When Kurt woke up the next morning, his mind was still reeling from the night before. Somehow, Blaine had managed to turn what could have been a truly awful night into the most fun Kurt could remember having in a very long time. He slid out of bed and near enough skipped to the kitchen to make himself a coffee to kick-start the day, before heading to the bathroom to wash and get dressed, all with a smile still firm on his face. He'd given up trying to act cool about everything – after all, there was nobody there to see how dorky he was acting, and he felt like he had a good enough excuse. He was finally living in the city of his dreams, with an ideal job lined up and a sweet, handsome man genuinely interested him. It was as if everything clicked for him the moment he left Ohio.

Only once he was dressed and gathering this things together to leave for the coffee shop – despite the fact that he'd already had a cup and he knew Blaine wasn't working, it had become somewhat of a habit to head down to Two Sugars every morning – did he think to check his phone. Upon doing so his mood became even brighter.

From Blaine [8:04am]: good morning sunshine

Kurt grinned widely. It had been a long time since he had woken up to a text from a boy, and going by the time stamp it looked like Blaine had texted him pretty much the moment he woke up. Kurt's stomach filled with butterflies at the thought.

From Kurt [10:14am]: good morning to you too

From Blaine [10:17am]: awake at last! Whats the story morning glory?

From Kurt [10:18am]: hey, someone kept me out til late last night! Youre such a dork

From Blaine [10:20am]: I would apologise, but im not even a little bit sorry because I had a fantastic evening.

From Kurt [10:22am]: so did I

From Blaine [10:34am]: sorry for the slow reply, I was helping a customer. Can I phone you in my lunch break to make plans for tonight?

From Kurt [10:37am]: don't worry, I know youre working. Sure, I'll talk to you later

From Blaine [10:38am]: I look forward to it x

Kurt was beginning to think that maybe he was genuinely regressing to the mental state of a thirteen year old, because there was no way his reaction to the little 'x' at the end of Blaine's text was normal of a twenty-three year old.

Kurt spent the rest of his morning, after a quick stop at Two Sugars, strolling the streets of New York, soaking in the atmosphere. He'd been living in New York for two weeks now, but his excitement at the fact hadn't lessened at all; if anything, he had only become more thrilled with each passing day as he fell more and more in love with the city that was his new home. By the time he returned to his apartment just after midday he was so caught up in the fast-paced enjoyment of his city that he had almost, almost, forgotten that he was waiting for Blaine to call. The plus side to this was that he didn't have time to anxiously wait by the phone, counting down the minutes. The down side was that when his phone did finally ring, it came as a bit of a surprise to him, and when he saw Blaine's name flashing on his screen he instantly started internally panicking, almost psyching himself out too much to actually swipe across on the screen and answer. When he did, he was quite proud of himself for keeping the shaking in his voice to a minimum.

"Hi, Blaine"

"Good afternoon Detective. How are you this fine day?"

Hearing Blaine's voice, so smooth and lifting in a teasing lilt, immediately alleviated most of Kurts nerves.

"You're a dork, has anyone ever told you that?"

"Mm, maybe once or twice. But if I'm a dork, then what does that say about you? You're the one that's dating me."

The words made something in Kurt's stomach twist. You're the one that's dating me. Maybe it was happening very quickly – they'd only met last week and the one date they'd been on hadn't been successful exactly, but hearing Blaine confirm that they were actually dating sent a shiver up his spine. Since when did this sort of thing happen to Kurt Hummel?

Kurt didn't realise that while he had been internally reflecting on how good has life had become, he had let a silence fall over the phone line, leaving Blaine obviously worried and babbling down the phone trying to fix the problem he thought he'd made.

"Sorry, was that too soon? I'm sorry, I always do this, I tend to go full speed ahead rather than taking it steady, did I freak you out? Pretend I didn't say that, I'm sorry, I-"

"Blaine! It's fine, sorry, I was just thinking. It's fine. We went on a date last night, we're going on a date tonight, and I plan on going on another date with you in the near future. We're dating. It's fine."

"Oh. Okay. Good. Great."

"Great."

There was another moment of awkward silence, before Blaine chuckled, embarrassed at himself.

"This is not how I planned for this to go, can we start again?"

And hung up.

Kurt blinked, looking at his phone screen, confused for a moment before Blaine's name started flashing on the screen again and he grinner, understanding.

