Truth be told, Kurt had been more than happy to stay in bed for most of the day. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been able to take the time to completely relax and not worry about having somewhere to go or something to do. Plus, it was comfortable and reassuring to have Blaine there curled up with him. The early afternoon was spent with fingers grazing over skin, gently acquainting themselves with each other’s bodies, and drifting in and out of a sleepy haze.

In a word, Kurt felt cherished. It was the way Blaine looked at him, eyes so earnest and open, how his hands moved over him in gentle caresses and touches, and his lips pressed sweet kisses against his skin and murmured into his ears. If Blaine had suggested again that he didn’t plan on going to work that night, Kurt probably would have agreed and just stayed there even longer. The possibility wasn’t mentioned again, and they ordered lunch in to keep from having to move as much as possible.

Blaine ignored his phone the first three times it went off, but by the fourth time in a matter of ten minutes, he gave in. “What?”

Kurt rolled onto his back and raised an eyebrow at him, not used to hearing him sound so short when answering the phone, but he supposed he wouldn’t be the most pleasant in that situation either. Not considering that seconds prior to picking it up, Blaine had been tracing patterns into the freckles littering Kurt’s shoulders and kissing the back of his neck. Blaine just rolled his eyes in response and mouthed ‘Santana’ as he pointed to his phone.

“Why did you think I was dead? Wait, hold on, just… I’m going to put you on speaker so I can get dressed.” Blaine tapped the screen of his phone and set it down, murmuring a quick apology to Kurt and sliding off the bed to find his clothes from the night before.

“Because no one knows where the fuck you are,” Santana snapped, and Kurt’s eyes widened. “You disappeared after the party and you were trashed and everyone thought you’d gone home with someone else but apparently, you didn’t. So I just assumed you ended up in a back alley and I was going to have to start looking for a new roommate or bask in the sudden surplus of closet space but have to pay more rent.”

“Your concern for my well-being is astounding,” Blaine drawled, fumbling with the fastenings on his pants. He was still shirtless, and Kurt let his gaze rake over him, taking in the little marks littering his torso. “Why didn’t someone just call?”

“Stop asking logical questions, Anderson. Where the hell are you?”

“I’m safe and beyond fine.”

“You’re probably gross, too, considering all your clothes and shit are here.”

“I’m not gross,” Blaine muttered, glancing over at the clock as he slipped on his shirt. “You at Brit’s?”

“Obviously.”

“Are you going to be naked when I show up?”

“It’s possible.” Blaine tilted his head back, sighing. “Just get your ass here, alright?”

“She’s nervous,” Blaine said quietly, after she’d hung up.

“Are you?” Kurt asked, getting up from the bed and handing Blaine his phone.

“Yes.”

It was the first time Blaine had seemed anything other than completely confident that everything was going to go well. Kurt could understand that, could remember how auditions had always filled him with nerves and anxiety and how he’d felt drained as soon as they were done. He couldn’t imagine going through five nights that were basically hours of auditions on top of each other – but Blaine was a performer and it was what he did every week, so the fact that there was someone paying close attention was just another detail.

“Well, you shouldn’t be,” Kurt said, his hands resting on Blaine’s shoulders and squeezing them lightly. “Because you’re incredible, and you’re going to kill it tonight, and tomorrow, and the day after…”

“You’re coming, right?” Blaine asked, looking up at him through his eyelashes and oh, the nervousness was right there. “Tonight?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Kurt called Rachel to see if she wanted to go with him to the bar that night, figuring he could use the company and Puck would appreciate it. Considering how much she’d attempted to meddle in his love life in the past, Kurt figured it was about time he returned the favor. Besides, he was half-certain that if she kept going the way she was, Puck was going to get tired of trying to figure out what she was doing and give up and then she would definitely be impossible to deal with for a while.

There were definitely nerves twisting at Kurt’s stomach as he got dressed for the night, picking through three different outfits before finally settling on one. Sometimes less was more, and he had been attempting to come up with something understated and simple, but that hadn’t worked out. Left to his own devices and without anything to do until meeting Rachel for a quick bite to eat before heading to the bar, Kurt ended up in with more layers than usual and jeans that were probably a tad on the tight side but made his legs look longer and slim and they looked amazing on, so he could deal.

Brittany was behind the bar when they got there, not quite when the doors opened but a little after. She looked even more bubbly than usual, and she lit up when she saw them.

“Kurt! Oh, I’m so happy you’re here!” she exclaimed, coming out from behind the counter to throw her arms around him in a tight hug. Rachel raised an eyebrow as he returned it, but she didn’t say anything. “Did you have fun at my party? I can’t wait to wear my dress! Santana and Blaine are playing tonight! This is the best week ever!”

