Kurt thought that the alarm on his phone was louder and more obnoxious than usual when it went off, but he knew it was just because he hadn’t gotten as much sleep as he should have and he really didn’t want to get out of bed. Not when Blaine’s face was pressed against the crook of his neck and he could feel his breath tickling against his skin. He was proud for actually managing to make himself untangle Blaine from around him so he could get up, and Blaine didn’t stir in the least.

It wasn’t like Kurt normally made a lot of noise when he went about his morning routine, but he wasn’t used to having to worry about potentially waking someone. He was so much more aware of the quiet, the little sounds breaking through the silence seeming so much louder than they actually were – the slide of the drawers of his dresser, the click of the latch for his closet door. Blaine slept through it all, and Kurt kept getting distracted because every time he thought he might have woken him, he would glance over and realize many moments later that he was just staring at the peaceful, sleeping man in his bed.

Blaine looked so content, sprawled out on his front with his head tilted to the side on the pillow, like it had been on Kurt’s chest before he’d gotten up. The covers of the bed were twisted around him, hugging his waist and leaving most of his back exposed. Kurt wanted to crawl up over him and kiss the birthmark on his upper back, and then anywhere else he wanted. And he wanted. There was just so much Kurt wanted to do with his morning and none of it involved leaving his apartment, but that was what he had to do.

There was a spare key hidden in one of his desk drawers, in the same spot it had been since Ryan. Kurt was digging it out before he realized exactly what he was doing. It was logical, and really the only alternative to waking Blaine and kicking him out so the door could stay locked, but it was so much more than that. It had taken half a year of constant dates and companionship before he’d even considered getting a spare key made with the purpose of giving it to Ryan, and there he was holding the same key, not even thinking twice in terms of giving it to Blaine.

Kurt left the key on the desk while he got his food together for the day, needing a moment to separate himself from all that. He thought maybe he was reading too much into things, but that didn’t stop his heart from racing every time he looked over and saw it, or saw Blaine. The words logical and necessary kept repeating through his head like a mantra, but then there was the lingering you’d want to anyway occasionally surfacing, and it was true. He set all his things for the day by the door before going back to sit on the edge of his bed and leaning down to kiss Blaine’s cheek.

“Blaine…” he murmured, close to his ear, getting a soft huff in response as his fingertips brushed across his shoulders, scratching lightly against the back of his neck. “Wake up for a second.”

“Mmph,” Blaine grunted, turning his head to bury his face against the pillow before rolling onto his back and squinting up at Kurt sleepily. It was adorable, how tired and young he looked. “Work?”

“Work,” Kurt confirmed with a nod. “You sleep.” He leaned down and kissed him softly, trying not to lose himself in the warmth radiating off Blaine and making him want to lie down again. Blaine’s head lifted up in an attempt to kiss him again when Kurt pulled back, resting their foreheads together and ignoring how fast his heart was pounding against his ribcage. “I left… over on the desk, there’s a key.”

“Kurt…” There was something about the way Blaine breathed out his name that made Kurt feel like he understood what it meant beyond ‘so lock the door so my apartment doesn’t get ransacked.’ Blaine cupped the back of Kurt’s head in his hands and slanted their mouths together, his tongue sweeping over Kurt’s lower lip before his teeth followed in suit, nipping lightly and making Kurt’s breath hitch. Even half asleep, Blaine could kiss in such a way that Kurt knew if he didn’t stop it that there was no way he’d get to work.

“I have to go,” he mumbled against him, dropping another quick kiss against his  lips before standing up, smoothing down the back of his hair from where Blaine’s fingers had been starting to twist. Blaine just blinked up at him, and he looked so bedraggled, his hair mussed and sticking up all over, that Kurt couldn’t help but duck down and kiss his forehead, running his fingers through his hair and feeling Blaine’s head loll to the side under his touch. “Sleep.”

“Mkay,” Blaine whispered, and his eyelids were drooping as Kurt moved away. By the time Kurt got to the door and gathered his things, glancing back over his shoulder as he headed out, he was almost positive that Blaine was already asleep again.

Work was twice as exhausting when Kurt didn’t get enough sleep, and he felt like he was moving in slow motion for half the morning before he offered to go pick up coffee for his designer just so he could get some himself without being terribly obvious about it. He was glad he’d made the excuse of being sick the day before, because everyone seemed to accept that as to why he wasn’t as on top of his game as usual.

