The day of Kurt's wedding was a flurry of activity at the shop. �Blaine had picked up all the flowers at the wholesale market early that morning and started pairing the tasteful arrangements that were for either side of the arbor. They had decided to go with colorful Gerber daisies and chrysanthemums, cheerfulness and ‘I love’, a bold mix of reds and purples. �Then each of the groom's boutonniere was a bright red rose with a sprig of honeysuckle leaves, devotion. � Then Blaine had put together small arrangements for the center of the tables of white phlox heads and white candles floating on dyed teal water. �They would work perfectly as a touch of color with the white and teal linens Kurt picked, and the white twinkle lights strung around the room.

It was nearly noon before Blaine had everything in his van to take over to Kurt's 3pm wedding. He had just enough time to get to the site, set everything up and be gone before the ceremony started. �Blaine hadn't seen Kurt since he'd come into the shop in March, although they had talked on the phone a number of times. �Sometimes to discuss the wedding arrangements another time, Kurt had called to order a bouquet for Troy, but he had never once mentioned the lavender rose, Blaine wasn't sure if it was because he never deciphered the meaning, or what; but the distance had done nothing but make Blaine want Kurt more, even if they could only ever be friends.

Of course, he was happy for the wedding; he had to be, considering they made up 75% of his business. �But he couldn't help being a little jealous of the amazing man that Troy must be if he was marrying Kurt. �(Although he secretly hoped he was ugly, or fat, or had a weird laugh, or something that would make himself feel just a little superior.)

Blaine had no such luck. �The first time Blaine met Troy was as he was pinning the flower on his jacket, and of course he was perfect, or as far as Blaine could see. �He then went into Kurt's dressing room and was immediately wrapped up by strong arms in a very large hug from Kurt.

"Thank you so much, they are beautiful. �I just went out and saw all the arrangements, I absolutely love the centerpieces you made, they are enchanting. �Thank you, Blaine. You are a genius."

Blaine blushed slightly under all of Kurt's compliments. "It was my pleasure. �Now let's get this on your jacket, so you can go get married."

Blaine picked up the flower and stepped in to his personal space pin it to Kurt; he could smell his cologne, masculine with just a hint of flower, it suited him perfectly. �Blaine took a deep breath to steady himself so he didn't prick Kurt win the pin. �He heard Kurt sigh above him before whispering, "Thank you for the flower."

Blaine looked up in confusion and Kurt added, "Lavender roses have always been one of my favorite flowers."

Blaine stood there shocked, and Kurt adjusted his jacket in the mirror one last time before turning to leave the room, "I hope you were going to stay for the ceremony, I want you to hear the praise you are going to get about your flowers."

"Kurt, I..." Blaine started.

"You deserve all the praise, please stay."

Blaine was powerless to do anything but stay, so he did.

***
The ceremony was simple and Kurt was beaming, and looked handsome. Blaine was really and truly smitten.

One thing Blaine really loved about their wedding was that it was traditional, yet non-traditional at the same time. Kurt and Troy each had groomsmen-but they were not all male-they both had a mixture of men and women at their sides. Kurt’s ‘best women’ were his best friends from high school, Rachel and Mercedes, and then his stepbrother and college roommate. Troy had his brother and sister and two of his fraternity brothers. And rather than having one of the grooms waiting up at the front, they were both led up by their parents–first Kurt then Troy. Alphabetical, one of the best women, he thought her name was Rachel, informed him.

Blaine snuck out of his seat in the back row to get into the reception hall a few minutes before the guests to make sure that all the flowers were still floating and were slowly absorbing the coloring. The tips of the pedals were turning a pale teal but the inside remained a pure white. Kurt hadn’t seen the slow change yet, and Blaine had a feeling he was going to love it. Blaine mentally kicked himself for that thought and the fact that he thought he knew this man, who he had met exactly twice, one of which was just a few hours earlier.

Blaine tried to sneak out of the reception after checking that everything was set, but the guests were starting to filter in, and one of the groomsmen stopped him, saying that Kurt said he would kill him if Blaine left. Blaine sat quietly through the speeches, Troy’s brother and sister telling embarrassing stories of how the couple met and all of Kurt’s groom-persons singing a great a capella version of “Not the Boy Next Door”, which made Kurt blush all the way down to his collar. Blaine couldn’t help but smile, and wonder if Kurt would blush on his chest too. Then he found himself wondering if Kurt’s nipples were sensitive, and he had to stop himself otherwise that train of thought was going to get very inappropriate very quickly.

Blaine excused himself to the bathroom, and when he returned, Kurt and Troy were sharing their first dance. Blaine busied himself at the punch bowl, filling cups for all of the little kids. Suddenly there was a tap at his shoulder and he whipped around, nearly flinging the ladle and covering Kurt in bright red punch.

“Careful, this suit is one-of-a-kind.” Kurt said laughing. Blaine wasn’t sure he would be laughing if someone nearly stained his wedding suit, but Blaine also figured that Kurt had had a few glasses of champagne.

