"Swanky," Blaine said, looking around the large, open living area of Kurt's apartment. He hesitated by the horseshoe of couches around the coffee table, clutching the small bag of his belongings he'd packed at the hotel.

Biting back a laugh at Blaine's choice of words, Kurt shut the front door and followed him inside. "It's nothing special," he countered, looking around, "but it's alright for two young graduates in New York." He watched as Blaine examined Rachel's stacks of sheet music with curiosity. "Did you want the grand tour now or do you just want to go to your room?"

Blaine looked up, meeting Kurt's eyes briefly before his gaze skittered away like a nervous animal's. "I'll have the tour now, please."

Smiling reassuringly, Kurt nodded. Although he now understood Blaine's use of formal language he wondered if he'd ever get used to it or if he'd always find it slightly jarring. With a lot of people these days using slang or communicating through text-speak, especially in bustling cities like New York, it was odd to hear the style of language Blaine used. These days Kurt only heard similar language spoken somewhat stiffly at parties or events he went to with his work, but it was refreshing hearing it whenever he was with Blaine.

"Leave your stuff here for now," he said, indicating the bag Blaine was still clutching. "And I'll show you around."

When Blaine had sat his bag down, Kurt led the way through the apartment, showing Blaine the spotless kitchen where he took in all the appliances with wide eyes; the main and guest bathrooms; the tiny box room Kurt liked to call his work room where he'd crammed his desk, sewing machine, and fabric; his own bedroom, where they both became abruptly awkward and bashful, as though one of them had stripped themselves of their clothes; they skipped over Rachel's room which Kurt knew she would not appreciate being shown off while she wasn't there; and finally reached the room that was now Blaine's.

Kurt clicked on the light, illuminating the modestly-sized room with its large double bed, dresser stuffed with some old clothes of his that he'd been meaning to sort through for months, and window overlooking the neighbouring building. There was a moment of silence as Blaine took in his new room and Kurt held his breath, hoping he actually liked it and wasn't about to be politely disappointed.

"Sorry you haven't got the best view," Kurt said apologetically when he couldn't stand the silence any longer. "It's the reason we use this as a guest room; neither of us really wanted anyone staring straight into our rooms, though as long as you close the curtains at night it isn't a problem."

Blaine took a step further into the room and shook his head. "It's perfect, Kurt, thank you." He stopped surveying the room to look at Kurt. "You didn't have to do this; I really appreciate it."

A gentle heat burned under the skin of Kurt's cheeks. "You're welcome."

Swallowing, he looked away from Blaine. "I'll change the sheets on the bed for you and move my stuff out of the dresser." He walked around Blaine to reach the wooden dresser, tugging open the top drawer and pulling out the clothes he had piled in there. He heard Blaine shuffle his feet behind him.

"I'll go get my bag," he announced.

"Ok." Kurt placed the final sweater on top of the pile beside him and scooped it up, turning to see Blaine heading down the corridor towards the living room. He followed him along the hall, dumping his old clothes in his room and grabbing some fresh sheets from the airing cupboard. As he changed the sheets he thought back to the sudden change in mood when he'd shown Blaine his room, how vulnerable and shy he'd felt. He supposed it was due to Blaine seeing somewhere that showed so much of his personality and what kind of person he was. Though he'd told Blaine a lot of his passions and likes it was different seeing someone's bedroom, the place where all their personal affairs and guilty pleasures were laid bare. And there was something exposing about showing something that was so personal to you and was the place where you were at your most vulnerable - the place where you slept.

The soft padding of feet on wooden floors announced Blaine's return and Kurt pushed his thoughts and feelings firmly aside, straightening the bed covers as Blaine entered the room. Kurt brushed off the words of gratitude that immediately spilled from Blaine's mouth upon seeing the freshly made bed.

"It's ok, Blaine, really," he insisted. "It's not like this room was being used."

Lips pressed together in a thin line, Blaine nodded, flags of rosy pink appearing on his cheeks as he set his bag down gently on the floor. He was so endearingly shy; Kurt had to fight back a smile.

"I'm guessing you probably want to take a shower," Kurt said, taking a step towards the door. "So, I'll leave you to it. I'll be through in the living room if you need anything."

