"Wait, is this really him? The Kurt Hummel? I can't believe he's taking time out of his busy schedule to talk to me!"

Kurt sighed into the receiver rolling his eyes, "Shut up, Rachel, you know how demanding this job can get."

"I know," Rachel laughed, "I'm teasing."

Kurt could already see that bright smile on her face. He missed it. He missed Rachel.

"So, you really like it over there?" Rachel asked, voice a little more calm and quiet.

Kurt nodded and muttered a soft, "Mmhmm. It's nice out here. I kind of miss the city sometimes but there's something nostalgic about being away from it all. Are you still coming to visit next week?"

"Of course! I've cleared my busy schedule for you, honey. Nothing's stopping me this time."

Kurt laughed. "Good," he responded. Just then, his phone vibrated against his ear. He pulled it away to glance at the screen to see a text message from Blaine.

I didn't know you were the costume designer for the show!! Why didn't you tell me?

Kurt grinned as he briefly asked Rachel to hold on. He quickly typed up a response.

Well I guess I'm just full of surprises ;)

Seconds later Blaine responded with a

You're such a cheeseball. I'll see you tomorrow Kurt :)

Kurt considered it for a moment but decided to respond

Good night. Sweet dreams.

He bit his lip before putting the phone back to his ear and returning to his conversation with Rachel. "Sorry about that. Responding to a text."

"Oooh," Rachel said, sounding far too excited. "From who? Is it a sexy professor at the school?"

"Um, no," Kurt responded, eyebrows knitting together. "No sexy professors at the academy. It's one of the groundskeepers."

"Oh!" Rachel squealed, "Even sexier! Is he all ripped and tan?"

Kurt paused. Tanned, yes. Ripped, not exactly. Blaine was compact but he wasn't scrawny. Even though he didn't have chiseled abs and huge arms, Kurt thought he was perfect. "Not really?" Kurt muttered slowly. "Rachel, you have to promise not to tell anyone—and I mean anyone about this."

Suddenly Rachel's voice went quiet, a little more serious, "Kurt?" she questioned, "Are you alright?"

Kurt swallowed trying to push aside the nervous feeling that was beginning to nag at him. Was it really a good idea to tell Rachel about this? She was his best friend, but his feelings for Blaine were...well, incredibly frowned upon.

"He's underage," Kurt finally whispered.

"What?" Rachel said softly. "Like, how young?" she asked.

"Seventeen," the word stung coming out of his mouth. It felt strange saying it out loud and it made it that much more real. That much more terrifying. "He's turning eighteen in a few months. But—God, he's a kid and I have these feelings for him." He felt his body shaking. Kurt looked down at his hand watching as he trembled in the slightest. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything at all. This was dangerous. Frightening. "God," Kurt breathed, dropping his face into his hand. His cheeks were flushed with embarrassment. "I'm thirty-two Rachel, what the hell am I doing? He's a child."

Rachel was silent and Kurt's heart was racing. He wished the ground would just swallow him up right then and there.

"Kurt."

He nearly jumped, startled at the sudden sound of her voice that shattered the silence in his ears.

"Yeah," Kurt responded with a sigh, face still pressed into his hand.

"You really like him, don't you?"

"Yes." He was trying not to break down and cry. "I really, really do."

"What about him?" Rachel questioned, voice calm and soothing.

"I took him to see a show in the city last weekend. And during intermission he asked me if it was a date. And he had this hopeful look on his face and I knew what he wanted me to say. But I was scared. I didn't want to scare him away, Rachel, because I really like him. But—I said no. At first. And he looked so disappointed. But I couldn't focus on the second half of the show because I kept thinking about him and the way he had looked at me. So before I dropped him off at home I told him that it was a date. It felt like some huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders as soon as I said it. And when he smiled at me, Rachel. God, I felt invincible and nothing really mattered that night. I didn't think about his age and how wrong it was to have feelings for him because he felt the same way about me and that made me feel so good. I haven't felt like that since the day I was accepted into NYADA." By that point, tears were rolling down his cheeks. He struggled to get the last sentence out, sobbing out the last word.

"Honey," Rachel cooed. "Kurt, it's ok. I'm sorry I'm not there with you. I wanna give you the biggest hug right now. And we could snuggle on the couch and watch Singing In The Rain like we used to in high school."

Kurt sniffed and laughed. "I miss that."

