At the man's words Kurt let go of him and dropped his arms to his side, freeing Blaine from the cage he had made. Kurt, frozen, looked into Blaine's eyes and for a minute he forgot everything. He forgot how alone he was, he forgot that nothing would ever get better for him, he forgot about that burning ache inside of him that never left him since he lost the only person that was supposed to love him and understand him. Kurt forgot everything and instead he saw life and hope in the other man's eyes. He saw what he could've been and what life could be, a soothing sensation running freely in his veins and making him feel more at peace than he'd ever been.

Kurt took a step backward, almost stumbling. He needed some space, he needed air, he needed to get a grasp on what was happening to him. His eyes flickered to anything and everything in the room but never coming back to Blaine. He couldn't look at the man anymore, he had no idea what was happening to him and he didn't want to know. Kurt's breathing was coming out irregularly, he could feel his lungs being constricted, he could feel ice slowing his system and fear was eating him alive He just wanted the feeling to go away. He just wanted all these emotions to leave him alone and to never come back. His head became dizzy and his legs quivered as he felt himself getting weak. His panic became a wild cacophony in his mind and involuntary Kurt gaze back to Blaine and immediately found his eyes. Kurt found his anchor.

The panic disappeared and Kurt's breath started to become more regular, his chest only moving up and down quickly because of the intensity of Blaine's gaze on him. Kurt stared at Blaine, lips slightly opened, small breaths coming out. Kurt didn't register that he was moving until he felt Blaine's hand on his arm. Kurt leant in and captured Blaine's lips with his. The man immediately kissed back, sucking on Kurt's bottom lip before biting it and moving his hand to Kurt's neck to bring the man closer.

It was intoxicating and Blaine didn't want it to end, he could feel every cell of his body jolting alive, he could feel every bump of his heart and every nerve reacting to the kiss.

Kurt's hand found Blaine's jawline and he gently put his thumb over his chin to tilt the man's head and stopped the kiss before putting his forehead against Blaine's. They didn't dare open their eyes, relishing the moment. Both men were panting and they could feel each other's breath ghosting on their bruises lips, the quiescent silence and the waves of their chests soothing them after the rough past few weeks.

The moment Blaine's hands reached up to Kurt's arms, the taller man broke from his fantasy, reality came back to him, crashing down. This time Kurt didn't look at Blaine, he didn't let the man say anything and quickly gathered his things before flying out of the locker room.

Blaine brought his hand to his lips to feel the softness of it after being kissed like he had never been before. This wasn't just a simple kiss, Blaine could tell. So much had been said in that kiss and yet again, not enough. Blaine looked over to the door where the mysterious man had just left, wondering what was so special about that man and why he reacted so strongly to anything Blaine did.

Kurt ran back to his place, climbed the stairs two by two, fumbled into his apartment and then into his room, slammed his door closed and buried himself under the pillows and the blanket. He hoped that the adrenaline of his run and the black darkness under his pillows would help him block out what had happened, would help him stop feeling. But he couldn't and the memory of the softness of Blaine's lips against his, the firmness of Blaine's body against his rushed back in waves into his mind and came back haunting him. How could just a name affect him? Because that was all Blaine was after all: a name. Kurt didn't know the man, he had no idea who he was or where he came from. All Kurt knew was that the man had an obnoxious capacity for getting to him and popping out of nowhere at every hour of the day. So the only thing that fazed Kurt, the only slight little detail that baffled him was his name.

Blaine Anderson. The name was burning his mind every time he thought about it; it made him angry and bitter, possessive and weary – especially weary. It didn't matter how many men Kurt had slept with, it didn't matter that he lied to everyone that knew his secret. The truth was that Kurt longed for his soulmate; he was still grieving his loss. The fact that he now knew someone with the exact same name had thrown Kurt in a turmoil that he wasn't ready to face. He thought he was strong and independent, a name had proven him wrong.

Kurt hid further under his blanket, wanting nothing more than to forget about that day.

They didn't see each other for few days and as per almost usual now, the next time they did Blaine popped up from nowhere. Kurt was sitting on a bench, enjoying the chilly air of the beginning of February, alternating between reading his book and observing people walking down the park. Blaine appeared out of nowhere with two cups in hand and plopped down next to Kurt.

"Hi." Blaine breathed handing one of the cups to Kurt who eyed it suspiciously before taking it. "I had to text Bas to know how you took your coffee and he then had to ask your other roommate... Puck?" Blaine tried and beamed when Kurt nodded. "But I think I got your order right."

"Thank you. That's very considerate." Kurt said evenly. They sat awkwardly next to each other for a few minutes not saying anything and drinking their coffee. "How did you even know where I was?"

