It was a warm and sunny Monday in New York. People dressed in different colors and outfits filled the sidewalks while streaks of yellow, courtesy of the world-famous NY taxicabs, flooded the roads.

It was already past twelve-noon, and Kurt Hummel had just left an Italian restaurant. He had a lunch meeting with a budding fashion designer whose pieces will be featured in an issue of Vogue, the magazine that Kurt has loved ever since and finally works for now.

Kurt had just ended his conversation on the phone with his boss. He let her know that he has seen the folio of the designer and that the designer was more than willing to lend his designed works for an upcoming shoot. He also told his boss that he was on his way back to the office.

The restaurant was just five blocks away from his office. While it would have been faster and less tiring to simply hail and ride a cab on his way back, Kurt decided to walk the route. He firmly believed that the only way one would really be able to fully appreciate the beauty of the city is to walk (leisurely) on its iconic streets.

Kurt has been living in New York for almost six years. He moved to New York right after graduating from high school. It was painful leaving his hometown— not because he would miss Ohio per se (the environment just was not suitable for a fashionable young man like him), but because he would miss the people there. He will miss his family (Finn and Carole and of course Burt), and his friends (The New Directions, though most of them were leaving Lima for better places too). Up until now, he still tries his best to keep in touch with them.

Kurt had always loved New York. He loved it for its wonderful sights, for its fashion conscious residents, and of course— Kurt loved New York for Broadway. Even after years of living in the Big Apple, he does not (and probably never will) get sick of the city.

As he was walking, he did what he usually did— criticize other people’s outfits. Anyone on the receiving end of Kurt Hummel’s “Manhattan Once-overs” should be afraid, because he’s got a sharp eye when it comes to fashion. He wouldn’t have gotten his job right now if he didn’t, anyway. So he spotted another woman, probably in her late 20’s, wearing a maroon beret (A beret, really?) with a white polo, a grey blazer, a lime green skirt, and gold heels. He saw another lady in a bright pink tracksuit, who he immediately graded as an F- in his mind. Despite the many fashionable people in New York, there are still some who really, really dress bad.

His mind then went to this Marc Jacobs coat that he spotted on the boutique last week. As soon as he gets his paycheck for the month, he is so buying that. It was so soft and its color even made his eyes p—

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt drops of water hitting him. He was in the middle of crossing a street, and before he even had the chance to look at the sky, rain was suddenly falling on him (and it was quite hard, too). He shrieked and ran quickly to the other side of the street. Kurt quickly spotted the coffee shop with an awning and went for a mad dash towards it. As he stepped under the shed, he felt something (or was it a somebody?) collide with him.

“Sorry,” a deep voice said.

Kurt turned to the direction of the source of the voice. When he saw who it was, his eyes widened and he felt his mouth form a little “o”. Usually, what Kurt would look at a person first would be his/her outfit (being fashion-conscious and all that). At that time, however, what caught his attention first were the guy’s eyes. They were golden with tiny specks of amber. They reminded Kurt of rays of sunlight being filtered through clusters of leaves of tall trees in a forest. Needless to say, the man’s eyes were beautiful.

It took Kurt a while to realize that it was the man who bumped him. He realized he should probably say something since the guy was still looking up at him. (Oh, looking up. Kurt was taller than the guy by an inch or two.)

“It’s alright,” Kurt managed to say.

The guy smiled embarrassingly and turned to search through his own bag. This gave Kurt a chance to look at the guy more. The guy had heavily-gelled hair (Kurt deduced that it was probably curly and wild, and that the product he used on his hair was most probably not organic), and wore a navy blue cardigan over a plaid polo. Below, he wore cuffed pants and driving shoes. It wasn’t high fashion, but Kurt found himself approving of the man’s clothing choices since it flattered the guy (not to mention it hugged his slightly-toned body in all the right ways).

While in the middle of rifling through his bag, the guy looked back at him. In a hasty attempt to cover the fact that he was shamelessly evaluating the guy (Kurt refused to call it “checking him out”), Kurt looked at himself and tried to pat away the raindrops on his clothing.

“Stupid rain,” Kurt mumbled. “This is Valentino’s latest collection!”

He heard the guy beside him chuckle. Kurt turned to him and the guy tried to keep up a straight face.

“Sorry,” the guy said and gave Kurt an embarrassed smile once more.

