"Please tell me you can fit me in?" Kurt asked in a rushed voice as he approached the counter of the first salon he had seen when walking down the street from the subway station. The receptionist gave him a warm smile after noticing his red rimmed eyes and proceeded to tap away at her computer.

"We have an opening in fifteen minutes if you don't mind the wait sir?" she replied to Kurt, he nodded in response.

"Fifteen minutes is fine,"

"Would you like something to drink? Tea or coffee?"

"No thanks," Kurt replied, "I'm fine thank you," the receptionist smiled at him again before leading him over to the waiting area.

"There are magazines under the coffee table if you want them and if you need anything or change your mind about the drink just let me know, I'd be happy to help. Blaine will be with you soon," she smiled again before leaving him to sink into the comfortable, chocolate coloured, suede couch. Great Kurt thought to himself, just what I need after a rather nasty breakup, another (potentially) gay man running his fingers through my hair. Kurt sighed in defeat and reached over to pull a copy of Vogue out from under the coffee table, sure it was an issue he had already read, but he would settle for anything to stop his mind from running at a thousand miles a minute right now. Before long someone was calling his name, and he looked up to meet a pair of gorgeous hazel coloured eyes. Shit, was all that went through his mind.

"Kurt?" the stylist, Blaine asked as he made eye contact with Kurt. Kurt took a second to get a look at Blaine, he was wearing a pair of dark washed denim jeans which were closely fitted to his legs, but still with a bit of give, and a dark grey v-necked shirt, in which Kurt could see the signs that Blaine had a dusting of chest hair. It was his hair that Kurt though most of, his dark hair was curly and showed hardly any signs of product, maybe the smallest amount of mousse to help keep their shape and to keep them off of his forehead, but otherwise they were perfect. He was attractive, Kurt decided in an instant.

"That's me," Kurt sighed again as he placed his magazine back and stood up.

"Hi, I'm Blaine," Blaine smiled, extending his hand to shake Kurt's.

"Kurt," Kurt confirmed again as he reached out to meet Blaine's hand. His hand was warm and felt softer than Kurt was expecting, probably due to the amount of conditioner he deals with everyday, Kurt thought.

"If you'll follow me Kurt, I'll take you back to my station," Blaine smiled again before turning and leading the way.

Blaine's station was located towards the back of the salon, and he offered Kurt a seat in his chair when they approached, pulling up a rolling stool for himself and turning to face Kurt.

"So Kurt, I haven't seen you before, what brings you here?" Blaine asked once they were both seated and facing each other.

"It was the first salon I saw after getting off the subway and I just walked right in," Kurt spoke softly, not too keen to delve into his private life just yet.

"Good to see our advertising is working," Blaine chuckled to himself, but promptly stopped when he noticed that Kurt hadn't even cracked a smile, "Kurt?" Blaine asked quietly as Kurt lifted his head back up to meet Blaine's eyes, "I hope I'm not over stepping here, but what really made you walk through the doors today?" Blaine saw Kurt visibly swallow before opening his mouth to answer.

"Honestly?" Blaine nodded in silent encouragement, "Bad breakup, need a change, need to find myself again," Blaine smiled that warm smile again at Kurt and nodded.

"Ok, so what were you thinking of doing then? What would bring you back to yourself? What do you want?" it was at the last question that Blaine saw Kurt's already bloodshot eyes tear up again, "Oh god Kurt, I'm sorry, please don't cry. I don't like it when people cry in my chair, it's never a good thing," Blaine spoke quickly, reaching out to give Kurt's knee a gentle squeeze after handing him a tissue from atop the counter.

"No, don't apologise," Kurt shook his head as he wiped his eyes again, this time looking up to give Blaine a small smile, "I should be the one who should be sorry,"

"You have no reason to apologise Kurt," Blaine cut him off and Kurt's smile grew a fraction.

"No, it's just that no one has asked me what I've wanted in a really long time, and it just kind of broke a new dam of feelings that I didn't know I'd built up," he laughed softly as he wiped another tear away.

"I hope you don't mind me saying this, but that person you were with, sounds like a bit of a jerk," Blaine stated. Kurt laughed louder this time, causing Blaine's smile to grow.

"You could say that," Kurt nodded.

"Ok then, it's decided that said ex is a jerk. Now, on to more important things, what am I doing with your hair today?" Blaine asked, his eyes moving to focus on Kurt's hair.