"Yeah, me too," Rachel agreed. "Listen," she said, "it's gonna be ok. You're gonna be ok because you're Kurt Hummel and you are the strongest person I know. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. Don't let society's opinions get in the way. He's practically an adult and once he's eighteen, nobody can say a damn thing. Kurt?"

"Mmm."

"You will be OK. I promise."

Kurt smiled. "Thanks."

"What's his name?" Rachel asked.

"Blaine. His name is Blaine."

"Kurt and Blaine," Rachel said slowly, "Klaine. I like it."

Kurt laughed. He liked the sound of it, too, but didn't dare to agree out loud.

- - -

The first day of rehearsal was Halloween so, naturally, the students had trouble paying attention. It seemed like their plans for later that night were much more important than focusing on the cold reading. Artie's frustration with them was mildly entertaining but mostly scary. Of course, Blaine seemed to be the only teenager in the room who was taking the rehearsal seriously. The smile on his face was contagious. Kurt could practically feel the excitement radiating off of him.

Kurt and Rachel sat in the back of the theater, silently watching as the kids read off of their script, Artie stopping them occasionally to either scold them for missing their cue or to give some feedback. Once they did a second read through, Artie stood with a sigh.

"We're off to a not-so-great start, guys," he said, "Hopefully next week it'll be a little better?"

There was a unified, "Yes," that came from the group and Artie muttered a quiet, "Thank you" before signaling Rachel to come on to the stage. Rachel practically leapt off of her chair and hurried towards the stage. Kurt trailed after her taking a seat a little closer to the stage. That was when Blaine finally noticed his presence. The boy smiled and waved. Kurt returned the gesture with a small laugh.

Rachel introduced herself as she stepped into the middle of the circle of chairs. Almost immediately, she dove into a lecture. Kurt was impressed. He briefly wondered if he could convince her to leave Broadway, become a professor at the school and move in with him.

Kurt found himself watching Blaine almost constantly. He was taking notes, eyes wide. Kurt covered his mouth when he chuckled. His commitment to all of this was kind of adorable.

When rehearsal was over, a few kids stayed behind, crowding around Rachel asking her questions. Kurt could tell she was basking in the attention. He rolled his eyes fondly as he stood and approached Blaine who was bending down to gather his things from the pile of bags that had been thrown at the very edge of the stage. "Hey you," Kurt said. Blaine looked up from the heap of backpacks to smile. Kurt's heart fluttered at that.

"Hey," Blaine greeted as he moved towards Kurt and sat down in front of him messenger bag on his lap. Kurt wanted so badly to reach out and touch his hand.

"You did a really good job today. You were actually the best one out there."

"Kurt. It was just a cold reading," Blaine reminded him with a laugh.

Kurt shrugged. "You were still really good," he said and Blaine laughed a little more.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome," Kurt responded softly.

And for a few moments the two just looked at each other and no words were exchanged. Those short seconds seemed to last so much longer and Kurt only wished they were alone because he wanted to kiss Blaine. He wanted to hold him. He wanted Blaine to be his.

"Blaine, right?" Suddenly Rachel was right there, standing behind Blaine. The boy blinked, craning his head back to look up at Rachel.

"Yeah," he said, "How, um, did you know my name?"

Kurt's heart stopped. No. Rachel, no. He looked up at his best friend trying to warn her not to mention their conversation. Not like this around other people.

"Artie told me," she said. Kurt sighed quietly. "I asked him about you just now. He said you're not even a student here?" she asked, taking a seat beside Blaine. She let her legs dangle over the edge of the stage, crossing her feet at the ankle.

"Nope," Blaine responded. "Groundskeeper. But, um..." he smiled at Kurt, "this guy managed to convince the headmaster to give me a chance at auditioning. So I did and I got the part."

"Well, you deserve it," Rachel said, nudging Blaine's shoulder.

Blaine beamed, "Thank you so much, Rachel. It means a lot, really." Then he looked over at Kurt. "I have to get going, but I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

Kurt nodded, "Yeah," he agreed. "Have a safe walk home, alright?"

Blaine nodded. "Of course." He smiled at Rachel, "It was really nice meeting you. Thanks for the tips today."

"Any time," Rachel replied as Blaine stood and gave a small wave before leaving. Once they were alone, Rachel slowly turned her head to give Kurt this wide, knowing smile.

Kurt flinched back. "What?"

"You know," Rachel said through her grin.

"Oh, shut up," Kurt snapped, suddenly the room felt stupidly warm.

