Guise! Guise! I'm a caterer in LA and we were working on a photo shoot and you'll never believe who it was for! Kurt Hummel! And that isn't even the best part — the model they originally had left early – maybe he got sick idk – and Blaine replaced him in the shoot! asdkfhsskdfjd I repeat – Kurt and Blaine took photos toGETHER! I don't want to give everything away, but it got pretty steamy and I SAW KURT HUMMEL IN A WET SEE-THROUGH SHIRT. You won't believe how sEXY they were. Hnnnnngh. OK, I just can't leave you with that. Three words. Classic movie couples. Shhhhh…you didn't get it from me.

Bless your cow

If this is true you are the best person to live, ever. Shh, just let me love you

Omg rl otp right here. They are perfect together. I'm cry [kristen_bell_sloth_crying image]

Pictures or it didn't happen

If you are a troll I swear to god… #this is me blogging from the afterlife

We won't live through the sex riot those pics are going to cause. the mayans got the date wrong the world will end in 2019

Where is the porn for this guys? I will bake a million cookies for whoever writes this.

Dear santa, I've been a good girl all year. Please send smut, love me

I may have just written 5k sweet and filthy, filthy words on this [I_regret_nothing_chicken image]

=^..^=

Things were going smoothly. Too smoothly, in fact. Every morning Kurt woke up to his flourishing career, the buzz about his award nominations, and his perfect boyfriend (well, perfect for him at least) and he wondered when it was all going to go wrong.

He started to psych himself out a bit, seeing problems and obstacles where they didn't exist. He was positive he wasn't going to win any of the awards, that no matter how much training he did he wouldn't be able to impress the producers of the X-men reboot and most importantly, he began to worry that Blaine didn't feel as deeply for him as he felt for Blaine. He was concerned that maybe Blaine's politeness and his unwillingness to cause friction, might be masking some doubts or reservations about their relationship. Was Kurt pushing things further and faster than Blaine wanted? Did Blaine consider the whole thing just a casual fling? Was Kurt seeing something that wasn't really there? It wouldn't be the first time, after all.

He attributed most of his uncertainty to the original fake boyfriend lie. Before they had gotten together for real, Blaine had been very convincing when they were out in public. Article after article had mentioned the 'heart eyes' he directed at Kurt and the sweet little touches between them that showed how 'in love' they were. When their relationship had changed, the behavior didn't really. It just got…more. More frequent, more personal, more meaningful. But if Kurt couldn't really tell the difference between what Blaine had done just for the cameras and what he did now, how was he supposed to trust that it was all real?

In an effort to occupy his mind with something other than obsessive thoughts on the subject, Kurt curled up in the oversized chair in his bedroom with his tablet and went to Broadway dot com to catch up on the latest news. After reading about the problems with the latest revival of Oklahoma! (who in the world had thought that staging it in modern day London would work? The name of the show was Oklahoma! for Pete's sake) and an announcement that the Wicked 15th anniversary concert that had been staged in October was now available on iTunes he clicked over to the news page and was surprised to find a picture of himself.

In the photo he was standing in a store, his back to the camera, his face reflected in the giant mirror that he was looking in as he held up a sweater (hand-dyed wool and marvelous — he'd bought it in blue and red). The photo had been taken just the day before. He and Blaine had driven past the shop on the way back from a meeting when Kurt had seen the sweater in the window and demanded (nicely, with all sorts of promises for private payment once they got back home) that they circle back to check it out. Blaine was standing off to the side facing the camera and he was looking at Kurt with such an enamored expression that Kurt felt his stomach swoop. Those were the heart eyes that everyone kept referring to, the look that said that Blaine had so much emotion inside of him that he had to let it out and he didn't care who saw it.

And they hadn't known the paparazzi were there that day.

Blaine was looking at Kurt like he hung the moon and the stars and then turned around and invented bow ties and as far as he knew it there was no one else there to witness it. Not even Kurt was looking at him. There was no need in that moment to fake something that he didn't really feel.

