For once, Kurt wasn’t the first one to wake up. He became aware of this as he was waking up, because he could hear his name being said softly – or maybe it wasn’t softly and it was just how it sounded because he was coming out of a haze of sleep, but either way, he loved it. Blaine had a way of saying his name that Kurt could get lost in, the way he hung onto the vowel for just long enough, how he enunciated the ‘t’ so clearly, and it felt silly to think about things like that but he couldn’t control where his mind went when he was still half asleep.

Except then he realized that Blaine was still saying his name, and there were light kisses being pressed to his temple, so he should probably acknowledge the fact that he was awake.

“Blaine,” Kurt mumbled, sliding his arms up around him, getting quiet ‘oof’ as he pulled him down onto his chest. “Sedated bear…”

“I know,” Blaine murmured, propping himself up on his elbows over top of him and kissing him lightly. “I know what I said, and you can go back to sleep in a minute. But if I were to go out to get breakfast… would you want something other than just plain coffee?”

Kurt opened his eyes halfway, looking up at him. It was darker in the apartment than he had been expecting, and he had no idea what time it was but if Blaine was up that meant it had to be late. Blaine looked completely awake, too, eyes bright and shining and no tiredness left on his face. Then again, he was the one who had been getting normal amounts of sleep, and all Kurt wanted to do was roll over and bury himself under the covers for a while longer.

“Mocha, non-fat,” Kurt said, sighing as Blaine pressed a kiss against the crook of his neck. “Quad…”

“Mkay, you sleep,” Blaine replied, nuzzling beneath his ear before kissing his cheek and pulling away from his hold. Kurt didn’t need any encouragement on that front, and he barely heard anything Blaine was doing around the apartment before he slipped back to sleep.

When he woke up again, it was to the smell of bacon. Kurt rubbed at his face before he opened his eyes, pushing up off the bed to sit as he looked around. There was a simple explanation as to why it was still dark inside, despite the fact that a quick check of his phone told him it was nearly noon. Spare sheets for his bed, which had been tucked away in the closet, were draped up over the window to block out the sun even more than his curtains ever managed to.

Kurt climbed out of bed and tugged on some flannel pajama pants, yawning as he wandered into the kitchen. Blaine looked like a vision of comfort, pajama pants and sweatshirt, his hair loose and falling onto his forehead as his head tilted down so he could see what he was doing. He slipped in behind him, arms sliding around his waist, and Blaine rocked back on his heels, pressing against him with a hum of greeting. “You made my apartment a fort.”

“I did, kind of,” Blaine replied, flipping over the bacon in the skillet before turning and slipping his arms around Kurt. “I thought it might help you sleep later than if it was all sunny and bright.”

“It did.” Kurt kissed him softly, and part of him still didn’t believe that he got to do that. “Coffee?”

“Mocha,” Blaine said, reaching over to grab a cup off the counter and holding it up to him. “Quad, non-fat.”

“Thank you.” His arms dropped from around him so he could get the coffee, and he took a long sip. It was still hot, just cool enough to be drinkable, and it felt like it was warming him through as he drank. He watched as Blaine moved back to the stove, tending to the eggs in the skillet on the burner beside the bacon.

“I figured you’d wake up if I started cooking something,” Blaine continued, pulling two plates down from a cupboard and starting to dish up the food. “Either that or I would get to eat a lot and then make you something whenever you did wake up.”

“You’re the best,” Kurt sighed, keeping his coffee in hand as he got out silverware for them to use, and within minutes they were standing there eating. Usually he ate at his desk, as there wasn’t much room for a table and he never needed space for more than just himself. As it was, it seemed almost cozy to stay there leaned against the counter beside each other, shoulders and arms brushing as they ate.

Blaine had no plans for the day, until he had to be at work, which meant they had all the time until then to themselves. As easy as it would have been to stay in bed for the rest of the day, there was too much else that could be done. Brittany had told Blaine there was going to be a dance recital in the park, and he’d wanted to see the places Kurt had told him about going on the weekends, so they had some things to do and see to take up their afternoon.

