"Wake up, time to shop," Kurt said leaning over the mass of curls and trying to find Blaine's face. Kurt smiled widely. Blaine's hair really was impressive.

Blaine rolled over sleepily, images and memories from the night before flashing before his closed eyes. He opened them dreamily and looked at Kurt's face, but then his mind registered with what Kurt had just said and he frowned. The word ‘shopping' did not bring him any happy images.

"Now, if you have any trouble using this card, have them call the hotel," Kurt instructed handing over the shiny piece of plastic.

"More shopping?" Blaine sighed begrudgingly. It was definitely not the first thing on his list of things that he wanted to do today.

"Uhmm, I'm surprised you didn't buy more yesterday," Kurt replied watching Blaine closely.

"It wasn't as much fun as I thought it was going to be," Blaine told him holding the card loosely in his hand. He really wanted to just give it back to Kurt. Reluctantly he admitted, "They were mean to me."

"Mean to you?" Kurt asked, his eyebrows rising in surprise.

*** 

Blaine thought the day was glorious. The sun was shining brightly and a cool breeze kept the temperature from getting too high. With Kurt beside him he really did think that he could accomplish anything, even if it did only mean the accomplishment of buying new clothes. He liked being in the confined space of Kurt's car when it was just the two of them.

As they pulled to a stop outside a new store and climbed out however, Blaine started to note the passer-by's stares.

"People are looking at me," he whined wanting to disappear into the pavement. His scruffy look, while still very sexy, was out of place here.

"They're not looking at you, they're looking at me," Kurt returned, elegantly buttoning up his jacket.

‘And that's meant to make me feel better?' Blaine thought to himself.

"The stores are not nice to people, I don't like it," Blaine continued to complain as he looked over at the shop's display window.

"Stores are never nice to people," Kurt explained watching Blaine as he played with the corner of his shirt. "They're nice to credit cards. Ok...Stop fidgeting and get rid of your gum."

Blaine didn't answer but brought the gum to the front of his mouth and with a loud pop, he spat the gum out from his mouth. It flew through the air with an impressive arch narrowly missing a woman who was walking past.

Kurt's mouth dropped open and he shook his head mortified. "I can't believe you just did that!"

Blaine flashed him a cheeky grin. Kurt didn't respond and instead, he grabbed Blaine's arm and pulled him into the shop.

*** 

The manager of the store was, as could be expected, an asshole. This time however, Blaine loved every moment of it because Kurt was amazing. He glided into the shop with confidence and authority that Blaine could only dream of having. Kurt didn't even have to speak. He stood with his shoulders strong, his hand casually in one pocket and a slight little frown on his face as if this little boutique store would not cut it. His presence alone demanded that he had everyone's attention including the store manager's.

"You see this handsome young man before you," Kurt began surveying the items on display while he pointed to Blaine. "Do you have anything in this store as handsome as him?"

Blaine couldn't help but strike a pose behind Kurt.

"Oh yes!" The manager stopped short and tried to regain his composure. "Oh no! No, no, no, I'm saying we have many things as handsome as he would want them to be. That was the point I was getting at."

"You know what we're going to need here," Kurt said becoming impatient already. He pulled the manager across the floor by his arm, Blaine watching on in amazement.

"We're going to need more people helping us out. I'll tell you why," and Kurt looked at the range of clothes again. "We're going to be spending an obscene amount of money in here. So, we're going to need a lot more help sucking up to us because that's what we really like."

"Excuse me sir," the store manager stuttered politely seeing the dollars signs in front of his face as the greed filled him. He just couldn't help himself and had to ask. "Exactly how obscene is the amount of money you were talking about? Profane or really offensive?"

"Really offensive!"

"I like you so much..." The store manager gushed before he rushed back to Blaine.

After those few stilted comments, Kurt had the store owner sitting on a sofa explaining their detailed catalogue to Blaine. He stared at the pictures in confusion, not knowing where to start but Kurt stayed with him, conducting his business but still offering support and his personal opinions. He was, after all in the fashion industry himself wanting to purchase Santana's magazine, so Blaine decided to agree with everything that Kurt decided on.

After an hour where Blaine had enjoyed trying on a variety of outfits from casual to semi-formal to cocktail attire, Kurt approached him with some unfortunate news. Santana it seemed had come up with another defense and Kurt was going to have to return to the office.

"You're on your own. I have to go back to work," Kurt told Blaine softly, stroking him down the arm and making Blaine have to fight against the urge to shiver. "You look great," Kurt continued leaning in close so only Blaine could hear. Blaine stared up at him quite in disbelief that Kurt was doing this for him. Their gazes lingered and then Kurt rose to leave.

The shopping spree continued and before Blaine knew it, he had been fitted with an extensive range of outfits. He really did have a whole new wardrobe. He stared at the sales assistant before him and spied the tie that hung around his neck.

"Kurt would love that tie!" He stated and Blaine couldn't believe that he was actually asking the store clerk for his very own tie but the thought of seeing it around Kurt's neck was too much to resist.

"Give him the tie!" the store manager ordered.

"Kurt would just go crazy over this tie!" Blaine exclaimed and then, as if the day couldn't get any better, the lovely smell of a warm pizza greeted his nostrils. The store manager was far from amused.

