Kurt Hummel was late. He wasn't running a few minutes behind, he was 'I have twenty minutes to feed the cat, wash myself, get dressed, pick up breakfast, and get to work,' late. It was lucky that he had taken a bath to unwind from his day yesterday because there was no way he had time for a shower at this rate but it wasn't the end of the world if he didn't get to work on time. His boss was demanding and would no doubt scold him thoroughly, but he was no Anna Wintour. He wouldn't be out of work because of it, but Kurt hated disappointing Cooper Anderson. There was almost nothing worse than having the most handsome man in North America frown at you.

His high school dreams of attending the New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts and becoming a Broadway star were dashed fairly early. Rachel Berry had received a big envelope and Kurt had gotten a 'thanks, but no thanks'. You don't need a big envelope for that. Instead he went to the Tisch School at NYU, an equally prestigious school, but the curriculum was far less focused. While he was there, he found himself falling in love with the behind the scenes production of a show and ended up majoring in directing instead of performance. He was now working as an assistant to Cooper Anderson, arguably the most famous action star in the country, and not arguably one of the most attractive men Kurt had ever seen. It wasn't his ideal job by far, but it would get his foot in the door and Cooper was always quick with advice on navigating the industry. He was a kind man, but he was fairly exacting in his routine and became grumpy when it was interrupted. Every morning, Kurt was to go to one specific bakery on 17th street, order him a soy dirty chai and a blueberry muffin, and have it waiting for him in his trailer. At this rate, breakfast was going to be late.

Kurt dressed and did his hair in record time and with a swift pat on the head to his oversized tabby, Marion, he was out the door and racing towards Bee's, Cooper's preferred bakery.

"Breathe, Kurt." A familiar voice said as he burst through the doors of the little business, bell chiming loudly overhead. There was already a pretty long line formed at the cashier, but Blaine, the owner, who had become something of a friend to Kurt over the last few months, was already holding his order. "I knew you were running late, I have your usual right here. And before you even try, it's fine. You can come back and pay later."

Kurt grabbed the bag from Blaine and backed out of the shop, mouthing 'thank you' over and over again with his fingers clasped tightly in front of him. Kurt was used to Blaine showing kindness to him, probably because of how frequently he came in. Every day like clock work, Bee's could count on his, well on Cooper's, business.

He glanced down at his watch, sprinting the next few blocks to the city street where Cooper was filming that day, weaving his way through pedestrians and shouting 'excuse me' at no one in particular, when he finally reached the trailer. He was only fifteen minutes late, not bad.

"You're late, Hummel." He heard Cooper's voice before he was even fully inside the trailer.

Not good either. "I'm so, so sorry Cooper—my alarm clock never went off and then-"

"Save it, Kurt. It's fine. You're always very punctual so I'll let it slide this time." Cooper said with one of his signature winks.

After a year of employment, the wink had ceased to make him weak in the knees, but his cheeks would still pink slightly whenever the actor did something like that. He set the coffee drink down on the desk and scrambled to take the muffin out of the bag, when a bright pink post-it note, with the bakery's bumble bee logo, came fluttering out alongside the pastry.

Kurt-

We were out of blueberry today, so I gave you cranberry. I hope that's okay...just tell your boss that it's my fault.

:)

Blaine

"Um...they were out of your regular today so I had to get cranberry, sorry." Kurt said, busying himself with a plate and napkin, to avoid what was sure to be another disappointed look.

"Not your fault, kid. I'm sure it's fine." Cooper said, tucking in to his meal. "Why don't you head over to Marcy to get my call sheet? After that you should probably go back into the office and finalize my schedule for the week. Alice can help if you have any questions. Once you're done with that, you need to get my suit back from the dry cleaners and bring it to me here before you can leave for the day. I need it for the interview tonight. You know the number one rule of giving a good interview is..."

"Look pretty and don't answer any questions too directly." Kurt recited, filling in the end of the sentence automatically.

"That's right, and try to answer them with another question if you can. It makes you seem mysterious and interesting." Cooper said, finishing up his muffin and starting in on his unusual set of acting warm-ups.

Kurt tossed the wrapper and the empty coffee cup into the trash and swiftly left the trailer to avoid watching his boss's muscles flex under his tight t-shirt as he stretched. Kurt shook his head and couldn't help but think that he really had to get a grip...or a new job...or a boyfriend. Kurt definitely wasn't the blushing virgin he had been in high school, but his track record with men was, well, less than stellar. He had a string of casual flings during college that never amounted to anything and he was constantly grappling with his irritating tendency to fall for the idea of a person instead of the actual person. He was a master of falling for strait guy or projecting a completely fabricated personality onto a guy he barely knew. He would then become obsessed with them, emotionally cutting himself off from every other option, regardless of their viability. They say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, but Kurt was getting nowhere with this knowledge. He wasn't too terribly lonely though. He had friends and his cat Marion and had no trouble finding partners for one-night stands, but being stagnant in terms of an actual romantic relationship was getting old.