“I’m so sorry, Kurt. I didn’t hit you, did I?”

Kurt glanced down, “Nope, looks like you got lucky.”

“The ceremony was beautiful. Everyone loved it.”

“Thank you. It wouldn’t have been half as beautiful without your brilliant floral arranging skills. I have heard nothing but compliments about the flowers; everyone is saying how innovative your designs are. “

“They are your words. I just find the right flowers to express them,” Blaine said, blushing slightly.

Kurt touched Blaine’s arm, sending electric energy all through him, “No, Blaine, you truly have a gift. I have already recommended you to Mercedes, who is getting married next year, although she lives out west.”

“I’d be happy to meet with her and at least consult with her florist, it’s hard to do distance weddings.”

Kurt smiled again, and Blaine couldn’t help but smile back at him, the way his real smiles light up his face and eyes was infectious. Suddenly, there was a man standing behind Kurt, putting his hand on his shoulder; Blaine had to actively stop himself from brushing his hand off.

“There you are, honey.”

Kurt turned around, startled, then realizing it was his husband, kissed him. “Have you met Blaine, our florist?”

Troy turned his attention to Blaine, “I believe we briefly met earlier. The flowers look great, thank you.”

Blaine plastered on his best fake smile, “Of course, my pleasure. Congratulations.”

Troy squeezed Kurt’s shoulder, “I want to dance with my husband, come on.” He pulled Kurt back to the dance floor.

Blaine nodded and turned around to leave, he couldn’t watch any more. At least now he would have plenty of time to get over Kurt, or so he thought.

***
A few weeks later, on a slow Wednesday afternoon, Blaine was paging through his grandmother’s old book that served more or less as a dictionary of flower meanings. Blaine knew most of them now, but sometimes when a customer requested something a little more obscure than love, apology, or condolence, he looked up the meaning. Or on an afternoon like this one, when he was just bored and trying to get inspired to create something beautiful.

The chimes sounded as someone walked in. Marking his spot in the book, Blaine started, “Welcome to Flor… Kurt! Its great to see you! What can I get for you?”

“Hi, Blaine. I wanted to stop by and thank you again for the wonderful work you did for my wedding. Rachel and Mercedes can’t stop raving about the flowers!”

“You’re welcome. Just doing my job. Glad to know that you liked them.”

Kurt stepped up to the counter, leaning on it slightly, his fingers resting just centimeters from Blaine’s. Blaine swore he could feel heat radiating off, but that isn’t possible. Blaine wanted to move his hand and close the short distance and hold Kurt’s long elegant hand in his own, but each centimeter felt like miles.

Blaine cleared his throat before asking, “How was your honeymoon?”

Kurt blinked and slightly shook his head, looking like he is trying to clear his head of whatever thought was there, “It was great. Troy and I took two weeks off, the first time either of us have taken more than just a day or two in row in over a year. We went to Paris and then traveled around a bit in the south of France for the second week. It was great.”

“I’m so glad to hear it.” Blaine smiled, he truly felt happy for Kurt. “So, what brings you in on this lovely Wednesday afternoon?”

“I can’t just stop by to chat with my favorite florist?”

Blaine laughed, “Of course you can. What did you want to chat about?”

“Well, actually, I wanted to invite you to Troy and my annual Halloween party. It’s a bunch of our friends, all dressed up getting entirely too drunk and then usually making bad life decisions.”

Blaine smiled, “Sounds fun. When is it?”

“Saturday, the 27th. Party starts about 9 or so, but if you want to come by a few minutes early, I’d love it if you brought a centerpiece for the table. That’s actually the other thing I wanted to discuss.”

“Great! What were you thinking? Fall colors, reds, oranges, yellows?” Blaine started to work out which ones had meanings that would be appropriate.

“More reds and oranges than yellows, yellow always felt like a spring color to me.”

“I agree.” Blaine walked out from behind the counter, bringing his book with him to show Kurt what he was thinking. “Ranunculus mean ‘you are radiant with charms’, burgundy roses are ‘unconscious beauty’, quince meaning ‘temptation’, some thorn apple leaves meaning ‘disguise’ and protea are lovely reddish flowers meaning ‘courage’.”

“Wow. I never thought it would be possible to capture a drunken Halloween party in flowers, but you seem to have done it. I’m impressed. Next time I am going to have to try harder to stump you.”

Blaine grinned, “Do your worst, Kurt.”

Kurt smiled back, “Alright, how about something simple for tonight?”

“What do you have in mind?”

Kurt looked around the shop, gently touching some of the petals, Begonias, caution; Tulips, declaration of love; and Sunflowers, pure thoughts, Blaine nearly started laughing at the interesting, yet terrifyingly accurate meaning Kurt just pointed out. Blaine wondered briefly if there was some other power at work, but quickly let that idea drop when he saw what Kurt stopped in front of, daffodils.

“I know they are a spring flower, but they just look so happy. What do they mean?” Kurt lifted one of the flowers out of the water.

