“I hate you,” Kurt said into his phone, pushing his way past the crowd of people who seemed absolutely hell bent on being in his way.

“Why?” his boyfriend Jordan chuckled on the other end.

“1) Because don’t have class until one, so I know you’re still in bed and 2) your little… surprise this morning made me late.”

“You weren’t complaining earlier,” Jordan pointed out and Kurt almost hear the smug grin on his face.

“I… well, that’s… God, I hate you,” he grumbled over the sound of Jordan’s laughter.

“Love you, too, babe.”

Someone bumped into Kurt from behind, nearly knocking his coffee out of his hand. “Listen, I gotta go, okay?”

“All right. See you tonight.”

“Don’t stay in bed all morning,” Kurt warned, knowing that if he had his way, Jordan would spend half of his life in bed and the other half in the kitchen.

“But it’s warm and smells like you,” Jordan whined.

“I need you to mail my dad’s birthday present since I won’t be home until after the post office closes.” In their year and a half together, Kurt had learned that the best way to get Jordan out of bed was to give him something to do, even if it was just doing the dishes.

There was a rustling on the other end and Kurt smiled because he knew his boyfriend so well. “Got it,” Jordan said. “Love you, Kurt.”

“Love you, too.” Kurt hung up the phone, following the sea of bodies onto the train car and sitting down next to a man who was lip synching along with his iPod, using his beat-up guitar case as a make shift drum.

As the train started to move, Kurt leaned his head back and closed his eyes, hoping to get a few more minutes of sleep before his stop. Right before he dozed off, however, a sharp tingle went up his arm. Opening his eyes, he looked down at the name, which looked as innocuous as it always did. He ran a hand over it, wondering what had caused it to tingle after three years of nothing.

He shook his head because he had more important things to concentrate on, including getting to class on time, which at this point seemed next to impossible.

When the train finally reached his stop, he only had ten minutes until his class started. Maybe he could make it if he sprinted, he thought, quickly calculating the route. He stood and slung his bag over his shoulder, impatiently waiting for the car to empty (seriously, did he have to get stuck with the slowest people on the planet?).

Finally, he was above ground and running towards the building where his class was held. He almost barreled over the guy he’d been sitting next to on the train and shouted, “Sorry!” over his shoulder but didn’t have time for anything more than that.

By the time he sat down in his class (exactly one minute before eight, he might add) his arm was tingling so bad that he was reminded of Regionals his senior year of high school. He wondered what it meant, but didn’t dwell on it like he would have in high school.

After all, he had Jordan now. He was happy – the emptiness was gone.

“You’re late,” Abby commented as Blaine walked into the coffee shop, guitar case in hand.

“Hey, I’m out of bed at eight AM on my day off. You’re lucky I’m even functioning.” He smiled at her until she smiled back and started to make him a coffee.

“Thanks for doing this,” she said as he lifted himself onto the counter, accepting the coffee she held out to him. “You’re literally saving my life. Some of my regulars might resort to murder if they didn’t get to hear live music.”

“Oh, yeah, wouldn’t want to make the hipsters mad.” Abby balled up a napkin and threw it at his head, laughing. “Hey!” he complained.

“I hate you sometimes,” she huffed and Blaine rolled his eyes because she told him that she hated him on a daily basis and yet somehow they were still best friends. “So, tell me. What’s going on in Blaine Land?”

“Um… school and going to auditions, mostly. Very exciting, I know.”

“What about boys?” she prodded, poking his cheek.

“Nope.” Blaine knew that it was kind of pathetic to be twenty years old and never been on a date, but he was staying true to his word of waiting for Kurt. He at least wanted to see what he was like before he decided whether or not to date. Like, what if Kurt was amazing and perfect and Blaine wanted nothing more than to give him everything but he couldn’t because he’d already given it to someone else?

“And why not?” Abby raised a pierced eyebrow, giving him the same look his mom would when she was disappointed with him. “I just don’t get it, Blaine. You could have any guy you want and yet you sit around waiting for some guy you’ve never met. What makes him so special?”

