A/N:

I don't usually put out warnings for my stories, but for this one I will. This story contains the character Eli, and I understand that it's a character many might not want to see in a Klaine fic. Please don't read if Eli upsets you, though he only appears very briefly, he plays an important role in this fic. If I can, I try to use characters from canon, and here it made sense to use Eli. We don't know a lot about him, neither does Kurt, and I tried to use that lack information to enhance the insecurities Kurt feels. But don't worry, this is a Klaine story and nothing else.

The inspiration to this fic came from the lines below. They are from the song "K" by Cigarettes after Sex:

I remember when I first noticed that you liked me back
We were sitting down in a restaurant waiting for the check
We had made love earlier that day with no strings attached,
But I could tell that something had changed how you looked at me then

English still isn't my first language :)

Kurt slid off Blaine, spent and sated, and sprawled out on the bed like a starfish while Blaine slipped out of bed. A sliver of May early afternoon sunlight filtered through the curtain and warmed his cheek. He turned his head to where Blaine had disappeared into the bathroom after their unplanned meeting. He could hear the shower running and thought about joining Blaine, but quickly dismissed it. They never took showers together. It wasn't that he thought Blaine would mind, or that he wouldn't like to run his fingers along Blaine's toned body one more time, it just wasn't part of what they did.

Kurt turned his face back towards the window. It was a gorgeous day outside, one of those you could get in May where it felt like the middle of the summer. The sun shone from a clear blue sky and Kurt thought it was a perfect day for an outdoor lunch. This was his favorite way to spend his lunch break; thirty minutes in Blaine's bed followed by lunch at his favorite café two blocks down the street.

It wasn't like they've made a thing out of it, it just sort of happened from time to time. Sometimes more frequently, sometimes there were weeks apart, never planned ahead. It happened when one of them reached out, when there was an itch to scratch, a thirst to quench. They were usually quite good at helping each other out. And the best part, there was no need to explain and no expectations afterwards. If one of them said no for one reason or other, there was no need to explain that either.

Kurt hated the 'friends with benefits' epithet, it sounded like a commitment in itself, and this wasn't like that. He couldn't deny though, that he and Blaine had become friends through this little arrangement of theirs. The first time they ended up in bed he barely knew Blaine. Blaine worked in the same office complex as he, but on a different floor and with a completely different job. They were introduced through a mutual friend and started to say hello when they ran into each other in the elevator or the office corridors. They didn't end up in bed until six months later though.

"Why are you still naked? I thought you wanted to head to the Loft before going back to work." Blaine stood in his underwear by the end of the bed, putting his pants back on.

"Come back to bed." For some reason, seeing Blaine in his underwear Kurt didn't feel like rushing out anymore despite being hungry and despite the nice weather. He could grab a sandwich on the way and eat by his desk.

Blaine gave him an odd look before he put on that adorable smile of his. "There's gonna be a line if we don't leave soon, and you know how much you hate lines. Come on, get dressed now." Blaine tickled the sole of his foot and Kurt quickly yanked it away from him.

Blaine had his pants on now and was picking up his shirt from the floor. To Kurt's dismay Blaine clearly had no intention of joining him in bed again. Kurt suddenly felt very exposed and covered himself with the sheets. Blaine had seen him naked more times than any other man that had passed through his life, but this was the first time Kurt felt awkward about it.

What was he thinking asking Blaine to come back to bed? Cuddles after sex was not part of what they did either, unless they were both drunk and then it had happened that he spent the night. But those occasions were rare. They had sex, got dressed, headed out, grabbed something to eat and talked about life. It was a solid arrangement, one that Kurt had been the head advocate for. He was the one who told Blaine he wasn't interested in a relationship and felt relieved when Blaine was on the same page. He had no idea why he suddenly wanted to make changes to their arrangement.

Kurt got out of bed, wrapped in the sheets and feeling shy. He searched for his underwear and found them by the bedroom door where he must have thrown them because he was pretty sure he was in bed when he stripped out of them. He gathered the rest of his clothes and disappeared into the bathroom to freshen up and get dressed.

