Sighing happily, Blaine stretched out on his back on his bed, replaying memories from the coffee shop that morning in his head. He had been distracted all through dinner because of it, but his parents didn't think anything of it, they were used to him writing lyrics or playing the compositions he was working on in his head whilst he ate. His phone suddenly started ringing causing him to jump before fishing around amongst the bedding for it. Without looking at the caller I.D. he pressed the button to accept the call and held the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, Blaine how's everything in Ohio?"

"Jeremy!" Blaine shot upright so he was no longer lying back against the pillows. "Hey! Everything is good here, it's great to see the family again and to eat home-cooked food that I didn't have to make but that isn't one of Nick's culinary disasters."

Jeremy's familiar laugh bubbled through the phone.

"How's California?" Blaine shifted into a more comfortable position on the bed.

"Same as always, nothing's changed much. It's nice catching up with all my friends from high school though."

"All my friends from school are out of state except for one, so I'm spending most of my time with my parents, but I don't mind."

"What about Cooper? Is he home?" Jeremy asked.

Blaine automatically shook his head even though he knew Jeremy couldn't see him. "No, he's still working."

As he and Jeremy continued to talk about their holidays he realised that he wasn't at all bothered by the fact that he wasn't going to see his boyfriend at all during them – shouldn't he be disappointed that he wasn't getting to spend time with him? Their differing schedules at college meant that they didn't have that much time together in New York either, so shouldn't Blaine have wanted to try and see him as often as he could? He pushed these thoughts aside; Jeremy didn't appear bothered by it so he shouldn't be either.

"I'd better go," Jeremy said, breaking Blaine out of his thoughts. "We should meet up for coffee once we are both back in New York."

"Yeah, definitely. Have a great time in California!"

"Enjoy Ohio, talk to you later!"

Blaine said goodbye and hung up, still feeling a little bit unsettled from the conversation. He jumped again when his phone vibrated in his hand.

Thanks again for the coffee today! I'll have to buy you coffee sometime so that we are even. There is a place in Lima that I went to a lot when I was in high school – the coffee isn't as good as what we had today, but it's still pretty good.

His weird, unsettling conversation with Jeremy forgotten, Blaine eagerly typed out a reply to Kurt with quivering fingers.

Sounds good! When are you free? I can manage pretty much any time.

Friday afternoon around 3 is good with me, if that works for you.

That works for me :) See you then!

Great! I'll see you Friday at the Lima Bean :)

Blaine felt a rush of excited anticipation as he smiled down at Kurt's last text and he all but skipped over to where his guitar sat in the corner of his room, ignoring Nick's voice when it sprung up suddenly in his head asking where this was going with Kurt. He and Kurt were just friends and friends did things like meeting up for coffee. It was harmless.

His phone buzzed with a new text and Kurt hit the button to open it as soon as the message appeared on the screen. A laugh bubbled out of him as he read the text and he placed a hand over his mouth to try and muffle the sound, but he felt two pairs of eyes snap over to him and he knew they had heard.

"Have you and Tim made up then?" Finn asked.

"No," Kurt replied distractedly as he typed out a reply to the text, a grin on his face as he did so.

"Who have you been texting all evening then?" Rachel's voice was laden with curiosity and just a hint of suspicion. "It doesn't look like it is Mercedes or any of the other girls."

Kurt shrugged, hoping the dim light of the living room would hide his blush and guilty expression. "Just a friend."

"It's not that Blaine guy is it?" Rachel's voice took on a different tone, one that Kurt couldn't quite decipher.

"Who?" Finn sounded puzzled.

Kurt felt his cheeks heat up more as his blush deepened and he slid further down in his armchair, drawing his legs up and hoping that was sufficient to hide his red face from Finn and Rachel. His phone buzzed again, the sound loud in the now silent room.

Rachel took Kurt's silence as a yes. "I thought you said you were just friends."

"We are," Kurt said, thumbs almost a blur as he replied to Blaine's text.

Finn sat up straight. "Wait, is Blaine who you were out with earlier?"

