“So, Kurt,” Blaine prompted as the pair continued down the street, “what brings you to a bachelor auction?”

“You mean who,” Kurt said dryly. “Rachel asked me to be her ‘date’ and wouldn’t accept no for an answer.”

“Hmm.”

“What?” Kurt asked him, quirking an eyebrow at the other man.

“I was just wondering,” Blaine started, “why you outbid her?”

“I hardly know you but I already know that you are too nice of a guy to have to endure a whole night with Rachel Berry on your arm, gay or not.”

“Surely she’s not that bad.”

“I’ve known her since we were in high school,” Kurt explained.

“But if she’s so bad then why are you still friends?” Blaine asked curiously.

“We’re not,” Kurt said quickly. “I mean, we were; back then. Honestly, things happened between us and I haven’t talked to her since graduation, not until just a few days ago.” There was a small hint of regret in Kurt’s voice, but it was mostly laced with annoyance and a subtle implication of ‘can-we-please-change-the-subject-now?’

Blaine hummed in response, picking up on Kurt’s discomfort at the topic. He lead Kurt a block further before turning down a dark alley, only lit by a single bulb hanging loosely over a weak, wooden door. A small sign was barely hanging on to the wall, too worn and dirty to decipher the words printed on the metal. Blaine reached his hand out for the door, jiggling the handle a bit before he cracked it open.

“Uh, Blaine…?” Kurt said, clearly apprehensive. “Should I be scared?”

“What?” Blaine said, turning around to look at Kurt. “Oh! No! Come on, you’ll see.” With that he gestured for Kurt to enter before him, which the other man did so reluctantly.

Kurt’s jaw dropped. ‘Blaine seems to have that effect on me quite often,’ he thought to himself. He had expected to walk into a dark room filled with cobwebs and rats and god knows what else. However, Kurt found himself standing in the middle of a 1970’s-style Karaoke bar.

There were neon lights flashing through the otherwise dimly-lit room, a small dance floor had been cleared near an even smaller stage, and a long bar ran along the wall with brightly-colored, plastic-covered bar stools sitting a few inches apart. Various tables were scattered around the room, each with a pair of overly-large dice playing as the center piece.

 “Wow,” Kurt breathed out. He had never seen anything like it.

Blaine was staring at Kurt, gauging his reaction. A small smile played at his lips when he saw the mesmerizing look on the other man’s face. He smirked just slightly when he realized just how blown away Kurt was.

“Do you like it?” Blaine asked, knowing too-well the answer.

“Blaine, this is amazing.”

“Come on,” Blaine said, holding out his hand, “I want to introduce you to somebody.”

Kurt timidly took Blaine’s hand and allowed himself to be lead to the bar. He sat himself upon one of the stools and watched as Blaine called the bartender. When he saw who it was, however, his jaw dropped yet again.

“Santana!?” he gasped.

“Hummel?” she responded. “What are you doing here?”

“Wait,” Blaine spoke up, clearly confused. “You two know each other?”

Santana waved him off and kept her attention on Kurt. “Damn boy,” she said, “you look good. Did you finally get into that school with Berry, then?”

“Not exactly,” Kurt said. “I found something even better and I’m sticking with it,” he told her proudly.

“Well at least you’re getting some ass finally,” Santana said, nodding her head at Blaine, “Lord knows you could use it after McKinley, even if it is in the form of this obnoxious hobbit. Good for you, Porcelain.”

Kurt could feel his face heating up as he blanched slightly at her words, but let them brush off his shoulder. It was Blaine who spoke up next.

“Well, I really just wanted to introduce the two of you, but it looks like you already know each other,” he said, “but if you don’t mind, San, I’m going to take my date to a table where you won’t be harassing me all night.” He winked at her and she pushed him off his barstool.

“Good to see you, Santana,” Kurt said politely before turning to face Blaine. He grasped Kurt’s arm again and began steering him away when-

“Hummel, wait!” Santana called. He turned around to see her quickly scribbling something on a bar napkin. She thrust it into his hand and said, “Call me sometime. We’ll catch up.” She smiled sweetly at him and he nodded at her, turning back to Blaine.

“So, Ohio, huh?” Blaine said after the two had sat down.

“What?” Kurt asked, confused.

“I’m assuming you know Santana from high school,” Blaine explained, “and since I know she’s from Ohio..” he left the sentence open.

“Oh, right,” Kurt said, “we were in glee club together.”