Ten or so minutes later he was ready. He was careful to always be on top of Blaine when they met during lunch, that way he didn't mess up his hair and didn't have to spend the remains of his break fixing it. Blaine didn't care about positions. He just showered, used his raspberry scented hair gel and then he was ready to go.

"Ready?" Blaine asked, already standing by the door with his shoes and suit jacket on.

Blaine's bowtie was a little askew. Everything else on him was perfect but the bowtie told a story Kurt wasn't willing to share. With a smile Kurt walked up to Blaine and straightened it.

"Ready," he said and fought off the urge to kiss Blaine's cheek because of the adorable smile Blaine gave him.

They walked side by side down the street, shoulders bumping accidentally now and then. It was nice and familiar walking there next to Blaine. Everything with Blaine was. They'd known each other almost a year and a half now, sleeping together about a year of that time. It first happened after a night out with his friends last summer. Kurt had had one Cosmopolitan too many when he, on his way out of the bar to get a cab home, quite literally stumbled into Blaine. Kurt hadn't noticed before how stunningly beautiful Blaine's eyes were but at that moment he did, and he couldn't look away. With Blaine holding him in his arms, steadying him, his features so soft and his face so close, Kurt couldn't hold back the urge to kiss him.

He knew Blaine was gay, that much he'd figured out through their small talk. And even if he hadn't, Rachel was constantly whispering the words in his ear, pushing him to make a move. But he wasn't interested in a relationship. He was new to the city and he was focusing on his career. The fashion industry was a competitive business and if he didn't give it his all, he'd have to pack his bag and take the next flight back to the small town he grew up in. Kurt wasn't going back. New York was his home now.

But that night, with too much alcohol and too much unreleased sexual tension in his body, he let go and he gave Blaine a night to remember. By the end of it they were both exhausted and utterly spent and Kurt fell asleep in Blaine's bed. It wasn't part of the plan, but neither was sleeping with Blaine, actually there was no plan at all, and it resulted in an awkward morning after. Until they had the talk where they both agreed they enjoyed the past night but neither were looking for a relationship.

"That's a really cool tie," Blaine said out of the blue. He had just been talking about his brother's latest escapades in Los Angeles, to which Kurt had only listened halfheartedly, deep in his own thoughts.

"The tie, it's nice," Blaine continued when he noticed Kurt's confused look. "Where did you get it?"

Kurt looked down at his chest where the navy blue tie with intricate patterns in yellow and pink laid against his light blue shirt. It was a tie he'd had for months, but he couldn't remember the name of the place he got it from. "It's from that place on Madison Avenue, near Midtown. You know?"

Blaine shook his head. "Do they have bowties there as well?"

"You want to get a matching bowtie?" Kurt asked and poked Blaine's side with his elbow. He was joking, of course, but couldn't help the little thrill that rushed through him when he thought about Blaine wearing something that matched him. Then the thrill was replaced with something unsettling. Kurt liked unique outfits, maybe not so much at work as on his free time, but he liked to stand out. Why would he get excited about the prospect of Blaine wearing a matching bowtie?

Blaine's laughter was always so sweet and bubbly, his smile contagious, and this moment was no different. "No," he said and swatted Kurt's arm playfully. "It just looks like really good quality and I thought they might have other cool patterns."

As they turned a corner, the sun hit their faces and Blaine pulled out a pair of his signature colorful sunglasses from his leather messenger bag. Today's pair was hot pink and would look ridiculous on anyone else with a fancy suit, but somehow Blaine managed to pull it off. Kurt kept his eyes straight ahead even if the sun hurt his eyes. Something was different, he wasn't sure what, but he couldn't look at Blaine without feeling funny.

The Loft was the best café the Lower East Side had to offer. In Kurt's opinion. It was quiet and cozy and away from the hectic life of downtown Manhattan. And they had the best beetroot and halloumi salad with pomegranate seeds Kurt had ever tasted. It was all in the vinaigrette of course, but it was absolutely delicious and he ordered it every time. Today he ordered a bagel as well, he kind of had to after the way he pounded Blaine into the mattress earlier.