"I saw the way you were looking at him. It was disgustingly cute, Kurt."

"Was it really obvious?" Kurt blurted out.

"Nah, not totally obvious, but you might wanna tone it down a little."

"OK," Kurt muttered, smoothing down his shirt. "Yeah, OK."

- - -

Later that day, Kurt received a call from Blaine shortly after dinner. Rachel had insisted on doing the dishes so Kurt had been forced to sit down on the couch. Project Runway was having another marathon so he decided to watch that.

"Can I ask you for a semi-huge favor?" Blaine asked as soon as Kurt answered the phone.

"Sure, anything," Kurt responded.

"My dad's got this really bad cold and he can't come with me to take my sisters trick-or-treating. I'd take them alone but I don't trust their behavior when they're hopped up on sugar. And it's dark outside, so I don't want to lose any of them in the midst of their chaotic trick-or-treating."

Kurt laughed, "Of course," he said. "I'll be over in a bit, alright?"

"Thank you," Blaine breathed, "You don't know how much unneeded stress you're saving me."

Kurt smiled, "I'll see you soon, Blaine," and hung up. He looked over at Rachel. "Guess we're going trick-or-treating tonight."

- - -

Kurt wasn't sure what he was expecting. But it certainly wasn't this. As Blaine had explained, it was chaos. Yellow blurs of chaos.

"Guess they decided to pre-game," Rachel commented beside Kurt as they walked along the path leading to the front porch.

When Blaine stumbled through the front door, leading one of his sisters out, Kurt had to cover his mouth to keep himself from giggling out loud.

"Oh my god." Apparently Rachel had no problem speaking her thoughts. "That is adorable," she squealed, "Are they the minions from Despicable Me and you're Gru?"

"Gru before he had his growth spurt," Blaine joked as the sister he led out screamed happily and ran off to join the others. The boy watched her before rolling his eyes. "They decided to start eating the candy that's meant for the other trick-or-treaters." He sighed. "Thank you so much for coming with me, I don't think I could handle them on my own."

"It's no problem," Kurt said turning to walk towards the street. "Our only plans for the night were watching old scary movies."

"The new ones freak us out too much," Rachel added, "At least the old ones are cheesy enough for us to laugh at."

Blaine chuckled, "Agreed. I couldn't sit through the first Saw movie. I had nightmares for weeks."

Just then one of the girls squeezed between Kurt and Blaine. "Is this Kurt?" she asked Blaine, staring up at Kurt who smiled awkwardly down at her. How did she know his name? Did Blaine talk about him?

"Yeah, Bailey. Now go join your sisters," he said, gently pushing at her shoulder.

"He really is handsome like you said," Bailey said.

Kurt's mouth dropped open, "Wha—"

Rachel giggled.

"Bailey, ohmygod!" Blaine said through gritted teeth.

"No, it's—It's fine," Kurt assured him.

"You are precious," Rachel laughed.

"Thanks, so are you!" Bailey responded with a smile before running ahead of them to join her sisters.

"Sorry about that," Blaine said avoiding eye contact with Kurt. "I didn't think she would—This is awkward."

Kurt let his hand brush Blaine's and gently grabbed it, holding it briefly. Blaine looked up at him and Kurt smiled reassuringly. "It's really OK," he promised.

"Because he thinks you're cute too," Rachel said.

Kurt looked over at Rachel, eyes wide.

"What? I'm just saying what you won't, jeeze." She shrugged, hurrying to catch up to the group of girls. Kurt heard her introduce herself and ask them their names.

"We should probably talk about this, shouldn't we?" Kurt muttered. "About us."

"Yeah," Blaine agreed after a short pause. They arrived at the first house. Rachel told Blaine she would walk the girls up, leaving Kurt and Blaine to themselves.

"I really meant what I said last week, you know," Kurt said, "About the date."

Blaine looked up at him. He looked relieved, almost. "So what does this mean?" he asked timidly.

"I don't know," Kurt whispered. He was scared. He spent countless hours thinking about them. Thinking about the date and how nice it was. He also thought about how dangerous all of this was and how stupid he was for letting himself feel this way about a boy who was untouchable. "Blaine," Kurt said quietly. "You're..."

Blaine looked over at his sisters who all called out "Trick or treat!" in the distance. His eyebrows knitted together and he looked back up at Kurt. "I know. I'm young," he said. "And I know this...us...it's..."

