Kurt was at work before he realized hed left his phone at home. It wasnt a big surprise, his mind had been very pleasantly occupied by other things this morning. It was annoying though because all day he wanted to text Blaine, but hed just have to wait until he got home.

It wasnt until he was almost done with work that he remembered Sebastian. Kurt froze at his desk, how could have he forgotten the guy hed just been out with the day before and who he had a coffee date with today? Actually, the answer to that question was easy. Blaine, that was how. Blaine who came to him last night. Blaine who was in love with him. Blaine who he was going to go on a date with this evening. He could hardly curb his excitement.

Yeah, he needed to talk to Sebastian.

Last night Kurt had been prepared to sleep with Sebastian, after their date they had made it all the way back to Sebs place and then onto his couch where Sebastian had crowded over him and theyd spent a good quarter of an hour making out. Then Seb suggested they take things to the bedroom and Kurt had lost his nerve again. He was so glad now that he did. Sebastian had been visibly irritated, but Kurt just made a quick excuse and ended up at home in a restless sleep when Blaine had come knocking on his door and changed everything.

Kurt needed to let Sebastian down easy so that he was truly free to be with Baine. He would meet Sebastian for coffee do his best to explain and then still have time to touch base with Blaine and see what their dinner plans were. He should feel bad about Sebastian, but he knew they werent exclusive and Sebastian was probably more interested in getting into his pants than he actually was in him. It would be fine.

He wasn't sure what Blaine's plans were – how they were going to work out this whole escort thing – but Blaine loved him and honestly that knowledge was crowding any other concern out of Kurt's head.

Kurt arrived at the coffee shop early and snagged a table by the window so he could look out across the street at Fairytale Press, he leaned on his hand and smiled as he pictured Blaine, bowtie clad and adorable, helping a customer, or cleaning the front, or shelving books. Kurt wanted to run across the street and kiss him silly, but he had to deal with Sebastian first.

Kurt didnt even look when the door to the shop chimed and still didnt look until someone standing by his table cleared his throat. He glanced up and his smiled grew even wider when he saw it was Blaine standing there looking down at him and shifting on his feet.

"Blaine!" He leaped out of the chair and gave him a hug, Blaine felt a little stiff but he held Kurt back. They broke apart and Kurt beamed at him. "Did you see me come in?"

"No." Baine shook his head. "You left your phone at your apartment this morning." He held it out for him to take and Kurt couldnt quiet read his expression but it seemed off. "I just wanted to give it back to you."

"Thank you." Kurt said still smiling and trying to figure out why Blaine wasnt, he couldnt have changed his mind about them since this morning.

"I was kind of… hoping you wouldnt be here." Blaine continued.

Kurt furrowed his brow, why would Blaine not want him here? Then again how did he know Kurt would be here at all- Oh god. "Blaine." Kurt started but didnt have a chance to finish.

"Ill go, I know your meeting your date.”

"No! Wait!" Kurt held Blaines arm so he wouldnt leave. "This isnt a date. Its just… Im breaking up with him. I didnt have my phone to call him, but I knew hed be here. Blaine, of course it isn't a date. I dont want Sebastian. I only want you."

"Sebastian." Blaine still looked bleak. "Sebastian Smythe. I know him."

"You know him?" Kurt didnt understand. "Here Blaine, sit with me, please."

Blaine sat down and started to look a little more at ease. "So youre really here to break up with him?"

"Of course." Kurt said letting a little play frustration show, he had just told Blaine he loved him this morning, there was no reason for Blaine to doubt him now. "I told you I loved you and I meant it, you really think Im here to date someone else? Blaine please." He huffed out a breath like it was the most ridiculous idea in the world because really it was.

Blaine started to smile little. "Sorry, this is still new. I'm not use to having someone… I dont…. I dont know what I was thinking."

"Its okay." Kurt said softly, worrying about the kind of self-doubt Blaine seemed to be struggling with that made him think Kurt would say he was in love with him and then turn around a few hours later and date someone else. Whatever was fueling that kind of doubt was something they would need to work on together.

Kurt reached to hold Blaine's hand over the table. "Now, how do you know Seb?"

Blaine stiffened a little. "We went to high school together."

"In Ohio? The private school you rarely talk about?"

"Sebastian is one of the reasons I dont like to talk about it. I ran from my old school and then…. Even at Dalton I wasnt brave enough to stand up to him. Ive… Ive never been brave enough to do what I should do."

"He bullied you?" Kurts heart started feeling tight in his chest.