Even once he was awake and alert, he was still distracted because Blaine was at his apartment. Kurt knew Blaine’s sleep schedule was completely different than his own, and that he probably slept until whenever he woke up naturally – whenever that may be, but he was there in Kurt’s apartment, by himself. His entire day was spent trying to figure out if there was anything there he’d be embarrassed if Blaine saw, but it wasn’t like he made a habit of keeping that sort of thing around. Other than childhood pictures, which were in albums tucked on his bookshelf, he couldn’t think of anything. But he always could have forgotten something and then where would they be?

His phone was silent the entire day, no texts or calls or anything, despite how frequently he pulled it out of his pocket to check. Kurt tried not to read too much into it because who knew how long Blaine had stayed asleep, and then what he had to do with the rest of his day. It wasn’t like he didn’t understand what it was like, being busy, and he figured he would just see him afterwards anyway. Except no matter how much he told himself that, he couldn’t help but be a little disappointed the longer the silence went on. He was so used to hearing from Blaine throughout the day, and that was when they were in separate states.

Kurt wasn’t expecting Blaine to be there when he got back from work, and he wasn’t. It would have been cutting it far too close to the time that Blaine needed to be at the piano bar, and he would have needed to go to Brittany’s to change. He was expecting the quiet he was used to when he got home, and that was what he got.

What Kurt didn’t expect was for his bed to be made, pillows stacked perfectly up by the top fold of the sheets. Everything looked immaculate, untouched, and except something wrapped in brown paper resting in front of the pillows. He shed his bag and jacket by the door before moving over to look closer, his heart jumping when he saw it was flowers – calla lilies, to be precise. It wasn’t until he picked them up, feeling the paper crinkle beneath his fingers, that he saw the note resting underneath, his name scrawled across the outside of a folded piece of paper.

I feel like a complete jerk that I got to sleep so late when you had to go to work, especially since I was the reason you were up so late in the first place. Hopefully today wasn’t too bad, but I don’t want you to feel obligated to come out tonight if you need to catch up on sleep. I would love for you to be there, but I don’t want you to turn into a zombie on my account. From what I can remember from when you left this morning, you would be a particularly gorgeous and stunningly dressed zombie, but I still think we should try to avoid that.
-Blaine

PS: My phone’s dead but I’m going to try and remember to take my charger to work, so hopefully I can talk to you sooner rather than later.

Kurt left the note sitting on the corner of his bed as he found a vase for the lilies, carefully unwrapping and arranging them before going back and sitting down to read over Blaine’s words again. His handwriting was so different than on the note Kurt remembered getting with his package months before, less hurried and slanted, more careful and precise. It was considerate of Blaine to say he didn’t want him to feel obligated to go see him perform, but Kurt didn’t feel obligated. He just wanted to. It was just a matter of not staying until closing time again.

He took his time making and eating dinner before heading out, needing to relax in the quiet and calm of his apartment because the bar certainly wasn’t going to afford him that. The subways weren’t that crowded, and there was a short line outside the bar, but it wasn’t long before he got inside and secured himself a spot by the bar. They were busy, with Blaine and Santana on stage, and someone other than Brittany behind the bar. Kurt could see her flitting through the tables up closer to the pianos, and he ordered himself a drink while he waited.

From the look of things, it was so crowded because there were multiple parties going on – at least that’s what it seemed like, from the clumps of people in similar attire and the random balloons scattered throughout the tables. It made sense, considering it was worse than it had been on any weeknight when Kurt had been there before. Blaine and Santana seemed unphased, though he didn’t know how much the busyness affected them, as opposed to how much it clearly caused mayhem for the wait staff and bartenders.

Brittany made her way back up behind the bar and wedged herself into a space over by Kurt, lining up shot glasses on a tray. She made a face at him and reached for a shaker. “Kurt, it’s crazy bananas in here!”

“I can see that,” he said, nodding out toward the stage. “How are they doing?”

“Good,” she replied slowly, pouring from several bottles at once. “One of the other pianists is sick so they can’t just… trade off like normal, just one at a time. They couldn’t get ahold of anyone to fill in on such short notice and so it’s rough. I mean, they’re doing okay but Santana said the last time this happened it made her really tired.”

“How does that work?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as he watched her pour the mixture out over the shot glasses.

