"Blaine! Hi, sweetie I was just about to call you," Blaine's mother, Lydia, exclaimed when she picked up the phone.

"Hi, mom," Blaine replied. "Why were you going to call me?"

"Cooper just rang like an hour ago and told me to tell you phone him when you're free. He has some news to tell you," she explained.

"Okay, I'll do that when I get off the phone with you," Blaine said. "Mom, I know this is super short notice, but would you possibly be able to babysit Harmony tomorrow night?"

"Of course I will, honey. Did that restaurant ask you to perform there again?"

"No, erm, actually I have a date," Blaine replied. He waited a few seconds and when his mother didn't reply he said, "Mom? Are you still there?"

"Yeah, sorry. Just... wow, a date. Who with?"

"His name is Kurt. He's a friend of Mel's, they went to high school together, and he comes by the coffee shop every day," Blaine explained.

"And does he know about Harmony?" Lydia asked.

"Yeah, actually Laura got called into work early yesterday so she had to drop Harmony off at the coffee shop. Kurt had just asked me out when she came in and then he offered to sit with her, and then he asked me out after. I gave him a chance to back out, but he didn't," Blaine explained.

"I'm happy for you," his mom stated. "I thought with Harmony you wouldn't open yourself up to dating, but I'm glad that you are. I know you have good friends and family and people that love you, but I'm sure you get lonely and even if this guy doesn't work out, I hope you can find someone."

"I... thanks mom. I love you," Blaine replied.

"I love you too, sweetie. And send my love to Harmony. What time do you want me to pick her up tomorrow?" Lydia questioned.

"Could you pick her up around half 6? Kurt said he'd come get me at 7 and I need time to prepare myself I guess," Blaine answered.

"Okay, I'll see you then. Now go and call Coop!"

Blaine chuckled. "Okay, mom. See you tomorrow!" With that he hung up. He stared at his phone for a moment before opening a new message.

To Kurt

From Blaine

hey kurt, i can definitely do tomorrow night, unless u want to back out. id totally understand ~ Blaine

He sent the message, and then quickly dialed his brothers number.

"Blainey!" Cooper answered.

"Coop, what have I told you about calling me that?" Blaine complained, but he couldn't help but smile at the nickname Cooper had given him as a child.

"Sorry, bro. I suppose you talked to mom then," Cooper said.

"Yeah, apparently you have big news. Spill!" Blaine demanded.

"Well, Lara and I are getting married!" Cooper answered.

"Woah, congratulations, man," Blaine said, excitedly.

"Thanks. We also wanted to know if Harmony would be our flower girl," his brother said.

"Coop, I'm sure she'd love to be flower girl. When's the wedding going to be? And where is it going to be?" Blaine questioned.

"Well, Lara and I have both talked and we decided we want to get married in Ohio, as that's where we were both born and raised. Also it will be much cheaper which means we'd have more money to go towards the honeymoon. And we thought of having it in March," Cooper answered.

"March? You do realise that it's January now, right?" Blaine said.

"Yeah, I know, but we've kind of been planning for a while, even though I only got around to actually asking her last night. We're going to come and stay with mom for a while and whilst we're there all we need to do is sort out all of the outfits, the catering and the honeymoon. We have a venue and we've done the invitations, we've decided what colours we want and Lara's mom is going to sort out decorating the venue. Dad said he'd talk to a friend of his about getting a few wedding cars too. So we're pretty much planned," Cooper replied.

"Wow, I'm sure it's going to be great Coop. I can't wait," Blaine said.

"And I wanted to ask you something else," Cooper added.

"Go on," Blaine prompted.

"I want you to be my best man," the elder Anderson brother stated.

"Cooper.. you..." Blaine paused, taking in the information. He felt tears stinging his eyes. "Really?"

"Of course, baby brother," Cooper replied with a chuckle. "I'm so proud of you, bro. I mean, seeing how great you've been with Harmony, and how you've given up so much to look after her. I know that if it were me, I couldn't have done that. I'm going to go all soppy on you now and say that you inspire me. You make me want to be better, man. Even if we don't see each other as much as we'd like, you're my brother and I wouldn't want anyone else to be my best man."

"Cooper, you're going to turn me into a blubbering mess," Blaine complained, wiping at his eyes.

"Well, a yes or no would be nice," Cooper prompted.

"Yes, of course I will," Blaine replied.

"Daddy, why are you crying?" Blaine looked up to see Harmony was standing in front of him, a worried expression on her face.

"Uncle Coop just made me happy, princess," Blaine explained.