Maybe the guy should stop giving him those faces; he looked so adorable doing those. Great, now Kurt was finding some random guy who bumped him on the street adorable. He turned his attention back to himself and attempted to fix his hair that was ruined by the rain. He also swatted away the raindrops on his body bag.

Kurt felt his phone vibrate. He fished it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. It was his chief calling. He slid the green button on his iPhone and put the phone close to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Kurt, where are you? Did you get the list of models from the agency? I forgot to ask you awhile ago.” the woman on the other end of the line said.

“Yeah. By the way, it suddenly rained and I have no umbrella so I might run a little late,” Kurt replied.

“Okay. Just checking. The rain’s not that hard though. Can’t you just keep walking?”

“Hold it. There’s no way I’m letting my hair and my outfit get wet. It actually got wet already.”

“Ride a cab?”

“Christie, I’m only two blocks away. I’m not wasting my money on a ride that doesn’t even last for more than thirty minutes. I’d rather save it for this Marc Jacobs coat—”

“Oh-kay, Kurt Hummel. Just thought it would be a good idea. Just to remind you, you only have around twenty minutes before break time ends and we still have a conference afterwards.”

“I know, I know. I’ll just have to wait the rain out. Let’s hope it passes soon. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Kurt ended the phone conversation. He stepped forward a bit to take a look at the dark sky. It looked like the rain wasn’t ending anytime soon. Why did it have to rain without prior notice? (Or at least he thought there was no warning of rain) One moment it was sunny, and another it was suddenly pouring.

“Duty calls?”

Kurt turned to look at the guy. He was still there beside Kurt, with one of his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah. Apparently, I have to get to my office in fifteen minutes, but it looks like the rain isn’t going to stop anytime now.”

“Yeah, it does look like it will rain for quite a while,” the guy said while curling his mouth. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but… you don’t have an umbrella?” The guy then asked with his head tilted to the side.

Kurt felt himself getting red. He was not sure why, but he was blushing. “No, I don’t. I didn’t expect it to rain today.”

“I’d say you didn’t catch the news today.”

“You’re actually right. I don’t really care about current events unless it’s about fashion.”

Kurt realized that he was probably over-sharing with a stranger. But the man looked nice, and he actually felt like he wanted to talk with this person more.

“Just as I thought.”

Kurt raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you really look like the type who’s a stylephile.”

This time, both of Kurt’s eyebrows shot up. “I’m surprised with your enriched vocabulary.”

“Well, I learn those kind of terms from a fair number of fashion magazines that I read,” the man answered with a shrug.

If Kurt thought the guy could not surprise him any further, he was so wrong. “Are you…?”

“Gay? Yep. I’m gay. One-hundred percent gay,” the guy said with a dazzling smile.

“Oh.” That was all Kurt was able to say. He totally didn’t think that this guy in front of him actually played on the same team as his. He was so sure that the guy was straight. Kurt felt something in him. Was that some sort of hope?

“Anyway, as I was saying, you have no umbrella?”

Kurt nodded.

“Would you like to share with me?”

Kurt was, again, for the nth time today (and in just this conversation with this guy), surprised. “Oh. But I don’t want to be a bother to you. You probably have to go somewhere too. Thanks for offering, though.”

“No, really. Where are you headed, anyway?”

Kurt took a while to answer. It was really nice for the guy to ask, though. “Just two blocks from here,” Kurt said while pointing to the direction of his office. “But really, you don’t have to.”

“Oh! But isn’t your boss expecting you in a few minutes?”

“Yeah, but—“

“Your office is on the way to mine!” the guy blurted out.

“Are you sure?”

“Come on. My umbrella is big enough to shield from the rain your carefully put-together outfit. It’s big enough for the two of us,” the guy spoke as he brandished the closed umbrella in his hand to Kurt and—oh, did he just wink at Kurt?

“I— okay. Is it really alright with you?”

“Yeah! Definitely. I’m headed to that direction too.”

“…Alright then. Thank you.” Kurt said shyly with a smile.

“It’s no problem. By the way, my name’s Blaine,” the guy said as he transferred the black umbrella from his right hand to his left. He extended his right hand to Kurt.

“Kurt,” he replied and took Blaine’s hand in his and shook it firmly. Kurt was pretty sure he felt a tingle in his spine with the contact.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Blaine replied with a smile that made Kurt weak in the knees.

“Nice to meet you too,” Kurt said back.