It wouldn't help to dwell on such things now though, so Kurt shook the thoughts from his head and braced himself for another day as Cooper Anderson's assistant.

0000000000

Kurt Hummel was wet. He had finally finished for the day and all he had to do was stop by Bee's to pay for that morning's breakfast. Just as he was crossing the street towards the shop, a taxi had driven by, splashing mud and rainwater all over the side of Kurt's body. Kurt stood on the sidewalk for a few minutes, eyes closed and willing himself not to scream. The day was almost over. He was almost home and he could take a hot bath and spend the rest of the evening in his pajamas, watching re-runs of I Love Lucy with Marion.

He shoved his way into Bee's, Cooper's credit card already in one hand and a five-dollar bill in the other, so he could feed his own caffeine addiction. When he got up to the counter, Blaine was organizing a display of linzer tarts, but he straightened up quickly when he saw Kurt come in.

Blaine's big hazel eyes looked Kurt up and down sympathetically. "Bad day?"

Kurt sighed and looked down at his now filthy clothing, "I've had better." He responded, handing Blaine the card to ring up Cooper's order. "I could use some caffeine." he added shoving the cash towards Blaine and nodding towards the carafe of French roast.

"No way, dummy." Blaine said, batting his hand away. "Loyal customers who look like they just participated in an involuntary mud run don't have to pay around here. It's on me. Why don't you go sit down and I'll whip up my special anti-bad day potion."

Kurt raised his eyebrows. On any other day he might have made a sassy comment about Blaine's ridiculousness, but he was too exhausted and opted to just do as he was told. A few minutes later Blaine was sliding a glass mug and a plate of biscotti, which was still steaming a bit from the oven, towards Kurt.

"It's a raspberry mocha and that's chocolate raspberry biscotti." Blaine said pulling off his apron. "Do you mind if I sit for a few minutes?" Kurt gestured towards the chair in agreement and took a sip from the drink. "You, um, have some whipped cream on your nose." Blaine said, giggling a little.

Kurt's cheeks pinked, but he mumbled thanks and wiped it off with a napkin. "This is really good, thank you. You don't have to work or anything?" Kurt asked trying to distract Blaine from his embarrassment.

"Nah, it's pretty dead during dinner hours and my night manager will be in to relieve me any minute now,]." Blaine sat quietly for a bit, watching Kurt daintily eat his snack. "I'm sorry you had a bad day. I'm, It's okay if you want to, you know, talk about it. It usually helps me."

This wasn't the first time that Blaine had taken a few minutes to sit down with him. The baker would often chat idly with Kurt if his break happened to coincide with Kurt's frequent afternoon coffee runs, but this was the first time he was offering to talk about anything of substance. He took a second to really look at Blaine. He was probably around Kurt's age, his hair was neatly tamed, probably with gel and his eyes were looking back at him, wide and honest. For someone so young, he'd managed to establish himself well in what could be a tough city for a small business. Maybe seeking advice from someone like that wasn't such a bad idea.

"I don't know. It's nothing major. Just one of those days where lots of little things add up to make you feel terrible. I'll be fine, it just makes it hard to look on the bright side." Blaine cocked his head to the side, indicating that Kurt could go on. "Well you know I was running late this morning, so my boss was annoyed at me. Then, my boss's publicist yelled at me because I forgot to send out head shots to this one agency. After I left the office, I realized that I left my work metro card at home and I had to walk to the dry cleaner to avoid paying out of pocket. I don't think I need to tell you what happened right before I came in here. It's just, I'm trying to be a director. I'm working as a PA for an actor right now, I don't know if I've mentioned that before. It's a good first step, but I feel like I'm stagnating. Coming to New York was always my dream and sometimes it just feels more like a nightmare."

Blaine looked back sympathetically. "I'm sorry you feel down. I wish there was something I could do to help, besides giving you a sugar fix."

"No, no it's fine. Listening to me has been help enough. It actually felt really go to get that all out." Kurt finished the last sip of coffee and wrapped the rest of the biscotti in a napkin for later. "I should probably get going, but really Blaine, thanks for listening."

Blaine gave him a toothy grin. "It's no problem. I hope tomorrow is sunnier."

Kurt smiled, a bit half-heartedly, back. "I do, too."

Blaine watched as Kurt retreated towards the door, "Wait, Kurt." the other man turned around and waited for Blaine to talk. "Don't be afraid to take charge of your own life. I know it may feel like you have to go about things a certain way, especially in the entertainment industry, but sometimes the bravest thing you can do is to stop letting life just happen to you. Courage, Kurt."

Kurt's half smile turned into a full one as he backed his way out the door.