The next morning, Kurt awoke slowly, having slept peacefully and without waking for the first time in a long time. He rubs at his eyes and tries to remember if last night with Blaine really happened or if it was just an extremely vivid dream. He reaches for his phone, pulls up his contacts and sees Blaine's name right below Anne's. So, it did really happen. Kurt smiles and touches his lips as he remembers Blaine's kisses. Plural. His eyes catch on the time on his phone's display and he runs to the bathroom when he sees how late it is. He has to be at work in twenty minutes.

He takes the world's fastest shower, styles his hair as best he can in the time he had left, throws on his uniform and is down the stairs fifteen minutes later. He runs into the shop and punches in just in time. He grabs an apron and joins Anne out front.

"Good morning, Kurt," she says with an exaggerated leer.

"Morning, Anne," he replies calmly, completely ignoring the fact that she probably saw him dancing and then leaving with Blaine last night.

"Looks like you had a rough night," she said.

"Not at all," Kurt replied. "Just forgot to set my alarm, so I overslept."

Luckily, he was saved from any more conversation by a sudden rush of customers. By this time, they were a well-oiled machine with Anne taking the orders and Kurt and Jeff making the drinks and getting the pastries.

Kurt looked up, surprised when Jeff called out, "Blaine!" He'd been so busy he hadn't even seen Blaine come in. Blaine caught his eye and motioned that he would waiting at a table. That was fine. Kurt could do this. Blaine had said he wanted to be Kurt's friend, regardless of how much kissing they had done. So, it was fine.

Once there was a break in the rush, Kurt grabbed a dishrag and headed out to the dining room under the guise of wiping down the table and picking up trash. He moved around casually, not at all rushing over to where Blaine was sitting.

"Hi," Kurt said quietly.

"Hi," Blaine said, with a bright smile. "What time do you get off?"

"Um, four?"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes," Kurt said with a laugh.

"Great. If you don't have any plans after that, I would like to come back and pick you up."

"What, um, what did you have in mind?"

"I thought we could go for a walk, and then maybe get some dinner if it gets late enough."

"Would it… would it be a date?"

"It doesn't have to be," Blaine said. "From what you said last night, I got the impression you haven't seen much of this lovely city and I would like to be your first official tour guide, if you'll let me."

"Okay," Kurt said, with a nod.

"Great. I'll see you at four."

Blaine stood, squeezing Kurt's forearm in a comforting gesture before leaving. Kurt plopped down in the chair Blaine had just vacated as he tried to get his breathing under control.

"I told you!"

Kurt started and whipped around to see Anne in the other chair at the table.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kurt insisted.

"Oh, shut up. I saw you two dancing together last night and you totally left with him."

"He's just… He's a friend, I guess, okay?"

"Yeah. But you want to be more than friends, don't you?" she said poking him in the arm. "Come on. You can tell me."

"Oh my God! Okay!" he cried, pulling his arm out of her reach. "Just stop. Well, I mean, yeah, who wouldn't? But, whatever." He just shrugged as he stood and went back to the kitchen.

"What do you mean, 'whatever'? He totally wants to hit that," Anne said, smacking his ass.

"Do you have to be so crude about it?" he replied, swatting her hand away.

This was the problem with New York. Everyone just wanted it quick and dirty. Kurt was convinced that romance was completely dead.

"Excu-use me," she drawled. "You need to lighten up, okay? And I don't just mean get laid, although that would help. But you're wound so tight all the time that if you don't let go even a little bit, this city will snap you. And I like you too much to see you break like that."

"You like me?" Kurt asked.

"Um, yeah? Why do you think I ask you to go out with us all the time?"

"I guess I just thought you felt sorry for me."

"Maybe a little at first," she admitted. "But then you did let some things out, and, well, you're a pretty cool kid, Kurt Hummel."

At that, Kurt had to laugh. "I'm pretty sure I've never been cool a day in my life."

"I guess you'll just have to trust me then when I say you are."