“Yes, I had fun,” Kurt replied, laughing lightly at how fast all the words were flying out of her mouth and she was bouncing in his arms.

“Drinks!” Brittany gave him one last squeeze before popping back behind the bar and smiling at them. “Berry girl!”

“Oh! It’s… Rachel Berry,” Rachel said, stepping up to the counter and primly folding her arms onto it. “Cosmo?”

“I can make that,” Brittany replied with a nod. “Or I could make you a thing, um, I was calling it the Razzle Dazzle Berry but for you it would be the Rachel Razzle Dazzle Berry!”

“I bet it’s really good,” Kurt said, leaning against the bar. “Brittany makes up good drinks.”

“Well I can’t possibly not have it if it’s named after me, now can I? I’ll take one!” Rachel practically preened, smiling brightly.

“Coming right up!” Brittany spun around to grab some bottles off the shelf and Kurt took the opportunity to glance over his shoulder toward the stage. Blaine wasn’t up there, which he’d known as soon as they’d walked in and he’d heard the people singing, but he still had to be there somewhere. It wasn’t too crowded, but it was a weekday night and still early, and Kurt was sure by the time the night was over it would be packed. “Kurt, did you want a Unicorn?”

“Sure,” he replied absently, turning back to look at her. The drink she’d set in front of Rachel was purple and had multiple maraschino cherries in it, and was halfway to being gone. He raised an eyebrow at Rachel and she just looked up at him with wide eyes, taking another sip.

“What? It’s really good!” Kurt held out his hand and she passed the glass to him so he could take a sip. It was, without a doubt, the fruitiest drink he’d ever tried in his life, but definitely right up Rachel’s alley. It was also strong and he was sure that it would only take one or two to get her on the fun side of tipsy. He’d barely given it back to her when he felt someone brush against him and hoist themselves up to sit on the bar.

“Hey pretty lady.” It was Santana, and Brittany set Kurt’s drink in front of him and waved off his attempt to pay before looking up at her girlfriend. “Whiskey shots?” As Brittany wandered off to get shot glasses, Santana’s gaze dropped down to Kurt and her eyes narrowed as she looked him over. “You again. You look like you were mauled by a horny teenager.”

Rachel choked on her drink and Kurt’s eyes widened a little as he looked up at Santana. “Excuse me?”

“Your neck,” she said, gesturing toward him. “I mean, concealer, but seriously.” Kurt brought his hand up to cover where she was nearly swiping with her fingers, his face flushing. Yes, he’d done a good bit of covering up to hide the hickeys Blaine had left on his skin, but he’d been certain no one would be able to tell. Rachel certainly hadn’t. “Mauled.”

“Jack,” Brittany interrupted, handing a shot glass up to Santana.

“Blaine!” Santana called over the music, and Kurt glanced over to where she was looking. Apparently Blaine had been over at the merchandise stand, but he broke away from whoever he was talking to at her shout and worked his way over. He looked amazing, but Kurt wasn’t sure if it was possible for him to not, dressed in skinny red jeans that matched his bow tie, which was one that Kurt had made, and a short sleeved white button up. It was a far cry from what Blaine wore to work when Kurt had first seen him, but it was much more his own style.

“Hi,” Blaine greeted when he got close, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth as he got his shot from Brittany and she flitted off to help someone else. His eyes lingered on Kurt, but then Santana cleared her throat loudly and held her hand out so they could clink their glasses together before downing the whiskey. Kurt tried not to focus on how Blaine’s throat moved when he swallowed, and got his own drink off the bar to take a sip.

“Oh my God,” Santana said, staring between the two of them as she set her shot glass down and pointed at Blaine. “You… you’re the horny teenager!”

“I’m twenty-two,” Blaine replied patiently.

Santana slid down from the bar, her eyes glinting in a way that Kurt wasn’t sure he liked. “No, you’re the person who attacked waif boy’s neck. You two are totally fucking!”

“Oh we are totally about to go on stage,” Blaine said quickly, grabbing her wrist and pulling her away from the bar. He mouthed an apology over his shoulder and by the time they disappeared backstage, Kurt had finished off his drink.

“Kurt?” Rachel touched his arm lightly and looked up at him with wide eyes. “You…”

“We’re getting another round of drinks, and then we’ll talk.”

That deal seemed to suit her just fine, and once Brittany wandered back down their way and made them more of the same, they found a table where they could sit. Blaine and Santana had taken the stage and Kurt wanted to pay attention to them as much as he could, but he’d been leaving Rachel out of a lot of things in his life ever since they started and she deserved to get caught up.