"No – it wasnt that easy. Dalton had a zero tolerance bulling policy. He was more subtle, he just spent three years trying to convince me to sleep with him." Blaine met his eyes. "I always said no. He made it hard on me, turning people against me… He made me feel…" Blaine trailed off and glanced away like he couldn't look at Kurt and talk about this at the same time. “He made me feel like I wasn't worth anything if I wasn't good for sex and…”

Kurt waited for him to finish that thought but when it was clear he wasn't going to continue Kurt squeezed his hand to get his attention. "Blaine." Kurts stomach hurt, all this time hed been going out with someone who had made Baines life harder, who had hurt him in some way. He hated that. "I am so sorry."

Blaine finally looked at him and gave him a small true smile. "It isnt your fault it was just a shock today – to see him texting you."

Kurt squeezed their clasped hands again. "Im going to meet him this once to tell him I'm not seeing him anymore and then it's you and me, Blaine."

Blaine's smile widened and opened his mouth to respond when their little happy bubble was burst by someone walking up to their table.

"Well isnt this a crazy surprise."

Kurt glanced away from Blaine to see Sebastian looking down at them with his hands casually in his pockets and a smirk on his face. "Here I come to meet my date only to find him holding hands with some other guy?"

Kurt would feel bad, except at the moment he was too furious at Sebastian for what hed done to Baine in high school. "Sebastian, I need to-" He didnt get to finish his thought though as Sebastians eyes landed on Blaine.

"Oh my god." His face broke out into a sly smile. "Blaine? Blaine Anderson?"

Blaine cleared his throat and wiggled his hands away from Kurts, Kurt wanted to keep hold of him, but knew he needed to let Blaine do what was most comfortable for him right now. "Smythe." Blaine responded coolly.

"What the hell? I cannot believe this coincidence." Sebastian was grinning at him as if he didnt notice the scowls both Blaine and Kurt were sending him.

"Yeah." Kurt said coolly. "We were just talking about how we both know you."

"Oh no." Sebastian pulled up a chair from a nearby table and sat in it backwards leaning his arms across the back. "It is way more than that, though the fact that you two know each other is wild, I was just looking Baine up! I heard you moved to New York."

"Why in the world would you want to look me up?" Blaine asked his arms crossed over his chest and making himself as small as possible in his chair. Kurt didnt like seeing him that way.

"Oh you know." Sebastian said with an eyebrow arch and a wink. "For old time sake. So… are you two together?" He said gesturing back and forth from Blaine to Kurt.

"Listen Sebastian.” Kurt cut in. “The only reason I was meeting you here today to was to-”
 
"Oh god!" Sebastian interrupted by throwing his head back as he started to laugh. "Here I was hoping youd suggest a threesome." He looked at Kurt and his smiled faded, his face looking cold. "But youre trying to break up arent you? Youre going to break up with me with your new boy toy sitting here?"

"Im sorry." Kurt said feeling railed up and not sounding sorry at all. "I didnt mean for it to happen this way. But Blaine isnt my boy toy and you and I were never serious, you said yourself we weren't exclusive."

"Wait." Sebastian leaned forward to talk to Kurt, completely ignoring Blaine, "You arent…” His eyes roamed down Kurt's body making him feel uncomfortable. “You don't have a side job do you, Kurt? Because I could make that work." His smirk had turned into a leer now and the way he leaned in shut Blaine off from the conversation all together.

Kurt ignored that for the moment, he just wanted to get rid of Sebastian, "A side job?" He honestly had no idea what he was talking about.

"All of this time Ive been trying to get you in bed with me and is it true that I could have just… paid for it?"

"What?" It took a moment for Kurt to understand what Sebastian was saying. He thought Kurt was for hire. "No! Never! Im not like that." He felt disguised by the idea of having sex with Sebastian, he honestly couldn't believe that just yesterday he'd been working up the nerve to do just that. 

"Hmmm." Sebastian hummed still looking at Kurt like he was a piece of meat. How did Blaine stand that? Did he have clients that looked at him this way?

"You should go Sebastian." Blaine said, and Kurt glanced at him worriedly because something was wrong with his voice, it sounded choked off.

"Oh should I? Am I interfering on Kurts paid time? Has he purchased you for the evening?"

Kurts eyes winded and his throat felt clogged with anger. "You cant talk to him like that!"

"Of course I can." Sebastian said waving his hand in the air breezily. "Like I said I looked him up. Dont you know what he does?"

"Just go, Seb." Blaine forced out.

"I know what youre saying." Kurt seethed. "And I dont care."

"You dont care? You dont care that hes a whore?"

Kurt sprung to his feet. "He isnt! How dare you. You are a slimy little snob that dresses like an obnoxious frat boy stuck in his bygone glory days and you need to leave."

