Stepping inside was decidedly easier than Kurt had imagined. Thanks to a surely rather expensive air conditioning system the building held nothing of the oppressive heat outside. It was comfortably cool inside despite the fact that most of the front was made of glass.

Apart from the temperature, though, all hell was loose in the entrance hall. People were hurrying from one end to another, clutching papers or carrying something or other. There were a lot of booths from all kinds of student organizations and every now and then an adult would pop out between them, looking around frantically. It seemed that Kurt had stepped in the middle of preparations for orientation week.

For a second, he hesitated. What if he'd read the date wrong? What if he wasn't even supposed to be here yet, if he was too early and would just stand in the way? What if one or several of his future professors saw him here and hated him from the very beginning for being too stupid to get it right?

Before any of these worries could get the better of him, though, someone timidly tapped his shoulder from behind. Kurt startled and turned around so fast he nearly snapped his neck, only to find a petite blonde behind him, looking just as scared at his reaction.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you! I was just wondering if you knew where I'm supposed to go. It's my first day here, so I don't really know where everything is," she pressed out quickly, still looking a bit scared.

Kurt felt his expression soften. The girl looked a lot like a frightened doe with her wide brown eyes. She reminded him of Miss Pilsbury. "It's okay, you didn't really scare me. I think I might have scared you a lot more, sorry for that. And I don't think I can help you, I'm new here, too."

The startled look was replaced by a shy smile in an instant and she hesitantly held out her hand for him to shake. "No need to apologize, I'm scared pretty easily. I'm Michelle and maybe we could find out what we need to know together?"

Smiling back, Kurt took her hand and shook it. "Kurt. Sure, why not? I don't really know anyone here so it would be nice not to have to wander aimlessly through the school on my own."

They shared another shy smile before Michelle started to search for something in her bag - Prada, he noticed - finally coming up with a worn-looking piece of paper.

"Ah, there it is. I printed out the directions and the program. Now we just have to find out where exactly Room 204 is," she said, eyes leaving the paper to look around helplessly.

Kurt couldn't really say he had an idea where that room was but seeing that the entrance hall wasn't very likely to lead to the actual lecture rooms and 204 sounded like it might be on the second floor, he decided that taking the stairs on the other end of the hall would probably be a wise move. So he suggested just that.

"Sounds like a plan to me. We still have some time to find it should you be wrong, so it can't hurt to look," Michelle agreed, following him through the people rushing about in the direction of the stairs.

It turned out that Room 204 indeed was on the second floor, as was every other room starting with 200. Michelle and Kurt seemed to be the first ones to arrive since there was no one else in the hall and the door was still locked. There were no chairs outside of the rooms and no one sat down on the floor with their best clothes on, so they just leaned against the wall making a bit small talk to pass the time.

"So, what are you studying?" Kurt asked, hoping the answer would be Fashion Design so he'd actually know someone in his classes.

"Photography. And you?"

So much for his hopes. "Fashion Design."

For a moment, Michelle looked just as disappointed as Kurt had felt at finding out they probably wouldn't see much of each other throughout the year.

"Well, maybe we'll still see each other in here. Just because we won't have classes together doesn't mean we can't become friends. I just moved to New York from Nebraska and I don't really know anyone in the city." She looked at him hopefully.

"I'm from Ohio so I don't really know a lot of people here, either. Except for my roommate and one of my best friends. Maybe we could have coffee together when this is over?"

Michelle grinned at him and he decided that her very tasteful and rather expensive clothes weren't the only reason he liked her. She had a really cute smile and maybe they would hit it off together. Who knew?

"You say coffee, I'm in. I hope you don't mind Starbucks?"

Kurt let out a short laugh before smiling at her reassuringly. "Who minds Starbucks? You can count on me."

They smiled at each other but before either of them could say more, the moment was interrupted by a tall black guy with an earring and a tattoo on his left arm running down the hall and stopping abruptly in front of them, his hair looking like he'd had an unfortunate encounter with a socket-outlet.

"Is this Room 204? Am I too late?" he asked, obviously panicked.

"Yes it is and no, you're not. We seem to be the first ones here. The door is still locked," Kurt tried to reassure him. The guy breathed out in relief.

"Thank God. My alarm failed me and I had like an hour to get here. I had to skip breakfast and take the fastest shower of my life. Though that was probably rather unnecessary thanks to the sprint to the subway." He rolled his eyes and held out his hand. "Anyway, I'm Percival."

Smiling, Kurt took the offered hand first. "Nice to meet you, Percival. I'm Kurt."

Michelle was a bit more hesitant but still offered Percival a shy smile as she shook his hand. "Michelle."

"So, what are you here for?" the taller man asked, obviously not having a problem with small-talk.

Once again, Kurt was first to answer. "Fashion Design."

Percival grinned at him. "Oh, a kindred spirit. Me too. And you?" he asked, turning to Michelle.

"Photography," she answered, smiling at him.

"What a shame. I was looking forward to knowing some people in my classes. Well, at least I'll have you, Kurt." He shot a wink in his direction. Kurt blushed, not sure what to say in response. Was that guy flirting with him? Well, that sure was a change from Ohio standards.

They didn't get much further in their conversation before a tiny, scatty-looking man with an admittedly very stylish pair of glasses rushed over to them and started unlocking the door. Kurt assumed he was a professor, so the three of them just followed him inside once the door was open. They sat down next to each other in one of the front rows while the man searched for something in his bag.