Showered, dressed, and ready for the day, Kurt felt like he was rested enough to make up for how much he’d been missing that week. They left the sheets up over the window, figuring it would be helpful for the following morning as well, and set out into the city. Being able to walk down the street holding hands with Blaine was something Kurt enjoyed maybe more than he should have. Most people probably took such things for granted, but after living most of his life in Lima, Ohio, the fact that he was able to do so without there being outrage from the general public was a comfort and he loved it.

Central Park was where they ended up first, and Kurt easily found the area where he remembered Brittany being before. Sure enough, there was a crowd gathered on the grass, and they had just missed the beginning of it all. Santana was there, sitting up at the front with Brittany, but Blaine found a spot for them toward the back where they could stand in the shade and still manage to see everything.

Blaine’s arm slipped around Kurt’s waist, and he leaned in against his side as they watched dance after dance. They swayed slightly in time with the music every so often, and Kurt felt like he might burst with how happy he felt. It was amazing how something so small could mean so much, but standing there in the park with Blaine hugged in close to his side, it felt like that no matter what else happened, everything was going to be just fine. That was why he wasn’t worried about the amount of time they would or wouldn’t be able to see each other when Blaine moved there – because little moments could feel like the world.

Brittany and Mike danced last, just like they had before when Kurt had seen them, and Blaine’s arm around his waist tightened. Kurt glanced over, taking in the awe that was there in his wide eyes as Blaine watched his friends. It wasn’t like he didn’t understand, because watching them was like watching music in motion, it was just that he would have thought Blaine would be used to it, for some reason. Except he realized, a little too late to save himself from feeling dense about it, that living in Ohio didn’t exactly afford Blaine the opportunities to see his friends perform.

“Have you never seen…?” he started, and Blaine shook his head.

“I mean, I’ve seen Brit dance before,” Blaine replied, his thumb rubbing absently against Kurt’s side. “Never for real, though. She would always dance around her apartment, or if we were in an empty car on the subway, or videos she’d send Santana, but never like this. I’m not a dancer, so I never really understood when she said how dance feels, but it’s so easy to see when she’s actually doing it right there in front of you.”

“Like you and music?” Kurt asked, brushing a kiss against his temple before turning his gaze back to Brittany and Mike. “How it makes you feel, I mean.”

“Right. That release I get when I sing, how much I can channel into it, I never understood how people without a creative outlet get by without something like that, but it’s amazing how the same thing can take different forms for different people. Me, music, Brittany, dance, you, design…” He trailed off as the piece ended and they untangled their arms from around each other so they could applaud along with the rest of the crowd gathered.

Santana got to her feet and swept Brittany up in her arms as the group started dispersing, and Kurt smiled as Blaine slipped their hands together and pulled him toward where they were. Brittany saw them and her face lit up as she waved, not moving from where she was wrapped up in her girlfriend. It wasn’t like Kurt knew Santana well at all, as they’d only had a few brief encounters and barely anything that could count as conversation, but just from that he’d had difficulty picturing her with someone like Brittany. Of course he knew she couldn’t be all bad, because Blaine had lived with her for years and he doubted they would have lasted that long if that was the case, but still.

There, in that moment, Kurt could finally see what he hadn’t been able to picture for all those months. It was in the gentleness of her smile that he’d never seen before, and how she couldn’t tear her eyes away from Brittany’s face. The Santana there in front of them wasn’t the smirking, snarky girl who picked on and teased just over the line of where she should stop, no. It was the Santana that Brittany had told him about when they’d had lunch over tea, and he could see the love they had between them as they looked at each other.

“I’m so glad you guys made it,” Brittany greeted them as they got close enough, and Santana nuzzled her face against her neck. “I thought you might still be sleeping, or Santana said you might be busy with other stuff.”

“Sex,” Santana mouthed to Kurt with a wink, a smirk turning up the corners of her mouth.

“Like I was going to miss this,” Blaine said, slipping his free arm around Brittany to give her an attempt at a hug, as best he could with Santana still attached to her. “You were amazing, Brit!”

“Dancing with Mike is my favorite,” Brittany replied, and then quickly amended, “except for Santana. Dancing with Santana is the best, but it’s different than what I dance with Mike.”

