Kurt carefully ran his pale fingers over the delicate, deep purple fabric, nodding.

"It's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful." he sighed.

"I'm glad you like it, sir. I've put so much time into this, but I wasn't sure what you'd think," the young blond woman behind him said, grinning like an idiot.

"Trust me, Jenna, it's incredible. Don't doubt yourself. And what have I said about calling me 'sir'? Don't." Kurt smiled, checking his watch. "I've got to go, okay?"

"Of course, sir." Jenna smiled as her boss turned to head back into his office. "And thank you!"

"No problem." Kurt grinned as he pulled his office door shut behind him, heading over to sit at his desk. He sighed as his eyes settled on the photograph by his laptop, and he reached out to brush his fingers over the cool glass that covered the image. His throat tightened and his eyes stung, so he averted them to look up at his laptop screen, tapping in his password.

There was a knock at the door about twenty minutes later, as Kurt was checking up on one of his co-workers fashion blogs.

"Yes?" Kurt called out, sounding faintly bored.

The door was pushed open to reveal Finn, looking as bewildered as he had been the first time he'd been to Kurt's workplace.

"Hey, dude." Finn said.

"What have I said about calling me 'dude'?" Kurt growled.

"Sorry, du-Kurt."

"What do you want, Finn?" Kurt asked, looking him dead in the eye.

"I-I...erm..."

"Yes?"

"I haven't told Rachel, or any of the other guys, about you knowing about-about Blaine. I wasn't supposed to tell you, but then you knew and I was gonna tell Rachel and let her deal with it but then I thought I'd be a bad brother for doing that and it all got so crazy and-"

"Shut up!" Kurt shut his eyes and tried not to laugh at Finn's rambling. "Now try again. In English, not jibberish."

"Umm...okay. Look, I wanted to take you to meet Blaine. But du-Kurt," Finn corrected himself, speaking slowly. "He's not the same guy you knew back then."

There was a moment of silence preceding Kurt's answer.

"And I'm not the same, either. When I met Blaine I was young and my dreams were on Broadway, and I thought I'd be married by twenty one. Hell, I hadn't slept with anyone else. Now look at me."

"Too much information." Finn groaned.

"Whatever. I'm a fucking mess. And I know Blaine has amnesia and won't remember a thing about me, but just to see him again...it's worth the risk, Finn. It's worth the risk of me getting hurt even worse."

Finn smiled genuinely. "Friday? I know he's working then so..."

"Gives me five days to prepare, right? I think I can find an outfit that'll do."

"See you at home, dude." Finn smiled as he left to Kurt's cry of: "DON'T FUCKING CALL ME DUDE!"

Blaine stretched out his hand, running it over Sebastian's bare chest. Fuck, he loved those abs.

Sebastian turned his head and looked Blaine straight in the eye.

"Hey, gorgeous."

"Morning." Blaine smiled back, although he felt something wrong being beside Sebastian. "Do you know what the time is?"

"Time I went home and you went to work."

"Oh...okay." Blaine tried to hide how happy he was that Sebastian was going.

Although Blaine loved Sebastian's body, he'd never had a real, strong emotional connection, so he'd, in a way, felt a little guilty after they spent the night together. He hated lying to his parents, Cassie, Hannah, but he didn't know how to tell them he liked guys...not when his parents had spent so long telling him how wrong it was.

Sebastian slid out of bed and pulled on his boxers and jeans, picking his shirt from the floor and glancing at Blaine.

"Bye, gorgeous."

With that, he disappeared out of the door, leaving Blaine riding his regular guilt trip while he showered and dressed for work.

"What's wrong?"

Blaine looked up, running a hand over his gel-hardened hair, at Rhys, one of his many coworkers at the coffee shop, early on Friday morning.

"I don't know what you mean." Blaine replied, shaking his head and looking back at the coffee he was busy making for himself while there weren't any customers about.