"Is that Uncle Coop? Can I speak to him?" Harmony asked excitedly.

"Hang on a second," Blaine said to her and then raised the phone speaker up to his ear. "Hey, Cooper, there's a little girl here who's dying to speak to you."

"Well, don't keep her waiting, put her on," Cooper chuckled.

Blaine handed the phone to Harmony and watched and listened as she spoke to her uncle.

"Hi Uncle Coop! ... Yeah I'm always a good girl for daddy ... What is it? ... Wow, you're getting married? ... Do I get to wear a pretty dress? ... I can't wait! ... Are you going to be at Grandma and Grandpa's tomorrow? ... I'm going there because daddy has a date." Blaine immediately blushed as Harmony said this. Why did she have to tell Cooper? "... Yeah, he said that he's going out with Kurt and they're going to get to know each other because they don't really know each other very well at the moment... Okay, I'll put daddy back on, can I speak to you again soon? ... Okay love you Uncle Coop, bye!" Harmony held out the phone for her dad and Blaine gave her a grin as he took it back from her.

"Hey, Coop."

"Why did you neglect telling me that you have a date tomorrow?" Cooper demanded.

"Because it's not something to just bring up. Plus, you've just sprung some major news on me, I can't ruin the fun," Blaine excused.

"What's more fun than my little bro finally getting laid?" Cooper chuckled. Blaine blushed even more and glanced over at Harmony, who had plonked herself down at the dinner table to finish colouring.

"Coop!" Blaine scolded. "It's just one little date, it probably won't lead to anything. Especially not that!"

"At least this time nobody can get pregnant, right?" Cooper joked.

"Oh shut up," Blaine growled, but he couldn't stop his smile.

"Well, I want you to call me on Sunday and tell me how it went. Unless Harmony's with you and it's too inappropriate to talk about in front of her," Cooper suggested.

"Whatever. I'll talk to you Sunday, Coop," said Blaine.

"You'd better! Later bro!" And with that they hung up, Blaine with a huge grin on his face.

He looked down at his phone and noticed a new message. He opened it, nervously, hoping it wasn't Kurt cancelling.

To Blaine

From Kurt

Hi, Blaine! Glad to finally have your number. I'm looking forward to tomorrow night. Text me your address and I'll see you at 7! - Kurt x

Blaine's grin grew even wider as he typed his address in.

The next night, Blaine was beginning to panic. It was 5 PM and he was furiously trying to style his hair, which was not agreeing with him. Harmony was sat on his bed, dangling her legs over the side and she watched him struggle. She frowned and said, "Daddy, why don't you have your hair curly tonight?"

Blaine turned to look at his daughter. "Harmy, my hair doesn't look as good as yours curly, remember? Mine looks like a poodle!"

Harmony giggled and then stood up from the bed. She walked over to the mirror her dad was sat at and picked up a bottle. "Isn't this what Aunt Mel gave you to make your hair not poodley. Why don't you try this daddy?"

"I'll give it a go, princess!" Harmony jumped back onto the bed whilst Blaine rushed to the bathroom to wash his gel out. When he got back he sprayed the product on his hair and rubbed it in, just as it had said on the bottle. He then blow dried his hair, and was delighted when his curls went sleek and didn't poof up like usual. He grinned at his own appearance, before rushing to his wardrobe and pulling out the clothes he'd already prepared for the night. He went back to the bathroom and changed and then came out to show Harmony.

"How do I look, Harmony?" he asked.

Harmony looked up from the doll she had been playing with to look at her father. Her gaze roamed up and down his attire and she rubbed her chin and squinted her eyes as if she was thinking really hard.

"I think that you look very handsome," she finally concluded.

"Why thank you. Are you all packed for grandma and grandpa's?" he asked her.

"Yes. I've got my toothbrush, my clothes for tomorrow, my pyjamas, my underwear, my toys and my hairbrush," she listed.

"Have you got Flopsy?" Blaine asked, knowing she'd never be able to sleep without her toy rabbit. Harmony's eyes widened and she suddenly rushed out of the room to pack it. Blaine chuckled.

The doorbell went 5 minutes later and Blaine rushed to answer.

"Mom!" he greeted, immediately pulling his mother into a hug.

"Oh, Blaine," Lydia sighed, embracing her son. She pulled back to inspect what he was wearing. "You look so handsome!"

"Thanks, mom. I wasn't sure if Harmony was just being nice," Blaine chuckled.

"GRANDMA!" came a cry from behind him and soon Lydia had her arms full of her granddaughter.