He shot Blaine a quick smile before leaving the room, striding briskly down the hall in the vain hope that walking quickly would stop his brain from attempting to conjure up an image of Blaine in his shower.

It didn't work.

Groaning, he pushed aside Rachel's neat stacks of sheet music on the coffee table and tugged his sketchbook out from underneath. Pencil in hand, he flopped down on the couch and frowned down at the detailing he had sketched the other night. He often did some of his best work late at night when his brain was too tired to overthink things and creativity and ideas simply flowed from his head on to the paper, but everyone had their limits and looking at these sketches he could see when he had begun to get too tired. Shakily drawn lines outlined smudged patterns and the lace trimming he'd drawn for one dress was something that would never work.

He bent to tidy up one of his designs, contently losing himself in the smooth strokes and whispering sounds of pencil on paper.

If he strained his ears a little he could hear the water running in the guest bathroom...

Cursing his sudden incapability to focus, he leant closer to the paper and forced himself to work on the tiny details on a shirt.

A soft squeaking sound of what he recognised as bare feet sliding on the wooden floor pulled Kurt out of the bubble of concentration he'd finally managed to get himself in. He looked up from his sketches to smile at a showered Blaine, and blinked in surprise.

Blaine was standing uncertainly near the hallway leading through to the bedrooms, his hair damp and curly and his skin flushed from the shower, dressed in his outfit from earlier, suit jacket and all. As it was so late Kurt had expected Blaine to be dressed for bed. Surely Blaine wasn't embarrassed about Kurt seeing him in his sleep clothes?

"Aren't you getting ready for bed?" Kurt asked.

For some reason, the question made Blaine blush and duck his head. "I um- I didn't know what time you went to bed, and didn't want to seem rude and go before you."

Kurt frowned in confusion. "You don't have to stay up just because I'm still awake," he said. "And even if you're not going to bed now you can still get changed; it would be more comfortable than wearing that."

Blaine continued to stare at the floor, his cheeks a dark red, his teeth peeking out to nibble at his bottom lip. "I can't exactly get changed unless I'm going straight to bed," he told the floor in a voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Why not?" Kurt asked, baffled by Blaine's behaviour.

"I-" Blaine's blush deepened and he squirmed his right foot against the floor, his shoulders hunched over slightly and his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his pants. "Because I, um-" He withdrew one of his hands and rubbed at the back of his neck. Kurt waited patiently for him to answer, puzzling over what had gotten Blaine so embarrassed.

"I sleep in my underwear," Blaine confessed. He determinedly avoided looking at Kurt.

Momentarily thrown by the confession, which hadn't been what he was expecting at all, Kurt could only stare, and Blaine, jittery and bashful, took the silence as being judgemental.

"I don't usually sleep in my underwear," he explained quickly. "I just have a severe lack of clothes at the moment. Because I don't know when I could end up back in my own time I only bought that which was essential, like some shirts and underwear." He snuck a peak at Kurt from under his lashes; darted his gaze away again. "Plus the stores here are rather overwhelming."

Surprise fading, Kurt sat forward and placed his sketchbook and pencil down on the coffee table. "That's nothing to be embarrassed about, plenty of people sleep in their underwear, and less," he soothed. Getting to his feet, he smiled as Blaine glanced at him again, the blush beginning to fade from his cheeks. "You should have told me you were short of clothes, I can lend you some."

Blaine's head snapped up. "No, you don't have to-"

"But I want to," Kurt cut him off smoothly. "Besides, I have a pile of old clothes I was going to donate to charity - you can borrow some of them until you buy your own."

He strode past Blaine and headed for his bedroom to look through the clothes he'd moved out of the dresser earlier. He searched through the pile he'd dumped on the floor of his closet, grabbed an old pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt with a small hole in the sleeve, carrying them through to Blaine.

"Here," he said, pressing the articles into Blaine's hands. "They'll be a little big on you, but..." He shrugged. "Go put them on."

Blaine's eyes were huge and earnest when they met Kurt's. "Thank you. I'm going to find a way to repay you for all your generosity."

He shuffled off to change and Kurt shook his head fondly at his retreating back. He'd never met someone so sincerely grateful. He knew part of it was Blaine's situation, but the guy had the sort of manners and politeness Kurt had never seen before.

