Blaine left the set around eleven that night, returning to his apartment to shower and eat a quick dinner.  Then he tiredly brushed his teeth and fell into bed.  He thought he was so exhausted from the ten hour shoot that had started that afternoon, but something kept him from falling asleep.  It felt too quiet.  Rolling onto his back, Blaine fumbled for the television remote.  Hitting the power button, Blaine leaned back into the pillows lined up in front of his headboard, tugging his navy comforter up to his chest.  His gaze fell on the flat screen television across the room, the local news playing, but his thoughts continued to wander through the empty apartment.

His apartment in LA was large- large enough for a full family of at least four to occupy- and Blaine lived there completely alone.  But that was what he had wanted, wasn’t it?  To live alone, be independent, make his way in the world?  No, he realized, No.  I wanted to make my way in the world, yes, and I wanted to be independent from my family, from those who thought they could tell me what to do- I wanted to be able to make my own decisions.  But to be alone- no.  I want someone to share my life with, but someone who will make it a team effort, not someone who will make one of us more in charge than the other.

Well.  That was a rather abrupt realization. 

Blaine groaned and buried his face in his hands.  It was too late to be thinking deeply about these things: his call time was fairly early in the morning, and they were shooting the scene where his character meets his future wife.  It all felt a little cruel to Blaine, that his character be having such a happy moment when he himself had just had one of his worst dates in years and felt more alone than ever.  But he had to play the part well, and this was supposed to be a happy scene.

Okay.  Stop.  Go to sleep, you’re tired.

But just as Blaine was about to slide down into his bed, something on the television caught his attention.

“Life can be lonely.”

Very astute, Blaine thought bitterly.

“But sometimes, when you meet one person, everything changes.”

Blaine knew how that felt….

“We’re here to help.” 

Against his better judgment, Blaine looked up at this.  A cute couple was onscreen, arms around each other, gazing into each other’s eyes and smiling.  They looked happy- no, more than happy.  They looked blissful.  Blaine couldn’t help but long to feel like that, too.  To stand next to someone he loved, someone he knew loved him… just once more….  But he hadn’t felt like that since that one night so many years ago…

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he turned his attention back to the TV, where the couple turned out to be advertising an online dating site.  

Why, Blaine wondered, would you ever join a dating site? Half the people you meet live across the country, if not the globe, and they have no clue who you really are…. Wait.  They have no clue who you really are. 

All of a sudden he was full of energy again, not the least bit tired, and he sprang from his bed to grab his laptop off the desk in the corner of the room.  Next thing he knew he was pulling up the dating site and creating a profile for himself, but also not for himself.  After all, if everyone knew he was the Blaine Anderson the whole point of this would be a kinda ruined- he was doing this in the hope that he could meet someone and get to know them, and, in return they would get to know him.  That is, the real him, the him he had trouble showing through his acting, or even his interviews.  The him that only his family and closest friends knew.

In his mind it was the perfect plan. 

Okay… name… name… I could be… Lucas!  Lucas… last name, last name…

Blaine racked his brain, trying to think of a last name for his alias.  He looked around his room for inspiration.  Pillow.  Rug.  Floor.  Duvet.  No, none of those would work, they didn’t sound realistic enough- they were far object-like.  Well, probably because they are objects.  But Duvet wasn’t too bad, let’s just change it a little… Ah, Duvall!  Lucas Duvall!

As he entered the information and added his real birthdate (which he had decided to put on private, so no one would be able to see it anyway) and interests, he realized with a sinking feeling that the site required a picture to create an account. 

Crap.

He obviously couldn’t put a clear picture of himself, like the one from his IMDB page- then everyone would definitely know who he was, or worse, think he was some pompous jerk who compared himself to celebrities.  No, putting celebrities as your profile picture was only acceptable for things like Tumblr and Twitter, not a dating website.  Unless you were a celebrity, in which case, what the hell were you doing on a dating website?