She headed back to the front before Kurt could argue with her. He shook his head and turned around to start loading the dishwasher. People in New York were nuts.

---

Soon enough, four o'clock rolled around and Blaine breezed back into the shop. Kurt smiled and motioned that he would be back in a second. He just had to go hang up his apron and punch out and he would be ready to go. He took his time, though, still trying to wrap his head around what was happening.

This isn't a date, he said to himself. It was just a friend showing him around the city. He could totally do that.

He hurried out front once his mind was set and he saw Blaine waiting by the door, two cups of coffee in hand. He passed one to Kurt and took a sip of the other. Kurt took a taste and was surprised to get a mouthful of his usual mocha.

"I asked what your usual was," Blaine said, as if reading Kurt's mind. "Is it okay?"

"Yeah," Kurt said quickly. "Yes, thank you. You didn't have to do that."

"It's nothing," Blaine said, leading them out the door. "So, is there anything in particular you want to see?"

"Would it be horribly cheesy of me to say Times Square?"

"Not at all! I love it there. All the lights and the people. You can really feel the pulse of the city there."

Blaine steered them to a nearby subway stop and Kurt had to once more confess his ignorance at having never ridden the subway before. But instead of being frustrated with him, Blaine just seemed to get even more excited and talked Kurt through buying the card and making sure it had enough money on it for the return trip.

Blaine kept babbling away about inconsequential things as they rumbled along underneath the city. Kurt sipped his mocha and tried not to make eye contact with anyone.

About fifteen minutes and a handful of stops later, Blaine pulled Kurt to his feet and they pushed their way out of the car and up the stairs. Kurt was concentrating so hard on no getting trampled and the feeling of Blaine's hand in his, that it took Kurt a few moments to notice they were finally back above ground. Once he looked up, though, he just stopped dead in his tracks. It was… beautiful.

Kurt let himself be pulled along and out of the way as he kept looking around. Blaine had been right; it was so alive here. The lights, the people, the sounds, the smells. It should have been overwhelming, but just the fact that Blaine was with him made everything okay.

"This is…" Kurt said. Overwhelming, amazing, brilliant, big.

"I know, right?" Blaine said, smiling brilliantly at Kurt. "Come on."

Blaine tugged Kurt's hand and dragged them all over Times Square – the stores, the lights, the marquees, they saw it all. Blaine even dragged him through the giant Hershey's store where he bought so much candy, Kurt almost went into a sugar coma just looking at it.

"For late night cram sessions," Blaine explained.

After they were done there, they walked a few blocks away to the Stardust Diner. It was a throwback to the 1950s complete with singing wait staff.

"This is amazing, Blaine," Kurt said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Blaine replied. "I'm glad you decided to come out with me."

"So am I."

After the waitress too their order, they settled back and just talked about anything and everything. Somehow, the topic of Blaine's modeling came up and Kurt couldn't help asking.

"How did you get started with that?" Kurt asked. "I'm sorry. That was… You don't have to tell me."

"No. No it's fine. It's one of those friend of a friend who knows a guy stories that pretty much only happen in movies and not in real life," Blaine said with a laugh. "My roommate is an art major and last semester he had a photography class. One of their assignments was a nude portrait and he asked if I wanted to be his model. Having gone to Dalton, you very quickly get used to being around other people in every state of undress all the time, so I was very comfortable with my body, so I agreed. Then his teacher really liked it, I guess and gave him a card for a friend of his who does the photography for that site to pass on to me. So, I talked to the guy and here we are."

"Isn't it weird, though, being naked like that in front of other people?"

"Not for me," Blaine shrugged. "I know how the pictures are going to be used and the whole crew and all the other models are really nice. It's a good atmosphere, really."

"The other models?"

"Oh yeah. Whenever there's a shoot, everyone is there. It's really busy and fun. There's food and music and everyone teasing each other."

"That sounds interesting."

"Yeah. It was a little overwhelming at first, but you get used to it."

