Kurt sighs before pressing the phone back up to his ear, preparing to lie about his timing. Again. "Yes Tiff, I did. I'm no my way back to the office now."

"Hurry." The phone beeps as Tiffany disconnects the call and Kurt lets out a small groan of frustration before sticking it back in his pocket. He's supposed to be on his way bacak from the performing arts center, not on his way there. But what else can he do? This is New York. It's busy, it's crowded.... And no one is going to pay attention to a skinny little fashionista with a high pitched voice trying to push his way through the fray. Not even if that man is Kurt Hummel, up-and-coming fashion designer for Hart Fashion (We'll Make YOU Hart Fashion!).

He turns and sighs in relief as his destination comes into view. It's a smaller building than some of the others he's been to, more personal and private looking. Kurt stops out front and reads the sign, making sure he has the right place before heading in.

Kurt thumbs through the outfits he's holding, double checking that they're all there. Now he just needs to deliver these to the right person and sprint back to the office.

Just an ordinary day in the life of Kurt Hummel.

...

Blaine Anderson goes through the motions once more, his fingers gliding over the keys. He knows this piece by heart. At least he ahould, he'd practiced it relentlessly for the past few weeks along with the other numbers he'd be performing tonight for the opening of "White Christmas".

"I'm... dreamin'... of a white... Christmas," he sings, shaking his head in a slightly comical way to get the hair out of his eyes. It's grown too long. Again.

Blaine hears the door open but ignores it, moving on to the next part. Whoever it is can wait.

But apparently this person can't because pretty soon they're clearing their throat as loudly as possbile. Blaine sighs and stops playing before looking up and meeting the eyes of a tall, irritated stranger. "Uh, can I help you?" he asks, taking in the man before him. It takes a moment, but then Blaine spots the outfits he's holding and it clicks. "Oh you're the designer guy. They said you'd be coming today.... Hummel right?"

"Yes that's me," the man nods. "I was wondering where your manager is, or whoever you think shoudl take these. I need to get rid of them as fast as possible."

"Blaine smiles and takes a few of the shirts out of his hands. "Well here, let me help you find him. Or I can just take them to him mysel fif you really need to get going," he offers, motioning with his empty hand for Mr. Hummel to hand him the rest.

The man hesitates before handing the remaining outfits over. "Thank you so much. Sorry to leave you with them but I've got to rush. They were expecting me at the office ten minutes ago."

Blaine smiles. "No problem. Good luck."

The other man grins and waves as he turns to leave. "Thanks. I'll need it."

The next day Blaine wakes up to find his roommate and best friend, Wes, making breakfast. "Who died?" he asks him, walking groggily into the kitchenette and sitting at their small table.

"You were in a good mood last night, just thought I'd try to keep it up," Wes says with a grin, flipping a pancake. "So, what happened at the hell hole that made you brighten up?"

"Oh nothing," Blaine says with a shake of his head. "Just some guy dropped off the chorus' outifits and we had a good run. I was just being optimistic."

"Designer guy huh? What's his name?"

Blaine shrugs, pouring himself some juice. "Hummel."

"Is he gay?" Wes asks, handing Blaine a plate full of pancakes.

"I have no idea. Why?"

Wes rolls his eyes. "Because this guy is probably a much better match for you than Lucas."

"What's wrong with Lucas?" Blaine asks, defending his boyfriend with a mouthful of pancake. Wes has never really warmed up to the guy for some reason.

"Nothing," Wes shrugs, "he's just not right. I swear."

"Wes give it up please," Blaine groans. They'd had this conversation entirely too many times.

Wes scowls but doesn't say anything else as he sits down. "Fine. What club you playing at tonight?"

"Schemes," Blaine answers, happy about the change in conversation.

"Gay bar," Wes clarifies. "Guess I'm out."

"That's fine. Lucas will be going and we all know how you feel about him," Blaine shoots back.

Wes nods absentmindedly, taking a drink of milk. "Yeah good thing I won't be there. Can't stand him."

Blaine sighs and leans back in his chair. "So I've been told."

...

"Tiffany, I don't want to go clubbing with you tonight," Kurt tells his boss once again.

She sighs and sits down in the seat across from Kurt. "But Kurt," she whines, "it'll be fun! Look, we'll start the night out at a gay bar just for you okay? Come on live a little! Besides," she gives him a wink, "word on the street is there's a position open on the top floor. A position Tiff's gonna want to give to one of her good friends!"

Kurt hates when she refers to herself in third-person. And when she bribes him. But how could he pass that up? She's just a lonely designer no one will talk to anyways. No harm, right? "Fine," he sighs.

