Blaine was speechless the first time he stepped into his new apartment.

"Whoa…" he muttered, because really, it wasn't so much an apartment, but a fucking big house.

"So, we open to a gloriously furnished living room." Kurt grinned, lugging Blaine's second suitcase into the warm living space. "Upstairs are four bedrooms – yours is the first on the right, next to the bathroom. There's already and bed and a dresser, but feel free to decorate as you please." He explained, gesturing to the stairs.

Blaine nodded wordlessly, following Kurt to the kitchen.

"The fridge is free-for-all unless you put your name on it. Derek is lactose intolerant, so if you see anything lactose free, assume it's his and don't touch it." He laughed. "It tastes like crap anyway."

Blaine just nodded.

Kurt mentally ticked off the list in his head, before nodding to himself.

"Alright, I'm ninety-nine percent sure that's everything." He noticed Blaine's stunned expression and smirked, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You can unpack in the morning. We have a big day tomorrow."

"What's happening tomorrow?" Blaine finally managed, his eyes flicking around the living room.

"Well…" Kurt used his fingers to count them off. "You'll meet Derek and Ian, who also live here, and you have until nine to unpack. Then we'll go get some coffee then we'll head to the warehouse for auditions."

"Auditions?" Blaine blanched.

"Don't worry…if you dance like you did on the first night we met, you've got the part…and besides…I get the last say. But there's also other parts – there are singing roles."

Blaine's eyes lit up and he nodded eagerly.

"I take it that means you sing?" Kurt asked with a smile.

"Yeah…I sing."

Kurt nodded, helping Blaine upstairs. He showed him to his room.

"Alright, I'm going to bed as well. Don't hesitate to wake me up if you need to talk or anything…I know it's pretty daunting and I've pretty much picked you up and taken you away from your comfort zone…but I really hope this works out for you." He smiled kindly. "My room is at the end of the hall on the left."

Blaine nodded. "Thanks Kurt…for everything…"

Kurt just smiled. "No worries…night Bambi."

"Kurt?"

He reappeared in the doorway. "Hmm?"

"It's Blaine."

^.^

It took Blaine a while to fall asleep that night – tossing and turning on the unfamiliar bed.

Kurt knocked on his door at six the next morning.

"Blaine? Time to get up." He said bluntly, and Blaine groaned, rolling over and pulling his pillow over his head. He could hear Kurt repeating himself to other people and groaned again.

"Blaine? Are you up yet?" Kurt called loudly, reappearing in his doorway. "We have to be there at nine instead of ten, and there's no coffee, which means we have to leave at eight."

Blaine didn't reply and Kurt huffed, grinning evilly as he stepped into the room, yanking the covers off the bed.

"The fuck?" Blaine asked loudly, appearing from under his pillow and looking around sleepily.

"Up!" Kurt repeated.

Blaine replaced the pillow over his eyes, and Kurt frowned. "Are you going to shower or are you just going to reek of night-club and sweat while you meet the people you'll be working with for the next year and a half. Minimum."

Blaine grumbled, his muffled protests coming from below the pillow.

"Your choice. But at seven thirty I'm actually going to come and rape you."

Blaine sat up, eyes wide, and Kurt grinned triumphantly. "It's a figure of speech." He tossed over his shoulder as he left the room.

Blaine was still shocked, his eyes wide and his breath uneven. It was just such a random thing to come from Kurt's mouth. He glanced back at his pillow, which beckoned at him, and politely ignored its requests, stumbling out of his room. The door to the shower was closed and he could hear the shower running, so he made his way to the kitchen instead, where a forlorn man was looking through the cupboards.

"Ah. You must be Blaine." He said. "There's no coffee."

Blaine's head fell. "Ugh. I say we ditch the shower, forget Kurt and go rob the nearest caffeine omitting place."

The man took a moment, before he grinned and stepped forward. "My name's Derek. I can tell you're going to fit in well here."

Blaine grinned widely.

"What's this about forgetting me?" Kurt rounded the corner, beaming at the two men.

"His idea!" Derek held his hands up in surrender.

"Ian's out of the shower. You can commandeer it as you see fit." Kurt notified Blaine, who nodded and scampered to his room.

What would he wear though? It was casual, but he'd be dancing…

Then again, he could dance in anything. And he wanted to look good. He pulled a pair of dark skinny jeans from his suitcase and a tightly-hugging shirt, grinning and heading to the shower.

Today was going to be a good day.

He could tell.

^.^

Thirty minutes later, Blaine was happily nursing a scalding coffee. Kurt, Ian and Derek watched him amusedly.

"You have a problem?" Blaine asked, almost nuzzling the cup.

The three of them chuckled, and Ian shook his head.

"You're obviously not a morning person."

"Obviously." Kurt grinned.

"I like my sleep.' He grinned. "There's nothing wrong with that."

