It was two weeks before Blaine saw Kurt in person again after their late night coffee trip. Of course there had been texting and quite a few phone calls thrown in, but talking to Kurt via a piece of technology just wasn't the same as speaking to him face to face.

"What's troubling you sweetie?" Jen asked as she sat in Blaine's chair again, Blaine styling her hair for an event that evening. Blaine just shrugged in response, "None of that now, come on Blaine, you know you can tell me anything. You haven't been yourself for a while now. You don't even sing in the shower anymore,"

"You can hear that?" Blaine asked, with a hint of embarrassment in his voice.

"Blaine, I think the neighbours can hear it. But stop trying to change the subject," Jen pushed on.

"Fine," Blaine sighed as he finished combing out Jen's hair and reached over to plug in one his curling irons, "There's this guy," he looked up to meet Jen's eyes in the mirror and he couldn't help but smile a little bit when he saw how big her smile was.

"Oh Blaine, I'm so happy for you," she gushed, "But why do you still seem down?"

"I just don't know where it's going. We've been talking on the phone for the last two weeks whenever we're free and we get along so well, but he's just gotten out of bad relationship and I don't know if it's right to ask him out, but I think I'm falling for him and he's just so incredible and -,"

"Blaine, honey, take a breath, you're rambling again," Jen smiled as she cut him off. Blaine nodded as he sectioned off pieces of Jen's hair to be curled, "Let's take it slowly ok," Blaine nodded, "Good. Now what's his name?"

"Kurt," Blaine replied.

"Kurt," Jen repeated, testing the name, "Kurt. I like it, Kurt and Blaine, that sounds good together," she laughed as Blaine's cheeks began to turn pink, "How did you meet him?"

"He's a client. He stopped in here a couple of weeks ago I cut and coloured his hair for him. I know it's not very professional to ask out clients, but I couldn't help myself.  Actually, he was here when you came in and I cut your hair for you," Blaine saw a look of remembrance cross Jen's face and she grinned at Blaine in the mirror.

"I remember him," she nodded, careful not to move too much because Blaine was now curling the hair near her left ear and she didn't want to burn herself, "Oh Blaine, he was gorgeous, he had the most striking facial features I've ever seen. Go you," she grinned again.

"He is beautiful, that's for sure," Blaine sighed, "We went out for a drink later on that night and that's when his ex showed up. He caused a bit of a scene, but Kurt just grabbed my hand and we left. It's clear that he doesn't have any feelings for his ex anymore, but I still don't feel right rushing in there straight away,"

"Blaine, you're such a gentleman," Jen sighed, reaching out from under the cape to pat Blaine's hand that wasn't holding the curling iron, "But what do you think would happen if you were to tell Kurt that you like him, and maybe want to take him out on a proper date?" Blaine shrugged.

"I don't know?"

"Don't you want to find out?"

"I do, but maybe when I know he's ready to be asked out on a proper date. I don't want to ruin what we could potentially have without even giving it a chance to lift off the ground,"

"Sometimes you think too much sweetie," Jen smiled up at Blaine's reflection, Blaine smiled as he shook his head and Jen knew it was time to drop the subject, Blaine was thankful. He continued curling her hair as they switched to easy chatter and it wasn't long before Blaine was removing the cape from around Jen, and leading her back to the front of the salon.

"Thank you so much Blaine. You have, once again, made my hair look better than it ever could," she smiled as she leant up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Anytime Jen, will you and Wes be home tonight?" Jen shook her head.

"No, we're going back to my place, it's closer to the venue. Why? What did you have planned tonight?" she asked with a suggestive smirk on her face.

 "No Jen," Blaine confirmed, he had no plans to spend tonight with Kurt, "He's working. I was probably just going to go home, have some dinner and then get out one of my old mannequin heads and practice a couple of new techniques," Blaine shrugged.

"Ok, well you have fun and I'll see you tomorrow. Thank you again for doing my hair Blaine,"

"As always, it was my pleasure," he smiled and waved goodbye to Jen before turning back to his station to clean up. Thankfully she was his last client of the day and because he wasn't cutting there was very little to clean up. He took his used towels out to the washing machine and was passing the staffroom when he heard his phone go off. He rushed in to answer it, but missed the call by a few seconds; he unlocked the screen to see that he had 7 new text messages and 4 missed calls, all from Kurt. His heart rate went into over drive, while every possible scenario flashed through his mind about what could have happened to Kurt, why was calling Blaine in what seemed like a panicked state.

