"Excuse me," Kurt says, vaguely registering that his voice sounded a little strange. The people at the fringes of a large group of chatting college students shift aside to allow him through a narrow gap between them and a concrete pillar.

Tim had gone to the bathroom leaving Kurt sitting stunned at the table until he finally snapped out of his trance and decided to go and get himself another drink. The building was packed and the short walk from the table to the bar was proving a lot more difficult than he had anticipated. He wriggled through a tight space between a guy in a baseball cap and a red-headed girl tottering on stiletto heels and the bar came in sight. Just before he reached it, a flash of movement caught his attention out the corner of his eye and he glanced over to see Blaine leaning against the wall a short distance away from the bar, chatting with a small group of people. Kurt froze where he was, half-way across the narrow slice of space between the bar and the crowds, and stared at Blaine, his heart taking off at top speed. As he watched, Blaine smiled and nodded, saying something to the group and the three males and single female he was talking to moved away and were soon swallowed up by the crowds.

Seeing Blaine standing there alone and taking a sip of his drink, Kurt made a split-second decision and approached him. His mouth was dry, his palms were sweaty, his breathing was irregular, and his heart was racing, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up. It was now or never.

He was right in front of Blaine now and Blaine looked up at his approach, his bright hazel eyes widening fractionally and his lips parting when he saw Kurt. For a moment, Kurt's breath caught and he stared into Blaine's eyes, trapped in the pools of gold.

"Hi," he said breathlessly. He took a deep breath before continuing. "You did a fantastic job performing earlier, you're very talented. I especially loved your original songs."

Blaine smiled and Kurt's heart stuttered. "Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was a bit worried about having so many of my own songs in the set list seeing as I hadn't performed most of them in public before, so I'm really glad you liked them."

He had the most beautiful voice, he could have read the entire dictionary aloud and Kurt would have listened, enthralled.

Blaine held out a hand. "I'm Blaine."

"Kurt." He shook the offered hand, feeling a skipping sensation in his stomach at the feel of Blaine's hand in his. He dropped his hand slowly, reluctantly. "How long have you been writing your own music?"

"Since I was in high school. Music has always been my way of expressing myself, of letting out the emotions I'm feeling at the time. Do you play any instruments?"

Kurt shook his head. "Not really, no. I can play a little piano, but nowhere near as well as you do. I mostly sing."

Blaine straightened up so he was no longer leaning against the wall and brushed at his jeans with his eyes lowered. His eyes flicked briefly up to Kurt's face a few times before he raised his gaze to meet Kurt's again, his expression shifting to something Kurt couldn't quite read.

"You look familiar," Blaine said, the slight tremble in his voice only just noticeable. "You don't happen to go to NYADA do you?"

Kurt's eyes widened as he stared at Blaine in shock – how did he know that?

"I do, actually; I'm a second year student there."

"I was at a performance put on by the second years last Saturday. A friend of a friend of mine was in the show and a few friends and I went along to support her. I really enjoyed the show, loved the mixing of the classic Broadway songs with your own original script."

Kurt couldn't believe it, couldn't believe that Blaine had been at that show, had been sitting in the audience whilst Kurt had been on the stage completely unaware.

"Who is your friend?" Kurt asked, his voice sounding stunned.

"Her name is Melissa," he shrugged. "She went to high school with my friend Scott."

Kurt nodded. "Oh yeah, I know her, she's in some of my classes."

Blaine opened his mouth, hesitated and then said, "You were fantastic in the show, one of the best. You're a very talented actor and your singing-" he broke off and started to talk again several times, but cutting himself off each time as if he were struggling to find the words. He closed his eyes, smiling and shaking his head slightly before opening them again to meet Kurt's eyes. "Your voice is just breath-taking; I've never heard anyone else sing like that before. You're a countertenor, right?"

Kurt nodded, surprised he hadn't melted into a puddle of goo at Blaine's feet from his words and the way he was looking at him.

"Wow," Blaine said softly.

Kurt smiled a little tightly at him as memories of high school suddenly came flooding back to him. "Thanks, I wish everyone felt the same way. The kids in high school weren't particularly appreciative of my voice."

Blaine looked like he wanted to say something to this, but changed his mind. "Well, everyone would have loved you at my high school. It would have been great to have had someone with your ability in the Warblers."

"The Warblers?" Kurt asked, puzzled.

"Oh, that was my high school show choir group."

Kurt stared at Blaine - the guy just got better and better, he couldn't believe how much they had in common. "You were in a show choir? Me too!"

