Cooper arrived at the hostel bright and early Wednesday morning, lugging a camera case over his shoulder and wheeling a very large case full of what Blaine assumed was his lighting equipment. Blaine sat morosely on the steps, weeding through the mess that was his twitter feed on his phone. Apparently someone had gotten wind that Kurt's day of adventure wasn't the 'sick day' his people spun it off as. Speculation was running wild as to where Kurt had actually been. Blaine smiled a tiny bit as he moved up his timeline at the theories, which got more and more ridiculous as the news spread. Cooper cleared his throat to get Blaine's attention, and the amused smile fell from his face, replaced by a look of calculated indifference.

"Don't act so happy to see me, B." Cooper said as he pulled Blaine in for an awkward, rather uncomfortable hug. Blaine threw an arm around Cooper, still wary of what exactly he had planned.

"I'd be happier if I had some kind of idea where you were dragging me at 7 in the morning."

"But it would absolutely ruin the surprise!" Cooper cried, turning to the sidewalk and attempting to flag down a taxi.

Blaine took a moment as a cab stopped for them to smarmily think the ABD was more of an 'unfortunate development' no matter how Cooper chose to spin it before opening the door for his brother. Cooper situated his things, having to bargain a discount when the driver tried to tack on a fee for the rolling case, before giving the directions; then they were off, wading through the early traffic to a street Blaine thought was in Clinton.

Cooper made attempts at stilted conversation as they rode uptown; he tried to get Blaine to fill him in on what he had been up to sans Rachel, but stopped once Blaine reminded him they covered his adventures at lunch Monday past, and events hadn't changed in the two days since. Cooper then chose to fill the silence by talking to the cabbie. They learned he was Abed from Saudi Arabia, with five kids and a wife looking to get into NYU for nursing. Blaine spent the ride looking out the window and trying not to pry any more into Abed's life.

They eventually left Abed and his cab, disembarking in front of another glass-and-steel skyscraper. Blaine looked up; where in the world could a photographer and his kid brother be useful in there?

Cooper rapped his hand lightly against Blaine's hair, drawing his attention.

"If we go inside, you'll see why we're here, you know," he said good-naturedly.

Blaine gave a little bow. "Lead on, good sir," he prompted; they started moving, quickly becoming too busy trying to drag Coop's equipment through the revolving doors for Blaine to notice Prosper Talent & Entertainment engraved on a metal plaque attached to the building.

He did notice the entryway once Cooper and his things were clear. Nearly every surface was marble, glass accents lining the counters and creating strangely shaped conversation pieces in the corners and on the ceiling. Lining the walls were framed photos, posters, and magazine articles; the agency’s ‘success cases’ were pictured, smiling and posing for movie promotions, photo shoots, and publicity events.

Blaine was even more confused. ABDs were lazy days in parks, where they would feed birds and talk until pieces of bread "miraculously" wound up stuck to the back of Blaine's shirt and he got run down by pigeons. They were trips to shopping centers that until the first Duran Duran song started playing and Cooper and Blaine got thrown out for disturbing the peace.

They were not early morning jaunts to spotless marble lobbies with weird art and famous people on the walls.

Cooper walked up to a receptionist and handed her a card Blaine hadn't seen before.

"I'm the photographer for the Fire and Ice session today?" he said. Something tinged in the back of Blaine's mind. Where had he heard that before?

The receptionist took a second to give Cooper an obvious once-over, and Blaine could practically feel Cooper preening; he knew he was handsome, and while he was totally devoted to his girlfriend, he also believed heavily in shameless flirtation.

"We just need you two to sign in here, and then go check in at the security window." The receptionist said, handing Cooper a clipboard. He took it, grazing her hand in the process, and signed it with a flourish and a wink before handing it off to Blaine. When Blaine handed the papers back to her, Cooper shoved the camera bag on his shoulder into Blaine's empty hands and reached for his wallet. The receptionist couldn't see what Cooper was up to; thinking them lost, she stood to give directions and conveniently displaying what Blaine thought was supposed to be a very nice body. Cooper grabbed her hand with his free one and patted it gently.

"You know, I've done plenty of shoots for Prosper. We'll be fine; but thank you for being so helpful." He withdrew a business card from his wallet and Blaine had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes. Leave it to Cooper to plug his business whenever he could.

"I bet a beautiful young lady such as yourself is looking to go into the business." She flushed and nodded as he looked her over, managing to come across as making a professional evaluation instead of being a leering creep.

