Kurt laughed heartily, throwing his head back and clutching his heart. “He still does that?”

Rachel gave a pained sigh, burying her face in her hands. “Yes.”

Kurt looked on, aghast, as Rachel attempted to sabotage her blemish-free complexion. “Pores!” he snapped. Rachel’s head shot up immediately.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, finger-combing her long brown hair back into place. “You should totally send him one back. Doesn’t he have his first rehearsal tonight?”

“Yep,” Kurt confirmed. “I consider it a douche move on the director’s part. Who tells someone he’s been cast via e-mail, then expects him to show up at rehearsal the next day?”

Rachel grimaced. “That’s rough. What’s the director’s name?”

“Amos Flanagan. Ten bucks says he’s somehow related to Rory.”

Rachel gasped. “Amos Flanagan?”

“Yep, that’s what I said.” Kurt patted Rachel’s shoulder affectionately. The girl could be so melodramatic sometimes--then again, one would be foolish not to expect that from someone whose middle name was Barbra, with no second A, as in Streisand.

“He’s, like, a huge deal, Kurt! This is so, so exciting. Oh, my God. Why’s he doing local theatre? I wonder,” she mused. “Broadway must not have him working right now.”

“He’s from Broadway?” Kurt asked, pressing a hand to his heart. 

Rachel nodded. “This very street. He’s quite prolific, in fact. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of him.”

“Blaine’s going to flip serious shit when I tell him.” Kurt shook his head in disbelief. “It’s going to kill his focus. Like, absolutely slaughter it.”

“If you tell him, you mean,” Rachel corrected, a mischievous gleam in her eye. “You don’t have to, you know. If it’ll just freak him out, I’d say just let him concentrate on his performance, without having to worry about pleasing his big-time director.”

Kurt stared into space, considering her suggestion. If he told Blaine, she was right--he would freak out and lose focus. If he didn’t tell Blaine...well, he’d be lying to him. One of his goals in life was to never, ever lie to Blaine.
“I just...don’t want to lie to him,” Kurt said, so quiet that Rachel just barely heard him--and the girl had bionic hearing.

“Oh, Kurt.” Rachel put a pink-peacoat-clad arm around him. “It’s not lying if you don’t say anything.”

“Lie by omission,” he blurted out, seemingly refuting her argument entirely. “He might already know. Let me text him.”

Kurt: what do you know about your director?

The response came almost immediately.

Honey Bear: not much, aside from the fact he’s not related to irish...why?

Kurt: no reason

Rachel smiled at him. “See? It’s not so hard! You want Blaine to give the best performance he can, don’t you?” She smirked. "And I won’t even comment on his name in your contacts...except to say that it’s giving me cavities.”

“Of course I do!” Kurt exclaimed. “I just...I don’t know. I don’t want to keep secrets from him.”

“Flanagan’s pretty well-known; it’s not really a secret,” Rachel pointed out. “Besides, he’ll find out sooner or later, anyway.”

She had a point. She was Rachel Berry, after all; it often took her a while to get to the point, but she always had one, and it was always worth considering. When push came to shove, Rachel was actually a pretty levelheaded person.

When Kurt got home that afternoon, he went on his computer and searched “Amos Flanagan.” Holy shit, he thought as he scrolled
through the search results. The guy’s directed everyone and everything under the sun--no, under the gigantic spotlight in the sky. Kurt was absolutely positive about one thing, however: if anyone could handle that kind of pressure, it was Blaine. Before he knew it, his phone was in his hand, and he was typing a message to his boyfriend.

went to broadway todaysaw the usual faces:hugh jackman;the book of mormon;the incomparable patti lupone;even harry potter in how to succeed in business.but in every one of them,i saw youmy superstar, my future broadway babyhave fun tonight; it’s day one of step one ;)

It wasn’t really a poem, but he knew it would make Blaine melt all the same. Two hours later, right after Blaine’s shift at Bean Cuisine ended, Kurt received a response:

Honey Bear: you. are. amazing. i’m gonna see you before i go, though! coming home now to give you an extra big hug.

Sure enough, Blaine burst through the door exactly twenty minutes later. He looked disheveled and gorgeous, a few unruly curls sneaking out of their gel casing. He made a beeline for Kurt, dropping his bag on the floor by the bag rack. He pulled his boyfriend to him and squeezed him tight. “My baby,” he murmured into Kurt’s neck, kissing him there. “Thank you. I’m still so nervous, but you made me feel so much better.” He pulled away, hands finding Kurt’s waist. “You always do.”

Kurt smiled. “You’re going to be great, Blaine. Really. You’re going to blow them away, all right? Don’t be nervous. Go, sit on the couch. I’ll make you some tea with honey, okay?”

Blaine smiled, going up on his tiptoes to kiss Kurt’s cheek. “Okay. Come snuggle when you’re done?”

“Of course.” Kurt smiled, kissing Blaine’s cheek back. “Be there in a sec.”

- - -

“This has the perfect ratio of tea to honey,” Blaine murmured, taking tiny sips out of the steaming mug. It was his favorite mug; it featured a cartoon leprechaun shouting “top o’ the mornin’ to ya!” while holding a bouquet of four-leaf clovers. It was chipped in a few places, but he’d had it since he was fourteen and an avid thrift-store shopper. There were so many memories attached to it that he couldn’t bear to part with it. “You’re the sweetest, Kurt. Thank you again for all this.”

Kurt and Blaine were all snuggled up together on the couch, some rom-com playing on the TV in front of them. They were too busy kissing to pay attention, however; why would they watch other people fall in love when they had the real thing sitting next to them?

“Just trying to keep you at ease, honey,” Kurt replied. He pulled Blaine onto his lap and began to knead his shoulders, causing his boyfriend to moan and throw his head back.

“Mmm, that’s good,” Blaine purred. “Don’t stop.”

Kurt giggled. “You sound like you’re having sex, Blaine,” he commented, thankful that his boyfriend couldn’t see his blush. He wasn’t embarrassed; really. It was just really hot in there, and he was...hot. Yeah. Yup. That was it. It wasn't that he was unbelievably turned on by the noises Blaine was making, or anything. No way.

“I ammmm,” Blaine groaned. “You’re making sweet love to my shoulders.”

“Am not,” Kurt insisted. “I’m relieving your tension.”

Blaine leaned all the way back on Kurt’s chest to deliver a pointed look that said yeah, right. “Lying liar.”

"Hey—"

Blaine pressed a finger to Kurt’s lips. “I love my lying liar.” He checked his watch, letting out the tiniest gasp when he saw the time. “Kurt, I should probably go. I’ll see you tonight, okay, darling?”

“Okay, Blaine. I love you, too. Remember. If it gets frustrating...you know what to read.” Kurt winked at his boyfriend as they walked to the doorway. Blaine gathered up his bag, put on his coat, and kissed Kurt once before heading out the door. After closing and locking it, he raced back up to their room to flopface-first onto the bed.

How was it that Blaine Anderson always managed to reduce him to a sappy teenage girl? It wasn't as though Kurt could help it. Blaine was just so cute.

Oh, and he really was going to kick ass.