Blaine sighed quietly to himself as he stood at the bench mixing up his mother's hair colour. She hadn't arrived yet, but he knew she wouldn't be too far away and wanted to be prepared so he could start right away, meaning she could leave sooner.

He was alone in the salon, opening early to accommodate his mother. He had already set up his station and was now just waiting for her to arrive.

Right on eight she pushed the door open and made her way over to Blaine's chair, sitting down without making eye contact with her son.

"Good morning Amelia," he greeted, he hated calling his mother by her first name, but she would scowl at him if he used the ‘M' word while he was at work.

"Good morning Blaine," Amelia replied, placing her handbag on the counter as Blaine moved to drape the black cape over her, fastening it behind her neck. He didn't need to ask what he was doing with her hair today, it was the same every time; touching up her highlights and redoing her roots. Blaine pulled out his first piece of foil and set to work, sectioning and colouring. Over the years he had become so good at doing a fast and tidy job his mother's hair, mostly because the faster he worked, the sooner she would leave.

"I tried to call you last night Blaine, but you never picked up. Where were you?" Blaine jumped internally at the sound of his mother's voice, normally she would never speak to him while he was doing her hair, but because they were the only two in the salon, he knew that she would ask probing questions.

"I was out," Blaine stated plainly as he placed another foil.

"Out where?" she pried.

"Out at a friend's house,"

"A girl friend?" she asked, Blaine felt his heart drop at the hopeful tone his mother used. He'd been out to his parents for eleven years now and they were still waiting for him to bring a girl home.

"No, not a girl's house,"

"Was it a school friend's house then?"

"No mother," Amelia visibly flinched at Blaine using the ‘M' word, "I was at a male friend's house,"

"As in a fuck buddy's house," she spat at Blaine.

"No, he's just a friend," Blaine replied, his voice lacking tone. He was not about to give away how much Kurt meant to him. Thankfully one of Blaine's workmates walked through the door at that point, causing Amelia to keep her opinion to herself for the rest of her appointment.

When Blaine had finished her colour he left her to process, moving to sit in the staffroom and let his mind calm down.

"Morning Blaine," Sarah, his college called as she sat down at the small table next to Blaine.

"Morning Sarah," Blaine replied, turning to smile at her, "How are you, did you have a good weekend?" Sarah grinned.

"Did I ever, I met the most amazing guy, we stayed in bed for the entire weekend and ate chocolate and had a lot of sex and it was fantastic," Blaine smiled at his friend, glad that she had had a good time, "What about you Blaine? Meet anyone special?" she winked at him.

"Maybe," he grinned, moving his head to look down at the table, trying to hide the blush rising on his cheeks.

"Blaine," she gasped, "Do tell,"

"Ok, but just keep this quiet ok, the lady whose hair I'm doing out there knows my parents and I don't want them to know just yet," Blaine felt bad lying to Sarah, but she smiled at him to continue anyway, "Well his name's Kurt and we met about three weeks ago and yesterday we finally had our first official date, and it was simple yet everything I could have hoped for. His building had a power outage just after I arrived so we ate takeout pizza in the candle light and it was perfect," Sarah moved around the table and grabbed Blaine up in a big hug.

"Oh Blaine, I'm so happy for you. I'm so happy that you're happy," she grinned, leaning in to plant a kiss against his cheek.

"I'm happy that I'm happy too," Blaine laughed, feeling his heart swell when he thought back to his date with Kurt the previous night, "He's just so incredible Sarah, I've never met anyone like him, but he's just come out of a long and bad relationship so we're taking it slow, but that doesn't bother me, I'm just enjoying spending time with him at this point,"

"Good for you," she pressed another kiss against his cheek, "Are you seeing him tonight?"

"I think he was going to stop in here on his way to work this afternoon. Are you here all day," Sarah nodded, "Then I guess you'll meet him later," she nodded in excitement at Blaine.

"Awesome. Are you going to see him after he finishes work tonight?" Blaine shook his head.

"No, tonight's one of his long nights so this afternoon will be the only chance I get to see him," Sarah nodded.

"Do you mind if I ask a favour of you then?" Blaine smiled and shook his head again.

"No, what's up?"

"I was hoping you'd be able to cut and colour my hair tonight. It's looking a bit limp and it just so happens that you're one of the best hairdressers in the state and you work here and you're free tonight," she grinned as Blaine laughed.

"Flattery will get you everywhere," he laughed again as he stood, ready to go back out and face his mother, "But I would love to do your hair for you tonight Sarah, it'll help me keep my mind off the fact that I can't be with Kurt,"

"In that case then, I'm glad to offer myself up as a distraction for you," Blaine smiled and leaned in to press a quick kiss against Sarah's cheek.

