It started on a Saturday.

Walking hand in hand with Blaine past the Lima Shopping Center's GAP, Kurt -- who, Blaine noticed guiltily, was resolutely ignoring the store's bland and uninspired display -- turned around to greet the young man who tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hi! You don't know who I am, but your uh, you've -- well, you're an inspiration. I hope I can be as talented as you one day."

Kurt blinked. "Thank you. That's very sweet, I think but why -- well, okay then." His voice trailed off as the guy walked away, smiling and waving at Kurt and Blaine behind him. "That was strange," Kurt began, but Blaine merely shrugged and tugged him towards the Mrs. Fields down the way.

---

The second time it happened, it was at a new restaurant with a name that Blaine couldn't even pretend to know how to pronounce. ("Blaine, honey, I know you have been unduly influenced by your little lady chats with Santana, but four times in one week is enough. If I have to choke down another loaf of -- stop giggling, that wasn't dirty at all -- I will personally throw your limited edition copy of Teenage Dream into the dryer until all the scent is gone.")

"Just order for me," Blaine said, scanning the menu apprehensively before setting it down to sip his water. Kurt speaking French was about ten kinds of hot, anyway, and Blaine smiled pleasantly at the young waiter before nodding towards Kurt.

The waiter began to read the specials monotonously, pausing after the filet mignon de asdfghjkrexahg -- at least, that was what it sounded like to Blaine's ears -- to gape slightly with fresh recognition."Wait a second. Don't you guys go to Dalton, over in Westerville?"

Blaine's smile twitched downward a bit, and Kurt gave his hand a small squeeze before answering. "He still does. I transferred back to my old school a couple of months ago."

"Oh, all right. I was just -- that duet you guys did for that choir show? That was awesome! I was totally tearing up, man. It was beautiful."

"Really?" Kurt brightened. "Thank you! I think with a little more uh, vocal practice, we might have placed higher -- " at this Kurt has the decency to blush " -- but if you liked it, I do appreciate the sentiment. Were you there?"

"No, actually I saw -- oh shit," the waiter groaned, glancing up towards the rear of the restaurant where a large bald man in a chef's hat gestured pointedly at his notepad. "Anyway, sorry, your order?"

---

The third time it happened, they were sitting crosslegged on Kurt's bed with their respective laptops open. Blaine was scouring YouTube for the perfect Six Flags performance song, and Kurt was typing up his third draft of Pip Pip Hooray's act one closer, "Too Hot to Be Forgot".

"Look at this friend request I got on Facebook," Kurt muttered. "Do I even know this girl?"

Blaine stopped humming to himself, mentally scratching "Only Girl in the World" off his list of potential songs. "Probably? Did she at least leave a message, too?"

"Yes she did. Listen. 'I saw your performances online and I just wanted to let you know how much they affected me. And like, not just in my panties either,'" Kurt made a face, "'but you were really really good. Hope this doesn't sound too creepy!' Too late for that. 'I love your blog, by the way!' Blog? I haven't kept a blog in years. What could -- Blaine?"

Blaine ducked his head sheepishly, looking up at Kurt through his eyelashes. Kurt liked that, usually. Blaine hoped it would work in his favor. "I uh...might know something about that."

Kurt -- oh god -- raised an eyebrow. "Go on?"

"Well...when you transferred back to McKinley, I was really really sad about it. Kurt, I just, I missed you so much, and the guys were getting tired of me whining about it all the time."

"You could have whined to me," Kurt said gently. "I missed you, too. I still do."

"But you were so happy, and I didn't want to get in the way of all that. I love you. Your friends are great. I was so glad you were back with your family."

"That doesn't explain -- "

"So I turned to the internet."

"Come again? Oh. Oh no. Did you order one of those dolls with your summer allowance, because I told you, I would completely do anything you wanted provided we have the proper pre-coital discussion and adequate lubri -- "

"I got a blog, okay! I figured I could tell the entire world how much I missed my boyfriend, and then I could cry about how much I missed you with empathetic strangers, and I could get all my feelings out without bugging my friends."

"And it got popular, I assume?"

"Hell yeah it did!" Blaine nodded enthusiastically. "See, I started out with two followers -- Trent and Thad, and I'm pretty sure Thad created his account for me because he's not following anyone else -- and they'd comment on my sad text posts and try to make me feel better. But then after the first week without you, I was feeling better, so I spent study hall watching muted videos from your school's YouTube channel and posting my favorite performances of yours." Turning his laptop around to face Kurt, Blaine pointed to an entry from late April. "The first video I posted was you on the football team from last year. It got three hundred notes in twenty-four hours! I got forty new followers from that!"

Kurt paused when he looked back up at Blaine, blinking for a few seconds before -- and Blaine exhaled in relief -- smiling. "Blaine Warbler," Kurt said, grinning cheekily. "Are you saying that you're posting videos of boys in tight pants in order to get internet famous?"

"Just one boy," Blaine corrected, setting his laptop to the side and leaning forward to plant a small kiss on Kurt's lips. "And if you think that video got me followers," Blaine said as he handed his laptop over to Kurt, "wait 'til you see where I posted 'Born This Way''."

"Wow," Kurt said distractedly, scrolling down the page. "This guy on your dashboard liked 'Candles' fifty-seven times."

Blaine shrugged. "That's sexshark2009, right? Yeah. I think he's a big fan."