"Hey Kurt you -,"

"Blaine thank god," Kurt cut Blaine off mind sentence, "I've been trying to call you, I was freaking out. Are you free right now?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah," Blaine replied.

"Are you free most of the evening?"

"Yeah,"

"Would it be completely out of sorts for me to ask a huge favour of you?"

"No,"

"Ok, our other hair stylist called in sick this afternoon and it's bedlam down here, is there any chance you'd be able to come down and give me a hand?"

"No, that's no problem," he heard Kurt breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank you so much Blaine, I owe you one. I'll text you the address, and just tell them your with me, you don't need to bring anything, we're fully equipped, I'll see you soon," Kurt hung up. Blaine stood in the staffroom for a second before he snapped out of his shock and began to make his way back out into the salon. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and knew that that was Kurt sending the address to him. He said goodbye to his work mates as he pushed his way out through the salon doors and began making his way down to the theatre where Kurt worked.

It didn't take him long to get there and he pushed open the door reading ‘backstage' to be met with what looked like organised chaos. There were people running everywhere, some already dressed, some half dressed, others just in their underwear. Thankfully the backstage area was fully signposted and Blaine soon spotted the arrow pointing to ‘Hair and Makeup' and followed that. It wasn't long before he walked through another door and saw Kurt standing over an actress, reading her phone, while he was trying to put a wig on her.

"Hey, I'm here. Tell me what you need me to do," Kurt spun around at the sound of Blaine's voice and smile cracked across his face.

"Blaine, thank god. Thank you so much for coming down. Kate and Emily are over there waiting for you, they need to have their wigs put on, they'll explain it," Kurt pointed towards to women sitting in front of mirrors, chatting to each other and Blaine nodded before moving towards them.

"Hi ladies, I'm Blaine, I'll be -,"

"We know who you are," Kate smiled, turning to Emily, "He's much more handsome than Kurt made him out to be," and they both giggled as Blaine stood there stiff as a statue behind them.

"Kurt talks about you all the time," Emily grinned at Blaine in the mirror, "We were beginning to think that you weren't real," now it was Blaine's turn to smile. He shook himself back to life and turned on his hairdresser charm in order for him to get through tonight without thoughts of Kurt clouding his brain.

"Well, I'm here and as real as I‘ll ever be," Blaine grinned, he reached forwards, from behind Kate and took a brush in his hand before straightening up and moving so he could brush her hair back and pull it into a high ponytail, ready to put up in a flat bun so that the hairnet and wig would sit flat on her head.

He resumed small talk with both Kate and Emily while he placed their wigs, threaded their microphones into the wigs, and pinned everything into place. He sent the two women on their way and almost as quickly as their seats were vacated, two more people sat down.

"I'm Jason, this is Andrew, Kurt sent us over here for you to give us both a trim before we go back to him," Jason explained to Blaine. All Blaine had time to do was nod before someone thrust a cape into one hand and a pair of scissors and a comb into his other hand.

He threw the cape around Jason, fastening it behind his neck and set to work, cutting his hair dry. Blaine moved quickly and methodically around Jason's head before undoing the cape and moving over to Andrew, doing the same thing. His hands moving at record speeds, but still creating an even and precise cut.

Blaine usually liked to take his time cutting a clients hair, making them feel valued, and giving them time to relax, but he knew that backstage at a, rather successful, off-Broadway performance, was no place for slow and steady, you had to be fast and efficient otherwise it's your fault for holding everyone else up.

The next forty five minutes continued this way, Blaine mostly tending to the women and their wigs, but every now and then having to do a quick haircut for a man who had let his hair get just that little bit too long. He was thankful when the last actress stood from the chair and thanked him before moving back to her dressing room. The only two people left in the hair and makeup room were Kurt and Blaine.

"How are you feeling after all of that?" Kurt asked as he pulled a water bottle out from the small fridge under one of the benches, offering one to Blaine and unscrewing the cap off his own before taking a drink.

"That was crazy," Blaine laughed as he also drank from his bottle, "Definitely one of the fastest jobs I've ever done,' Kurt nodded.

"You did a great job though, thank you so much for coming down at such short notice. I was really starting to panic for a second there," Blaine just waved him off.

