A/N: I liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!

And after a helluva long absence from fandom and fanfic and LIFE, I am back with some new Klaine happenings. This story is basically a Klaine Meet via the television show The Bachelor. Not sure about the frequency of updates, and no, I have not forgotten about Owl Post. I'm currently rereading what I've written for that and I'm hoping to update in the next week or two :)

Anyway, for those Klainers still hanging around, enjoy!

Chapter 1

"You did what?"

"Come on, Blainey Squirt boy. It'll be fun!"

Blaine grimaced as his older brother rambled into his ear over the phone. Every week they tried to set up at least one time and day to chat and stay in touch with each other's lives, but Cooper, as always, had derailed that. It was six o'clock on a Thursday morning—Blaine's one day off this week.

"Look, I had a blast when I was on The Bachelorette. Made a lot of friends, got to go all over the place on really fancy dates. It was great for my image, too. That's how I got the recurring spot on The Young and the Restless. They're talking about making me a regular!"

"Didn't they kill you off last month?"

"That's not the point. Everyone comes back to life on those shows."

"… right. Look, I'm not doing it. They won't want a gay man and you know that."

"But they do!" Static crackled on Cooper's end and his rambunctious beagle began to yip in the background. "Hi, my noisy beagle. You're the cutest!"

Blaine groaned and pulled the phone away. He buried himself deeper into his blankets before bringing his phone back up to his ear.

"Your Uncle Blaine is silly. Yes, he is, Bernard."

"I can't believe you named that untrained beast Bernard."

As Cooper settled his dog another ripple of static filled the line. Something clattered and then Cooper's voice echoed from what sounded like the far side of his apartment.

"Just hear me out over breakfast, okay? I'm buying."

"Cooper, I'm not—"

"I'll take you to that pastry and crêpe place downtown."

Blaine rubbed his eyes and breathed deep. "Fine."

Lower Manhattan was one of Blaine's favorite and most hated places. The views were spectacular at the water's edge, the bustle of the city never quite found the time to sleep, but the traffic and the hordes of tourists stopped for pictures drove him nuts. Early spring was a throbbing landscape of new people, brilliant flashes of camera lights, and the shrieks of taxis barreling around, their bumpers in search of ill-placed knee caps.

Cooper met him as promised, in the glimmering front window of a favorite haunt: Petite Provence. Sunlight tossed bright shards of light onto their table as Cooper—late as ever—skidded into the restaurant, jacket over his shoulder.

"Squirt, best brother, greatest—"

"Shut up and hug me."

Blaine stood to embrace him. For a moment, things were simple—until Cooper dumped the looming weight of this crazy plan of his.

"So, they want to meet you next week—oh, coffee, thanks—and then go over schedules and—"

"Coop, I haven't even agreed to anything." Blaine stirred his medium drip with his biscotti. "The whole show is ludicrous. You can't find love like that. Not anything real or lasting."

"Says who? They do all sorts of compatibility tests to bring in their best candidates. To match people both to you and to what you're looking for."

"They also hand out scripts unless I'm mistaken."

"They do not. It's more like improv."

Blaine huffed and crunched on a mouthful of biscotti. When he didn't answer, Cooper reached over and flicked his nose.

"Hey!"

"Don't be such a sourpuss." Cooper grinned at him, and very purposefully swooped his hair back. He flashed a dazzling smile at a pair of women a few tables over. "They know you're gay, and they're totally on board with it. Say the markets open for the first gay bachelor or whatever."

"My love life isn't a marketing campaign."

"Never said it was." Cooper downed half his coffee and smacked his lips. He squinted at Blaine through the sun-streaked light blazing through their window. "Look, they wanted me, but I'm not into all of that. Romance? Eh, I like playing it up on TV, but I'm a single kind of guy. I'm not looking for love. So I pitched them on you with me as host—"

"Are you shitting me? That's a disaster in the making."

Their waiter appeared and while Cooper tested a new Australian accent on the poor man, Blaine glowered at him across the table. The whole idea was preposterous. Sure, he'd watched almost every season of the show. And, yes, he had cried right along with JoJo when Jordan had proposed few years ago. None of it was truly real love though. Not like what he'd always longed for. Almost every single one of those couples had broken up or divorced.

While they waited for their meals, Cooper talked Blaine through his pitch—fantastic island locations in the Caribbean, the chiseled abs and sharp jaws of his "man pool", even the tailored bow tie collection and the singing contest date. It all sounded nice, of course. A great party and a relaxing vacation from New York's rich, chaotic life, but…

"Coop, I'm glad you thought of me, really, but…" Blaine shrugged as he speared a roasted baby tomato with his fork. "I want to find real love. I know I haven't had much luck, but I don't see how doing an over-produced television show is going to get better results."

"Yeah, I know. We can negotiate that," Cooper said. He waved his fork in the air and winked. "I had a serious talk about what you'd want if you agreed. I mean, they know who you are. Broadway sensation and whiz kid, Blaine Anderson, and they want to try something more organic. Apparently, ratings have been dropping because the show's too plotted out, too cartoony. What better way to have the first gay bachelor than to bring the show back into something more real?"

