Blaine had spent his life with the sheltered assumption that his soulmate would be a girl. He had always been told not to get his hopes up, to avoid having any expectations of the person he was destined to meet. He had no control over their meeting, only as to how he would advance from that point. The word soulmate was used for a reason, and no matter whether or not they were a female, they were destined to have a relationship and he had waited too long for this moment to let a first impression scare him away.

"I'm Blaine," he says, offering the other man his hand, "I have an interview here today."

"Kurt," he replies, taking Blaine's hand and shaking it softly, "and I believe that you are- that we are..."

"Um... yes. Soulmates."

"Right then." The elevator doors slide open at the fifth floor. "I'm guessing you're here for Ms Fabray, the queen herself?" Blaine helps Kurt steer the rack out the elevator.

"Yeah. Any advice?"

"She is the queen bee, the head cheerleader. You need to... tread with caution." Blaine thanks Kurt as he leads the way to the office and knocks.

"Come in," calls a voice, and Kurt enters. The impeccably dressed dynamic blonde looks up from her papers at the disturbance coming from the door. "Ah, Kurt," she greets, "bring them in." Kurt wheels the rack through the door and parks it in the huge office, not really worrying about its location. She looks back towards the door, where Blaine is standing. "Mister Anderson, I take it? Come in, come in." She gestures for Blaine to sit across from her, and he does so. "Actually... Kurt, you should stay." Kurt sits in the chair next to Blaine's, smiling gently in his direction. She moves some papers around on her desk, composes herself and looks over at Blaine. "Good morning, I'm Quinn Fabray, executive of Mode D'Etoiles." She extends her hand, and Blaine shakes it.

"Blaine Anderson."

"This is Kurt Hummel, one of our designers. Now, you have your full portfolio?" Blaine retrieves the folder from his bag and passes it to Quinn, who sets it on her desk and opens it immediately. She flips through, looking over each photo carefully. "Tell me what you can do for us." She states, her eyes not leaving the page.

"I prefer to work closely with the designers in the first few stages of each shoot, because no one knows their work better than they do. They often have a lot of input for casting and dressing that I just don't like being given the authority to have. I have done full ad campaigns and one off shoots, whatever is it that you need at the time. For you? The goal is to sell the clothes. I would want to use a range of models, each with quite contrasting features. Use simple backgrounds and lighting, as to not detract attention from the outfits. Again, as to an overall theme for the shoots, I'd like to work with the designer." His strengths were best displayed in his portfolio, and Quinn already had that in front of her. Her expression was unreadable, and there was no way Blaine could tell what she was thinking.

Quinn lifted her gaze from the page to look at Kurt. "You're the designer- what do you want from this, Kurt?"

"I just want to get my designs out there. I don't have an eye for... all this." Kurt says. "But that being said, Quinn, I'd like to have some input." Quinn nods once.

"If this campaign all works out well, we would be looking to permanently employ you here, Mister Anderson. Does that work for you?"

"Yes, of course. I'm self managed at the moment, but I could adapt to just about anything." Blaine says. Quinn snaps the portfolio shut and finally meets Blaine's eyes.

"Could I hold onto this?" she asks, and Blaine nods, "I suppose we'll be getting back to you. We have a few interviews left." Quinn stands, and Blaine mimics the action. This was possibly the shortest interview Blaine had ever witnessed. She extends her hand and Blaine shakes it once more. "Thank you for your time, Mister Anderson, we'll be in contact, if we have further questions and such. I think your portfolio captures everything the best, yes?"

"Yes," Blaine agrees, "thank you."

Quinn walks over to the door and opens it. Both Kurt and Blaine walk to the door, smiling on their way out. "Oh, Kurt, show our guest out, will you?" Kurt affirms, and the door closes behind them. They walk silently to the elevator and step inside.

Kurt is the first to break the silence. "Could I get your number?"

"Oh right, sure." Blaine fishes his phone from his bag and passes it to Kurt. Kurt taps in his number and passes the phone back. Blaine shoves it into his bag. "Are you busy now?"

"Not particularly. We could go and get coffee?" Blaine nods, and the pair head up the road to a small coffee shop, returning to silence. They choose a table by the window, as Blaine sits and Kurt remains standing. "What can I get you?" Kurt asks.

"Medium drip," Blaine replies, "thanks." Kurt smiles.

"No problem." He returns with their drinks not too long after, and slides into the seat across from him. Blaine sits quietly until he returns, and wishes he had gotten the coffee so he wasn't left alone with his thoughts quite the same way.

"I'm sorry; this is all just... really new to me. I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for this moment." Blaine says.

"I know what you mean. My best friend met her soulmate back in high school, and now I'm finally there too, ten years later."

"So what is it exactly that you do at Mode D'Etoiles?" Blaine asks, quite obviously changing the subject.

