Kathryn Woodrow sealed the last envelope and handed the stack of them to one of the interns to post out. The embossed envelopes contained invitations to the most exclusive event the Wish Factory put on annually- the charity gala. The gala was set to raise funds and awareness for the organisation, while recognising their celebrity backers and key financial supporters.

Of course, the gala was invite only, but that didn't mean they were entirely exclusive in their invitation process. If you were a clever enough candidate, you might have been able to score an invite to have your wish granted. While honouring their newest famous supporters, they required some presenters, and they always had a nice surprise for everyone involved.

Her lips curled into a smile as she adjusted her pink suit and opened her emails, ready to get charitable again.

Leah handed Kurt an envelope that was addressed to him. He lifted the flap, breaking the seal, and pulled out the beautifully made invitation to the Wish Factory's annual gala. He read over the invitation and handed it back to Leah.

"Can we make it? What else are we doing that night?" he asked. Leah checked the date and looked it up on Kurt's calendar.

"You're totally free. Charlotte said something about meeting for some interview or another, but that evening is fine."

"Oh, good! It will be fun, don't you think?" Kurt said. The gala was always raved about and he had always felt like he was missing out for not being invited.

"Duh. This is like, party of the year."

"You'll have to be my plus one, you know?" Kurt said. This was the longest conversation they had had for awhile now.

Leah smiled. "I don't know who else you would ask, anyway. Thanks, Kurt."

Maybe Blaine, he thought. "Right. And we have weeks to get a nice suit."

"Of course! I'll call your tailor tonight, see if he has any ideas, or if we should go off the rack..." Leah trailed her sentence off, tapping memos into her phone as she went. Kurt smiled to himself and tried to contain his excitement for a bit longer.

Marie wasn't expecting any mail to look half as enticing as the envelope she held in her hands now. She ran her fingers over the seal delicately, before she turned the envelope over. It was addressed to Blaine Anderson.

She headed up to his room and passed it to him, much to his surprise and confusion. "What's this for?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said, "open it and see." Blaine opened the envelope.

"Oh, wow," was all he could say, before he passed it to Marie to read. She skimmed it over and handed it back.

"Charity gala, then? We'll have to get you a suit." She said, and Blaine just sort of stood there, unable to wipe the smile from his face.

"I guess so," he said, looking at the date, "it's a Saturday night. I can go, right?"

"Of course, hun. Do you get a plus one, then?" Marie said, trying to read the invitation from where she was standing. She ultimately failed.

"Um... yeah. I don't know who I'll take."

"Well consider me! I wouldn't mind going and rubbing shoulders with the A-listers."

"Sure, mom. I'll think about it."

"Just remember who gave birth to you, right?" Marie joked, "I'm only kidding. Don't forget, but I'm not trying to blackmail you about this."

"Thanks, mom," Blaine said, shaking off a laugh. Marie left the room after that.

Blaine pulled the invitation from the envelope to stick it to the whiteboard in his room with a magnet. As he fully removed the invite another, much smaller piece of paper fell out onto the floor. He picked it up and read it.

Hi Blaine,

According to our records (and also I was there) you were the first to meet up with Kurt Hummel while he has been a supporter of our charity. You, along with other first teens to meet various other celebrities, have been invited to present Kurt with his support certificate, as you did when you met. You are welcome to attend the whole gala although it is only necessary for you to be there for the presentation.

K. Woodrow

That meant that Kurt would be at the gala.

And so would he.

Instantaneously Blaine got three times more excited for the gala.

Kurt's phone rang and he answered it immediately, before the ringer had even had a chance to finish its first ring.

"Blaine Anderson," he said, "haven't heard from you in a bit."

"Yeah, I've been busy. There are so many assignments to hand in, since we're coming up to break..."

"Did you just call to rant about your school work?" Kurt interrupted, although his tone was light. He was only teasing, after all.

"No. Something exciting came in the mail today..."

"Do tell."

"I've gotten an invite to the Wish Factory gala."

"Small world, huh? I got one too."

"I already knew you were going. I got a note about why they wanted me there, and apparently I'm presenting you with all your supporter stuff again." Blaine explained.

"Is that permission?" Kurt said, feigning surprise, "To interact?"

"I guess it is. We can talk outside of that though, right?"

"Sure. How long will you be in the city for?"

"Not sure yet. It depends who I bring as my plus one. My mom wants to go, but I might take Liv. It will be more rewarding for her, as another cancer kid, I think."

