did but this was just crazy. What were they even hoping for? That Kurt would walk the streets and see his face plastered everywhere, as if that wouldn’t freak any sane person. He would probably believe that the police was after him or something.
Still, looking at his friends and how hopeful they were for this to work, he let it go and allowed them to have their fun. He could always make sure that they don’t put the portraits everywhere. After all, he knew how to bribe his friend into doing what he wanted too. So he just lay back in the seat and waited for the cab to drive them home.
 

***

                Rachel and Quinn were preparing lunch for them and the boys. The brunette had told her fiancée that Jeff and Nick would come over with Blaine. She also admitted having let the duo know about the fact that they knew who Kurt was. Quinn had been a bit mad at first. It was never a good idea confiding in the boys, they could barely keep a secret for an hour. But Rachel had reassured her as she told her that she had made them promise to remain quiet. In return, she had had to swear that she’d let them come over while she and Quinn would tell everything to Blaine.

Rachel was feeling more nervous by the second. She was scared that Blaine would be mad at them both for keeping him in the dark. She really hoped that he’d understood that this was hard on her too.

The door to the flat opened and three men entered. Quinn came to greet their friends.

‘Hey boys!’ She came closer to Blaine and engulfed him in a tight hug. ‘How you’re feeling, baby?’ she whispered in his ear. He held on
tighter as a response.

She sighed in his curly hair. She really hoped that they’d get their cheery and happy friend back soon.

‘Hey, what about us?’ Jeff said indignantly.
‘Don’t you love us too Quinny?’ Nick added sounding offended.

Quinn broke her embrace with Blaine and glared at him.

‘Don’t you ever call me that again.’ She said in a low voice looking serious. Then, she broke into a smile and hugged them briefly.
‘Blaine’s always been your favorite anyway.’ Jeff grumbled as she walked back to the kitchen.

Blaine laughed as he saw the fake hurt looks on both their faces.
‘Sorry guys, but yeah, it’s true.’ And he followed Quinn leaving the two sulking.
 

Rachel raised her head from what she was doing as she heard footstep coming closer. She took a deep breath and tried to relax.
A few seconds later, Quinn came back with all three men walking behind her. The brunette looked at Jeff and Nick and they both nodded confirming that they had kept their promise.

‘It’s your turn now’ they both mouthed in silence.

She turned to Blaine and sat him down.

‘I don’t want to…’
‘Sush Blaine.’ Rachel interrupted him as she sat opposite him. Quinn took the chair beside her and Jeff and Nick sat on each of Blaine’s sides.

Blaine looked at all his friends confused.
‘What’s going on?’ he turned to Jeff ‘Where’s the guy for the potofit?’ he asked him.
‘He’s not coming Blaine’ his friend replied.
‘You should listen to what Rachel has to say.’ Nick added looking pointedly at the brunette across the table.
‘Right.’ She cleared her throat. She felt more nervous than when she had to pass an audition. ‘Blaine, I’ve not been completely honest with you.’

Blaine listened to everything both his friends had to say. The more he heard and the more hurt he felt that they had not told him sooner. When they arrived at the part when Kurt left after being beaten up by his boyfriend, he felt tears coming to his eyes. Rachel continued to explain what happened next, how she had stopped hearing from Kurt and how guilty she still felt about what had happened so many years ago. When she was finally finished with the story, she was crying and begging him to understand how hard this was for her and that she really felt horrible for not having told him everything earlier.

Blaine sat there not moving. He felt numb. One part of him wanted to yell at Rachel, be angry and lash out, while another part was willing to try to understand her. She reached for his hand on the table and he let her take it.

‘I think that we can help you find him again.’ She said in a small voice.

He looked up and met her eyes. They were read and puffy from crying. The part of him that wanted to hate her disappeared. This must have been hard for her and it clearly was still hurting her to think back at that time. He nodded, not trusting his voice right now.