"You're too kind," he laughed before he made his way out to the salon floor. He moved in behind his mother and checked on her colour process, "Ok Amelia, I'll take you over to the basin and rinse these out for you," he held out his hand for her to take to help her stand, but she ignored the gesture, pushing herself up instead and moving over to the basin, leaving Blaine to follow behind. He proceeded to rinse out her hair and wash it, not offering to use the conditioning treatment he used for Kurt because he didn't feel that his mother deserved it. He shut of the water and towelled off her hair, leading her back over to his chair. He pulled up his rolling stool and sat down behind his mother, moving to collect his clips, comb and scissors from his trolley.

He began to section off her layers and proceed to trim them back to their original length. His mother had had the same haircut since before he could remember; he could just about cut her hair with his eyes closed. Before long he was blowing her hair out and pulling the cape off from around her shoulders.

"There you go Amelia," he said in the most pleasant voice he could muster.

His mother turned and made her way back to the reception, without so much as a thank you towards Blaine. He sighed again and turned back to his trolley, collecting the used towels and taking them back to the laundry room.

His next client wasn't due in for another fifteen minutes, so he stopped back into the break room and pulled out his phone, sending off a quick text to Kurt.

Really going to need that ice cream today. Missing you like crazy xx

He filled a glass from the cupboard with water and took a long drink, trying to get his emotions under control, his phone buzzed in his hand and he looked down to see that Kurt had already replied.

I'm sorry Blaine, I promise I'll bring you ice cream later and you can eat your feelings :) Missing you so much, see you later xx

Blaine smiled at Kurt's message but didn't reply as he knew his next client would be arriving any minute now and he needed to be out there to greet her. He moved back out into the salon and was grateful that one of the assistants had cleaned up his station for him.

"Thank you so much for doing that for me Carly," he smiled at the young assistant as she walked passed him, taking the cape with her that he had just removed from his mother.

"Anytime Blaine," Carly replied with a grin. She was the youngest in the salon, but she knew how to work hard. Blaine moved into the reception area, calling his next client, preparing himself to make it through the day, knowing that at four thirty Kurt would be walking through the doors with a pint of ice cream for him.

*

Blaine finished his final client of the day earlier than he had expected taking the fifteen minutes before Kurt arrived to head out the back and throw some water over his face.

"Blaine," Carly called his name as she stuck her head into the staffroom, "There's someone named Kurt here to see you, and if you don't mind me saying, he is gorgeous," she winked at him, Blaine didn't even try to hide the grin spreading across his face.

"Thanks Carly," she nodded as he passed, making his way to where Kurt was standing near the reception desk, "Hey you," he smiled as Kurt turned to face him after hearing his voice.

"Hey," he replied, chewing his bottom lip between his teeth, "I brought you this," he held out a small plastic shopping bag, Blaine was just able to make out the Ben and Jerry's logo through the plastic.

"You're the best," he smiled as he took the bag from Kurt's outstretched hand and placed a soft his against his cheek, "Sorry, too much," he spoke softly, when he saw Kurt's cheeks heat up. Kurt just shook his head.

"No, I'm still just not used to it, but please don't stop," he whispered as he returned the kiss, placing one on Blaine's cheek.

"How long can you stay?" Blaine asked hopefully.

"Not long," Kurt replied, a hint of regret in his tone, "I wish I could stay longer and ask how your day went, but tonight is one of our crazy nights," Blaine nodded.

"I understand,"

"But before I go I just wanted to make sure that you were ok after this morning?" Kurt asked softly, not talking loud enough for anyone but Blaine to hear. Blaine just shrugged.

"It went just how I expected it to, she didn't talk to me, I did her hair and then she left," Kurt frowned at the defeated tone in Blaine's voice, he wanted to stay and wrap Blaine up in his arms, but that would make him late for work. His thoughts were disrupted when a small blonde haired girl made her way over.

"Hi, you must be Kurt, I'm Sarah, it's nice to meet you," she smiled.

"Hi," Kurt replied as he stuck his hand out for her to shake.

"Thank you for making Blaine smile again," she stated bluntly, Kurt laughed softly at her forwardness and at the colour rising in Blaine's cheeks.

"You're welcome," he grinned, "But really, it's my pleasure," he turned to face Blaine; "I have to go now Blaine, I'm sorry," Blaine just nodded and pulled Kurt in for a hug.

"Thank you for the ice cream,"

"Anytime," Kurt smiled, "And Sarah, you look after him for me ok?" Sarah grinned and nodded.