The room started filling with people not too long after and a mere fifteen minutes after Michelle and Kurt had arrived most of the chairs were occupied and everyone followed the man in the front with their eyes as he had a rather epic fight with technology. Obviously, the laptop he'd brought refused to start. Kurt was quite impressed at the variety of choice curse words the man seemed to know.

Another ten minutes later the professor had given up on the device and just made himself comfortable on his desk, facing the students.

"Originally, there should be a presentation by now but since my laptop refuses to work for reasons that escape me, I'll have to improvise. My name is Professor Larry Steinberg and those of you who chose to study Fashion Design will see more of me in the near future" - at this, Percival grinned at Kurt before returning his attention to their future professor - "I'm supposed to introduce you to our school and its many advantages, but I'm pretty sure none of you have applied here not knowing what to expect, so I'll keep it short. You've made it into Parsons, so you're already pretty good at what you're doing. We're here to help you further develop your talent, be it fashion or photography or design in general. We have the best equipment you can imagine and some of the best professors you could possibly wish for. If you work hard, I can promise you your efforts will pay off."

Professor Steinberg rummaged through his bag once more until he produced a stack of papers from it. "Here is the floorplan and everything else you'll need the next few days and possibly weeks. If you'd be so kind to come up here and tell me your name and your course of studies I'll hand out your schedules as well. If you have a question, feel free to ask me."

Things progressed pretty fast from there. No one seemed to have any questions for now and they seemed to be free to leave and explore the building themselves the minute they received their schedules.

Percival, Michelle and Kurt checked their schedules together - it turned out that those of Kurt and Percival where pretty much identical - before they made their way to the closest Starbucks. None of them felt like checking out the building with all those people still running around hectically. They had more than enough time to do that once things were a little calmer.

Once inside, Percival tried to insist on paying for Kurt's nonfat mocha. By now, Kurt was pretty sure the other boy was flirting with him - he'd also held the door open for him whenever they had passed one - and he still wasn't sure what to do about it. He decided to wait for the right moment to bring up Blaine and thus end the conversation. He really hoped that this Percival guy could take a hint and wasn't a second Sebastian because he actually liked him so far.

The perfect opportunity presented itself when they sat down with their coffees - Kurt had paid for his mocha himself - and Percival made his first more obvious move, blatantly ignoring Michelle's presence at the table.

"So, gorgeous, how about we add a movie and dinner to the coffee? Since you wouldn't let me pay for your mocha." His smile was sincere and Kurt felt seriously sorry for letting him down, but this was also the perfect opening.

"Sorry, but I don't think that would be a good idea. I have a boyfriend back home." As much as he should feel guilty about it, Kurt couldn't help the thrill the disappointment on Percival's face sent up his spine. No one had ever been disappointed that he'd been taken up until now (except for Karofsky, and that conversation had just been plain confusing).

It was then that Michelle decided to rejoin the conversation. "Do you have a picture?"

Kurt smiled at her, scrolling through his phone until he found the perfect photo for the occasion. It showed him and Blaine during the summer in the Hudmel backyard, feeding each other strawberries in the hammock. He wasn't even sure who had taken the picture, maybe Carole or Rachel, but it was perfect. Much better suited than his background (a photo Mercedes had taken of them mid-kiss and while Kurt loved it, you couldn't really see their faces).

He handed over his phone, impatiently waiting for a reaction. Michelle seemed a pretty nice girl, but Percival was looking over her shoulder and Kurt wasn't too sure he wanted to hear what he had to say. Turned out there had been nothing to worry about because they both just ended up cooing over the photo.

"You're so sweet together! How you look at each other! That's the most adorable thing I've ever seen. What's his name?" Michelle asked, obviously in love with the picture. Kurt couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm.

"Blaine," he answered and the way the tables' other two occupants looked at him as he said it told him that he'd been saying Blaine's name in that 'love-struck' tone again Tash had already teased him for.

"Is that a bowtie?" Percival asked, leaning in closer to have a better look at Kurt's phone.

"Yes, it is. He's sort of addicted to them. It's adorable." This time, Kurt didn't even try to keep the gushing tone out of his voice.

"You should keep him, then," Percival said with a grin. "The bowtie ones are always keepers."

And that was it. They laughed it off and the conversation returned to normal. Percival didn't make another move on Kurt (though he continued calling him gorgeous, but Kurt was sort of okay with that since he'd also taken to calling Michelle pretty eyes) and they just talked about New York and their schedules and where they were from and high school.

It had turned six before any of them had noticed and they said their goodbyes hastily because all of them should have been somewhere else quite some time ago. Though there was still enough time for Michelle to remark on something Kurt had hoped would escape their attention.

"By the way, I think it's really adorable that you're wearing his bowtie today. For luck, I suppose?" she mumbled into his ear as they hugged goodbye. Kurt blushed madly before nodding in response. Percival just patted him on the back.

"No need to be ashamed, gorgeous. I'm wearing the good luck boxer shorts my little brother gave to me and I'm not afraid to admit it," he announced, winking at Kurt before heading out the door and out in the busy streets. Michelle just rolled her eyes and hugged Kurt one last time before following him out.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Kurt pulled out his phone and composed one last text before he himself headed home.

(18:10)

Can't wait for our Skype date tonight. I just met the weirdest people and I can't wait to tell you all about it. Love you so much, Kurt