Kurt walks down the fifth floor hallway to his small office, a smile plastered to his face. Blaine was amazing. He was a little unsure, hesitant, and he didn't totally understand whatever it was that was going on with him; but he was wonderful. He was everything Kurt had hoped for and more.

He passes by Quinn's office and her PA looks up from her station. "Kurt!" Ava says, and he stops in his tracks to face her. "Miss Fabray wants you to go and talk to her." Ava offers him a reassuring smile, although he knew that the girl wasn't the most comfortable around Quinn. He wasn't scared of her- they were on first name terms, and that only come from the huge amount of time Kurt had spent working with her, building her trust to break down that barrier. Ava gestures behind her to the office door, and Kurt takes a deep breath before knocking. Quinn opens the door and wordlessly walks back to her desk. Kurt closes the door behind him and takes a seat opposite her.

"Where did you go?" she asks.

"Out. I only went to get coffee." Kurt says defensively.

"And since when couldn't you just bring it back here and continue working?"

"Since I was having coffee with my newly found soulmate, Quinn. And you know, I'm actually happy with how that went, and you aren't going to ruin it for me." Quinn's mouth fell open.

"Excuse me?"

"I think you can afford to forgive me this once, don't you agree?"

Quinn takes a deep breath. "Okay. That is pretty big event, I'll admit. Just get back to work, please?"

Kurt nods and walks back to the door, but turns around before opening it. "Quinn?" he says, and she doesn't react, "I'm sorry about your husband."

Quinn waves a manicured hand in his direction, and Kurt takes his cue to leave. He had no reason to interfere any further. He sits back in his office and checks his phone, to find a text from Blaine, mister perfect himself, and begins to smile uncontrollably once more. There is a soft click as his door opens, and soon Ava is sitting by his side. "So," she says, "spill."

Blaine gets home and waits impatiently for Santana's arrival. He attempts to get some work done, dabbling around with his photo editing skills, but eventually settles for watching the America's Next Top Model marathon instead. When Santana finally gets home Blaine nearly forgets his anticipation for her appearance. She flops down on the couch next to him. "You met them." She states, without even a greeting.

"As did you."

"What are they like? How did you really meet?" She asks, biting her lip softly. Blaine can't remember ever seeing her that content.

"He is a designer at Mode D'Etoiles, where I had my interview today," Santana nods, "we met in an elevator and sat awkwardly together through the world's shortest interview. And then we went and had coffee. I invited him to drinks tonight, if that's okay?"

"Of course. So... he?" She says, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"Yes. I don't know what that means and I'm in no rush to find out. Now tell me about yours."

"She came in to check out the studios. She's new in town and has been looking for somewhere to dance for a while, and you should see her Blaine, she was so good, and Deidre basically gave her a job on the spot. She wanted to take classes, and now she's going to be teaching. And she's coming for drinks too, for the record."

"So... she?" he says, mimicking her earlier reaction.

"Yup. And unlike you, I've been thinking for a while and I am definitely gay." Santana replies as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Blaine shrugs. "Okay. So this place is going to be soulmate central tonight?"

"Everyone's dropped out. I think it will be us, our plus ones and Bas, and maybe some of the others will turn up. Oh god, Sebastian is going to fifth wheel." Santana rolls her eyes. "I need a drink now just thinking about it. I hope like fuck that he's bringing someone to make out with, just to keep him out of our hair for a while." Blaine always blamed Santana and Sebastian not getting along on them being too similar. They all hung out in a group and there was a mutual toleration between them, if for no other reason, then for Blaine's sake. They both managed to pull their horns in while they were around each other, and Blaine had his suspicions that there was an odd fondness between them.

After everyone had arrived- Sebastian and a bottle of tequila, Kurt and Brittany- an effort was made to introduce them all to one another. They all knew why they were there, why the celebratory drinks had been called a week earlier and the invite list had been a lot longer than just those assembled. All their other friends seemingly decided against turning up at somewhat last minute, even though they would no doubt have brought their own soulmates along. Santana and Blaine had been each other's fill in soulmates for the entirety of the two years they had been living together, using each other as plus ones. And now was where it all changed.