"Hi, Blaine"

"Good afternoon, Detective. I would like to see you tonight. Are you free?"

Kurt laughed. "You already know that I'm free, we agreed last night."

"Shhh, Kurt, I'm being smooth and you're ruining it."

Kurt laughed again. It had been a long while since someone other than his Dad, or Finn, had made him laugh so much. "I am so sorry, please continue."

"Since going out didn't work so well for us, I thought we could do something more low-key. Take out and a movie. My roommate is out with his girlfriend and shouldn't be back until late, so we'll have the place to ourselves."

"Why Mister Anderson, are you propositioning me?" Kurt mock gasped.

"I just want some time alone with a handsome man, can you blame me?" Kurt could practically see his flirtatious smirk.

"That sounds perfect. Text me your address?"

"You call yourself a Detective, and yet you can't work out where I live. Tut tut, I am ashamed."

"Actually, I think you'll find that you are the one that calls me a Detective, you dork."

"Touché. In that case, I will text you my address later. Come over about 7?"

"Sure."

"Okay, great. Great! I have to go if I want to actually have time to eat lunch in my lunch break, but I'll see you later. Have a good afternoon, Detective."

Kurt managed to put aside his excitement over the night to come and knuckled down to get some work done to plan his classes for the next semester – coming in as a substitute teacher was never easy, especially not one that would be sticking around for such a prolonged period of time, and it was to be Kurt's first teaching job, so he wanted to get it perfect. By the time he was feeling pretty pleased with his first few planned lessons, he checked the clock and it was gone five o'clock. He looked at his phone to see he had a text from Blaine with his address, as well as another message telling him to "dress comfortably". So, he went and showered, fixed his hair and dressed in some comfortable jeans – nowhere near as fitted as the pants he normally would wear – and a soft Henley before finally heading out the door at just gone six thirty.

Thankfully he hadn't misjudged the distance, and he made it to Blaine's apartment at just gone seven. The building was more run down than his own, but Blaine had told him that he wasn't exactly swimming in money so Kurt wasn't surprised. He hadn't been feeling too nervous until now, but as he was heading up the stairs and down the corridor to Blaine's door the nerves set in, and by the time Blaine opened the door he was feeling pretty jittery.

Seeing the smile on Blaine's face calmed him down instantaneously. His eyes looked a bright amber in the light, and he'd left his hair loose and curly, and it looked so soft Kurt just wanted to run his hands through it, wrap the curls around his fingers...

Blaine cleared his throat and Kurt jumped, noticing the cocky smirk on Blaine's face and realising that he'd totally been caught staring. He tried not to blush, but he could feel the colour rising on his cheeks. "Um. Hi."

Blaine's smirk grew even wider. "Hello to you too, Detective. I see my idea of comfortable clothing and your idea of comfortable clothing are a bit different."

Kurt finally let his eyes travel downwards to notice Blaine's outfit. He was dressed in a loose pair of grey sweatpants and a plain black v-neck shirt. In this outfit it was much easier for Kurt to connect the Blaine he knew – bowtie wear, hair-gelled Blaine – with the Blaine he saw that first night performing in the café. Kurt was surprised to find himself liking Blaine in this outfit much more than he would have expected. He was a man that loved fashion, and always imagined himself with a partner that was always as impeccably dressed as he himself liked to be, so to be so attracted to Blaine in an outfit that was definitely not high-fashion was a shock to him. He really tried not to imagine lazy Sundays mornings together, waking up to find Blaine dressed like this and making them both pancakes, snuggling up on the couch and spending days relaxing and just enjoying each other's company, but...

While Kurt had been fantasising a blush had risen up on Blaine's cheeks. "I can, um, go and change if you like. Sorry, I just thought it would be nice to relax together, but is it way too soon for me to be not making an effort? Sorry, I am trying to impress you still, I am, I just... Sorry, I –"

"Woah, no! No, it's fine. I just didn't realise when you said comfortable clothing you really meant it. It's fine."

"Right, okay. Have I ruined the second date as well? Am I date-cursed?"

Kurt laughed. "Definitely not. Just don't think you're going to be seeing me in sweatpants until at last the fifth date." He winked before inviting himself into Blaine's apartment with a false air of bravado, enjoying being the self-assured one for a change. He could hear Blaine laughing behind him and felt the awkward tension finally lift.

