"Nah, just a replay of his coming out."

"Why would they replay it?"

"Oh God, if they hate crime him again, I will die."

Pop corn in the coffee table and homework on her lap, Jemimah takes a seat by her mother. "I think it's gonna snow today." She says, looking out the window.

"Shut up, it's back."

A boy comes up on the screen. Well, hardly. Only his curls are visible under the blankets of his bed. As everyone knows, today is his 19th birthday, and as such, his last day living at home.

"Wake up, sweetie," comes a voice, sounding so unnaturally excited and giddy half the people on earth would think it belonged to a witch of some sort. "What day is it today?" She asks.

"Mom." Blaine moans from underneath his cocoon, burring himself deeper into the warmth of his comforter. "Go away."

There's tense silence. Then, she bursts out laughing, the image coming back to her as her face takes on an endeared expression. "Always the charmer," She laughs. "Come on, honey, we have cake. And we need to sing happy birthday in the back yard, it's--"

"Tradition. I know." Blaine finishes for her. He sits up, the face of a young man coming into view. His hair looks as though someone personally went through it to make it look as messy as possible. He blinks a few times, yawning hugely, and at the sight of his mother, gives a slightly forced smile.

"Happy birthday!" Adrienne says. She jumps up and down a few times, clapping like a toddler, before she throws herself at her son, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you, mom." He manages from where he is almost being choked.

"Go downstairs. There are presents awaiting!" She says when she's let go of him. After another toothy smile, she turns to leave.

Blaine sighs, watching her retreating figure.

At the door, however, she stops abruptly, and turns back. Her eyes are shining with tears. "It seems only yesterday you were playing naked around our front yard. Now you're about to leave to New York. New York! I'll tell you, I liked naked Blaine a lot better than College Blaine."

Blaine groans, throwing himself back onto the pillows and covering his eyes with his hands. "Mom! Never say something like that, ever again. Especially not in front of people."

Adrienne snorts, wiping at her eyes dramatically. "You'd think I'm just set out to embarrass you, wouldn't you?"

Then she leaves.

Blaine closes his eyes for a few seconds. Then, he stands up and walks to the bathroom. He's halfway through undoing his pajama bottoms when the screen goes black.

"Ugh, I hate it when they do that." Jemimah's mother says through a mouthful of popcorn.

"The casting for his mom is so wrong, I swear. She looks twenty with all the botox and surgeries. You'd think they'd be a little more careful, right?"

Blaine likes his life, he thinks, as he scrubs gel remnants from his hair. It's not perfect, really, but how much better could it get? In just a month, he's finally ready to start his own life, in New York of all cities. What's having to put up with his mother for a month to a lifetime in New York?

Cheered up, he finishes showering, and after taking his time getting dressed, he makes his way downstairs. A cake awaits him in the kitchen table, and his mother is nowhere to be seen.

"Mom?" He calls out, sneaking a sugar rose from the cake.

"Coming!" Adrienne calls out. "I forgot the camera! How silly of me!" She giggles.

Blaine notices she's changed clothes from the pink sweater set she'd worn just an hour ago when she'd woken him up, something she does often.

They spend at least an hour in the front yard, blowing out candles and making wishes, and doing it again because ‘I forgot to take a picture’. Halfway through the singing, the neighbors show up, and of course they have to start all over again. When they leave, they hand him an envelope that contains a 5 dollar coupon for the hairdresser across the street.

It is only once they are back in the privacy of their home that Adrienne hands him her present.

A large box.

"Mom, you didn't have to. I would have been ok with a check, or something." Blaine laughs.

Adrienne's eyes sparkle. "Money? Blaine, what would you possibly want money for?" She asks, her voice bordering on burlesque.

"Um... College?" Blaine suggests, heart dropping.

Adrienne stares at him for a few, long, uncomfortable seconds. Then she bursts out laughing. "Blaine! You don't need money for college. We've paid your tuition, and I can send you weekly money for food and clothes, and whatnot." She waves a hand, as if what she'd just said was the most obvious thing in the world.

It's Blaine's turn to stare. "But... I was hoping I'd be able to manage my own money. What most parents do is give their kids money every month." He says. At his mother’s vacant look, he quickly adds. "I'd pay you back as soon as you let me get a job. Which is why I suggested it be during my second semester, I think i'd be settled and able to handle it."