He leant against the back of the couch, waiting for Blaine's return. The thought of seeing Blaine in his clothes making his heart do strange things inside his chest. He heard the tell-tale pad of approaching feet and then Blaine came into view and the air left Kurt's lungs in a soft gasp.

Like he knew they would be, the clothes didn't fit Blaine at all: the pants were too big, the fabric pooling at his feet, and the shirt fit him all wrong, stretched slightly across the chest, but too long in the body. It made Blaine look younger, adorably so, especially with his rumpled, damp curls. But Blaine somehow managed to also look, well...hot. Until now, Kurt had never seen him in anything other than a suit jacket and dress pants and now he was wearing a lot less clothes, showing features which were indiscernible beneath button-down shirts and tailored jackets. Kurt let his gaze wander over Blaine's toned arms, the stretch of the t-shirt across his chest, and the way the thin cotton hugged Blaine's small waist.

It was only when Blaine shifted uncomfortably that Kurt stopped staring. He blushed, realising he hadn't exactly been discrete and had been openly gaping at Blaine.

He cleared his throat. "The clothes fit then?" he said lamely, desperately looking anywhere but Blaine's body.

Blaine glanced down at himself, plucking the hem of his t-shirt with his fingers. "Uh, yeah, thank you."

"Do you want something to drink before going to bed or...?" Kurt took half a step towards the kitchen. "I make pretty good hot chocolate."

"I'd like that," Blaine replied quietly with one of his small, shy smiles. He scratched at his wrist, drawing Kurt's gaze irrepressibly downwards. The sight of the soft curve of Blaine's belly made his pulse jump. He turned his back on Blaine and strode into the kitchen.

He could feel Blaine's eyes on him as he made their drinks and it was a struggle for him not to look round when he heard Blaine take a seat at the table. He became hyperaware of every movement he made and the way he was standing as he waited for the milk to heat. It was so typical of him to be attracted to someone he could never have. First there was Finn - even if that crush was fleeting and misguided - then the older guy at college he had pined after until his first boyfriend came along, and now it was Blaine. Blaine who was in a far too delicate situation to be in a relationship. Blaine who didn't even belong in this time and could disappear back into the past at any moment.

Kurt poured the hot chocolate into the mugs and carried them to the table, setting one down in front of Blaine, who flashed him an appreciative smile in response.

There was no way Kurt would be able to stamp down his attraction to Blaine any time soon, not when Blaine had a smile like that.

"This is delicious, Kurt," Blaine complemented, sipping at his drink.

Swallowing a mouthful of the warm, sweet liquid, Kurt smiled absently, his mind now back on the conversation he and Blaine had had at the park earlier. He set his mug down on the table.

"I want to help you find a way to return home," he announced abruptly, startling Blaine from taking another sip from his mug. "You said you wanted to go back if you could and I hate the thought of you losing your family and friends - basically your whole life. I want to help you go back." He ignored the twinge of pain he felt, speaking sincerely and holding Blaine's gaze as Blaine stared at him with wide eyes and parted lips. As much as he wanted to have Blaine in his life, if not romantically then at least as a friend, he didn't want him to remain trapped here away from his loved ones. Blaine had lost dreams and plans and hopes when he'd been catapulted ninety-one years into the future and Kurt would do everything he could to help Blaine get those back.

Blaine's mouth shaped soundless words for a moment until he finally found his voice. "Y- You want to help me find a way back?"

Kurt nodded. "If you want me to."

Blaine lowered his gaze to his mug and slowly set it down on the table. With his eyes hidden and his face smooth, Kurt couldn't tell what he was thinking as he stared down into the depths of his hot chocolate.

"I want to go home, if I can," Blaine said quietly. "If you can help me do that I would be forever grateful." He raised his eyes to meet Kurt's, his appreciation evident in his expression along with something else that disappeared from his eyes too quickly for Kurt to identify. "Besides," Blaine added, sounding more upbeat, "I know nothing about the way the world is now and I'll need to learn about modern ways if I'm going to live here until I can go back."

Nodding again, Kurt smiled, his mood lifting at the reminder he would at least get to spend some time with Blaine. And maybe getting to know Blaine more and forming a close relationship with him would make it hurt more when he left, but he knew the short time he would have Blaine in his life would be worth it.

