The studio audience cheered and Kurt nodded to acknowledge his cue as he strode out on stage. The applause grew louder as he waved at the people, then the camera, then turned to face the hostess of the show. He gave her a quick hug before sitting in the red chair opposite hers.

“Welcome, Kurt, it’s so good to have you on the show,” Tina said, smiling happily at Kurt as he adjusted his blue Marc Jacobs jacket. He could remember years in high school where he saved up money forever to buy these jackets, now designers were practically paying him to wear their things on television.

“Thank you, it’s great to be here,” Kurt grinned as he surveyed the audience.

“How have you been lately?” Tina asked.

“Busy. Very busy. Bring on Tomorrow, it really pushes us with the drama and the emotion. By the end of the day we’re just so tired,” Kurt said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs.

“What about this rumor I’ve been hearing about a record deal? Is it true?”

Kurt raised an eyebrow and shrugged, “Yes, it just so happens that it is.”

“So when your character, Chris Colfer, sang on the show, it was really you?”

“Yes, that was me. We recorded that song in a studio a few days before we filmed it. I had a lot of fun because they set the scene for me and I just got to sing it. They gave me a lot of freedom and it was something that I’ve been missing,” Kurt explained, loving that interviewers wanted to ask him about his voice. He’d missed it so much, and he wanted the world to know he was back.

“Are you thinking about a return to Broadway?” Tina asked, sitting on the edge of her seat.

“It’s definitely a possibility, but I really like what I’ve found in L.A.” Kurt said, smirking as he thought of Blaine, who was using his day off to sit at home and strum on his guitar all day.

“So tell us some more about what’s coming up on your show?” Tina asked, tucking a lock of long black hair behind her ear.

“Well, Chris and Darren are definitely in this for the long run, however in the upcoming episodes we’re going to be dealing a lot with some very, very serious topics,” Kurt said, his smile fading as he focused on Tina.

“More serious than what’s already been happening?”

“We’ll be dealing with a lot of homophobia. A lot of it. But on the plus side we’re focusing a bit more on the romantic edge of things, kind of romanticizing a gay relationship. The writers really wanted to show that it’s ok,” Kurt explained. This was the part of the show he was really looking forward to.

“Sounds like we have some fantastic new episodes coming up soon. But for now we’ve gotta go to a commercial, so we’ll be right back after this quick break,” Tina said. The audience clapped on cue, then both Kurt and Tina rose from their seats.

“It’s really great to see you again, Kurt,” Tina said, hugging Kurt enthusiastically.

“You’ve really done well for yourself,” Kurt said, squeezing her in return. The pair had been friends in high school, although neither would admit it if you asked them directly. It was important for both their careers that they left high school in Ohio far behind them.

“I could say the same for yourself. I’m really sorry about what happened to your voice. It kinda makes me want to punch Rachel for taking away all those solos from you,” Tina said, punching the air to emphasize her point.

Kurt chuckled lightly, “Rachel and I made our piece long ago. I feel bad though, I haven’t talked to her since the last time I went to New York.”

“You’ve been up to bigger and better things though,” Tina said. “Now tell me, between friends, are you and Blaine Anderson…”

She trailed off and made a crude hand gesture to signify what she was trying to ask. Kurt raised an amused eyebrow.

“Even if we were, do you think I would risk it all by telling you that?” Kurt asked. Somewhere behind, they called for places, and the both of them sat down to continue their friendly questions and banter.

. ~ . ~ .

When Kurt got home that night, the condo was dark, save for a yellowish glow coming from the dining area. Kurt knew it was probably something of Blaine’s that he was working on – he learned never to question what Blaine did – and he continued on his way to the bedroom, where he stopped by his closet to deposit his jacket. He went to the bathroom and took extra time washing his hands, then he headed into the kitchen where an impatient Blaine stood, leaning against the counter.