"Right then. Dinner. The takeout menus are on the counter. I kind of fancy Chinese, what do you think?"

The rest of the date passed without a hiccup. They agreed on Chinese and picked out a movie to watch while the waited for the delivery. The settled on West Side Story after Kurt told Blaine that it was this musical which inspired his move to the Big Apple, with Blaine saying, his eyes full of sincerity "just another reason for me to love West Side Story, then."

They ate dinner with a respectable distance between them on the couch, but after they'd cleared their food away and settled back down to watch the second half of the film they both drifted closer to each other, until they were finally pressed against each other, shoulders to knees. By the time Anita and Maria are singing 'A Boy Like That', Blaine has his arms wrapped around Kurt's shoulders, his other hand holding Kurt's in his lap and a blanket pulled snug around them after the temperature had dropped and he'd felt goose-bumps rise on his arm.

After the film had finished they'd stayed snuggled up together on the couch, talking quietly to each other, getting to know each other better. Kurt learnt about Blaine's family – he wasn't too close with his parents but he made up for that with his relationship with his older brother, Cooper – and in turn told Blaine about his. They spent a long time talking about how important music was for each of them, both excited to find out they'd been in rival glee clubs back in high school, and Blaine commending Kurt on choosing to teach music. Kurt didn't tell Blaine about how it was never that simple, about his old dream of being on Broadway, about his fight with Rachel Berry, about the troubles he had faced in high school. H didn't want to spend that night talking about bad things, he wanted it to be a night filled with nothing but good memories.

Kurt finally left just after midnight. Neither mentioned the idea of Kurt staying over, and Kurt was glad. He wanted to take things slow with Blaine, didn't want to ruin the possibility of a relationship by jumping into things too fast. So, Blaine walked him to the door, pressed a linger kiss to his cheek, and said in a low voice, "thank you for a wonderful night."

Kurt had blushed, bit his lip, and surged forward to press and kiss to Blaine's cheek in return before he chickened out, and then finally left before Blaine could see his already flushed cheeks redden even further. He could hear Blaine's chuckle following him up the hall as he walked away, forcing himself not to look back. He had a feeling that if he looked at Blaine again that night he would not be able to stop himself from kissing him on those perfect lips, and whilst he was aware that for a twenty three year old it was probably silly to be putting so much on a first kiss – it wasn't like he was in high school anymore, he'd kissed plenty of people – but this thing with Blaine felt special, like he was carrying something delicate and made of glass and he didn't want to go too fast in case he tripped and dropped it and it shattered completely.

About half way through his walk home, the bite to the night air having cooled his cheeks back to a normal colour and having cleared his mind a little as well, pulling himself out of his fog of infatuation that he seemed to be in whenever he was with Blaine, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

From Blaine [00:23am]: text me when you get home so I know you got back safely

Kurt smiled. He felt like his life was turning into an eighties romcom. Blaine seemed far too perfect to be real. He did as asked, though, texting him as soon as he'd pulled his pyjamas on and was settling into bed.

From Kurt [00:46am]: just getting into bed. Thank you again for tonight

From Blaine [00:48am]: I bet you look adorable in your pjs

From Blaine [00:48am]: you are more than welcome. So the do over passed the test?

From Kurt [00:49am]: with flying colours

From Blaine [00:50am]: good. Ill call you tomorrow?

From Kurt [00:51am]: you better. Good night Blaine x

Kurt blushed just typing the little 'x' at the end of the text, but when Blaine replied his worries were lifted, and he put his phone down on the pillow next to him, falling asleep with a smile still on his face.

From Blaine [00:52am]: Sweet dreams Detective xx

Kurt spent the next day cooking. He had promised Finn that he'd make some of his heart-friendly meals to send back home with him and he intended to make good on his promise, throwing in a batch of healthy muffins for his dad and a double-batch of chocolate and peanut butter cookies for Finn. He knew things had been tough for his brother lately and he wanted to do something to cheer him up, even if the only thing he could really do was bake a little.

While he was waiting for each thing to cook in the oven, he spent some more time working on lesson plans, and by the end of the day he was feeling pretty confident in what he had prepared. Blaine phoned him again in his lunch break, and they spent an enjoyable half hour laughing and talking over the phone. They texted throughout the rest of the day up until Blaine had to go on stage, finishing their conversation off with a message from Blaine saying "I'm dedicating my first song to you Detective". Even though they hadn't actually seen each other, Kurt still felt like Blaine had been a part of his day; it felt pleasantly domestic, even though he knew it was way too early to be thinking these things.