"Of course I'll help you, in any way I can," Kurt said. He tapped a finger against the side of his mug. "So do you have any leads? Have you been trying to find out how to get home?"

Blaine shook his head, a rather sheepish expression appearing on his face. "Um, no. I was under the impression I'd been summoned to this time for a reason."

"Oh." Kurt remembered how Blaine had thought time travel was possible and realised this made sense. When the idea of time travel was so outlandish and implausible, trying to make sense of it and discover how to reverse it wasn't something one would do when they believed someone had caused it for a reason that would eventually become apparent. If Kurt was in Blaine's shoes he would have done the same.

"Ok, so we don't have anything yet," Kurt continued. He looked thoughtfully across the table at Blaine. "I think the best place to start would be to learn how you got here - how can you go back if you don't know how you arrived?"

Blaine nodded, looking a little daunted by the task ahead of them. Kurt, however, was feeling more optimistic. With a fresh plan mapped out in his head and a list of ideas of how to achieve their goal, he had no reason to believe this was impossible.

"Great!" he beamed, feeling eager to get started with this despite the intended outcome being so bittersweet. "I have tomorrow off work, so we can start then."

Blaine smiled and stifled a yawn, hiding his mouth behind his hand. Catching Kurt's eye, he admitted he hadn't been sleeping well lately as the smallest of sounds had him jerking awake thinking that maybe now he would learn why he was in the future.

They went to bed after that, Blaine saying goodnight with red cheeks and a shy smile before continuing tentatively down the hall to his bedroom, the legs of his pants trailing on the floor. Kurt didn't fall asleep immediately, tossing and turning for the best part of an hour, the knowledge that Blaine was lying in a bed just down the hall keeping sleep at bay. When he did eventually fall asleep he dreamt of shifting shapes and colours, coalescing and moving so quickly he couldn't make out anything beyond a swirl of colour and smudged lines, while Blaine's presence hung around him in a tangible cloud.

He didn't remember the dream at all when he woke up; all that remained with him was the fuzzy, vague sense of Blaine being featured in his unconscious thoughts. He just hoped it hadn't been inappropriate; the last thing he wanted was to start having sexual dreams about his new roommate.

And speaking of roommates...

"Shit," Kurt muttered, flinging the towel he'd been using to dry his face over the rail. He'd meant to call Rachel last night and let her know Blaine was moving in and check she was ok with it, but he'd completely forgotten.

Scurrying out the bathroom he snatched up his phone from beside the bed and stared helplessly down at the screen. It was no use calling her now, she would be arriving home after a night spent with some cast mates soon, and she would only start demanding to know why she hadn't been told sooner. Best to have that conversation face-to-face.

With a groan of dread he set his phone back down and padded through to the kitchen, rubbing absently at his left eye and trying to think of the best way to explain Blaine's situation to Rachel. Lost in thought, he didn't hear Blaine enter the kitchen and he gave a small jump when the other man cleared his throat quietly.

"Oh, morning!" Kurt greeted him, ignoring the way his heart leaped and stomach flipped at the sight of just-out-of-bed Blaine, who was all sleepy eyes, pliant limbs, and rumpled curls.

Noticing Kurt's eyes lingering on his hair, Blaine ran a hand slowly over his messy dark curls. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?" He let his hand drop from his hair, not realising he'd made a chunk of it stick up at the front.

Sticking his head in the fridge to hide his smile, Kurt began pulling out some fruit for breakfast. "Good, thanks. What about you? Was the bed alright?"

"It was a lot more comfortable than the hotel bed."

"I'm glad to hear it." Kurt set the fruit on the counter. "What do you want for breakfast? I was going to have fruit and granola, but there's toast, eggs, pancakes..."

"Fruit and granola will be perfect, thank you," Blaine assured him.

Kurt nodded, suddenly feeling flustered. "I'll make some coffee as well."

Breakfast with Blaine was nothing like breakfast with Rachel. Kurt's pulse didn't jump when Rachel's hip bumped against his whilst she reached for so more fruit to cut up, Rachel didn't keep catching his eye and giving him a shy smile, and she didn't make Kurt feel so unsettled yet so complete as he chatted with her about mundane things over their food and coffee. He didn't understand how Blaine could keep drawing his gaze or how he could be the new presence he wasn't yet used to being in his home, while at the same time feeling like he had always been missing from his home life and he hadn't known it until know. Breakfast with Rachel also never made him feel this happy or at peace; he wasn't running through his plan for the day in his head or gulping his coffee so he could get back to his designs, instead he felt... not quite lazy, more like he was just going to let the events of the day unfold rather than trying to control them.

