Kurt woke up to texts from Rachel, apologizing for anything she had done while she was drunk and also to thank him for getting her home safe. He knew he was fine, he hadn’t had enough to drink to even give him a headache in the morning – even if his first drink had been poured way on the heavy side – but she probably was dealing with a hangover. Either way, he was just glad he’d found her quickly and gotten her home before she’d gone back for another drink and inevitably thrown up on a stranger. It wouldn’t have been the first time.

It was a sluggish morning, as Kurt wanted to get in at least a little of the lazy relaxation he’d had planned for the night prior. He fixed himself breakfast and ate as he watched terrible morning shows on mute. His shower may have been small and cramped, but he still spent an abnormal amount of time in it just letting the hot water wash over him and making him feel more like he could take on the rest of the day. If he hadn’t been so tired, he would have done it right when he’d gotten home from the bar, but it’d been a long night and he’d just been glad to get into bed.

His schedule for the day was long, but as it was the weekend it was mostly just his own personal errands. During the week, he rarely had a chance to get much done for himself, so he had to take advantage of the time when he had it. There was only so much time he had to pick up his groceries for the week, and picking up food on the go was one of his least favorite things. Take-out food was fine every once and a while, but he hated to make it a habit.

Most take-out food reminded him of his least favorite time in the city – the months he’d spent wallowing after his first major heartbreak. Ryan had been a stalwart in his life for over a year, but Kurt should have known it was too good to be true. They’d met through mutual friend, one of Kurt’s classmates at Parsons, and hit it off right away. Dates moved smoothly and quickly and Kurt had been in love, really and truly in love. Ryan had been too, at least for a while. But times changed and apparently so did he, and Kurt was left to pick up the pieces afterward. He’d spent weeks eating nothing but food that he’d ordered in because leaving the apartment was too much of a hassle and so was getting up off the couch to make use of his kitchen.

Take-out food didn’t happen in his life unless insisted upon by someone who was visiting, a rare occurrence, or he was feeling particularly lousy. That was why he made sure to stock up on groceries every weekend, to avoid nights when he found himself with no other option. If he wasn’t feeling down enough to order in, the act alone would put him there.

Kurt realized he couldn’t go to the bar to get their cards before a certain hour, because they didn’t open until the evening, so he tried not to think about it until it was necessary. Because Blaine. Beautiful, talented Blaine, who had made him drinks even though he wasn’t really qualified and had flirted with him. It wasn’t until Kurt had woken up that morning that he’d realized just how unimpressive he must have been the night before – damp from the rain that had started before they went inside and almost entirely unable to string a sentence together. Smoothness was not his strong suit, but he hadn’t ever been good at that. Ryan had been a fluke, and there hadn’t been anyone since.

It wasn’t until he was standing there outside the bar, waiting for it to open, that he realized that he was a little nervous. He could pretend that it was because he didn’t like leaving a bad impression with anyone, and that was what he assumed he’d done when he’d had to bodily help his drunk friend out of the bar. Normal bars, that wasn’t exactly out of place, but piano bars seemed different. They were just as loud as regular places, but Kurt tended to rank them above because of their use of quality performers and music – and the Big Bang had those in spades.

He was the first one in line when the door opened, and he offered the bouncer a half-smile. It wasn’t like he had plans on staying, not like the group of people lined up behind him, so he mentioned to the man inside checking IDs that he’d left his card and was just there to pick it up and managed to get in without having to pay the cover. The bar being completely empty was a welcome change from what it had been like before, and he made his way over to the counter right away before the people coming in after him swarmed it.

“What can I get—oh! I remember you! Welcome back.” Brittany offered him a smile and leaned up against the counter. “You found your friend okay? Berry girl?”

“Yes I did, thanks for your help,” Kurt said, returning her smile. “I forgot my card though, when I left. So did she. I was just coming to grab those.”

“You aren’t staying?” She pouted a little as she reached back to grab a little container that appeared to be full of abandoned cards. “That’s sad. What’s your name?”

“Kurt Hummel.” Kurt hadn’t even gotten a chance to offer it to her when someone else did it for him – Blaine. He turned his head in the direction of his voice, and saw him walking up toward him with a grin. “Fancy seeing you here again!”

“He forgot his card,” Brittany explained, glancing over at Blaine before turning her attention back to the cards. “Kurt Hummel…”

“Here I thought I scared you off,” Blaine said, leaning sideways against the bar and looking up at him. “After you said you liked the music and all.”

“I did like the music,” Kurt replied, his gaze sweeping over Blaine in what he hoped was an inconspicuous way. It was just that he was wearing really form fitting jeans and no one would have been able to resist sneaking a look, Kurt was sure. “I wasn’t so much scared off as I was… accompanied by a drunk girl who needed to get home.”

“Ah, been there,” Blaine said sagely, nodding. “As long as you got her home alright.”

“Completely soaked, thanks to the rain, but other than that she was fine.” Kurt was glad he’d put extra effort into his outfit for the day, to make up for just how disheveled he’d probably looked all soggy and undone the previous night.