"You went out with him?" Rachel said loudly before Kurt had a chance to speak. "Where?"

"Just for coffee in Westerville," he replied nonchalantly.

Rachel continued to stare at him, looking a little stunned. "So he lives here?"

Kurt nodded, biting his lip in an effort to try and hide his smile as he read Blaine's latest text.

Finn was still confused. "Who is this Blaine? And how come you know him as well?" he directed his last question at Rachel, who ignored him.

"Are you seeing him again?"

Kurt nodded again. "We're going for coffee in the Lima Bean on Friday."

Rachel's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Don't even think about it, Rachel," Kurt warned her, not liking the scheming look on Rachel's face one bit.

Kurt took his time getting dressed and styling his hair on Friday – sure, it might not be a date, but he still wanted to look his best. When he left the house after calling out a goodbye to Carole, he noticed Finn sitting in the living room reading the morning newspaper. He eyed his step-brother suspiciously as he let himself out the front door, but Finn just stared intently at the paper and ignored him.

Finn's strange behaviour flew out of his mind as Kurt neared the Lima Bean. The familiar streets and shops brought a smile to his face as he remembered the amount of hours he had spent in the Lima Bean with his high school friends discussing set lists, studying, or just catching up on the latest gossip. Though he had a regular coffee shop in New York now, there was something about the Lima Bean that would always be that little bit special for him.

A quick glance around the coffee shop as he walked through the doors showed him that he had arrived before Blaine. As he remembered Blaine's coffee order he made a bee-line for the counter and ordered their coffees. He had just paid for them and was about to go and hunt down a table when Blaine appeared at his side.

Kurt grinned at him, his stomach fluttering. "I remembered your order, so I bought your coffee – medium drip, right?"

Blaine looked slightly stunned for a moment, and then he smiled. "Taking no chances that I would buy the coffee again?"

"Nope." Kurt wound through the tables, leading the way over to an unoccupied table towards the far end of the café.

Blaine looked around the café with interest as he sat down opposite Kurt. "So this is where teenage Kurt hung out."

Kurt surveyed his surroundings as well, a fond smile on his face at the memories the Lima Bean triggered. "I used to come here at least twice a week with my friends. We would spend hours talking about Glee club or musicals or the latest relationship dramas of the people in our Glee club." He looked back at Blaine, feeling the other man's eyes on him. "I have a lot of good memories of here."

They started discussing the transition between going from living in Ohio to living in New York City and Kurt was once again reminded of how easy it was to be around Blaine. There were never any awkward silences where neither could think of anything to say, he never felt uncomfortable around him, it just felt natural, like breathing.

Kurt's phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out without breaking his gaze on Blaine as he recounted a funny story about his first days in New York, thinking that the text was probably Rachel saying something ridiculous about him being out with Blaine. When he had finished laughing at Blaine's story he checked his phone – it wasn't from Rachel. He scanned the text quickly before snorting and rolling his eyes, returning the phone to his pocket without replying.

"Parents checking up on you?" Blaine asked mildly.

Kurt shook his head. "It was from my…boyfriend, actually. He is being a bit of an ass right now."

Blaine dropped his eyes down to his coffee, tracing a circle around the lid of his cup. "Your boyfriend the guy who was at Bar4 that night?"

Kurt nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's Tim."

"How long have you two been together?" Blaine was still avoiding Kurt's eyes, seemingly completely engrossed with his coffee.

Kurt frowned slightly as he counted back through the weeks. "Around a month."

Blaine looked up at him then, his large hazel eyes betraying a hint of surprise. "Did you two meet at college?" he asked, managing to quickly mask his surprise.

Kurt nodded. "After a performance last year, we were friends for a while before we started dating." Not particularly wanting to discuss Tim, he cast around for another topic of conversation. "Are you dating anyone?" he asked, blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

As soon as the question was out of his mouth he wanted to groan and slap a hand to his face – seeing Blaine happily chat about the boyfriend Kurt knew he was bound to have was the last thing he wanted.

Blaine didn't look particularly happy about the question either. "Yeah, his name is Jeremy; we've been together for almost nine months."