“You were supposed to come see why the only light place in the whole condo was the dining room,” Blaine said, dropping his arms from where they were folded in front of his chest.

“I’m sorry,” Kurt said. “I just figured you were up to something, as usual.”

“Of course I was up to something.” Blaine stepped forward and grasped Kurt’s hand, pulling him closer. “I’ve been planning this for a week.”

“Planning what?”

“Well, seeing as you and I never had a proper date, I figured we could just have one here,” Blaine shrugged, resting one hand on Kurt’s waist.

Kurt raised an eyebrow. “You waited until you had me secured in your bed before you made me a proper dinner?”

“I’m sorry! Things were going so good, it just slipped my mind,” Blaine shrugged. His smile faded and he looked at Kurt in the low light with those damn puppy eyes Kurt could never resist. Kurt rolled his own eyes and slipped his arms around Blaine, hugging him tightly.

“I love you, you big sap,” Kurt muttered against the skin of Blaine’s neck.

“I love you too,” Blaine said. He quickly pulled back and added, “I can’t actually cook, so I ordered Chinese, and then put it on plates so it looked nice. I hope you’re not mad.”

Once again, there were those eyes Kurt simply could not resist. He smiled and assured Blaine that it was perfectly fine with him. Blaine hurried to pull plates out of the oven, where they were keeping warm, and went into the dining room. Kurt followed, amused at how hard Blaine seemed to be trying with this. There were two place settings on the table, with candles and glasses and a bottle of wine. Blaine smiled at him rather triumphantly as Kurt took his seat.

“You’re a dork, you know that?” Kurt laughed as he picked up a fork – he was never good with chopsticks like Blaine – and took a bite of almond chicken.

“Sometimes I don’t know why I love you, Kurt Hummel.” Blaine shook his head as he shoved a bite of broccoli beef into his mouth. Blaine looked up to see Kurt lying his hand on the table, waiting for him to take it. He did, caressing Kurt’s hand as he did so.

“Funny. I know exactly why I love you, Blaine Anderson,” Kurt said lightly, although he didn’t elaborate.

“Kurt, can I tell you something?” Blaine asked softly, after a long time of just quietly eating and holding hands. Kurt nodded and set down his fork, listening while Blaine searched for the right words. “I’ve had boyfriends before. I’ve had…a ‘Dave’ before, but not to the extent that you had, and I’ve had plenty of flings. But nothing, nothing has felt as amazing as being with you. Even just…sitting here, holding hands, is the most incredible thing. I feel like we’re on top of the world or something and at this point, I love you doesn’t even begin to cover all these feelings.”

Kurt stayed silent, letting a slight blush play over his cheeks as he waited for Blaine to finish. By the end, Blaine was gripping his hand so tightly that Kurt thought it might be bruised in the morning.

“You know, when Chris and Darren start getting a little stronger, I think we should go public,” Kurt said, staring down at their joined hands. “I mean, I’m so sick of hiding this and now that nothing is impeding their relationship, it would be…I don’t know…cute if we were there right with them. For the people, you know.”

“For the people. Not for us?”

“Definitely for us.” Kurt smiled slightly. “I love you so much, Blaine, but I think we need to talk about what’s going on with them.”

“On our date?” Blaine sighed, about to pull his hand back when Kurt gripped it tightly.

“My character pulled the plug on your character’s girlfriend,” Kurt said seriously. “How is it ever going to be ok between them?”

“I think it’s going to be just fine because they love each other and while they’re both affected by this, they can move on now and be together,” Blaine shrugged. “I mean, if it were us in that situation I could only hope that’s what would happen.”

“I just…I really want people to understand it, you know?” Kurt said.

“You’re really feeling strongly about this, aren’t you?” Blaine asked, his voice lifting up with a hint of strong curiosity.

