Kurt cursed under his breath as he knocked a stack of books off the shelf. They fell with a loud thud and Kurt could feel the eyes of other library attendees on him as he bent to pick up the books. “Stupid assignment,” Kurt grumbled to himself. “I wouldn’t have to be here if Mr. Shockey would’ve given me my A like I deserved.” Kurt continued his string of complaints until a pair of shoes came into his view. Kurt began to look up, but the person in the shoes began to kneel down beside him.

“Let me help you with those,” they whispered and Kurt froze when he looked into the man’s sparkling green-golden eyes. The man smiled at Kurt and he found himself smiling back as a flush crept up on his cheeks.

“Thanks,” Kurt whispered back and the man looked away to pick up some of the discarded books. A moment later he was extending his legs and standing again and Kurt quickly got up as well. The man looked down at the books in his hand, eyes skimming the titles.

“World religion, huh?” Kurt shrugged.

“I have to write a paper detailing the history and practices of any religion.”

“Let me guess, Shockey?”

“You have him too?” Kurt asked, trying to bit down any feelings that may or may not have arisen.

“I did last semester. He was an a- not my favorite professor.”

“He still is an ass,” Kurt said and the man grinned at him. He was very, very handsome.

“So what did you choose?”

“Cao Dai. I love the way it draws from all the main religions in the world to create one religion that almost makes sense.”

“I take it you’re not religious,” the man guessed and nodded.

“I’d like to believe there’s some higher power at work in our world, but if there is it’s something who likes to watch us all suffer. If my choice is between an evil sadist controlling the universe or nothing, I’d favor nothing.”

“I hear you. I feel like if there is a god, were just his play things, like Sims. He puts us in the shittiest scenarios and sees if we can’t resolve them with more problems. If there is a god, why is there so much turmoil? So much heartache? So much pain?” Kurt stared at the man before him, watching as his eyes grew sad and Kurt found himself wondering what this man had been through to cause him so much hurt. The man cleared his throat. “Were you grabbing these off the shelf or putting them back?”

“Back,” Kurt said after a moment. “If I read any more about Buddhism or Asatru I’m going to pass out.” Blaine let out a soft laugh as he turned back toward the bookshelf and placed the books back, stretching on his tiptoes to reach the shelf. Kurt bit his lip as he watched looked at the man’s defined biceps, trailing to his shoulder blades, back muscles, trimmed waist, and finally stopping at his round ass. Kurt bit his lip and looked away quickly as the man put the last book on the shelf.

“Are you, um, leaving then?”

“Yeah,” Kurt said, wondering if asking the man to coffee would be too forward. After all, Kurt didn’t even know if he was gay or not. He decided to drop an extension for the man to pick up if he wished. “I’ll probably go and get a cup of coffee or something.”

“Would you like some company?” the man asked and Kurt smiled.

“I’d love that.”

“Great, I’ll just go get my coat. Meet you by the door?” Kurt nodded and watched the man walk quickly through the bookcases and out of sight. With a smile, Kurt walked back over to the table he’d occupied previously and grabbed his own coat and scarf before heading to the front door. He saw the man coming out from behind the front desk with his jacket on, shoving his hands into a pair of gloves.

“Do you work here?” Kurt asked and he smiled and nodded his head.

“I love books,” was his only response. He grabbed the door and pulled it open for Kurt who smiled gratefully. “Hey, I never asked, what’s your-”

“Kurt. And you?”

“Blaine.” They exited the library in silence after that and walked a little for Blaine began to speak again. “So you’re a student at NYU? What’s your major?” Blaine was still whispering and Kurt snorted.

“Blaine, it’s not a secret. I’m studying Dramatic Arts. What about you?”

“Same,” he said, still whispering. Kurt frowned.

“Are you sick or something?” Blaine cleared his throat again.

“No, I uh, I have Aphonia.” Kurt wanted to ask what that was, but he didn’t know how Blaine would react to him questioning further, but Blaine seemed to notice his curiosity. “If I tell you, do you promise it won’t make our coffee date awkward?” Kurt began to nod, but froze.

“Date?” he asked hopefully and Blaine winked at him. “I promise.”

“This is like, the worse conversation topic for meeting a guy,” Blaine said a little softer than his usual whisper before speaking up. “The cells in my thyroid were mutated and as a result they grew and multiplied like rabbits. As a result I had to get surgery to remove the resulting… buildup. The surgery was successful in getting rid of the cells, but it damaged my larynx. Long story short, I can’t speak louder than a whisper.” Kurt looked away sadly. His parents had had illnesses similar, and when he heard “mutated cells,” he knew that was just a fancy way of saying cancer. He felt a nudge in his side and looked over at Blaine who was smiling. “Don’t worry. I’m healthy as a horse.” Kurt attempted to smile, but now he couldn’t stop thinking of a younger Blaine with thyroid cancer. It also brought back images of his mother and the memory of his father telling him he had prostate cancer. “And this is when it gets awkward. Next time I’ll just make sure to only see people at the library,” Blaine was saying.

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable,” Kurt said, hoping he hadn’t offended Blaine.

“Kurt, you don’t have to be nice,” Blaine said, the harsh undertone of his voice taking Kurt aback. “I’ve been through this plenty of times. I’d rather we just went our separate ways now as opposed to going out with me out of pity.” Kurt nearly blanched.

“What are you talking about, Blaine? I thought we were getting along great. And I’m not going to get coffee with you because I feel bad for you. I’m going out with you because I feel like I can have an actual conversation with you that doesn’t involve how hot Ryan Gosling is. I don’t care that you have Aphonia. I wouldn’t care if you were a twenty foot tall centaur. I’d like to go out with you, if that’s okay.”

“So, you really aren’t weirded out by this?” Blaine asked, sounding completely confused and shocked.

“Why would I be weirded out by it?” Blaine seemed to search Kurt’s face for any sign of falsity and Kurt stopped walking when they reached the coffee shop. Kurt tugged open the door and held it out for Blaine. “Besides, loud people are annoying.” Blaine grinned wider than ever.