“So… Kurt! Let’s go?” Blaine asked as they released each other’s hand (after realizing that they were holding them for a longer time than usual).

They started walking to the end of the block. Upon reaching the corner, Blaine popped open the umbrella. He stepped under it first, and extended his other hand to Kurt.

Kurt seemed taken aback with the gesture, but he realized that this guy (Blaine, he finally knew his name!) was really a gentleman. He took his hand and carefully stepped from the sidewalk, unto the road and under the umbrella.

As soon as they were both under the range of the umbrella, they crossed the street. They had to stay somehow pressed on each other’s sides in order to keep away from the rain. Kurt could feel the heat radiate from Blaine’s body. He also felt his heart pick up its pace. It took them a lot longer than necessary again to let go of each other’s hands. When they realized that they should probably release each other’s hands, they both mumbled “sorry”, let go, and looked away. When they reached the next block and there was another roof protruding from a building, Blaine put down the umbrella.

“So… I hope I wasn’t being too freaky by insisting that you let me escort you to your office…” Blaine said while rubbing the back of his neck with one of his hands and smiling embarrassingly again.

Kurt looked at the guy as they kept walking and said, “You were really persistent, but surprisingly, I didn’t find it freaky. I think you’re just really nice,” punctuating his statement with a smile.

Blaine sighed. “Oh. Thank goodness. I didn’t want to freak you out or anything. Thanks for letting me have the honor of bringing you to your office.”

“No, thank you. Thanks for asking in the first place.”

Blaine looked down, bashful, and smiled. Kurt felt a smile tug his lips too.

As they reached the end of the block once more, Blaine raised the open umbrella above their heads. Once again, they stayed close to each other.

In an effort to strike up another conversation with Blaine (Kurt felt good talking to him), Kurt asked, “So you live here in New York?”

“Yep. How about you?”

“Yeah. Have you been living here ever since, or..?”

“Ah, no. I just moved here two years ago. And you?”

“Six years ago,” Kurt answered with a smile.

“Oh, that’s quite long!” Blaine exclaimed.

“You could say that,” Kurt said. “But it’s really nice here, so I don’t really mind.”

“You’re right. It is nice here,” Blaine echoed Kurt’s sentiments.

Kurt smiled, and spoke again. “So you said you just moved here two years ago. Where did you live before?”

Blaine slowed down his walking pace, and began. “Well, I studied college in Pennsylvania, but I actually grew up in Ohio.”

Kurt turned his head so quickly his nerves would’ve broken. “Really?! I’m from Ohio too!”

Blaine’s face was filled with shock. “What? Where in Ohio? I was from Westerville.”

“Lima,” Kurt answered.

“Oh,” Blaine said. “But that’s not so far! Where were you my entire life?”

Kurt looked at Blaine like he was insane, and then bursted out with laughter.

“Oh my god! I didn’t think that there would be anyone else more dramatic than me! Oh my god!”

Kurt couldn’t stop his laughter, and Blaine joined in as well. They were both laughing so hard that they almost missed Kurt’s office. Kurt even had to stop abruptly at his tracks and backtrack a bit.

“This would be me,” Kurt said, gesturing at a tall building. His laughter finally subsided.

“Oh. So… goodbye?” Blaine said, his once laughing face now filled with what seemed like sadness.

“I guess so. Thank you for bringing me here,” Kurt said genuinely.

“No problem. It’s my pleasure,” Blaine replied.

“Bye, Blaine.”

“Bye, Kurt.”

They smiled at each other. And so Kurt turned around and laid his hand on the handle of one of the glass doors and began to push it when—

“Kurt?”

Kurt stopped in his tracks and looked back. Blaine was still there.

“I, uh… If it’s okay with you… can I have your number?”

Kurt gasped inaudibly. He was pretty sure that he stopped breathing right then and there. Blaine was asking for his number. It took him seconds before he could actually respond.

“S-sure,” did he just stutter?

Blaine’s face that was filled with fright and uncertainty was then quickly filled with delight. “Sweet!”

“We could exchange business cards,” Kurt suggested.

“Oh! I’d love that, Kurt,” Blaine said, his voice oozing with sincerity.

Kurt stepped closer to Blaine. He then zipped open his bag and took out a card. It had his name and his contact details.

Blaine searched through his own bag for his calling card too. When he finally found it, he took it and handed it to Kurt. In that moment, their fingers touched. Kurt felt electricity with the contact again. It sent shivers (good shivers) down his spine.