Blaine pondered this, considering canceling his entire application.  He had to admit that he wasn’t really at a shortage of possible dates- both male and female (the girls were the ones he had to politely decline the most for obvious reasons).  And really, what are the chances I’m gonna find someone anyway?  But he squared his shoulders and opened his picture files to try and find one that would work.

No, he didn’t want one of him looking straight on… and his whole family was in this one, but he was still clearly visible…. He considered one of him sitting by the pool at Porter’s house, an umbrella casting a shadow that covered the majority of his face.  His hair, though, made him all too recognizable.   

Ah.  Perfect.  The mouse pointer hovered over a picture of him with Tambo, his brother Cooper’s black lab, sitting in the grass.  A baseball hat covered his signature curls and his black Ray Bans shielded his eyes from the bright San Diego sun.  His clothes didn’t resemble his own wardrobe- mostly because that was the day he had fallen in the giant mud pit in the construction area around Cooper’s apartment complex and was therefore wearing his brother’s too-long athletic shorts and slightly-too-big New York Giants t-shirt.  It didn’t show his usual stylish, dapper wardrobe, but that could work for him- he really didn’t look like himself here.  All the better for his ploy, he figured.  Blaine double clicked and uploaded the picture.

“Profile Complete.”

Blaine smiled to himself before setting his laptop on the floor by his bed and finally falling asleep.

“Rachel, I have to go- I can’t even believe we’ve been out this long.”  Kurt checked his watch and his eyes widened.  “It’s almost three AM!  Don’t you have a show tomorrow?”

Rachel Berry set down her glass of Merlot and waved her hand as if to shoo away her friend’s worries.  “Yeah, but not until eight at night, I can sleep in.”

Kurt made a face at her.  “That’s all good and well, but I can’t.  I’m supposed to be at work at nine tomorrow- oh, sorry- today and Amber’s a total witch if we’re late.”  He paused and swirled his own wine around in its glass before taking a tiny sip.  “Well, more than she usually is.”

“I don’t understand why you work for her, honestly.  You could do so much better, Kurt.”

“Better than the best tailor in the city?  And one of the biggest fashion icons on top of that?  Tell me how and I’ll do it.”  He put his glass down pointedly.  “Anyway, I’ve been with you since early afternoon and now it’s almost three… I think I should get paid for this.”

Rachel hiccupped, covering her mouth with her hand and giggling.  “Oh, ‘scuse me!  I haven’t really had a lot of wine lately… or alcohol at all.  And what’s this about getting paid?  You get to spend time with me, isn’t that enough?  I haven’t seen you in far too long, you haven’t come to see the show… speaking of, how’s your, um, dating life going?”

Kurt stared at her, wondering how that segue was supposed to work when switching topics from her Broadway show to his non-existent love life, but deciding in the end not to question it.  “It’s not.  But-” he continued, holding up a hand when Rachel tried to speak, “I’m okay with that.  I’m focusing on work, goodness knows Amber gives me enough to think about.”

This time it was Rachel’s turn to stare, only her gaze was offset by a small smile turning up the corners of her mouth.  “Oh, Kurt.”

“…What?”                                                                                                                                         

“I… okay, promise you won’t get mad-”

Rolling his eyes, Kurt interrupted, “You know, whenever you say that I just get the feeling that I’m not going to be a happy person for much longer.”

“-but I may have maybe signed you up for a dating website.”  Rachel peeked out from under her bangs at him, smiling sheepishly.

Kurt’s mouth dropped open.  “You have got to be kidding me.”

Rachel shook her head.

“RACHEL.”

“Hey, calm down, don’t- don’t freak out, okay?  I just- you seem so lonely, Kurt, and I just wanted to help you-”

He slapped the table loudly.  “By signing me up for an online dating site?!  Everyone on those things seem hopeless and alone and-and pathetic! How could that possibly help me?!”

“You… you could meet someone?”  Rachel’s voice was low, quiet, a little sad.

“I don’t.…” Kurt stopped.  He looked up at his friend, his best friend, the one who’d been with him through everything since high school.  “Okay, Rachel, okay.”  He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and pinching the bridge of his nose with his right hand.  “I’m not… I’m not mad.  I get that you were trying to help me.  But how soon can I delete it?”

