A/N: This is what happens when I watch too much Say Yes to the Dress. Not even sorry. I'm not currently planning to add anything more to this, but I might add just one more chapter later if the inspiration strikes.
The first time Kurt saw him, the curly haired man wasn't even with one of Kurt's own clients. Instead of taking a well-deserved fifteen minute break between appointments, Kurt found himself helping out Colleen, one of his friends at the dress shop. He'd been rehanging some of the dresses his last appointment had tried up when she'd come back into the stock room looking frantically through the racks. Kurt had calmed Colleen down and helped her choose two perfect wedding dresses to show the bride she was working with.
Selling bridal dresses was an exacting business. It was a rare bride that was willing to settle for good enough. They all wanted perfect, but they weren't always the best at spelling out what kind of dress would fit the bill for them. That was Kurt's gift. He was great at interpreting the mixed messages and picking something that would absolutely flatter each woman's body.
Helping out Colleen was what you did for a friend. It also helped that he knew that she'd pay him back tomorrow morning with a good cup of coffee.
Walking over and seeing who the bride had brought with her to share opinions had just been icing on the cake. Kurt hadn't even gotten Mr. Curly's name, but that didn't mean he couldn't think back on the view later. The man was dressed quite preppily with a great smile and carefully contained curls. If Kurt had spotted him in a bar, he'd definitely have put a move on. Unfortunately, that seemed pretty darn inappropriate at work.
One of the dresses that Kurt had chosen did in fact end up being perfect, and Kurt assumed that was it for him and the mystery man. He was even okay with it. There were a lot of cute men in New York City. He'd likely never run into this one again.
The second time Kurt saw him was even more of a surprise. Kurt had an appointment set for a Monday evening, because it turned out the bride had asked for him by name and been willing to taking a time that wasn't the most sought after to have Kurt be her consultant. That had been intriguing in and of itself, but the appearance of the curly-haired man at the bride's side had been even more eye opening to Kurt.
He thought that he'd covered it well, making small talk with the bride. Melissa was looking for a ball gown to make her look like Cinderella. For once, she actually had the kind of figure to pull it off. An easy appointment.
She'd only tried on three dresses before finding one that the bride declared was 'absolutely perfect'. It was always a personal pleasure to make a sale so quickly, but Kurt almost wished that this appointment had run longer. He'd learned the name of the curly haired man though. Blaine. He'd observed that Blaine had good fashion sense, gave good advice to the bride, even if he was wearing yet another brightly colored bow tie. Maybe that's why he'd tagged along with the bride and her mother.
All too soon the bridal party was making their way out of the building, and even if the curly haired man, Blaine, had turned back to give Kurt a rather flirty smile as he held the door for the women, Kurt assumed that's all there would be.
The third time was two months later, but it felt like it couldn't be a coincidence anymore. What man gets dragged along to help three separate women find wedding dresses in the space of three or four months? And again, the bride had specifically asked for Kurt when setting up the appointment.
It was the first time, though, that Kurt found the chance to actually talk to Blaine. The bride, Tessa, had come in with her sister and Blaine. Said sister had turned out to be a bit of a bitch. Kurt had given the two women the dressing room to let the bride set things straight. That was hardly anything he wanted to be in the middle of, so he'd sunk down into the second chair, giving Blaine a rather sheepish smile across the hallway. "I know when to stay out of things."
Blaine laughed, leaning forward in his chair. "So do I, believe me. I work with almost all women. I learned pretty quickly when to stay the hell out of it and give them space."
"Is that how you've ended up here so often?" Kurt asked curiously, unconsciously mimicking the other man's posture, resting his elbows on the knees of his fitted dress pants.
"It is. Well, the first bride was one of my best friends from college. I was talking to Melissa about dress shopping with her one day at lunch, and suddenly, nothing would work but for me to come along."
"Like some kind of good luck charm?"
"Exactly!" Blaine laughed. "Don't you know that it's good luck to drag the one gay man you work with along wedding dress shopping? It's like I'm a little queer rabbit's foot."