The three of them exchanged knowing looks. "Good luck with that." Derek commented.

"Every day is going to start at six…we'll end at ten, at the earliest."

Blaine paled. "Okay…"

"Daunted yet?" Ian laughed.

"Not yet." Blaine grinned.

"Just wait." Derek shook his head, and Kurt glanced at the time.

"Mm…we have to start moving." Kurt said softly.

Blaine whimpered, glancing between Kurt and his coffee with wide eyes.

"Relax." Kurt laughed. "You can take your coffee with you."

^.^

Blaine was still wide eyed when they walked out of the meeting with the other directors and important people.

"That was... wow." he murmured, and Kurt laughed.

"Daunting? Overwhelming? Scary?"

"Life-changing."

Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Kurt, I'm a stripper. My life expectations don't exceed past getting up and dancing for money. They…they're talking about real money…about getting up and dancing for myself as well as them. It's about me...it was never about me. It was about my clients."

Kurt grinned a little. "I'm glad to be providing this opportunity for you."

Blaine nodded slightly. "So…what now?"

"Well, auditions." Kurt pulled his notebook from his satchel, glancing over a few pages before reaching his schedule.

Blaine nodded nervously. "We have the dancing first, and then you can audition for singing and acting after lunch. Supporting roles are after-hours – at about seven…"

"Relax." Derek said from Blaine's left. "From what Kurt's told us, you'll do fine."

Blaine nodded slightly, following behind the other three in a slight daze. So much had changed since yesterday, it was all so... overwhelming?

"It's only two blocks down, where we're going." Kurt instructed, and they followed him obediently. Talk was still a little stilted between them - they didn't know enough about each other to be able to talk easily.

Before too long, they were walking into the warehouse, where Kurt hurried off to greet some people who were already standing there awkwardly.

"Okay guys, this is the rest of the cast." he told them, waving them over until they all stood in a group. There was about thirty of them total, and Kurt smiled as he greeted them all, backing out of the group.

"So, we have about fifteen places open, so not all of you will get a place." he told them as they settled down, listening attentively. Blaine glanced around hesitantly, suddenly regretting dropping his entire life for this - because what happened if he didn't get a place?

"We'll be doing the dancing audition first. I was just going to let you audition whatever, but I figure it might be fairer if I taught you something and then we performed that. It'll also give me a hint as to how well you work in groups, how fast you learn and all that extra stuff." Kurt instructed.

People were nodding along, girls stripping down to tights, and everyone was fidgeting slightly, eager to get stretching and start the audition.

Kurt glanced over at Blaine, grinning a little at him. Blaine was nervous – he didn't really get nervous about dancing, but this was different. This was Kurt. This was his chance.

But it wasn't like he wouldn't a part. Kurt had already assured him that this was just a formality – that he would get at least a minor role regardless of anything that happened. It was just the possibility of getting something more that scared him.

"Alright." Kurt clapped his hands loudly, and everyone came to his attention. "So I'm going to go through the movements in counts of eight – I need you in a bit of a square, six people across…we'll go through the counts and each time we move on, the line will move so everyone gets a chance at the front. My casting members will walk around and start judging from the moment I start teaching."

There were various degrees of assent as they got into their square. Blaine managed to score himself a place somewhere near the middle.

Kurt grinned, turning so his back was towards them. He faced the mirror, taking a breath, before calling out the steps and demonstrating them.

^.^

Three hours later, the dance auditions were done. Blaine was happily exhausted, his limbs in a quiet agony that he got after pushing himself. It was glorious.

Kurt and the other casting directors looked extremely pleased, and stood around talking. It wasn't lunch yet, and Blaine felt a bit awkward about approaching them, so he got himself a drink and milled around, nodding at some of the other dancers.

"Alright!" Kurt called, turning back to face them. "Time for the acting auditions. If you danced, you should probably try out, because no matter what happens, you will end up having some small part. Come forward and get a script – you have two hours – go get lunch, talk to some of us, and practice your lines…you don't have to memorize them, just be able to read them without constantly having your head now…"

He grinned at them, shuffling the paper in his hands as they formed a line. Blaine laughed at himself, wondering how exactly he got himself into this position. It didn't make sense – it was a surreal experience and he tried his hardest not to think for too long. It seems that if he did, it would just crumble under his feet and he'd be back at the strip club.

Soon enough, he'd received his script – basically a sheet of paper with a series of monologues in it. With a brief backstory above each monologue, he seemed to have to interpret the character himself.

Kurt grinned when he handed Blaine the script, pulling him aside.

As soon as the others had gone, Kurt turned to Blaine.

"You did well." He commented, a small grin on his face.

This was a different side to Kurt – something Blaine hadn't experienced yet. He was happy and relaxed – doing something he loved. He smiled more, and was ten times less professional, which seemed weird.

But the smile that illuminated his face was something Blaine never wanted to get tired of seeing.