"Well on Friday you have a break between your two morning classes and you usually are at the library, the coffee shop or here." Blaine answered, tilting his head back and puffing out air to create some fog.

"That's creepy."

"I... probably... definitely, yes. But my creepy inclinations got you free coffee so maybe it's such not a bad thing after all."

"It's still creepy and I'm still not sure why you're doing it." Kurt answered honestly while looking directly at Blaine who smiled shyly.

"I... I know that what happened last time in the locker room was in the spur of the moment but I meant what I said. I want the chance to get to know you and to show you who I am. If you don't like what you find then I guess I still won't be pleased with it but at least I'll know I did my best." Blaine didn't know why he was being so honest with the stranger, because after all they were still stranger to each other no matter how many times they randomly bumped into each other. But he knew that there was something between them, something ineffable and inexorable that pushed him to the man again and again. So he had to try until he was given a chance.

Kurt didn't want to let this man charm him, he didn't want to find him gorgeous and cute with his red nose because it was cold outside, he certainly didn't want to like him and the only way he could do that was either keeping him at arm's length or messing around with him, sleeping with him and then be done with that sort of infatuation that he knew would be there if he let Blaine have it his way.

Kurt came closer to Blaine, eyes flickering intentionally between his eyes and his lips, leaning in at a viciously slow pace. He gave himself time to invade Blaine's space, licking his lips when the curly haired man looked at them. Kurt let his hand wander to Blaine's knees and then playfully ran one of his fingers along his leg, never looking away from Blaine's eyes. Kurt waited until their lips were almost touching, waited until they could almost taste each other but not completely and mischievously smirked.

"Convince me."

And with that Kurt quickly stood up and once again walked away from Blaine, leaving the man breathless and a little aroused.

Blaine laughed heartily at the situation. Once again Kurt had walked away from him, once again he had been teasing and a little obnoxious but at least this time he had somehow accepted to give Blaine a chance and that was all that mattered because Blaine didn't want anything other than a chance.

That is why a few days later Blaine showed up at the collocation with coffee and pastries. Puck opened the door and let him in.

"Yo, dude, can I have some? I'm hungry and those smell awesome!" Puck asked, showing the box full of food.

"Of course. I bought them so we could eat them after all." Puck opened the box and started to shove croissants into his mouth which made it difficult to understand everything he was saying.

"So, what are you doing here? Not that it's bad or something but The Prick isn't here." Blaine frowned a little and once he understood everything, asked away.

"The Prick is Sebastian's nickname?"

"Yeah! No! No absolutely not. No idea what you're talking about. Please, please don't tell him I call him that. We had a truce yesterday evening after a long fight over Coco Pops. Please." The tall man pleaded until Blaine agreed.

"Yes, sure. I won't say a thing, you have my word." Blaine promised as he tried not to laugh at these two grown men fighting over cereals. "I'm actually here to see Porcelain."

"You're here to see K? I thought he hated your guts?" Puck said to himself before wincing and looking at Blaine.

"I mean..."

"K?"

"Yeah, he goes by Porcelain but I'm the only one around here who earned the right to call him K."

"Oh, alright. So then, yes I'm here to see Porcelain and don't worry, I think he still hates me. Just a little less than before, that's it."

"Okay, end of the hall, left door. That's his room." Puck shrugged and disappeared with the whole box of pastries. Blaine made his way to the indicated door and knocked softly.

"What the hell do you want Noah? M'working!" Blaine heard a muffled voice from behind the door.

"Hum, It's not... It's Blaine."

"Ouch!" A loud noise erupted from behind the door and quickly Kurt appeared in front of the singer.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm convincing you!" Blaine answered truthfully, puffing his chest out proudly as a broad smile appeared on his face.

"If you say so." Kurt said, his hand on the door and an unimpressed look plastered on his face.

"I... I actually had pastries for you but they didn't make it past Puck. So it's just coffee." Blaine continued, showing the cups." And I was thinking that maybe we could hang out."

"Don't worry, I'll make Puck pay you back for the pastries." Kurt said almost nicely. "As for hanging out, it won't be possible. I have an assignment I need to complete. Thanks for the coffee." Kurt started to close the door when he saw the broken look on Blaine's face.

Kurt felt guilt run through his body at the sight and stopped suddenly. He reopened completely the door and observed the man in front of him.

"Can you turn around for a second." Kurt almost ordered before adding; "Please." Blaine executed and turned around, not sure why.

"Do you have anything plans for the next 5 hours?" Blaine turned back to the man and looked at him incredulously.