"Harmony, how are you, sweetie? Have you grown again?" Lydia asked, knowing that Harmony liked it when she was made to feel tall, being one of the shortest in her class.

"No, grandma, I measured myself just last week," Harmony giggled.

"Well, you feel much taller to me," Lydia said with a grin. "Go and get your things then so we can go back to mine!"

Harmony rushed off to get her bag and Lydia smiled at her son. "Are you nervous?"

"Extremely," Blaine admitted.

"Don't worry about it, you're going to be fine. Just be yourself," Lydia advised. Harmony came running back in, clutching her Hello Kitty over night bag. "Looks like we're all ready to head off then. Say goodbye to your dad, Harmy," Lydia said, taking the bag from her.

Blaine knelt down so that Harmony could give him a kiss and a hug goodbye. "Be good for grandma and grandpa, okay? Remember your manners and do what they tell you."

"I will, daddy. Have lots of fun with Kurt," Harmony said.

"Love you, princess," Blaine said, kissing her cheek.

"Love you too, daddy," she replied. "I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that Lydia and Harmony left, leaving Blaine on his own to finish getting ready.

The doorbell rang again at 7 on the dot. Blaine had been ready for the last 10 minutes and he'd been sat on the couch, phone in hand, waiting. His shoes were on and his keys and wallet were already in his pocket. When the doorbell rang, his breath caught in anxiousness, but he knew he had to do this. He wanted to do this. He walked the few short steps to the door and opened it, to be greeted by Kurt.

Once again, the only word Blaine could find to describe Kurt was beautiful. His hair was once again in a stylish quiff, but now he wore fitted slacks, a purple dress shirt and a black jacket. The clothes emphasised the natural shape of his body, which had Blaine nearly drooling at his trim waist and broad shoulders.

"Hi!" Kurt greeted, cheerfully.

"Erm, hi," Blaine stammered. "You, erm, you look really good." He blushed as he heard how pathetic it had sounded, compared to in his head.

But Kurt smiled and said, "Thank you. You look really good too. Are you ready to go?"

Blaine nodded and locked up, before nervously returning Kurt's grin and following him to his car.

As Kurt started driving, he said "You seem nervous."

"I, erm, kind of am," Blaine admitted.

"Why?" asked Kurt.

"You have to promise not to laugh at me for this," Blaine warned.

"I promise."

"This is kind of my first date," Blaine confessed.

"Oh, well, that's alright. I see why you're nervous. But don't worry about it. You have nothing to be nervous about," Kurt assured him.

"I'm just worried I'll screw up." Blaine looked straight ahead as they pulled up at a red light. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his own. He looked over to see Kurt giving him a soft smile.

"You're not going to screw up." And then Kurt's hand was gone and he was looking at the road as the light turned green.

"So where are we going?" asked Blaine.

"It's this little Italian restaurant, not far away. I figured that everyone likes some sort of Italian food. But if you don't we can go somewhere else," Kurt replied.

"No, that sounds good. Molto bello!" Blaine assured him.

Kurt raised his eyebrows and asked, "You speak Italian?"

Blaine blushed. "No, erm, my brother taught me that when I was 12 to pick up girls. I never actually got the chance to use it."

Kurt let out a laugh, a high melodic laugh that made Blaine's knees feel slightly weaker. "Well, you may use it on me as many times as you like."

The rest of the drive was filled with light conversation and music. When they arrived at the restaurant, Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand and pulled him inside. The last time he'd held hands with someone his age was when Laura was giving birth and she'd squeezed his hand so hard he was surprised it hadn't fell off. Blaine took the time to admire the way Kurt's hand felt in his. He barely even noticed that Kurt had already spoken to a waiter who led them to their table. He reluctantly let go of Kurt's hand to take a seat.

The waiter took their order for drinks and they both looked over the menu to decide what to have. Blaine decided on a chicken tagliatelle dish and Kurt decided to have vegetable ravioli. Once they'd placed their orders, Kurt turned to Blaine with a smile.

"So, tell me about yourself Blaine," Kurt requested.

"What has Mel already told you?"

"That you're 21, you like music and you're single. And that's about it. I want to know more," Kurt said.

"Well, there's not that much more to tell. I'm not very interesting. But yes, I'm 21 and I do love music. And I work at the coffee shop, as you know, and I have a daughter, as you know. I like fashion, not as much as I used to, but I still read Vogue when I get the time. I'm more of an admirer though, I don't really have the time or money to be that fashionable. I like singing, reading. Okay, yeah, I'm not very interesting," Blaine listed.

