Even after living in New York for almost a year, things still seemed surreal. How many kids from McKinley High could really, truly say that they were living their dream after graduation? Kurt could remember the exact moment he made a promise to himself and to Rachel that they would be back in New York. He would never forget leaning against that wall, under letters that read “Tiffany & Co.”, looking Rachel straight in the eye and telling her that they would be back. After graduation. No matter what it took.

And here they were. Maybe the neighborhood they lived in wasn't the best, but so what? They were in New York City. They were students at NYADA. Rachel just landed her dream role. Kurt was interning for Vogue.com. What more could he possibly ask for?

Well, a boyfriend would have been nice. Somewhere in the whirlwind that he imagined his life to become, he imagined a cute boy by his side. He had come up with various scenarios in his head.

Kurt's favorite one, though, involved a gorgeous guy (who happened to be gay, for once) bumping into him on his way out of Kurt's favorite coffee shop. They would both look up and into each other's eyes and time would stop. The gorgeous guy would apologize and offer to buy Kurt coffee. Kurt would then laugh and shake his head, no, it's fine. But the guy would politely insist and Kurt would give in. And then he would ask to see Kurt again. He would tell Kurt that he has an impeccable outfit and Kurt would return the compliment. It would be nothing short of magical.

The only problem was that even after almost year, his elaborate daydream wasn't even close to coming true.

But patience was a virtue. And New York was a huge city. There was bound to be someone out there for Kurt, right?

-0-0-0-0-

His letter was late. Frighteningly late. So late, Blaine had already convinced himself that he hadn't been accepted.

It was late on Monday over dinner that his mother mentioned the letter in passing. Blaine almost missed it. His parents laughed when his eyes went wide and he jumped out of his seat to run to the living room table where they kept their stack of mail.

He cried when he read the first word: Congratulations.

Blaine had been accepted into NYADA's summer term which put him in New York a mere four weeks after graduation. It was sudden and a little overwhelming, but so exciting. When he stepped out of the airport and into the noise of the city, Blaine took in a deep breath.

This was it.

He was here.

His life was finally starting.

o/o/o/o

Blaine met his roommate on his first day. The guy was nice, but not very talkative. And he was girl-crazy, to put it mildly. Three weeks into the semester, Ian had brought five girls back to their dorm, which consisted of a tiny kitchenette (if one could even call it that) and a sleeping space with a single blanket between both beds.

Blankets didn't do a very good job at blocking out the moans coming from across the room. Pillows over his ears didn't really do the trick, either.

It was on his walk from Biology to Calculus that Blaine noticed an advertisement on a bulletin board right outside the science building. He paused, halfway through opening the door to read the neon green paper. Reaching over to ripped off one of the little slips of paper with a phone number and stuffed it into his pocket before hurrying through the door.

/o/o/o

“Hi, I'm calling about an ad I saw on campus. About the roommate—“

“Yes, hi!”

The voice that came through the other end of the line was overly peppy.

“Hi,” Blaine responded with a chuckle. “Um, so is the offer still open?”

“Sure! Definitely. But we'd just like to meet you first. Just to make sure you're not a creepy serial killer or anything like that,” the girl explained, making Blaine laugh again.

“Understandable,” he replied.

“How about tomorrow at noon? Right outside the bowling alley by the theater building?”

“Is one o'clock alright? I have class at noon.”

“Perfect!” the girl responded. “My name's Rachel by the way.”

“Blaine.”

“Alright, Blaine. See you tomorrow.”

Blaine smiled. “See you tomorrow,” he repeated back to her. When he hung up, Blaine fell back onto his bed and closed his eyes with a smile.

Moments later, Ian walked into the room. “Hey dude, I'm gonna have someone over later. So, like…”

Blaine sighed. “Yeah, man. Sure.”

o/o/o/o

Blaine's meeting with Rachel and one of her roommates (which he learned was named Kurt, upon shaking his hand) went far better than he expected. Seconds after introducing themselves Rachel pointed out that Blaine looked familiar. And as soon as she mentioned it, something in Blaine's memory clicked.

“Are you from Ohio?” he asked.

“Yes!” Rachel practically squealed. “Were you in show choir?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Blaine laughed.

“Wait a second,” Kurt chimed in, “The…Warblers, right?”

Blaine's heart fluttered and something warm and familiar twisted deep in his stomach. “Yes,” he breathed out.

Blaine loved being in New York. It was exciting and new. But there were days when he felt homesick and briefly craved the quietness of a small town. He missed glee club and Dalton. And now here he was, hundreds of miles away from home in a big city talking to two people from his hometown. Two people who would potentially become his new roommates. “I knew you guys looked familiar…The New…”

“Directions!” Rachel and Kurt piped up at the same time before laughing.

“Alright, interview's over, you're moving in with us!” Kurt said, grinning.

Blaine laughed and nodded. “When should I start bringing my things over?” he asked, grinning.

O/o/o/o

By ten o'clock that night, Blaine had moved all his things into his new home in Bushwick. With the help of Rachel and Kurt, they were able to get everything into his space in the loft. Rachel then proceeded to show Blaine around his new home. It was much more spacious than his dorm, despite there being no walls to separate their “bed rooms”, Blaine would take this over his dorm any day. They had a full kitchen and living area which was already much better than his previous living space.

And even though Blaine had only just met these people, he already felt at home. He felt safe and welcome.

It was close to midnight when Rachel decided to retire for the night. “You'll meet everyone else next week. They're all back in Ohio visiting family for the weekend.”

“So, all of you guys are from Ohio?”

Kurt made a noise of confirmation from his spot on the couch as he flipped through a copy of the latest Vogue issue. “All from the same school.”

“Wow.” Blaine felt himself smiling so wide, his cheeks almost hurt.

“Good night, boys,” Rachel said before retreating to her room.

Blaine walked over to couch to take a seat next to Kurt. “I really can't thank you guys for letting me move in on such short notice.”

Kurt scoffed. “Are you kidding?” he asked as he looked up at Blaine and closed the magazine. “You're definitely one of the coolest people we've met since we moved here. And you're an ex warbler. Don't tell Rachel I said this, but I was always kind of jealous of how nice and polished those uniforms made you guys looks.”

Blaine laughed softly at the compliment, something twisting in his stomach at the way Kurt smiled at him. Bright blue eyes on Blaine. Warm and honest. He huffed out another soft laugh before looking down at his lap. “I should probably get to bed,” Blaine said, but didn't move. There was something telling him to stay and talk to Kurt a little more. Get to know more about him.

“I'm making breakfast tomorrow morning,” Kurt said, making Blaine look back up at him. “Will you be up at eight?”

Blaine nodded. “Yeah,” he said, smiling. “I have class at 9:30.”

“Me too, we can walk together.”

Blaine nodded. “Sounds good,” he said, standing. “I'll, um, see you tomorrow morning, then?”

“Yeah,” Kurt responded.

“Alright. Good night,” Blaine said as he began backing away towards his room. “Sleep well, Kurt.” God, saying his name felt nice. Familiar, almost.

When they parted ways that night and Blaine pulled the blankets up to his chin, he stared into the darkness, lost in his thoughts. How did a kid from Ohio get so lucky so quickly? Fate was a funny thing and Blaine couldn't help but wonder if he was bound to meet these people. If the universe was bringing them together because things were meant to turn out this way.

And certain people were born to be a part of each others lives, no matter what.