Blaine actually couldn’t answer that. He didn’t know what made Kurt Hummel stand out. All he knew was that the universe wanted them to be in each other’s lives. And he wouldn’t rest until he figured out in what capacity. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” he admitted, tossing his empty cup in the trashcan behind the counter. “But enough about me and my pathetic life. How’s Colin?”

“Why don’t you ask his new girlfriend,” Abby deadpanned, furiously tugging at a loose thread on her sweater. She tried to downplay her many failed relationships as much as possible, but Blaine knew that it was killing her inside. “Anyway,” she said after a minute, clapping her hands together and grinning broadly. “You, Mr. Anderson, need to take that guitar and that cute little butt of yours up on that stage over there and make me some money.”

Blaine hopped off the counter and grabbed his guitar case. Abby leaned over the counter and kissed him on the cheek before shoving him with both hands towards the little stage by the window (Blaine always likened it to the stage at Central Perk in Friends).

While he tuned up his guitar and warmed up his voice, Blaine was very aware of Abby watching him. She was worried about him, all of his friends were, and he knew that. But he wasn’t giving up on Kurt.

Especially not now that his arm was starting to tingle again for the first time in three years.

It was nearing six o’clock by the time Kurt was finally ready to start heading home. As he texted Jordan to say that he was on his way, a dull ache formed behind his eyes, his body’s signal that he needed a serious caffeine injection.

Pocketing his phone, he looked around to see if there was a Starbucks nearby. Surprisingly, there wasn’t, but there was a small coffee shop just ahead of him called Morning Joy. Ignoring the cheesy name, he pushed the door open and joined the small line. While he waited, he listened to the conversations around him, but that just made his head throb even more.

When he was two people away from the front of the line, he heard a guitar start playing a song that sounded vaguely familiar. He ignored it until the person playing the guitar started to sing, at which point he had to turn around to see what kind of person could have a voice like that.

Days like this I want to drive away

Kurt was surprised to see the guy he’d sat next to on the train that morning. It always amazed him how a city of millions could still be so small.

That was then and this is now
Now look at me

As the guy continued to sing, Kurt was mesmerized. Not only because he’d managed to turn a Katy Perry song into song that was tolerable, but also because he was probably the single most attractive guy Kurt had ever seen (don’t tell Jordan he said that).

“Can I help you, sweetheart?” Kurt turned around, startled to find that it was his turn. The girl who had spoken smiled, tucking a turquoise-streaked piece of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, you in the fabulous jacket.” Kurt smiled – he had a feeling he was going to like this girl – and stepped up to the counter, sparing only a half-second glance back at the guitar guy. “Don’t even bother, buddy,” the girl said. “He doesn’t date. At all. Ever.”

“Oh, I have a boyfriend,” Kurt replied calmly. “I just… he’s really good.”

“That he is,” the girl – whose name tag said Abby – said, puffing her chest up proudly, which made Kurt think the two of them were close friends, if not related in some way. “So what can I get for you?” Kurt placed his order and when he told her his name, he swore he saw her eyes bug out of her head. “Got a last name, Kurt?”

“Umm… Hummel,” he replied, wondering if maybe she was high.

Abby started giggling like crazy – further reinforcing Kurt’s assumption that she was high – then composed herself and said, “Do you think you could hang around for a little while? There’s someone I want you to meet.”

"I guess…?” Abby smiled and handed Kurt’s order off to someone behind her before going to find whoever it was that she wanted him to meet. While Kurt waited for his coffee, he texted Jordan to say that he stopped for coffee and he might be little bit late.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to see Abby standing there, bouncing excitedly, and holding the hand of the cute guitar player. “Kurt Hummel,” she said formally and Kurt could actually see the guy’s breath catch in his throat. “This is Blaine Anderson.” Blaine Anderson. All of a sudden, his arm felt like there were a million ants crawling underneath the skin and breathing was no longer an option. After eight years of wondering where Blaine Anderson was, he was actually standing in front of Kurt. “Well, I’m sure you two would like to get to know each other and I have customers to attend to so… bye!” She waved at them and bounced away like a child on a sugar high.