Kurt was with Jackson for 3 years before he finally opened his eyes and saw that he really was an asshole (for want of a more horrible term). For the entire 3 year relationship, Kurt never really had a say in anything, Jackson told him what they would be doing for dinner that evening, what their weekend plans were, who they could and couldn't socialise with, and how Kurt should wear his hair.

Jackson preferred it longer than how Kurt usually wore it, and he also liked it a lighter colour than Kurt's natural chestnut brown; taking him for regular visits to Jackson's salon of choice and watching as the stylists trimmed his hair and coloured it a light brown, one could almost say it was verging on the borders of being blond. Kurt didn't think it suited his skin tone, but he wasn't going to argue with Jackson. Jackson was the first boy to ever say ‘I love you' to Kurt, and Kurt wasn't going to do anything to upset him.

So now, sitting in Blaine's chair, single, and with a whole world of choices out there for him to finally make, he was excited to be able to tell Blaine exactly what he wanted.

"I want my natural colour back," he spoke up as Blaine stood from his stool and moved to stand behind Kurt, looking at him through the mirror, "This colour does nothing for my skin tone," Blaine nodded.

"I agree, what was your natural colour?"

"Chestnut brown," Blaine smiled.

"Yes, I can see how that would match your skin tone perfectly," he nodded, moving his hands up to thread his fingers through Kurt's hair, "And the cut?"

"Much shorter. I usually wear it quite short on the back and sides with a bit of length on top," Blaine began moving Kurt's hair around, trying to give Kurt an idea on what he wanted.

"Something like this?" Blaine asked as he pulled Kurt's hair on the sides back, but left the top loose and slightly tousled to create the effect of the hairs being shorter both on the sides and on top. Kurt nodded.

"Perfect," he replied with a smile.

"Ok," Blaine smiled back, "Let's get to work," he turned away from Kurt to pull a soft strip of fabric from one of the trays in his rolling trolley, and tied it around Kurt's neck before reaching back down and pulling out a large black, nylon cape which he draped over Kurt and fastened at the back of his neck, "I'm just going to mix up your colour, but feel free to grab a magazine from my pile, and do you want something to drink?" he asked Kurt. But again Kurt shook his head, smiling.

"No thanks, I'm fine,"

"Ok, I'll be back in a couple of minutes and we'll get this show on the road," his smile widened as he turned and made his way over to the colour bench, pushing his trolley in front of him and Kurt watched him in the mirror as he put on a pair of gloves and began mixing up three different batches of colour. A couple of minutes later, Blaine was back, colour atop his trolley and his assistant on hand ready to help him place the first foil.

"I hope you don't mind Kurt, but I mixed up a couple of highlight and lowlight colours to help give your colour a bit of lift and make it look more natural," Kurt smiled.

"That's fine," he replied as he watched Blaine section off a small piece of his hair near the front and begin to place the colour. Kurt felt a small wave of relief wash over him, it was nice to finally be able to sit in a salon and have the stylist do what he wanted them to do instead of having a pushy boyfriend tell them for him. He also couldn't believe how considerate Blaine was. It was the first time a stylist had taken Kurt's skin tone and natural colour into consideration in order to give him a better service. Kurt liked that in a hairdresser, someone who was willing to go that extra mile, just to make him feel special and make his look just that little bit better.

Blaine and his assistant were slowly making their way back from the front of Kurt's head, moving now to place a few lowlights through his hair on the under layers to give the illusion of body and shine. It wasn't long before Blaine said thank you to Kelly, his assistant, for her help and picked up the brush from the third and final pot of colour, and began applying it carefully around Kurt's hairline on his forehead.

"Does that feel ok on your skin Kurt? We only use dye for sensitive skin here because it takes the risk of irritation away, but I don't want you to be uncomfortable", Kurt smiled at Blaine's reflection in the mirror.

"It's fine. I'm just glad to be returning to my old self again, it's been a while, and it's nice to not have bleach burning my scalp every six weeks when I'd have to go back and get my roots re-done," Blaine let out a low hum in understanding.

"Yeah, I can imagine that that wasn't a very pleasant feeling. It didn't do much for your hair either," Blaine commented, referring to how dry Kurt's hair had been when he'd first walked in.

"Yes, sadly there's only so much at home conditioning treatments one can do before you give up," Kurt stated, Blaine just smiled again; smiling was all he seemed to do.