“New beginnings.” Blaine lied, well not exactly, he just omitted the other meaning. Unrequited love, it just seemed a little too accurate to share.

“I’ll take a bouquet of them, then.”

“Perfect.” Blaine pulled a large bunch of flowers out of the water, taking them over to his worktable, “Just let me get them wrapped up for you.”

Blaine wrapped the yellow and white flowers in orange tissue paper before handing the bouquet to Kurt, “That’ll be $15.”

Kurt pulled a twenty out of his wallet and handed it over saying, “The rest is for you, because you are so brilliant.”

“Thank you so much, Kurt. I’ll see you a little before nine on the 27th then?”

Kurt smiled, “See you then.”

Blaine watched him leave, admiring Kurt’s ass and kicking himself for accepting the invitation. How could he go to a party at Kurt and Troy’s place, where there was going to be drinking and debauchery, and not want to push him up against the wall and kiss him senseless? Blaine thought about waiting a week, then calling and canceling, but the truth was, Halloween was his favorite non-working holiday, and he really liked creating costumes.

Another customer coming in to the shop startled him. Blaine would just have to be careful not to get too drunk. What could possibly go wrong?

***
Blaine ended up calling Kurt the week of the party, asking for the address and if he could bring his friend, Wes along. Kurt was overly apologetic, saying he was sorry for forgetting to give him the address and assuming that Blaine didn’t have other plans and how foolish he was to assume that Blaine didn’t have a partner he wanted to bring. Blaine was stunned when Kurt babbled this out on the phone and neglected to correct him.

Blaine arrived at Kurt’s apartment about a half hour before the party started, wearing khaki pants, a white button down, suspenders, and a ridiculously large maroon and beige stripped tie. He was carrying the flowers, arranged in a low-standing vase was almost two feet long. Before he started the arrangement, Blaine wasn’t sure if the flowers were going to look good, but he somehow managed to pull off a non-ridiculous Halloween bouquet and even managed to make it look elegant and expensive. He had a feeling Kurt was going to love it, and if he happened to sneak in a coral rose, desire and passion, well sue him. Blaine knew that Kurt was off limits, totally and completely, but he wanted nothing more than to express how he felt towards him, with hopes that someday, maybe, they could be more. Of course every time he thought about it, he kicked himself, because Kurt was a happily married man, and he would be the last one to suggest cheating. Blaine was truly stuck.

When Troy opened the door to see Blaine and Wes standing there, he invited them in saying, “Blaine! It’s great to see you again. And this must be your boyfriend. I don’t believe we’ve met yet.”

Wes instantly turned red, and Blaine said, “Good to see you too, Troy, but Wes isn’t my boyfriend. Wes is married.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were married Blaine, that’s so great. We should go out on a double date sometime,” Troy said excitedly.

This time it was Wes that piped up, seeing how Blaine was redder than the large flower arrangement he was carrying. “No, I’m married to a woman, Sara, she is out of town on business; my oldest friend Blaine thought it was a travesty to be alone on Halloween.”

Just then Kurt walked in, wrapping an arm around Troy, in the middle of Wes’ sentence. Kurt was fully dressed in his costume, a bright red-stripped jacket, a red bowtie with white pants and matching shoes, and on his head was a straw boater hat with a red ribbon. He had a long staff in his hand.

Blaine nodded in Kurt’s direction, “Gene Kelly, An American in Paris?”

Kurt smiled and shook his head, “Robert Preston, The Music Man. Professor Harold Hill, at your service. Close though.” He bowed slightly to Blaine before turning to Troy and gently whacking him on the arm, “I told you we should have dressed up as Gene and Leslie.”

“And I told you, I refuse to wear a dress.”

Kurt smiled at him, “I know, I was mostly kidding.” He turned back to Blaine asking, “Are you a professor?”

“Nope, try again.”

“A nerd with 20/20 vision?”

Blaine laughed, “No.”

Troy leaned over and whispered in Kurt’s ear, then Kurt said, “My husband thinks you’re Indiana Jones.”

“Not exactly, close though. I’m just an every day archaeologist, not an adventure-seeking Nazi hunter. I am also not as good-looking as Harrison Ford! Look, I even brought props.” Blaine moved to set the flowers down on the table and pulled a green stuffed dinosaur out of the bag Wes was carrying. “See!”

Wes laughed, “You do realize its paleontologists that study dinosaurs not archaeologists, right?”

Blaine shrugged. “At least my costume is more creative than yours.”

“Excuse me, valedictorian is a great costume. Besides it is the only way I could justify the $75 that I had to pay for these robes.”

Everyone laughed. Soon, Troy excused himself to get dressed in his costume, Winthrop, the little boy with a lisp. Kurt took the flowers to the dining room and placed them at the center of the table, which was surrounded by plates of homemade snacks.

“Did you make all of these?” Blaine gestured towards the most delicious looking plate of bruschetta.

“No. Troy helped me with some of them, I made the sweet hors d’oeuvres and he made the savory ones. You should try one of his shrimp skewers; they are heavenly. It’s at least a third of the reason I married him.”

