Blaine’s in his hallway, but instead of going to number 23, he follows Kurt to number 21. Kurt unlocks his door, but he shoots a quick glance towards Blaine’s door.

“Still so weird.”

“I agree,” Blaine says.

“I can’t believe we got mad at each other for celebrating Splatoon 2 wins together.”

“You also got mad at me rehearsing for The Street.”

“I knew the music sounded familiar!” Kurt opens the door and Blaine follows him inside. Kurt’s apartment has the same lay-out as Blaine’s, only mirrored, which is why their office spaces were next to each other.

“In your defence, I only played one instrument at the time, instead of the full song.”

Kurt turns back to Blaine with a nervous look on his face. Blaine raises an eyebrow.

“You’re… the first guest I’ve ever had,” Kurt says quietly and Blaine’s heart breaks all over again, but then he sees that despite the nervosity, there’s also a hint of pride on Kurt’s face, “So, uh, what do you think?”

Blaine can’t help it. He sees the look on Kurt’s face and he instinctively takes a step forward and he takes Kurt’s hand in his without thinking. He doesn’t realise he’s holding Kurt’s hand until he sees Kurt’s eyes flicking down to their joined hands.

But Kurt doesn’t seem uncomfortable, so Blaine doesn’t shy away.

After all, they have admitted how they feel.

“It’s lovely,” Blaine says and he squeezes Kurt’s hand, “You’re lovely.”

Kurt turns a bit red.

“Oh, stop it, you’ve barely looked around,” he jokes.

“Well, then, give me the grand tour of number 21!”

“Be my guest,” Kurt says with an overly formal voice.

Then he proceeds to lead Blaine around the apartment and he gives Blaine an actual proper tour, only Blaine barely registers it. How can he look at Kurt’s fancy kitchen appliances when Kurt’s hand is in his? How can he be interested in Kurt’s nice TV, when he is dying to kiss Kurt? How can he appreciate the paintings on the wall when Kurt is the most beautiful thing he’s seen?

“And this is my dad,” Kurt picks up a photo frame and that does snap Blaine back to reality. He’s already ashamed of zoning out when Kurt was talking about the colour of his couch, so he absolutely will never forgive himself if he doesn’t give the memory of Burt Hummel his full attention.

It’s also the first time that Blaine gets to see the face behind this name. Burt has a kind face and the smile seems to light up the room, even from a photograph.

“Will you be going home soon?” Blaine asks. It’s almost the anniversary of Burt’s death.

Kurt nods.

“Will you come with me?” he says.

Blaine’s head jerks toward Kurt. His eyes go wide with disbelief. Kurt looks equally stunned by his question and he starts to backtrack.

“I mean, you don’t have to! It’s silly! We only just met and this is a big deal- I don’t want to burden you- and I don’t even know if my stepmother- I mean, don’t feel pressured! You’re just- I mean… I know this is a big step and everything…”

While Kurt’s stumbling over his words, Blaine’s started to grin. Kurt trails off when he sees it.

“I’d love to go with you,” Blaine says, “If you’ll have me.”

“Of course I’ll have you! I just asked.”

Kurt puts the photo back and he continues the tour. Blaine looks over the shoulder, back to the photo of the smiling Burt. He knows that the man’s dead and Blaine doesn’t really believe in anything after death, but he still gives Burt a nod, promising him that he’ll be there for Kurt. It only feels right, since Blaine knows how important Burt is.

Since number 21 and 23 have the same layout, only mirrored, Blaine knows where they’re heading next. The office space.

Kurt turns on the lights and Blaine cannot believe what he’s seeing. Yes, his eyes fall on Kurt’s Nintendo Switch, which is docked on a desk with a fancy monitor, but that’s not the most impressive part. There are mannequins everywhere. Rolls of fabric are lined against the wall. Kurt even has an old looking sewing machine.

“Holy shit,” Blaine breathes out, “Now I definitely need to apologise for all my loud music. I hope I didn’t break your concentration, because this is impressive.”

This is clearly Kurt’s passion. Blaine looks around the room some more, taking it all in. Now, Blaine knows there’s nothing wrong about working in a wardrobe crew. After all, Blaine also works behind the scene in the theatre, but as he looks around he realises that Kurt can go very far in the fashion industry. This is amazing. Kurt is amazing.

“Thank you,” Kurt says bashfully. He blushes and it’s adorable and Blaine can’t help himself. He wants to kiss Kurt so badly.

He turns back to Kurt, ready to finally kiss him, when suddenly Kurt’s hand are cupping his face.

And then Blaine’s being kissed. Lips are pressed against his own and it takes only a split second for Blaine’s mind to catch up with what is happening. He reaches Kurt’s hands and he places his own over them. He kisses back.