"Of course, it was nice to meet you Kurt,"

"You too. Text me when you get home, ok?" he directed the last part to Blaine and Blaine nodded in response.

"Will do, have a good night,"

"Thanks see you later," and with that Kurt was gone again.

"Ok you, let's go and eat your ice cream and then when everyone else has left I will be your personal therapist as you make me look pretty," Sarah grabbed Blaine's free hand and dragged him back out into the staffroom, pulling out spoon and handing it to Blaine.

"Do you want any?" he offered as he removed the lid. Sarah shook her head.

"No, I think that you need it more than I do," Blaine just nodded as he scooped the first spoonful out and into his mouth. Sarah sat in silence, letting Blaine eat his feelings. They sat there as every other staff member came to say goodbye and soon it was just the two of them left with one empty container of ice cream, "Feel better?" she asked and Blaine nodded, "Ok, come on then, time to do my hair," she grabbed Blaine's hand and pulled him out back into the salon and she sat down at Blaine's station.

"So what are we doing today then Sarah?" Blaine asked as he ran his fingers through her long blonde hair.

"Well I was watching you cut your dark haired friend's hair the other week and it looked so good so I was hoping you'd be able to try and do that for me?"

"Of course, that would suit your face perfectly," Blaine smiled at Sarah in the mirror, "And the colour?"

"How are you at ombre?" she questioned.

"Awesome," Blaine gloated. Sarah just shook her head.

"I should have held off on the flattery this morning, it's just gone to your head, but I want pink ombre,"

"Pink, I can definitely do pink," Blaine nodded, "This is going to be fun," he exclaimed as he pulled another cape out from his station and draped it over Sarah, completely covering her tiny frame until she was just a head and a mass of blonde hair, "You get comfy and I'll mix up the colour. How pink is pink?"

"More of a pastel pink rather than highlighter pink," Blaine nodded in understanding and turned back to the colour bench. Blaine returned back shortly with a pot full of colour.

"Ok Sarah, you ready?" Sarah nodded excitedly as Blaine began to section off her hair. He picked up the first section and began to tease it upwards towards the root, causing the section to layer itself, giving the colour more of a natural look, even though it would be pink. He picked up a foil and placed it under the section of hair before taking his brush and applying the colour to the hair resting on the foil before he moved onto the next section.

"Blaine," Sarah spoke to get Blaine's attention, he hummed in acknowledgement, "Kurt is gorgeous, he is honestly one of the most stunning men I have ever seen, and that's saying something because I've worked backstage at fashion week," Blaine felt the heat rising up his neck again as he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, he's beautiful," Blaine sighed, Sarah's face split into a grin.

"You've fallen hard haven't you?" she asked, already knowing the answer, letting out a knowing hum when Blaine nodded his head.

"Yeah,"

"When?"

"Somewhere over the last few days. We saw each other every day this weekend, including Friday night and I think it just crept up on me and really hit me hard today when he came to drop the ice cream off,"

"Yeah, why did he do that?" Blaine swallowed as he placed another foil in Sarah's hair.

"He knew that I would be having a bad day," Sarah gave him a puzzled look in the mirror, not quite understanding what he meant, "Don't worry about it Sarah," Blaine smiled, trying to ease Sarah's concern, "We were talking last night and I'd had a bad day yesterday, I had to cut the Southerland's family's hair," Blaine explained, Sarah gave a knowing nod, having already been a witness to the horror show that was that family, "I was only meant to be doing Mrs Southerland's hair but then she decided that all three of her brats needed a haircut and by the time I ended up at Kurt's last night I was tired and stressed out and he offered to bring me ice cream today," Blaine finished, pleased that that explanation seemed to cover the real reason, "But as I was saying, I think when I saw him come through the door earlier, with the bag in his hand, just knowing that he had gone out of his way to do that for me, I think that's when I realised just how much I like him. I knew that I liked him before, but today it just kind of hit me like a bus,"

"Do you love him?" Sarah asked, keeping her head still as Blaine began placing foils to the back sections of her hair.

"Not yet," Blaine shook his head, "But I can see myself loving him one day. Right now it's too soon and I think I'm keeping myself from feeling that way for Kurt's sake, he doesn't need me proclaiming my love for him so soon after a break up, I think that would just drive him away. But I'll know when the time's right, and he'll know to,"

"Can I come to the wedding?"

"Of course, I'm going to need someone to do my hair," Blaine looked up and grinned at Sarah in the mirror.

"You cheeky bastard," she laughed as Blaine poked his tongue out in response, "So what's next then?"