“Right,” Santana agreed, brushing a kiss against her cheek. “Cause I can’t do any of that stuff he did, but you guys look amazing together.”

“Did you have plans for lunch? We could all go grab something together,” Blaine offered, but Brittany shook her head.

“We were just going to head back to my place for a while,” she said, reaching out for Kurt’s hand and squeezing his fingers, swinging their linked hands back and forth. “I’m just so glad you guys came! I love seeing friends.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss a chance to see you,” Kurt replied, giving her a smile.

“But you get to see me all the time!”

“Get to see you dance,” he corrected, and she grinned as she let go of his hand. “Though I’ll see you again tonight, I’m sure.”

“Of course!”

They separated after not much more small talk, the girls headed back to Brittany’s, with a wink from Santana that couldn’t be mistaken, and Blaine with Kurt off toward the garment district. Their plan for the day was such a loosely formed one, and half of it was done after getting to see Brittany, and there was still so much of the afternoon left. Kurt enjoyed the lazy feeling of it all, the lack of stress and deadlines and the ability to just enjoy being there with Blaine.

“What do you usually do when you’re here?” he asked as they got off the subway, headed up onto the sidewalk and down past the shops. “When you aren’t working, I mean.”

“A lot of thinking,” Blaine replied, his arm sliding around Kurt’s waist. “Walking, looking… exploring. I wouldn’t necessarily say that I get banished from Brittany’s apartment for a lot of the time, but I prefer not being there. It’s not that I’m flat out told to leave, but I’ve heard more than enough things to make me not want to stick around.”

“They’re not the most discrete people.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Blaine said with a chuckle, shaking his head. “I mean, it’s—I’m happy for them, I just—don’t want to be sitting there on the couch, trying to concentrate one something while they’re having sex in the next room.”

“Perfectly understandable.” Kurt paused as they started past his favorite store, the one where he went when he wanted to feel inspired and motivated to do something with his craft. “Let’s go in.”

Blaine followed him in, their fingers intertwining and staying hooked as they worked their way through the rows and shelves, taking in the fabrics and possibilities. Kurt pointed the few he’d been sent to get for a designer at Vogue, describing what they’d done with it, and the different options he’d gotten for himself and used. There were at least three different fabrics he’d gotten from that particular store and turned into bow ties for Blaine, but he didn’t point those out – Blaine found them on his own.

“You should pick things out,” Kurt said, watching Blaine as he ran his fingers over a few bolts of fabric that were sticking out from a shelf. “Find some that you like, and I’ll make you something.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that.” Blaine shook his head, glancing over at him. “You’re busy.”

“Blaine,” he replied, rolling his eyes. “You’re not asking, I’m offering. If I say I have time, I do. I’m not that busy. Are you forgetting that I made myself a Mad Hatter jacket and Brittany a dress for her birthday? Never mind the fact that I’ve managed to find the time to hang out at a bar every night this week to hear some guy banging around on a piano—”

“Okay fine!” Blaine interrupted, a twinkle in his eyes as he pressed a finger to Kurt’s lips to get him to stop. “You’re a busy person who doesn’t know how to prioritize correctly, or you’re just very good at multitasking, I’m not sure.”

“It’s the multitasking one,” Kurt mumbled, pretending like he was going to bite Blaine’s finger to get him to pull it away so he could speak easier. “How do you think I ended up with the wardrobe I have? Not that I’ve made it, but I’ve customized almost everything in one way or another. Come on, give me something to do. Are you seriously going to turn down the possibility of more bow ties – ones that you get to pick out and design yourself?” Blaine gave him a look, then leaned in to kiss him quickly.

“You know my weakness, that’s not fair,” he said with a playful sigh, giving Kurt’s hand a tug. “Come on, let’s go find some whimsical fabric to spice up my collection.”

Despite Kurt’s insistence, Blaine was still hesitant to actually choose anything. He found many choices that he liked, and it took a full two laps around the store before he picked out the first bolt of fabric to take up to the cutting counter. Kurt made a list on his phone of everything Blaine had commented on, just so he had a reference for what he’d liked and hadn’t gotten because while Blaine had agreed, he still seemed to be shying away from choosing.