‘Let’s find him!’ Jeff and Nick shouted in unison, making him and Rachel jump.
Quinn smiled, still with tears in her eyes, and looked at the two persons she loved the most. She was so proud of Rachel and happy to see the first genuine smile on Blaine’s face since the wedding.
‘Yeah, let’s do this.’ She said with determination.

They all sat for a few minutes at the table not really sure what to do next. Where should they start?
Suddenly, Quinn got up and walked to hers and Rachel’s room. She was gone for a few minutes and when she returned she was holding what looked like an old notebook. There were drawings and doodles all over it.

‘You kept this?’ Rachel asked sounding a bit hurt.

This was Quinn’s notebook from high school, as she laid it on the table, Blaine could see why Rachel was not fond of it. The doodles were all about her but they were not friendly at all. There were insults written all around. They threw a questioning looks at the two women.

‘Back in highs cool, I used to hate Rachel.’ Quinn explained quickly as she opened the notebook and started looking for something.
‘Really?’ Blaine was shocked. He had always believed that his two friends had been in love since forever. It was hard to imagine a time in which it was not the case.
‘Well, I did not really hate her, I was mainly jealous and she irritated me constantly’ she kept flicking the pages, ‘but that’s in the past’ she added taking her fiancée’s hand and placing a kiss on her fingers.
Rachel smiled at her, her eyes filled with love.
‘There!’ Quinn shouted making them all jump again.
‘What?’ Jeff asked excitedly.
‘The phone number of Mercedes’s parent’s.’ She said triumphantly as she walked to get her phone.
‘I don’t get it.’ Nick was confused, ‘aren’t we looking for Kurt’s number?’
‘You really think he kept the same number since high school?’ Blaine replied to him. ‘But seriously, though, why is it good that you found their number?’ he asked Quinn.
‘Because, Kurt is Mercedes’s best friend. Or he used to be, ‘she explained as she was dialing the number. ‘And Mercedes told us that Kurt designed her dress. So even if they’re not that close anymore, she must have his number so she could contact him easily for all the times she had to try on the dress before the ceremony.’
Blaine smiled feeling hope coming back to him.
‘That still doesn’t explain why you want to call her parents.’ Jeff said still confused.

Quinn shut him up with a galre as the call connected.

‘It’s because her mum will have information about everyone who helped organize her daughter’s wedding. She’ll have Kurt’s number too.’ Rachel told them while Quinn was busy on the phone.

‘Hi, Mrs Jones, it’s Quinn Fabray.’ She greeted the other woman. ‘I’m not sure if you remember me, I’m a friend of Mercedes’.’ She let the woman talk on the other end.

Blaine was looking at the phone hoping he could hear what the woman was saying. He wanted to ask Quinn to put her on loud speaker but Rachel stopped him with a look.

‘I wanted to ask, this is going to sound a bit strange maybe, but I really loved her dress and would love to know who designed it.’ A short silence followed and then Quinn laughed. ‘Right, yeah you got me, I could never hide anything from you, I remember’ she said with a smile. ‘ok, the truth is that my best friend Blaine met him and he’s desperate to see him again.’ She explained and waited. ‘Yeah, he’s a good man, trust me, I’ve known him for years and from what he told me things went quite well between he and Kurt that evening.’ She waited a bit longer. ‘I promise you Betty, he’s a nice guy and wouldn’t hurt Kurt.’ She paused looking serious for a moment.

Blaine was hanging on her every word. He was praying every god that he did not believe in for this to work. Rachel was holding his hand and squeezed to reassure him while Nick and Jeff were both holding him and letting him know that they were here and praying for just the same thing as he was.

‘I know, I promise you Betty, Blaine is a really good man.’ Quinn said gently as she met his gaze and smiled at him. ‘Ok, thank you so much’ she reached for the notebook and a pen and started to write something down. ‘Yeah, I will. I’ll call them in a few days, I don’t want to burst their bubble so soon.’ She laughed softly. She then thanked Mrs Jones for everything and promised that the next time they’re in Ohio, Rachel and she would stop by for a visit. ‘Yeah I will bring them too’ she ended the call telling Betty to say hi to the rest of the family.