"Well I'm just placing the last few foils and then once the colour has processed I'll wash you out and cut your hair for you," Blaine replied, Sarah just shook her head.

"No Blaine," she sighed, "What's next for you and Kurt?"

"Oh, um," Blaine paused, "I don't know. I mean, I guess there'll be a second date, but I hadn't really had time to think about it yet,"

"What do you think that the second date will consist of?" Sarah questioned.

"I want it to be something fun," Blaine answered as he finished placing the last foil, Sarah watched him as he turned to the station next to his and moved the chair closer to hers, spinning them both around so they faced each other, "Last night with dinner was nice, but we haven't really had time to do anything fun together yet, it's just been dinner or coffee,"

"So what would you class as fun?"

"The zoo," Blaine grinned, Sarah shook her head and let out a soft laugh.

"Oh Blaine, you are too cute, but I'd have to agree, the zoo would be fun, and there's plenty of things to keep it from being awkward, although after seeing you two today, I'm guessing that you've never really had an awkward moment?" Blaine shook his head.

"Nope, not one. Plenty of comfortable silences, but never an awkward one,"

"So the zoo this weekend then is it?"

"I think so Sarah," Blaine grinned, "I think that's the first chance we'll get to see each other this week. The nights that Kurt isn't working late, I am and vice versa, so I'd say it'll be a Sunday date again,"

"What does Kurt do Blaine?" Sarah asked, Blaine answered by launching into a full explanation of Kurt's job, the show he works for, what a few of the actors a like and how much he enjoyed working backstage. He was talking so much that by the time he finished, it was time to rinse out Sarah's colour. He held out his hand, as he did for all of his clients, and led her over to the basin, checking the water temperature on the back of his hand before moving to take out the foils, the hair now having been dyed a soft pink. He towelled off Sarah's hair before taking her hand again and moving back to his station, Sarah settling back down in his chair.

"What do you think? Is the colour ok?"

"Blaine, it's perfect," she grinned at him in the mirror which Blaine returned as he reached for his comb and scissors.

He didn't need to clip any sections of hair out of the way as he began to cut, because he was just pulling layer after layer out and snipping them off where they needed to be cut. After thirty five minutes, Blaine was satisfied with the cut he had created at this point and placed his scissors and comb down, picking up his hairdryer. He dried Sarah's hair off completely before picking up his scissors and comb again and finishing up her haircut. When he was finally happy with his work he placed his tools down for the final time and undid the cape from around Sarah's neck.

"Blaine," she gushed, "It looks amazing. Thank you so much," she exclaimed as she stood and turned to envelop Blaine in a tight hug.

"You're very welcome Sarah," he smiled down at her.

"I can see why they call you one of the best hairdressers in the state, my hair has never looked this good," she said as she turned to look at herself in the mirror.

"You're beautiful Sarah," Sarah spun around to give Blaine a final hug, "Now you go and show off your new hair to that man of yours," Blaine smiled as he began to push her out the door.

"No, I'll stay and help you clean up,"

"Don't you dare," Blaine warned as he collected her bag and led her to the front door, from what you've been telling me you have an incredibly hot and incredibly naked man in your bed right now and your hair is just begging for someone to run their fingers through it, so go," he shooed her out the door.

"But-," Blaine just shook his head.

"No buts, you go and show the world what I fantastic job of your hair I did," Sarah stuck her tongue out at Blaine with a laugh, "Besides, Kurt won't be finished until late tonight, so at least by doing this it'll keep my mind occupied," Blaine finished quietly, Sarah stopped and reached up to place a hand on his shoulder.

"Patience Blaine, you know what Kurt needs, just be patient and you'll both be extremely happy together one day soon," Sarah smiled as she leaned up to give him a kiss on the cheek, "Thank you again for doing my hair, and I'll see you tomorrow,"

"Goodnight Sarah,"

"Goodnight Blaine," she walked away with a wave. Blaine turned back into the salon and locked the door behind him. He went out the back and returned with a broom, sweeping up Sarah's hair which he had cut off just moments earlier. Once his station was tidy and the washing was on, he made his way out the backdoor and back to his apartment where he made himself dinner and watched a bit of TV before having a shower and climbing into bed. It was now when he let himself finally text Kurt.

Thank you so much for the ice cream and the visit earlier, it made my day so much better. Hope the show went well tonight. I'm just going to bed so I'll talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight Kurt xx

He placed his phone on his bedside table and switched off his lamp. He was just settling under the covers when he phone beeped, signalling a new text.

You're welcome and anytime, I like having a reason to come and visit you. The show is still going, but it's going well and I'm looking forward to talking with you tomorrow. Goodnight Blaine, sleep well xx