The next morning he woke up to a slew of texts. Four were from Blaine from the night before, updating him on how the gig went and then one saying "sweet dreams" at just before two. He had one from his dad, reminding him to make sure Finn didn't get lost in the city, making him laugh, and the others were from Finn, who was obviously texting him periodically through his drive to the city. The most recent one said that he reckoned he was only about twenty minutes away, so he hurried out of bed to start getting dressed and ready for the day.

True to form, Finn finally arrived at Kurt's apartment more than half an hour later than he had claimed, but the mild annoyance that had built up while he was waiting (I skipped my morning moisturising routine for nothing) evaporated as soon as he saw his brother climb out the truck.

"Kurt!"

His brother sounded so happy to see him that it made a huge smile bloom across his face and he stepped forward to allow himself to be squeezed tight in a massive bear hug.

"Dude the city is kinda scary, people were honking at me, like, all the time, and this was shouting at me through his window and I totally thought he was gonna get out his car and come beat me up or something. Are there cookies?"

God, how Kurt had missed his brother.

"Yes, Finn, there are cookies."

After a while watching Finn eat his way through way more cookies than Kurt dared to count, they set to moving the boxes of his things into the apartment. They weren't in a hurry so they took their time, stopping in between journeys up and down to catch up on what they'd missed from each others' lives the past two weeks, Kurt telling Finn all about the city and the job he was getting ready to start and Finn telling him stories from work in return, and updating him about Burt and Carol. It was late afternoon by the time they'd finished, and they settled on the couch together while Finn perused the few takeout menus that Kurt had accumulated over the last fortnight.

Finally deciding on pizza – "New York pizza has, like, every topping Bro!" – Finn finally told Kurt everything about the latest drama with Rachel while they waited for the delivery to arrive. Hearing about everything she was still doing to make his brother's life difficult made his blood boil, but it sounded like Finn had things mostly under control. He was pleased to see how much his brother had grown up since high school; he felt a strange surge of pride at how well he was handling everything.

The pizza arrived just after Finn's story had finished, and they ate in a contented quiet, the only sound Finn's noisy chewing and odd comment about how delicious New York pizza apparently was. When they finished, and the plates had been cleared away, Finn finally spoke up.

"Hey, so tell me about that dude."

Kurt felt a blush rise up on his cheeks immediately. "What 'dude', Finn?"

Finn smirked, "The one that's been texting you all day."

Kurt's blush deepened. "We've just been on a couple of dates, it's not a big deal."

"You say that, but I can see you're blushing and you're doing that thing where you rub your leg that you do when you're trying to avoid talking about something."

The hand that he'd been subconsciously rubbing over his knee stilled, and he looked away. "I don't know, Finn. Like I said, it's only been two dates. It's too soon to be talking about it. I don't know what'd going to happen, but I like him a lot and I don't want to jinx it."

"Understandable, Bro, but at least tell me something about the guy. Burt's not here to keep an eye on things and that means it's my job. Part of the brother thing is being a stand-in dad, I'm pretty sure."

"I don't think that's quite right but I appreciate the sentiment all the same."

"The what?"

"The senti- Never mind. His name's Blaine. Happy?"

Finn rolled his eyes, a gesture that Kurt was pretty sure he'd picked up from him. "You already told me that on the phone. Try again, Dude."

With a roll of his own eyes, Kurt reluctantly told Finn a little bit about Blaine, surprised to find that it felt quite good to talk about this with someone. With the exception of Blaine himself, Kurt hadn't met too many people in the city, certainly none he would feel comfortable talking about his love life with, and it was nice to be able to say something about it.

Finn easily accepted his story, not making a big deal about it which Kurt really appreciated. "Cool, he sounds like a good guy. Just let me know if I need to kick his ass or something."

Kurt chuckled, "thanks, Finn. I'll let you know."

After so long sitting down, Finn had started getting antsy, and he stood up to walk around the room. "So what d'you do for fun on a Saturday night in New York?"

An idea started to form in Kurt's head, and a slow smile spread across his face. "How do you feel about going to a gig?"