Tiffany smiles and stands back up. "Great. I'll see you at Schemes around 9 then?"

"I suppose so."

...

The club is really busy, even for Schemes which is pretty much always crowded. Blaine scans the crowd for Lucas but gives up after five minutes of making awkward eye contact with a few bystanders and still not finding his boyfriend. He sets up on the small stage and adjusts th emic in front of the keyboard before turning it on and stooping down to talk into it. "Hey everyone. I'm Blaine Anderson and we're going to slow it down a bit with an older song if you don't mind."

He takes his seat on the bench and his fingers plunk out some chords before he starts. "Maybe I'm amazed at the way you love me all the time. Maybe I'm afraid of the way I love you. Maybe I'm amazed at the way you pull me out of time..."

...

"It's you, it's you! You make me sing. You're every line, you're every word. You're everything."

Well he sure does have a voice, Kurt will give him that much. He glances around uneasily for Tiffany before turning his attention back to the man performing. Kurt almost never goes out to bars unless Mercedes or his boyfriend Kevin talk him into it. It was just never really his thing. He's much more of a homebody, despite Kevin's constant attempts to make Kurt "cut loose".

Kurt takes a seat at the bar, glancing back at the stage every now and then. That man looks very famliiar, but he can't place from where. He closes his eyes and listens as the man finishes up his song. "So la, la, la, la, la, la, laaaa. So la, la, la, la, la. And in this crazy life. And through these crazy times it's you, it's you. You make me sing!" The man belts out, his mouth so close to the microphone that Kurt can hear his deep breaths between phrases. "You're every line, you're every word. You're everything. You're every song. And I sing along. Cuz you're my everything." He finishes up with a few more "la"s before setting the guitar he'd been playing down. "Alright guys! I'm going to take a quick break. Don't worry, I'll be onstage later!" The crowd cheers before the DJ turns on the latest Gaga song.

Trying hard not to make himself noticeable, Kurt scans the crowd once more for Tiffany. He spots the guy who'd been playing looking at him and glances away quickly but to no avail. The man is walking over here. "Hey! Designer guy!"

So that's why he looked familiar. He was the singer he'd given those costumes to. Kurt gives him a small smile as he approaches. "Hello again."

"We just keep running into each other!" he says with a big grin. "I'm Blaine by the way." The man sticks a hand out and Kurt takes it. Blaine pumps his hand enthusiastically, the smile never leaving his face.

"Blaine! Blaine!" Kurt glances up and sees a tall man with short brown hair moving towards them. He's dressed simply emough in jeans and a grey t-shirt that seems to emphasize his arm muscles. He looks at Blaine and Kurt notices this guy has smolder down to an art. "Who's this?" the guy asks, motioning towards Kurt and sliding his arm around Blaine's waist.

Kurt notices the man's expression and nods slightly. Blaine is taken. Noted. Not that it matters, Kurt isn't much of a threat. "Oh Lucas! Hey! This is..."

"Kurt Hummel," Kurt interrupts.

"So, how do you know Blaine?" Lucas asks him.

"He delievered some last-minute altered costumes to us yesterday," Blaine explains.

"Yes. And Blaine recognized me tonight so he came over and said hi," Kurt adds with a small smile. "Look, I'd better be going. Good job though Blaine. Performing and all."

Blaine grins. "Thanks. See you around?"

Kurt nods before glancing over at Lucas once more. The man smiles at him, but his expression is anything but friendly. For some reason Kurt is under the impression that Blaine won't be seeing him any time soon.

...

"Wes you are such an idiot!" Blaine says, shoving his friend back onto the couch. Lucas had just left in a bit of a hurry because Wes had started causing problems. Again.

Wes just laughs and leans back. "Oh you love me and you know it. He'll come sniffing around here tomorrow like nothing happened."

Blaine scowls at his friend. "You know Wes, I love yoyu and all but sometimes I want to stab you repeatedly in the throat. Now is one of those times."

Wes rolls hie eyes. "Like you ever could. You personally know how delicious this neck is if I remember correctly.

"Can we not bring up our strange high school relationship right now?" Blaine asks, rubbing his temples. "You're giving me a headache."

Laughing, Wes stands up and slings and arm around Blaine's shoulders. "Well, as great as reminiscing is, I'm off to bed. See ya later loverboy."

"Goodnight Wes," Blaine growls, laying down where Wes had been sitting and flipping on the TV. "I hope you die in your sleep."

"Love ya too Blaine!"

...