Kurt was cut-off from replying by the arrival of their food. He had a hard enough time looking at his own naked body in the mirror that he couldn't even imagine being naked in front of that many people.

Luckily, Blaine steered the conversation back to more neutral topics as they ate – his classes and friends, the clubs he was a part of. A small part of Kurt was feeling a little jealous that Blaine seemed to fit in so easily. It should have been him, but he was too much of a coward to do anything.

"Have you given any thought to going back to school?" Blaine asked.

"I, um," Kurt said, pausing with his fork hovering in mid-air. When he first go to New York, of course he'd been obsessed with his dreams of grandeur and college had occasionally featured in them, but it had been so long that he had just given up.

"Um, maybe?" Kurt said, eventually.

"I was just wondering if maybe on your next day off, you might like to come see NYU? You can come to my classes with me, meet some of the teachers. What do you think?"

"Can I get back to you on that?" This was the most he'd been out in months. He wasn't sure he was quite ready for a day at college.

"Yeah, sure. Of course."

"Okay. Thanks."

"No problem. You ready to go?" Blaine asked.

Kurt nodded and wiped his mouth one last time. Blaine waved off his attempts to contribute to the bill.

"I asked you to come out with me, so this is my treat," he said. "You can get the next one."

Kurt nodded and smiled to himself at the possibility of there being a next time.

The two boys were silent as they made their way back to the subway, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Blaine was still holding Kurt's hand firmly, but loosely. Hand holding seemed like a very date thing to do, even though Blaine had said that was up to him. Not that he minded, quite the opposite, in fact. The only thing that still had Kurt worried was why Blaine was doing this. On one hand, Blaine did seem genuinely interested in him. On the other, Kurt didn't really have the best track record when it came to guys. Well, it was more like no track record. So, part of Kurt couldn't help but worry that Blaine just felt sorry for him.

Soon enough, they were back at Kurt's stop and they headed down the block to Kurt's building.

"So," Kurt said, twirling his keys in the palm of his hand.

"Did you have a good time?" Blaine asked.

"I, yeah," Kurt said. "I had a really good time on our date."

"So, this was a date then?"

"Well, you did pay for dinner," Kurt teased.

"I see how it is," Blaine said. "You only like me for the food I can buy you."

"You caught me," Kurt said with a laugh.

"So, if this was our first date, is there going to be a second?"

"I think I would like that a lot."

"Good. I would, too."

Kurt stood there, smiling dumbly at Blaine and noticed when Blaine's gaze dropped to his lips. He sucked in a breath and his heart started pounding with what he knew was coming. Blaine leaned in, his eyes falling closed and, at the last minute, Kurt turned his head slightly so Blaine's lips connected with his cheek instead of his lips. When Blaine pulled back, Kurt couldn't help notice the slight disappointment on his face.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry. I just-"

"No, it's fine," Blaine interrupted. "Really. I'll never pressure you into doing anything you're not ready for."

"Thank you," Kurt said. "You're really kind of wonderful, you know?"

"Oh, pfft," Blaine said, blushing.

It was so adorable; Kurt couldn't help but lean in and press a gentle kiss to Blaine's cheek. The smile on Blaine's face as Kurt pulled back was totally worth it. Blaine was turning out to be exactly the kind of guy Kurt had always hoped for, but never thought he'd actually get.

"I'll call you tomorrow," Kurt said.

"I'll be waiting."

Kurt turned to walk up the stairs to his building. Once he had the door open, he turned around and saw Blaine still standing where Kurt had left him. Kurt waved and couldn't help laughing at the dorky wave Blaine gave him in return. He slowly headed inside and up the stairs to his apartment. He went straight to his room and fell down on his bed, burying his face in his pillow and letting out a squeal of happiness.

Eventually, he rolled over and grabbed his phone. His good mood fell immediately as he realized he had no one to call to share the good news with.

Maybe it was time for the new and improved Kurt Hummel to finally meet New York.

TBC…..