"You're too young to think about getting a job, Blaine, that's why we thought it would be better to give you a few hundred dollars a week. At least until your second year, then we might consider finding you a job."

Blaine laughs humorlessly, by now openly expecting her to burst out laughing and admit this is all some sort of joke. She doesn't.

"Mom... The whole point of going to college is being able to prepare myself for an independent life. We suspended it last year, but I'm ready to start on my own now. I know I can do it, and 'it' includes getting a job and fending for myself. I don't need you to be in charge of everything, I just need a little money until I get a job. Which will be soon, because I need other things besides food."

Throughout his declaration, Adrienne's eyebrows have very nearly disappeared into her hairline. She scoffs a little, blinking incredulously in a manner that has always annoyed Blaine. She opens her mouth to say something, but seems to change her mind. Instead, she gives a wide, toothy grin, and says, “How about we talk about this later? It is your birthday, after all Blaine. Here, open it.”

The box is pushed into Blaine’s hands. “Ok,” He says, giving his mother a weak smile.

He works at the bow, taking his time undoing the knot. When it finally slides loose, he glances at his mother, who is looking excited, and opens it.

A cat is what he sees.

“A cat.” He says. “A cat.”

“It’s a kitty!” Adrienne sings. “What are we going to call it?”
“A cat.” Is all Blaine can say, all he can think. There’s a cat sitting in the box, its blue eyes staring up at him in a frighteningly alive way. A cat.

“What I first thought of, when I picked him up at the store, was Blueberry. Do you like it?”

“Mom, you got me a cat.”

“Yes.”

“A cat, mom. You hate cats. You’re allergic.”

Adrienne throws her head back and laughs. “Well, that’s why it’s yours!”

“Mom, I’m leaving for college. You do know they don’t allow pets in college?” Blaine says. He looks down at the box, where the cat is standing against the side in a very adorable manner. “Who’s going to take care of it when I leave in less than a month?”

“Blaine, come on! Don’t be such a party pooper!” She peeks into the box, nose slightly wrinkled at it’s mewls. Suddenly, she stands, grabbing at Blaine’s arm and pushing him up as well. “Take him for a walk! Just around the block. Go, go, go!”

Blaine frowns. “Wait, no, I have things to do—” But he is already being pushed out the door, a tiny leash in his left hand and the box in the other. “Ok, then.” He sighs.

He picks up the kitty into his hand, and slides him into the leash. “Walking a kitty on my nineteenth birthday,” He murmurs. “Great.”

“Quick, he’s just around the block. Positions everyone. Mr. Murray, we’re ready.”

“Good.” Reed Murray claps his hands, placing a headset over his ears. “Show’s on.” He fiddles with the keyboard in front of him. “Kurt? Can you hear me?”

“Yes,” Comes a voice from the speakers. Everyone goes silent, except for the occasional shout of a camera test. “I can see him.”

“Good. Now, when you bump into him, remember we want a little mystery. You can improvise, but stick with your lines. Look troubled; get the distressed glint in your eyes. You know our Blaine, you know what he likes.” Reed directs, watching Kurt Hummel’s every move in the screen in front of him. “Turn a little to the left. Good. Now, you drop him to the ground, snatch the papers away, and help him. You make fun of him for the cat; laugh, though, be nice. You flatter his clothes if you have time, you make him feel wanted. Then, you get the cell phone call, and leave.”

Kurt nods into the camera hidden by the lamp post.

Reed leans back into his chair. “Mystery, that’s the key. We’ll make sure he only sees you here and there, but you’ll only talk again on Thursday’s show.”

“Got it.”

“Good boy. Now, go make him fall in love with you.”

The city is calm and quiet for a Saturday, yet Lima really is no New York. Blaine’d be surprised if an old lady’s purse ever got stolen. He makes his way across town, giving up on trying to get the cat to walk and carrying him in his arms instead. He had decided to go to the library, but a road construction forces him to take the long way around.

He’s just walking by the city bridge when something knocks into him, and suddenly there are papers flying everywhere and he is on the ground, the cat safe in his arms.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry,” Comes a voice.

