Sometimes you need to do some love at first sight.
The unexpected knock at the door nearly made Kurt fall out of his chair.
Who the hell could that be? he wondered as he wandered over to get it - Rachel was busy showering, so he couldn't delegate the task to her. We haven't ordered take out, and God knows our friends would just slide the door open like they live here. Is it-
"Guh," Kurt said when he caught a glimpse of the man on the other side of the door. He froze, uncertain of why the cutest boy he'd ever seen was currently outside their loft, but also so not complaining about it.
"You must be Kurt," the man said, smiling winningly at him. "I'm Blaine, Rachel's brother. She's mentioned me, right?"
"Oh. Oh," Kurt said, eloquent as always. "Sorry, come in, I just wasn't expecting-"
He trailed off there, realizing he was about to make a fool of himself if he continued with someone as hot as you like his brain had supplied. To recover, he stepped aside and ushered Blaine in, absurdly pleased about how well Blaine fit with their living room decor - almost like he was meant to be there.
"She didn't tell you I was coming up for the weekend?" Blaine asked, looking concerned. "I told her to get your permission, but she just barreled on about how excited she was to see me and how great it would be to spend time together on her home turf and all that jazz."
"She's probably tried, but we've been on different schedules all week," Kurt explained. "And anyways, I'm not offended. There are worse surprises she could spring on me, you know? I still haven't recovered after the week she decided we needed to go on a juice cleanse."
"Now that's a story she hasn't told me," Blaine said, leaning forward from where he'd braced himself on the arm of the couch. "Don't leave me hanging, Kurt, please. Go on."
"Well," Kurt said, smiling wickedly as he thought about where best to begin, but a blur of brown hair and excited squealing cut him off.
"Blaine! You made it!" Rachel cried as she flew towards him, nearly bowling him over the arm of the couch with the force of her hug. "Oh my God, I've missed you so much!"
"I missed you too, Rach," Blaine wheezed, rubbing a hand down her back.
"Oh, and you've met Kurt!" Rachel said, delighted. She stepped back to smile at both of them. "I'm so sorry I didn't warn you, I really did try-"
"It's fine, Rachel," Kurt said. "I'm not mad, honestly, though I may or may not have promised to tell Blaine about the Great Juice Cleanse Catastrophe of 2014 as payback."
"It has its own nickname?" Blaine asked, smiling widely. "Oh man, now I really have to hear this story."
"Kurt! You swore on Judy Garland's grave that we would never mention that again!" Rachel said with a glare. "Come on, Blaine, let's go get some dinner before my best friend ruins my life."
She grabbed Blaine's hand and practically pulled him out of the apartment by willpower alone. On their way out, Blaine turned to smile at Kurt one last time and yell "Tell me about it later?"
"We'll find a way!" Kurt called back, returning Blaine's smile.
He couldn't stop beaming for the rest of the evening.
Kurt wandered out into the common area of the loft the next morning, yawning and rubbing his eyes.
The sight that greeted him made him freeze where he stood, feeling like he might still have been dreaming.
Blaine was sitting at the dining table in his pajamas, reading the Arts section of the paper and eating some absolutely mouth-watering French toast. The smell of fresh coffee permeated the space, and the sunshine from the tiny kitchen window gave both Blaine and the food a picturesque glow.
It was exactly like one of the domestic fantasies Kurt rarely permitted himself to have.
"Morning, sunshine," Blaine said, looking up from his paper to smile at Kurt. "Breakfast?"
"You made breakfast for me?" Kurt asked, shocked.
"I still feel bad about kind of springing myself on you," Blaine said, putting down his paper to go grab Kurt a plate from the cabinet. "So I made an apology breakfast. Don't worry about saving any for Rach, she already left for a voice lesson."
"You didn't have to do that," Kurt said, walking over to take the plate from Blaine. He shivered slightly as their fingers brushed.
