Once the ice was broken, it was easy for Blaine and Kurt to relax and become fast friends. It turned out that they had a lot in common. Apart from their shared passion for vogue, they both loved Broadway and singing, and they had both survived the brutal high school years in central Ohio. Kurt found himself increasing his occasional post work coffee stops to an every day thing and spending every afternoon chatting wildly with Blaine as if they had been friends for years. It felt good. It wasn't that Kurt had trouble making friends, but his demanding job kept him from really getting out and meeting people. He had a small group of friends that he would go clubbing with, but they didn't really count, and there was always Rachel Berry, but her attention was spotty at best. About two months after breaking up with Finn for the final time, she had met Greg and they were practically married at this point.

Despite his newfound friendships (he had spent some more time with Mike and Tina, too) he felt himself falling into a familiar trap. Cooper's gentle prodding about whether or not he liked Blaine as more than a friend was constantly cropping up in the back of his mind and the answer was a resounding and worrying: quite possibly. The mature, adult thing to do would probably have been to ask Blaine on a date and see if they would work as a couple and then try and find a way to slip back into friendship if it didn't work out, but Kurt wasn't known for his relationship tact, so instead he shoved the feelings as far down as possible and decided that it was time for a night out to keep his mind off of it.

That's how he found himself lined up with a few of his party animal acquaintances outside of Rush, a gay dance club that wasn't far from his apartment.

"Hummel, to what do you owe such an honor? We haven't seen you around here in ages." Craig, one of the guys Kurt knew, said when Kurt sidled up next to them in line. He was nice enough, but he could be a little bawdy for Kurt's taste and he'd had more sexual partners in his life than Kurt had pairs of shoes. "That fancy job of yours finally give you a night off?"

"We were starting to think you were too good for us!" another guy called John chimed in. "Gallivanting around with that mysterious, fancy celebrity you supposedly work for."

"I am too good for you." Kurt said smirking and sticking his nose in the air. He was used to putting on airs around these guys. It was one of the reasons why he could never see himself seriously becoming friends with any of them. "And not that I owe you an explanation, but I just haven't felt like coming out for a while. Work's been hectic and the last thing I usually want to do on the weekend is get plastered and deal with you crazies."

Ethan, the last of the typical crew and definitely Kurt's favorite of the rowdy bunch, sidled up next to him and gave him a side hug. "Come on Kurt, when are you going to tell us which hansom leading man you work for? We're all dying to know."

Kurt returned the hug, but retreated to scold him, "You know I can't tell you guys so you might as well stop asking. It's getting old."

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Kurt started regretting his decision to go out almost immediately upon entering the club. He was doing a terrible job of not thinking about Blaine because every time some hopelessly fashion challenged man would walk past him he would think about texting Blaine a picture, wondering what he would say about it. Ethan had made an effort of get him to enjoy himself in the beginning. Once they were all done with their first drink, he grabbed Kurt's hand to dance.

"As always, same old thumpa thumpa." Ethan shouted over the music.

"Really, Ethan, a Queer as Folk reference. Could you be anymore cliché?" Kurt said rolling his eyes.

"Oh come on sour puss, you aren't going to attract any hot guys if you keep making a face like you've smelled rotten fish. It doesn't matter how tight your pants are."

"Who said I'm trying to attract a guy?" Kurt said, deepening his scowl.

It was Ethan's turn to roll his eyes, "There are only two reasons people come to this place: to find a guy or forget a guy. Either way you should probably have another drink and relax." Ethan said as the song was ending and sending Kurt on his way with a swat on the butt, quickly moving on to his next dance partner.

Kurt wasn't pleased that Ethan had managed to read him so easily, or perhaps in was a lucky guess, but he found himself walking obediently walking back to the bar anyway.

"Vodka tonic, please." he said to the bartender, slumping into a barstool and trying to think of an excuse to just go home.

"Hey, put that one on my tab." Someone said, sitting down next to Kurt. "If it's alright with you." the man said raking his eyes up and down Kurt's body in a way that was a bit creepy, but not all together uncommon. Kurt didn't let it get to his head, but he did learn that once out of the confines of his small town upbringing, he was somewhat of a 'hottie' so to speak.

"Um...it's fine," Kurt responded. Hey, he had already decided that he wasn't going home with anyone tonight, but he might as well get a free drink.

"I'm Dave." The man said taking a sip from his own beer. "Why the long face, beautiful?"

Kurt blanched a bit at the nickname, but decided to just let it slide. The man was obviously drunk and it wasn't exactly unheard of to meet an aggressive man in a club,."Um...you can just call me Kurt and I'm just not really in the mood to be here right now."

"Well, then why don't get out of here—have a little fun on our own."

Kurt gave the man an incredulous look. He was sort of cute, but his entirely denim outfit was ruining any good looks he might have had, and the talking and leering at Kurt was making his lack of attraction even worse. "Um...thanks, but no thanks. I think I'll pass. Thank you for the drink."

Kurt was about to move away when he felt the man's hand squeeze a bit to tightly around his wrist. "What's the rush? We were just about to get to know each other?" Kurt usually prided himself on his ability to gracefully turn down unwanted advances, but fear started bubbling up in his belly as the man still hadn't let go of his arm. "Come on, why don't I buy you another drink and then you can reconsider my offer." Kurt felt himself being forcefully pulled back towards the man. "If not maybe this will changed your mind." Kurt barely had time to realize what was happening when he felt Dave push him against the bar. Suddenly his mouth was on Kurt's, pushing his liquor soaked tongue into his mouth.