It was a real. Those were real heart eyes.

Suddenly Kurt felt the doubts and fears of the past couple of days disappear. He was making something up in his head alright, but it wasn't Blaine's feelings for him.

=^..^=

The Monday after the nominations were announced, Kurt got a call from Lynn to tell him that he had been asked to appear on the Ellen show that Wednesday. As soon as he hung up the phone he bounced around the house, squealing and laughing, and he would have turned a cartwheel if he thought that the seaming in his vintage tuxedo-style shirt could have withstood the strain. While the other talk shows he had appeared on were great, he had always wanted to meet Ellen Degeneres and could be excused for kind of freaking out.

Ellen didn't like her interviews to be as pre-defined as on other talk shows, but she had asked for a list of things he might want to talk about outside of the awards, so he and Blaine spent an hour giggling and coming up with a list of topics to send over to her production staff.

After Blaine (rightfully) talked him out of trying to do some last minute shopping for a new ensemble, Kurt holed himself up in his room and didn't come out until he had assembled the perfect outfit. He finally selected a grey brocade Vivian Westwood waistcoat with a corset-style back and a black and grey patterned shirt that made his pale skin glow, remembering the glint in Blaine's eyes whenever he wore a vest that emphasized his waist. He paired it with a pair of tight black pants and his favorite knee-high laced boots. He would admit it all added up to a very dramatic look, but it was very much him.

As he, Lynn, Steve, and Blaine waited in the green room for him to be called to the stage, he couldn't help but think about everything that had changed since the first time he and Blaine had sat around waiting for his talk show interview to begin. He almost felt like he was now a totally different person; he was happier, of that there was no doubt, but he also felt more confident and much more willing to open himself up to others. He was closer to Bev and Lynn and now considered them friends as well as colleagues. How could so much have happened in just a few short months? He admitted Blaine was the catalyst, but knew that he had simply freed pieces of Kurt that were already there. It was like this was the person he was always meant to be.

Ellen had come in to meet them earlier and after some embarrassing fawning from both Kurt and Blaine (which had included words like "inspirational" and "role-model"), she had stayed and spoken with them for several minutes. Before, Kurt might have looked on her actions cynically and thought that she must spend the same amount of time speaking with every guest and that she didn't really mean the kind things she said, but now he saw someone who genuinely liked meeting new people and who was truly interested in him as a person and not just as a commodity. He wondered if it was presumptuous to give her his phone number and beg her pathetically to be his friend?

The interview went well and though Ellen asked questions on some familiar topics —like his recent nominations and how he was dealing with fame— her take was fresh and Kurt found himself enjoying the interview more than any other he had done. He blushed wildly when the conversation turned to his relationship with Blaine and he stumbled over his words to the delight of the audience.

A photo of him and Blaine talking in Lynn's office on Golden Globe nomination day flashed up on the screen behind them. The audience gave a big simultaneous "awww" and Ellen smiled as he grew even more flustered. "Well, I think you two are about the cutest thing I've ever seen."

The photo changed to one of him and Blaine surrounded by kids at the PSA filming and Kurt explained about the upcoming 'no texting and driving' campaign. The photo switched again, this time showing them in their tuxedos during a break from the 'Fred and Ginger' set-up of their recent photo shoot. There were gasps from the crowd at the photo and Kurt saw at least a few women fan themselves as they apparently overheated.

"Wow," Ellen said after waiting for the audience to calm down. "I must say that you two make a spectacularly good looking couple and have set the bar way too high for the rest of the world."

Kurt flushed again and was very happy when they moved on to other subjects. Finally, the interview started to draw to a close and when he admitted his secret shame of liking reality TV, which had been on the list of topics he had sent over ahead of time, Ellen had a surprise for him.