Kurt had to cover his mouth with his hand to hide his giggling. The laughter was cut short though when he heard one of the voices raise inside the dressing room. "Excuse me. That's my cue to stick my nose in the middle of it after all, it seems." He stood, running a hand down his front to smooth his dress shirt and tie before he knocked and opened the door.
He'd given the sister his best 'bitch, please' face when she'd tried turning the attitude onto him. Instead, she'd stalked out of the store, leaving Blaine to comfort his friend. It was a disaster for the appointment. There was no way the bride was going to choose another dress after that, no matter how good Blaine seemed to be at giving a comforting hug.
Kurt should have been more disappointed at the potential sale falling apart, but instead, there had been a grin on his face as soon as they were out the door. It may have been disaster for the bride, but she'd already set up a second appointment, making Blaine promise to come along again, as long as she left the sister at home.
The fourth time went much smoother. Blaine was back, along with the same co-worker and a couple of her friends that were much, much nicer than her sister had been. Unfortunately, all the great options Kurt had found at Tessa's first appointment were out of question. There was one dress he'd particularly liked on her, but Kurt knew that it was now colored by her sister's negative comments.
Instead he started to pull dresses with a similar cut. By the fourth one, they'd found it. A flowing white gown with a sash of beadwork that made the woman look and, more importantly, feel beautiful.
Before he knew it, Blaine was back out the door, and they hadn't even had the chance to talk again.
"I wish I'd slipped him my phone number." Kurt complained to Rachel that night over Chinese takeout. Someday one or both of them would make enough money not to need a roommate, but two years out of college, that time had yet to come.
"Your curly haired mystery man came in again today?" Rachel asked, deftly grabbing a piece of tofu with her chopsticks. "And you still haven't made a move?"
"It seems a little bit inappropriate. And we didn't even really get a chance to talk today. All in all, we've had about ten minutes total of conversation. What if he's in a relationship?" Kurt tucked his bare feet up under him on the couch, settling in.
"Then he'd either tell you that or throw away your number." Rachel pointed one chopstick toward Kurt as she kept going. "You either need to take a leap of faith if you see him again or you need to stop moaning about this particular adorable stranger." She reached in for another bite before she added, "Or I could take you out a bar this weekend? Maybe you just need to find someone."
Kurt groaned. "No. No gay bars. You remember what happened the last time we tried that plan? I don't want to be taking extra showers for a week trying to feel clean again because I got drunk and hooked up with someone who turned out to be a complete asshole."
"Fine. But if your mystery man comes in again you need to call it fate. Man up and slip him your number. Now, can we talk about me? I have an audition tomorrow, and I need you to help me come up with the perfect outfit to wear. I know that I already have the song down."
It was a whole month longer before Blaine came into the store again, with yet another bride. This time, the two of them were alone. Laura seemed shy but sweet when Kurt settled her into a dressing room, taking a few minutes to talk to her one on one.
As Kurt made his way back out to pull a few dresses he thought that woman would like, he jumped at the feeling of a hand on his bare arm, below where he'd rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt.
"Sorry!" Blaine must have noticed how startled he'd been. Great. "I just - I just wanted to let you know that Laura's pretty nervous about this. We've had a whole rush of people preparing for weddings at work, and she's worried about not measuring up to all the size sixes, you know? That's why she'd only let me come with her." He gave Kurt a rather sheepish smile at that. "I know you would anyway, but can you find something to make her feel beautiful?"
"That's my job with everyone, but I'll take some extra care here." Kurt paused to smile over for a moment. "I'm sure I can find something that will make her look like she has curves that just won't quit. She just needs a different cut of dress."
Kurt made that his personal goal for the night, to pull dresses to make Laura feel good about her size. He would have done it anyway. One of his favorite parts about this job was getting the women who didn't fit the supermodel mold. He loved showing them just how beautiful of a bride they could be in a dress that worked with their body.
This time there was the added benefit of seeing the thankful way Blaine looked at him when Laura beamed into a mirror, begging them to take a cell phone picture of her before she changed back into street clothes.