“You do know that I enjoy doing this, right?” he asked, stepping up behind Blaine and slipping his arm around his waist, dipping his head to press a kiss against his neck. “What you think is making work for me is actually making fun for me, and on top of that, I get to do it for you so that makes it even less work-like. Stop thinking so much.”

“There are just so many options,” Blaine said, leaning back against him and scrunching his nose. “Too many.”

“The great thing is that this isn’t the only day ever this store is open,” Kurt replied, his thumb rubbing against Blaine’s side. “There will always be options to come back and get. So how about you choose… four and we’ll go from there.”

That seemed agreeable enough, and it only took a little longer in the store before they were headed on their way with the different fabrics tucked away in Kurt’s bag. They were all different colors, including a deep, rich purple that he couldn’t wait to play with, and Blaine seemed pleased as they walked down the sidewalk hand in hand. There were many other shops to visit, just to wander and peruse, and that was how they whiled away the afternoon before grabbing a late lunch and sitting in a small park nearby to eat it.

Blaine had to leave for work sooner than Kurt realized, but he supposed he’d been at work every other day when the time had come. There had been that first day, but Santana’s phone call had interrupted everything and pulled him away. It didn’t stop them from lingering on the subway platform, letting the train they needed go come and go rather than getting on. Each passing second felt like it should last longer, and like if they wished hard enough they would. But eventually they got on the train and when Blaine got off, several stops before Kurt, they only got to share a brief kiss before the doors threatened to close on him.

Time flew once Kurt got to the bar that night, each set full of great music that had so much emotion played into it – though Kurt wondered if he heard that because he knew, or if other people could as well. Maybe to everyone else it was just music like anything else, random pop songs but done on a piano instead of how they were normally heard, but he could hear what was behind it. That was what made Blaine and Santana so good at what they did, after all. It was all about the passion, and there was such hunger for what they wanted that their music never lacked passion.

He’d stuck around the bar that time, not wanting to be close enough that Santana could pick on him, but also preferring to watch from a distance. Kurt liked being able to see how other people reacted to what was happening on the stage, because he knew no one was experiencing it the same way he was. Brittany had pointed out to him where the manager was sitting, and Kurt spent his entire night glancing in that direction, as if somehow he’d be able to see whether or not the man sitting at the table, typing away on a tablet, was going to let Blaine move to New York.

Blaine was quiet the whole way home, and Kurt didn’t want to pry because he didn’t seem upset, just quiet. There was something about the way his thumb kept tracing circles around the back of Kurt’s hand, how his fingers flexed every so often to hold his hand tighter. It was a somber subway ride, the two of them sitting in near silence, save for the mechanical rocking of the car and the murmurs of conversation passing between the few other passengers near them. They got back to his apartment with barely any words exchanged, until the door was latched and locked behind them.

“Are you going to shower?” Kurt asked, slipping his satchel over his head and setting it over by his desk.

“Will you with me?” Blaine was standing there half-undressed when Kurt turned around, his shirt tossed to the floor and hand outstretched for him.

“My shower is tiny,” Kurt replied, but he slipped his hand into Blaine’s anyway.

“You think I’d ask if I didn’t want to be close to you in the first place?” He pulled Kurt in and kissed the corner of his mouth, a soft lingering kiss that broke off in a sigh. “Please?”

They undressed each other slowly, not the frantic pulling off of clothes as it might have been, fingertips gliding over skin as it was exposed and lips brushing lightly against each other. It wasn’t until they were both naked that they moved from where they’d been standing, cutting the short path to the bathroom. Blaine leaned in to turn on the water, fiddling with the temperature, and Kurt wrapped himself around him, arms tight around his waist and mouth dropping kisses against his neck and shoulders.

Blaine pulled him in under the water, and there was enough room for them both to fit in the shower but not much more than that. It seemed to suit them just fine, and Kurt leaned into Blaine’s arms, his lips parting easily under the gentle tracing of Blaine’s tongue. His hands slid up to Blaine’s hair, fingers threading through it as the water washed away the gel and loosened it to his hold, and Blaine gave a quiet whimper as the tip of Kurt’s tongue stroked against the roof of his mouth. He gripped at Kurt’s arms, a tight hold that didn’t hurt but was more than usual.