All in all, breakfast went well - even with the lingering feeling of 'first date' in the air - until, just as Kurt was about to bring up the topic of Blaine's time travel, the front door slammed.

Kurt and Blaine both froze; Blaine with his coffee mug halfway between the table and his lips.

"Kurt?"

Rachel was home. Rachel was home and she had no idea Blaine was here. Kurt jumped to his feet to explain it all to her before she saw Blaine, but-

Rachel strode into view, beaming all over her face and practically quivering with excitement. "Kurt, you won't believe who Veronica knows! Yo-" Catching sight of Blaine sitting rigid at the table, she cut herself off, her eyes widening marginally and her smile momentarily dissolving into a look of surprise, before she got a knowing gleam in her eye Kurt didn't like one bit.

She plastered a big smile on her face. "Hi, Blaine, I didn't realise you'd be here!"

"Morning, Rachel," Blaine greeted her, still polite in spite of his obvious nerves.

Rachel turned her smile on Kurt. "Kurt, can I talk to you for a second?"

Without waiting for an answer, she seized Kurt's wrist and tugged him over by the front door, out of sight and earshot of Blaine.

"You slept with Blaine?" she hissed, looking both strangely delighted and shocked. "I didn't think you were one to jump into bed with a guy so quickly." There was a note of disapproval in her voice.

Kurt's mouth fell open - he should have known Rachel would jump to this conclusion. "What? No!" he protested hastily. "No, he just stayed in the guest room last night because I thought he'd prefer it to a hotel room."

Rachel cocked an eyebrow sceptically at him. Kurt gave his head a small shake, knowing he wasn't explaining it properly. "Blaine's going to be in the city for a little longer while he...takes care of some business and he's got nowhere else he can stay but a hotel, so since we've got that spare room sitting doing nothing I offered it to him," he explained. When Rachel stared speechlessly at him, he added, "Because hotels are expensive and the bedding doesn't have the thread count to justify their prices, so I thought I'd give a friend somewhere better and more comfortable to stay."

'And though he won't admit it, Blaine can't afford a hotel for much longer,' Kurt added in his head.

Rachel blinked at him. "So, he's-"

"I know I should have called you last night and checked if it was alright to let him have the room with you first, but I forgot," Kurt blabbered, not noticing Rachel's attempts to speak. "I should have asked you first, I'm sorry."

"Kurt," Rachel said loudly enough to cut off his next slew of justifications for Blaine staying with them, "it's ok. Yes, you should have checked with me before telling him he could stay, but I don't need the room for anything and I'm quite happy for him to stay with us for as long as he's in New York."

Kurt stared at her. "Really? You're really ok with this?"

Rachel nodded. "Of course I am. Blaine seems like a nice guy; I don't mind him staying."

Kurt pulled Rachel into a hug. "Thank you!" He decided then and there that Rachel was the best friend he could have asked for.

"Does this make up for me using the last of your hairspray yesterday?" Rachel wondered.

Laughing, Kurt let go of his friend. "I suppose so." He shot a brief glance over his shoulder in the direction of the kitchen, to where Blaine was no doubt worrying about what they were saying.

Rachel pushed lightly at his side. "Go tell Blaine to stop worrying I'll kick him out; I'm going to go take a shower."

He re-entered the kitchen to find Blaine staring down into the remaining dregs of his coffee, his hands wrapped around the mug. He was bouncing his right leg in a fast, erratic rhythm and worrying at his bottom lip with his teeth. His head jerked up when Kurt approached him, anxious eyes frantically searching Kurt's face for answers to his worries.

Kurt placed a hand on his knee; Blaine's leg ceased bouncing. "Relax," Kurt told him. "Rachel is fine with you staying."

The tension left Blaine, his shoulders slumping slightly as it drained from his muscles.

Kurt patted Blaine's knee before reluctantly removing his hand. "She thinks you're a nice guy," he added in case Blaine had any remaining doubts.

