Kurt was standing there, totally dumbfounded. What was even going on?

“What?” he asked a bit later as it turned out that the one and only Blaine Anderson was still waiting for his reply.

“You have a pretty face, good structure…” Blaine trailed of as he was still walking around Kurt who felt like a stray dog who was about to be adopted from the shelter.

“I don’t really care about your sexuality. You can be gay, straight, metrosexual, for all I care, but you need to apologize for insulting my parents, now! Also, you still need to give me the fees of the repair.”

“Have a talk with me!” Blaine said suddenly, grabbing Kurt’s hands and pulling him after himself though Kurt tried to protest.

He ended up next to a table, anyway and now Blaine was typing something on his laptop.

Contract for Employment.

“What are you doing now?”

“Didn’t you ask for money? I’m giving you the money.”

“If you’re giving me money, you should open your wallet and not your laptop. And before doing anything else, you need to apologize for insulting my parents.”

“Fine. I apologize. Okay, now?” he said, still staring at his computer.

“No. Look into my eyes, say it again and this time, mean it.”

It took Blaine two more tries but finally, he managed to produce a decent apology.

“Name?”

“Why do you even need this?”

“Name?” Blaine asked again, in a raised voice, so that was probably the reason why he gave in: “Kurt Hummel.” Then he gave his ID number, and then, he asked again: “Why do you need these, anyway?”

“I can tell that you need the money, so I’m getting you a job. But I don’t trust you, so I need your data. Why?”

“What job is it?”

“Fake lover.”

“Whose fake lover?”

“Mine.”

“But…but, you look good, why would you…?” Kurt stumbled over the words not quite processing the whole picture yet. “But you do have a lover, right? The girl, I saw you with… whose bag was stolen… Isn’t she the one?”

“She is not someone you should mention so casually.” The both fell silent for a bit, then, Blaine said, in a much calmer voice: “You need to appear wherever my matchmaking dates take place. Just pretend to be my lover, and that’s it. Do you want to do it or not?”

Kurt was turning the idea in his head. It wasn’t really an ideal job, but what could he do?

“As long as you pay me, I guess it’s not anything difficult to do. But I need advance payment.”

They argued over the price and Kurt ended up settling for far less then he’d initially wanted so he’d charge extra for clothing, food, and each instance of physical touching on an “a la carte” basis (charging per each touch to the face, shoulder, waist, etc). He was desperate so he agreed to do this but he needed a safety-net as well. When he asked for the money in advance, Blaine gave it to him, this time.

Kurt even got a ride to the subway. He was having fun in that car though Blaine wouldn’t let him touch anything first. But Kurt was tricky, so he managed not only to turn on the radio but to raise the top of the convertible car as well.

He knew Blaine had fun with him – he did catch him smiling at the things he was doing – so he just let go of Blaine’s final warning (“If you’re one minute late tomorrow, the whole thing is off.”), thanked him for the ride and went to catch his ride.

Blaine was standing, leaning to a tree in the park. He was admiring the view from afar – and by view, I mean Brit. She was sitting on the ground and drawing pictures with children chatting around her. She looked so damn beautiful.

He smiled and started walking closer.

“Is it already time to eat?” he asked as he was approaching her. She got off the ground, smiling at him.

“You haven’t eaten, right? I’ve prepared meatballs.” She was now fussing with the food containers so she couldn’t see that his smile fell.

“I don’t eat meatballs. I’ve mentioned it many times.” She stopped moving and looked at him. There was an anxious expression on her face. “Really?”

“When you asked to meet me here, I already knew.” He was staring at the ground. This was uncomfortable but nothing new.

“What are you talking about?”

“Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“To the owner of those meatballs.”

“I’m here to see you.”

“You’re lying to me, again and again.” He took her hand and quietly led her to Artie’s place.

Artie was cycling on his way home when he heard someone calling. It turned out; it was the young boy who delivered milk to his house. He ended up sitting at a bench together with the young man. It wasn’t like he had to rush home to do more important things, was it?

“You must be upset for calling you Bailey’s owner.” He was referring back to the way he had shouted after him but Artie was everything but upset.

“I’m Artie Abrahams.” The guy shook his hand and stated with a friendly smile that he was Kurt Hummel. They started eating ice cream as Kurt had some with him.

“What happened with pride and money?” Artie asked, remembering Kurt’s question. He looked genuinely interested so Kurt tried to answer correctly saying he was going back and forth between the two.

“Did you ever feel that way?” Kurt asked in a contemplating way.

“I’m not sure… But recently, I have a friend like that. He is… No, forget it.”

“What were you going to say?” they sat there in silence and then Kurt added: “If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to.”

Artie still didn’t start talking so Kurt concentrates on his ice-cream. Artie watching him with a disbelieving look on his face, and then he casually wiped off some of the dessert from Kurt’s face. Kurt doesn’t know what to make of it, so he asks instead:

“Can you tell me more about your friend? I’m very curious.”

“It’s nothing much.”

“Tell me.”

“He had a woman he loved very much. But she left a year ago.”

“Did they break up or was he jilted?”

“Both, I guess. No. I think it should be the second because she had another man.”

“And then?”

“Then, after a year, she reappeared, like magic. So I guess, now he is struggling over whether they should start over again.”

“He must be really angry…. I’m just going to use Mr. A. and Miss B. for them, okay? Now, is Mr. A. still in love with Miss B.?”

“I don’t know about that.”

“How could you not know? If you miss her and want to hear her voice; that shows that you still love her. Put your hand to your heart and answer.”

Artie couldn’t respond to this because Kurt’s phone was ringing and he said he needed to go. He promised they’d finish later and with that he went running home.

Artie was walking home in a much slower pace. He had had a good time with Kurt – it had been really refreshing for him.

When he got home he saw Blaine and Brit waiting for him in front of the gate. Blaine said goodbye and left quickly, not wanting to disturb Brit and Artie.

Artie was speechless. All he could do was to get inside of the garden, inside of the house and hopefully, under his bed.

“I broke up with Mike.”

“I know. You’re famous, I read about it in the paper.”

“I’d like to start over with you.”

Artie didn’t say anything, just looked at her for a bit, then went inside and closed the door. Brit was standing there, not moving, willing to stop her tears from falling. She couldn’t move. And what a lucky thing it was, as a few minutes later, the door was opening. Artie came out, grabbed her wrist and pulled her in the garden. She dragged her in the house, and then he let her hand go. He kissed her on the mouth hard.