Santana makes use of her cocktail skills so everyone is sipping something fancy and beautifully coloured before they get too drunk to know the difference. She vows that any colours that stain her carpets will be paid for by both whoever spilt the drink and whomever the drink belonged to in the first place, hoping that some shared responsibility might kick in. They put a movie on the TV, although no one is really watching, and spend a lot of time talking instead.

"I'd like to toast Sebastian," Santana says, "for being the only uncertified queer in the room. When your countdown finally gets there and you find yourself on your knees in front of some hunky guy, I'll proudly be the first to have called it." Blaine raises his glass. If Sebastian's soulmate was a girl, well, that would put an interesting spin on things.

"Only two years, three months, and six days until I get close enough to bother with the rest." Sebastian says, and they all drink whatever is left in their glasses. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a gay bar to hit before I go home alone on a Friday night." He leaves the apartment before anyone can even think to protest. His absence is notable, but not unpleasant.

"We should play a game!" Santana announces, and makes them all sit on the floor around the coffee table. She refills everyone's glasses and joins them on the floor. "Rules are simple, we take turns making statements. If you've done it, you drink. Ready?" they nod in agreement. "Never have I ever woken up next to Sebastian Smythe." Santana says, starting the game, and turning to Blaine expectantly. Blaine drinks. Kurt raises his eyebrows at him, and Brittany appears contently puzzled.

"Low blow, Santana. He slept in my bed without permission and I didn't have the heart to kick him out. She knew that, too, this is her ploy to get me drunk." Blaine explains.

"I neither confirm nor deny these allegations. Your turn, B."

"Never have I ever stripped in a bar." Brittany and Santana both drink, and Blaine turns to Kurt, indicating his turn.

"Never have I ever gotten drunk in front of my parents." Blaine and Brittany drink, while Santana shrugs.

"I have some standards." She offers, by way of explanation.

Brittany considers her options a moment and says, "Never have I ever made out with a girl." Santana and Blaine drink, and then Santana is pulling Brittany through to her bedroom, mumbling something about how she could fix that, leaving Kurt and Blaine alone.

"Well that was a short lived game." Kurt muses.

"We don't have to stop, just because Santana needs something to keep her motors running," Blaine replies, "never have I ever kissed a guy." Kurt drinks.

"Never have I ever been skinny dipping." Blaine drinks. They pass the game back and forth a little while longer, until their glasses are empty. They were only a few drinks in, not even close to drunk yet- and with any luck it would remain that way. They were only on second impressions, after all. "Blaine?" Kurt asks.

"Hm?"

"I don't think I can drink anymore." Blaine laughs and soon Kurt joins.

"Me neither. I don't hold my alcohol very well." He stretches out, yawning softly.

"Also, I think I've exhausted the limits of my innocence. I don't think I would do any more drinking." Kurt admits. Blaine laughs again.

"Me too, honestly."

"Never have I ever had sex." Kurt states plainly, casting his gaze to the bottle and empty wine glasses. Blaine makes no move to refill.

"Neither." Blaine says, giving Kurt a half smile.

"You and your friends seem to be awfully into hook up culture." Kurt notes, thinking about Sebastian and Santana, one who had ditched to go to a bar and find someone for the night, the other had already brought hers back into her bedroom.

"Well the other two, sure. Santana never brought anyone back here, ever, probably because the hook ups were girls and she didn't want me to think of her any way other than how she let me. Bas is... different. He finds guys because he decided that his countdown was too long to retain a virgin label."

"But you?"

"It's never been my scene. According to them I cared far too much what my soulmate- you- would think about whatever had happened in the past. And they were right."

"Do you care that I had a boyfriend? That I wasn't saving everything for today?" Blaine shakes his head.

"It's not like I've saved everything either. I just had a lot of romance riding on this."

"But we're just friends, right?" Kurt checks.

"Right." But Blaine doubted they would ever manage to be only that.

"You know, for my soulmate, I know hardly anything about you," Kurt says, after a silence that lingered a little too long to be comfortable.

"You just learned all kinds of things about me," Blaine responds, "what more do you want to know?"

Kurt shrugs and breaks his eye contact with Blaine. "I don't know, more than about your drinking exploits and sex life." Kurt looks back at Blaine. "Where did you grow up? What are your parents like? Do you have any siblings?"