"Don't worry; I have the perfect conditioning treatment that I'll use for you when I wash the colour out. I've used it myself and your hair feels incredible afterwards," Kurt was about to ask about Blaine's curly hair but didn't get the chance to as he had finished applying the colour, "Ok, that's you done for the moment. I'll leave you here to process while you can catch up on some much needed magazine reading time, are you sure you don't want anything to drink? I'm quite good at medium drips?" he offered Kurt again; Kurt looked up at him, and couldn't resist those eyes.

"Ok, hit me with your best shot," Blaine laughed.

"I'll be right back," Kurt watched him walk away and disappear into, what he guessed was, the staffroom.

Blaine returned with Kurt's coffee shortly after and checked again to see if the colour wasn't causing him any discomfort, Kurt told Blaine again that it was fine.

"Ok, well I hope you don't mind but I have another client to see while your hair is processing,"

"That's fine, I was pretty last minute anyway," Kurt smiled and Blaine gave him a nod before he walked back over to the waiting area to get a tan skinned and dark haired girl. She was gorgeous, Kurt thought to himself. He watched as Blaine greeted her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Of course, thought Kurt, of course he has a gorgeous girlfriend. He watched Blaine lead the woman to the chair next to where Kurt was sitting, before running his fingers through her hair and asking what she wanted today.

"The same thing you do every time honey," she laughed at Blaine in the mirror.

"Ok then, let's get you caped and I'll take you over to wash your hair for you," Blaine replied as he returned her smile. He took another piece of fabric out from his trolley and tied it around her neck before following with an identical cape to the one Kurt was currently under. Blaine extended his hand and the woman took a hold of it as he led her over to the basins.

Kurt tried to keep himself occupied with the magazines in front of him, but before long they were back and Blaine was combing out her hair before reaching for his scissors.

"How much do you want me take off Jen?" he asked as he combed her out from her head.

"Not too much length this time Blaine, if you just re-do my layers, it should clean up the ends for me," Blaine smiled and swapped his comb into his left hand before bringing his scissors up and chipping into her layers.

Kurt finished his coffee and had tried to read through two of the magazines in front of him, but his attention kept slipping and he found himself listening in to Blaine and Jen's conversation rather than trying to focus on what he was reading. Blaine and Jen fell into such easy conversation; Kurt could tell that they were made for each other. Before long Blaine was blow drying her hair and they gave each other a kiss goodbye.

"I'll see you at home tonight Blaine," Jen smiled before she turned and walked to the front counter.

Blaine placed his comb and scissors away and returned to Kurt, opening up one of his foils to see the progress of his colour.

"Ok Kurt, we're ready to wash this out, if you would follow me," Kurt stood and followed Blaine back to the basin where he relaxed back in the comfy chair and Blaine began removing the foils.

"It's not very often these chairs are comfortable to be in," Kurt stated as Blaine switched the water on and held it against his hand to get the temperature right.

"I tested them all before we got them," Blaine laughed, "I wasn't going to make our clients sit in them if I didn't think they were comfortable,"

"So thoughtful," Kurt commented and Blaine hummed in response, shutting the water off to squeeze shampoo into his hand before applying it to Kurt's hair, and washing the colour out, "So," Kurt started, "Your previous client was stunning," he commented, waiting for a response from Blaine.

"Jen? Yeah, she's gorgeous alright, keeps her hair in excellent condition as well, which is always a plus", Blaine smiled as he switched the water back on the rinse the shampoo from Kurt's hair.

"She's a lucky girl,"

"How do you mean?" Blaine asked, a curious tone to his voice.

"To have hairdresser for a boyfriend, no wonder her hair is in such good condition," he heard Blaine chuckle above him.

"Kurt," Blaine said, getting Kurt's attention, Kurt raised his eyes to meet Blaine's, who was standing above him, his hands still rinsing out the shampoo, "I'm gay," he stated simply with a smile.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry," Kurt replied quickly, trying to control the blush creeping up his neck, "I just thought-,"

"Kurt, it's fine," Blaine cut him off, "We get it all the time. She's my best friend's girlfriend; my best friend is my roommate, so she stays over all the time. It's not the first time we've been mistaken as a couple," Blaine laughed softly again.

"Oh," Kurt replied as he smiled as well, "Well my best friend's a girl but people never mistake us for a couple, I'm ‘too gay' for that," Kurt laughed as he brought his hands up from under the cape to make air quotes with his fingers.

