Kurt felt like maybe he should have been pinching himself in the arm to make sure this was all real. He had gone a full week trying his best to forget about pretty hazel eyes and that bright smile. He had succeeded, and the moment Rachel dared to mention Blaine, the guy had shown up behind them. It was, admittedly, a little creepy.

It was all very real, though. Blaine was standing right there, greeting Kurt and saying something about how it was such a small world and- what were the chances of them running into each other at central park?

“Yeah,” Kurt breathed through a small chuckle as Rachel squealed beside him and dropped down on her knees to pet Blaine’s dog.

“Don’t you think asking first is the right thing to do?” Kurt wondered, staring down at her, a little embarrassed at her suddenly childish behavior around the small animal.

“Oh, it’s fine,” Blaine laughed. “He loves attention.” As if on cue, the dog rolled onto it’s back, panting happily as Rachel rubbed his pink tummy.

Kurt watched Rachel’s interaction with the dog because he couldn’t bring himself to look at Blaine. He knew if he did he would ask why he never called. What they had done a week ago was considered flirting, right? Blaine had smiled at him way more than someone who wasn’t flirting should have smiled. So, why didn’t he call?

“I heard you never called back about those free tickets,” Rachel said.

Kurt’s stomach flipped and his heart leapt up to his throat. His cheeks suddenly felt very warm. Was she trying to piss him off today? Kurt chanced a glance at Blaine who looked a little shocked, his lips parted as he tried to work out a response.

“Well, I didn’t want to impose,” Blaine finally said after a few seconds of awkward silence between them, “I know he offered but, I—I barely know you guys.”

“He wouldn’t have offered if he didn’t mean for you to take them,” Rachel said with a smile as she sat on the pavement more comfortably and let the dog climb onto her lap. “So, I’m insisting,” she said, leaving very little room for argument. “I’m demanding, actually.”

“It’s—“ Blaine tried, but Rachel cut him off.

“No,” she said quickly. “I refuse to take no for an answer.” She scratched the back of the dog’s ear, smiling down at it, “Here, I’ll make it easier on you. We can all go see Wicked on Thursday night, if you’re not busy.”

Kurt glanced at Blaine, a hopeful little smile on his face.

Blaine hesitated for a few moments. “Well, I’ve always wanted to see Wicked on Broadway,” he admitted.

Rachel gave a triumphant smile before grinning up at Kurt and looked back toward Blaine. “It’s a date.”

--

So, Kurt had spent a week trying to forget a guy he was incredibly attracted to. He had succeeded only to have all of that ruined in mere seconds when Blaine ran into him in the middle of Central Park. Rachel (bless her little heart) had managed to convince Blaine to see a show with them tonight. And now, Kurt was in deep again. His heart raced at the very thought of Blaine and it was ridiculous. He wasn’t some love-sick high school kid anymore. He was a grown man, damn it.

Kurt had had one boyfriend since he had moved to the city. All other relationships hadn’t been serious. He’d had sex, yeah. With his first boyfriend it really meant something. Then, his heart had been smashed into tiny pieces when said boyfriend had come home one night to tell Kurt that he no longer loved him. After that, it had been one night stands with the occasional blowjob and hand job. It was enough to satisfy Kurt but to keep his self-respect. He refused to be a stereotypical promiscuous gay man.

The last time Kurt felt so strongly so quickly about a guy was with his first boyfriend.

He wanted to be afraid, but he wasn’t. Maybe he was ready to finally open up.

“Hey, Kurt?” Rachel peeked her head into the bathroom as Kurt gave his perfectly coifed hair one final layer of hairspray.

“Mm?” he responded, turning his head this way and that. He glanced at Rachel through the mirror to see that she wasn’t dressed yet. He turned to get a better look at her. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I don’t think I’m going to make it to the show tonight,” she muttered, sounding a little guilty. “I feel sick, I think I’m coming down with something.”

“Oh, honey,” Kurt said, “We can reschedule. It’s fine.”

“No, no,” Rachel said quickly. “I’ll just stay home, you go with Blaine.”

Kurt frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m positive. He seemed really excited to see the show. I don’t want to ruin his night just because I feel sick.”