Kurt enters his apartment, letting out a breath of relief. Tiffany had finally showed up at Schemes and had found Kurt waiting for her on a bench outside. He'd ushered her away from there as quickly as possible, wanting to avoid any more contact with Blaine and his boyfriend. The night had been a complete waste and the only enjoyable part was knowing that Tiffany would have a massive hangover tomorrow and not bother him.

He collapses on his bed and closes his eyes, hoping sleep would come fast. About an hour later Kurt's still laying there, eyes open. He just can't seem to be able to clear his head. His thoughts keep wandering back to the small confrontation at Schemes and listening to Blaine sing. He realizes with a jolt that that was the only part of the night he'd enjoyed.

Well, this is interesting.

Kurt scowls to himself and rolls over. He considers calling Kevin but decides against it. His boyfriend is probably sleeping and wouldn't take kindly to being woken up just because Kurt wants to complain about not being able to sleep.

Still not drifing off, Kurt thinks back to Blaine again. It's strange how he'd only seen the man twice, but both times he'd felt something. Like a little shock of electricity. It's ridiculous of course. He's just exhausted and slightly drunk, that's why he's having these thoughts.

Besides, Kurt can count on Blaine's boyfriend to keep them from talking again. Who knew he'd ever be thankful for someone's jealous boyfriend?

...

"Rise and shi-ine!" Wes says, shaking Blaine awake. Blaine swats at the air but misses Wes, who easily dodges the blow. "Get up will ya? He is headed up the stairs.

Hearing this, Blaine sits up. "Who is he?"

"Who do you think? Who is the only person who makes me talk with that level of disgust?" Wes asks, sitting next to Blaine.

He gives his friend a look. "I don't understand your aversion towards Lucas."

Wes shrugs. "Me neither. I just know I don't like the guy."

"Well sorrry but you're stuck with him," Blaine shoots back. He knows Wes means well but this is getting annoying. "And how do you know he's coming?"

He buzzed like, two seconds ago. I let him in. Aren't you proud of me? I could have left him standing in the cold but I chose to unlock the door for your little-" Wes is cut off by a knock. "Ah speak of the devil."

Blaine just rolls his eyes before heading over to get the door. He attempts to smooth down his hair, but the curls just bounce back up. "Hey Lucas," he says, trying to be positively sunny, which is hard for Blaien to do on any given morning.

Lucas grins and pulls Blaine in for a hug. "Hey there. Fall asleep in your clothes?" He motions towards Blaine's rumped shirt and laughs. "Or pass out maybe?"

"I didn't drink that much."

Lucas spots Wes sitting on the couch and nods. "Wes."

"Lucas," Wes responds icily. The two stare at each other for a moment before Lucas turns back to Blaine, his expression softening considerably.

"I came by to see if you wanted to grab some breakfast with me before I head to work," he informs Blaine.

Blaine smiles. "Sure! Just... let me..." he motions to his clothes and hair, "take care of this first."

Lucas nods. "That's fine. I'm sure Wes and I can find somethign to talk abotu while you shower."

Wes lets out a laugh from where he's seated. "Aw yeah. Don't you worry Blainers. We'll just chat like the best buds we are, won't we Luke?"

"Lucas," the man corrects him.

Blaine gives Lucas a tentative grin and pecks him on the cheek. "I'll hurry okay?" he promises before hurrying off to the bathroom.

"I don't understand what I've done to cause you to hate me so much," Lucas says, still standing near the door.

Wes looks over. "I don't hate you Luke."

"Lucas."

"Lucas whatever. See? That's your problem. So uptight. I don't know how Blaine puts up with that. Or how you put up with him to be honest. He's not exactly your type."

"Blaine is exactly my type. I love him just as much as I did when we met eight months ago," Lucas says, his eyes narrowing to slits, "and I'd appreciate it if you stopped trying to interfere with our relationship."

"Hey, I'm the best friend. I'm allowed to interfere as mucha s I want," Wes says, leaning back with his hands behind his head. "But don't you worry that pretty head of yours Luke. You've got him on such a short leash, there's not chance he can run away."

"I don't keep Blaine on a leash," Lucas rolls his eyes. "I'm done talking if you're giong to make wild accusations."

Wes laughs but before he can respond Blaine pokes his head out. "We're not going anywhere fancy are we?" he asks Lucas.

Lucas shakes his head. "I just thought we'd grab some bagels and eat in the park."

Blaine nods, "Good. I don't feel like dressing up."

"When do you ever feel like dressing up?" Lucas asks.

Blaine shrugs. "Good point. Okay, let me throw on a shirt and we'll go."

Lucas and Wes both smile at him until the door is shut agin. As soon as Blaine is out of sight, both of their faces fall into scowls once more.