"Illegal," Kurt finished for him.

"I know," Blaine whispered. "And it's fine—it's ok. But we can be friends right? There's nothing wrong about that."

Kurt pressed his lips together. He could hear the pain in Blaine's voice but what he saw on his face was different. He was smiling so sweetly. Kurt nodded. "Of course we can be friends, Blaine."

He wasn't ready to say goodbye to Blaine.

- - -
They visited a total of ten houses that night before Blaine's youngest sister (Bri, was it?) finally crashed. She shuffled up to Blaine grabbing at his long striped scarf. She tugged it a few times until Blaine finally bent down to one knee.

"I'm tired," she mumbled, "when are we going home?"

Blaine smiled as he removed the large yellow construction hat off of her head. "Soon," he said. "Your sisters want to do one last house and then we'll go home. Promise."

Bri nodded, rubbing her eyes before joining her sisters. Kurt watched as she giggled when Beth picked her up, balancing the small girl on her shoulders. He turned to look at Blaine briefly who watched them with a bit of a worried look. "Don't drop your sister, Beth," he called.

Kurt laughed, nudging Blaine's shoulder, "You're going to make one hell of a dad one day, you know," he said softly.

Blaine looked up at him with those big eyes and then smiled with a shrug. "I hope so."

"You want kids?" Kurt questioned as they approached the final house and watched as Rachel led the girls up the path to the front door.

"One day, definitely. I think I've gotten more than enough practice with these little monsters," Blaine chuckled gesturing over to his sisters. He smiled, face scrunching up, "I think I can handle anything."

Kurt grinned, "Yeah," he agreed.

Soon after that, they began walking back to Blaine's house. By the time they arrived, Blaine's father had already gone to bed so Blaine was trying his best to keep his little sisters quiet.

After Kurt and Rachel helped Blaine sort through the candy they decided to call it a night.

"I've got to wash this make up off my face," Blaine said as he led them to the front door, "It's starting to itch."

"Here," Rachel said reaching into her purse. She pulled out a couple small moist towels, "Make up remover. It'll come off clean and it's good for your skin."

Blaine took the little towels and thanked her.

"You should come over Saturday night if you're not busy," Rachel said, "It's my last night and I was planning on making some dinner. You should join us. We can watch a movie or something?" She looked at Kurt for confirmation.

Kurt nodded, "You should," he agreed, "Every time you're over there we're working. You should come over to relax for once."

Blaine smiled looking between the two, "Yeah," he said, "Sure, I would love that."

"It's settled then," Rachel said with a grin, "Dinner for three at the Hummel residence."

- - -

"Rachel stop, no!"

"What, ohmygod, Kurt why are you freaking out so much?"

"Because I don't want him to think I'm trying to impress him or something stupid like that! This tablecloth says 'Hey! Blaine! I want to impress you!"

Rachel sighed snatching the tablecloth away from him, "No it does not. It just says that you have good taste. Now go get the plates and stop acting so weird."

Kurt groaned turning into the kitchen and snatching up the plates. He began setting them down after the tablecloth had been laid down. "I still think it's too much," he muttered.

"Why are you over reacting like this?" Rachel asked.

"Because, Rachel," he said, "We talked about...things on Thursday. We agreed that...this whole thing. Us as a couple. It's not an option. He knows how dangerous it is for me and how stupid it would be to do anything. We agreed to be friends and nothing more."

"Oh, really?" Rachel asked crossing her arms, "Let me know how that goes for you. It's not going to work." Rachel heaved out a sigh and let her arms drop to her sides as she walked around the table to stand in front of him. "Kurt," she said grabbing his shoulders and holding him at arms length, "You are my best friend. I know you better than most people. And I know that what you're feeling for him is different. That look you were giving him in the theater the other day. I've never seen you look at anyone like that. Not even Adam."

Kurt frowned at the mention of that name. Adam had been Kurt's first and only real boyfriend. They met at NYADA and he was sure Adam was the one. Needless to say, it never worked out. The feelings they both had felt at first were the beginning stages of puppy love and a year into the relationship they had both sort of fallen out of it and came to the mutual agreement that they weren't meant for each other. They agreed to remain friends but that didn't work out. It hurt too much.

"I'm serious," Rachel said, "This Blaine, he's something special and you know it."

"Yeah, that's why I'm so freaked out," Kurt said looking off to the side, "because I know what I'm feeling is real and I'm already in too deep to try and let him go."