She announced that they were going to play a game, where she would ask him questions about reality TV and each time he gave a wrong answer the other participant in the game would be pelted with some food item. He'd seen the game played before, so he followed her to the side of the stage excitedly, expecting an audience member to come out as the potential victim for the food throwing. He looked towards the entrance and his heart leapt a bit as Blaine walked out. The roar the audience gave when they recognized him only grew when Blaine paused to kiss Kurt on the cheek on his way to the game area.

Kurt laughed as Blaine went to stand on the platform, but inside he was nervous. The questions asked during this game were usually hard or really random and he didn't want to get Blaine hit in the face with a pie (which had just been unveiled as one of the options, along with a bowl of chocolate pudding, a heaping pile of powdered sugar, and a strawberry milk shake).

Ellen picked up her note cards and asked the first question. "Which of these was not featured in an episode of My Plastic Surgery Obsession? A woman who had cat ears, whiskers, and a tail surgically implanted; a man who had a total facial reconstruction so that he no longer looked like his conjoined twin; or a woman who had 53 surgeries in an attempt to look like the Woman at a Window painting by Picasso?"

Kurt's mind froze. "Oh my God, I don't watch that show. I-I…" He looked at Blaine helplessly and guessed. "The twin?"

"Nope, it was the last one. She actually had 15 surgeries in order to look like the Mona Lisa."

"I'm so sorry," he mouthed silently at Blaine as the pile of powdered sugar was sent flying up to his face. Blaine laughed as the sugar cloud settled around him and Kurt got an evil idea.

"Which one of these has not been the subject of its own reality show: styling salon make-overs, a hair restoration doctor's practice, a business that resells items found in the sewers, or a ten year-old child who still breastfeeds?"

He and Blaine had talked at length about reality shows and he knew which one was the fake (and Blaine knew that he knew it), but he scrunched his face up to show that he was thinking really hard and then gave the wrong answer. Blaine's eyes widened as the chocolate pudding launched towards him, coating his neck and chest. He looked in disbelief at Kurt, who just shrugged and smiled innocently. Finally he saw comprehension on Blaine's face as he realized what Kurt had in store for him.

He really didn't know the answer to the third question and his incorrect guess sent the milk shake soaring. It landed perfectly on Blaine's head and dripped down his face, catching on his ridiculously long eyelashes and dribbling onto his lips, where he licked it away.

Ellen commented that Blaine was looking very delicious then held up the card to ask the last question. "Name the famous fashion designer who got their start by winning Project Runway"

Blaine tensed and looked down at Kurt, who pretended to think long and hard on that one. "Hmm…Gosh Ellen, I can't think of who that is. My mind's a total blank," he stated with a sorrowful look in Blaine's direction.

It was then that Ellen and the audience caught on to the fact that Kurt was throwing the game and they howled in delight. Blaine yelped playfully as the pie was flung, hitting him square in the face. Kurt laughed so hard he nearly fell over as he waited for Blaine to be helped off the platform. Blaine wiped a bit of pie filling from his eye, smiled, and rushed towards Kurt with his arms thrown open. Kurt's eyes widened in horror (his Vivian Westwood!) and he began to back away. Blaine came after him and Kurt squeaked as he took off running and the chase was on. They dodged furniture and crew members, ran up into the audience section, and Kurt even hid behind Ellen in his attempt to avoid Blaine's embrace. Finally, Blaine cornered Kurt and whispered "It'll dry clean," just as he enfolded Kurt in his arms and kissed him. When the kiss was over, Kurt pulled back to find himself covered in food from lips to stomach. The audience screamed their appreciation and Ellen sank onto her chair as she collapsed in giggles. Blaine looked worried that maybe he had gone too far, so Kurt looped his arms around his shoulders and hugged him tight, smearing the sticky and sweet mess even further.

They both showered and changed in the dressing room (Blaine had thankfully been given protective clothing for the game and Kurt had his street clothes with him) before heading back to the greenroom where Lynn was waiting with Bev and her husband, Kurt's make-up artist friend Christine, Christine's young daughter Laura, Kellie, and Kellie's boyfriend Rodney.

