“So, you're writing an article about the shelter,” Blaine says conversationally the next time they run into each other. He may have purposefully asked for a day off on a day he knew Kurt would be at the shelter. Maybe.

“Yeah, yeah, it's coming great so far, actually. And hopefully it does something to help this place,” Kurt says, looking around. Blaine hasn't been able to stop looking at Kurt since he arrived. He just couldn't help it. The boy was beautiful. He wanted to do something to make a move, but he just...

Maybe he should just namedrop Cooper. At this point, he was that desperate.

“Hey, we're gonna just go ahead and close up for the day, boys,” Sharon says, grabbing her keys and hovering in the doorway. “Might as well go have a free day. Not much happening around here.”

They both wanted to protest, but deep down, they knew she was right. Not a single person had entered the shelter in nearly two weeks. The place really was looking doomed and there was nothing they could do about it.

They gathered their things and stood awkwardly outside of the shelter, neither really wanting to say goodbye. “So uh, I guess I'll just-”

“Do you wanna come over?” Kurt cuts in. Blaine blinks.

“What?”

“I uh,” Kurt scratches the back of his neck, “I mean, we both have free time now, unless you have something else you'd rather be doing, and I mean, you could see Toby and we could... hang out.”

Blaine nods quickly, almost comically. “Yeah! Yeah, no, that sounds great. I uh, I mean, I walked here, so...” Kurt nods in return.

“No, yeah, sure, I uh, you can ride with me and then-”

“I can take a cab home later,” Blaine finishes. Kurt smiles at him and Blaine feels like a million bucks.

“Yeah, sounds good. Um, shall we?” Blaine nods again, a huge grin plastered on his face, and Kurt leads him to his car.

Kurt starts the engine and the radio comes on playing a song from his high school days. Blaine beams. “Oh, I love this song!” he says, just as Kurt's about to apologize for the embarrassing music. Blaine sings along, bopping his head to the familiar beat and Kurt gets caught up in nostalgia, remembering himself singing this same song by himself in his room during high school, having no one to sing it with him.

He really, really would like to kiss Blaine. After spending so much time alone and after always wanting someone he could share things with—even things like dorky songs he loved back when he was sixteen—it was such a thrill to have Blaine around. He was virtually perfect, and it was becoming so difficult for Kurt to not just reach up and touch his face or tell him how beautiful he was when he smiled.

Kurt starts to sing along and Blaine nearly forgets to keep singing with him, stunned by the sound of Kurt's voice.

“You're great,” Blaine tells him when the song ends. “I mean, really, you could be a performer easily.”

“Yeah well, I guess it just wasn't in the cards for me,” Kurt shrugs, but blushes all the same. He pulls into a spot outside his apartment complex and Blaine follows him inside. Blaine wonders if he should feel so nervous and excited to be going to Kurt's place. It was just casual, after all. It didn't mean anything. And anyway, he wouldn't allow himself to even consider that it meant anything, after the whole date misconception. He'd already been embarrassed enough, even if Kurt hadn't realized Blaine's mix-up.

“Sorry, it's kind of a mess,” Kurt apologizes as he fiddles through his keychain, looking for the proper house key. It takes longer than it should for a keyring holding only two keys and three keychains, but Blaine makes him feel nervous and he can just feel Blaine's eyes on him...

“I'm sure it can't be any worse than the chaos that is my home,” Blaine laughs reassuringly. Kurt smiles and finally manages to open the door.

“Toby!” The fluffy cat is laying on his back on the floor wrapped up in one of Kurt's favorite scarves. Kurt sighs and drops his keys on a table inside the doorway before going to unravel his feline friend. “What did I tell you about messing with my scarves? This is a 90 dollar scarf, mister, and I don't think you can afford to replace it if your claws have their way with it.” He folds the scarf with care and places it on the coffee table before lifting the cat into his arms and kissing the back of his neck. “Always getting into trouble when I'm not around, aren't you?”

“Mrow!” Toby scrambles from Kurt's arms and prances over to Blaine who remains standing beside the sofa, watching Kurt interact with Toby with fondness. The cat clearly remembers Blaine, weaving between his legs and purring.

“Hey buddy,” Blaine laughs. “Did'ja miss me?” He crouches down to life Toby into his arms and the cat lets his eyes close as Blaine scratches between his ears. “He's clearly made himself at home here,” Blaine notes, glancing up at Kurt, who has the same soft look in his eyes Blaine's had just had.

“Yeah, he likes to give me a hard time, but he's my buddy,” Kurt smiles fondly, sitting on the couch with his legs crossed under him. Blaine sits beside him with Toby still in his arms. The grumpy cat no longer seems grumpy at all with Blaine around, and instead curls up like a loveable kitten in the man's lap.

“He sure is fond of you,” Kurt notes. Blaine laughs.

“Yeah well, we spent a lot of time together. I'm glad he's so happy here, though. You can tell he's a lot healthier than he was in the shelter.” He looks at Kurt with grateful eyes and Kurt feels his breath catch.

“So, do you want anything to drink or... anything? I have water, diet coke, lemonade...” Kurt hops off of the couch, needing to make himself busy before he does something stupid. Blaine shakes his head.

“Nah, I'm fine. Got anymore fun music, though? We can just hang out and talk for a while, if that's okay.” Kurt feels the heat rushing to his face again.

“Yeah, sure, let me go grab my iPod from my room.” He hurries to retrieve it.

Blaine stands, causing Toby to hop off of his lap, and looks around Kurt's living room. Above his television are a few photos of Kurt with friends. One with Rachel, his ex-roommate. One of him with the whole McKinley Glee club. One of him and people Blaine assumed were his parents and... brother?

Kurt walks back in, mp3 player in hand. “Got it! Now, what're you in the mood for? Cause I have a very wide selection.”

“Oh, it doesn't matter to me,” Blaine shrugs with a smile. Kurt scrolls through his playlists to find something suitable and Blaine continues looking around. “Your place is really nice,” he says.

“Oh, thanks! I decorated everything myself. Even when Rachel lived here, I didn't trust her aesthetic. She's sort of a five-year-old girl when it comes to decorating and I wasn't prepared to live in a pink cloud.” Blaine laughs. Kurt hooks his iPod up to the speakers of his stereo and turns back to face Blaine.

“There we go. I apologize for any embarrassing songs, since I'm sure there will be plenty of them.”

“Oh, it's no problem, we all have our guilty pleasures,” Blaine grins. Kurt rolls his eyes and steps towards where Blaine is—and promptly trips forward as Toby walks in front of him. “Careful!” Blaine says, catching Kurt as he falls. They both stumble and Blaine lands flat on his ass with Kurt half on top of him.

They regain their breath and Blaine reaches to brush Kurt's hair out of his face. Their eyes meet and they become very aware of the fact that their faces are mere inches apart. Kurt can count each of Blaine's beautiful dark eyelashes and Blaine can feel Kurt's breath mingling with his own. “I um,” Kurt says, voice much softer than he meant it to be. “Sorry, it was... the cat.”

“Yeah,” Blaine replies dumbly. “Stupid cat.”

And then they kiss.