"Hungry?" Blaine asked with a knowing smirk when they sat down at one of the small wooden tables on the sidewalk outside the café.

"I blame you," Kurt said and smiled back. "You almost killed me back there."

"If I remember correctly, you did most of the killing."

"Only because you asked for it."

Blaine had sent him a text earlier asking if they could meet up during lunch. The text didn't entail any more details than that, but Kurt knew what it meant. It wasn't often Blaine took the initiative, especially not in the beginning when it was only Kurt directing their meetings. Kurt wasn't sure why, but didn't really think about it either. Somewhere during the long winter things changed though and Blaine began texting him too. Kurt liked it, it evened things out between them. Kurt was not one to keep track of who contacted who the most times, it didn't really matter to him, but he tried to make himself available whenever Blaine wanted to meet.

Like today. He already had lunch plans with Rachel, but quickly canceled them when he got Blaine's text. When Blaine sent him text like those, Kurt knew it would be good. It was always good, but when Blaine took the initiative it was somehow different. Better.

They didn't go to Blaine's apartment together, they never did since they had agreed to keep this thing a secret from their friends, but when he got there, Blaine had pinned him against the wall, kissed him so fiercely it made Kurt breathless, and then he begged Kurt to be merciless.

"It was good, though." Blaine's smile was a shade shy of mischievous. "I really needed that today."

"How come?" Kurt asked without really expecting an answer.

"I had a shitty morning. That promotion I was up for didn't happen. They gave the job to Hunter Clarington of all people, can you believe it?"

"You were up for a promotion?" It was the first time Blaine had mentioned anything about it to Kurt. He had no idea who this Hunter Clarington was, though by the way Blaine said his name it was like they'd talked about him dozens of times. "That's great!" Kurt said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster to hide the disappointment he felt from Blaine not telling him about his promotion opportunity.

"But I didn't get it. Are you not listening?" Blaine frowned and looked a little irritated. It didn't suit him, that look. Blaine was always a ray of sunshine and Kurt wasn't used to the frown. Now he felt bad for putting it on Blaine's face because of his own hurt feelings.

"And I'm really sorry about that, but at least you were in the running." Kurt tried his best to cheer Blaine up and save the perfectly fine lunch from turning sour.

At first it didn't seem to work, but then Blaine broke out into a smile, and that was the look Kurt liked and had grown accustomed to. His heart fluttered with rapid butterfly wings and he couldn't stop himself from grinning stupidly. He kept his face down, eyes on his salad, so Blaine wouldn't notice.

"Ah, I'm too fucked out to care right now." Blaine's voice was low and conspiratorial but also relaxed and carefree, and totally satisfied. And Kurt nearly choked on his halloumi. Blaine leaned back in his chair and tilted his head up, letting the golden rays caress his olive skin.

There was something about Blaine sitting there in his designer suit and his pink sunglasses, looking so put together even though minutes ago he was falling apart under Kurt, talking about it, that had Kurt's breath hitching, just for a second. He took a deep breath, grateful Blaine was unaware of his tinged cheeks. He didn't have a problem with talking about sex with Blaine, not normally, but today everything was upside down and inside out somehow.

"We should celebrate," Kurt said, trying to act as he normally would around Blaine.

"Me not getting promoted?" Blaine laughed. His sweet, bubbly laugh, and why did Kurt's belly swoop?

"You being in the running to get promoted," Kurt returned. "You and me and some colorful drinks."

"Is it celebrating or drowning my sorrows?" Blaine turned away from the sun, still chuckling, and placed a forkful of salad into his mouth.

"You decide. Tomorrow? After work?" Tomorrow was Friday and Kurt didn't have any plans. Why not spend it with Blaine, getting tipsy and fall into bed. Spend the night getting fucked by Blaine.

"It sounds great, Kurt, but I already have plans with Eli tomorrow. Another time?"

Eli.