Wes laughed, “I know what you mean, Sara makes the best lasagna, it’s definitely half of the reason I married her. Right Blaine, you’ve had it?”

Blaine looked up to find both Kurt and Wes smiling at him, “Yeah, Sara is an excellent cook.”

Kurt, Blaine, and Wes chatted until the next set of guests arrived, then Kurt excused himself to go let them in, and of course, greet them with a chorus from the Music Man. As soon as he was out of earshot, Wes asked, “Kurt and Troy are pretty great, don’t you think?”

“Yeah they are, they are so cute together.” Blaine glanced to where Troy had joined Kurt at the door and they were singing Gary, Indiana together.

“How did you meet them again?”

“I did the flowers for their wedding, last month,” Blaine said, not looking away from the scene at the door, where some guests broke into song as well.

“And how long have you been in love with Kurt?” Wes asked quietly.

Blaine continued to watch the scene until Wes’ question fully sunk in; then he whipped his head around to look at him. “What?!”

“Answer the question.”

Blaine sighed heavily, “Since I first met him when he came in for a consultation in the spring.” Wes continued to look at him knowingly, which always made Blaine tell him the whole story, “I gave him a lavender rose, love at first sight. Am I really that obvious?”

Wes shook his head, “No you’re not. I don’t think either of them have any idea. But I’ve known you since Dalton, Blaine. I know what you look like when you are mooning over a boy, I’ve seen you do it enough. At least now, you aren’t trying to serenade them in their workplaces.”

“Hey. I thought you said you wouldn’t bring that up again.”

“Sorry,” Wes muttered. “Anyway, if he wasn’t married, I would say Kurt is perfect for you.”

“I know. Why are all the good ones married?”

“I suppose this is the actual pitfall of legalized gay marriage; now you have all the troubles us straight men have had for centuries.”

“Ha ha. Very funny,” Blaine said and walked away to go make some new friends, ones that wouldn’t make fun of him.

Blaine chatted with Kurt and Troy’s friends, discovering that quite a few of them went to high school with Kurt, and grew up not far from where Blaine lived as a child. They discovered that they had frequented some of the same places, The Lima Bean, it being the only decent non-chain coffee shop in town. They were all surprised that they had never met before. An hour later, Troy came over to Blaine, dragging Rachel by the arm.

“Blaine!” He said, excitedly. His excitement only served to make Blaine nervous.

“Hey, Troy. Great party. Everything is wonderful.”

“Good, glad you are enjoying yourself. There is someone here I want you to meet.” He pushed Rachel at him, nearly knocking her over. “This is Rachel, Kurt’s best friend. We think you two would get along great.” Tony winked at Blaine before turning around.

Blaine reached out his hand, “Rachel, its nice to meet you.”

Rachel took his hand and used it to pull him into an awkward hug, she was drunk enough to not be sure if they had met before or not. Blaine could smell the overly sweet alcohol she had been drinking all night mixing with her perfume. “So Blaine, what do you do?”

“I’m a florist. I own my own shop, Floriography. I specialize in making bouquets to express the giver’s meaning.” He gestured to the table, “I made the centerpiece for Kurt.”

Rachel looked from Blaine to the table before exclaiming, “That looks beautiful. What does it mean?”

Blaine detailed each of the flowers, pointing them out as he explained. Rachel kept her arm wrapped around Blaine’s, occasionally squeezing and keeping him close.

As soon as he was done talking, he tried to escape from Rachel’s grasp by using the bathroom, but as soon as he was out, she found him. She pulled him to her, spilling her bright red cocktail on his white shirt. Rachel starts to apologize profusely and began to dab at it with her napkin. Blaine took her hand, gently moving it away from him.

“Thank you for your help, Rachel. But I think I am going to go to the bathroom and try to wash it out.”

On his way to the bathroom, Blaine passed Kurt who started following him as soon as he saw the stain on Blaine’s shirt. When they reached the hallway bathroom, Kurt grabbed Blaine’s elbow to stop him, “Come on, I’ve got everything you need to get that out in my bathroom.”

Kurt led the way through his bedroom and into the bathroom. “Take off your shirt and sit down, this is going to take a few minutes.”

“But your guests…”

“You’re one of my guests. Besides I’ve hardly had a chance to talk to you tonight.” Kurt smiled at Blaine, “Now strip.”

Blaine laughed and unbuttoned his shirt and handed it to Kurt. He feels silly sitting on the toilet without a shirt on, holding his tie and his suspenders hanging around his hips, while Kurt was still fully dressed in his costume.

“Well, the good news is,” Kurt glanced over at Blaine from his shirt, “that this isn’t going to be a permanent stain. The bad news is that I’m going to need a few minutes to get this off with hot water and a Tide stick. If you want to go back out to the party, I’ll just take care of this in here.”

Blaine stared at Kurt for a long minute before saying, “I’m not going to leave you here to clean my shirt. Besides, it might look a little suspicious if I went back out there without a shirt on.”