To her credit, Rachel didn’t comment much beyond a few ‘hmms’ and ‘awws’ and ‘oh Kurt.’ She just sipped at her drink and kept her eyes fixed on him while he talked, with the occasional glance at the stage if Kurt mentioned something particular that Blaine had done or said that caught her attention more than others. Rachel loved a good story, especially anything that involved romance, so she was completely enraptured, actually scooting up onto the edge of her seat when Kurt told her about his trip to Ohio.

Kurt trailed off once he got to the end of Brittany’s party the night before, after the cab ride to his place and wrangling Blaine up to his apartment. There was just no way he was spilling any details to her. “So,” he continued, popping one of the cherries from his drink into his mouth and giving a little shrug. “Then this morning, we talked and he told me that them playing here this week in an audition so they might get to move here permanently if it goes well. So that’s… all.”

“Oh that’s not all,” Rachel teased, poking his chest. “Not that you’d tell me anymore, but that girl was right. You did get mauled.”

“Hush,” Kurt growled, picking up her glass as he moved to stand up. “Stay there, I’ll get more.” Rachel waved him off and leaned back in her chair to watch the stage, and he made his way to the bar.

Brittany was busy when he got there, but Kurt didn’t mind waiting. He hadn’t realized just how secretive he and Blaine had been being about their relationship – friendship, up until that point – and how no one had known. Rachel was the oldest friend he had there in New York and he’d not even mentioned Blaine to her before then. Clearly Blaine hadn’t said anything to Santana, because it had seemed like the night before at the party was the first time she’d ever heard his name – not that she’d used it.

The thing was, Kurt didn’t want it to be a secret. He wanted to shout it from the rooftops and tell every person he met on a daily basis that there was this amazing man named Blaine Anderson, and he was his. Up until that point, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything but wish that, but things were on their way to changing. It had already started, and by the end of the week hopefully there would be a guarantee for more.

“Did you want more?” Brittany asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.

“Hm? Oh, yes please.” Kurt set the empty glasses on the bar and leaned up, watching her.

“They’re the best, aren’t they?” She nodded up toward the stage as she shook one of their drinks. “I know I’m biased, but I think it’s true.”

“I’m kind of biased, too.”

“Blaine’s pretty, isn’t he?” Kurt eyes met hers and she smiled warmly. “Well, not as pretty as Santana, but she’s the prettiest person in the world.”

“Brittany…”

“He tells me things, sometimes,” she continued, pouring out Rachel’s drink and starting on his. “Stuff he doesn’t tell Santana.” She smacked the lid on the shaker and leaned in to whisper conspiratorially. “He told me about you today while she was in the shower.”

“Oh yes?” Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow. Brittany just smiled and did a pirouette as she started to shake his drink. “And what exactly did he say?”

“I knew you were special, Kurt,” she said, pressing up against the counter as she poured his drink and dropped a few extra cherries inside. “I knew that from the first time I really met you. You’re the kind of person I love to have in my life, because you’re so nice and wonderful and like a fairytale. Blaine’s like that, too. He’s always there to take care of my Santana when she’s sad and so far away from me, and you did that for me. I always knew I was so lucky that you showed up, and I know now that I owe that to him, but you kept coming because of you.”

“Actually, because of you,” Kurt interjected, but Brittany shook her head.

“All I ever want is for my friends to be happy, and Blaine’s face when he was telling me about you… you make him so happy, Kurt.” Brittany reached across the bar and took his hand. “Because you’re special.”

“He makes me happy too,” he said softly, giving her fingers a squeeze.

“I know.” Brittany pushed up on her toes to close the distance between them and kiss his cheek. “And that makes me happy.”

By the time Blaine and Santana’s first set was done, the bar was starting to fill with more people. Rachel was pleasantly tipsy and on a mission to find Puck, and Kurt was perfectly okay with that because Blaine slid into her empty seat not five minutes after leaving the stage.

“I can’t stay for long, but wow you look amazing,” he said, resting his elbows on the table and leaning his chin into his hands as he smiled at Kurt.

“Thank you,” Kurt replied, preening slightly before smiling. “So do you. You guys sound great tonight.”

“That was the plan.” Blaine paused, glancing up at the stage for a moment before looking back to him. “So, sorry about earlier. Santana has absolutely no tact and is kind of a crazy person. She’s like a sex vulture.” Kurt raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh. “Well, she is. She practically pounced on me when I got to Brittany’s earlier, because she just knew.”

“It’s fine, Blaine.”

