Blaine knows that the countdown leads to a meeting whether you want it to or not. That if you stay at home to try and avoid meeting your soulmate, it only influences your soulmate to come to you by some coincidence. Which is why he takes it in the exact opposite direction, dresses up as Prince Charming and pays for a horse and carriage for the day, knowing that whoever his soulmate is would have to run into him. And then he waits. Soulmates are an important concept to him, and he knows that whatever happens, the person who finds him will appreciate it.

His soulmate turns up right on schedule, the only person anywhere even nearly close enough, and Blaine extends his hand out to him, never missing a beat. The man takes it and steps up into the carriage, all in sort of a daze. Finally, he says "Im going to have to call you back," and lowers his phone from his ear, never once breaking eye contact with Blaine.

"Youre beautiful," is the first thing that tumbles out of Blaines mouth. The man blushes, finally looking down bashfully.

"Im Kurt," he introduces, and realises that he is still holding Blaines hand from before.

"Blaine."

"And is your last name Charming?"

Blaine laughs. "I wish. You like it?"

"I love it. I was expecting just to smack into you when I wasnt looking where I was going..."

Which is exactly what happens. Blaine decides to take a scenic route on his way to the set of the photo shoot he is working on the morning of his countdowns end. He isnt a slow walker, but at times he could walk slower than he really ought to. He people watches, making up little stories for each person that he passes. He is so invested in his story of the woman who had just walked passed- she was on her way home from not a one night stand, but the hospital, where her friend had her stomach pumped- when a young man walks towards him.

"Ava, Im on my way! No, Im nearly there, honestly, Ill be there soon!" he says into his phone. He is impeccably dressed, walking quickly, obviously late. With his phone in one hand pressed to his ear, and a coffee in the other hand, he is clearly in a rush to get somewhere. Blaine doesnt even have time to begin formulating a story when the man walks right into him, dumping the contents of his lukewarm coffee all over Blaine. "Oh my god, Im so sorry!" he says, "Ava, not to you, I just..." the mans eyes skim to his wrist, before widening them at Blaine, who is frozen in place. "Give me forty-five minutes. It would have been five, but something just came up." The man hangs up on whomever he was talking to and pockets his phone, looking at Blaine. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Im fine. Youre in a hurry, dont worry about me," Blaine says. The other man doesnt move.

"Im Kurt," the man introduces, holding a hand out for Blaine to shake, which he does.

"And Im your soulmate." Kurt laughs.

"Got a name?"

"Oh! Blaine. I cant believe I just did that."

"Well I cant believe I just poured mildly cold coffee on your shirt, which isnt anywhere near as endearing as yours."

"Wed better get you another then, huh? Since Im wearing yours," Blaine says.

"And that is whyI said forty-five. Lets go." Kurt takes Blaines hand, and even as someone who had only been on a handful of dates in his life, having his hand in Kurts immediately feels like its the most natural place for it to ever be. He doesnt ever want to let go of it.

Blaine occasionally regrets his decision to become friends with benefits with Sebastian. It isnt that he has any feelings for his friend, or that he has any plans to continue with their relationship in that manner. Despite having known Sebastian since high school, only in the last couple of months had Blaine let himself accept any of his advances. He doesnt want to be underprepared when it comes to his soulmate, and he has no idea what to expect from them. Sleeping with Sebastian is merely a crash course in how to be intimate. And yesterday was it.

He may be walk of shaming, but he is still freshly showered, well fed, and dressed in a variation on the outfit from the day before. He may be a little bit scruffy for having not shaved and his curls must be a mess- plus hes wearing his glasses for having not had contacts with him- but otherwise he looks perfectly presentable. He knows that Sebastian understands the terms of their hook ups, and everything is okay. No new feelings were found from either of them in the course of their sexual exploits, and Blaine always left the apartment after a friendly coffee and a "thanks for the orgasm" high five.

It is in the hallway on his way to the elevator that he remembers that he isnt the only one with a walk of shame to happen, but he doesnt quite anticipate for the one who would stand out to him to be in skinny jeans so tight that they are nearly painted on and to have a portfolio in his hand, juggling the huge book and a cup of coffee while attempting to unlock the apartment door and not quite manoeuvring the key right in his clear hangover. But, unlike Blaine, his hair is perfectly styled and his outfit is wrinkle free.

"Need a hand with that?" Blaine asks, because no matter what Sebastian says, his neighbours are hot. The man groans in response.

"Yes please," he elaborates, "you would think that the alcohol would be out of my system." He passes Blaine the key- singular key, Blaine notes, no keychain- and Blaine easily unlocks the door. "Thanks."

"Rough night?" Blaine asks, because soulmate or not, flirting never hurt anyone. Who knows when he might need a third to please his soulmate?