"There's no such thing a ‘too gay' Kurt," Blaine smiled, "Too straight, but never to gay. Now are you ok with me using this conditioning treatment on you? As I said, I've used it and it's amazing, but I always like to check before I try something new with a client,"

"No, it's fine. Besides my hair needs one hell of a conditioning so go for gold," Blaine nodded in approval as he unscrewed the lid off of the treatments container and dipped his fingers in to scoop some out. He wiped it into his palm before rubbing his hands together.

"It works best when it's been warmed up a bit," he explained, before placing both of his hands back in Kurt's hair and beginning to rub the product in.

Kurt closed his eyes, in comfort; it was one of the best head massages he had ever received. Blaine's hands were soft, yet worked away at all the right places across Kurt's scalp, it was as if he knew where Kurt's stress points were and worked on them gently until they released. Kurt was finding it hard not to fall asleep under Blaine's hands, he was so relaxed, the warm water that was soon being poured over his head again only added to the luxury feeling of the treatment. He had missed this part of the experience when getting his hair cut. His previous hairdresser just used to quickly wash his hair and be done, but Blaine took his time, wanting his client to feel valued, Kurt appreciated that.

Blaine shut the water off for the final time and moved to get a towel from the pile to begin to dry Kurt's hair off.

"Ok, let's get you back to my chair before you fall asleep at the basin," Blaine laughed as Kurt opened his eyes again, slowly standing up and following Blaine's lead back to his chair. Kurt sat back down in front of the mirror, as Blaine absorbed more of the water from Kurt's hair with the towel, "I'm going to dry you off completely and then begin the cut if that's ok with you?" he asked, "I always prefer to cut my male clients hair dry because that way I can see how the cut's developing," Kurt nodded as Blaine reached for the bottom drawer on his station under the counter and pulled out a hairdryer. He unwrapped the cord before plugging it in and switching it on, testing the temperature against his hand before applying the heat to Kurt's hair, "Not too hot?" he asked.

"No, it's fine," Kurt smiled as their conversation halted due to the noise of the hairdryer. It didn't take long for Blaine to dry Kurt's hair. And now Kurt finally got a proper look at his new colour.

"What do you think?" Blaine asked as Kurt looked at his hair in the mirror.

"It's my hair," he smiled, "Blaine, the colour is perfect, thank you," Blaine smiled.

"Don't thank me yet, we've still got the cut to get through. Now you want it quite short on the sides, but still with a bit of length on top right?" Blaine clarified.

"Yeah, something easy to style, but so it looks as though I've spent hours perfecting it," Blaine nodded.

"I know exactly what you mean, although in saying that mine actually does take hours to style," Blaine laughed, as he picked up his comb and began to section off the back of Kurt's hair, it was long enough to be held back by hairclips.

"Is your curl natural?" Kurt asked

"Sure is, born this way, no perming solution here,"

"It looks really good," Kurt said to Blaine's reflection in the mirror, "Whatever product you used is doing its job well,"

"Thank you Kurt," Blaine smiled as he picked up his scissors, and after combing through the lowest section one last time, brought the scissors up and closed them over the hairs held in between his fingers. At least an inch of hair fell to the floor and Kurt felt another weight lift from his shoulders. Blaine noticed Kurt's shoulders drop and smiled, "Feeling better already?" he questioned as he used his scissors to cut another piece of hair.

"Much," Kurt stated with a smile, "So what product do you use in your curls?" Kurt asked, changing the subject back to their previous topic.

"Just a bit of mousse. When I was in high school I used to gel it down, and when I say gel, I mean gel," he laughed, "It fitted the private school image that my school had, but once high school ended, Jen took me to her friend who specialised in curly hair and she showed me how to tame it properly. That's what made me want to do this for a living. I wanted to help other people find the perfect style for them, or help them return to it," he smiled down at Kurt in the mirror.

"Don't worry; my hair wasn't that attractive in high school either. Let's just say that before I cut my hair short enough to coif properly, my bangs were not anything special. Actually, my hair now is pretty close to how I used to wear my hair in school, that's probably why I'm so glad that you're cutting it for me right now,"

"I'm glad I could help, and your bangs aren't that bad Kurt. Not as bad as mine were,"

"How do you even have bangs when your hair is that curly?" Kurt asked in a curious tone.