“Anyway, I’m really glad you came tonight.” Blaine scooted his chair in a little closer. “I feel less nervous. You can’t stay the whole night though, probably, because work in the morning…”

“I can stay,” Kurt said, knowing he shouldn’t because Blaine was right, he did have work in the morning, but he didn’t want to leave. He didn’t want to miss out on anything. “Work thinks I was sick today anyway, so if I’m tired tomorrow it’ll just make it look more believable, right?”

“I would kiss you, but I kind of want to work here and I don’t want them thinking I just go around kissing paying customers. There are boundaries and all.”

“To be fair, I haven’t paid for anything tonight,” Kurt pointed out, and Blaine grinned. It was true – his name had been on the list at the door and Brittany was refusing to let him pay for drinks. “But I kind of want you to work here, so I’ll forget the semantics and you can kiss me later.”

“That sounds fair.” Blaine slipped his phone out of his pocket to check the time, and he wrinkled his nose as he rose up to his feet. “Duty calls. I’m glad you’re staying, but if you do need to go it’s alright, I won’t be offended or anything.”

“I’m not leaving,” Kurt replied, taking in the way the corners of Blaine’s eyes crinkled when he smiled. There was no way he was going to leave, because getting to see Blaine smile was worth missing out on some sleep any day of the week.

“Just saying I won’t be offended,” Blaine teased, taking a few steps away before moving back and leaning down to whisper in his ear. “By the way, I love those pants.” He pulled back and winked before heading through the crowd, and Kurt hid his smile in his drink.

Rachel left around midnight, sobered up enough to take the subway without incident, because she had a brunch the next morning that she claimed she would sleep through if she stayed out any longer. Kurt didn’t miss Puck walking her up out of the bar, his hand pressed against the small of her back, and the fact that he didn’t come back down for a good ten minutes.

Blaine and Santana were on top of their game the whole night, and Kurt wasn’t just being biased, it was true. It was easy to see just how much they wanted it, and they were always good but that night they were great. If they performed like that every night for the rest of the week, Kurt didn’t think there could be any doubt that they would get the job. Then again, he didn’t really know what people looked at when they were hiring people at piano bars, but he assumed it was based on talent and charisma and they had that in spades.

Two o’clock rolled around, and Kurt was glad he’d had such a lazy day because otherwise he would have been more tired than he was. He’d gone up to the street to wait for Blaine, because while Brittany had been fine with him waiting inside, the bouncer had not. He didn’t mind; listening to the city at night was something he enjoyed, as long as it wasn’t what was keeping him awake when he was trying to sleep. In the end, Kurt had only been standing on the sidewalk for a few minutes before he heard the familiar sound of Brittany’s laughter coming from the alley, and he barely had a chance to turn toward it before Blaine appeared by his side.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Blaine said, nudging his shoulder lightly.

“Fancy indeed,” Kurt replied, and the words had barely left his mouth before Blaine was cupping his face in his hands and kissing him, soft and tender and with the faint taste of whiskey.

“You need to sleep,” Blaine whispered when he pulled back, thumbs stroking against Kurt’s cheekbones.

“Will you be there?” It seemed like it might have been forward to ask Blaine to stay with him, but Kurt didn’t care. Thankfully, Blaine didn’t seem to either.

“I can be.”

“I mean, I don’t want to monopolize you—” Kurt realized that there were other people in the city that Blaine knew and was friends with and he might have plans of his own, but he was interrupted by a soft chuckle and Blaine’s lips brushing against his.

“Kurt, I would rather sleep next to you than on Brittany’s couch any night.”

“Oh, I see,” Kurt said with a mock sigh. “I’m just a convenient alternative to a couch.”

“You are so much more than an alternative to a couch.” Blaine punctuated his words with light kisses peppered along Kurt’s cheek and jaw, and when he pulled back he was grinning. “Let’s go.”

Kurt had forgotten how nice it was to hold someone’s hand on the subway. The train was mostly empty but Blaine insisted on standing and they swayed with the movement of the car, fingers linked and keeping them together as they talked. It was like it had always been when Blaine called after work, recounting stories from the night, but instead of talking about patrons from the bar and the events of the night it was more of a commentary on how he thought it had gone.

They got to Kurt’s apartment before either of them realized that Blaine still didn’t have any of his things with him, but that was something to be left for the morning because it didn’t matter at that point. Clothes were easily shed and they were under the covers in next to nothing within minutes, the lights out and darkness filling the apartment. Kurt was on his back, Blaine draped halfway over top of him and using his chest as a pillow, and he loved the press of Blaine’s body against him. It was comforting and warm and a reassurance that everything was real.

It was going to be next to impossible to go to work the next morning, and Kurt knew it.