The acting auditions were easy.

Blaine remembered everything from high school – pitch and tone and tension, blocking, gestures and expressions – and he poured every emotion he could conjure and tried his hardest to be larger than life – this was stage, after all.

When he was done, he locked eyes with Kurt, who looked a little dumbstruck, clapping with the rest of them. He gave a triumphant smile before sitting back down, stretching out slightly.

He dozed lightly for the rest of the acting auditions – it was about three in the afternoon and he was drained already.

Singing auditions passed fairly quickly – they were each given songs to sing from the musical itself, and Blaine felt confident about how he did.

"Alright." Kurt looked tired as he clapped to get their attention. "Now, thank you all so much for coming and auditioning…you're all very talented. Final cast lists will be emailed out in about a week – make sure you hand your audition form in today..." Kurt closed his eyes, thinking. "I think that's everything…good luck, and goodbye!"

Blaine glanced around awkwardly – it was only five. Was he supposed to stick around?

"Blaine…" Kurt called.

The man was currently on the ground, lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling quite contentedly. Blaine sauntered over to him, a grin on his face, before plopping down next to him.

"Am I allowed to know how I went?"

Kurt grinned. "You were…you were quite amazing, actually."

Blaine blushed. "There was a lot of talent in the room today."

"Yeah…" Kurt whispered. "It's going to be tough." He sat up, stretching lightly. "You can go home, if you want?"

"Are you coming?"

Kurt laughed. "I've still got supporting auditions to do."

"Oh…" Blaine said softly. "Well, do you want me to stick around?"

"Nah, go home. We'll be home around ten…" Kurt said softly.

"Well…what's happening tomorrow?"

Kurt scooted backwards to his diary, flicking it open. "I've got a meeting with the Set and Prop Designers, but you pretty much have this week free, until the cast list comes out."

Blaine nodded thoughtfully, before shooting Kurt a grin. "Alright. See you when you get home. Are you guys going to eat?"

"Most likely." Kurt grinned, and Blaine nodded before hauling himself up and waving to his roommates, before heading out the door.

Derek and Ian suddenly planted themselves next to Kurt, grinning at him.

Derek groaned. "We've got a stupid job. I vote never to be casting directors again."

Kurt laughed. "We should've chosen somewhere less New Yorkish to do this."

"You got that right." Ian moaned, lying flat on his back.

"Just on first instinct, tell me your opinions." Kurt said softly, glancing at the two of them.

Kurt had been over the play with them countless times – every character, every personality, every rational thought that led to the outcome of the play. They knew it almost as well as he did, and he trusted them completely with his judgments.

"I have a question, first…" Ian turned to Kurt, his eyebrow quirking. "How long have you known Blaine? Because I could've sworn you wrote James using him as a guide."

Derek nodded. "I agree wholeheartedly. I actually thought you must've known about Blaine beforehand…but then again, we were with you that night at the club."

Kurt grinned excitedly. "I thought the exact same thing. I just…he's perfect! It's almost like he was born for the role!"

His gushing made Derek and Ian raise their eyebrows, and Kurt collected himself with an offhand laugh.

"What about Stacey?"

Derek tapped his chin. "Either Amanda or Alana. They were both really…."

"Sultry, without being overly slutty?" Ian offered, and Derek nodded.

"Exactly. I had them in mind too…" Kurt said softly.

There was a knock on the door as the first supporting actors started flooding in, and Kurt stood up, plastering a grin on his face and starting up again.

^.^

By the time Kurt, Derek and Ian got home, it was almost eleven at night. The apartment was dark, the only light coming from the kitchen.

"Bed guys." Kurt told them softly, yawning. "We have to be up early again tomorrow, to re-watch all the auditions and start trying to decide who gets what, then the meeting with the Set people and-"

"Okay!" Ian cut him off, laughing slightly. "We have a lot to do, so go to bed?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Kurt grinned sheepishly, heading to the stairs. "Night guys."

"Night Kurt…" came the sleepy replies.

Kurt yawned as he headed up the stairs, pausing in Blaine's bedroom. The door was wide open, and he raised an eyebrow, spotting the lump of person under the covers.

He really did resemble James – the character that played alongside Kurt's character – remarkable well. Kurt had thought it when he first saw Blaine, but now…

It was uncanny.

Kurt gave a little grin to himself and shut Blaine's door before, continuing to his own room, trying to ignore the whispers of Ian and Derek behind him.

They had a loonngg day tomorrow.

^.^

"I don't care." Kurt hissed into the phone. "I gave you a budget, and I expect you to stick to it! Why is this so hard for you? You promised me that it was possible!"

His voice was gradually getting louder, waking his roommates.

Blaine stumbled into the room, rubbing blearily at his eyes, and Kurt turned his back on him to finish his conversation.

"You know what? I don't care anymore. You have the budget, stick to it. If you go over, it's your fault, not mine! Yes... fine...whatever. Goodbye." He hung up with a sigh, dropping his phone on the counter and turning to bang his head against the wall.

"Why. Do. Prop and Costume. People. Always. Fail. At. Sticking to. The. Budget? Ugh!"

Blaine cringed, his sleepy brain refusing to process anything past trying not to annoy Kurt, and needing coffee – which was next to Kurt.

"Umm..."