Kurt struggled to keep his face from falling at the news that Blaine had a long-term boyfriend, that he was in-love with this Jeremy guy, because couples who had been together that long were in-love – you didn't date someone for that long if you didn't love them.

He kept a smiling mask fixed to his face. "Aww, that's great. How did you meet?"

"He went to high school with my friend Scott. I met Scott in my first days of college and I met Jeremy through him not long afterwards," he said with a small smile. "We were friends first, like you and Tim."

There was a short pause during which Kurt struggled to keep a smile on his face as his mind tortured him with the image of Blaine looking lovingly at some faceless, but attractive, guy.

After adjusting the striped bowtie he was wearing, Blaine asked Kurt about his next performance at NYADA and conversation flowed easily again until a few hours later when Blaine checked his watch and sighed. "I'd better get going or else I won't make it back home in time for dinner."

Kurt glanced at the time displayed on the screen of his cell phone. "Yeah, I should be getting home too. I have to help my step-mom make dinner."

They gathered their things together and stood up, exiting the Lima Bean through the doors near the counter and heading down the street to the small parking lot nearby. Kurt walked Blaine to his car, smiling when Blaine turned to face him.

"I guess I'll see you around New York some time."

"We can still meet up for coffee and stuff there," Kurt suggested hopefully.

Blaine's smile widened, his eyes crinkling up at the corners. "I'd like that." He stared at Kurt for a moment, his eyes hesitant, before stepping forward and wrapping his arms around him. For a split second Kurt was rigid with surprise, and then he relaxed, wrapping his arms around Blaine and returning the embrace, smiling as he breathed in Blaine's scent.

"I'll text you," Kurt mumbled.

They held on to each other for a little longer, both reluctant to let go, before eventually stepping back. They held each other's gaze, Kurt staring into the pools of honey threaded with browns and greens with his heart racing.

"Bye, Kurt," Blaine said softly, turning to his car.

"Bye," Kurt smiled at him as the other man got into his car.

Fumbling in his pocket for his car keys, he made his way over to where his own car was parked, waving at Blaine when he drove past him on his way out of the parking lot. He was almost at his car when Rachel suddenly jumped out in front of him, appearing from nowhere with Finn behind her.

"I knew it!" she exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at Kurt.

"I thought you were never going to leave," Finn grumbled.

Kurt glared at the pair of them. "You were spying on us?" He didn't know why he made it a question, he knew they had been.

Finn looked a little ashamed of himself, but Rachel didn't appear to think anything of invading Kurt's privacy. "Finn let me know when you left the house and we hid in a corner of the Lima Bean and watched you."

Now over his shock at Finn and Rachel's sudden appearance, he pushed past them to get to his car. "Don't know how I managed to miss Finn with him being oversized."

"You were too busy making heart eyes at Blaine," Rachel said, somewhat triumphantly.

Unlocking the door of his car, he began rummaging aimlessly through a small pile of sheet music on the passenger seat to try and hide the blush staining his cheeks.

Rachel leant against the side of his car whilst Finn hovered awkwardly behind her. "I have to say though, Kurt your little boy-toy is very attractive."

Kurt straightened up and shot Rachel another glare. "I am not cheating on Tim, Rachel, Blaine and I are just friends."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "That was an awful long hug for 'just friends'," she said, making quote marks with her fingers.

Finn spoke up nervously. "Yeah, guys who are friends don't normally-" he quelled under the look Kurt shot at him.

"Blaine and I are friends," Kurt told them firmly, "nothing more. I wouldn't ever cheat on Tim, even if our relationship is on the rocks right now and I'm not sure how much longer it will last, clear?"

Rachel blinked at him. "What do you mean you're not sure how much longer it will last? Are you thinking of breaking up with Tim?"

Kurt froze in the middle of opening the driver's side door of his car and stared at his friend with wide eyes. "Just like I said," he replied in a low voice, before getting into the car. "I have to get home and help Carole." He pulled his door shut and drove away, ignoring Finn and Rachel's staring faces.