Finally, Kurt found his strength a shoved the burly man off him. He was speechless and all he could do was stand there for a moment, eyes wide and mouth pressed to his lips in shock before he tore out of the club and started sprinting home.

At this late hour, businesses would probably still be open in his neighborhood, but things were eerily quiet in the cozy part of Chelsea that he had to run through to get home. It was for that reason that he was so surprised to see a light on in Bee's as he ran past. He stopped his run abruptly and pressed his face against the glass door to see if he could see anyone in there. It was a long shot, but in Kurt's years of going to gay bars he'd never had someone actually force something on him like that. Someone familiar would be a welcome sight right now. As if on cue he saw Blaine walk passed the open kitchen door and without thinking Kurt started pounding on the door.

A surprised and slightly unnerved looking Blaine sprinted out of the kitchen, his fear melting into concern when he saw who was on the other side of the door, "Kurt what..." he started to say while opening to door, but before he could finish the thought he had an armful of Kurt, the tears that had been threatening to spill during Kurt's entire sprint away from the club escaping.

Blaine wordlessly took Kurt inside and moved them so they were sitting on one of the overstuffed couches in the corner. Blaine put an arm around Kurt and pulled him close, allowing him to bury is face in his shirt and cry. Finally Kurt calmed down enough to start to talk, "He kissed me." he exclaimed, still hiccuping from his flood of tears, "I tried to stop him, but he was so big and held me down..."

"Shhhh." Blaine soothed. "Just let it all out when you're ready, Kurt. I'll be right here."

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After about twenty minutes Kurt had calmed down sufficiently and managed to tell Blaine the whole story. Kurt was in no state to analyze how good it felt to have Blaine holding him and rubbing a gentle hand up and down his back as he spoke, but it was definitely helping to soothe him.

"Sorry to dump all this on you. I know we haven't been friends for more than a few weeks, but I didn't know where else to turn and I just saw your light on and..."

"No, hey." Blaine said moving Kurt so that they were face to face, "None of that. You're my friend and I care about you and you should feel free to come to me if you're feeling down, no matter what, okay?"

Kurt nodded sullenly and slumped back onto the couch, "It's just, I know it's stupid to be so upset. It was only a kiss. I probably shouldn't have accepted the drink from him in the first place, but I don't know, he was much bigger than me. If I hadn't gotten away..."

"Kurt," Blaine said, drawing the other man's eyes to his face again, "you are not at fault here and you have every right to be as upset as you want to be. I don't like seeing you cry, but if you need to cry or kick or yell or complain you go ahead and do that because you are the wronged party here."

Kurt sniffed and dropped his head back down to rest on Blaine's shoulder, "Thank you, Blaine. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't see the light on in here," Kurt sniffed. They sat for a few minutes in comfortable silence before Kurt spoke again, "what are you doing here this late anyway?"

"Ah," Blaine said and Kurt's stomach began to twist pleasantly when he could feel Blaine's smile against his hair. "My Grandmother's special sticky bun recipe, it's only available on weekends because the recipe is so involved, but my night baker and I switch off coming in late on Friday nights to make the dough and the filling. I was just putting in a test batch when you came in. Actually wait...hang on a second," Blaine disappeared into the kitchen for a minute and came back with a giant sticky bun that was still hot from the oven a big glass of water. "Here, drink this while we wait for it to cool. I always need water after I've been crying."

Kurt looked a bit sheepish at the reminder that he had spent the last fifteen minutes crying into Blaine's shirt, but accepted the water with a grateful smile anyway.

"My Grandma's the one who first taught me how to bake. She used to tell me that it was the fastest way to a man's heart. It's funny, she died before I even came out of the closet, but I think she knew anyway. She was the best."

"Sounds like it," Kurt said, giving Blaine an indulgent smile. "I wish I could have met her. Especially if she's the one that started you off on being the best baker in New York City." Kurt said poking Blaine in the stomach.

"You flatter me." Blaine said. "In Manhattan maybe, but in the whole city...?" Kurt swatted his shoulder playfully. Blaine got serious again, "I wish you could have met her, too. She would have liked you. My older brother and I used to spend summers there and at the time it felt like she was the only one in the world that didn't like him more than me. You know how it can be with big brothers..."

"I didn't know you had a brother." Kurt said absentmindedly, putting his empty water glass back on the table.

"Yeah well, I love him of course, but he's kind of an egomaniacal jerk most of the time." Blaine said with a sigh.

"Sounds like a real charmer," Kurt responded with a raised eyebrow. "So, do I get to taste now?" Kurt said eying the sticky bun.

"Yup, close your eyes. I don't want any of your other senses getting in the way of the experience." Kurt rolled his eyes, but played along despite himself. "Okay, I have a piece. Open your mouth," As soon as Kurt's mouth parted, he felt the soft bun pushing against his lips. As soon as the taste hit his tongue he let out a delighted groan.

"Oh my god." Kurt said once he swallowed. "Those are amazing. What did you do to them? I've had sticky buns before, but never like that!" Kurt said, excitedly taking his half out of Blaine's outstretched hand.

"My lips are sealed. It's a family recipe. I made my night baker sign a blood oath," Blaine said laughing at Kurt's excitement.

"Well then I guess I'll just have to marry you then." Kurt said before he could think about the words leaving his mouth. There was an uncomfortable silence and both men were blushing madly. "I um...I mean just...anything for the recipe," Kurt continued weakly.

Blaine came to his rescue and laughed it off. "Yup, I guess it's the only way."