He’s thought about this from the moment Kurt showed up at Think Coffee. Maybe even before that. The wait was so worth it. Blaine doesn’t want this to end. One of his hands reaches the back of Kurt’s head and he pulls him closer.

The two of them stumble backwards until they run into one of the mannequins.

“Oh my-” Blaine quickly reaches to steady Kurt’s work and he hears Kurt chuckle in the background.

“I think we were a little bit excited,” Kurt says, “I’ve been wanting to do that forever. It- I wish it hadn’t taken so long, if only I just…”

“We got there in the end,” Blaine says quickly and he presses a kiss on Kurt’s cheek. Because he can do that. He gets to kiss Kurt. “And besides, it’s not as if I ever gave you the time of day.”

“I’m glad you started working at The Street and I slowly got to know you.”

Blaine barks out a laugh. “God, and to think I was jealous of myself!”

“Well, so was I, at the very end!” Kurt laughs along. They’re ridiculous. They’ve been next to each other all this time, at the building, but also at The Street.

Blaine’s almost tempted to suggest calling in sick, so that the two of them could have the evening to themselves, but they also both love working at The Street. So instead, he suggests his favourite restaurant for takeout. It’s time for an early dinner, since they leave around 6PM to go to the theatre.

Blaine insists on paying, since that’s the etiquette for a first date. He’s a gentleman after all.

“First date?” Kurt quirks an eyebrow, “Are you planning on a second?”

Blaine nods eagerly.

“And a third. And a forth. And so on,” he says. Kurt’s face softens and it makes Blaine want to kiss him all over again.

Then he realises that he can.

Maybe he’s being a bit too bold, but Blaine tugs at Kurt’s vest to pull him closer and he plants a huge kiss on Kurt’s mouth. When Kurt doesn’t immediately kiss back, Blaine worries he’s overstepped, but then Kurt pushes him against his dining table and kisses him with full-force.

Blaine’s still tugging at Kurt’s clothes and Kurt’s hands are also roaming around Blaine’s chest. Kurt has no problems taking what he wants. Where has this Kurt been hiding?

Well, Blaine knows.

He’s so happy that Kurt can be comfortable around Blaine.

Blaine has no idea how long they’ve been kissing, but at one point they break away. Kurt leans his head on Blaine’s shoulder and Blaine needs to take some time to regain his composure.

“Maybe we should… uh… cool down before dinner and work,” Kurt stumbles through his words. Blaine also readjusts his bowtie. Kurt’s probably right. Blaine lifts Kurt’s head and he presses their foreheads together.

“What do you suggest we do then?” he asks.

“We could play a round?” Kurt suggests and it’s as if a lightbulb lights up, “You know, as a distraction of sorts. It makes sense for us.”

Yes, of course, Splatoon 2! The thing that brought them together in the first place.

“Yes!” Blaine exclaims, “Hopefully there’s some Clam Blitz!”

“Go get your Switch then!”

Kurt and Blaine rush to no. 23. Blaine forgoes the tour. They can do that another time, since they now have that time, but Kurt still looks around. Once they’re in the office, Kurt’s impressed by the many instruments.

“Wow, and you said I was impressive,” he says while Blaine searches for his procontroller, “I know you are talented, but this really proves it.”

“Ah, it’s nothing,” Blaine tries to shrug it off, but he still feels a warm, affectionate feeling. The two of them go back to Kurt’s apartment.

Blaine goes to unplug his Switch dock, but Kurt stops him.

“You can use my dock,” he says, “I play Splatoon 2 in handheld.”

“Really?” Blaine says with wide eyes. They’ve been playing together for months and he never knew this. “How do you do that?”

“How do you play in TV or tabletop mode, Blaine?” Kurt says back in the same tone.

Blaine gets his stuff and they walk back to Kurt’s apartment. Blaine’s mind still boggles when he thinks about how Kurt was here next to him all this time. It’s a new place for Blaine, but it already feels so familiar, since he knows Kurt. Is it too soon to think about exchanging spare keys, because they’re already going back and forth.

Kurt and Blaine get ready to play Splatoon 2, like usual, but now they’re next to each other, in the flesh. Blaine gives Kurt a wink and he starts the game.

Avalon does a double take when they see Kurt and Blaine arriving hand in hand with huge grins on their faces.

“Blaine Anderson! I… you… oh… Is this what I think it is?”

“Avalon Chanthara, it is,” Blaine says knowingly, when he sees that Avalon opens their mouth to say something.

Avalon claps both Kurt and Blaine on the back.

“Sweet, Viola owes me ten bucks now,” they say before running off to the pit. Kurt and Blaine can hear them yell: “Yo, Viola! Viola! You never guess what happened! Where are you?”