Blaine's face lit up and Kurt felt his own smile widen in response. "Really? What was your group called? Maybe we competed against each other at some point."

Kurt started to reply, but was interrupted by an exclamation of "There you are, Kurt!" just behind him. Recognising Tim's voice, he fought back a groan and forced a smile over his shoulder at him.

"Been looking for you everywhere," Tim announced when he reached Kurt's side.

"I was just talking to Blaine, telling him how well he did performing earlier," he said, indicating Blaine with a wave of his hand.

Tim shot Blaine a smile. "Oh yeah, you did a great job. You have a nice voice."

"Thanks," Blaine replied stiffly, his answering smile tight.

There was a short awkward pause, and then Blaine spoke. "My friends are probably wondering where I am, I'd better go and find them." His eyes met Kurt's again and his smile softened. "It was nice meeting you, Kurt."

"You too and well done again on your performance tonight, it was amazing, really." He hesitated, flicking his eyes briefly over to Tim. "Maybe I'll see you around again sometime."

"Maybe," Blaine smiled, holding Kurt's gaze for a few seconds longer before turning and disappearing into the crowd.

Blaine stood waiting as Nick unlocked the door to their apartment, his eyes fixed on the door but instead seeing Kurt's face as he smiled at him, as he praised Blaine's performance, as he called Blaine talented, as he said he loved his songs.

He was still wrapping his mind around the fact that he had actually had a conversation with Kurt, that he actually knew him now. He still expected to suddenly wake up and find out it was all a dream, all something conjured up by his brain whilst he slept in one of those vivid dreams that feel real and leave you feeling disoriented and confused when you first wake up.

"You ok, Blaine? You've been quiet all the way home."

Blaine blinked; he had entered the apartment without even noticing and now stood in the living area in front of Nick who was watching him closely. "Yeah, I'm fine, great actually, never been better."

Nick's eyes narrowed slightly. "You were like this for a while at the bar as well, acting weird and distracted."

Blaine shrugged, setting his guitar case down and moving to sit on the couch. "I'm just on my post-first performance high."

Nick didn't look like he bought this, but he dropped the subject and they started discussing how the performance went again, debating which songs the crowd liked best and which ones to maybe consider changing on the set list next time. It wasn't until Nick came back through from the kitchen with a glass of water that he brought up the way Blaine was behaving again.

"Ok," he said, sitting down next to Blaine and jolting him out of the memory of talking to Kurt. "Something happened at that bar tonight and you are going to spill."

Blaine opened his mouth to deny this, but before he could speak Nick shook his head. "Don't try to deny it, Blaine if you won't tell me then I'll just call Jeremy and get him to tell me. I'll even rope in Scott and you know Jeremy will talk then, he isn't good at keeping things quiet from us."

Blaine felt his face heat up. "It uh- it isn't anything to do with Jeremy."

Nick blinked. "Oh."

"Kurt was at the bar tonight and saw my performance. He came over to praise me on it and we ended up talking for a bit," he said a little apprehensively.

Nick was silent for a long moment and Blaine fidgeted under his gaze. "Have you talked to Jeremy about Kurt yet?"

Blaine shook his head slowly, a small flash of guilt flitting through him until he told himself that he had just been talking to Kurt about music and his show. He had done nothing wrong.

Nick was still watching Blaine closely giving Blaine the unpleasant sensation of being held trapped under a microscope. "Where is this going with Kurt? Are you going to talk to him when you see him on the subway or was the conversation with him tonight just a one-off thing? Are you becoming friends with him or what?"

A small spark of anger flared up inside Blaine – why did Nick always have to ask these questions whenever Blaine mentioned Kurt's name? Why should he have to plan out exactly what he wanted to happen with Kurt? Why couldn't he just let it all work itself out over time? Why did it matter? It wasn't as if he was doing anything wrong by doing this. He sighed, trying to reign in his anger, not wanting it to flare up. "Kurt just came over to say he enjoyed my performance, like several others did. It was a completely innocent conversation."

"But it wasn't really, was it?" Nick asked quietly.

Blaine struggled with his thoughts for a while, unable to think of anything to say to this, until Nick cut off his internal struggle. "I don't want to tell Jeremy about this and I'm not going to, it's not my place and it's something the two of you need to work out for yourselves." He got to his feet. "You should really tell him, Blaine before it's too late and too late is rapidly approaching."

Nick left the room then, heading for his bedroom. It was a few hours later when Blaine eventually got up from the couch and went to bed, though he very much doubted he would get any amount of sleep.