Blaine was flirting, he knew he was, and he couldn’t stop himself. Kurt turns to face him, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Uh… Just that I might look really silly walking around with a tie and suspenders on without a shirt.” Blaine blushed, and Kurt smiled as he turned back to the sink where the water had started to steam, and ran Blaine’s shirt under the water.

“Are you having a good time tonight?”

“Yeah, I am. Thank you for inviting me,” Blaine responded.

“I hope Rachel isn’t giving you too much trouble. She can be a lot to handle the first time you meet her, but she means well. I promise.”

Blaine smiled, “Actually, I think your husband is the one out to get me. I think he was trying to set Rachel and me up.”

Kurt laughed, a full body shaking laugh. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

“Sorry, I’m not.”

“He does that. Ever since we got engaged, he has tried to set all of our friends up, so they could be as happy as we are. But he never manages to get it right. Although I think this is the first time his gaydar has been off.” Kurt smirked at Blaine.

“Well, Rachel would make an excellent beard.”

For the second time, Kurt laughed hard. “Remind me to tell you the time Rachel thought she was in love with Troy sometime.”

Blaine watched Kurt with confusion. The way Kurt said it sounded like he wanted to spend time with Blaine, just the two of them, again. He shook his head, and went back to watching Kurt work.

Before long Kurt had removed the stain and dried the wet spot with his hairdryer. Blaine put his shirt back on while Kurt tidied up the bathroom. He got his tie back on and turned to face Kurt, “How do I look?”

Kurt stepped into his personal space, reaching up to adjust his tie. “You look great,” Kurt breathed, the words tickling Blaine’s lips. Blaine met Kurt’s eyes and saw confusion there, raising an eyebrow in question. Kurt leaned in and pressed a gentle, barely there, kiss to the corner of Blaine’s mouth. As quick as he was there, Kurt turned around, quickly walking out of the bedroom, Blaine struggling to keep up.

As soon as they got back out to the party, Troy pulled Kurt into a deep kiss and Blaine searched for Wes, thankfully on the other side of the room. Wes tilted his head, questioning Blaine What on earth was that?. Blaine simply sighed and shook his head, Drop it.

***
Two weeks after the Halloween party, Blaine ran into Kurt and Troy at the coffee shop closest to his apartment. Blaine waved them over after they pick up their order. They sat down at Blaine’s table, holding hands.

After exchanging pleasantries, Troy said, “I need to apologize, for trying to set you and Rachel up at the party. I didn’t realize you were gay.”

“Don’t worry about it. No harm done. Kurt was able to get the drink she spilled on me out of my shirt.” Kurt blushed and tried to hide it by taking a sip of his coffee.

“Well that’s Kurt for you. He knows every trick there is to get a stain out.” Troy moved his hand to the side of his mouth and mock-whispered, “I think he might secretly be a grandma.”

Kurt wacked him on the arm with the back of his hand and shook his head. Blaine tried his best not to spit his coffee and test Kurt’s skills again.

“So, Blaine,” Troy started, “is Wes your partner, then?”

This time Blaine did spit out his coffee, spluttering a little bit. Kurt started to stand, but Blaine shook him off, coughing for a minute before saying, “No. We are just old friends, we’ve been friends since high school. Wes is married to a woman.”

Kurt piped up this time, “So are you seeing anyone then?”

“No. I ended things with my ex about a year ago, and I have been focusing on my shop.” He smiled. He really was happy being single, or at least he was until recently.

“Your shop?” Troy asked.

“My flower shop, about ten blocks from here, Floriography. The name means the study of the meanings of flowers, which dates back to the Victorian times. Its pretty cool.”

“It sounds that way.”

Kurt piped in, “Honey, didn’t I tell you that Blaine did the flowers for our wedding? He made sure that everything had the right meanings. We don’t need to start our relationship out with frigidness.”

Blaine could have sworn that Kurt winked at him, but he couldn’t be sure, he could have imagined it.

They continued to drink their coffee. A few of Troy’s friends stopped by the table and said ‘hi’, Blaine was introduced to each of them as a friend of Kurt’s and most of them were given one of Blaine’s business cards. He wasn’t quite sure how Troy did it, but he seemed to be a marketing genius.

As he was about to leave, Kurt mentioned that he would be stopping in this week to place an order for the holiday party at work. Before he left, Troy pulled him into a hug, giving him a friendly pat on the back, then Kurt followed but held him a little bit closer and tighter than a normal friend hug, and whispered in his ear, “This bowtie looks fabulous on you.”

Blaine left the coffee shop with a grin on his face, despite the fact that it was rain-sleet-snowing outside.

***
“I need a flower for my girlfriend.”

“Ok, what would you like it to say?”

“I was thinking something like ‘you are amazing and perfect, let’s have lots of sex.”

Blaine smiled, it was just an average Tuesday, getting strange requests. People seemed to think that he could change the world with his flowers, and maybe he could. But it wasn’t like he was Flowerman the superhero here to save your love life. He loved figuring out the most appropriate meanings, but something about this guy just rubbed him the wrong way.

