It was to be six days until Kurt and Blaine would meet again. It had been a stressful week, the constant flow of costumers keeping Kurt on his toes all day. Still his mind kept drifting back to the handsome man with the pretty curls and charming demeanor: the man who evidently was unable to speak. Kurt assumed he was mute, from birth or an accident or illness, he did not know. He could even have some sort of mental block or trauma from some sort of previous incident. Either way, he had not spoken a single word that day, and Kurt found himself drawn to him, intrigued.

It was 7 o'clock Friday night, the rain pouring down outside and the harsh wind throwing leaves against the windows, when a soaking wet figure hastily shoved through the door. Kurt was ringing up some books for a lovely old couple, happily chatting with them about how to properly ice cupcakes. He turned when the bell rang signaling Blaine's arrival and gave him a small wave and smile before turning back to the customers. Waving the couple goodbye a few minutes later, Kurt walked over to Blaine, stopping in front of him and taking him in. Blaine was wearing sweats and a black hoodie, which were soaked through, and his hair was falling into his face. He looked absolutely delicious, and Kurt gulped. Blaine was breathing harshly and holding his hand to his side. Kurt chuckled, "Jogging? In this weather?" Blaine shrugged with a nod of his head, a sated smile spreading over his face. There were still a few people in the store, looking through the variety of novels, several of them drinking hot beverages, but Kurt and Blaine paid them no mind, both smiling foolishly at each other, lost in their own thoughts.

"Excuse me, do you have The Catcher In The Rye?" Kurt bowed his head to see a young boy, maybe thirteen years old, with blonde hair that looked startling against his dark skin, look up at him expectedly. "Yeah, yeah, I do, just one second." Kurt turned back to Blaine. "Just, I don't know, make yourself comfortable. Have a drink or something, read a little? I'll be right back." Blaine just smiled at him and reached a hand out to touch his arm, before walking over to the coffee maker. Damn, Kurt thought with a blush as he watched Blaine walk away before quickly hurrying over to the boy. Blaine's ass looks fantastic in slacks.

Kurt shook hands with the last customer, giddy with joy; the man had bought all seven Harry Potter books three times! His triplets' birthday was coming up and apparently, "If my kids don't love Harry Potter I'm putting them up for adoption godammit!" Closing the door behind him, Kurt turned to find Blaine sitting on the floor with a book in his lap. Kurt leaned over him, reading behind his shoulder. "Whatcha reading there?" Blaine lifted his head to smile up at him, turning the book and shoving him the cover. "To Kill a Mockingbird? You really have excellent taste in literature. Hang on."

Kurt walked over to his bag and fished out his laptop, before joining Blaine on the floor, their thighs and arms only millimeters apart. Despite his wet clothes, Blaine seemed to radiate warmth. Or maybe he was just imagining it. He did feel a bit lightheaded. Opening a blank word document, Kurt handed the Macbook over to Blaine. "So that we can talk," he explained.

"Good thinking!" Blaine typed, "Do you own the place?"

"Yeah, just bought it a couple of months ago. It's… I love it." Kurt tugged at his sleeve.

"It's lovely, Kurt."

Kurt felt a big grin stretch across his face. "Tell me about you?"

Blaine turned his head to look at him for a second. Kurt didn't dare look back, scared of what he might do if their faces were that close in his current state of lightheadness, instead brushing some non existing dust of his pants. Blaine's eyes followed the movement of his hand, before turning back to the computer, typing quickly.

"My name is Blaine Anderson. I'm 26 years old, currently unemployed but I get by with the money I inherited from my grandfather. I was, as you've obviously guessed, born mute which sucks of course, but I get by. I love the sound of saxophones, snow and red vine. I spend my days doing whatever I feel like, mostly reading, working out, watching old movies and cooking. At night I like to sit at the roof of my house and watch the city breathe. New York was my first and only love."

Blaine's eyes never left Kurt's face as he read, carefully gauging his reactions. Kurt felt his eyes tear up as he came to the part about saxophones. It was something about the atmosphere in the room, the warmth from the candles and the sound of the storm from outside in addition to sitting so close to him that made him over emotional. He just wanted to wrap Blaine up in his arms and hold him. The last line had him wondering. How someone as excruciatingly attractive and perfectly charming could have gone his whole life without finding that special girl was a mystery to Kurt. Surely, Blaine should have had a whole line of them waiting for their chance. Kurt had had a couple of boyfriends himself since moving to New York, though none of them lasted more than a few months. He would keep searching, though. He knew that somewhere someone was waiting for him. Someone perfect.

After a few moments of silence Blaine nudged him in the side with his elbow, pointing at him. And Kurt told him about his life, about growing up in Homophobia, Ohio, about his mother passing away, how he had moved to New York to become a Broadway star but finding his peace working alongside books. He found himself rambling on about little details about himself that no one should really care about, but Blaine never seemed bothered. He kept nodding excitedly, his expressions changing from sympatric to angry to amused, typing little responses to what he was saying on the laptop, sharing bits of pieces about himself in retort.

And just like that, Kurt and Blaine became friends.

Just like that.

Thank you so much for all your response and for reading! New chapter coming soon; you're the best!