“What’s wrong?” Kurt whispered as he pulled away, eyes searching as they looked down into Blaine’s.

“Nothing, I just—I don’t want to go back to Ohio,” Blaine said, letting go of Kurt to push his hair back from his forehead and wipe water away from his eyes. “Tonight, that’s all I could think about. Being up on that stage playing for a crowd that is nowhere close to anything we’d ever get in Columbus, knowing I only have one more night left before I’m on a plane away from it, away from you—”

“Hey,” Kurt murmured, his hands shifting to cup Blaine’s jaw. “It’s only temporary. There’s no way you’re not going to get this job. I’ve seen you up there, how much you give with everything you do, and you’re going to get it.”

“I don’t want to leave.”

“You’ll be back.” Kurt’s thumbs stroked against his cheeks, and he leaned in to press a soft kiss against his lips. “If nothing else, you’d have to go back to get your stuff anyway, right? You’ll be back and it’ll be for good, so a little trip back to Ohio’s worth it if that’s the outcome, I think.”

Inside, his heart felt like it was breaking. It was the way Blaine was looking at him, eyes full of concern and doubt. He’d been blocking out the thought that Blaine was going to be gone in less than forty-eight hours, wanting to savor the time they had without it being tainted by a clock looming over their heads. Of course he’d had the forethought to secure his Monday morning off work, because he would be damned if he wasn’t going to spend every last minute he could with Blaine before he was gone, but beyond that he’d tried not to think about it.

“I’ll miss you,” he added carefully, not wanting to make the situation worse but needing to say it. “I’ll miss you so much, Blaine, but we can do this. How far have we come already? A little longer with the promise of so much more afterward, I think I can handle that.”

Blaine kissed him again, much deeper and longer and with so much more intention that Kurt was amazed his knees didn’t give out from the sheer want coursing through him. It was a small space, that much was true, and not very conducive to shower sex, but that didn’t mean everything was impossible. He shifted slightly, the steady beating of water against his shoulders shifting to his back as he pressed Blaine against the cool tile of the wall, grinding his hips in and eliciting a moan.

It was a slow build, driven by the need to linger as much as possible as they knew they only had so much time left before there were miles between them again. The steady rocking of hips together, lips moving over skin and pressing together, tongues twisting and curling around each other as they explored, and hands never ceasing steady paths over wet skin, except when Kurt slid one of his down between them to hold them together as they moved. The slick slide of Blaine’s cock against his was enough to make his body shudder, and he had to brace his free hand against the wall.

Kurt toppled over the edge first, the quiet whimpers and pleas moaned into his ear from where Blaine was sucking on his earlobe proving to be the final straw as his body tensed and trembled and he came with a soft cry. Blaine’s hips stuttered erratically moments later and he burrowed his face against Kurt’s neck as he moaned, and Kurt could feel him pulsing in his hand as he came. Neither of them moved, save for arms and hands shifting to get closer, and it wasn’t until the water started to turn more lukewarm than hot that they bothered to get clean before it went cold.

Towel-dried and with legs that felt like jelly, Kurt made his way back to his bed and slipped under the covers, and Blaine joined him a minute later. Despite Blaine automatically moving to keep him pinned to the mattress by way of cuddles, Kurt nudged him onto his side and slipped his arm around his middle, spooning up against his back and tucking his knees in against Blaine’s. That was how Blaine had pulled him into sleeping that first night, after Brittany’s party, and it felt like the right way to sleep then.

“This okay?” he asked softly, pressing a kiss to the back of Blaine’s shoulder.

“Perfect.” Blaine tilted head back so he could kiss Kurt’s cheek, and the burrowed back against him any little bit more that he could.

It wasn’t anything like that first night had been, hesitant and full of questions. Kurt let his head rest against the pillow, nose brushing against Blaine’s hair as he breathed in deeply, his body relaxed and contented as he drifted to sleep.