"I'll take that as a no. Fine, we can hang out but we are not leaving, eating or sleeping until I'm done with you." The taller man warned, when Blaine's cheeks redden at his words he rolled his eyes and explained. "I'm not having sex with you, you're going to be my model."

For the first hour neither man said a word. Kurt was focused on his work and tried not to poke Blaine too much. The closeness didn't bother them much and luckily Blaine stayed still without even flinching. That is until he remembered why he was here in the first place.

"So... Puck is calling you K." Blaine tried, hoping it could lead to the other man talking to him.

"Well spotted, Sherlock." Blaine waited a bit more and when the other man didn't say anything else pressed the matter a bit more.

"Why is he calling you that?"

"It's none of your business. Stay still." Kurt stood up and faced Blaine's back as he started to work on the fabrics that were hanging on Blaine's body.

"Okay" Blaine said but not giving up. "Maybe you could tell me about your degree! What are you studying?" Blaine wondered.

"Well considering I'm working on an assignment right now, I'd say biochemistry."

"Alright, so fashion it is, right?"

"Yes Blaine, fashion. Are we playing twenty questions or can I work?"

Blaine fell silent for a minute. It was rather obvious that the man wasn't going to tell him anything about himself. The designer was so wary of him that it would take a miracle to pass by his walls. But maybe if Blaine actually did open up to the man, then maybe he would feel more at ease. That's why Blaine started to talk, about himself, about his degree in music, about his moronic parents and his sweet grandma.

Kurt would never admit it but he listened to everything Blaine said. Every little detail that Blaine was giving him he stored in his mind, he smiled silently whenever Blaine would tell him about something that he did with his friends when he was in high school, he nodded when Blaine told him he was from Westerville and he almost asked questions about the singer's grandma. Listening to Blaine while working wasn't as unpleasant as he thought it would be.

The moment Kurt stood in front of Blaine, his hand quickly working on the fabric on his torso, his mind went to the kiss they shared. He had tried as hard as he could to forget about that, but Blaine's presence in his bedroom and the scent of the man made it quite difficult to keep his mind off it. He didn't want to address it, he didn't want to talk about it and he certainly didn't plan on doing it again.

Kurt nervously arranged over and over again some fabric on Blaine's collar, never getting it quite right. Being around the man hadn't been complicated during the first hour so why was it making him fidgety now?

Blaine didn't know why the closeness with the designer suddenly was uneasy. It had been fine at first even if the man was kneeling in front of him near to his crotch or when he had had his hand on his back. But now his face was merely inches away and it was unsettling. Blaine had had some time over the modeling session to think about all the times they had more or less randomly bumped into each other. He had been fascinated by the man the first time he had saw him, Blaine had been completely compelled by him. And then there had been the concert where Blaine has suddenly had eyes for no one but him. It was unnerving what that man was doing to him. The man and how he made Blaine feel was uncanny: familiar but foreign, comfortably strange yet uncomfortably familiar. And maybe it was the reason why he could feel the man's nervousness growing with every passing second. It was now clear that the collar was giving him a hard time. His body was trembling, restlessness rolling off his body in waves. Blaine could feel the designer growing edgy. He heard the man poking his own skin two or three times in a row and with each scratch the designer grew even more tense. It was probably the closeness of their bodies, and the fact that Blaine could feel the designer's breath on his neck that made him feel so connected to him. In that moment all Blaine could feel was the other man's emotion rolling through his body in waves and he was in such distress that Blaine couldn't bear to leave him like that for one more second.

Blaine brought his hand to his collar, where Kurt's eyes were focused on trying to get something right. The singer stopped him and took the designer's hand away from the collar, he took the pins the man had in his hand and put them away. After that Blaine gently grabbed the designer's chin and tilted his head so they were facing each other before leaning and capturing the other man's lips.

Kurt didn't react at first, shocked by the other man's action. Blaine kissed his lips gently and nibbled softly at it before stopping and looking worriedly at Kurt. They stared at each other for a few seconds, not knowing what to do or what they wanted to do. But they surged forward and pressed their lips together, tongues battling for dominance. Blaine kissed away the nervousness and the agitation and Kurt gave in, not knowing why. They kissed passionately for minutes, bringing each other closer and closer, not able to let go of the other.

Blaine stopped them, gently pushing Kurt's hips away from him. He smiled gently at the other man and tilted his head to the side.

"Are you okay?" Blaine wondered.

"I'm fine. I'm good. I ...er. I was having issue with the collar." Blaine nodded but didn't step back from Kurt's space.

"It's getting late, I should go. Besides, I promised the guys that they could come over tonight and if I don't have pizza when they get to my place they are going to kill me!" Blaine chuckled before cautiously taking off the clothes and giving them to the designer who folded it meticulously while Blaine dressed. When he was finished Blaine stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say or what to do. They had kissed twice and both times it had been full of passion and it had been unsettling. Blaine wanted to talk about it or know where they stood with it.