Rachel smirked and covered his other hand with hers.  “Oh, you can’t.  I’m not giving you the password.”

Kurt’s right hand dropped back to his lap and he pulled his left out from under hers.  “What?!  You can’t be serious.  You’re gonna pretend to be me? On a dating website?”

Rachel nodded, her smile widening.  “That pretty much covers it….  Oh, and I also listed you as gay.  Hope that’s okay.”  She was positively beaming now.

Kurt let out a small laugh despite himself.  “Yeah, that’s- okay, yeah.”

The next morning, Blaine woke up early, shivering.  He cracked open his eyes and realized his comforter was nowhere to be seen.  He dangled his arm over the edge of his bed and felt the soft fabric in a pile on the floor.  Slowly pulling it back onto the bed, he remembered his late night foray into the world of online dating.  He grinned groggily before gripping the edge of his laptop and lifting it, too, onto the bed.

He looked at his alarm clock and saw that he didn’t have to actually get up for work for half an hour, so why not check out this new site, see who could be out there?

Flipping up the lid, Blaine waited for his laptop to log in, and then he pulled up a web browser and typed in the dating site.  He grinned when he saw that his profile had gotten three views- it had only been up for a few hours, after all- and began his own search.

As he clicked through the list of men the dating site had conjured for Lucas Duvall, he scanned their pictures, still grinning.  One of them had deep green eyes, and another had the most charming smile, and… oh.

Oh.

Blaine stared at the next candidates picture for a minute, taking it in.  The perfectly styled chestnut hair, the small, barely-there dimple, the shining ocean-like eyes… it was all so… familiar.

Hesitating, he clicked on the man’s name and waited as his profile page loaded.  When it did, he browsed through the interests and hobbies, likes and dislikes, and then glanced back at the picture.  His breath caught in his throat.  Yes, it was all definitely too familiar now.

Maybe…

With a speed that could easily be matched by a snail, his finger directed the mouse to the little envelope at the top of the webpage. 

Click.

“Rachel, oh my god, what do you want?”  Kurt rubbed his eyes, taking a sip of his non-fat mocha latte as he walked to work.  “We were together literally all day yesterday.”

“I know, but- Kurt.”

“Hmm?”

“Uh, your page got a hit.  On the dating site.”

Kurt blushed a little.  Someone had checked out his page.  “Oh?” he replied a little haughtily.

“Yeah, actually,” Rachel said, sounding satisfied and a little proud, “you got a message.”

Now Kurt couldn’t help it- he was getting a little excited.  Maybe this will work after all!  “I did, did I?  Who from?  Is he cute?  Nice?  Gentlemanly?”

“Ah….” Rachel paused again.  Kurt’s pace slowed a little.  He was getting just a tad nervous with all of this pausing his friend was doing.

“Oh no,” he said, his heart sinking.  “It’s spam, isn’t it?  Or worse, it’s some huge overweight bear living in Nebraska….”

Rachel laughed a little, and he heard her tapping on a keyboard.  “No, Kurt, it’s nothing like that… it’s just, I’m looking at his profile, and Kurt, you have got to see this.  He’s interested in half the same stuff you are, and his message was just so sweet.”

Kurt checked his watch, his pace picking back up when he realized he was about three minutes from being late to work.  “Well, I can swing by after work if that’s good for you… I get off at about one today.”

“Yeah, that sounds perfect.  Wow, Kurt, this guy really seems to be something.  But I won’t answer his message until you get here.  Just listen to his name though- Lucas Duvall.  Isn’t that just so handsome?”

Chuckling, Kurt thought Rachel seemed even more excited about this whole man-for-Kurt possibility than he himself did.  “That is completely handsome, Rachel, such a name.”  He was patronizing, sure, but just a bit.  Lucas really did sound like a fine fellow, if the way Rachel was talking about him was any sign.  “I’ll be over as soon as I can.”