Kurt was just going back into his mental debate about whether to slip Blaine his phone number when the man stepped up to his side and made the mental debate unnecessary. "If I'm not being too forward, would you be interested in getting dinner sometime? Or coffee?" Blaine looked hopeful, but he didn't stop for an answer. "Unless you're not single. I never figured that bit out. Or, God, unless my gaydar really is the worst in the world."
Kurt held up a hand to stop Blaine, a huge smile spreading across his face. "I would love to. Dinner or coffee or, well, anything." He glanced up to the clock. "You all are my last appointment of the night. If you can wait about fifteen minutes for me to get everything closed up, we could get a late dinner now? Or I could give you my phone number so we could meet up another time."
Blaine let out a huge sigh of relief. "Yes. I can wait. It's Friday after all. I don't have to work in the morning."
"Lucky man." Kurt glanced around. "Let me get everything shut down then. There's a 24 hour cafe around the corner that's actually really good, if that works for you?"
"That sounds good. You shut down, and I'll go let Laura know not to wait up for me."
"So what do you do for a living? So far I've only been able to piece together that it involves working with many women of marrying age and the wearing of an assortment of fabulous bowties." Kurt joked as they settled into opposite sides of a small booth, folding his jacket down beside him.
Blaine burst out laughing at that, looking up over his menu to grin at Kurt. "I teach elementary school. Fourth grade, to be exact. There are only two other men on the staff. It's a bit odd sometimes, but then at least there's never a line for the men's restroom in the teacher's lounge."
"Well, that is an upside. Kids, huh?" Kurt shook his head. "I don't think you could pay me enough to deal with a whole classroom of small people every day."
"Well, they don't really pay a lot for it, so I suppose we'll never lure you in. I teach at a private school, though, so at least the number of small people in my classroom is reasonable." Blaine shrugged. "I love it. Not a day goes by when they fail to make me laugh at least once."
They paused as the waitress arrived, placing their orders. As she headed back toward the kitchen Blaine turned his attention back to Kurt. "How did you end up as a wedding dress salesman?"
"Oh, now that is a good story. Sort of." Kurt tapped his fingers against the table as he began. "I went to a performing arts college here in the city. My plan was to make it big on Broadway. In reality, I've had a couple of ensemble roles over the last few years. Nothing that would pay the rent. I was working as a waiter for that, but it was far from my favorite job ever. I live about a half mile away from here, and as I was walking past the bridal shop one night, I saw a Help Wanted sign. I love anything fashion related, so I figured, why not apply? It was a good move. Despite the occasional drama, I love the job."
Blaine nodded. "You're good at it. I could tell that the first time we met, when you helped Nadia find the perfect dress after we were all about to give up." Blaine reached out, taking Kurt's hand in his across the table, sending a quick thrill along Kurt's spine at the simple gesture.
Kurt turned his hand, lacing their fingers together, content with the simple PDA. "I've had more success with it than I have with Broadway, unfortunately. I still audition occasionally, but I don't think that dream is going to pan out."
"You know what that means, right? When a dream doesn't work?" At Kurt's raised eyebrows, Blaine squeezed the other man's hand gently as he continued. "You either push forward or you re-evaluate and find a new dream. "
"Or how about both at once? I'm not ready to give up on auditioning yet, but I've considered taking a few baby steps towards doing other aspects of wedding planning." Kurt admitted, giving the waitress a smile of thanks as she brought over drinks. He detangled his hand from Blaine's and took a sip of his diet soda before continuing, "I planned my father and stepmother's wedding back in high school. That was a world away, but I enjoyed it."
"A world away? Where did you grow up? Nepal?" Blaine teased lightly, pulling his own glass of soda forward for a drink.
"Ohio. So maybe not literally, but it felt like it." Kurt tilted his head to look over curiously at the startled look on Blaine's face. "What?"
"I grew up in Ohio. Small world, isn't it? Where at in Ohio for you?"
"Lima."
"Really? We competed against a show choir from Lima when I was in high school. Went one for three. It took until my senior year for us to finally beat them." Blaine admitted.
"You were in show choir in high school? Me, too. It wasn't by any chance the New Directions kicking your backsides was it?" At Blaine's nod, Kurt just broke out laughing. "That's crazy. Maybe we were up on the same stage together and never even knew it. What group were you part of?"
