"Mr. Hummel? Would you follow me please?"

Kurt rose from his waiting room chair, smoothing down his jeans and following the woman holding the clipboard through the door. He could think of about 25 other places he would rather be than in this doctor's office. Too many memories of hospitals and sick rooms brought him a sense of unease here, even if this was just an EYE doctor's office.

Opening a door on the right side of the hallway, the tech smiled, "Here we are, if you'll just take a seat, Dr. Anderson will be right with you."

"Thank you", Kurt began, but the door was already closed. He made himself as comfortable as possible in the exam chair, curiously checking out all the various instruments and machines. He found himself clenching and unclenching his fingers and forced himself to stop. He had worked hard to get over his "white coat syndrome" and be more at ease in these types of situations, and he began using some tried-and-true techniques to help him while he waited.

As he was breathing deep for the 13th time, the door began to open, and he heard a man's voice just finishing up a conversation with someone down the hall.

"Now remember, Lucas, no more Nerf gun fights with your sister. She apparently is a crack shot, and even Nerf missles have been known to cause corneal damage."

Kurt had started to put on his "professional" smile, but he could feel it spreading into a more genuine one as he took in Dr. Anderson. White coat over well-fitting black slacks, cuffs of his dark blue dress shirt barely visible at the end of its sleeves, and a fashionable pair of tortoise shell glasses perched on his nose. But that wasn't what Kurt was smiling about. Amid Dr. Anderson's head of lovely dark brown curls, sat one of those ridiculous headbands with springy antennae attached, gaudy pink plastic eyeballs bouncing jauntily at each end. And, if his demeanor was any indication, Dr. Anderson had completely forgotten they were there.

Glancing down at the chart in his hand, and then back up to Kurt, a smile on his face, he began, "Good afternoon, Mr. Hummel, I'm Dr. Anderson", he extended his hand as he spoke and Kurt shook it, wondering if he should speak up about the toy he still wore on his head. He thought maybe not. It was helping him feel relaxed in the doctor's presence, so for now, he would let it ride.

"It's Kurt...." he said removing his hand from Dr. Anderson's grip...Soft hands...of course, thought Kurt.

Dr. Anderson took the seat beside Kurt's exam chair and opened his chart. "What brings you here today, Mr...um, Kurt?"

Kurt tried. He really did. It wasn't that it was difficult to gaze into those beautiful brown eyes, and concentrate on that very handsome face, but those pink eyeballs kept pulling his focus. In the most astounding move, he said the first thing that came into his head.

"I will admit, it's been a while since I've been to the eye doctor, and I'm sure new advances are being made every day, but are you going to scan me with those things?"

Dr. Anderson's brows furrowed together in the most adorable puzzled expression, before they smoothed out and recognition dawned, his hands drifting to the top of his head, as his eyes slowly closed in embarrassment.

"Oh god...I put them on for Lucas, the little boy next door? His mom said he was terrified of doctors, and I thought it would help put him at ease. Please forgive my lack of professionalism, Kurt." His expression was edging toward mortified, a pink blush rising from the collar of his jacket.

Without thinking, Kurt reached out and covered Dr. Anderson's hand with his own. "Well, they put me at ease too, so I guess they have legitimate medicinal purposes." The doctor's eyes opened quickly and he looked up, a grateful smile just beginning to form at the corners of his lips — amazing lips if Kurt was being honest —.

The doctor just stared for a full three or four of Kurt's pounding heartbeats and then cleared his throat. "Well, then I will leave them on. Perhaps I could write an article for the Journal of American Medicine extolling the virtues of dime-store gag gifts in the examination room."

Kurt felt himself relaxing even more, as he spoke, "It could start a whole revolution in the medical field...pretty soon there would be chattering teeth at the dentist's office, and those tacky wax lips at Plastic Surgery practices everywhere."

Staring open-mouthed at Kurt, he broke into chuckling laughter. "Yes, Kurt, we might be onto something."

His laughter slowly died down and his breathing returned to normal, and after a few more seconds of looking at Kurt, he rolled his chair over to the desk and looked at the chart open in front of him. The room fell silent. Kurt began to get fidgety then, realizing that he probably just made a complete fool of himself in front of a really cute doctor. He heard the papers flipping and the click of a pen as the doctor checked out his records.

Then, turning in his chair, professional attitude returning, Dr. Anderson stood and walked to Kurt's chair. What followed was a very thorough examination, with lots of "better one, clearer two" questions, and a nerve-wracking glaucoma test where a puff of air was blown into Kurt's eyes. For this, he had to sit impossibly close to Dr. Anderson's face, with only a small piece of equipment separating them. Kurt was supposed to pick a spot on the wall and focus on it, but his eyes kept wanting to return to look at Dr. Anderson...his lips...or his cute little ears. They were so close that Kurt could feel Dr. Anderson's breath on his face, just catching a whiff of minty toothpaste. It was an exercise in self-control to keep his hands to himself, and he found his fingers clenching and unclenching again for a totally different reason than before.

Finally, Dr. Anderson stood and spoke, "Kurt, your distant vision seems to be unchanged from your last exam, which is great. You have some slight dryness, so I'm going to give you some drops to use during the day. Use them especially when you're working on the computer for extended periods. I'm not completely done, but so far, your eyes are beautiful —" He stopped and closed his mouth so quickly, Kurt heard his teeth clack together. He spun back toward his desk, and bent slightly to look at his chart, "I mean great....normal... um, very good...those are some really perfect eyes you have there." Kurt put a hand over his mouth to hide his smile.

Picking up Kurt's chart once more, he pulled a small card from inside. "Now, I'd like to check your near vision, and we do that by having you hold an item of reading material at the distance you would hold a book, and read it out loud." Kurt nodded, reaching out to take the card from Dr. Anderson's fingers.

Clearing his throat, Kurt spoke in a loud, clear voice, and read what was written there.

"Would you like to have dinner with me?"

Kurt quietly gasped. Head still angled down toward his lap, he felt his cheeks heating up, a small smile playing across his lips. He let the silence stretch between them for a moment, and then looked up at Dr. Anderson whose hands were tightly clutching Kurt's chart, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth, those ridiculous antennae still bobbing in the air. Kurt thought he was just about the cutest thing he had ever seen. Kurt said, "I think my near vision is 20/20, I could see that perfectly. And yes...I would like that very much."

Dr. Anderson's gave Kurt a bright, beautiful smile that crinkled his eyes, then he cleared his throat once more, and gestured back toward the card, "Great! One last thing, Kurt. Can you please turn the card over and read the back for me?"

Full-out grinning now, Kurt glanced back down, flipping the card over and reading the back,

"Call me Blaine."