Kurt looked at Blaine and  - God it should be illegal for eyes to be that beautiful – said the only thing one could say to the person they’d been searching for for almost a decade.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

Blaine didn’t know that a person’s voice could sound so musical when they weren’t singing and was that weird to think? Yeah, it was probably weird. Instead of saying that, Blaine settled for the significantly less creepy, “Hi.”

“So um…” Kurt said, rubbing his right forearm. “Is your arm totally freaking out, too?” Blaine nodded, resisting the urge to violently scratch at it. “Well, I read online the only way to calm it down is to physically touch your soul mate. Not – not that I’ve looked into it m-much,” he was quick to add, flushing a brilliant shade of red. “I just…” he took a deep breath, smiling on the exhale (Blaine might have been just a bit dazzled by the sight of it) and held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Kurt Hummel. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Blaine Anderson. And likewise.” He grasped Kurt’s hand and almost as if by magic, his arm stopped tingling and he was filled with a warmth that he could only describe as ‘home’. Kurt smiled at him and Blaine knew he was experiencing the same thing. “Do you uh… wanna sit down?”

“Yeah.” They walked to a table in the back corner of the room and sat in a strangely comfortable silence for a few minutes before Kurt said, “So, I uh… heard you singing. You’re – you’re really good.”

“Thanks.” Now it was Blaine’s turn to blush as he raked a hand through his curls.

“I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve heard you before, though. Which is weird because I’ve never seen you before.” He stared at him like he was trying to place him and Blaine suddenly felt very on-display, naked in a way. After a minute, Kurt shook his head and said, “So, Blaine Anderson, I’ve been staring at your name for eight years,” which meant that Kurt was a year older than him because Blaine had only had Kurt’s name for seven years, “but that’s all you are – a name. Who is Blaine Anderson the person?”

“Um… twenty-year-old struggling music student at NYU whose best friend is a blue-haired coffee shop owner who should probably win an award for the most annoying human being on the planet. I grew up in Ohio and…”

“Wait, Ohio? What part?”

“Westerville…” Blaine said hesitantly, wondering why the mention of Ohio had Kurt so excited.

“No fucking way! I grew up in Lima.” Blaine was completely floored. His favorite coffee shop back home had been in Lima – there was a chance they’d run into each other at some point. “So were you into music in high school, too?”

“Yeah, I was actually the lead of my school’s glee club.”

“I swear to God if you say you were in the Warblers, I’m going to fucking scream.” Blaine chuckled and ducked his head. “Okay, this is seriously weirding me out. I was in the New Directions – we competed against you guys a couple of times.”

Blaine’s jaw literally dropped. He thought about all the opportunities he had to meet Kurt, but stupid Fate decided to be a bitch and made him wait for seven years. Oh, well, he thought. Maybe he’ll be worth the wait.

They talked well past closing time and only parted because Abby yelled at them that she had better things to do even though Blaine knew she was going to go home, eat ice cream, watch Sex and the City, and complain about men to her cat Humphrey (or Blaine himself). After exchanging numbers, Kurt went one way and Blaine and Abby went the other.

“Sooo…?” she drawled, bouncing on the balls of her feet and clutching his arm. “Was it everything you’d ever dreamed it would be?”

Blaine sighed contentedly. Now that he’d met Kurt, he felt as if everything was right in the world and that nothing bad could ever happen to him again. “It was amazing. He was amazing.” He didn’t say it out loud, but he couldn’t wait to see Kurt again because being apart from him already felt wrong, like some vital part of him was missing.

“Uh oh,” Abby said softly, stepping in front of him. She put her hands on his chest and said, “B, you’re my best friend and I don’t want to see you get hurt. So, before you get too deep into this thing, you should know… Kurt has a boyfriend,” she finished softly, dropping his gaze.

Blaine’s heart sank into his stomach. He hadn’t factored a boyfriend into his perfect fairytale ending.