"Well then, if you should ever need photos done, give me a call. I could even point you in the direction of some casting calls…" Another wink as he handed her the card and then he tugged Blaine down the hallway, leaving the receptionist staring after them as if Cooper were the answer to her prayers. Blaine shot him a glance once they were a safe distance away.

"What?" Cooper shrugged. "She was new; wearing an outfit like that, she's begging one of the managing partners to notice her. Dunno what she wants to do, but she's gonna need pictures, and who am I to turn away a potential customer?"

Blaine snorted, and then stopped short of running into Cooper as they arrived at a window labeled 'Security'.

"Hey, Jake," greeted the man at the window. Blaine looked around; who was Jake?

"How's it going, Brendan?" Cooper asked, flashing the card he'd shown the receptionist. Apparently, Jake was Cooper. Coop must go by his first name for work, Blaine figured.

"Pretty good, considering; haven't had to chase down any rabid fans lately. Which shoot are you doing today?" Brendan ducked down for a moment before coming back up with two badges. He checked them over before sliding them through to them.

"Del Monico's, huh?" that same feeling went off in the back of Blaine's head—there was something going on here that he should have figured out by now, but what?

"As usual. I think they're almost done with everything though. Can't say I'll be sad to have this contract expire…" Cooper attached his badge to his shirt and handed the other one to Blaine.

"Almost forgot—this is my little brother. He's helping out today. You need his ID?" Blaine reached for his wallet as Cooper asked, wondering why Brendan hadn't asked for it earlier.

"How old are you, kid?" Brendan asked.

"Seventeen."

"He's with you, and he's got a badge, so he's fine." Brendan shrugged. "No funny business from you though. Your brother must've signed a waiver to get you in here."

Blaine nodded and began moving toward the elevators gleaming at the end of the hallway. Cooper got confirmation on the location before joining him and pressing the elevator call button.

"What are you waiting for? Put the badge on," Cooper prompted. Blaine complied, adjusting his shirt around the tag's weight.

"I'm still confused as to why I'm here;" Blaine complained. "I thought this was an ABD, not 'take your brother to work' day."

"And I'm still telling you it's a surprise. Although," he coughed delicately as people joined them in waiting for the elevator, "it's not technically an ABD." Blaine puffed up, indignant; Cooper held up a staying hand. "You weren't going to come if I didn't call it that. And we're still going to be spending time together…"

"So you pull a phony ABD because you knew I had plans I didn't want to get out of?" Blaine hissed, mindful of the people around them and not wanting to cause a very big scene. This was close to sacrilege as far as Blaine was concerned. Like telling your boss your grandmother died so you can go to a concert or something. Abuse of privilege. But even though Blaine was really upset, a very small part of him was impressed Cooper managed to think of that on his own. But that part of him was miniscule compared to the part of him that wanted to make his brother extremely sorry he'd wasted his afternoon.

"You're mad now. And I completely understand. But I promise it'll be worth it." Cooper said.

The elevator chose then to arrive, and they crowded on. Cooper gave their floor to someone near the buttons and settled in beside Blaine, ignoring the dirty looks people were giving them because of their luggage. Blaine was oblivious to the stares as well, whipping out his phone as the elevator began to rise.

Coffee Mate [8:45am]: my entire morning has been a lie. ABD a ruse.

Ohmigod [8:46am]: that's awful! Tell him that for me. I was looking forward to lunch all week :(

Coffee Mate [8:47am]: i know. He says I'm going to forgive him tho; not sure yet; he's got me working for him…

Ohmigod [8:48am]: it's a trap! don't trust him!!! i'd say abort mission but you're kind of stuck wherever you are now…

Blaine sighed and put his phone back in his pocket, scooting over to let the last group of people off at the twenty-seventh floor. Once the doors closed, he rounded on Cooper.

"We're almost there." Cooper promised, eyes on the floor ticker, ignoring Blaine's scowl.

Finally, the elevator stopped and Cooper got off, beckoning Blaine to follow. He stepped out and walked down the hallway to an oversized door labeled 'FIRE AND ICE: THE KURT HUMMEL EXPERIENCE PHOTO SHOOT IN PROGRESS—AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.'

Blaine choked on the breath he was taking, mind taking off in about a million different directions as he tried to process what was going on. He really wanted to kick his brother for not just telling him, but then Cooper didn't know Blaine had already met Kurt and thinking about it, none of Kurt's people would know either. So they would have to play it cool, the question was how? Kurt had no idea they were meeting today, either. And even it Blaine were being introduced to Kurt for the first time, how in the hell would Cooper expect Blaine to be any help at all?

Blaine snapped to with Cooper's fingers waving in his face.

"You okay there, Blainey?"