"You have no idea," the man says, leaning on his doorframe, "my friend- my very straight, female friend- took me to a gay bar last night and ditched me, so I possibly consumed too much alcohol and crashed at the place of some guy who wanted to have sex with me but I fell asleep on. And to top it all off, I had to stop to get coffee on my way back here because Im just apartment sitting while another friend is out of town, and I have no clue how to operate her coffee machine."

"Why such a big night? Especially on a Tuesday," Blaine asks.

"Because today is soulmate day and Rachel thought that I should have lost my virginity before then. Alas, no such luck," the man sighs before remembering what is happening, continuing, "oh! Um, thanks for the help. It was nice meeting you, um..."

"Blaine."

"Right, Blaine. Im Kurt. Ill see you around?"

"Oh, uh, my friend is your friends neighbour. I was just on my way home."

"So I can always hassle him for your number if I never see you again. I will see you around, Blaine." Kurt flashes Blaine one last meltingly gorgeous smile before closing the door. Blaine sighs to himself as he continues to walk towards the elevator. A door opens behind him, catching his attention. "For fucks sake, look at your wrist already." Blaine follows Kurts command, and finds the line of zeros, alerting him that he had met his soulmate already.

"Oh," Blaine says, "I guess were stuck together then." He doesnt even have time to process that Kurt moved from his door by the moment his lips touch his.

When Blaine puts a message in the ask box of one of his favourite blogs, its all very innocent. He only leaves a simple, "Hey! Your blog is so great, I cant even, Ive been stalking you for months and we havent talked, why is that? Whereabouts in Ohio are you from, anyway?" and promptly forgets about it. He just checks Kurts blog (yes, he knows the blogger by name, thats what happens when you read his about page so often) once or twice in a day to check for updates to the Sing fanfiction that he writes. Sometimes he gets caught up in the perfection of their mutual fandoms though, and reblogs some stuff- but he tries not to let himself seem like he is just going through page by page.

He forgets that he ever messaged him, especially since he has bigger things to think about- his countdown is due to end the next day. In just a matter of hours he will have met his soulmate.

The next day he checks his tumblr and finds a neat little (1) next to his inbox. He opens it, and sure enough, Kurt has responded. "Mutual following, even! And your reviews on my fic, sdsfkasjfaksl;jafj you are way too nice. Im from Lima. Kurt, by the way."

"I only give the reviews that the fics deserve! Im Blaine. Im from Westerville," he sends, making plans to check his blog throughout the day until he sees another response from Kurt. And he cant wait.

That evening, after another few asks back and forward, Kurt asks if he can have Blaines Skype so they can chat more conveniently, and he happily obliges. After just a few minutes of having given Kurt his name, they are messaging one another again, though on a different site.

Blaine! Kurts message pops up.

Kurt!

Why havent we talked sooner? We have so much in common, its insane.

Its another minute before Blaine replies. Sorry, I got distracted by the Avenue Q OBC recording. I dont even know!

You like musicals?! Like, not just Sing covers?!

Yes! Blaine replies, figuring that Kurt could only mean that in the positive. He misses the days of Sing when they actually seemed to make an effort to include showtunes.

How are you even real? :D

Im not. Im just an AI set to have everything in common with you so that you will give me personal information.

Ha! Well, Ill keep that in mind, AI!Blaine. Blainebot. Yeah, lets go with that.

Blainebot. I like it.

Its nice to meet you, Blainebot.

You too, Kurt. It isnt even until three hours later, after switching to a video call an hour into their conversation and talking non-stop for an hour and a half after, that Blaine even realises that his countdown ever switched to a neat line of zeros. He hadnt ever considered that chatting on Skype could count as a meeting, but it didnt matter- and he couldnt wipe the grin off his face.

Blaine has always been aware from the moment that his countdown was explained to him that he is fortunate to have a countdown set to end in high school. It gave him an awful lot more time to spend with his soulmate over the course of his life than most. He is running late to an impromptu performance- because no Warbler performance is that impromptu- which is only confirmed as he pulls his pocket watch out and examines the time, still walking towards the senior commons.

"Oh, excuse me," a melodic voice chimes behind him, and Blaine turns to see possibly the most beautiful boy to have ever existed, "Um hi. Can I ask you a question? Im new here."

"My names Blaine," he introduces, offering his hand immediately, perfect private school boy manners intact.

"Kurt," the other boy replies, "So what exactly is going on?"

"The Warblers! Every now and then they throw an impromptu performance in the senior commons. Tends to shut the school up for a while."

"So wait, the glee club here is kind of cool?"

"The Warblers are like rock stars. Come on, I know a shortcut." Blaine grabs Kurts hand and doesnt let go as they head towards the commons, via what is, in actuality, not a shortcut. He had only managed to catch a glimpse of his wrist, but he didnt need it to know that Kurt was the one. And he couldnt wait to hold his hand forever.