“Yes, we always provide free lunch for our staff. We decided to go all out this time, to thank them for working extra hours.”

“Great minds think alike,” Kurt says and feeling daring, he winks.

“Cooper has a huge appetite. He’ll appreciate it. Same goes for Tim.”

Kurt looks over Blaine’s shoulder to see Tim speak animatedly to Kamelah. That’s not the Tim Kurt’s used to. Blaine looks over his shoulder and he sees them too.

“Yeah, we’re all pretty certain that Kamelah and Tim have a crush on each other.”

Still feeling confident, Kurt asks: “Do you mind workplace romance?”

Blaine looks back to Kurt and there’s a glint in Blaine’s eyes.

“No. I do not.”

Kurt’s back the next day. It’s three days until the event, so Kurt plays it off as checking in on them.

“It’s needed, since it’s such a big request and I want to see the state of things, you know?” he tells Blaine. Then his eyes widen. “Not to say that I don’t have complete faith in you and your team! Well, I don’t have faith in your brother. I mean…”

Blaine barks out a laugh.

“No one does, Kurt. He came up with new cupcake ideas with his face printed on them. He luckily backtracked when I asked him if he wanted his face to get eaten by dogs.”

In the background, Kurt can hear Cooper’s voice raise. He’s yelling at Josefien.

Blaine lets out an agonised groan.

“Time to cut in.”

“So, tomorrow is the big day,” Kurt says to everyone. He’s becoming a regular at the bakery, but he doesn’t mind. After all, he still hasn’t figured out if Blaine might be interested, so he keeps returning. This means he gets to know the team a bit better too. “I already want to say that I am extremely proud of you for pulling off such a huge assignment.”

“We’re not done yet,” Faarax mumbles.

“Positive thinking, Farah!” Cooper says with a forced cheer. Kurt has to stop himself from snorting. That’s Cooper saying it. Faarax doesn’t even bother correcting Cooper.

Kurt coughs. “Yes. Right. But you guys are definitely on schedule.” He then looks to Blaine. “I am so glad I got to know this place. I am almost grateful that it didn’t work out with my local bakery.”

“Thank you for trusting us, Mr. Hummel,” Sinéad says and the next thing he knows, they’re applauding him! Blaine has a proud and fond look on his face. Kurt smiles.

It’s the big day! Kurt knows he’ll see Blaine at the actual event, since Blaine and the others are putting it all together on the buffet table. Or, well, you can hardly call it a ‘table’. It’s a fancy wooden plinth on the ground, so that all the suited up dogs can reach.

But even so, Kurt decides to stop by at the bakery in the morning.

He pushes the door open when he hears Cooper yelling. Kurt rolls his eyes. Just another day. He gets inside and when Tim sees him, Tim grows visibly worried.

Kurt frowns.

That’s when he hears Blaine yell.