Blaine's gaze shifted to the living room behind Kurt. "Where is she?"

"She's gone to shower," Kurt informed him. He gathered up their dirty breakfast dishes. "You can thank her later," he said, knowing what Blaine was thinking. He set the dishes down in the sink. "I was thinking we could go shopping this morning before we start working on learning more about your time travel, since you said you had next to no clothes."

"That would be much appreciated," Blaine replied. "I'm guessing I should get some modern clothes, try and blend in a bit more."

Kurt shot a brief glance over his shoulder as the sink filled with hot water. Blaine was staring unseeingly ahead, his expression thoughtful. "You don't have to, your outfits aren't that strange here, but you might be more comfortable wearing something more casual for a change."

Blinking, Blaine looked down at his current outfit. He plucked at his t-shirt. "More casual," he repeated wonderingly. One side of his mouth lifted into a smile. "You know, in my time, casual means shirtsleeves and no tie." He got up, snagged the dish towel, and began drying the plates Kurt had washed.

Kurt chuckled as he scrubbed the dishes clean. "You're making yourself sound like an old man," he observed. "'Back in my day...'" he mocked, doing a poor impersonation of an elderly man's voice.

Blaine didn't laugh. A strange expression crossed his face and he lowered his gaze to the bowl he was drying. "I should be an old man; I should be ninety-one years older."

The mug Kurt had been lifting out of the sink slipped out of his hand, sinking back beneath the surface of the soapy water. He heard the dull thud as it hit the bottom of the sink in the silence that followed Blaine's words. He'd never thought of it that way, it had never crossed his mind how things would be for Blaine if he had not travelled into the future. Blaine was twenty-two, and if he was supposed to be ninety-one years older, then-

Kurt blocked his train of thought. He didn't want to think about that. He couldn't be thinking like that, and neither should Blaine.

He hastily changed the subject.

"Is there anything other than clothes you need? I'm guessing you have a toothbrush and things." He cleaned the mug he'd dropped earlier and passed it to Blaine.

Blaine accepted it, the horrible, distant look thankfully lifting from his eyes. "I really need to shave," he said, rubbing at his jaw which was darkened with stubble. "My facial hair grows so quickly."

"Oh." Kurt pulled the plug from the sink, letting the water drain. He found Blaine's facial hair to be very attractive and wouldn't at all mind if Blaine didn't shave. "Right, of course. We can go somewhere you can get a razor and stuff."

He was cornered by Rachel when he went to get dressed. She sat outside the bathroom door while he showered and brushed his teeth, shouting incessant questions about Blaine over the roar of the shower. He ignored most of them, rolling his eyes and yelling at her to mind her own business as she asked things that would require him to lie - he and Blaine hadn't agreed on a cover story yet. She eventually left the room, allowing him to finish getting dressed in peace, and he breathed a sigh of relief - until he went through to the living room to find Rachel interrogating a stammering Blaine.

"Leave him alone, Rachel," he called out, pulling on his coat and smiling at Blaine when he looked up in relief. "Blaine and I are going out," he added as Blaine hurried to his side. "We'll see you later."

Ushering Blaine on ahead of him, he closed the door on whatever Rachel's response was.

Shopping with Kurt was...different. Blaine supposed he should have expected it, what with Kurt being a fashion designer and all, but he was flabbergasted at how much he got into it. He took Blaine to so many stores he lost count, leading the way through large, bright stores past racks upon racks of clothes to the men's section where he searched through piles of pants and rails of shirts to find ones he thought would suit Blaine. Blaine had very little input on the clothes picked out for him. Not knowing the current fashions nor having an expert eye for what looked good, he was happy to leave all the decisions to Kurt, only speaking up to let Kurt know whenever he really liked something.

After a good few hours of marching between stores and Kurt holding clothes up against his body to judge how the style and fit looked on him, they headed back to the apartment, carrying several bags of clothing apiece.

"You enjoyed that far too much," Blaine decided, looking at Kurt's gleeful, satisfied smile.

The smile widened, causing Kurt's eyes to crinkle at the corners. "I always enjoy shopping, but it's even more fun when someone's letting me dress them, which you basically just did." He reached in his pocket for his keys and unlocked the apartment door.