“I’m sorry sir, there aren’t really any flowers that suggest sex; however there are a lot that express beauty and love. What about desire?” As soon as he finished his sentence, the door chimed and he said to the customer who had just walked in, “Just a minute”.

“No, I don’t have any desire to sleep with her. I want her to have the desire to sleep with me.”

Blaine looked around his shop, pulling a few flowers for the customer to look at, a red carnation ’my heart aches for you’, a red poppy pleasure, and an orchid refined beauty. The man of course rejected each of them as being not quite right. Blaine turned around to continue looking when he heard ‘Ah, ha. Found it’ from the other side of the shop. The man held up a pot with three cactuses in it, and when you looked at it from the right angle, it looked like an erect penis. Blaine wasn’t sure if the man saw it or not, but he did his best to stifle his laughter until the man had paid and walked out the door.

As soon as the door closed, Blaine let out a loud laugh before he heard the quiet giggles coming from the corner of the shop. His eyes shot up, and met Kurt’s piercing blue eyes. When he saw the near tears in Kurt’s eyes from laughing, Blaine couldn’t contain himself any longer and burst out laughing himself.

After a long minute, they finally regained composure, and Blaine asked, “Do you think he knew that he was giving his girlfriend a cactus-shaped phallus?”

“God, I hope so. But I kinda doubt it. What does cactus mean, anyway?”

“Endurance.” Blaine managed to hold his composure for exactly 15 seconds before breaking down into another fit of laughter. Kurt was laughing with him, and it took a long time for them to stop laughing.

“Huh, I guess that cactus was very appropriate.” Kurt said.

“Just call me ‘Flowerman’. Your friendly neighborhood flower super hero.” Blaine responded.

Kurt smiled, his eyes sparkling with mischief, “Alright then, Flowerman, I could use your superpowers to create some centerpieces for my office holiday party.”

“Of course. What were you thinking?”

“Can you do white flowers, with silver sprigs?”

“You do know that ‘silver sprigs’ are not a naturally occurring plant?”

Kurt glared at Blaine. “Yes, I am well aware. I was thinking of the wire things with baubles on them.”

“Sure. Any particular meaning?”

Kurt chewed his lips for a minute. Blaine had to resist the urge to stop him, or kiss him, or bite his lips himself. “Could you do something that is New Years themed? New beginnings, renewal, fresh start, that sort of thing?”

Blaine pulled out his book and pointed out the flowers, plumeria, hollyhock, white roses, and white irises. “How would you feel about having yellow accents?”

“I don’t know how that would look with the white and silver. Why, what were you thinking?”

“Well, gorse flowers mean love in all seasons which is a great message to send in December. But they are yellow, and a pretty bright yellow at that.” Blaine pointed them out in his book.

“That is a great message, but I just don’t think the color would work.”

“I agree, but it is just a happy thought.” Blaine smiled. “Do you have any strong feelings about glitter?”

“What?” Kurt looked confused.

“I can put glitter on the flowers, just on the tips of the pedals. It will add just a little extra sparkle. Or I can cover the entire flower in glitter. It is a little messy, but it can be a nice touch for the right event.”

“Isn’t that terrible for the flowers?”

“Yes. But so is cutting them off the plant. My job is essentially to preserve something that is on its way to death as long as possible. The glitter isn’t any worse for them than anything else I could do to them.”

Kurt cocked his head to the side, “I never thought of it that way, its rather morbid. But I do love glitter. Sure, let’s do it!”

“Brilliant. Glittery white flowers with slivery wires. I can do that. When do you need them?”

“The party is on the 21st.” Kurt blushed slightly, “Actually, can I ask you a favor? It is sorta unorthodox.” Blaine nodded encouragingly, waiting for Kurt to continue. “Could I, I mean, if it isn’t too much trouble, and I won’t be in the way, could I come watch you glitter the flowers?”

Blaine reached out and covered Kurt’s hand with his own, the electric thrill flowing from his hand up into his chest, warming him. “Kurt, you can even help me if you’d like. I trust that this isn’t so you can steal all my secrets and open your own glittered flower shop.”

Kurt chuckled, “No, I’ll stick with fashion design, thanks.”

Blaine smiled at him, “Cool, then come by about noon on the 21st. I’ll close the front of the shop and you can come help me.”

***
“…That’s ridiculous, right Blaine? Its just not possible!” Jeff asked Blaine, who had been busy folding bits of paper into cranes and roses. It was Friday night, which meant Blaine was out with ‘the guys’ having a beer, trying to clear his head. Ever since Kurt stopped in the shop earlier in the week, Blaine had a difficult time focusing on anything else. Every time the door chimes sounded, he looked up hoping to see Kurt’s smiling face, which was ridiculous; he was just in the shop and was coming back in two weeks for the flowers.

Lauren snapped her fingers in front of Blaine’s face, “Yoo hoo. Earth to Blaine. Come back from the stratosphere.” Lauren was the only other gay person in their little group, she was one of the suppliers Blaine works with regularly, and eventually she just became part of their little group of guys.

