Blaine's last customer of the day left at 5:30 that afternoon, giving him thirty minutes to clean his station and throw on a little more aftershave before saying goodbye to the girls still working in the salon and making his way across the street to the bar where he told Kurt to meet him.

He sat down on a stool at a high table with his beer and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

By 6:45 he was beginning to think that Kurt wasn't coming. He felt his heart sink as the reality set in that maybe he was Blaine's perfect guy. Maybe he was just like the rest of them.

"Blaine," Blaine's head snapped up from looking at the condensation that had fallen from his glass, making a ring on the table, to meeting that familiar pair of blue eyes. "Oh my god Blaine, I'm so sorry I'm late. I rang your work to see if you were still there to tell you I'd be running late but you'd already left and I feel like such a jerk and I'm-,"

"Kurt," Blaine cut in, smiling at Kurt while holding his hand up to stop him mid sentence, "It's fine, I'm glad that you're here now," Kurt smiled back at Blaine as he sat down on the stool opposite him, their knees brushing slightly under the table.

"I really am sorry though Blaine. Work this afternoon got really crazy and there is nothing worse than working with stressed out actresses," Kurt sighed as he ordered a lemon lime and vodka from the passing bartender.

"Actresses? What do you do Kurt?" Blaine asked sounding intrigued.

"I can't believe that didn't come up this morning," Kurt laughed, "Actually, ironically enough, I also do hair, as well as makeup," he smiled at Blaine, "I work backstage for an off-Broadway show doing the hair and makeup, of course a lot of it is wig work, but I do love it when I get to play with real hair," he laughed. Blaine smiled.

"How did you get into that?"

"I came to New York after high school and got an internship at Vogue dot com," Blaine's eyes widened at that, but Kurt just waved it off like it was no big deal, "And then I was offered the job as costume designer for another production, but I always found myself helping out the hair and makeup team, so I took a few courses and here I am today," he smiled as he took a sip of his drink that had just been placed in front of him.

"Wow, I'm glad I didn't know that this morning or else I would have really felt the pressure. I'm not always very confident when I cut other hairdressers hair. It's almost like I can feel their silent judgement," Kurt just shook his head.

"I'm not a real hairdresser Blaine," Kurt smiled, "Yes, I do know how to cut hair, and I'm not bad at it if you don't mind me saying, but you really did do a fantastic job for me this morning, I've heard nothing but complements about it all day, a couple of people even asked who cut it and where they worked, plus it still looks just as good now as it did this morning, so thank you," he smiled at Blaine.

"You're very welcome Kurt," Blaine replied as a faint blush appeared on his cheeks, "Do you have any photos of you work with you? I'd love to see what you've done," Kurt nodded as he pulled his phone out from his pocket. He flipped through the folders until he pulled up one named ‘Work'.

"Here, these are the styles from my latest job. A lot of the women are wearing wigs which I had to style, but most of the men don't wear wigs so I had to cut and style their hair myself," he watched Blaine flick through the photos with a pleased look on his face.

‘Kurt, these are amazing. The wigs are beautiful and the guy's hair looks so good. Maybe you'll have to show me what you can do with mine one day," Blaine suggested. Kurt just about choked on his drink at Blaine's statement. Was Blaine really suggesting that there may be a ‘one day' someday in the future?

"Kurt?" sadly Kurt's fantasies about him and Blaine having their own private salon in their own home one day was cut short when he heard that all too familiar voice from behind him.

"Hello Jackson," he replied flatly, he really had nothing to say to the other man and wanted him to vanish on the spot. He saw Blaine looking between the two of them before Kurt saw the look of realisation flash in his eyes.

"Kurt, what have you done?" Jackson asked, taking a step towards Kurt when he turned on his stool to face him.

"What do you mean?" Kurt asked, still with no expression in his voice, he didn't have the time of day for this man anymore, so why should he fake sounding pleased to see him.

"Your hair," Jackson stated bluntly, "What the hell have you done to your hair?"

"I cut it, and went back to my natural colour" Kurt replied with a shrug, before trying to turn back around to face Blaine. He was topped short when Jackson's hand landed on his shoulder.

"Don't you dare touch him," Kurt heard Blaine growl from across the table. A look of hate flashed across Blaine's face and Kurt felt his heart rate speed up. Was seeing Blaine angry really a turn on for him Kurt wondered, yes, he decided, it really was.