"Before high school I had big hair, like-," Blaine moved his hands from Kurt's hair up to his own, circling around his head to show how big his hair used to be, "-this big. It was border line afro, but thankfully my curls held their own and never went completely frizzy. Cut them all off before high school though, which was a big change, but my school didn't allow the boys to have hair past their collar. It was a pretty strict school," Blaine explained at the look of surprise on Kurt's face, "The girls had to wear their hair pulled back by the school regulation headband, and they also weren't allowed to have short hair, the shortest they were allowed to go was chin length, any shorter and they were in big trouble," Blaine explained as he moved to Kurt's right side and began cutting the hair above his ear, positioning his head so Blaine could get a better angle.

"That sounds horrible," Kurt exclaimed when Blaine had finished, Blaine just shrugged in response.

"Those were the rules, you either accepted them or you didn't go to that school. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, and I was ready to cut my hair anyway, but it was still a big change for me,"

"Would you ever grow it back?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know? I think about it sometimes, but then I really enjoy getting my hair cut so it kind of defeated the purpose. It was always nice in winter to have something to keep my ears warm, but I think now it would just be a hassle, it would hang in my eyes and just be a pain  to deal with, plus it wouldn't give the salon a good name if I was wondering around in it looking like a hobo, I have to remind myself to shave at least once every two days, I couldn't let my hair grow out and stop shaving or else we'd have one giant mess going on up top," Blaine laughed, he had finished the back and sides and began moving from the back to the front, "If you don't mind me saying, I did a really good job with your colour Kurt," Blaine chuckled at himself.

"Thank goodness for that," Kurt laughed, his eyes watching Blaine's hands as they expertly moved their way forward, combing up his hair, before snipping off what was held between Blaine's fingers. Kurt was sure that Blaine had finished his haircut a while ago, but he was still going through it, cross checking and adding more texture in where he felt it was needed.

"Ok, what do you think?" Blaine asked as he put his scissors and comb down and picked up a large hand mirror and held it behind Kurt's head so he could see the back, "I've still got to clean up your neckline here," he said as he ran his fingers along the base of Kurt's neck, making goose bumps rise across Kurt's skin at the touch, "But I just thought I'd check with you if you wanted to go shorter or change anything," Kurt shook his head.

"No, it's perfect," he smiled at Blaine who put is mirror down and picked up a small electric trimmer.

"Ok then, I'll just clean this up for you and you'll be good to go," Blaine replied as he switched the trimmer on and a low humming filled the space around Kurt and Blaine. Blaine brought the trimmer up to Kurt's hairline and began taking away the hair below the cut line, cleaning up his neck and giving Kurt's haircut a professional finish. It wasn't long before Blaine had switch off the trimmer, "Done," he stated. He undid the cape at the back of Kurt's neck and swept it away to the side, causing the cut hairs to fall on the floor rather than on Kurt and his shoes, he removed the fabric strip around Kurt's neck and dusted off any remaining hairs with the piece of fabric.

"Blaine," Kurt exclaimed into the mirror, "Thank you so much, it looks so good, you did such a fantastic job," Kurt beamed at Blaine's reflection.

"You're welcome. Do you look like you again?" he asked softly, Kurt nodded in response.

"I look like me," he whispered, his eyes shining bright, "I hope I'm not overstepping, but can I hug you?" Kurt asked as he turned in the chair to face Blaine behind him.

"Of course," Blaine smiled, "Thank you hugs are always welcome in here," he stepped towards Kurt who had now stood and wrapped his arms around his waist as Kurt's automatically went up across his shoulders. Kurt was grinning from ear to ear as he pulled away, thanking Blaine again.

"I'm glad that this was the first place I saw after coming up from the subway,"

"I'm glad too," Blaine replied.

"Well thank you again Blaine, I'll leave you to your next client," Kurt smiled as he turned to walk to the front.

"Kurt," Blaine called out suddenly, causing the young man to pause and turn back to face Blaine, his expression open and waiting for Blaine to say something, "Kurt, look I know that you've just come out of a bad relationship," Kurt nodded at Blaine's words, "But I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go out for a drink later? Just as friends? You seem like you might want one who understands your relationship preferences, I mean I'm sure you're best friend is great but she's a girl and she's not-,"

"Blaine," Kurt cut Blaine off mid-sentence, "You're rambling," Kurt smiled at the blush making its way up Blaine's neck, "But yes, a drink sounds good. What time do you finish?"

"I'll meet you at the bar across the road at 6 tonight?" Blaine asked, and smiled when Kurt nodded.

"Sounds perfect. I'll see you tonight Blaine," Kurt grinned as he made his way back to the receptionist.

"Perfect," Blaine whispered quietly to himself as he turned back to his station and began to set up for his next client.