"C'mon, dude! You've got gel in your hair and shit. You look like hell, man." Rhys said, sitting across from him and chewing a biscotti.

"I'm fine." Blaine snapped, sipping his searing hot coffee.

Rhys held his hands up in mock surrender and eyed Blaine curiously.

"If something's up, man, then tell me, okay?"

Blaine sighed. "Sorry, you just wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

"It's not worth it."

"You sure? I'm pretty good at understanding shit."

"Rhys, shut it, okay?"

"Fine, man." Rhys said, getting up. "But take your break okay? Ill see you after lunch. Go see Hannah or something."

"Fine."

Kurt was bouncing around his room, happily, trying on outfit upon outfit, before deciding on the only one he could think that might spark Blaine's memory.

"I haven't seen you in that since Junior year, dude. Sorry" Finn said, noticing his mistake, eyebrows raised as he leaned against the doorframe. "didn't even know you still had it."

Kurt grinned, not even caring that Finn had called him dude, again, leaning over to look at himself in the mirror while he styled his hair.

"I wore this when I first met Blaine." he grinned, motioning to the ensemble. "I thought it might spark something."

"Let's hope so. You ready?"

"Yes...no." Kurt sighed, turning and walking past his step-brother towards the front door of their apartment. "Let's just do this, yes?"

"Yeah."

"Seriously, Blaine, what's up?" Hannah questioned, leaning across her kitchen table.

Blaine sighed, averting his gaze as he answered. "It's hard to explain. Can you keep something completely secret? From everyone, even the kids."

"Of course, honey."

"I don't like...girls..."

Hannah stared at him, puzzled. "Are you saying..?"

"I'm gay, Han." Blaine said, quietly; Cassie and Hannah's daughter were in the next room.

"Blaine, why didn't you tell me?" Hannah asked in disbelief.

"Because I've never told anyone before. The nights you have Cassie I have an old...friend of mine over. His name's Sebastian."

Hannah sighed, smiling sympathetically. "Why haven't you told anyone? It's your parents, isn't it?"

"Of course. I'm gonna be so fucking late back to work." Blaine groaned, looking at his watch.

"Can I drive you?"

"The kids..."

"Stick them in the back."

"I don't want to talk about it with them around, okay?"

"Fine. But later, okay?"

"Sure."

"Ready, Kurt?"

"No. It's been years, Finn."

"He won't even know who you are."

"I know, I know, but still. It's so hard. We might get to go back to the start."

"Dude, he almost dated my wife. I'm pretty sure he's not going to-"

"You and I both know he likes cock, Finn."

Finn squeezed his eyes shut as they reached the coffee shop. "Way too much information. Come on."

Kurt exhaled slowly and nodded, stepping into the shop behind the taller man. Luckily, it was quite empty inside, a rare sight in New York City.

"There he is." Finn said, pointing to a dark haired man behind the counter. His back was turned and he was sipping a coffee, turning around when he heard the door shut.

Kurt took in a sharp intake of breath from behind Finn. He knew Blaine couldn't really see him, but he could see Blaine.

He had barely changed, his black hair gelled and his eyes still that beautiful, warm hazel he'd fallen in love with. There was a fine dusting of dark stubble along his jawline, something Kurt had seen once or twice before.

Finn stepped up to the counter, ordering coffee and conversing casually with Kurt's ex about football or something, while Kurt stood frozen.

Somebody called to Blaine from the back room, causing the short, tanned man to look over his shoulder and call back, while Kurt stepped into his line of sight for when he turned back.

Hazel eyes met glasz, wide and questioning, and a coffee cup hit the ground, hot liquid spreading across the floor, unseen to all three sets of eyes.

"Hi, Blaine." Kurt forced a smile, eyes stinging slightly - okay, a lot.

He expected a 'how do you know my name?' or a 'who are you?' but the response he got shocked him so much he breathed in sharply and almost started to shake.

"Hello, Kurt."