"Fair point. Look, if we're going to hang out I'll need to do some more Leah persuading. If you want to keep talking about something then I can stay..."

"No," Blaine interrupted, "you go. We can talk later."

"Thanks, Blaine."

"No problem. I should be finishing this homework anyway."

"Leah," Kurt said as he stepped out into the living room, "We need to talk."

"Yeah," she agreed, "properly, sensibly. This is silly."

"Agreed. Let's go sit down, okay?" She nodded and they both walked over to the sofas and sat down, each keeping their distance. Kurt curled his legs in under himself, whereas Leah stretched out on the other sofa. "He's my best friend, Leah, and I don't know, there could be something more there. He means the world to me now, and I'm not getting rid of that just because it isn't professional. We aren't trying to be professional- this was our decision and we're friends. For once in my life I have friend who isn't my co-worker first."

"Is that how you feel about us, Kurt? That we're co-workers first?"

"To begin with I did, but it shifted somewhere there. You are my best friend Leah, and I would trust you with my life- I do trust you with my life. That's why I want you to understand my friendship with Blaine."

"I'll try," she said softly, "I promise I'll try."

"That's all I can ask for, Leah." His phone beeped, letting him know there was a message. He reached for his phone and opened the text, which was from Blaine. I think I finally understand this Calculus. I think I have finally made these problems my bitches.

I'm so proud :')

"That was him now, wasn't it?" Leah said, after Kurt put his phone back down.

"Yeah," Kurt said, figuring there was no reason to be anything but honest, "how did you know?"

"Because you always pick up your phone and narrate it. You always hear your phone go and say, 'oh, it's Charlotte, what does she want?' and then answer, or 'oh, I forgot Cassidy was going to call,' or something similar to that. But with him, you just pick up your phone and smile like you're trying to light up brighter than Times Square."

"Is it really that obvious?"

"Not to someone who wouldn't know you that well, but I do. I notice that sort of thing."

"So you always knew something was going on?" Kurt asked.

"Something- I didn't know what, exactly- I thought maybe you were planning a surprise party for me. I know my birthday isn't for ages, but that wasn't the point." Leah explained. There was a moment of silence, but it was far more comfortable than all the other silences they had had recently. "You really like him, don't you?"

"I'm falling for him. I am hopelessly falling for him. I care about him a hell of a lot more than I have for anyone for a long time, and it kind of scares me."

"I'm pleased that you can be there for him, Kurt. I think in some ways he's there for you too." Leah said.

"Yeah, I think he is. And even if I don't need him now, I know he's there if I do."

"Be honest with me for a bit here- would you have continued with the meet ups if Blaine hadn't been the first?"

"I don't know. I wasn't looking forward to them, I'll give you that much. He changed my whole view on it."

"So he has already been there when you needed him, Kurt. I can't take something like that away from you."

Blaine had finally persuaded Olivia to attempt playing as their third character for Born Rivals. The three of them- Blaine, Wes, and Olivia- were spread out around his living room, passing the bag of Doritos and occasionally yelling at their game. She had decided to play as Xandra, same as Sky had done the last time. She had picked up on the basic controls quickly, and although the strategies that Blaine and Wes used didn't make a lot of sense to her she went along with it, and by the pure power of teamwork and the others' directions, she was able to play and got frustrated when she something bad happened, same as Blaine and Wes.

"Hey Olivia," Blaine said, mid game play, "How do you feel about a road trip?"

She wanted to shush him because she was concentrating so hard on not dying, but she made the space in her brain to reply to him properly. "That depends, where are we going?"

"New York," Blaine said, and nodded subtly in Wes's direction, to try and hint not to tease him about Kurt right now. She would have said to visit Kurt, but she understood Blaine's hint.

"Do you just fancy going back or do you have a reason for asking?" she questioned.

"The Wish Factory gala is coming up, and I have an invite. I need a plus one, and I thought you might like to go, since-" he didn't get to finish his sentence then.

"I would love to go! Thank you so much for asking!"

"My mom wanted to go, but I thought that maybe you would get more out of it, since it's raising money for something you can actually relate to first hand."

"Yeah, I totally can do that! I'll have to get Nat to take me dress shopping!"

They kept playing after that, even Wes joining in as they chatted about their plans. He could appreciate their excitement even if he couldn't directly relate.