Bev and Jamal congratulated Kurt first, needing to say their goodbyes and leave, as they were on their way to Jamaica to visit Jamal's parents for an extended holiday. Jamal was an extremely tall man with hands that dwarfed Kurt's and made him feel like he was a child again. His booming voice filled the room and his accent was one that Kurt could listen to for hours, though it always made him want to listen to some Bob Marley afterwards. They had met on a few occasions and Kurt had always envied the way he looked at Bev, like she was the brightest thing in the universe.

Kellie and Rodney approached him next. Rodney, who, with his long bleached blond hair and tan looked more like a surfer than the pastry chef Kurt remembered him to be, thanked Kurt for letting him and Kellie attend the taping. Kurt was amazed by the strength of his handshake and wondered if such upper body strength came from kneading things (did pastry chefs knead?). He saw Blaine wince at the initial grip of Rodney's hand and put more pressure into his own grip. Kurt wondered for a second if one of them was going to challenge the other to an arm wrestling competition, because that wasn't something he would object to.

Kurt felt a tugging on his shirt and looked down to see Laura, who proceeded to profess her love for him and began to sing him her version of his most famous song from Defiance. Everyone clapped enthusiastically when she finished and she curtsied, holding out the edges of her hot pink poufy skirt with her fingertips. Kurt signed an autograph for her while agreeing to her request to attend his next movie premier. Christine mouthed a silent apology for her daughter's pushiness, but Kurt shook his head and smiled to let her know he wasn't bothered.

Kurt needed to stay longer to talk with Lynn, so he and Blaine stayed behind as everyone else headed out towards their cars. On her way out the door, Kellie gave Kurt a quick hug and whispered "Bev told me you and Blaine made this thing real. I'm so very happy for you." She kissed his cheek and threaded her arm through Rodney's as they left. Kurt just stood looking after her with a stupid grin on his face.

"What?" Blaine asked as he came up behind him.

"Nothing. I just love getting congratulations now that we're actually dating. It just felt awkward when it wasn't real, you know? But now? It feels really good."

=^..^=

An hour later they were done at the studio and were on their way home when Blaine noticed something strange. "Bill, could you do me a favor and take the next left and then keep making left turns until you're back on this street?" Bill met his eyes in the rear view mirror and nodded before taking the next turn. Blaine exchanged a pointed look with Steve and turned to watch out the back window as they made their way through Burbank. As Bill continued to make turns, the same silver sedan that Blaine had noticed behind them before kept appearing. The license plate was splashed with mud so he couldn't read it, but he knew from the broken front headlight that it was the same vehicle. While it was common place for paparazzi to follow celebrities, they were usually easy to spot as they all seemed to drive identical black SUVs. In addition, they typically didn't try and hang back and not be noticed; their goal was to follow the celebrity to wherever they were going, not be stealthy and secretive. The car that Blaine had noticed was making sure to stay several cars behind theirs and had blacked-out windows that would not be super-conducive to photo taking.

Finally, Bill turned the car back onto their original street. If the suspicious car made the complete circuit with them then it was obvious that they had a tail. They were about half a block down the road when a silver glint caught Blaine's eye. "Bill, I think there's someone following us. Do you think you can lose them or —"

"No problem, Blaine," Bill assured him. "I'm trained for this."

Blaine asked Kurt to make sure his seat belt was tightened as the car picked up speed. Kurt looked worried and kept glancing back to see if he could spot the problem, so Blaine picked up his hand and squeezed it comfortingly. Bill made a series of quick turns and soon there was no sign of the other car. Bill continued to drive out of their way by several miles before taking an alternate route back to Kurt's house. Blaine's heart was thumping in his chest and wasn't returning to a normal rhythm as fast as he would like. Having an emotional attachment to his client was definitely affecting his performance and he needed to make sure to keep his eyes open.