Blaine takes a deep breath, ready to begin his story. "Born and raised in Westerville, Ohio. My parents are the kind of rich people who should never have had kids, but they loved us- us being my brother Cooper and I. There are nearly ten years between us, so we've always had an interesting relationship. Dad is a lawyer, and his hours got longer as we got older. Mom had her own fortune, and she always aspired to be a doctor like everyone else in her family, but she ended up a housewife pretty early on. She doesn't have any need to earn a living, so she's settled for a lot of volunteering... and now I'm completely boring you."

Kurt shakes his head. "Not at all."

"What about you, then?"

"I grew up in Lima, so we were... oddly close. I was an only child, though I think my parents always hoped for more. I'm not going to lie, I was a precious child, and who wouldn't want a smaller me running around? When I was eight, my mom died, and then it was just my dad and I, and it really couldn't have been easy for him. He remarried when I was seventeen, so then Carole and Finn became a part of my life and there isn't a moment I would hesitate to call them my family."

"My mom explained the age difference between me and Coop as my conception being 'more of a hope than a plan'. So I was a happy accident."

"It could be worse."

"I'm pretty sure my parents got drunk and forgot to use contraception." Kurt laughs. "Kurt, this is serious!" Blaine says, although he doesn't mean it in the slightest.

"Sorry, sorry," Kurt says, taking a moment to compose himself, "I'm good. But can we maybe not talk about your parents fucking?"

"Gladly."

"What about your work? Can I see your pretty cameras?" Blaine stands and helps Kurt to his feet, and doesn't drop his hand as he leads him towards his bedroom. He turns on the light and the pair step inside. Kurt marvels at the room for a moment, realising just how personal a space bedrooms were, knowing how much he could learn from just being there. It was tidy, the bed was made. Everything was simple and well kept; the few wall decorations were tasteful. Kurt had no overwhelming urges to criticise Blaine's stylistic tastes. All were good signs. Blaine picks up a camera from his desk, where it had been sitting by his still open laptop.

"This is Katy," Blaine says, "she's horrible to explain your fondness for, but people find it hard to disagree with the quality of what she creates."

"Katy? Are you going where I think you're going with this?" Kurt raises an eyebrow at him.

"I named my camera after Katy Perry." Blaine admits.

"For some reason, I'm not surprised."

"Would you mind modelling for me for a moment? To show you how Katy works."

"Why not?" Blaine grins and positions Kurt in front of the bookcase. He moves to the bed and lies down on his stomach. He looks through the viewfinder and focuses the lens.

"The lighting in here really isn't that great," Blaine says, eye still to camera, "and it's never annoyed me until now, but I'm going to have to get some more lamps or something." Kurt laughs, and Blaine snaps a few pictures. "Why'd you laugh?"

"Because it's cute how passionate you are. I'm literally just standing here in your bedroom and yet you want it to turn out perfectly."

"It matters to me. If I can get a perfect shot here, then I can get a perfect shot in a studio with the lighting and makeup and backdrops, right?"

"Yeah, that makes sense. But you have to take more pictures first, don't you?" Blaine looks on the digital display screen at the pictures he had just taken.

"You won't really be able to check all this stuff until you hook the camera up to a monitor of some sort, but I'm pretty content with this one." Kurt lies down next to Blaine and shuffles over so he can see the small screen.

"It's not the best picture of me in existence," Kurt says, "I wasn't even posing properly."

"That's what I like about it so much. You're smiling and happy, and you aren't trying too hard. You're beautiful like this, how you really are." Kurt opens his mouth to protest, but finds himself unable to form the words. Blaine turns the camera off and sits up, puts it on the nightstand and returns to his stomach next to Kurt. "You don't let a lot of people see you like that, do you?"

"I don't think I do." Kurt affirms.

"You have a reputation to uphold?"

"Something like that," Kurt smiles.

"You don't have to be scared to let your guard down a little around me," Blaine says, "because I will always try to find those moments that capture you as you really are, with or without the camera. So you may as well stop putting all that effort into keeping them from me, because I don't give up that easily." He looks down at his wrist, where the pattern of zeros was nearly completely gone from his skin. It feels odd to him for them to be absent, but then he meets Kurt's impossibly deep ocean eyes, and he remembers that the numbers have led him to so much more than just a person.