Kurt spent the rest of the day floating around the apartment in his own little dreamworld. He and Rachel chatted for what felt like hours about their escapades with their respective men, although Rachel's tales were far more graphic and cringeworthy than those of her friend's. Much of the time Kurt tried desperately hard not to take in everything she was saying about poor Finn without him knowing, because although it was all highly flattering stuff, Kurt was pretty sure that Finn would be blushing from head to toe at every last comment - especially the way Rachel worded them! Still, Kurt couldn't help but relish the thought that whatever he learned about Finn meant that he felt that little bit closer to Blaine, and he liked that. A lot.

The evening was set aside for college work, and although his next assignment still wasn't due for a good couple of weeks, Kurt found that his creative juices for his romantic script were suddenly flowing like Niagara Falls, so he snuggled on the couch with his laptop, wrapped in the comforter that Blaine had bundled himself so tightly into the night before, and wrote until the early hours of the morning, not even realising how quickly the time was passing. When his eyelids became too heavy to hold open any longer, Kurt lay down and took in a few more deep breaths of the manly scent which was still lingering on the blanket. He thought back to those sweet, tender kisses he'd been blessed with earlier that day and drifted off to sleep within seconds, the smile never leaving his lips.

***

Monday just couldn't have dragged by any slower for Kurt. He felt like a kid again, staring at the clock every so often and praying that the hands would just speed up a little. They didn't.

Finally, 4pm rolled around and Kurt felt as ready as he would ever be to make his escape from campus and take the short walk to Roast. He knew that he'd arrive there long before Blaine if he didn't dawdle somewhat, so he walked as slowly as he could and stopped to do a little window-shopping, telling himself all the time that he just needed to relax and remember to breathe. He was incredibly nervous of meeting his gorgeous friend again, and had been glad of a pep-talk phonecall from Rachel earlier in the day.

'But Rach, what if he arrives at the coffee house, takes one look at me and realises what a complete idiot he's been for ever even remotely liking me at all? ...'

'Kurt, would you listen to yourself? OK, for starters, you're totally gorgeous and a complete catch.'

Kurt scoffed into the phone, but Rachel chose to ignore it.

'Secondly, when are you going to realise that the only way you're ever going to be happy is if you just lighten up, give yourself a darn good shake, and just let it happen?!'

'How does one go about shaking oneself?' Kurt mused sarcastically.

'Alright, fine - I'll do that part, if you insist!' Rachel growled.

Kurt knew when to ease up on the sarcasm. 'Noted. And was there a third point?'

'I believe there was. Thirdly - can I be your maid of honour?'

Kurt let out a noisy laugh and received several looks from fellow diners in the cafeteria. He clammed up and lowered his voice.

'You're gonna get me into trouble.'

'And you didn't answer my question.'

'OK, I'm gonna hang up now.'

'Hmmmm ... figures. I love you, sweetie.'

'Love you too - and thanks for keeping me sane. Or at the very least, saner than you.'

'You're very welcome. Bye.'

Kurt wasn't sure he felt any better prepared for his 'date' with Blaine as a result of their conversation, but Rachel's words had given him the boost he'd needed to at least get through the next few hours.

***

Kurt sat in that oh-so-familiar sofa near to the counter in Roast and tapped his fingernails against the side of his coffee mug. Even with all the dawdling, he'd still arrived at their meeting place long before five, and was already contemplating getting another shot of espresso to steady his nerves. His stomach gave a sharp rumble, and although Kurt couldn't decide if it was just from jitters, he chose to grab a brownie in the hopes of easing the embarrassing sound. He sat picking the chocolate chips idly from the top of the cake and stared out of the window. The sky was looking ominously black, and Kurt hoped that wherever Blaine was, he had an umbrella.

At that moment the heavens opened, and Kurt watched people begin to quicken their pace outside as hail began to fall, the lumps of ice getting bigger all the time and making heavy thumps against the windows as they did so. Kurt grimaced - he really hated this kind of weather. Several new customers filed into the shop, desperate for shelter more than anything, but relishing the warmth and comfort they found inside. Blaine wasn't one of them though, and Kurt couldn't help but glance again at the clock on the wall behind the counter as it ticked on to 5:25.

Oh, please come. Please don't stand me up. I need to see you again.

As if by magic, the door opened again and a rather bedraggled-looking man bungled his way in, holding the door open for a lady with a stroller before giving himself a little shake and obviously cursing the weather under his breath. He wore heavy boots, dark beige cords, a black leather jacket, a chunky brown knitted scarf and a headful of somewhat damp curls. Kurt smiled and heaved a sigh, raising slightly from his seat and shouting his friend's name to let him know where he was.

'Blaine!'

Blaine looked around and caught sight of Kurt, jogging over with a grateful smile. Kurt's heart beat a little faster with every step he took.

'Might've known you'd have chosen this seat.' Blaine laughed, arriving at the sofa and leaning down to touch Kurt's hand affectionately for a moment as it cradled his coffee mug. Kurt couldn't help but beam at having someone this beautiful make such a sweet gesture towards him, even if his hands were like ice.

'Oh my god - you're freezing, Blaine!' Kurt grabbed his coat and moved it from the seat beside him, patting the cushion urgently. 'Sit. I'll get you something to warm you up. What d'you fancy?'

'Now that would be telling.' Blaine smirked and gave Kurt a little wink, sending shockwaves up and down his body and causing his cheeks to flush. 'It's OK, I'll go. Be right back.'