"You sound interesting. And I like singing too. I was in glee club in high school. I was going to go into musical theatre but I decided to stick with fashion," Kurt informed him.

"Oh yeah, you design dresses?"

"Actually I work for a bridal shop in Westerville. It used to sell dresses off the rack, but they got a lot of people asking for custom made dresses and when I said in my interview that I liked to design, they asked if I'd like to be their dress designer. So women come to me and they tell me how they want their wedding dress made and I draw a design and if they like it then I make it. I usually have help for that bit, but I'm a bit of a control freak and like to do as much as I can myself," Kurt explained.

"That sounds really cool," Blaine said. "Do you enjoy it?"

"It's the best job I could ask for. I get to do what I love," Kurt said, with a grin.

The conversation flowed easily. Kurt and Blaine had so much in common, from their musical tastes to their to their favourite films. Blaine had never met any one he could relate to so easily.

At the end of the night, Kurt insisted on getting the check and drove Blaine home, chatting and laughing with him along the way. When they got back to Blaine's, he unlocked the door and stood in the door frame awkwardly, not sure what to say.

"Did you want to come in for a drink?" asked Blaine. He honestly didn't want to say goodbye yet; he was having way too much fun with Kurt.

"Sure, I'd love to," Kurt said. Blaine opened the door wider to allow Kurt in. He gestured to the couch and Kurt took a seat, crossing his legs over one another.

"What would like? I don't have anything alcoholic, but I have soda," Blaine said.

"Just water will be fine," Kurt insisted, with a smile. Blaine headed into the kitchen to get them both drinks, and when he came back Kurt was stood by the wall, gazing at the photos hung there. More specifically, he was looking at a picture of Blaine and Harmony on the day she was born. Blaine was cradling the little girl in his arms and looking down with such a loving expression.

"That's when she was first born," Blaine said, startling Kurt a little. "I'm sorry, I thought you knew I was here."

"It's okay, I'm sorry I was being nosy," Kurt apologised.

"I don't mind," Blaine said. He took a seat on the couch and Kurt followed by sitting next to him. "You know you can ask me about her."

"I didn't want to seem snoopy, but I have to say I am curious about how a 21 year old gay man has a 5 year old daughter," Kurt confessed.

"Well, it's kind of a long story," Blaine said.

"I have time," Kurt replied.

And so Blaine told him the story of how Harmony came to be born. He told him of all of the dreams he had given up for Harmony, but he also told him about how he didn't regret a thing.

"Wow," Kurt said, when Blaine stopped talking.

"Yeah," Blaine sighed.

"That's just... wow," Kurt repeated. "You know you have to be pretty brave to do that. Give up your whole life."

"If I'd given her up, I would have given up my whole life. The way I see it, it was a worthy sacrifice," Blaine explained, a smile still on his face.

"Well I'm certainly impressed. And she seems like a very sweet girl," Kurt said.

"Yeah, she is. I've tried to raise her properly," Blaine replied.

Kurt glanced up at the clock on the wall and his eyes widened at the time. "Woah, it's pretty late. I have to get up for work in the morning," Kurt stated, standing up.

"I'm sorry to have kept you," Blaine apologised.

"No, don't apologise, I've had a really good time with you," Kurt said.

"You have?" asked Blaine.

"Yeah, you're a really great guy and this has probably been the best date I've ever been on. I mean, I don't think I've met anyone who I've been able to get along so well with and had so much in common with," Kurt explained.

"I've had a great time too," Blaine said with a grin.

"That's great! So you'll go out again sometime?" Kurt asked, hopefully.

"You want to go out with me again?" Blaine questioned.

"Do you not want to?"

"Of course I do. I just didn't think you'd want more than one date with me," Blaine admitted.

"Blaine, you're a really nice guy and you're really smart and funny and sweet. Of course I want to go out with you again," Kurt sighed.

"Great. I'd love to!"

"I'll see you at the coffee shop on Monday, right? And I can text you too," Kurt suggested.

"Yeah, please do. And text me when you get home? So I know you got back okay?"

"Okay," Kurt agreed. And before Blaine knew it, Kurt's arms were wrapped around his neck and he was being pulled into a tight hug. As he was leaning back, Kurt dropped a short kiss onto Blaine's cheek and whispered "Goodnight" into his ear.

"Goodnight," Blaine repeated. With that, and a quick wave, Kurt took off in the direction of his car.

That night Blaine waited up for Kurt to text him to make sure he got home okay, and then fell asleep with a big smile on his face.