"It was no trouble Kurt, it was fun," he smiled, "Besides, I had no other plans tonight, so it was nice to be doing something," he took a deep breath to give him courage for his next sentence, "It was nice to see you again too," Kurt smiled at Blaine.

"Like wise," he nodded.

"I know that this might be a bit forward of me Kurt, but did you want to come back to my place for something to eat? I don't live that far away and it would be good to catch up with you again and -,"

"Blaine," Kurt cut him off, "You're rambling again," he laughed, Blaine rubbed the back of neck in a nervous and slightly embarrassed gesture, he had a habit of rambling when he was nervous, "But I would love to," now it was Blaine's turn to smile.

"Ok," he nodded, "I'll help you clean up here and then we can get going?" Kurt nodded as he moved to hand Blaine a broom.

"You sweep and I'll put away," Blaine took the broom from Kurt's hands and began sweeping up the hair from around where he was working before moving to finish the rest of the room.

With two of them working, it didn't take long before they were stepping outside and walking back to Blaine's place. He lead the way up the front steps and pulled out his keys to unlock the door before stepping aside and letting Kurt enter.

"Wes, my roommate, and Jen are out tonight, so it's just us," Blaine explained as he switched on the kitchen, living room and dining room lights. He hated being in a dark house.

"This is nice Blaine," Kurt commented as he stepped into the large open kitchen.

"Thanks," Blaine replied as he took Kurt's jacket, "I'd always wanted a big kitchen and when I saw this place I knew it was mine. What do you want to eat? I was just going to make some pasta but if you want we can order pizza or Chinese or Thai or -,"

"Blaine," Kurt laughed, placing a hand on his shoulder, "You're doing it again, just relax," Kurt smiled, "What do you usually do to relax?"

"I take a shower," Blaine replied, embarrassed because he'd been rambling again.

‘Ok then, you go and shower and I'll start dinner," Kurt stated, moving to look through Blaine's cupboards, pulling out ingredients that he could use.

"Kurt, you're my guest, I can't let you make dinner," Blaine exclaimed, Kurt just smiled again.

"Consider it a thank you for helping me out tonight, now go before you get all flustered again," he laughed and Blaine just shook his head, trying to hide his grin as he made his way down towards his bedroom.

-

Kurt watched Blaine walk out of the kitchen and down a hallway before he turned back to the fridge. He was going with making a simple tomato and herb sauce with spaghetti pasta. He heard the shower turn on, just as he was placing the water for the pasta on to boil and was beginning to chop the tomatoes when he stopped and listened.

Coming down from down the hallway was Blaine's voice, but he wasn't speaking to Kurt, he was singing in the shower. Kurt smiled to himself as he placed the diced tomatoes into the hot pan. Even though he and Blaine had only known each other for a couple of weeks, the current setting felt very domestic. Never in his three year relationship with Jackson, had Kurt felt this comfortable, but he didn't realise it until he started talking to Blaine. Kurt felt his shoulders start to relax as he stirred the sauce, deciding that breaking up with Jackson was the best thing that he had ever done for himself.

He heard the shower shut off, just as he was draining the pasta. He heard socked feet padding down the hall and looked up just as Blaine rounded the corner into the kitchen. Kurt felt his breath catch in his throat at the sight of Blaine. He was wearing a simple white v-necked shirt and a pair of loose dark denim jeans, his hair was still damp and there were one or two curls that were dripping water onto his shoulders.

"Mmm something smells good," Blaine stated, the sound of his voice, snapping Kurt out of his daze.

"Thanks, it's ready if you are," Kurt replied before placing two empty plates on the counter top next to the pots of food, "I wasn't sure how hungry you were so feel free to dish yourself as much or as little as you'd like,"

"Thank you so much for this Kurt, it looks so good,"

"No, thank you Blaine for helping me out tonight," Kurt grinned as they both moved to sit at Blaine's small kitchen table, their knees bumping into each other's again.

They each fell into a comfortable silence as they ate their meal, both too hungry after their busy evening to talk. They both finished at the same time and pushed their plates away.

"Kurt that was amazing. So much better than what I was going to cook," Blaine smiled, "I just usually open a tin of tomatoes and hope for the best, but that was so much better," Kurt grinned.

"Thank you,"

The settled into easy conversation, catching up with what they'd missed in the other's lives since they'd last had time to talk at length.