Blaine waited staring at Quinn, or more precisely at the piece of paper she was holding in her hand. His friend put the phone in her pocket and turned to the rest of them with a big smile.

‘There you go Blaine.’ She said as she handed him the address of Kurt’s workplace. ‘Go find him.’

Blaine reached for the piece of paper with trembling fingers. This was it. His chance to see Kurt again. He looked down at the address. It was in New York. Kurt was in the same city. He felt like crying and laughing at the same time.

‘Well man, what are you waiting for?’ Jeff asked bringing him back from his daze.
‘Yeah, let’s go!’ Nick added and they both pushed him out the chair and led him to the door.

Blaine stopped.

‘What the hell man?’ they said in unison.

Blaine felt a gentle push from behind and turned to his two girls. They were smiling at him encouragingly.
This was his chance. He couldn’t let it go.

He shook himself and tried to breathe deep. He was suddenly feeling so nervous and unsure. What if Kurt did not want to see him again? What if he did not even like Blaine once he saw him not all dressed up and wearing a tux? Worse, what if Kurt was not single?
All these thoughts were juggling in his head and he just let his friends lead him outside. He felt like he was working on autopilot, letting Jeff and Nick control his every move.

The ride in the cab only took ten minutes and once they stopped at the foot of a huge building, Blaine was wondering if it wouldn’t be better to just drive back home. Fortunately, his two crazy friends were there and they made him go out of the car.
He almost fell on the sidewalk and both had to hold him straight so that he wouldn’t hurt himself.

‘Hey man, don’t be so nervous, this is meant to be.’ Jeff told him trying to reassure his friend.
‘Yeah, it’s destiny!’ Nick assured him with a huge smile. ‘You’re the Merlin to his Arthur’ **

Blaine would have laughed to the reference but he was feeling far too nervous.
Jeff went for a high five that Nick returned.

‘Ok lover boy, got get your man now.’ They said in unison as they entered the building.

Blaine had not even noticed that they were already inside. He was shaking with nerves. As he took a few steps ahead he stopped. He had no idea in what department Kurt was working. Apparently from what he had understood, he was a designer but he was probably a bit young so Blaine doubted that the whole building belonged to him.

He started looking around frantically in search of a clue. Then he saw someone familiar.
He walked to her as fast as he could.

‘Please, look at where you’re… Blaine?’ Tina was surprised to see her fiancée’s ex.
‘Tina?’ Blaine was just as shocked. Then he started to talk very fast hoping that she could help him.
‘Wow, slow down please’ she laughed a little. ‘Star from the beginning.’ She smiled at him encouragingly.
‘I’m here to see Kurt but I don’t know where exactly he works in this building and I really need to see him’ he looked at her pleadingly ‘please if you can help me…’
‘I know Kurt very well.’ She told him smiling widely, ‘he’s still an intern in the design department, he needs to finish his year and then he’ll be hired as a full time designer.’
‘That’s awesome.’ Blaine said feeling a bit impatient. ‘What floor is he on?’ he asked her.
‘He’s on the third one.’ Blaine started running towards the elevator when he heard her calling him back.

She ran to him and stopped him from pressing the buttons.

‘He’s not here’ she said and suddenly he felt like crying again. ‘He’s on his lunch break. Let me call him, I’ll tell you where he is.’

Blaine could have kissed her right now instead he went for the biggest smile he could muster as he waited for her to call Kurt.

It took a few seconds for him to pick up.
‘Hey Kurt, look would you mind if I joined you in a few minutes?’ she lied still smiling at Blaine.
They both waited for his answer.
‘Yeah, sure baby. Where are you right now?’ she went silent as Kurt told her the name of the restaurants he was at. ‘Thanks, see you.’ And she ended the call.

Blaine couldn’t wait anymore, he took her by both her shoulder and asked where Kurt was.