=^..^=

Kurt tried to put thoughts of the stalker's possible re-emergence from his mind, but he soon got a distraction that was decidedly unwelcome. A new adaption of A Tale of Two Cities was being cast and Kurt had begged his agent to get him an audition. Unfortunately, the answer from the studio had been a resounding 'no'. The producer of the film was notorious for thinking that gay actors couldn't convincingly play straight and had refused to even audition Kurt.

While the news hadn't been totally unexpected, Kurt was still disappointed and discouraged. His nominations hadn't made the difference he was hoping they would, at least not in this instance. After he told Blaine the news and moped for a bit, Kurt curled up in his comfy chair with a book, trying to take his mind off of things. After an hour of reading the same page over and over, Kurt gave up and tossed the book aside. It had been a while since he'd heard anything from Blaine so he wandered out of the bedroom to track him down.

He followed the sounds of cabinets opening and closing to the kitchen and found Blaine standing in front of the kitchen island, a 'kiss the cook' apron around his waist. "You're cooking?"

Blaine jumped at the sound of Kurt's voice and smiled over his shoulder. "You're not the only one that can cook in this house, you know. I thought I proved that at Thanksgiving."

"You did, I'm just surprised, that's all. Whatcha makin'?" Kurt rested his cheek against the back of Blaine's head and closed his eyes, exhausted.

"Mm…'fancy' and 'French' are the only hints you get." Blaine turned around and made a little 'shooing' movement with his hands. "Now kindly leave me to create my work of art in peace."

An hour and a half later they were eating Chateaubriand and cheese souffl�s. "I can't believe you made me a souffl�," Kurt exhaled as he took a bite and the pastry melted in his mouth. "Do you know how many hours I spent trying to teach my dad how to make these? This seals it. You are the perfect man. I'm going to have to keep you locked up here in this house to keep you away from all the other gay men that will be after you once this gets out."

Blaine blushed and primly cut off a bite-sized piece of meat. "I got this recipe from the chef at a house I worked in last year. The parents were always throwing dinner parties, so they had the best food. He taught me how to make souffl�s the last month I was there."

"He?" Kurt asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yes, he. Jean-Pierre," Blaine smiled as he put an elbow on the table and set his chin in his hand, a dreamy look on his face. "Tall, dark, handsome—" Kurt felt a knot begin to form in his chest, "—60 years old and happily married to the housekeeper for the last 25 of those years." Kurt let out the breath he didn't know he was holding and Blaine patted his hand while trying to hide his grin behind a napkin.

They ate in silence for a while and just as Kurt thoughts turned back to the lost audition Blaine leaned forward, his eyes glowing in the candlelight. "Don't let him get you down, Kurt. For every guy like him there are a hundred that will want you for your talent no matter how straight or how gay the role."

"I just can't believe I still have to deal with this crap in this day and age," Kurt sniffed.

Blaine pulled Kurt up by the hand and settled him on his lap. "You are going to go on to do such brilliant things that the producer guy is going to look back on this as one of the worst decisions of his career. They'll probably hire some muscle bound guy that can't act, but looks good standing next to the lead actress and the movie will bomb because despite them both being straight there's no chemistry. Did they learn nothing from Channing Tatum?"

Kurt snorted and laid his head of Blaine's shoulder. "You always know just what to say. I think I just really need to cry to get it out of my system. You know, in a the-tenth-doctor-goes-to-see-all-his-past-companions-one-last-time-and-doesn't-want-to-die kind of way.

"You watched Doctor Who? I didn't know you liked sci-fi."

Kurt loved the vibrations that soaked into his body as Blaine talked and he had to concentrate to pull his attention back to what Blaine was saying. "Sci-fi? Are you kidding? That show was tragic romance on an epic scale. Ten was meant to be with Rose, Blaine. And she got trapped in another universe. Another universe."

"Well, if you need to cry you can go right ahead. Or…since dessert still has to cool some more, we could watch a movie? I'll let you pick."