“Kurt Hummel!” Brittany exclaimed triumphantly, holding his card out to him.

“Can I get Rachel’s, too? Rachel Berry.”

“Oh, um, I’m not supposed to…” she said, chewing her lip. “Only the person whose name is on it can get it.”

“That’s fine, I’ll just tell her she has to swing by, though I’m not sure when she’ll have the time so it might be a few days…”

“Don’t tell anybody?” Brittany whispered conspiratorially as she dug back into the box of cards, flipping through a few before sliding Rachel’s across the counter to him. “Are you sure you’re not staying?”

“I have some stuff to do, unfortunately,” Kurt said, his gaze flicking from her to Blaine, who was looking unfairly handsome.

“That’s too bad,” he said, shaking his head. “Come on, I’ll take you out the back way so you don’t have to deal with the hoard coming in. Short cut.” Kurt followed him through a door and up a small staircase, slipping the cards into his wallet and pocketing it as they hit the landing and Blaine popped open a door that led out to the alley. “Here you go. It’s really a shame you can’t stay, it should be a good night. We could use someone in the crowd who appreciates music a little more than the rest. Especially since you think I’m better than Santana.”

It was said as a joke, Kurt could tell, because Blaine was grinning like he had done when he’d joked before. He didn’t want to linger on the thought that he seemed to think he knew a lot about Blaine just based on a few facial expressions he’d seen in the span of a few hours. That didn’t stop him from opening his mouth and letting the words come tumbling out.

“So does that offer still stand?” Kurt asked, and he rushed ahead before Blaine could question what he meant, as he was sure to do because it wasn’t like Kurt was being that clear in the first place. “I mean… can you get me your phone number? Maybe coffee tomorrow morning?”

The vague confusion on Blaine’s face faded into something different, though Kurt wasn’t entire sure if it was good or bad. He scrambled to try and recover. Of course the first time after Ryan he’d gone after someone, that he’d initiated – not Rachel, he’d screwed it up. “Oh God, I completely misread things, just… pretend like I didn’t say any of those things. I’m going to go and, well, leave and die of embarrassment, but I—it was nice to meet you.”

Kurt couldn’t believe himself – first he’d tried to turn something that had clearly been a joke into something real and then when he’d tried to bow out, far less graceful than he would have liked, he’d ended up with his arm outstretched to shake Blaine’s hand. He started to pull it back but Blaine was quicker. Blaine wasn’t shaking it though, just holding it, and when Kurt looked from where their hand were clasped up to Blaine’s eyes, he wasn’t sure if he could read anything that was going on.

“Don’t do that,” Blaine said softly, his thumb drawing small circles over the back of Kurt’s hand. “First of all, yes, I can get you my phone number. It’s the coffee and everything else that might be a little complicated.”

“I—you don’t have to, Blaine, it’s fine.”

“I want to.” Blaine still hadn’t let go of his hand, and he brought his other one up to cover Kurt’s completely between them. “It’s just that the tomorrow morning is…” He pursed his lips, shaking his head. “I know you said you weren’t hanging around tonight, and that’s beyond okay, but would you be opposed a loose interpretation of morning? I finish my last set at two, and I’ve got a flight to catch at ten. If you can find a diner or something that’ll be open around two…”

“Two… in the morning?” Kurt asked, his finger flexing slightly in Blaine’s grasp. It was the weekend, but that didn’t mean he usually stayed up that late – and definitely not to drink coffee. Blaine had such a hopeful look in his eyes, so different from the slightly dejected look he’d had when Kurt had first asked, and that settled it. “I can manage that.”

“Wonderful,” Blaine said, a smile spreading across his face. “Now, phone?” He let go of Kurt’s hands and held his out expectantly. Kurt retrieved it from his pocket and handed it over, watching as Blaine added his number to the contacts and sent himself a text. “There, now I have yours too.”

“Blaine!” Santana threw the door open, stopping one step out into the alley when she saw them. Her eyes took in Kurt first, and then Blaine, and she raised an eyebrow. “Am I interrupting something?”

“No,” Blaine answered quickly, passing Kurt his phone and offering him a hint of a smile. “Have a good rest of your night, Kurt.” He winked and ducked back inside with Santana, who gave Kurt another once over before pulling the door shut behind them.

Kurt stood there staring at the door for a long moment before he looked down at the phone in his hands. What was he even doing? He shook his head and slid it back into his pocket, but only for a moment because it started vibrating as soon as he had.

From: Blaine Anderson
Sorry, I wanted to save you from Santana. Meet me right there a little after 2? I’ll definitely need coffee.

He replied quickly, ‘Definitely. See you then.’ and tried not to psych himself out before he’d even gotten out of eyesight of the bar. There were plenty of hours in the in-between for him to do that. He got on the subway to head to Rachel, because the last thing he needed was to lose her card before he was able to give it to her, and spent the ride thinking of ways to keep distracted until the early hours of the morning.