"Well, if you don't want any-"
"I didn't say that!" Kurt said, quickly reaching out for some French toast. "I will gladly eat your apology breakfast, Blaine Berry."
"Anderson," Blaine interjected. "I use my papa's last name to avoid the terrible alliteration of 'Blaine Berry.'"
"Blaine Anderson," Kurt corrected, blushing a light pink at his blunder. "But let's just call it a surprise breakfast or something, okay? There is absolutely no reason for you to apologize."
"Surprise breakfast it is," Blaine said, taking his seat again. "And for the record, there's no need for you to feel bad about screwing up my last name, either. I'm the only one in our family who uses it anymore, so why should you know?"
"Is there anything else I should know about you?" Kurt asked, going to sit next to Blaine. "I mean, all Rachel's ever told anyone is that you're three years older than us, and you go to school in Boston."
"That's about it," Blaine teased. "I'm a deeply boring person."
"I'm sorry, you share genetic material with Rachel Berry," Kurt said. "There's no possible way you could be boring."
"I see you know Rachel well, then," Blaine said, laughing.
"She's been my best friend since junior year," Kurt said with a shrug. "I want to claw her face off sometimes, but at the end of the day, she's one of the most important people in my life."
"Been there," Blaine said, making Kurt let out a laugh of his own. "So. Anyways, back to me, the truly important topic at hand."
Kurt snorted so hard he thought he'd burst a sinus. "Yep. Definitely related to Rach."
"Shh!" Blaine hissed, though he couldn't keep a straight face. "I was going to regale you with my life story."
"By all means," Kurt said, gesturing for Blaine to go ahead.
"I was born on a cool spring day in 1990 - okay, okay!" Blaine said when Kurt kicked him (gently) under the table. "Um, I study vocal performance and songwriting at Berklee, which is why I haven't really been home since I graduated high school - I've always got workshops or concerts or what have you. I'm hoping to move here when I graduate in the spring, do some shows, try to get in with some labels. There are a few ins at Berklee, of course, but I think I really need to be near the action to get my shot. You?"
"I'm studying at NYADA, same as Rachel," Kurt said, taking a sip of his coffee. "Wow. God, that's good. Anyways, I'm planning on taking Broadway by storm in a few years. It might not be easy, but I like a challenge, honestly. I don't want to settle for anything less."
"I can't see you failing," Blaine said, soft but certain. "And I've been told my coffeemaking skills are legendary, leading me to believe barista should be my plan B."
"Anyone who gets to wake up and drink your coffee every morning is lucky indeed," Kurt said. He bit his lip when he realized how forward that might have sounded.
"Right now, the only person who does that is me," Blaine replied. "But I'm glad to hear it all the same."
Kurt just took another drink to hide the pleased smile that threatened to erupt at the news that Blaine was single.
"So, since I just read an article about this in the Times," Blaine said, looking at Kurt shrewdly. "Favorite musical of the season, go!"
"Oh my God, how can you even make me choose?" Kurt moaned. "Revivals included or just original productions?"
"One of each."
"Okay then. Then I think I've gotta say Kinky Boots for the original show and Cinderella for the revival. I mean, those costumes." Kurt fake-swooned over the back of his chair.
"I definitely agree with you there, but I think Matilda might be my favorite original show. I just loved the book as a kid," Blaine said.
"Nostalgia blinds, Blaine."
"How dare you!"
From there, the conversation sprawled into an hours-long debate on pop culture, bringing appreciative smiles when they agreed and gasps of mock outrage when they didn't. Kurt couldn't remember feeling so light-hearted in his life, if he was being honest.
It was only when Rachel got home and distracted them that Kurt noticed how close he'd been moving to Blaine, and how much he'd been tempted to break off their more heated discussions by kissing him until they couldn't breathe.
He darted back into his room the first chance he got, suddenly grateful that Rachel demanded she get a little brother-sister time after being unavoidably busy all day.
Keep it together, Hummel, he thought, pacing back and forth. He's your best friend's brother and three years older than you. Don't let one good - okay, great - conversation and your weird sense of ease around him fool you into hoping he might be interested in you.