"How about Newsies?" Kurt asked hopefully. "The new one from a few years ago based on the stage version."

"You got it," Blaine agreed as he lifted Kurt up. "Go ahead and get it started and I'll just clear the table."

After the movie was over, Blaine excused himself to prepare dessert and coffee. Kurt's eyes widened in awe when he saw Blaine walk into the room carrying a tray laden down with two coffee mugs and what looked to be two giant slices of cheesecake. After helping himself to a plate, Kurt slid his fork through the creamy dessert and picked up a bite, making sure to get all the layers. "Caramel?"

"Salted caramel with chocolate cookie crust."

"Mmmmm," Kurt moaned loudly, his mouth still full of his first bite. "You should quit this bodyguard thing and open up a pastry shop. Maybe you can get a job with Rodney. This is amazing."

"If you don't stop making those noises I'm not going to be able to leave you alone long enough to let you finish it," Blaine rasped, his eyes on Kurt's lips.

"I'll bite your hand if you try and take this away from me. And it won't be the sexy kind of biting, either." Kurt curled protectively around his plate and sent Blaine a mock glare.

It was the first really cold day of the year in L.A., so after they had finished the cheesecake and put all the dishes away in the dishwasher they started a fire for the first time. Kurt did an excited shimmy as he struck the match and the fire took hold. His previous house hadn't had a fire place and he was excited to have a place to snuggle with his sweetie (oh no, was that a pet name?).

They piled pillows and blankets on the floor in front of the fire and burrowed in. There, sitting in front of the fire, Kurt wondered how Blaine could make him feel so good when things are going wrong. It was like some magical power he had and Kurt wasn't sure if he could ever live without it again.

=^..^=

The day before they left for Lima was a busy one. After Ohio they would be going on to New York for the final filming of scenes for Kurt's movie, so Kurt had to pack for several weeks — both family casual and New York fabulous — and only had three suitcases to do it in.

Clothes had been arriving daily from designers from all over the world who hoped to dress Kurt for the red carpet and other events surrounding the awards. While there were many formal options, a lot of the clothes were in the daily wear category, which would be perfect for New York.

It was eight hours before their flight and Kurt still hadn't packed. Suits and the more traditional options were draped over every surface of the living room, while more cutting edge and risky pieces were laid out in the bedroom. Kurt could feel Blaine's amusement as he watched Kurt pace back-and-forth between the two rooms as he tried to narrow the selections down. Finally he had ruled out enough items that all the remaining candidates could fit in one room.

"What selection criteria are you using?" Blaine asked from the doorway, having already finished his own packing.

"Hmm…hopefully some things that will work in both places, since I am woefully and criminally short on space, but overall I'm looking for conservative and comfortable for Ohio and for New York…Outrageous and cutting edge things that will layer well with lots of incredible outwear and boots. And scarves." He let a black and silver scarf slide through his fingers as he considered it thoughtfully. "I'm going to make an embarrassing confession. Please don't judge me. So remember how I told you I've been watching Fashion Police since I was a teenager? Sometimes I wear a certain outfit only in the hopes that it will get me featured on the show. OK, fine, you can judge me."

Blaine held both hands up and waved away Kurt's concerns. "Zero judgment, I swear."

"You're just in time to see me make a Sophie's Choice between these black Balenciaga boots and these silver Doc Martens." Kurt shook his head sadly. "Either way my heart will be broken."

"Well…there just may be something I can do about that. It turns out I pack slightly lighter than you —I know it's shocking — so I happen to have an extra suitcase and thought you might find a use for it?" Blaine reached around the doorframe and pulled a large black bag into the room. "I know it's not Rimowa like the rest of your pieces, but —"

He was cut off by the impact of Kurt's body against his. Kurt draped his arms around his neck and squeezed tightly before leaning back to give him a quick kiss. "And that is why you are my favorite." He gave a blinding smile as he reached down to grab the bag and pull it further into the room. "Good news, my lovely Balenciagas," he sang out as he headed back towards the bed. "You are going to get to see the bright lights of New York City after all!"