After taking Blaine’s card, Kurt gave his own to him. There was (again) a fleeting touch. There was like, a spark.

Blaine then slipped Kurt’s card into his front pocket and gave it a pat out of habit. Kurt still held onto it. After swapping cards and saying “thank you’s”, their eyes met and stayed like that for a while.

Kurt didn’t want to, but he had to break the moment because he really had to go already. “So, until next time?”

“Yes, I’ll text you,” Blaine replied. “I’ll see you around.”

“Bye,” Kurt said with a wave of his hand and turned to enter the building.

He lost against fighting the urge to not look back. So when he did look back, he saw that Blaine looked back too. With that, they laughed and smiled again at each other.

When Kurt passed by the receiving area, he did not miss the teasing look that the woman behind the desk gave him.

“Oh please, Lindsay,” Kurt said while rolling his eyes. “That’s nothing.”

“Oh really now?” Lindsay taunted, not dropping his teasing and knowing look.

Kurt did his infamous eyeroll again and dismissed the topic with a wave of his hand. He then kept walking to the elevator. Behind him, he heard Lindsay laugh at him.

He pushed the “up” button, and waited for the elevator. When he heard a “ding” and the door finally open, he stepped in, and pressed the button of the floor he was headed to.

He had the elevator to himself. That’s when he realized that he still had a smile on. He met a guy named Blaine, who seemed very nice and looked really good. Aside from that, that Blaine asked for his number. That made Kurt’s heart flutter.

He then cast his eyes on the card that he was still holding. His eyes landed first on his name, since that was the first part that he really wanted to see.

Blaine Anderson.

Kurt fought the urge to connect the guy’s surname to his own name. For goodness’ sake, they just met. He found it pretty silly to do. But he had to admit, “Kurt Hummel-Anderson” sounded pretty good. He mentally slapped himself for thinking that.

Below his name said “Junior Music Writer/Producer”. Oh. Now that Kurt thought of it, he actually failed to ask Blaine what his work was. Well, he knew now.

Curiosity controlling him, his eyes looked at the top of the card to see what company Blaine worked for.

Kurt knew that music company. He tried to remember where he saw that logo, though.

Oh. He passed by that company’s building awhile ago.

Wait, wasn’t that on the opposite direction?

Kurt was so sure it was on the opposite direction from the coffee shop. But Blaine said his office was on the same direction as Kurt’s. Could it be—

Before Kurt could even complete the thought, the elevator dinged and stopped rising. The doors opened and Kurt stepped out.

Right at that moment, his phone vibrated. He got it out and looked at the screen. It was an unknown number. Maybe it was Blaine’s? Kurt held his phone side-by-side with the card to compare the numbers. Yep, it was definitely Blaine who texted.

Kurt Hummel. Editorial assistant. Of VOGUE!
This is Blaine, by the way.

Kurt laughed at Blaine’s text. On the first line of the text, he could feel the awe from Blaine, even if it was just through text. He felt himself swell a little with pride. With the second line, Kurt could imagine Blaine giving him his embarrassed smile again. He thought of a way to reply without seeming too smug (and well, excited and thrilled with the fact that Blaine actually texted him). He finally decided on typing:

Hi, Blaine. Yes, that would be me. :)

After sending it, he then saved the number to his phone. When the thought of Blaine’s workplace went back to his mind, he followed his text with another.

You lied to me..

Kurt hoped it wasn’t too much. But really, he wanted to know why Blaine would lie. He had an idea why, but maybe it was just all in his mind. He didn’t really like to assume. It’s better to be sure.

He felt his phone vibrate in his hand as he swiped his ID on the door with his other hand.

I LOVE Vogue!

Huh? What do you mean?

Once Kurt was inside the headquarters, he replied to Blaine with:

So do I. Well, who doesn’t? Anyway, you said your office was on the same direction as mine. It’s not.

Oh. That. I’m sorry. But you wouldn’t let me bring you to your office so I felt that it would convince you. Sorry. :( I won’t lie again.

Kurt smiled at the text. For some reason, he had in his mind an image of a puppy-like Blaine.

It’s alright. :)

Kurt replied. Upon reaching his work area, he put down his bag on the table. With his phone still in his hand, he headed to his boss.

He knocked twice on the door and pushed it open. There was Christie Durham, editor-in-chief of Vogue, seated on her chair, with her eyes on the paperwork on her table. She looked up and spotted Kurt.