“You sing?”

“A bit,” he said with a smug look on his face.

At this, a waitress came to the table for their drink orders. She quickly scribbled the orders onto a pad and walked off, back into the kitchen.

“So you sing,” Blaine repeated, “what else do you do? Tell me everything, Kurt Hummel.”

“Uh, I don’t know,” Kurt trailed off.

“There has to be something. Why did you come to New York?”

“I’ve always wanted to come to New York,” Kurt explained. “It was just a matter of when. I found an amazing job and here I am. Not much to the story.”

“What do you do?”

“What?”

“You said you found a job,” Blaine explained, “So what do you do?”

“Oh,” Kurt said, understanding. “I’m an actor.”

“Anything I would have heard of?” Blaine asked, genuinely interested.

“Nothing right now,” Kurt replied, “I just closed a show and have some time off.”

“What show?”

“The Boy from Oz revival at the Imperial Theatre.”

This time it was Blaine’s jaw that dropped. “No way! I tried to get tickets to see that but every show was sold out! What role were you?”

Their waitress returned with their drinks, and Blaine waved her off politely saying they needed more time to decide on their order. When she retreated back into the kitchen again, Blaine was still staring at Kurt in amazement.

Kurt took a small sip of his sweet tea before saying quietly, “Peter Allen,” and raising his glass to his lips a second time, a smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth.

Blaine gaped at the man sitting across from him. “You’re on Broadway?” he exclaimed disbelievingly.

Kurt simply grinned and nodded his head slightly.

“Alright,” Blaine said, taking a sip of his water before continuing, “who did you have to kill to get that part and where can I find him?”

Kurt laughed at that. He could hear the teasing undertone in Blaine’s voice and couldn’t help but grin even wider. He was beginning to really like this guy.

“I just got very, very lucky,” Kurt said, “like lottery-winner lucky.”

“How’d you get it?” Blaine asked.

“I was working at a small theatre in Columbus, and on the one night a talent scout from New York was passing through with family, the lead for our current show fell ill and I had to step in for him. Apparently, the scout wasn’t expecting to enjoy the show at all, but my ‘unique vocal style,’ his words not mine, caused me to stand out among others. After the show he came backstage and offered me a job, but I never expected it to be Broadway-big. I keep pinching myself to make sure this isn’t all a dream.”

“Wow,” Blaine barely whispered, “I am so jealous right now.”

At this point, their waitress came back over to their table to take their orders. When she had them both scribbled on her notepad, she walked away to ring them in. Blaine spent the whole time staring at Kurt’s profile, taking the other man in.

 This was the first time Blaine was allowed to fully take in the other man, and he was in awe. He noticed perfectly smooth skin, high cheek bones with a tinge of pink. He couldn’t decide whether Kurt’s eyes were blue or green or grey, they seemed to change under the lighting. His hair was styled beautifully, not a lock out of place. It was as Blaine was admiring Kurt’s long neck and the way his hand kept grasping it that he noticed Kurt had been talking to him.

“W-what?” Blaine asked, snapping himself out of his reverie.

“I asked where you’re from,” Kurt said, “or have you always lived in New York?”

“Oh no,” Blaine replied, “I actually grew up in Ohio as well. Westerville.”

“Seriously?” Kurt responded, clearly surprised. “I’m from Lima. We grew up less than two hours from each other!”

“It would appear so,” Blaine chuckled.

“Where did you go to school?” Kurt asked.

“Dalton Academy.”

“Oh yes, the boys with the blazers,” Kurt said sounding highly amused. “We competed against your glee club my junior and senior years.”

“You were in Glee?”

“Every year since sophomore year,” Kurt sing-songed “That’s actually where I met Rachel. And Santana, for that matter, why?”

“I was the lead soloist of the Warblers my junior and part of my senior year!” Blaine exclaimed. “We competed against each other!”

Kurt and Blaine continued getting to know each other. Kurt learned that Blaine had been playing guitar since he was nine, and in turn supplied the information that his mother died when he was very young. They talked about what life was like for the both of them back in Ohio and how they are both incredibly relieved to be rid of that place.

It wasn’t long before Santana was strutting across the small stage set in the back of the room, stripped of her bartender outfit, replaced with a short, black dress and four-inch heels.

“It is Karaoke time!” she called through the microphone. “So everybody get off your lazy asses and come sing something upbeat and fun so the rest of us can dance.”