"I'm a designer. Usually I come up with the concepts and show them to Quinn, who puts her stamp on them and that's that, the items become part of the line if she likes them enough. But at the moment, I've just finished a whole line myself, enough to get my name on the labels. That's why we need a campaign, to launch this all. So what would you call yourself?"

"It varies from project to project. Sometimes I'm just a photographer, sometimes I'm an artistic director. I can work alone or in a team, it all depends. I'm flexible." Blaine clenches his fingers around his coffee cup a little out of nervous habit. Kurt looks at his wrist, where the numbers are rapidly fading. Blaine notices and tugs his sleeve down to cover it.

"Blaine, we can't avoid this forever. You know as well as I do what that countdown meant."

Blaine takes a deep breath. "I... wasn't really expecting you to be a guy."

"Does it matter? No one knows who their soulmate is going to be until they meet them. We don't have to do anything about this if you don't want to, but god, Blaine, I've wanted to meet you since I was old enough to know that you existed, and I'm not going to let you just run out on me. We can be friends, at least? I mean, we were destined to meet and stuff, and we must get along okay, right?"

"I just always knew you would be perfect," Blaine says, making Kurt blush a bit, "Friends. I can manage that." His phone begins to ring and he manages to find it in his satchel, and looks at Kurt apologetically for a moment as he answers. "Santana, hi."

"Babe, your countdown's over, right? How did it go?" Santana asks, sounding jittery. Blaine wonders if she was just getting rid of nervous energy prior to her own meeting.

"We're having coffee now."

"Oh, sorry."

"We can finish this at home, okay?"

"Yes. Okay. Sorry. I'll see you then." Blaine hangs up and rolls his eyes.

"Sorry about that, I was just going to face a lot of wrath later if I ignored her." Blaine explains, putting his phone back into his bag.

"It's fine," Kurt replies, "Who is she? Girlfriend?"

Blaine snorts. "God, no. Just my roommate. Her countdown ends today as well."

"So do you have a girlfriend then?" Kurt asks. Blaine shakes his head.

"No. I've never really dated anyone. I guess I'm kind of a romantic and was just waiting on our grand meeting. I don't know what I would have done if you were married or anything... you aren't, right?"

Kurt laughs. "No, I'm not married. I only really dated one guy and that was incredibly short lived, because it only took me a few days to realise I was never going to let myself fall in love with anyone until I had given you a chance."

"How many people end up as platonic soulmates, do you think?"

"I don't know, and I don't think it matters. Some people go out and marry their soulmate as soon as they meet, others wait a few years so they can do things the so called 'old fashioned' way. Some people never get further than the first meeting." Kurt shrugs and sips his coffee, knowing he lacked authority on the matter. He only really knew what they had been told in school.

"I want to make this work for us, not to anyone else's standards." Blaine says.

"Exactly. And I think it's a good thing we're soulmates, because we'll probably be spending an awful lot of time together from here on out."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think I've ever seen Quinn quite like that. Considering so far you're the only one she's even planned to interview, and that she's asked my opinion, you're incredibly likely to get this job."

"This isn't just because of the soulmate thing, is it?" Blaine teases.

Kurt laughs gently before looking Blaine directly in the eyes. "Your work is amazing and I honestly think you're the best person for this job."

"That... really means a lot to me. Thank you, Kurt." Blaine says, giving Kurt a genuine smile. "So... how long have you known that you're... gay?"

"Oh, sweetie," Kurt replies, "I've never known anything. I just sort of noticed."

"Then how did you know to date your one ex-boyfriend?" Blaine asks. He had never really even considered dating other men as an option, let alone as an orientation. He hadn't ever looked at a man and thought of them any differently, but Kurt was another story entirely.

"It just felt right. We were good friends, and it got some firsts out of the way."

"So what you're saying is- if it feels right- maybe one day we could be something?" Blaine says, maybe too hopefully. He was contradicting what he had said earlier, about how they would be friends. But was it a door he wanted to close entirely?

"Only if it feels right. There isn't any point forcing anything because that will just make us both miserable."

"Right," Blaine agrees. Kurt looks at his watch and then quickly drains the last of his coffee.

"I have to get back to the office otherwise Quinn will be in super bitch mode for the next decade," he explains, looking to Blaine apologetically, "but this was really nice."

Blaine finishes his own drink, and stands to follow Kurt from the cafe. They head outside and Blaine walks Kurt back down the road to the offices, since he needed to go in that direction anyway. At the door to the lobby, Kurt pulls Blaine into a less than comfortable hug, but at the same time it felt oddly fitting.

Blaine A. If it isn't too soon, we're having celebratory soulmate drinks at our place tonight, if you're interested?

Kurt H. Sounds perfect.