The twisting, knotted feeling in his gut when Blaine breathed out another man's name took Kurt by surprise. It felt too much like jealousy, but that wasn't possible. Kurt had decided the rules for their arrangement.

"How do you know Eli?" Kurt asked in his most neutral, I'm-not-dying-to-know voice.

"From college, haven't I told you?" Blaine adjusted his sunglasses and took another sip of his medium drip.

Kurt couldn't remember that he had. Eli had just sort of always been there in the background without Kurt ever really caring about him.

"How well do you know him?" Kurt nonchalantly pulled a piece of his freshly baked, whole wheat bagel and put it into his mouth.

Blaine shrugged. "He's a friend, just like you."

Just like you. What did Blaine mean by that? A friend like he and Blaine were friends?

"Exactly like me?" Kurt asked with enough insinuation for Blaine to understand.

Blaine smiled and winked. "No one is exactly like you. You're one of a kind, Kurt."

Kurt didn't know what to make of that answer. Was he not clear enough, or did Blaine avoid answering him on purpose? He dropped his questions because he wasn't exactly sure anymore, what he was trying to accomplish. What they had, their arrangement, it was working fine. It was a great arrangement. No strings attached, that's what he wanted. It was what fitted into his life. He didn't have time for anything or anyone else. It was perfect.

So why was he so desperate to know that Blaine didn't have the time or desire for anyone else, too?

The rest of their lunch Kurt tried to relax and find his way back to the ease and familiarity he usually felt around Blaine. He smiled and laughed and made jokes, but something had changed within him. He could deny it when he was with Blaine, push it to the back of his mind in the cab ride back to the office, and forget about it when he was busy at work, but when he got home, with no distractions, he couldn't hide from it anymore.

This was the one thing that wasn't supposed to happen. That couldn't happen. Kurt sat up rules for himself to prevent it. No cuddles, no spending the night, no obligations. No expectations. But he forgot one thing. His heart had a mind of its own and took no consideration to Kurt's rules.

Kurt flopped down on his couch, threw his arms across his eyes and cursed silently. He was falling for Blaine. He had no idea how it happened or for how long he'd been falling, but he knew he couldn't stop or reverse his feelings. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to, though it would be better if he didn't feel that way. Kurt hadn't felt like that since his second year of college and though he would do anything to not feel that way about Blaine, it was with a sudden clarity he understood how much he'd missed it.

But it was bittersweet, because Blaine wasn't in love with him. Of that Kurt was sure. They had their arrangement and Blaine always played by the rules. At least he thought Blaine did. Kurt realized then that he didn't know Blaine all that well. Sure he knew his favorite food, the places he'd most like to travel to, how he liked to be fucked. But he didn't know what Blaine found attractive in a man. How many boyfriends he'd had, how long he'd been single or why he'd stayed single the past year. They'd purposely stayed away from those topics. Nothing too complicated was ever discussed, nor relationship related subjects.

Now Kurt wished they had. There was so much he wanted to know. Did Blaine have other arrangements like theirs? With Eli? With someone else? With several? Was that why his texts weren't as frequent as Kurt's? The twisting, knotted feeling was back in his gut.

Kurt couldn't eat that evening, his appetite was gone. He barely slept that night, his thoughts were spinning in every which direction. His Friday was horrible. He avoided all the places he could run into Blaine. He climbed the twenty-seven flights of stairs to his office floor, not caring about the sweat gracing his forehead when he arrived. He stayed in his cubicle all day and asked Rachel to bring him back something for lunch. He kept himself occupied. When he heard Rachel mentioning a drink at a rooftop bar after work to a colleague, he invited himself. Anything to not have to think about Blaine with Eli.

One drink turned into several, as they tended to do, but alcohol didn't make him forget. On the contrary, the more Kurt drank the more clearly he could envision Blaine and Eli together. At one point, when he was still sober enough to think with at least a little clarity, Kurt pulled Rachel aside to a quiet corner of the roof and gave his phone to her, scared he'd drunk dial Blaine and make a fool of himself.

"Take care of this for me," he told her, "and no matter what, make sure I don't call Blaine."