Blaine picked Olivia up from her house in Lima the Friday morning before the gala. Knowing that the roads could be busier on a Friday night, they had decided to ditch school, the gala being far more important in both their minds. The trip itself was uneventful- they ate too much junk food and sang songs too loudly, played terrible car games and just genuinely enjoyed that they could be in each other's company like that.

They arrived about when they thought they would and checked into their hotel- it wasn't the fanciest of places but Blaine's mom had chosen it and decided to pay for it, so it was more than comfortable. They headed up to their room and were a little upset to find their booking must not have gone through properly when they found they had a double as opposed to a twin room, meaning they were faced with one bed and not two as they had expected. They tried to get it changed, but the hotel was apparently as full as it got and it was sort of double room or double room.

Blaine offered to take the couch in the room before Olivia stopped him. "Blaine," she said, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking directly into his eyes, "Do you intend on having sex with me?"

"What? No..."

"Exactly. It's not as if this bed isn't big enough for the both of us. You're kind of tiny, B." The bed was more than large enough to accommodate for two people, and it seemed like a waste of time and space to get another room or exile Blaine to the couch.

"Fine, okay. We'll just share the bed." He agreed.

They went out for dinner together before returning to the hotel room and calling it a night. Blaine changed into his pyjamas in the bathroom while Olivia changed in the main room. He called out to her to check she was decent before he walked out again and she laughed at him when he did so, pointing out to him that she knew that he was gay. She thanked him for being ever the gentleman, before the two climbed into bed.

"Batman pyjamas?" Olivia teased, and Blaine, knowing that she was teasing, just smiled and nodded before saying good night and rolling over.

On Saturday morning Blaine and Olivia decided to go out for breakfast. A quick search online proved they were closer to the only cafe in New York that Blaine could remember- Carefree. They got dressed and walked the short distance to the cafe, while Blaine texted Kurt. Liv and I are in the city all day- having breakfast at Carefree :)

The reply came quickly. I can meet you down there, if I'm invited...

Of course. You're welcome to join us.

See you in ten- I need to do my hair this time.

They pushed the door open and ordered their coffees and muffins, choosing a table big enough for four, in case Leah decided to join them too. Kurt came downstairs and joined them ten minutes later, as he had said. Leah had chosen not to join them, as Kurt explained, because she had plenty to do before the gala that night. Kurt suspected that she just wasn't ready to accept that Blaine was a real person that Kurt knew.

Olivia, although sitting right across the table from Blaine, sent him a text. Blaine's phone buzzed and he looked at it, seeing it was from her. He glared at her before opening the message, which read Guess how much your eyes are sparkling? Kurt, noticing what was going on, was the first to say anything about it.

"Did you just text him?" he asked Olivia, who nodded. "What did it say? It's something about me, right? Otherwise you would have said it aloud."

Blaine and Olivia replied at the same time, Blaine saying, "Not really," and Olivia saying, "Totally."

Kurt raised his eyebrows. "I see," he responded, "I'll pretend I have no clue what's going on."

Their chatting continued in a similar fashion, while Olivia kept sending Blaine texts similar to those she always sent him- 'Still no shirtless pics then?', 'Do you think he would take his shirt off now if we asked?', 'stop pretending I embarrass you, I'm delightful'.

"So what are you two up to today?" Kurt asked.

"I have to go get a tie that will match Olivia's dress, because apparently that's something you have to do when you take a date to a charity gala," Blaine said, "But otherwise not a lot."

"Ooh, what colour is your dress?" Kurt asked Olivia.

"It's a sort of purple-blue. I have a picture of it here, if you want to see..." Kurt reacted positively and she found the picture of her dress on her phone, and he applauded her for her colour choice.

"I think I have a tie that might match, actually. You two can come up to my apartment now, if you want, and you can take it." Kurt offered, and both Olivia and Blaine melted internally at the thought they were going to go into Kurt Hummel's apartment. They accepted and then the three of them walked the short distance down the road to Kurt's building. Kurt greeted the doorman and then they headed to the elevator and up to his apartment.

"Kurt? I assume that's you coming in now, come here for a sec?" Leah called out from the kitchen. Kurt hung up his coat and encouraged Blaine and Olivia to do the same, before walking through to the kitchen.

"Can I help you with something?"

"I just wanted to give you this. It came in the mail today." Leah handed Kurt a few sheets of paper. "It's the transcript from your interview for the campaign, since you asked me to get it for you. They're unveiling the first ads tonight, so they could let me have it now."

Kurt took the papers from her. "Oh, thanks," he said, "Blaine and his friend are here now, probably standing awkwardly by the door. Do you want to stop working for two seconds to come and meet them?"