Kurt tried not to stare too hard at Blaine as he ordered and collected his drink, occasionally looking over and flashing another one of those insanely cute grins in Kurt's direction. He noticed that two schoolgirls who had joined the queue behind Blaine were looking at him and whispering to one another shyly.

Sorry girls - swoon all you want, but this one's mine.

Blaine sidled back to the couch with a steaming mug of hot chocolate in his hand, topped off with a ludicrous amount of squirty cream. He grinned again as Kurt gawped at the drink as it was set on the table in front of them, and sank into the seat beside him.

'Hi.' He breathed.

'Hi.' Kurt lowered his lashes and smiled back, suddenly feeling very self-conscious and bashful.

'God, I'm sorry I'm late.' Blaine grumbled. 'My lesson ran over a little, and then ... well, that!' He gestured to the weather outside, which had thankfully now eased to rain rather than hail.

'Hmmm - don't you just love January?' Kurt mused, glancing upwards. 'You still have some hail-stones in your hair.'

'Oh, really?' Blaine shook his head a little, but the ice chips that Kurt had been referring to remained embedded in his curls. 'Figures.'

'Here. May I?' Kurt gestured towards Blaine's head, who gratefully bent his head towards him. Kurt picked what hail he could see from Blaine's curls and smoothed them down gently afterwards, sighing quietly to himself and hoping that Blaine didn't notice. God, he loved these curls. 'All done.'

Blaine raised his head and beamed a thank-you grin, maintaining eye-contact with Kurt for a few seconds and then coyly looking away. He took a sip of his hot chocolate and received a chuckle from Kurt at the inevitable whipped cream moustache he was soon wearing.

'Want some?' Blaine's eyebrows rose, a devilish look in his eyes. Kurt couldn't hide his shock, his eyes darting from side to side wondering if his friend was really about to lay a huge smacker of a kiss upon him in the middle of the coffee house. His own eyebrows knitted together. Blaine grinned some more and dipped his index finger into the top of his drink, taking up a big blob of cream and wiping it proudly onto the tip of Kurt's nose.

Kurt gasped and tried not to laugh. 'OH ... MY ...'

Blaine licked the cream from his top lip and held his hands up in protest. 'You mocked me. You should never mock me. This is where it gets you.' He held out a napkin for Kurt to wipe his nose, which Kurt snatched away, feigning disgust and running the napkin slowly across his face with a scowl. And then he snorted into the tissue.

Blaine had turned away and was physically shaking with laughter, but when he turned back he let out a whimper and choked back a pained giggle - Kurt was looking at him, deadly serious, with a huge smear of cream running from his nose all the way to his left ear.

'What?'

Blaine was doubled up. 'You ... know ... what ...'

'Well, help me then.' Kurt laughed, and handed Blaine another napkin. Blaine looked up at Kurt's face, his eyes streaming with tears and his cheeks crimson from way too much suppressed laughter. He took the napkin and gently brushed it against Kurt's cheek, tracing the line that he drew with his eyes and paying particular attention to his friend's tiny nose. Kurt couldn't help but smile as he watched him do so, all that time concentrating so hard on Kurt's features. He felt that he should be blushing again, but for some reason he suddlenly wasn't so embarrassed any more ... he just wanted much more of this closeness.

Blaine moved the napkin away from Kurt's face and stared at his lips for a moment. Kurt noticed this too and instinctively wet them a little before giving a wry smile.

'Tease.'

'Hussy.'

They both laughed again, slow and easy as they simply soaked up one another's company. Blaine grabbed his drink and sank back into the chair.

'So, how was your day?'

'Oh - long. Boring. Seemingly endless. You?'

'Same. I think I gave myself RSI, the amount of times I lifted my arm to check the time.'

Kurt chuckled again and nodded in agreement, receiving another sweet smile from Blaine.

'I'm guessing Rachel regaled you with all the gory details of her escapades with my brother after I left yesterday?'

'Oh god, don't tell me you got the same thing from Finn?!'

'God, no! My brother was the soul of discretion ... the guy's so laid back I have to check he's still breathing a lot of the time.' Blaine smirked. 'He did have a pretty big smile on his face for the rest of the day though.'

He wasn't the only one.

'Mind you - he wasn't the only one.'

Shit - he can read minds.

'... Kurt? You OK?'

Kurt jolted back to reality for a second and then shook his head dreamily.

'You're not OK? What's wrong?' Blaine looked terribly worried all of a sudden. 'Did I say too much again?'

'Huh? No ... sorry ... I was just kind-of reliving it, that's all.'

'What? The kiss...es?'

'No, no ... just the mooning around the apartment like a love-sick schoolgirl.'

'Who was? Rachel?'

'No ... me, silly!'

Blaine's eyes widened for a second and he put his hand to his mouth, fighting back another smirk.

'Oh god - you didn't mean me. You were referring to Finn, weren't you ...' Kurt's expression sank.

Blaine scooched a little closer to Kurt and smiled, resting his forehead on Kurt's shoulder and looking down into the couch. 'Kurt Hummel, you are completely adorable.' He whispered. He stayed there for a few seconds, turning his head backwards and forwards slightly as if relishing the feel of any part of Kurt's body against his. Kurt closed his eyes and felt a stray curl or two brush against his lips, which tickled almost painfully, but felt equally amazing. Blaine looked up and stared into Kurt's shining blue eyes once again.

'Can I get your phone number?'