"And who are you," Jackson asked, quickly removing his hand as though he'd be burned.

"Blaine," Blaine replied in a sharp tone.

"Blaine," Jackson said, testing the word on his tongue, "And how do you know Kurt?" Jackson sounded almost amused at the scene in front of him.

"He's the guy who cut my hair," Kurt replied with a snarl towards his ex boyfriend.

"You did this to him," Jackson questioned as he gestured to Kurt's hair, "You ruined him?" he said, his voice starting to become louder.

"I didn't ruin him. I did what he asked me too. I listened to him, which is something that you never did," Blaine snapped, standing from his stool and moving to stand in front of Kurt.

"Blaine, come on, let's just go," Kurt said quietly, taking a hold of Blaine's hand, interlocking their fingers and leading the way out of the bar.

"I hope you enjoy your time with my sloppy seconds," Jackson shouted after the two. It took all of Kurt's strength to keep Blaine's hand in his and stop the shorter man from turning around and planting a fist right in the centre of Jackson's face.

"Blaine, just ignore him, please," Kurt pleaded as he pulled on Blaine's hand to get him walking with him again. They stepped out of the bar into the warm August evening and made their way down the street.

"Kurt," Kurt stopped walking when his hand tugged and he turned to see that Blaine had stopped behind him, "I'm sorry I lost it back there," he exhaled deeply, bringing his free hand to run at the back of his neck, "I haven't snapped like that in a long time, but the way he was talking to you, talking at you, I couldn't let him do that to you and my defensive side kicked in, and-,"

"Blaine, thank you," Kurt smiled as he ducked his head to try and make eye contact with Blaine, "No one has ever stood up for me like that. It was nice," Kurt admitted shyly and he felt his cheeks start to heat up. He saw Blaine smile up at him.

"You're welcome Kurt," Blaine replied, "Do you want to go and get a coffee? I'm not really ready for tonight to be over just yet," Kurt nodded at Blaine's proposal.

"Coffee sounds good," he felt Blaine give his hand a squeeze, which were still interlocked between them, as he set off, leading the way to his favourite coffee shop down the street.

"This is where I like to come for my lunch break," Blaine explained as he pushed the door open and held it for Kurt to enter, before leading them both up to the counter to order.

Once they each had a coffee in hand they made their way to the back off the shop and sat down, facing each other again, in two rather comfy, ornate armchairs, where they spent the next couple of hours, continuing on from where they had been interrupted in the bar.

Neither of the two noticed the time until the friendly barista approached them and said that as it was nearing 11pm, they would be closing soon. Kurt and Blaine smiled at each other when they realised what the time was and stood, thanking the barista for the coffees and making their way back outside.

"Kurt," Blaine began with a nervous hint to his voice, "Would you mind if maybe you could-," he trailed off as he held his phone out to Kurt. Kurt smiled and took Blaine's phone from him before putting his number in and then calling his own phone, "Thanks," Blaine grinned, "So I really enjoyed tonight, Kurt," Kurt nodded at Blaine.

"So did I, thank you,"

"Do you think we could see each other again sometime?" Blaine asked, sounding nervous again.

"Of course," Kurt answered, "I'm going to need a trim every four to six weeks," he stated bluntly, Blaine felt his face fall at Kurt's words, "Blaine," Kurt whispered softly, placing his fingers underneath Blaine's chin to get their eyes to meet, "I'm kidding," Kurt smiled and Blaine felt a grin start to spread across his face, "Of course I want to see you again, and not just for scheduled hair appointments,"

"Ok," nodded Blaine, "That's good because I really want to see you again. Can I call you?" Kurt scoffed at Blaine, trying to contain his grin.

"You can call me whenever you want to," Blaine nodded.

"Ok, goodnight Kurt," he said as he stepped in for a hug.

"Goodnight Blaine," Kurt replied quietly into Blaine's neck, wrapping his arms around Blaine's shoulders, just like earlier in the day. Blaine remained rooted to the spot as he watched Kurt walk away around the corner and disappear out of sight.

Now Blaine's internal struggle of ‘should I have kissed him?' was beginning and he knew he would lie awake tonight wondering how long it would be before he did actually get to kiss Kurt.