There was no ice cream on the menu. Kurt frowned. What exactly was "Rice Dream?" It sounded more like a manic hallucinatory episode than a desert.

The lack of ice cream shouldn't have been a surprise since it was a vegan restaurant, but Kurt had found himself automatically looking anyhow. It was just a habit, as ingrained as looking up at the buttons on the elevator as he ascended to the rooftop restaurant. Well, it was time to change his habits.

"Ok, Kurt, now look at the menu," Deera said authoritatively. They were in a cozy booth by the window, overlooking a large portion of downtown New York city. The air smelled like Chai, which reminded Kurt that he needed to stop and get some boutique teas on his way home.

"I am looking."

"No, I mean look with Blaine's eyes. What would Blaine see if he was reading this menu right now?"

What would Blaine see? Oh, Blaine. What was he going to do with Blaine? He tried to focus. "Um... lots of options because nothing has milk in it at a vegan restaurant?"

"You're on the right track, Kurt, but not quite. Blaine wouldn't see what he could safely eat here, he would immediately identify the things that could hurt him. Try again."

"Right, ok. Um... the spicy tempeh sandwich wouldn't be good, because he can't eat spicy foods. The mixed vegetables have corn so he wouldn't be able to have those either. All the juice mixtures have grapefruit, orange, or tomato juice in them so he would have to ask them to make his special." Kurt bit his lip and glanced out at the beautiful view. "I guess no matter where he goes, there are going to be a lot of things that he can't eat or drink. And if all the ingredients aren't listed, he'll have to take a risk or ask a waiter and be rude."

"Bingo. Now you're thinking like Blaine."

"I didn't ask you to give me advice, Deera."

"No, but you did invite me to lunch, and it comes naturally." She grinned, and her smile was infections. "You want to keep Blaine, right? Then you have to put yourself in his shoes more often than you've been doing."

"What he did really sucked, though."

"Yeah, it did. But are you mad?"

Kurt tilted his head to the side and thought about it again. The night before, he had gone over the scene in his head, imagining all the possible ways that it could have ended differently. What if Blaine hadn't said anything to Cooper about Kurt at all? Nothing good or bad about him? What if Kurt himself had been Cooper's only source of information? Or what if Cooper was more understanding and less judgmental? But what was the point? What's done is done. These things were probably just sometimes going to happen to him, and letting people know him meant being vulnerable. He would NOT let this be a roadblock for his career or his love life.

Thinking of jumping into this new situation head first was terrifying, but the cat was out of the bag. He was going to have to figure out how to speak confidently to a casting director about dealing with depression and anxiety one day soon, so he had better be prepared. He absolutely could not let this stop him, even if the very idea still made him visibly cringe.

They hadn't said it aloud or anything, but he was pretty sure Blaine was in love with him. And supported his career goals. And wanted him to succeed and be happy. Blaine was kind and gentle and sweet and attentive.

"No. I should be mad, but I'm not. I just want to be past this. Though I do think he owes me a nice gift before I forgive him."

"Blaine doesn't have as much money as you, Kurt. Remember?"

"Right, I know, so maybe the gift could be a massage, or a bl--"

"Ok, Kurt, stop right there." She shook her head fondly. "I think that sounds perfectly reasonable. And I think you're making progress." She smiled again, and somehow it wasn't patronizing or condescending, more like motherly. Kurt wondered if she would ever be able to have kids. He almost asked her right then, but no. This was a friendly meal, to talk about him and Blaine and maybe get some support. Probably not the right time to talk about chronic illness and reproduction.

The waiter looked and smelled like a hippie, and the restaurant refused to serve ice in any of the drinks, but other than that it was a pleasant experience. Anyway, he and Deera could be friends even if they didn't like the same restaurants.

They walked hand in hand all the way to the nearest Ben and Jerry's, chatting about inconsequential things. Soon they were armed with overpriced ice cream and not enough napkins, and things got serious again as they continued walking.

"Now how will you be able to help Blaine see the world through your eyes?"

"Through my eyes?" Kurt asked. "Are we actually in an after school special right now, Deera? Come on."

"No, YOU come on. Don't avoid the question. Today I am helping you see the world through his eyes, now you have to help him see it through yours."

"He is so unselfish, though. He probably can already see the world through everyone's eyes with binoculars, night vision, and--" Kurt stopped mid-sentence at the scathing look he was getting. "Ok, through my eyes. Let's see...I guess he already knows what it's like to feel like everything is more of a struggle for him than for healthy people. What it's like to put in ten times the effort sometimes, just to get up out of bed or to get through a stressful day. It can leave me exhausted."

They walked in silence for a moment as he thought harder.

"I could show him how important it is to me to keep my health problems as secret as possible by having him read gossip articles about famous actors, and how badly they are criticized and mocked for having any little thing wrong with their body or mind. I could get him to watch reality TV with me as a counter-example of how I want the world and my eventual fan base to view me."

Deera chuckled. "You seem pretty sure about that part."

"I am going to have a fan base one day, and I will love them," Kurt stated definitively. "What else? I can practice polite excuses with Blaine, things to say when he doesn't want to reveal anything about me, or ways to deflect to a better conversation topic around others."

"You see, that wasn't so hard, was it? I am going to tell my boyfriend tonight that I am an excellent life coach."

Kurt snorted.

---AAIGAAIGAAIG---

In the meantime, Blaine was holed up in his dorm room without a stomachache and with a mission. He could hardly believe his luck that he felt fine after eating all that ice cream. How was that even possible? Maybe it would catch up to him in a few hours, at an awkward and public moment to achieve maximum possible embarrassment. His body tended to hate him that way, reveled in his anguish. So, racing against the clock as it ticked toward feeling like total shit, he turned on his laptop.

These few extra hours of being alert and not in pain were a sign. A sign that he was supposed to try and fix what he hoped wasn't broken. Kurt hadn't seemed mad, more like hurt. And hurts can be mended. He scoured the internet for a Band-Aid.

What could he do to fix a missed career opportunity? Create another one! Yes! That was perfect. Blaine didn't know much about singing contests, other than they were on TV more often than shows with actual plot lines, but it seemed like a good place to start.

American Idol, X-Factor, and The Voice all had auditions in New York, so all he had to do was get Kurt to go to them and be supportive. His talent would get him through and on to one show, or at the very least get him a lot of positive feedback and stroke his bruised ego.

Shit, he had to get to class. He would make sure and find a seat near the door in case he had to make a run for the bathroom.