Kurt hesitated for a moment. “Only if you’re sure.”

“Positive.”

Kurt reached out and rubbed her shoulder before turning her around and leading her out of the bathroom. “C’mon, I’ll warm up some soup for you before I go.”

While Kurt placed the bowl of soup into the microwave and made some tea for Rachel, though, he missed the sly little smile on her face as she plopped down on the couch.

Rachel had never planned on going out that night to begin with.

Breaking the news to Blaine that night wasn’t as awkward as Kurt thought it could have turned out to be. Blaine seemed a little surprised and slightly disappointed which made Kurt wonder if the guy had a thing for Rachel. Kurt quickly pushed those thoughts away because he didn’t want to relive high school all over again. He was far, far away from Lima and he didn’t want to have to think about the bad memories attached to his hometown; especially the ones that involved his sexuality.

The topic of his sexuality did come up, though, briefly. He revealed that he was, in fact, gay when Blaine asked if Rachel was his girlfriend. Kurt was sure he just pretended to think Kurt was straight out of courtesy. Unfortunately there were those, even in New York, who would have felt insulted if they were mistaken as being gay.

Their night ended up being great. Blaine was practically bouncing on his heels during intermission. He revealed that he had heard Defying Gravity about a hundred times but nothing could ever compare to hearing and seeing it live. That made Kurt wonder if Blaine was gay, too.

“Can I buy you coffee?” Blaine asked after the show. Kurt stopped to look at him. And then Blaine looked a little scared, his big eyes going wide. “I’m-I’m sorry, am I being too forward?”

Kurt laughed and started walking ahead. “What is this, 1950?” He smiled at Blaine. “I would love some coffee.”

Just like the show, the coffee was great. Blaine took Kurt to a little coffee joint that Kurt had never heard of. It was family owned and so very quaint. And their coffee definitely beat out the Starbucks he visited every morning before work.

“This is amazing,” Kurt said. “Definitely not what I expected from a place like this.”

“Well, things aren’t always what they seem,” Blaine said as he dipped a piece of biscotti into his coffee and took a small bite. He was looking directly at Kurt with an adorable little smile as he chewed.

Did his heart just flutter?

They stayed at the coffee shop until closing time. Kurt learned a little more about Blaine that night. He learned that he grew up in Westerville, Ohio and he was a the lead soloist for The Warblers, (“I knew you looked familiar! Wait ‘til I tell Rachel, she is going to freak!”) and that he’s studying pre-law. Blaine also told him that he was currently working at his father’s law firm as an unpaid intern.

When Kurt talked about himself and his job at Vogue Blaine’s eyes seemed to light up. He watched Kurt talk, a hand on his chin and that little smile on his face. He asked Kurt so many questions about his job and told him that it was incredible meeting someone who was living their dream. Kurt excused himself half way through their conversation to buy himself and Blaine a refill on their coffees. When he returned, he saw Blaine looking out the window with this far away, almost sad look in his eyes. A look that he had never seen on Blaine in the short time he had known him. When Kurt announced his arrival, that look was suddenly gone without a trace of it ever being there.

When their night ended, Blaine offered to walk Kurt up to his door. Kurt tried to convince him otherwise, telling Blaine it was late, but Blaine refused to budge.

“Thank you for the tickets,” Blaine said as they reached the door to Kurt’s apartment. He leaned against the door to look back at Blaine. “Really, the show was amazing.”

“Well, thank you for coffee. Now I have a new hole-in-the-wall place I can drag Rachel to. She’s always slightly creeped out by little places like that. It’s hilarious.”

Blaine laughed, bright and happy and Kurt felt his stomach swoop for the millionth time that night.

“Next time we’ll all go together,” Kurt said pulling out his keys. “Text me your number—you still have my card, right?”

Blaine nodded.

“Hopefully I’ll be hearing from you soon, then,” Kurt said, “And don’t bail on me again, Blaine.”

“I won’t,” Blaine said, and it sounded like a sincere promise.

When they finally said goodbye and Kurt was inside of his apartment, he collapsed onto the couch, face first, groaning. He was falling and he was falling hard.