Blaine looks up, trying to focus his eyes. Random sheets of paper fall into his arms, and he barely has time to pick them up before they’re being snatched away from him.

“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. Are you alright? Here, let me help you up.”

A hand, which Blaine accepts, lifts him into a standing position, and he doesn’t let go until both feet are planted firmly on the ground. A decision well-made, because the sight that awaits him would certainly had caused him to lose his balance once more.

A boy—no, a man—stands before him, looking down at him with big blue eyes, much like the kitty’s but so much more beautiful. For one, they’re larger, and brighter. They seem to have a thousand different shades, from green to purple, Blaine thinks, and he can’t manage to take his eyes away from them.

After what he hopes is only half a second, he finally look away, quickly taking in the rest of the man’s feature. His takes in his lips, nose, jaw, eyes sliding upwards to his carefully styled hair.

“Thank you.” He very nearly yells, pulling his hand away as if it had suddenly burst into flames. He shakes his head a little, and smiles. “Blaine.”

“Sorry?” The man says.

Oh god, I’m a maniac, Blaine thinks. “I’m Blaine. Thank you for helping me stand.”

“Oh, well I did just push you down, so it only seemed right to help you up.” The man smiles, and Blaine is suddenly hit by the urge to know his name.

He can’t just ask, though. He just met him. “Right. Well thank you.”

There’s silence for a moment. Then the man snorts.

Blaine looks up, eyes wide. “What?”

“Sorry, it’s just that,” He laughs, but bites his lip to contain his laughter. “Never mind.”

“Tell me,” Blaine says before he can help himself.

“It’s just that I used to have a cat like that when I was three, but he ran away.”

Blaine feels himself blush. “Oh, him? It’s my mom’s. She asked me to take him for a walk so it could stretch his legs, because he’s been in our house for hours. She just got it, at the pet store,” he says. Already he feels like slapping himself, and a voice in his head is telling him to walk away before he does something stupid, but he readily ignores it.

“Oh, well. He’s cute. I’m Kurt, by the way.” Kurt says.

Kurt, Blaine thinks. I like it.

“Thank you. It’s from the Sound of Music, my mom loved that movie.”

Blaine’s face takes on another shade of red at the realization that he admitted to liking Kurt’s name out loud, and he prays to anything holy that the hot sun pressing against their skin will take the blame.

There’s uncomfortable silence, made even more awkward by the fact that Blaine can’t seem to take his eyes away from Kurt, and Kurt can’t find any other places to look at besides Blaine’s face.

He’s just about to compliment Kurt’s jacket when a phone goes off, and Kurt immediately reaches into his pocket to answer it. He signals for him to wait, and puts the phone to his ear.

“Hello? Hey! I missed you too,” He says, in a voice Blaine finds sickeningly sweet.

He averts his glance, feeling like he’s eavesdropping into a private conversation. The cat mewls impatiently, and he scowls down at him.

“No, I’m not busy. Sure, yeah I’ll see you there. Bye,” he finishes, ending the call and putting his cell phone away.

Before Kurt has the chance to say anything, Blaine smiles and waves, already stepping back. “Well, thank you again, Kurt. I’ll see you around, and even if I don’t, thank you, and goodbye.”

He doesn’t wait to see Kurt’s reaction but can imagine what he must be thinking. That Blaine’s crazy, probably.

Maybe, if he’d waited just a little longer, he’d have seen the look of longing shaded on Kurt’s face. Still, it’s gone so quickly, he probably would have missed it.

“And, you’re off. Good job, Kurt, that was great.” He hears Reed’s voice on his ear set, and has to keep himself from startling at the sound. “You can go back to the studio.”

“Ok,” Kurt assures, turning back to make his way to the set exit. It had been hard, getting to know all the ways in and out of the set, what with it being so big. Harder than that, however, had been being aware of the cameras. He was sure there were many more than Reed claimed, placed all over the set, hidden in bushes and cars and even being carried by the extras.

Removing the ear set and carefully placing it back into its container, he tries not to feel too disgusted at what he’d just done.

The way Blaine’s eyes sparkled when he laughed, though, clearly won’t make it easy for him.