"What?" Kurt snapped, whirling around.

Blaine cringed again. "Coffee...?"

"Oh, sorry Blaine." Kurt mumbled. "Help yourself."

Blaine yawned tiredly as Derek and Ian stumbled in, blearily rubbing their eyes.

"Everything okay? We heard yelling and thumping…." Derek asked.

"Mm…" Kurt grumbled. "Unless Prop and Costume get their shit together, we might have to raise the budget."

Ian rolled his eyes. "They'll deal. They always do…"

"I don't understand…" Blaine said from the table, where he was now nursing a coffee and inching three others towards Kurt, Derek and Ian.

Kurt heaved a giant sigh and planted himself opposite to Blaine, with Derek and Ian on either side.

"Before we even think about hiring people, we always have a plan in our heads. A couple of months ago, we sat down and sketched out the stage and each costume, then we had a look on Ebay and a couple of stores online to get pricing. Even if some clothes can't be found, the material can be used to make the costumes, and usually they're altered anyway. Our Costume and Prop budget is based on these findings – we usually give about five hundred dollars extra just in case, but the people we hired can't seem to understand what we wanted, despite all the research we sent them…"

"Our budget isn't as strict as we would like it to be, though. Our funds mostly come from donations and fund-raising, plus everything we've saved. Kurt's father is also in congress – and he sponsors us the rest of the money we need. So we can make allowances, but we really don't want to do that until Prop and Costume show us what they've got…." Derek continued.

"Honestly, if we had the time, we'd probably do it ourselves…but directing a musical isn't easy." Ian finished, and Blaine nodded in understanding.

"I can imagine…"

Kurt stretched before standing and collecting his coffee. "We're going to go re-watch the auditions. You're welcome to join us, or you can go explore the city…"

"Yeah…I think I'll go for a walk…" Blaine said softly, but he didn't move. "You know, when I wake up."

Derek laughed. "You've got our phone numbers, right? If you get lost, send one of us a text and we'll come find you."

Blaine grinned. "Thanks."

With that, they disappeared into a dark room – Blaine had only been in there once, but it had the projector and other electronics.

Blaine remained at the table, going back for another coffee.

It was still a little too early.

^.^

"Alright…I think we need to do call-backs…" Kurt muttered tiredly.

It had been four hours since they started, and so far they had three alternatives for two of the four main roles.

"Now…obviously we don't need anyone for Tomas – are you sure you won't need an understudy?" Derek asked, crossing off the character.

"Nah, I can do it even if I'm sick." Kurt laughed.

"And what about James' character. Are you sure about Blaine?"

Kurt grinned. "Positive. He's perfect."

"And understudy?"

Kurt bit his lip, pouring over the names. "This guy. Sebastian."

Derek nodded and scribbled something down.

"Alana, Amanda and Tianne for Stacey, right?" Ian asked.

Kurt nodded, crossing off a few names.

"Clara, Angelica and Grace for Brianna?"

"Perfect. Call-backs will eliminate the weak link, and we'll have our performer and understudy."

Derek and Ian nodded, and they were just about ready to go back to bed.

"Alright, so…Prop and Costume time…"

Derek rolled his eyes. "Are they bringing everything they've gathered?"

"Yeah. We're meeting at the warehouse." Ian said, putting all the files back into their folders and gathering them up before standing. "Are we getting lunch?"

Kurt nodded, pulling out his phone.

Is everything okay? Not lost? We're heading out now, and we're locking the apartment. Have you got your key? We'll be home before dinner – does Chinese sound good to you?

Kurt stretched and picked up his portfolio, heading to the living room. Within minutes, Blaine responded.

(11:34) Blaine Yeah, I'm fine, and yes, I have my key, and yes, Chinese sounds awesome. Thanks!

"Alright, Blaine's fine. You guys ready?"

Derek and Ian nodded, exchanging a small grin.

^.^

"I hate them." Derek announced once the three designers had left. "Honestly, I hate them. Why did we hire them?"

"Because we always hire them?" Kurt muttered, burying his head in his hands.

"They weren't that bad this time. They have over three quarters of the materials and they've only used up half the budget." Ian soothed. "I thought they were a lot worse, judging by your phone call."

"Honestly, I'm surprised too. They sounded like they hadn't done anything and were out of money anyway." Kurt chuckled.

"Is that everything then?" Derek moaned. "Because I'm ready to sleep for the rest of the week..."

Kurt laughed, shuffling his files and standing up. "Yeah. That's it. You can go home and sleep."

Ian laughed. "Oh Kurt, you're hilarious...but seriously, what's on for the rest of the week?"

Kurt grinned and pulled out his diary, scanning through it quickly.

"Well, pretty much just call-backs." Kurt told them, flipping pages. "And that fancy dinner with my father tomorrow night…"

Ian and Derek stiffened, their eyes widening.

"Yeah...so we're going to be out that night..."

Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Convenient. How come?"

"We're...um..."

Kurt laughed. "Guys, it's been like, six years. I know you hate it. You guys going to the pub again?"

"Sure are. Would you like us to take Blaine?" Derek asked.

Ian brightened. "Oooh, can we not? I mean, I love Blaine and all, but like, I would love to watch him deal with you."

Kurt frowned. "I'm not that bad..."