“Serena was such an asshat about Chris and she confined Darren so much, and then when this all went through, people started pitying her and I get it because Chris pulled the plug, but she was going to die anyway because there was no way they could’ve got her on the transplant list. There was a machine replacing the function of her heart and it was a miracle she was even talking,” Kurt shrugged. Blaine reached over and took Kurt’s hand between both of his.

“Hey, Kurt, it’s over now, ok? They can move on. We can move on. And we don’t have to go public to show the world our love. We can translate it into what’s happening on the show. We can help people understand,” Blaine said.

“I didn’t sign up to be on a soap opera, Blaine. These emotions just mess with my head,” Kurt sighed.

“It’s gonna be better. Patrick promised. Besides, the man is a sucker for a good sex scene, so we know they’ll be together for the long run,” Blaine winked and waggled his eyebrows. Kurt snorted and shook his head.

“You just want to have sex in my trailer again,” Kurt said, trying to keep from giggling.

“Hey, you can’t deny that it was good,” said Blaine, joining Kurt in his failed attempts to keep from laughing.

“You know, Blaine, I’ll have to say this was the best first date I’ve ever been on. And I’ve been on a lot of first dates. Not many second dates, because I have a very high standard for a first date,” Kurt said. Blaine smiled, staring at him with those stupid puppy eyes from across the table.

“Do I get the honor of having a second date?” Blaine asked.

“Yes,” replied Kurt, “But don’t think you’re getting lucky tonight. I never sleep with someone on the first date.”

Blaine let out a dramatic sigh, leaning back and draping his arm over his eyes. Kurt laughed, loving how Blaine had the incredible ability to simply make him happy.

. ~ . ~ .

The next day of filming for Bring on Tomorrow didn’t call for Blaine at all, so he had yet another day off. Contrary to Kurt’s belief, he didn’t just sit around all day singing Disney songs and adapting them into folk-like tunes on his guitar. He actually wrote music. Like, real songs that he wanted to sing someday. A lot of the songs he wrote these days were love songs, particularly centered around people’s names who started with K. Not that it had anything to do with Kurt.

Often when Blaine really got into his song writing, he completely lost track of time, as was the case of today. He’d spent six hours perfecting one song, and when Kurt walked through the door that evening, he went into the living room just as Blaine strummed his guitar, unaware of Kurt’s presence

Kurt stood there through the whole song, listening to Blaine’s beautiful voice singing a love song he composed entirely for Kurt. When Blaine finished, he was startled when Kurt clapped softly from behind him.

“That song was beautiful,” Kurt said, leaning over and kissing Blaine softly.

“I wrote it,” Blaine said proudly. Kurt sat next to Blaine and rested his head on his shoulder.

“You should write songs for me,” Kurt said. “I mean…for me to sing. I don’t have any songs and they want me to use someone I don’t even know, but your songs are so pretty I think you should write for me so we could work together on my album.”

Blaine fought down the urge to be jealous once more, knowing that Kurt was offering him an opportunity to work with music. He loved working with Kurt anyway, so of course he agreed.

“You can write a beautiful duet for both of us,” Kurt said.

Blaine was surprised at the suggestion. “You want to sing with me?”

“I want it to be the first song on the album, so everyone can hear it and go, ‘who is that wonderful, brilliant voice singing with that washed up old Broadway star?’ then someone will discover you and you’ll get your own recording contract and door world tours and stuff like that,” Kurt said as he draped his arms around Blaine’s shoulders and nuzzled his face into Blaine’s neck.

“You really want that for me?” Blaine asked, surprised given Kurt’s tendency to want the fame and success all for himself.

“Of course. It’s not like my voice is strong enough to tour the world, and I know once you’re out there, people will be dying to hear more of you,” Kurt told him.

Blaine set his guitar to the side and wound his arms around Kurt’s waist, hugging him tightly.

Kissing the top of Kurt’s head, he said, “Have I told you lately that I love you?”

“Not since that text message you sent me at noon,” Kurt mumbled against the warm skin of his next.

“Well then, Kurt Hummel, I love you very much.”