"Oh please." Sebastian rolled his eyes. "You said you knew what he did, why get all upset when I say the word out loud? I found his escort listing just this morning. He gets paid to fuck strangers. Thats pretty much the definition of a whore."

Kurts fist were balled and his was shaking head-to-toe. No one got to talk about Blaine like that. By now Sebastian had his phone out and was scrolling through, he stood to hold it up to Kurts face. "See, one of New Yorks finest whores."

Kurt looked down to see Blaines profile on the escort site. "Get out of here." Kurt said in a low steely voice, "Go now."

Blaine stood now as well, he moved between them, his back to Sebastian ignoring him. "Kurt, its okay. I dont care what he says about me. I should have never cared." He held out his hand to Kurt and Kurt took it and squeezed when he found it trembling.

Blaine led him to the exit and away from Sebastian without a glance or word for him.

"Fine you can go." Sebastian said following them out. "I still cant believe my luck, all that time and effort put into trying to loosen your tight pants back in school and now Im finally going to get what I want."

That made Kurt spin around, still clinging to Blaines hand.

"See." Sebastian smiled wickedly as he held up his phone. "Ill just book your ass for tonight. See you then, lover." He winked as he started to walk pass them.

"How – You cant just – he doesnt –" Kurt sputtered far too angry to complete a sentence.

Blaine just sighed wearily beside him. "It wont work Sebastian. Ill just call the agency and turn you down. I never have to take a job I dont want. And Im sorry, but Ive never wanted you."

Anger flashed across Sebastians eyes. He drew close using his height to look down at Blaine in fury, but he didnt speak until he turned to Kurt. "Doesnt matter, if it isnt me it will eventually be someone else. How do you manage to stand that Kurt? Knowing if not tonight than soon, someone else is going to fuck his ass? Someone like me."

Kurt opened his mouth but no sound came out and his stomach dropped, he glanced at Blaine blankly and then back to Sebastian as he walked away.

Kurt felt like there was a cold lump in his stomach as images of Blaine he really didn't want to imagine started streaming through his mind.

Blaine tugged on his hand making him move. "Come on, Kurt. Can we go back to my place?"

Kurt nodded, anger still thrumming through him. He followed Blaine across the street and up to his apartment. It wasnt until he was sitting down on Blaines sofa in his cozy little place before he started breathing evenly again. "I cant believe him. What an… an ass!" Kurt fumed as Blaine sat next to him and scooted close.

"Kurt, I dont want to talk about Sebastian, he is out of our lives and his words don't mean anything anymore."

"But he called you a-"

"Ive been called worse." Blaine said solemnly and that didnt make Kurt feel better at all. "We do need to talk about something though…"

Blaines face was so serious that it made Kurts hairs stand on end, he wasnt going to like what Blaine said next, he could tell.

"He wasnt wrong about what I do. And you said it yourself when he implied you were an escort as well. You arent like that. But I am."

"I didnt mean – I was trying to say I wouldnt sleep with him, not that I thought there was anything wrong with what you do." Kurt tried to explain. “It wasn't a judgement on you.”

Blaine nodded, still sitting close enough for their shoulders to touch, but he was stiff and kept his hands folded on his knees. "Still, you wouldn't ever do what I do. I was desperate and needed the money… but you, in my shoes you would have found a different way. You never would have become this.”

“Blaine, I have no idea what I would do in your shoes… I know things were hard with school and your family.”

Blaine nodded again but he didn't seem convinced. He let out a long breath and then cleared his throat. “Yeah… but the thing is, I make a little money at the bookshop and working there means I get to live here, but it isnt enough. Without my job as an escort I dont make enough to get by on."

"Im not asking you to quit." Kurt assured him, though in all honestly he really wished Blaine would. “But is it really just the money that keeps you doing this? Because if it is the money maybe you could find something else.”

“I send money home. Did you know that?”

Kurt lifted a brow in surprise and shook his head. He and Blaine had talked about almost everything under the stars, except Blaine's home. He didn't really bring that up.

“After my Dad's business failed he and mom split up. Cooper's acting career was doing well so he paid for Dalton, but he isn't booking that much anymore and my whole family is struggling. We have so much to pay off from when my parents did have money… and…” He stopped and rubbed his head like he was getting a headache. “My dad skipped out, we don't know where he is, so I send money home to help my mom. I also really want to pay Coop back for Dalton… and living in New York on top of that, it's a lot.

“Oh Blaine.” Kurt said his voice hitching and thinking of his own father. He would do anything for his dad so he understood Blaine's need to be there for his family.