“Well like, there are usually four? But now there are three. So right now they’re playing, then Santana gets to take a break and Jack will play with Blaine, and then Blaine will get to take a break when Santana comes back, and then Jack… it’s like a cycle.” Brittany poured what was left in the shaker into another glass and took a sip, wrinkling her nose. “And there’s a bachelorette party up there that keeps ordering gross shots and I mean, I’ll make them, but I wish they would drink something yummy.”

Kurt didn’t get a chance to ask what it even was that they were drinking before she was off again, and he stayed where he was. It gave him a good vantage point of the stage and kept him out of the way of all the frantic hustle and bustle going on around him. Santana left the stage after a few more songs, leaning down to whisper something to Blaine before heading out of sight. He just nodded and turned his attention to the other pianist, Jack, who had just sat down and started playing.

It was strange, to hear Blaine singing with someone who wasn’t Santana – who wasn’t a woman. He and Jack sounded fine together, but it wasn’t what Kurt was used to. They didn’t have quite the same playfulness between them, but he supposed that was something that came with familiarity. Kurt imagined it would be frustrating, being thrown into a situation, especially considering it wasn’t just a night at work, it was still an audition.

“So I’ve heard we have some brides-to-be in the audience,” Jack said, holding his hand up to block out the lights as he looked into the crowd. There were a few shrieks from nearby, and Kurt winced. He couldn’t imagine this was going to be good. “Why don’t we get you ladies up here, sing you a song to celebrate your last nights of freedom.”

There were catcalls and wolf whistles as two tiara and sash wearing girls, who were both clearly on their way to being drunk, got helped onto the stage by the security standing nearby. Jack got their names and grinned. “Why don’t you ladies go sit by my friend Blaine, and he’ll sing a little ditty for you.”

Kurt grinned into his drink as the girls plopped down the piano bench, and one slid her arm around Blaine’s shoulders. He was smiling and saying something to them, not close enough to the microphone for anyone else to hear, and one of them laughed at whatever it was. And then Kurt immediately regretted taking a sip, because as soon as Blaine started singing, he nearly choked on it.

“I've been really trying, baby, trying to hold back this feeling for so long. And if you feel like I feel, baby, then come on, oh, come on, let's get it on…”

He stared wide eyed at Blaine as he crooned into the microphone, his fingers pounding the chords out on the piano keys. The girls beside him looked like they were melting, and Kurt couldn’t blame them because he felt like the entire room had gotten much hotter all of a sudden. Blaine was just so good and Kurt was glad he’d never witnessed this type of thing happen in any of the times he’d seen Blaine perform before that week because if that had happened it would have been flat out cruel.

As it was, he kind of wanted to rush the stage, but he’d already seen security toss at least three people who decided they could get up on the stage to dance around in the middle of songs. He hardly thought they would take kindly to him kissing one of their employees. Besides, Blaine was in the middle of an audition. Kurt could control himself, he was fairly certain, unlike one of the soon to be brides who managed to plant what looked like a sloppy kiss against Blaine’s cheek after the song ended, and security whisked her and the other girl off before anything else could happen.

Santana made her way back onto the stage after a few more songs, and Blaine looked grateful to have the chance to leave. Kurt watched as he motioned to someone that he was headed outside, gave them a thumbs up, and disappeared up the stairs he’d taken Kurt on as his short cut out to the alley. With two more sips, Kurt finished his drink and followed after him, glad for the cool burst of air that hit him as he pushed the door open to get out to the street. Blaine’s back was to him, and he was crouched down not too far from the door, looking very small.

“Hey, stranger.” Blaine looked back over his shoulder quickly, his eyes widening as he straightened up and turned to face him.

“I thought you’d be home asleep by now,” he said, crossing the few steps to him and cradling Kurt’s face in his hands as he kissed him. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, just…”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to turn into a zombie.” Kurt rested his hands on his waist, and he could feel the heat pouring off him through the fabric of his t-shirt. Blaine had gone much more casual that night, much more like the first night Kurt had seen him, but he always looked incredible. “Except you almost killed me a little earlier with that song.”

“I did wh—oh.” Blaine grinned as the realization dawned on him, and he slid his hands to the back of Kurt’s neck to pull him in and kiss him, slow and lingering, and Kurt’s fingers tightened in Blaine’s shirt, tugging him closer as he traced his tongue against the seam of Blaine’s lips.