"Who said you have to let him go?" Rachel asked. "Just do whatever feels right, Kurt. Don't beat yourself up over this. There's no need for that."

Just at that moment there was a knock on the door. Kurt's heart leapt. "It's him."

"Yes, Kurt, it is. Calm down, it's just Blaine."

And that was the problem right there. It was Blaine.

- - -

"Wait, wait," Blaine said wiping at his mouth, "You made this on your own?"

"Yup," Rachel smiled.

"Tell me again why you're on Broadway and not on one of those cooking competitions?"

Rachel laughed, "Stop trying to flatter me, it's not that good."

"Um, yeah it is," Blaine said putting his napkin down.

"I'll clean up since Rachel cooked," Kurt said as he stood gathering the plates. "You guys get the movie started."

Blaine stood, grabbing his own plate and glass and carrying it into the kitchen as Rachel headed into the small living room. He placed it into the sink as he looked at Kurt. "Thank you for having me over," he said, "This is really nice."

"It's no problem," Kurt said, avoiding eye contact as he turned on the water and poured some dish soap onto the sponge. Blaine remained still. Kurt could feel the boy's eyes on him. Kurt swallowed before looking up at him. "What?" he asked softly.

Blaine looked away. "Nothing," he said. "I'll, um, see you out there?"

"Yeah," Kurt agreed, turning his attention back to the dishes at hand.

- - -

There was awkward tension throughout the night. Blaine could feel it and it made him uncomfortable. Kurt was acting strange and Blaine couldn't seem to figure out why. He wondered if it had anything to do with their conversation the other night.

Once the movie was over, Kurt stood from his place beside Rachel and stretched. "I'm gonna take a shower," he yawned.

"Oh," Blaine stood, "I should probably get going, then."

"No," Rachel said quickly, dragging him back down onto the couch. "You don't have to go anywhere."

Blaine blinked at her, "Alright," he said slowly.

Without another word, Kurt was gone. The moment Blaine was sure he heard Kurt's bedroom door shut, he turned to Rachel. "Is he alright?" he asked suddenly.

Rachel's face twisted into a bit of an apologetic smile. "Sort of?" she said.

"What's going on? It is about me?"

Rachel hesitated for a moment but she nodded slightly. "He told me about what you guys talked about the other night. About your agreement."

"Oh." Right. That. He had a feeling it had something to do with that stupid agreement.

"If you ask me, it's a stupid agreement," Rachel said and Blaine smiled. Was she a mind reader too?

"Yeah," he agreed softly.

"Look," Rachel began. "Just...be careful with Kurt. He's been through a lot. Don't..." she looked towards Kurt's bedroom door and pitched her voice a little lower, "Don't tell him I said this to you, but he's gone through a lot of crap, especially when he was younger. We grew up in Ohio and it was really rough on him. He's always been out and proud but the kids at our school didn't like that. He was bullied. Bad. To the point where it became physical and he had to transfer to a new school for a while. But he never changed who he was to fit in. He stuck to what he believed in and he went after his dream of being on Broadway. Things changed, though. I'm not exactly sure why but suddenly one day he said that Broadway wasn't for him.

He's only had one other boyfriend and things ended badly. Maybe that was what changed his mind, I don't know. He was really hurt and after the break up. He didn't really want to be in any committed relationship after that." Rachel smiled at him. "You're different, though. I don't think you've noticed, but when he looks at you...it's, like, to him, you're the only person in the room sometimes. He really cares about you, more than I think you know."

Blaine's stomach swooped at that. He hadn't noticed. Maybe it was because Kurt looked at him when Blaine wasn't paying attention. Or maybe he was an oblivious idiot.

"All I have to say is...just be careful with his heart, ok? Take care of him. He really cares about you."

Blaine nodded looking down at the ground. He felt Rachel touch his arm. When he looked up at her she smiled softly. "I told him he should do whatever feels right," she muttered, "I know there's an age barrier but it's really not that bad," she assured him, "You're going to be eighteen soon anyway, so what the hell?"

Blaine laughed softly. "I really do like him."

"And he likes you. Both of you need to stop being idiots and admit to your feelings. You two meeting wasn't chance or coincidence, Blaine. It happened for a reason, you know."

"You really believe that?" Blaine asked quietly.

"Absolutely."

Blaine sighed looking off to the side. Was it too early to ask himself if Kurt was his soul mate?