“That's why I had to give everything up. Cooper was pursuing his dream and I don't blame him for that, but if both of us did that then who would support my mom?” Blaine looked pained as he continued. “So yes, it really is just about the money. Because honestly, working as an escort is very good money. Besides… even if it wasn't for that…”

Kurt wanted to tell him there were other ways, that what he was doing for his mother was noble, but he was carrying too much on his shoulders. He knew though that before he said anything he needed to hear Blaine out. “Even if it wasn't for you mom?” Kurt prompted.

“I'm not really good at anything else.” Blaine sighed and looked him in the eye with a resigned expression. “I can sing and dance which makes no money at all. And I can work as an escort… and I'm good at it Kurt. I don't even know what else I would do. I'm not good for anything else.”

“Don't.” Kurt breathed out, his heart aching. “Don't say that. It isn't true.”

Blaine just shrugged, like he didn't agree. “The problem is that I need this job, at least for now, but I don't know how to date you and do this at the same time. I am going to have clients, Im going to have days and evenings I cant spend with you because Im with someone else."

"Everyone has jobs." Kurt said desperately trying to ward off what he felt was coming.

"You know it isnt the same thing. Ill be with other men. Ill be sleeping with them not just you, could you actually handle that?"

"Yes." Kurt said resolutely even as his stomach churned at the thought. It would hurt, it would hurt a lot, but it would still be better than not being with Blaine at all. If this was really his only way to be with Blaine, if he had to wait for Blaine to realize he didn't have to keep doing this, he could do that. Couldn't he?

Blaine sighed and as Kurt looked at him carefully, he suddenly looked older than his years, there was a weariness in Blaine's eyes that was usually masked by his infectious smile. "I remember everything about that night at Cure when you saw me with Dan- with a client." Blaine said. “Your eyes. Your voice. The way you looked at me like I had stabbed you.”

Kurt held his hands together so tight his knuckles were white.

"The look on your face… Ive never seen you so broken and knowing that I made you feel that way – and I saw it on your face again today with Sebastian. Realizing what he was saying was true. I cant do that to you. I can't make you feel what I was feeling last night when I thought you were with someone else. I can't."

"I can handle it." Kurt said but his voice trembled, seeing Blaine with that client had been a kick to the stomach and the thought of him with someone else made him ill.

"Maybe you could handle it for a while, but it would get between us eventually. This job of mine, it isnt something I can't do and have a healthy relationship – maybe some people could… I dont think we can. Sebastian may be an ass, but what he said did make me realize what Id be putting you through."

"But Blaine-" Kurt wanted to argue, he wanted to insist they could do this, but he didnt know what to say. "…I love you."

Blaine looked like he was in pain, "I love you too, which is why I dont want to hurt you, and us being together will hurt you."

"I thought… this morning everything was perfect and I thought we were actually going to be together. And now youre telling me we cant? I want to work this out and you are saying that we can't even try? Do you honestly think this isnt hurting me?" Kurts eyes stung and he wiped them with the back of his hand determined not to cry.

Blaine looked like he was on the verge of tears as well as he leaned forward to bump his forehead against Kurts and spoke so quietly it was as if the words were hurting his throat. "I dont want to hurt you at all, but I honestly believe it will hurt less now than breaking up later. I need to do this, the easy thing would be to just be with you while we can, but in the end wed resent each other and damage each other because of what I do for a living. For once in my life Im going to be brave and do what I know I should… and let you go."

"Blaine." Kurt didnt know what to say, and he didnt have a chance to say anything anyway as Blaine kissed him, tender and slow and a little salty from tears. Then he stood from the couch and walked to his front door.

"We should probably not see each other, for a little while at least."

“You're kicking me out?” Kurt said feeling stunned, everything was going so wrong so fast.

“Kurt, I just… I can't,” The last word came out broken and Blaine looked on the verge of crumbling. Then he looked Kurt steadily in the eyes, his shoulders squared. “I'm trying to do the right thing. You should go.”

Kurts emotions were a swirl inside of him, hurt and anger and confusion and so much love for this man who was currently ripping his heart out. He could see it in Blaines eyes though, a kind of steely determination that made Kurt want to scream. Blaine wasnt going to back down from this. Not now at least.

Kurt got up slowly from the couch and walked to the door.

"Im so sorry, Kurt." Blaine couldnt even look at him and his voice was shaking.

Kurt placed a hand on Blaines arm and leaned in to kiss his cheek. He wasn't giving up on them, not yet. He would give Blaine space, but this was not the end. "Im here when youre ready to see me again."

With that Kurt walked outside, down the stairs and then stood on the sidewalk outside of Fairytale Press. He glanced up at Blaine's closed apartment door with his broken heart aching in his chest.