“You’re almost late, Kurt,” declared Kurt’s chief in a serious voice, though her voice was void of any trace of anger or irritation (or anything of that sort).

“At least I made it,” Kurt said as he inched closer towards his senior.

Christie spun his chair and looked out the window behind her. She quirked one of her eyebrows and said, “The rain hasn’t stopped yet. How did you manage to get here at once?”

Kurt seemed hesitant to answer. But this was Christie. She may be his editor-in-chief, but outside of work, she’s one of his closest friends. In fact, Christie was like an older sister to Kurt.

“…Someone brought me here.”

Christie spun her chair back to face Kurt and her desk. On her face was a look that Kurt knew was meant to urge him on.

“I met someone while waiting the rain out.”

Christie’s face broke into a teasing smile. She then nodded her head. “Is this someone… a girl? Or a guy?”

Kurt looked away in an attempt to hide his blush that was sure to be coloring his cheeks at that moment. “It was a guy, okay…”

Christie clapped her hands in delight. “Tell me more about it. No, wait. We need to get to the conference room now. But you have to tell me about this guy some time,” She said as she stood up and piled up her paperwork and put it on the right side of her table.

Kurt began thinking of how he would tell Christie about Blaine. What would he say? He might just end up being like a girl who is swooning over a celebrity. Well, he has time to think.

Kurt’s phone buzzed. He looked at it and his lips fell slightly parted and then curved upward into a smile, which he tried to suppress but to no avail. Well, how could he keep from smiling when another text from Blaine said:

So I was wondering, when can we see each other again?

Kurt was already contemplating on either playing hard to get or just giving in easily. Before he could come up with a decision, his phone buzzed again.

I mean, you seem really interesting and I’d like to get to know you more. In person. Would that be okay? :)

Blaine seemed like a very nice person and Kurt found it hard to make him suffer by playing hard-to-get. Plus, he himself would like to see Blaine in person again too (in all honesty). But he didn’t want to seem to eager either, so he decided on replying with:

Is this because I work for Vogue, your beloved magazine? Haha. I don’t know, you could just pick a date and let me know. :)

Christie touched Kurt on the arm, signaling him to leave the room with her to head to the conference room.

No! It’s not that! How bout tomorrow? Or is that too sudden?

As Kurt left the room with Christie, he typed:

I was kidding. Well, I haven’t met anyone on the streets before so I wouldn’t really know. :) But tomorrow seems fine with me.

Awesome! How bout we meet in the coffee shop where we first met each other? (That sounded redundant sorry)

You mean NYC? Alright then. Around what time?

On the way to the conference room, Kurt dropped by his desk and grabbed his planner and pen.

Sometime in the afternoon. Maybe around 3:30?

Ok. See you! Got to attend a meeting. Text you later? :)

Oh alright! Yeah, see ya! :)

Kurt smiled again (for the nth time today) and slid his phone down his pocket. He felt Christie giving him teasing looks. He looked at her and rolled his eyes.

“So, who’s this guy?” Christie inquired.

“…He’s Blaine.”

“Ah. I think I like this Blaine guy.”

Kurt looked wonderingly at Christie.

“He seems to make you smile a lot.”

Kurt slowed down in his tracks. He began to ponder on Christie’s statement. Yeah, he did smile a lot today because of meeting Blaine.

“You’re right. I guess it makes me happy talking to him.”

Christie nodded knowingly and gently clapped him on the shoulder.

They finally reached the conference room. Before opening the glass door to the room, Christie looked at Kurt and said, “By the way, the pull-out tomorrow afternoon …”

“Oh shoot! I totally forgot about that! I planned to meet Bl—” Kurt stopped himself midway. He didn’t really mean to share that with Christie. At least not yet.

Christie quirked an eyebrow and had a knowing smile on her face. “I guess Pauline could do that for you instead,” Christie said with a smile. She seemed to notice the panic in Kurt’s face.

“Wh-What...”

“Now that I think about it, you need a break."

“I— thank you.”

“It’s nothing. You deserve to have some free time after working so hard.” Christie replied as she pushed the door open. She then added in a softer tone, “Especially now that you seem to have found someone to spend it with.”

Kurt’s cheeks flamed and turned red.

So he was meeting Blaine tomorrow.

He was going to see him again.

Well, that was nice.