=^..^=

Blaine and Kurt spent a leisurely morning finishing up their packing and preparing to leave the house for a few weeks. Their plane didn't leave until midnight, so they had the whole day to get things done, but Kurt was so organized that everything was finished by ten o'clock.

"Let's go grab a coffee and stop by that botanical shop. I want to get Carole some of that face cream I told her about at Thanksgiving. I don't think I have enough for her stocking," Kurt suggested as he set his last suitcase by the front door.

"Stockings?" Blaine couldn't believe that he had forgotten about Christmas stockings. "I didn't get anything. Maybe we should stop at that sporting goods store too —"

Kurt draped a scarf around Blaine's neck and kept ahold of the ends to pull him in for a kiss. "Don't worry. I've got it covered. The cream is the last thing I need and all the stockings will be full. Come on, I'm about to have a caffeine crash. I only had one cup this morning."

They got in the car and headed down the driveway. Blaine was just about to hit the button to open the gate when he noticed something strange. He stopped the car and squinted a little, trying to make out what it was.

"Is that someone sitting against the gate?" Kurt asked as he too tried to figure out what the shape was against the metal bars of the gate.

Blaine put the car into reverse and pulled back into the garage. He gave Kurt terse instructions to stay inside and went to his room to grab the gun that was concealed in his dresser drawer.

He made his way slowly down to the gate, keeping his eye out for any sign of movement. As he got closer he could see that Kurt was right; the shape did look as if someone was sitting on the ground next to the road. He shifted the gun in his hand, tightening his grasp as he drew closer. Finally, he could see that that shape was actually two mannequins that were laid out against the gate. One was dressed in fashionable clothes and a red scarf, with shiny boots and a brown wig styled into a pompadour. It held some kind of large book in its arms. The other mannequin was dressed in what had once been bright blue pants and a black polo shirt, but the clothes had been slashed and ripped almost to the point of being unrecognizable.

Blaine walked a little to the left to see the second figure better and saw that its face had been gouged away until only holes were left where the features once were.

After a glance up and down the street to look for strange vehicles or people, Blaine hurried back to the house and called the police. Kurt demanded an explanation, wanting to know what he had seen, but Blaine told him only that two mannequins were sitting against the fence. He didn't tell him that they had obviously been dressed like Kurt and himself.

The police arrived within the half hour and Blaine went out to meet them at the strange tableau blocking the driveway, leaving Kurt in the house, steaming at being left behind. The police examined the dummies and determined that there was nothing dangerous — no bomb or weapons. They photographed everything before boxing it up and taking it down to the police station for fingerprinting.

Blaine returned to the house after an hour to find Kurt livid at being kept in the dark. He sat him down and showed him the photos, updating him on the preliminary findings. He could see the fear flare in Kurt's eyes as he looked at the photo of the disfigured face. He was about to say something reassuring when Kurt drew himself up and flipped to the next photo, determined to look through them all. There wasn't much they could tell from pictures, though, so they had lunch and waited for a call from the police with more information.

The call came around three o'clock. The fingerprinting had been completed and the police wanted them to come down to take a look at the items recovered to see if they could offer any insights. Bill and Steve arrived soon after to take them to the station.

First, they read a letter that had been found in the pocket of the "Kurt" figure. It was full of somewhat graphic threats to Kurt and everyone around him if he didn't break up with Blaine. For three and a half pages it railed about how Blaine wasn't right for him, often using details from Kurt's past to explain why they weren't a good match. Kurt's mother's death, tea parties with his dad, the names of jocks that had picked on him in school, songs he had sung in competitions, descriptions of clothes he had worn in school, mentions of the places he had lived in New York, coffee houses and theaters that had been his favorite haunts — the letter contained them all. Kurt half-heartedly joked that it was like a stalker's version of This is Your Life, but even he didn't find his comment very funny.