Even with the stern reminder, though, he dreamed about Blaine that night.
Sunday morning came and went, featuring another delicious breakfast from Blaine. This time, Rachel was there, making it a little less intimate but no less fun - they talked about the new cycle of ANTM, which all three were obsessed with. Then she had to run off to a study group at one, leaving Kurt and Blaine alone until he had to leave for his train at four.
They whiled away the time by crowding around Kurt's laptop to watch the bootleg of Cinderella he'd downloaded, since that was one show they knew they'd both enjoy. Before long, Kurt was swept into the magic of the production, only vaguely aware of Blaine's warm body pressed up close to his, all muscles and cologne and raspberry hair gel.
When the prince and Cinderella met at the ball, Kurt heard Blaine start to sing along. His smooth, rich tenor made Kurt's heart skip a beat, and he could barely wait for Cinderella's part to begin so he could sing along as well - he may have been smitten, but he wasn't about to screw with Rodgers and Hammerstein's arrangement.
Kurt noticed Blaine turn to stare at him when he began singing, mouth slightly ajar. He determinedly kept going, feeling tension growing between them but also weirdly compelled to finish his part. When the instrumental break started, he turned to look at Blaine.
And then all his higher thinking came to a halt.
Blaine's eyes were hypnotic, deep and golden brown and focused on Kurt like he was all that mattered in Blaine's universe.
Kurt assumed he was staring at Blaine in much the same manner.
He didn't get much thought in beyond that, though, as Blaine leaned in and connected their lips gently, making Kurt's brain short circuit. He felt Blaine's hands come up to frame his face to deepen the kiss, which he responded to eagerly.
At least until he felt his laptop start to slide off his legs.
"Shit!" Kurt said, catching it before it could smack on the wood floor below. He slammed it shut and placed it on the coffee table. "Okay. Where were we?"
"I think we were right about here," Blaine said, smiling and pulling Kurt in for another searing kiss.
Kurt could've spent the rest of his life kissing Blaine on that couch, but on one of their breaks for air, they noticed that Blaine only had half an hour to get to the train station and immediately sprang into action.
"I'm going to miss you," Kurt said once they'd made it to the station.
"I'm going to miss you too," Blaine said, reaching out to squeeze Kurt's hand.
"I can't believe this weekend was real. I'm afraid I'm going to wake up tomorrow and find out Rachel's actually an only child and this was all a dream," Kurt admitted.
"I'm afraid I'm going to call Rachel and find out she lives alone," Blaine replied. "I'm probably going to have to come visit again as soon as possible to make sure you're not an incredibly vivid hallucination."
"Isn't it my turn to come down to you?" Kurt asked. "I mean...shouldn't relationships be based on equal participation?"
"Relationships?" Blaine repeated, eyes widening.
"Oh God, I didn't mean to force the label," Kurt said, panicking. "If you just want to keep this casual or-"
Blaine kissed the rest of the words out of his mouth. "Kurt, no. I'm all for this being a relationship, believe me. I'm just surprised you feel the same."
"I can't imagine wanting anything less with you," Kurt said honestly.
"God, I hate that I have to leave," Blaine said. "I'll text you the whole time I'm on the train, okay? And we'll figure out a good time to call until one of us can make it over to the other's."
"Sounds perfect," Kurt said, leaning in for one last kiss. "Now get on that train! You need to graduate so you can be in the city with me full-time. I don't date dropouts, you know."
"Such high standards," Blaine teased. "I'm surprised you're settling for me."
"Dating you could never be described as settling. Now go!" Kurt said.
Blaine hugged him and went, leaving Kurt with the strange sensation of feeling simultaneously bereft and buoyant. He wrapped his arms around himself and left, already anticipating the next time he could see Blaine.
Of course, he'd failed to think about telling Rachel. His eardrums would probably never be the same.
At least Blaine was worth it.