Blaine shook his head, “Huh, what? Sorry. I was lost in my head.”

“Yeah, we noticed.” Wes snarked back at him. “Jeff wants to know what your take on love at first sight is. Nick says its possible and he’s experienced it, I like the idea of it, but find it impractical, Jeff think it’s impossible. What do you think?”

Blaine looked down at his collection of folded papers; of course one of them was a purple rose. Blaine picked up the folded flower, examining it, before looking back at his friends. They were all staring at him like he was crazy; he put the flower down. “Did you know that lavender roses mean ‘love at first sight’?

All of his friends just stared at him, except Lauren who shook her head; she’d seen this before, and it wasn’t going to end well for Blaine. Nick piped up, “No, we didn’t. We also don’t care. So which is it? Do you believe in love at first sight or is it bullshit?”

“I… yeah, I think I do. I believe that there can be a connection between two people instantly, just with a glance, eyes meeting and boom, you’re smitten.”

“But that’s not love. That’s arousal.” Wes said, “I’ve been aroused at first sight plenty of times. There have been plenty of women that I want to take home after just a glance in my direction.” Lauren nodded.

Blaine shook his head, “That’s not what I mean. I don’t mean wanting to have sex with them after just a glance. I mean, you feel like you know everything about them and understand their different facial expressions, before you even know their name. Its like, maybe in a former life, or whatever, you were best friends or lovers, and you found each other again. And everything else is unimportant, you just want to spend the rest of your life learning everything about them.”

Nick nodded and Jeff just looked at Blaine in awe. “I, I have never thought something that romantic in my life. Can I use that one on the next girl I’m trying to pick up?”

Wes smacked Jeff’s arm and Nick, Lauren, and Blaine just laughed.

“That might be why you’re single, Blainers.” Lauren said

Blaine glared, “Don’t call me Blainers.”

When they finally left the bar a few hours later, Lauren said that she would usher the very drunk Blaine home, seeing how she lived just a few blocks from him. Once she got him outside, the cool air pulling him in the direction of his apartment, she asked the question that has been burning all night, “So who is he?”

“Huh?” Blaine tried to look at her, but ended up just stumbling slightly on his own feet and leaning heavily on her.

“Just walk in a straight line, Jesus Blaine.”

“I can’t walk straight, I’m gay.”

Lauren sighed. “Just tell me who the guy is.”

“Which guy? There are lots of guys. Wes is a guy, but he has a wife. And Jeff’s a guy and Nick’s a guy. And you’re a guy but not a guy. You’re special.”

Lauren laughed, "You’re special too, hon. But tell me about the guy you are in love with.”

“Oh! Kurt! He’s so pretty. He’s like a bouquet of dahlias, elegant and dignified and so, so pretty and perfect.”

“Where did you meet him?”

“In the shop. I did his flowers.”

“For what?”

“For his wedding. I was there.”

“Wait, let me get this straight, you are in love with a guy who you met while designing the flowers for his wedding.” She sighed she couldn’t believe it. Lauren asked him, “What am I going to do with you, Blaine? At least tell me he’s actually gay.”

“He’s gay. He’s so pretty. You don’t understand.”

They had reached Blaine’s apartment, “Just promise me one thing, you aren’t going to break them up.”

“No.” Blaine looked like he sobered up instantly, but the waver in his step and hiccups gave him away, “I would never do that.”

“Ok, good! Now let’s get you upstairs to bed.”

“You should come cuddle with me. I like it when you stay and cuddle.”

She smiled and led Blaine into his building, after digging his keys out of his pocket. “Ok.”

***
Kurt was out to brunch with his girls, Rachel, Quinn, and Molly, his friend from college. �They had started the monthly brunch outing as a book club, but really it was just an excuse for some Saturday morning bonding time. �They had a standing reservation at Greenwich Kitchen, a small but popular local joint. �It was the perfect blend of sophisticated and quirky, and Rachel loved it because all the meals could be made vegan and were named after musicals. �

After they ordered, Rachel was telling everyone the latest in her crushes gone wrong: She had fallen for another cute dancer, and shockingly, he turned out to be gay. �Kurt had heard it all before, and the decorations on the table were seriously distracting him.

On each table there were rose heads in short vases, coral, red, white, yellow, and of course the one on their table was lavender, a deep vibrant lavender. �Kurt had been trying desperately not to think about Blaine too often, but every time he saw flowers he would pause and wonder what the meaning was, and if it would make Blaine laugh with its conflicting messages. �He found himself spending entirely too much time thinking about his friend, especially for a newly married man.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" Kurt interrupted Rachel; she gaped at him while Molly looked at him gratefully.

She was the first to respond, "Yeah, I think I do."

"What do you mean? The whole idea is ridiculous, knowing you are in love with someone the first time you see them. �I can honestly say I have never felt that way." Rachel countered.