"I don't know."

"Please? I kind of already said you'd agreed to a meeting."

Blaine rolled his eyes. They didn't say much else while they ate. He'd followed the shows for years, ever since its first season back in middle school. His mother had adored it, too, for a while. Until everything had gotten too silly and scripted, but Blaine has still watched. Holed up in his bedroom, curled into his blankets with his bowl of popcorn. The idea of finding love so easily had dazzled him.

Yet fifteen years later, here he was. A wonderful career, dozens of close friends and good friends, too. But no husband. No long-term boyfriend, and lately not even dates. Not even the simplistic hope of love just around the corner lingered with him anymore. At thirty, Blaine had given up.

"I got it," Cooper said, scooping up the bill.

"You're the host?"

"We'll walk out if they don't agree to that. You need someone you're comfortable with."

"Meaning you?"

"I'm the greatest older brother you've got."

"And thankfully the only older brother I have."

Cooper tried to stab his hand with a fork. Blaine yanked his palm back.

"And you pitched a realistic version instead of the scripted stuff?"

"Again, we will walk out if they try to pull any rugs from under us."

"Right." Blaine pulled of his jacket as they left the restaurant. "I'll go."

Cooper whooped and thrust his fist into the air.

"I'm not saying I'll do it!"

"But it's a start! I'll go call them right now."

Cooper's idea of a meeting was unlike anything Blaine had sat through before. Not unless he counted a few brief Skype calls auditioning for a role in the West End's production of Finding Neverland. His three years in London had been a wild time. Cooper had never been more jealous than when he'd come back with six versions of a British accent.

They settled down in front of Cooper's desktop, and waited for the call to come through.

"They're in California?"

Cooper munched of his fish tacos and nodded. "Duh, it's TV. Not your fancy Broadway theatre."

"Right. And they definitely know I'm gay?"

Blaine waved off the offered taco as Cooper devoured a second one.

"Blainey, relax. Since when do you get nervous?"

"This is different than performing. I mean this is… if I do this, it's my real life. Real feelings, real people, real heartbreak."

Cooper set his third taco down. "We haven't even agreed yet, okay? Just relax, be yourself. All the stuff you're good at, Squirt."

"Right."

Blaine sat back out of view as the call came in. Cooper began the introductions and Blaine hitched up his cheery grin and listened. Adam Rivera and Chantelle Bricks were quite the pair. They walked Blaine through the running of the show, how each week would play out, expectations of him, and of course, what Cooper had mentioned—realistic, organic relationship development.

"We've been doing a bit of a reboot on how we're running the show," Chantelle said. "We're both new producers on the show, taking over after… well, after the previous group's ratings dropped. We want something more natural than what the show has become in recent years."

"And a more inclusive representation of love and couples."

"Hence the gay bachelor candidate," Blaine said.

"Bingo. Especially you, if we're being frank. You're a hot commodity in the Broadway world, Blaine. We couldn't have picked a more perfect bachelor if we'd dug through all of Hollywood's available men."

"Hey, now, I'm still pretty fantastic. We do share genes after all."

Everyone chuckled, but Blaine stopped first. All of this was weird. He wanted to believe in finding love in such a way, but he couldn't imagine it would ever work.

"So, what do you think so far, Blaine? You've been pretty quiet."

"It sounds like an adventure. Great locations and so forth, but…"

"He doesn't think it's possible to find love with it," Cooper said for him. At Blaine's glare, Cooper shrugged. "What? You have your doubts, even though you've watched it forever."

At Adam and Chantelle's looks, Blaine grinned a little. "Doesn't seem like it's ever worked out for anyone else. That's all. What's going to make it different for me?"

"Us, I hope," Adam said, gesturing to himself and Chantelle. "We want something authentic. This is your story. Not a drama we're going to play out of TV. I'm sure we'll still have to bring in a crazy bachelor just to keep the executives happy, but we want good, honest guys for you to date. You deserve a real chance to find love."

Blaine still didn't believe it, but he nodded with Cooper. "What else do you need from me? Besides contracts, I'm sure."

"Well, we're bringing in some specialists on personalities, love, healthy relationships and compatibility. We're considering keeping a therapist on staff, too, for everyone who's involved. And we'll need to do photoshoots, TV spots, and then scheduling. Oh, and some interviews and questionnaires, so we can narrow down compatible guys for you."

They set up a date and time for an in-person meeting, talked briefly about Blaine's current schedule with musicals and jobs before saying their goodbyes. Cooper shut his desktop off and grinned at him.

"So yes?"

Blaine didn't smile back, but he was definitely considering the idea more now. Adam and Chantelle were nice, genuine. Their plans to reboot the show seemed promising, too. But still…

Blaine joined Cooper on the couch that evening, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend playing in the background as they reviewed the schedule the producers had sent after the meeting. He hardly listened to what his brother said. He might find love—or the beginnings of it—before the year was out. After so many years of loving, of never being truly in love with another person, this could be a path to that chance. To that one person he believed was still out there for him.