"And I'm still getting complements about my hair, so I guess I owe you another thank you for that," Kurt laughed.

"It's growing out really nicely," Blaine commented, "You're lucky, I have to see some clients every other week because no matter what we try, their hair just refuses to grow out evenly so they have to keep coming back for regular trims. One of my clients who was 12 when I first started cutting her hair, wanted to grow out her bob, but the poor thing, her hair would never grow out evenly, so she had to keep coming back for me to trim it up for her. It took four years, but we eventually got it to her mid back," Kurt frowned.

"That would be so frustrating. I mean, my hair grows like a weed, but thankfully it stays even," Blaine nodded.

"Your hair does seem to grow faster than most Kurt," Blaine noted as his eyes rose to take in Kurt's perfectly styled hair. It was still obviously shorter than before Blaine had first cut it, but it had grown out more than Blaine would have expected.

"Yeah, it's a bit annoying sometimes, but you get used to it. I just have to use a bit more product to get it to stay in place,"

"I could cut it for you now if you wanted," Blaine offered.

"I couldn't ask you to do that Blaine, you've already done so much for me today," Blaine just shook his head.

"You're not asking, I'm offering. Come on," Blaine held out his hand as he stood from the table, "If you're not happy with the length of your hair then it's my duty as your hairdresser to fix it," Kurt looked at Blaine's out stretched hand and placed his own in it, feeling Blaine's fingers interlink with his, he stood and followed Blaine down the hallway and into his bedroom, "Take a seat and I'll just get my things," Blaine gestured to the space at the end of his bedroom, where the carpet ended and the hardwood floor began.

Against one wall was a solid, yet beautiful, wooden vanity unit with a large mirror attached to the wall above it, and in front of it was a gorgeous old barber's chair. It wasn't one of the industrial looking one's found in barber shops today, that were made of steel and ugly red vinyl, this one's body was made of a subdued brass coloured metal with wooden accents and the seat, back rest and arm rests were made from a dark brown leather that was soft to the touch. It even had a detachable head piece which would have been used if the chair was reclined and the client was getting a hot shave.

Kurt sat down in the chair and instantly relaxed, it was comfortable in all the right places, he brought his feet up to rest on the footrest and rubbed his thumbs over the leather on the arm rests, enjoying their leisurely feel.

"It's nice isn't it," Blaine smiled at Kurt in the chair as he stepped out of the bathroom.

"It's beautiful. Where did you get it from?"

"It was a gift from my Grandmother when I graduated top of my class. She's really been the only person to support my career choice, and bought me this so that one day I could place it in my own salon. I'm not quite up to owning my own salon just yet, so for now it just lives with me. When it's sunny I open those blinds, recline it and read a book, it's quite comfy to curl up in," Blaine smiled as he placed his large kit of the vanity unit in front of Kurt, opening it and pulling out what he'd need, "Because you mentioned that your hair grows faster than usual, would you like me to use my clippers and that way you might be able to get away with more than two weeks between haircuts," Blaine suggested. Kurt nodded at Blaine's words even though he felt his heart drop slightly. As much as it would be convenient to not have to have his haircut every two weeks, it gave him a good excuse to have Blaine's fingers running through his hair, but at the same time he was a little excited at the thought of Blaine using the clippers on his hair.

Kurt watched as Blaine unpacked his kit and laid everything out across the top of the vanity unit. He plugged in his clippers and sat them next to a number of attachments, along with his scissors and a comb.

"How short do you want to go?" Blaine asked when he turned to face Kurt.

"You be the judge," Kurt offered, "After all, you're the professional here Blaine,"

"Hey, I know that you know what you're doing when it comes to hair," Blaine smiled as he pulled a cape out from the bottom drawer or the unit. Kurt nodded at his words.

"I know that I know what I'm doing, but it's nice to have someone decide what's going to look good on me and just doing it. I trust you Blaine,"

"Ok," Blaine nodded as he placed the cape over Kurt and fastened it behind his neck, "I won't go too short to begin with, we can build you up to that at a later date if you want, but I'm definitely going to take your hair shorter than it was so the style will last longer for you," Blaine finished as he leant forward again and picked up his clippers and a longer attachment, "I oiled these yesterday after I cut Wes' hair, so they should work like new," he explained as he switched them. A low hum filled the room and Blaine placed a light hand on top of Kurt's head, guiding it down so his chin rested on his chest, giving Blaine the perfect canvas. He placed the clippers gently at the base of Kurt's neck, just under his right ear, and slowly made his way up the back of Kurt's head, not taking off too much hair, but enough to make a noticeable difference.