"That's because you keep finding gay men. �Maybe if you found one that was interested in you not just for your stardom, you might," Quinn said, taking a sip of her mimosa.

"Ouch. �That was low, I don't always find gay men..."

"Steve, John, Noah, Javier, and then there was the time you though Troy was just pretending to be interested in Kurt to get with you."

"I was drunk!" Rachel attempted to defend herself.

"And there was also that time in high school that you thought you were in love with Kurt." Quinn said.

Kurt nodded, "Those were dark and confusing times."

"Why do you ask Kurt?" Molly asked.

"Did you know that each and every flower has a meaning?" He turned the vase around, "Lavender roses mean 'love at first sight'."

"Do you believe in it?" Quinn asked.

"Yeah, I think I do. �Or maybe not love, at least the feeling, a pull, towards a person, like you have to know more about them. Like you want to know what they like and don't like, and how they like their coffee, and what kind of eggs they like for breakfast, and how they look while sleeping, like you want to know everything about them. �So maybe it isn't love at first sight, but maybe it's attraction or desire or a pull. �But you can't just stop thinking about them."

The girls all stared at him for a long minute before Molly asked, "Is that how it is for you and Troy?"

"Hmmm...?" Kurt said wistfully, "Oh, yeah, it is." He lied. �He never felt this way towards Troy, but couldn't stop thinking and feeling it for Blaine. �He pushed that thought out of his head as quickly as it was there; Blaine was off limits, he was married.

***
A little after noon on the 21st, Kurt walked in the door of Floriography. Blaine called from the back room, “I’m sorry, we’re closed for a private party. I’ll be open tomorrow morning at 8.”

“Its me, Kurt.”

Blaine popped his head out, “Oh, hi Kurt. Come on back. Can you lock the door first so no one tries to come in?”

Kurt locked the door, taking a minute to admire the shop. Everything was organized neatly by color. The flowers flowed steadily from purple to red and orange, all the way through the rainbow, ending with white flowers, which were sparsely filled, Kurt assumed because Blaine had many of the buckets in the back room. Its an interesting way of arranging flowers, usually they are by type of flower, and bouquets are just haphazardly thrown into water, but there is such care in the way Blaine has his arranged. Kurt thought, the flowers really are his babies.

When he entered the backroom, Blaine had paper, resembling waxed paper, covering the large worktable, and he is carefully spraying glue on some of the white roses.

“How can I help?”

Blaine smiled at him, “Do you want to do some of the gluing on the tips of the pedals? It is a lot less messy than the spraying and pouring.”

“Sure, how do I…” Kurt trailed off.

“Just pipe a little bit of glue” Blaine gestured to the thin tube of glue, “around the tip of the pedals and then shake glitter on them. Don’t use too much glue, otherwise it will drip down towards the filaments.”

“Got it.”

They worked quietly for a while, Blaine coming over eventually to look at Kurt’s flowers. Blaine sighed lightly as he watched over Kurt’s shoulder. “What?”

“Nothing. But I think you might be better at this than I am. Your lines are perfectly straight, and you can barely see the glue under the glitter.”

Kurt laughed, “I have had a bit of practice with glitter. I had a bit of an obsession in high school.”

Blaine laughed as well. Walking back over to the arrangements, to check on how many more flowers he needed to glitter. “So, Kurt. What do you do exactly?”

“Oh, I’m a designer for a mostly-unknown fashion house.”

“Wow. So have I seen any of your work?”

“Yeah, actually, I was wearing it the last time I came in.” Blaine looks confused, so Kurt clarifies, “The vest I was wearing is one of my own designs.”

“I wish I could say that I noticed how fantastic it was, but I’m afraid I don’t remember it, sorry.”

“Its ok.”

“I would really like to see your work, next time point it out to me?”

“Sure, or maybe sometime you can come by the studio and I can show you the collection I’m working on.” Kurt wasn’t sure why he said it; Troy hasn’t been by the studio in years. That was not true. Kurt knew exactly why he said it-he was falling for Blaine. Fuck.

They worked for most of the afternoon, talking about music, movies, and glee club in high school, amazed that somehow they lived only an hour and a half apart from each other, but never met, or competed against each other.

When all of the centerpieces were together, Kurt helped Blaine load his van and deliver them to his office. Once they get everything unloaded, Kurt pulled Blaine into a hug and said, “Thank you so much. Everything is beautiful, Flowerman.”

“You’re welcome.” Blaine found himself grinning stupidly and looking into Kurt’s eyes. Kurt was inching forward, or so Blaine thought. No Kurt was definitely getting closer; they were breathing the same air.

Blaine opened his mouth to speak, but the word got caught in his throat. Kurt took a shaky breath, brushing a curl off of Blaine’s forehead.

“You are covered in glitter.” He said smiling wistfully.

Blaine sighed and took a step back; he couldn’t do this. “Have a good night Kurt. Thanks for your help this afternoon. You really have a natural talent for glittering flowers.”

“Blaine, wait…” Kurt started, but Blaine had already turned around and was walking back towards his van.