"The Warblers, from Dalton Academy. That is insane. It's too bad that it took us this long to meet. Wait, what year did you graduate? We can't be that far apart in age."
"The Warblers. You were the prep school boys that competed in uniform, right? I remember trying to decide whether that was a horrible crime against fashion or a wonderful thing, since you all somehow managed to make it look good." Kurt paused for a moment to clear his throat, a hint of a blush coloring his cheek. "I graduated in 2012. We took Nationals that year, if that makes you feel any better about me beating you?"
"Maybe it explains why we finally managed to take you all down the next school year. I graduated in 2013. Does that make you the older man?" Blaine asked up through his eyelashes before he added flirting blatantly, "I believe I still have one of the blazers somewhere in the back of my closet. I could give you another chance to decide."
Kurt coughed on his drink of soda at that, grabbing a napkin to cover it before he could respond. "My, my isn't that forward for a first date. This is a first date, isn't it?"
"I sure hope so." Blaine said fervently before just grinning. "Well, I didn't offer to wear only the blazer. That would be forward for a first date."
Conversation flowed well throughout the meal. All in all, it was one of the best first dates Kurt could ever remember having. Finally though, their food had been long finished, even the piece of pie they'd shared to finish the meal. Kurt insisted on paying the bill, and Blaine insisted on walking him home. "You said you live fairly close, right? What kind of gentleman would I be if I left you to walk alone?"
Blaine had recaptured Kurt's hand for the walk, after both of them had time to tug their jackets back on. It filled Kurt's heart, to be walking through the streets of New York hand in hand with a sweet, handsome man. Hadn't this been the thing he'd dreamed of so often back when he'd been stuck in classes in Ohio? Sure, this wasn't the first time he'd done this. He'd had boyfriends since moving here, but it had been long enough for this to feel new and wonderful.
All too soon, they were at Kurt's building, climbing the stairs up to the fourth floor. Kurt had to pull his hand out of Blaine's to put the key in the lock, turning back before he turned the knob. "This was a wonderful night. I hope that I won't have to wait until the next time one of your co-workers decides to get married to see you again."
"Certainly not. I have your phone number now." Blaine patted his phone in the pocket of his coat, where he'd snapped a photo of Kurt in the diner to go along with his new entry. "I'll call you to see when you're free?"
Kurt couldn't do anything but nod at the hopeful look in Blaine's eyes. "Well, then. I guess this is it. Thank you for walking me home."
He could see Blaine hesitate for just a moment before he stepped forward, closing the space between them with his eyes fixed on Kurt's lips. That was clue enough as to what was coming, but the sweet kiss goodnight didn't stay that way for long. The spark that had been flickering since their first meeting burst into flames. Kurt made the next move, sliding his arms up underneath Blaine's jacket to pull him tight up against him as he deepened the kiss. Blaine's hands found their way up into Kurt's hair as he sucked on Kurt's bottom lip.
Kurt had just managed to turn Blaine, pushing him back up against the wall with no concern for public spaces when the door opened from the inside, his keys jingling in the lock.
"Kurt? Are you having trouble with the doo- Oh!" Rachel's head flew back inside. "Pretend I was never here."
Kurt pulled back with a broken laugh as the door shut once more. "That would be the roommate with the worst timing in the world."
Blaine let his head sink back against the wall, chest heaving as he worked to catch his breath, and not from the four flights of stairs. "I don't think I can bring myself to be too sorry. That was everything I've been imagining since that first appointment where you stepped in with the perfect dress and saved us from further hours of torture."
Kurt ran his hands through his hair, trying to look less like the guy who's been making out in the hallway. "That long for you, too, huh?"
Blaine nodded leaning forward to press a quick kiss to Kurt's lips, probably the same kind he'd originally intended. "That long. I'll text you when I get home." With another grin and a flirt-y wave, Blaine made his way back down all those flights of stairs. Kurt stepped inside the door, barely remembering to grab his keys out of it before he sank back against it, a huge smile covering his face. This was going to be worth facing the inquisition Rachel was about to bring.