“Someone’s excited,” Kurt says with a smile.

Blaine shakes his head and laughs.

“God, my high school friends are going to be insufferable when they find out.”

Wes has been texting him all day, but Blaine thinks he can let him wait a little bit longer. He wants today to be about Kurt. He can deal with the Warblers tomorrow.

“Yeah,” Kurt sounds somber.

Blaine cups his face.

“Hey, you know who else will definitely have an opinion on this?” he asks.

Kurt raises an eyebrow.

“Sam, Artie and Mike,” Blaine answers.

“Oh.”

“Give them a call, Kurt,” Blaine says sweetly, “They miss you.”

“I miss them,” Kurt admits, “I miss all of them so much, Blaine.”

“I know you’ve already started reaching out to some of your friends-”

“Mercedes, Rachel, Elliot…”

Those names mean nothing to Blaine, but that also intrigues him in a way. Now that they know each other offline, there’s so much more to learn about Kurt and Blaine can’t wait to get to know him better, including his friends.

“-and of course, there is no rush, but I think they’d be very glad to hear from you.”

“I…” Kurt looks alarmed, “I can… try, yeah. My dad- they’ll- fuck. My brother too. They were huge friends with my brother.”

A name rings in Blaine’s mind. Something like Winn? Finn? Gwyn? Whatever it is, Blaine remembers that Artie, Mike and Sam had a little private moment when they discussed their friends. Blaine obviously couldn’t have known before, but he realises that they probably mentioned Kurt’s brother.

Blaine pulls Kurt into a tight hug.

“You can come along next week?” Blaine suggests, “We’re meeting at Sam and Mike’s place to brainstorm.”

“Thanks,” Kurt hugs back, “I’ll think about it.”

They hug for a little while, but it’s really time to get to work. Blaine gives Kurt a quick kiss and they part ways, but they know they’ll see each other during the break and after work. It’s all great.

The pace of the music speeds up. It’s the last minute of the match, which means that Now or Never kicks in.

“One more minute,” Kurt says.

“On it,” Blaine says back.

Blaine shoots one of the ink switches to move the platform so that he can cover more turf. Zappy Longshocking is a great Shifty Station stage. He hopes that all these exclusive stages become available to play again one day.

There was a bit of contention about this Splatfest’s teams. Blaine is definitely team Pulp. He definitely agreed with Pearl: orange juice is supposed to be fruity and pulpy, otherwise it’s just flavoured water. Kurt didn’t have any strong feelings about it, but he admitted that No-Pulp is probably the best way to drink orange juice, and he likes to pick Marina’s team when he doesn’t know which side to pick.

In the end, he picked Blaine over Marina, so now Kurt and Blaine are on team Pulp together for this Splatfest.

Playing with Artie, Sam and Mike is amazing and they’re training hard to see if they can join actual small-scale competitions, but Blaine still gets a certain rush from playing with Kurt. Blaine knows Kurt’s playstyle like no other.

Kurt still doesn’t want to do competitive, but he relented and told Artie, Sam, Mike and Blaine that he can be on reserve, if needed. It doesn’t hurt that this means that Kurt will come along to possible upcoming competitions.

“Inkstorm incoming!” Kurt yells as he launches his special. Blaine swims to the other side of the stage under Kurt’s inkstorm and he launches a burst bomb, splatting an opponent.

“Yes!” Blaine cheers and he holds up his hand for a high five. They no longer need to slam their tables, now that they are actually sat next to each other.

“Nice one!” Kurt returns the high five.

On screen, Little Judd announces that team Pulp has won the match. Kurt and Blaine jump off the coach to hug and cheer and they jump the living room in Kurt’s childhood home. They must’ve made quite some noise, because Carole looks up from her book. She’s sitting at the dining table.

“Having fun?” she asks with an amused look on her face.

Kurt and Blaine tried explaining the game to her, since they wanted to explain how they met in the first place, but Carole doesn’t quite understand it. That’s fine. After she scolded Kurt for meeting a stranger on the internet in real life (“Carole, it’s 2018, people fall in love through the internet all the time!”), she welcomed Blaine with open arms.

Blaine was a bit worried about imposing on such an important moment, but Kurt wants Blaine to be here to celebrate his father’s life, and Carole is just happy to see Kurt happy.

“Carole, the rush of playing this game is unmatched!” Kurt says happily. He still has his arm around Blaine’s shoulders and Blaine is grinning.

Carole shakes her head, but she has a fond look on her face. Then she goes back to her book.

“Another round?” Blaine reaches for his controller and he sits down on the couch. Kurt grabs his Switch and he sits down next to Blaine. He leans his head against Blaine’s shoulder.

Blaine sees that as a yes. He starts the next match and Kurt and Blaine get ready to play.