"I did, didn't I?" Blaine let his feet carry him into the apartment, his mind on this new perspective of their shopping trip. "I was like your doll for the morning."

Kurt dumped his bags on the couch. "A very dapper doll with a fondness for bowties," he amended.

Blaine set his bags down and absently followed Kurt into the kitchen, his mind on something he'd noticed during their shopping trip.

"Do you just want a sandwich for lunch? It's something quick, so we can start looking into-"

"Kurt," Blaine interrupted, not even noticing the other man was speaking.

Falling quiet, Kurt turned away from the fridge to face Blaine, his brows knitting together in a small frown at his tone of voice. "Yeah?"

"While we were out I noticed quite a few men holding hands with other men - and female homosexual couples, too." Blaine spoke staring ahead of him, his eyes unfocused, his mind replaying a memory of two men walking down the street holding hands.

Kurt's frown deepened. "Yes..." he said slowly, sounding confused.

"I-" Blaine focused his eyes upon Kurt. "Nobody was staring at them or shouting abusive threats." His voice was small, his surprise dampened by sadness and longing. "It's- It's normal here," he said, blinking a few times in quick succession in his surprise. "People don't treat you like you've got some horrible, contagious disease. People don't hide their true feelings - their true selves - out of fear." He blinked against the stinging in his eyes, trying to keep the tears at bay.

Kurt's expression softened, understanding dawning in his eyes. He appeared to be at a loss for words, opening and closing his mouth several times before finally saying gently, "Attitudes have changed; people are more accepting and open-minded these days."

Blaine bit his lip and dropped his gaze to the floor, the tiles becoming a wavering white blur as the tears broke through his weak attempts to hold them back. This was the world he'd dreamed of living in, where nobody shunned you or treated you differently because of who you were or who you loved. This was the kind of attitudes and acceptance he'd wistfully imagined while lying in bed at night after a particularly difficult day of keeping his mask in place, the daydreams that had kept him sane and enabled him to get up each morning and keep going. A stubborn, optimistic part of him had always hoped somewhere like this existed, and now he knew it did, but he'd had to go ninety-one years into the future to find it.

A comforting hand was placed on his shoulder, squeezing it gently. Blaine squeezed his eyes shut and a single tear escaped from the corner of his eye and slid down his cheek.

"When people talk about time travelling they only ever say how fantastic it would be to see how everything has advanced in the future and what new technology they have, they never think about how devastatingly hard it would be to see something you wished desperately to be real, knowing you could never have it, because in your own time it doesn't exist," Kurt said softly.

The tear clinging to Blaine's jaw fell to the floor. He sniffed quietly. "I never really thought about it that way either, until now," he admitted thickly. He sniffed again. "Back in- Back home nobody knows I'm homosexual with the exception of my friend, Wes. I can't tell my family or anyone else, I'd be exiled if I did - they'd disown me."

Kurt rubbed soothingly at his back. "You know, it's- it's still not completely accepted here, either. Here in New York it is, gay marriage is allowed and it's pretty much considered normal, but it's not like that everywhere. I come from Ohio where it most certainly is not normal to be gay."

Swallowing around the thickness in his throat, Blaine pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to dry the tears on his face. "Do your parents know you're gay?" he asked, finally looking back up at Kurt.

"I told my dad when I was sixteen - I'm lucky, he's always been very supportive of me and nothing changed between us." A small smile twitched the corners of Kurt's mouth. "He said he'd known since I was three." The amused spark in his eyes faded. "I never got the chance to tell my mom, she died when I was young."

Blaine froze, his eyes widening. "Oh, Kurt, I'm so sorry to hear that."

Kurt gave him a tight smile. "It was a long time ago." He shook his head and squeezed Blaine's shoulder again. "You being here and experiencing this era feels horribly like you're being shown this wonderful treat that's going to be snatched away before you can have it."

Blaine let his gaze wander around the slice of Kurt's apartment he could see. "Even though I haven't been here long and I'm still getting used to everything, I feel like I belong here. I feel more comfortable here than I ever did back home. I- I haven't felt this happy in years," he admitted with a smile. He didn't add that this feeling of happiness, of belonging, of home was due mostly to Kurt. Before he'd become friends with Kurt he'd felt lost, anxious, and had wanted nothing more than to go home. But now, now he wasn't so sure he wanted to leave.