"I... well. Would you like to go out on a date with me?"

"I don't do dates." Was the immediate answer that Blaine got. He bit his lip worriedly and nodded silently, not daring to look up and see the other man.

Kurt's answer had been a reflex. It was true, he didn't do dates. He hooked up with men and left it at that. But for whatever twisted reason it felt wrong to dismiss Blaine like that. The designer stepped closer to Blaine and took his hand to get the other man's attention.

"That was rude and uncalled for. I'm sorry. I usually don't do dates and I don't plan on going on any with you." Kurt started wincing at how it sounded. "But we could hang out some more and I'll talk, a bit, next time. But there is nothing between us, alright? This... We kissed, twice and you're a good kisser but there is nothing else. Alright?"

Blaine nodded and gave the other man a heartless smile. He picked up his things and went back to his place but not before buying some pizza, he had friends to feed after all.

"So what you are telling us is that Blaine here has bought coffee for two people at least twice in the past weeks? You so have some explaining to do, Anderson!" Wes said, pointing at his friend.

They were all lying lazily on the floor or spread on the sofa or the chairs, eating pizza and drinking beer. That was one of the few perks of living alone: being able to have little parties like that with everyone. Wes lived on campus just like Trent and they both had roommates, Nick and Jeff were living together because no one could actually be stupid enough to room with any of these two because it would always lead to walking in on them having sex. Finally, there was David and Thad who were flatmates. It was part of the monthly ritual to be at Blaine's and to tease him about little things, but it never really was about gossip.

"Yes, Blainey, could you please explain why I saw you with two coffees in hand in that park?" Jeff pressed, smiling cockily at his friend.

"A park? You didn't say anything about a park before?" Blaine shot back, afraid of what his friend could possibly know.

"I.... er... Alright fine! I stalked you and I saw you with your two coffees and some good looking guy!" Jeff admitted. It was no surprise really that the man knew about that. He was worse than the chick in that TV show who knew everything about everyone and posted it online. Except that Jeff really was just a stalker.

Nick fondly rolled his eyes at his boyfriend and pecked him on the cheek. "My little Sherlock." The brunette whispered at a beaming Jeff.

"He is... Just like Jeff said he is good looking and we bumped into each other a few times already." They all whistled and Blaine bowed his head to hide the dark blush that appeared on his face.

"Blainey has a mega crush on that man! Look at his face!" Jeff cackled, throwing some M&M's in his friend's direction.

Blaine's head shot up at the M&M throw and instantly replied with some popcorn, entering a fight to the death with edible weapons.

"Gentlemen!" Wes warned with his council voice. Everyone stopped before dissolving into giggles.

"Ergh... I don't feel well. I think I eat too much pizza." Blaine complained, lying on top of Trent who was currently on the sofa.

"Man, not cool I was sitting here!" Trent accused before moving to the floor.

"Sorry, I'm just a bit nauseous. I'm sure it's Jeff with his weird choice of topping for the pizza!" Blaine joked.

"Hey! Don't blame the pizza, blame the stomach that can't handle such awesomeness that is my pizza topping choice!" Jeff argued, pouting to get a kiss from Nick.

"Alright guys, next concert set list. Round up!" Nick called and Wes took out his computer and started planning the event while the group was deciding on the song choices and Blaine was suffering from his stomach pain on his couch.

Kurt was almost asleep when he heard his phone bipping, signaling to him that he had a message. The man reached out blindly to the nightstand and searched for his phone before bringing it back to him and blinding himself with it.

[From Unknown]

Hi, it's Blaine! I'm officially inviting you to our next concert!

[To Blaine]

1) How did you get my number. 2) Do you know how late it is? 3) Will there be other embarrassing cover of late girl bands?

[From Blaine]

I bullied Bas into giving me your number. It's around midnight, but I thought you had a clock on your cellphone? And yes, there will be more of me embarrassing myself while I sing some girl band songs.

[To Blaine]

It's borderline creepy but coming from you it shouldn't surprise me.

Fine, I'll be there.

[From Blaine]

:D

[To Blaine]

Go to bed, Blaine.

[From Blaine]

Will do. Good night, Beautiful.

Kurt stared at the last message for a good five minutes, expecting another one to come up to apologize or cancel the last one, but nothing came. Kurt lay frozen in bed, hand clenched around his cellphone. He turned it off and plopped down in his bed, a smile slowly appearing on his face. When Kurt started to beam because of the little word he growled at himself and grabbed the pillow next to him to smother himself with it.