‘It’s the Italian restaurant down the road, it’s called Ai Fiori.’

Blaine hugged her and kept saying ‘thank you, thank you, thank you!’ then he ran again.
‘Blaine!’ she called him back.

He stopped and turned to her.
‘It was great seeing you again, we should catch up some time with Mike.’ He smiled and nodded, ‘oh and’ she added as he was starting to run again ‘Good luck!’
He smiled widely at her and then ran outside the building where his two friends were waiting. They looked outraged when he just passed by them saying something about not having time.

He kept running until he arrived at the restaurant. He stopped to catch his breath.
Nick and Jeff both arrived behind him and were demanding to know what was going on.
He did not explain and just went inside.

As he entered, a waitress asked him if he had booked a table. He explained her that he was here to meet somebody and she smiled and led him to the main room where all the customers were eating.

The place was crowded.

Blaine started to walk among the tables looking for the man he so desperately needed to see. It took him a few minutes and he was starting to feel desperate when he finally spotted him.

He felt his heart racing as he recognized the back of Kurt’s head. He was sitting alone in the far left corner of the room.
Blaine took a few steps closer trying to ignore how nervous he felt. As he finally arrived at Kurt’s table he cleared his throat.

‘Hi.’ He said, not trusting himself for something longer.

Kurt raised his head as he heard someone talk to him. He was about to complain about how long the service took in this restaurant when his eyes landed on Blaine.

His breath caught in his throat.

Blaine waited for Kurt to say something, anything, reassure him that this was not a mistake. But Kurt looked shocked to see him standing there.

Kurt felt his mouth go dry and he blinked several times to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

Blaine was starting to feel like an idiot. It had already been a few minutes and Kurt still had not said nor done anything. Maybe this had been a mistake. He opened his mouth to start apologizing when suddenly Kurt stood up.
Blaine was locked on the spot as the other man came closer. He was sure that anyone in the room could hear his heart race in his chest.

‘You found me.’ Kurt said softly.

Then he launched himself at Blaine and kissed him.
Blaine was shocked at first. He could not believe that Kurt was actually kissing him. As he felt him move away a little, he finally responded trying to show in this one kiss how much he was happy to see him, how much he needed him and how much he wanted to stay and kiss him as long as Kurt wanted him.

Unfortunately they were both human beings and as everyone else they needed to breathe.
They slowly parted but remained close, their foreheads leaning against each other. It felt like how it had been after their duet but better because now, Blaine was allowed to kiss him.
Kurt tried to catch his breath as he stayed close to Blaine. For the moment, he just needed to feel him near, to know that this was not a dream.

‘This was the stupidest plan ever’ he whispered softly.

Blaine leaned back and frowned at him. He could not have imagined what just happened, could he?

‘I should never have left you.’ Kurt said as he met his eyes.

Kurt smiled at him and Blaine could not remember a moment he had felt happier in his life.

‘Thank you.’ Kurt said as he leaned for a soft peck on Blaine’s lips.

‘For what?’ Blaine asked as he chased after Kurt’s lips again.

They both melted in the kiss. Kurt hands reached around Blaine’s neck where they held him closer to him. Blaine griped him gently by the waist. Kurt deepened the kiss. He felt the other man’s tongue on his lower lip asking for entrance. Kurt willingly opened him mouth allowing him to entangle their tongues together.

They kissed like that for a few minutes until they got interrupted by a blushing waitress who was finally here to bring Kurt’s pizza.
Both men laughed softly and apologized to her.

‘Don’t worry. It’s good to see people in love.’ She said and then walked away smiling.

The two were still in each other’s space when Kurt took Blaine’s hand and made him sit opposite him.
Blaine complied happily not letting go.

‘Thank you.’ Kurt repeated ‘for breaking your promise.’ He smiled at him looking happy.
‘I couldn’t stay away.’ Blaine simply answered.
‘I’m glad.’

Blaine smiled as Kurt entangled their fingers together.
For the first time since they parted, both men felt complete again.