He worked slowly and methodically with each pass up the back of Kurt's head. Kurt felt as if his scalp was being massaged with every stroke, simply because Blaine was moving so carefully and skilfully. He moved his head again, as Blaine directed him to, this time leaning to the left as Blaine brought the clippers up towards his temple, cutting the hair there to match the length of the back. Kurt had to fight to hold back a whimper when Blaine had finished the left side and switched the clippers off. But he watched Blaine's hands remove the attachment, only to replace it with a shorter one.

His heart rate sped up again when Blaine placed the clippers back at the base of his neck and began to repeat the slow and pleasurable process, this time though, not taking them as high, so as to begin blending his hair at the back at sides.

Blaine repeated this process two more times, each with a smaller attachment, and each time, not taking the clippers quite so high.

"I'm just going to do a bit of clipper of comb work back here to get a perfect blend and then I'll trim the top for you so it's proportionate," Blaine smiled at Kurt in the mirror as he completely removed the attachment on the clippers and picked up his comb.

He once again had Kurt bow his head as Blaine combed up the remaining hairs on the back of Kurt's head and lightly ran the clippers over them, creating, as he said, the perfect blend, the was no hints of lines or staking, every layer of Kurt's hair fed beautifully into the next.

Blaine switched off his clippers for the final time and replaced them with his scissors. He began moving from the base of Kurt's crown, up to the top of head, going scissors over comb so as not create a shelf in the hair where the scissored hair met the clipped. Blaine then slowly worked forwards, leaving a bit of length, but taking enough so it wouldn't be a harsh contrast between the short cropped hair on the back of his head and the longer layers on top. He finished off the cut by once again cleaning up Kurt's neck line with a small electric trimmer, before moving to grab his large hand held mirror.

"What do you think?" he asked Kurt, as he moved the mirror so Kurt could see the reflection in the mirror in front of him.

"Blaine," Kurt gasped quietly, "It's perfect," he said in a voice, barely louder than a whisper, "You've done such a beautiful job," Kurt gushed. Blaine felt his cheeks begin to pink at Kurt's kind words.

"Thank you Kurt," he couldn't help but smile at the beautiful man sitting in his chair.

"No," Kurt shook his head, "Thank you," Blaine placed the hand held mirror back on the vanity unit and moved to unfasten the cape from around Kurt's neck, shaking the hair resting on it, onto the floor to join the rest, "I'm going to hug you again, ok?" Kurt stated as he stood up and faced Blaine. All Blaine could do was nod as Kurt stepped into his arms again. Blaine's hand automatically going up to stroke the back of Kurt's freshly cut hair. His hair felt so soft under Blaine's hands, and he knew that Kurt was enjoying the feeling because of the soft moan he let slip when Blaine's hand came into contact with his head.

"You're welcome Kurt," Blaine breathed against the side of Kurt's neck. Both men were reluctant to let go of the other, but eventually they broke apart so as to not cause an awkward moment, each still unsure of how the other felt and neither wanting to step over the line and ruin what they have.

"I better get going," Kurt said quietly, "It's going to be a busy day tomorrow and I don't want to be held responsible for any damage that I may cause if I'm not properly rested. Blaine let out a soft laugh at Kurt's words and took a deep breath before taking hold of Kurt's hand again and leading him back through his house and to the front door, "Thank you for all of your help today Blaine, both with the company's hair and mine. It really does mean a lot to me," Kurt smiled.

"Anytime," Blaine replied, his eyes meeting Kurt's, "And whenever you need me again, whether it be to help out at the theatre, or for your own personal hair care, just give me a call. I'd be happy to help," Kurt stepped in for another hug on Blaine's stoop.

"I'll remember that," he nodded, "I'll call you tomorrow?" now Blaine nodded.

"I look forward to it," he grinned down at Kurt as Kurt made his way down the stairs and onto the sidewalk backwards, not ready to turn away from Blaine just yet.

"Goodnight Blaine,"

"Goodnight Kurt," and with that Blaine turned back inside, shut the door and then proceeded to lean against it and slide down it with an annoyed and confused groan.

What was he doing? Why didn't he take that opportunity and kiss Kurt that time?