Leah rolled her eyes. "Sure. Make it quick." She followed Kurt out to where Blaine and Olivia were standing, chatting mindlessly, still thrilled by the idea of being in Kurt's apartment.

"Leah, this is Blaine and Olivia. Blaine and Olivia, this is Leah, my PA." Kurt introduced.

"Hi," Olivia said, "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah," Blaine agreed, "we talked on the phone the other week."

"That's right. Nice to meet you both, too. I have to get back to work now, if I'll get through everything before the gala tonight." She said, before walking back to the kitchen where her laptop was set up.

"I don't think she liked us," Olivia said.

"She's just busy. Come on; let's get that tie before I forget." Kurt said, knowing how Leah could be. She had said that she would try to accept his relationship with Blaine, and she knew how happy he made him; it was just a matter of time before she made an effort to befriend him herself. Kurt led them into his bedroom, which was thankfully tidy. He opened the doors to his large walk in wardrobe and ushered them inside.

One wall of the wardrobe was dedicated to accessories, with more than enough ties hung up neatly on a tie rack. He asked Olivia for the picture again, and she passed him her phone. He picked out a tie almost exactly the right colour and held it up next to both Blaine and Olivia.

"It was a good choice of dress, Liv," Kurt said, and Olivia felt like giggling about how he had called her Liv and not Olivia, "this colour really suits both of you."

"Thanks," she said, "my girlfriend helped pick it out."

"And you girlfriend isn't jealous that you're Blaine's date tonight?"

"Well she's jealous that it isn't her instead of me, but she knows that there's nothing going on between us."

"That's good, then. I'm sure you're pleased Blaine is single then, since you get to be the plus one."

"He's still pretend dating Sky, though. Man it was weird to see him acting straight."

"Long story," Blaine said, "One of her friends was there and she was the only person to remember Sky and I were even 'dating'."

"Did you kiss her again?" Kurt teased, and Blaine shook his head.

"No. I also came out to her later that night, so she might be pretend breaking up with me as we speak."

"Progress!" Olivia said, "You never told me that. What happened?"

"Nothing, I just sort of told her. I'll have to talk to her about it all a little more seriously later on, but for now she knows what she needs to know."

"That's not the worst thing," Kurt said, "Now can we get out of my wardrobe? It's starting to feel a bit claustrophobic in here."

The three of them headed out of the wardrobe and in turn out of Kurt's room, into the living room. Blaine excused himself, claiming he was going to get a glass of water. He entered the kitchen and Leah looked up from her work. "Oh, hi," she said.

"Hey," Blaine replied, "can you point me in the direction of your cups?" Leah got up from where she was sitting to walk over to the cabinet where the glasses were and passed one to Blaine.

"Is that all you need?" she asked, knowing how Kurt would scold her later if she wasn't being hospitable.

"Actually, there is one thing," Blaine said, "Could you help me plan a date?"

Blaine headed back into the living room after talking to Leah, who seemed uncharacteristically pleased that he had asked for the favour that he did. When Kurt asked what had taken him so long, he said that he had chatted to Leah, which wasn't a lie- it just wasn't quite the whole truth.

Blaine and Olivia stayed until lunchtime, when they decided they should get going if Olivia was going to see much of the city before the gala. They decided to go to the most important place in Olivia's mind first, namely Times Square.

A couple of hours before the gala were due to start Blaine and Olivia returned to their hotel room to change. After both of them were dressed and ready to go they went downstairs and waited in the lobby for their ride. Earlier in the day Kurt had suggested that they simply drove by on their way, considering their hotel was so close to Kurt's apartment. The limo pulled up outside and the driver came in to announce their arrival. Blaine and Olivia walked outside, Olivia linking her arm in Blaine's. "You're lucky I'm short, even in these heels," she said as they walked, unable to stop herself from taking an opportunity like that to tease him about his height. The driver opened the door and they got in, to see Kurt and Leah dressed up in a similar fashion.

"Blaine Anderson, what on earth did you do to your tie?" Kurt said, and Blaine rolled his eyes.

"Nice to see you too, Kurt."

"Come here, let me fix it." Blaine sat opposite to Kurt in the limo and Kurt shuffled forward so he was sitting on the edge of his seat, leaning across to retie Blaine's tie. He hadn't really tied it badly, but Kurt couldn't seem to look past one imperfection- or perhaps he just wanted an excuse to sit that close to Blaine.