"Oh my god." Blaine muttered. "Coop. Oh. My. God…" What the hell was he going to do and how much damage would it cause?

Cooper grinned, mistaking Blaine's inner panic attack with a fanboy breakdown. And in a sense, he was right, except Blaine was having a breakdown over his plan to fake a fanboy breakdown if he was expected to "meet" Kurt.

"Figured you'd change your mind." He said smugly before opening the door to a cacophony of light and sound. Blaine followed, still wondering how in the hell this was going to play out.

Cooper maneuvered them around the scaffolding and technicians to a table where a frazzled-looking but attractive—like, ridiculously so—Hispanic man stood overlooking schematics and talking into a walkie-talkie. He set his papers down and scowled at Cooper and Blaine as they approached.

"Anderson, you're late."

"Am not. I got told to be here at nine thirty; it's barely nine now. I can have my cameras in place and ready to go in fifteen," Cooper replied.

Blaine took the moment to look around. The studio was mostly bleak cement and iron supports, but set up in various corners were painted backdrops, designed to look like…well, fire and ice. Men and women were darting around, adjusting light sources, setting up more backgrounds, and organizing prop tables. Blaine thought he saw a stuffed polar bear over by the ice set, but he wasn't too sure—maybe it was a really big pile of fake snow, or something. Everything was big, loud, and stressful and Blaine had only been watching people work for a couple of minutes. How did Kurt deal with it every day?

Done being briefed on the agenda, Cooper nudged Blaine in the shoulder and led him to the Ice set Blaine had been studying. Yes, that was a giant polar bear. Thank goodness Rachel wasn't there; a long-winded lecture on animal rights would be the thing that caused Blaine to have the breakdown he was on the edge of.

"We're supposed to set up here for now. You remember how to do the equipment?" Blaine nodded. "Good. So we'll get this together, and then let Terri know we're here."

"Terri?" Blaine asked, reaching to unzip the bag and pull out the camera. Cooper nodded while unlocking the case.

"Del Monico. Hummel's manager. I've been his photographer since he came to New—Blaine!"

Cooper pulled off a spectacular dive, managing to save the camera just as it slipped from Blaine's limp fingers. He cradled it to his chest as he stood again, glaring murderously at Blaine.

"Would you be careful? This is expensive equipment…"

"You've literally known Kurt for years and this is the first time I've heard about it?" Blaine demanded. "Like, seriously? Cooper, what the hell?" He was desperately trying to not pace now and beyond worried. The only person who knew Blaine's reactions better than Blaine himself was probably Cooper. He would definitely know there was something up if he and Kurt didn't act enough like awesome and complete strangers.

"Well excuse me for not wanting to be hounded for his autograph by one obsessed little brother." Cooper said, putting the camera back in the case and pushing Blaine to the case. "No more handling the cameras for you. Set up the tripods and try not to break anything, okay?"

Once again, there wasn't a way around it that Blaine could see. He reached for his pocket when Cooper turned back around, grabbed his phone, and fired off a text to Kurt:

Coffee Mate [9:10am]: remember how I told you I couldn't do lunch because my brother was taking me somewhere?

He hoped he'd be able to break the news gently enough Kurt wouldn't start freaking out as badly as he was. He checked his replies after he got the tripod standing

Ohmigod [9:11am]: rub it in, why don't you? :P

Coffee Mate [9:15am]: three guesses where I am

It took him a minute to help Cooper get everything in place, but finally everything was arranged to Cooper's satisfaction. Blaine was trying his hardest not to be sick all over their setup and hoped Cooper would mistake it for nervous excitement and not mindless terror. He wasn't even sure what he was scared about; he just had the feeling if anybody figured out he and Kurt knew each other it would be bad.

"Very nice; we've got about thirty minutes 'til we're supposed to start." Cooper said, glancing at his watch. "What do you say we go say hello to Terri and Kurt? Hope you brought your autograph book…"

And with that, Cooper began walking towards the door. Blaine followed, getting more and more anxious as they left the studio and moved up the hallway to another set of doors marked with different names on them, and holy shit Kurt's entire band was there, and his backup singers and dancers. Blaine was going to see all of them. All of them.

They reached the last door on the hallway—Kurt's—and Blaine checked his phone desperately before Cooper opened the door. He needed to warn Kurt…

Ohmigod [9:16am]: it's kind of a big city, Blaine.

Coffee Mate [9:20am]: not big enough. hope you know how to improv…

He took an ineffective calming breath as Cooper knocked on the door. A moment later, a stern looking blonde opened the door, and Blaine prepared himself for the worst.