Next they were shown a scrapbook, which was the book Blaine had seen. The album was filled with magazine clippings, photos, and printed copies of web pages, all containing pictures or mentions of Kurt and Blaine. In each one Blaine had been cut out, scratched away, or rendered unidentifiable with a black marker. The police had fingerprinted the pages, but hadn't found any usable prints.

Finally, they were taken to a room where the mannequins were laid out on a table. They looked down at the crude caricatures of themselves and Blaine could feel the clamminess of Kurt's hand in his.

"I have that exact same scarf," Kurt noted absently as he looked over the dummies.

Blaine turned a concerned eye to the item in question. "You still have yours, right?"

"I-I think so, I mean, it's been a few weeks since I've worn it, but I'm – I'm sure mine is hanging in my closet," Kurt stammered uncertainly.

Blaine reached out towards the scarf, looking questioningly at the officer and getting the go ahead before picking it up. He lifted the material to his nose and sniffed it tentatively. "It smells like you."

"The stalker knows what kind of cologne I wear too?"

"No, I mean it smells like you. Your cologne, the skin cream you use, and well, you. It smells like your clothes do when you take them off."

Kurt looked uneasy and was silent while Blaine wrapped things up with the detective. They made a promise to check and see if Kurt still had his scarf as soon as they got home and walked out to the car with Steve watching over them protectively.

After about ten minutes of riding in silence Kurt finally had to say something. "I guess I got lulled into a false sense of security. It's been almost two months, so why are they back now? How did they find out where I live? And why all of the sudden anger towards you?"

Blaine gave him a quick glance as he negotiated a corner. "The publicity from the nominations could explain why there was a new letter now. I guess we were lucky that your address was secret for so long. We'll have to beef up security if you don't want to move." Kurt shook his head. "And as for me, I guess I've been more visible in your life recently. I'm probably seen as competition for your affections."

"I guess, it's just…it's almost like they know it's not an act anymore, that we're together for real now." Kurt drummed his fingers on the door handle. "Have we been acting different in public?"

They left the city behind and began climbing up into the hills. Blaine could see Kurt relax a little once they were out of traffic. "I don't think so. I haven't seen anything on the blogs and you know they'd be the first ones to pick up on something. Could the stalker be someone you knew in school? They know so much about you."

"Except for my friends I haven't seen anyone from school for years. Why would they start up this obsession now?"

"Because now is when you got famous. What about the people who used to give you a hard time?"

"The entire junior class voted me prom queen, Blaine. It'd be quicker to name the people who didn't give me a hard time," Kurt snapped before sighing and reaching over to rub his hand on Blaine's knee in apology. "Maybe they got a hold of an old yearbook. That would explain a lot of it."

"What about the New York stuff? The tea parties? How would they know about that?"

"There're no secrets in the age of Facebook. I'm sure whoever is writing these letters just spent a few weeks doing research on the web." He chewed on his thumbnail for a second before realizing what he was doing. "Damn it, I just want to leave all of that stuff behind. Why does everyone get to move on from high school except me? I bet Joseph Gordon-Levitt's stalker doesn't dredge up old childhood crap."

They arrived home and Kurt went immediately to find his scarf. After a thorough search of all the closets, the laundry room, and the cushions of all of the chairs and sofas (which Kurt said was a waste of time, because did Blaine think he was raised in a barn?) there was no sign of it. When a call to the studio resulted in a PA confirming that it wasn't in his trailer there either, Kurt reluctantly admitted that the scarf in the box had probably been his.

They reconstructed his schedule on the last day he had worn it and determined that it could have been left behind at or stolen from the studio, their local coffee shop, Bev's office, Lynn's office, and the restaurant where they had eaten dinner, which was basically no help at all. They called the detective with the details and Kurt went into the bathroom to wash his hands with the hottest water he could stand, saying he was anxious to remove any traces of the box and its contents from his skin.