It deepened quickly, tongues tangling and fingers grasping as Blaine backed up against the wall of the building, and Kurt pressed against him with a sigh into his mouth. Blaine was clinging, his hands fisted into the back of Kurt’s shirt as he held him close. Kurt brought his hands up to cup Blaine’s jaw as he pulled back, his eyes searching as he looked down at him in the dim light of the alley.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m just… stressed,” Blaine said, closing his eyes for a long moment before tilting his head back and looking at Kurt. “Tonight isn’t going at all like it was supposed to. You have no idea how glad I am to see you.”

“Brittany told me about someone calling in sick.”

“It threw me off, Santana too, and I just feel off my game.” Blaine worried his lower lip between his teeth. “I’d expected tonight to be so different, and nothing’s gone the way I expected.”

“Well hey, it’s not over yet,” Kurt replied, kissing his forehead and offering him a smile. “From what I saw, you were doing wonderfully, and that’s not even taking the extenuating circumstances into consideration. I bet you’re knocking their socks off with how well you’ve been adapting to all this.” He hesitated, his thumbs stroking along his jaw. “I was going to go early, but I can stay if you want.”

“No,” Blaine practically interrupted. “No, you need to sleep.” He took in a breath, his fingers flexing in their hold on Kurt’s shirt. “You need to go. I am so, so glad you came and seeing you has made my night so much better, I know it’s going to be fine now, but you need sleep, Kurt.”

“Are you kicking me out of this bar, Blaine Anderson?” Kurt asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s for your own good.”

“Fine, but you’re waking me up when you get in tonight and telling me how it went, I don’t care that it’s going to be late.” Blaine’s eyes widened a little, but he smiled. “What?”

“Nothing,” Blaine said, shaking his head. “It’s a deal. Just don’t get mad at me when I do.”

“I won’t,” Kurt replied, kissing him again and not pulling away until the door opened moments later. He had a brief moment of panic that he might get Blaine in trouble, even though Blaine had kissed him first so he’d figured it was okay, but it was Brittany standing there, keeping the door open with her foot and looking harried.

“They said, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt, it’s just they said you went up here and we need you downstairs, Blaine.” Brittany spoke quickly, her gaze flitting back and forth between them, her fingers tapping against the door. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Kurt took a step further back as Blaine spoke, and their hands dropped from each other as they parted. “It’s fine, let’s go down, okay?” He turned back to Kurt and gave him a smile. “I’ll see you later, okay? Get some sleep. No zombie Kurt allowed.”

Kurt gave him a mock salute and earned a full out grin before Blaine disappeared through the door, and Brittany murmured another apology before ducking inside and letting the door close behind her. To be truthful, Kurt probably would have ended up staying later that he meant to, especially considering the level of concern involved, but as it was he was glad to head back to his apartment and head straight to bed, barely having time to think about everything before falling asleep.

It wasn’t the door opening that woke him up, or the sounds of Blaine taking a shower and getting ready for bed, but rather the soft flick of a tongue against his neck and the wet heat of a mouth moving over his skin. Kurt woke slowly, his hands reaching up to find solid warmth hovering over him. He slid his hands up Blaine’s back, and they moved easily against his soft skin and up into his hair, still damp from the shower. By the time he was actually fully awake, Blaine’s mouth had latched over one of his nipples and his back was arching up from the bed.

“I thought,” he started, gasping and tightening his fingers in Blaine’s hair, “you were supposed to wake me up to talk.” Not that he had any problems whatsoever with how things were progressing, but still. Blaine hummed against him and let his teeth graze against his skin as he pulled away.

“I was going to,” Blaine murmured, lifting his head up to kiss his jaw. “But then you looked so peaceful and sweet and I thought it might be a nice way to wake you up.” Kurt couldn’t argue there, because he couldn’t remember any other time he’d been happy to be woken up. “It’s kind of hard to stop once I start, because you’re just so kissable…”

“Blaine…”

“The rest of tonight went well,” Blaine said quietly, pausing every couple of words to drop light kisses down Kurt’s neck and chest. “The manager was really impressed, told us we did a great job under pressure. I’m feeling really good about it, and I really want to keep kissing you now.”

“That… I think that would be okay,” Kurt whispered, and he felt Blaine’s grin against his chest.

What little clothes they had on were stripped off and mouths roamed, hips rocking up into hands and the feeling of heated flesh rubbing together overwhelming them. Kurt wasn’t sure it wasn’t all just a dream as they both toppled over the brink, Blaine first and Kurt quickly following. Fading back to sleep was easy after they’d cleaned up and Blaine was curled up against him.

Kurt knew he could get used to waking up and falling asleep like that.