"Who ordered pizza?!"

Blaine's face shone with happiness and as he took the tie into his hands, a devilish smile came to his face as he came up with the best way to give it to Kurt.

*** 

"You were right about Santana," Rachel said rubbing her hands together. They had just finished, yet again, another meeting where Rachel had filled Kurt in, in full, on Santana's latest movements. "She's mortgaged everything she owns to secure a loan from the bank. So, it goes without saying, the bank likes you more, so all you gotta do is call the bank." A big grin filled Rachel's face but instead of making her look beautiful (and she was a beautiful woman) the lust of the money gave her an ugly edge.

Kurt looked away from Rachel's sadistic leer and picked up a glass. He held it in his hands and examined its edges and surface, his eyes eventually becoming unfocused as his thoughts wandered. He placed it gently on the table in front of him and remained silent.

Rachel looked away in disgust and couldn't handle it any longer. "Kurt, excuse me for saying this, but what the hell is wrong with you this week? Are you going to give Santana a chance to get away?"

Kurt still didn't answer and instead, picked up another glass and placed it on top of the first that was now sitting upside down in front of him. The tower of glasses grew and when he finally began to speak, he had four glasses stacked.

"You know what I used to love when I was a kid, Rachel?" Kurt finally said.

"What?" Rachel asked trying to remain patient and waiting for the glasses to come shattering down onto the table.

"I liked being adventurous. I always took risks and I wasn't afraid if I failed. The most important thing is that I never went out of my way to hurt other people, and yet, here I am today doing that very thing. We've always gone for the kill, we've always destroyed things," Kurt explained to her.

"That's what we do!" Rachel exclaimed becoming more and more exasperated. She really had no idea what had gotten into Kurt this week.

"Everything that Santana's worked for, do we really want to take that off her?"

That was the last straw. Rachel was now out of her chair in her frustration. A wild hand went through her hair and she leaned onto to the table and glared down at Kurt.

"We make money Kurt! We worked for a year on this! It's what you said you wanted. I'm handing it to you. Santana's jugular is exposed. It's time for the kill. Let's finish this! Call the bank!"

Kurt turned away from her in his chair, shrugging her off still lost in his own thoughts as he continued to battle with the dilemma at hand.

Later that evening, Kurt was filled with relief when he eventually arrived at the door to his hotel room. He was going to try to relax and he was really looking forward to finding Blaine waiting for him inside. Kurt just wasn't expecting to find Blaine in the way in which he did, that is....absolutely butt naked except for the exquisite tie around his neck. Kurt drew in a shaky breath.

"How was your day, dear?" Blaine asked seductively giving him a sly wink when he caught Kurt's shocked but delighted expression. Kurt didn't respond, actually he couldn't respond because he was sure that if he opened his mouth, the beauty that he was witnessing before him would have turned him into an inarticulate idiot.

He drank in the sight of Blaine's legs crossed and draped over the end of the table while his body sat comfortably in the dining room chair. He had both hands arms poised distractingly behind his head showing off his biceps and stretching out his fine long stomach to ridiculous extremes. Each and every stomach muscle seemed to glimmer in the light.

Finally, Kurt managed a response.

"Nice tie."

"I got it for you," Blaine told him, enjoying himself immensely. It was so delightful to know that he had had such an impact of Kurt and from the hint in Kurt's crotch he was in for another enjoyable night. Blaine still couldn't believe that he was actually getting paid for this week.

Kurt could feel the ache in his body, could feel himself harden, but it had been a long day and he needed to freshen up before he could let himself anywhere near Blaine. His thoughts crossed to the bathtub that he had sat and watched Blaine in the day before.

"Bath?" he enquired and the smile only grew bigger on Blaine's face.

*** 

Kurt stuck his toe in the bathtub's tap as he spoke. He was lavishing in the feel of Blaine tentatively washing his body while he lay immersed in the bubbles. Blaine was behind him as he lay in the water, one of his strong arms holding him in place while the other held the sponge above his body letting soft trickles of water fall onto his chest. Blaine listened attentively as Kurt spoke relishing in the fact that finally Kurt was finally opening up. 

"Well, my mother was a music teacher and married my father whose family was extremely wealthy. Then my mother died and my father quickly went and found another woman and he took his money with him. I was very angry with him. It cost me $10,000 in therapy to say that sentence. I was very angry with him. I do it very well, don't I? I'll say it again. I was very angry! Hello, my name is Mr. Hummel, I am very angry with my father!"

Blaine smiled supportively at Kurt's dialogue but he couldn't resist making a comment at the money Kurt had quoted.

"I would have been angry at the $10,000!" he exclaimed.

Kurt didn't answer but gently took one of Blaine's hands into his and started to absentmindedly play with his fingers.

"You still miss him though don't you," Blaine said softly, lowering his head into the crook of Kurt's neck and placing a gentle kiss on his skin. A playful smile suddenly filled Blaine's face and he wrapped his legs around Kurt's waist.

"Did you know that these legs are great therapy too? Great value therapy that consists of many sexual favours, for the bargain price of $3000?" Kurt smiled and sank into Blaine's hug, his hands holding on tightly to Blaine's strong thighs.