"Blaine?" Rachel scrunched her nose momentarily. "Why don't you want to talk to him?"

"I do, that's the problem," Kurt admitted, "but he's out with Eli."

"Who's Eli? And what's the problem? I don't follow, Kurt."

Kurt did then what he wasn't supposed to do. He told Rachel everything. About their arrangement, how long it had been going on and his newly discovered feelings for Blaine. He was sure he'd regret it at some point, but he had to talk to someone and he couldn't exactly tell his dad about this. Not after his 'you matter, Kurt' speech in high school.

Rachel was left gaping when he finished. It was the first time Kurt had made her speechless. It didn't last long though.

"You have to tell him," she said, her petite body almost towering over him.

"I can't," Kurt said feeling small. "We've made rules."

"Screw that. You have to tell him, Kurt. You can't go on sleeping with him without telling him."

"He can't know, it will change everything and I don't want to lose what we have. He's unbelievable in bed, Rachel. We're unbelievable in bed, we're so freaking good together. And his body is so hot, there are like muscles everywhere. I can't stop seeing him, but I can't tell him either."

If Kurt was a little more sober and a little less freaked out, he'd find less shallow reasons why he couldn't stop seeing Blaine, but he wasn't and all he could think about was Blaine naked in bed, well defined muscles and gloriously hard. And how much he wanted to be there with him. Maybe he could be. Maybe Blaine was alone in bed right now. Maybe he could call him and ask if he could come over. Kurt's cock swelled and pressed against his pants at the thought of Blaine naked in bed.

"Can I have my phone back?" Kurt held out his hand expecting Rachel to place it there.

Rachel bit the inside of her lip and clutched the phone close to her chest. "Why?"

"I want to call Blaine."

"Why?"

"To tell him?" Kurt didn't mean for the words to come out as a question, but he wasn't very good at lying. Especially not when there was alcohol in his blood and his head was spinning.

"You'll get your phone back tomorrow," Rachel said and tucked the phone into her bra, the one place she knew Kurt wouldn't reach out to touch.

Kurt rarely disliked his own chivalry, but this was one of those moments. His phone was sticking out of her cleavage and he could reach out and snatch it from her, but he would never. "Give me my phone, please, Rachel."

"You said no matter what, Kurt."

"But-"

"We've been friends for almost fifteen years, don't you think I know you by now? Don't you think I know what that look in your eyes mean?" Rachel's eyes were piercing and saw right into the very core of him. She did know him better than anyone. "A booty call, Kurt? That's not what you want. You can call him and tell him when you're sober."

Kurt groaned and gave up. He knew her well enough to know there was no use fighting her, not when she was more sober than he was. He hated Rachel right now. He was hard and he wanted Blaine to take care of him.

"Who's Eli?" Rachel asked then.

The question sobered Kurt, just a little bit. Enough to crush his spirit and erase his erection. He didn't know what Eli looked like, didn't even know what Blaine's type was. If he had his phone he could probably find him through Blaine's Facebook, check him out, but he doubted Rachel would give him his phone for that purpose even if it was under the pretense to explain to her who Eli was.

"He's Blaine's 'friend'," Kurt muttered using actual air quotes.

"Blaine has more friends like you? Really?" Rachel eyes were big, like the idea of Blaine sleeping around was the most unexpected and shocking thing she'd heard all week. That was kind of how Kurt felt, too.

"I don't know. Maybe?" Kurt leaned against the nearest wall, eyes closed and head thrown back. He let out a loud, frustrated groan. "I don't know what to do!"

Rachel forced Kurt to look at her. "Tell him."

"No." Kurt's answer was firm and final.

Rachel sighed and shook her head. "I can't believe you've been sleeping with Blaine all this time and didn't tell me."

"You can't tell anyone." He and Blaine had after all agreed to keep it a secret. He wasn't sure of Blaine's reasons, but he remembered his own.

Rachel promised not to, then she disappeared with his phone which was maybe just as well. Kurt's desire to call Blaine was gone, but knowing himself he would spend half the night lurking Eli's social media accounts.