Spring 2017

The spring season was the biggest for sales in fashion. Not only was it a change to bright colors from the drabness which tended to characterize winter, but most people included cleaning out their closets in their routines for spring cleaning, and everyone needed new clothes. So, naturally, Isabella and all the people Kurt knew were putting pressure on her (but he would never tell Rachel about them. He knew what happened when she found out she was right) were happy, and it made life easier for him. After the favors he had called in, Avenue Q had gotten its swing season, and now Blaine made a proud Nicky in front of a Broadway audience eight shows a week. At some point in his less hectic life, Kurt promised himself as he headed for his favorite coffee shop, he would get to that show, and make sure Blaine knew he was coming this time.

"Grande non-fat mocha, please," Kurt said automatically, a creature of habit.

"On me," a voice announced behind him, making Kurt jump and whirl to see a familiar smiling face.

"Blaine!" he exclaimed, trying not to sound too excited. "How are you?" He didn't even bother to object to Blaine paying for his coffee. He had a feeling that wouldn't go over well.

"Excellent, and I have a feeling some of my current happiness is due to a very famous Broadway director, who happens to be a countertenor and friends with some old Broadway stars, taking a sudden interest in me and my fellow cast mates," Blaine said, grinning as the smiling barista handed him Kurt's coffee. "For you, good sir." Kurt giggled and followed Blaine to his table, which was covered in staff paper.

"Writing?" Kurt asked as he tried to pick up a page only for it to be snatched away from him.

"Yeah," Blaine admitted, smiling a little. "I write a little, but nothing I've ever written has turned out very well." Blaine was stuffing his papers into a messenger bag before Kurt got a chance to look at it.

"I'm not allowed to be the authority on that?" Kurt asked as he sat down.

"Not a chance," Blaine replied, attempting to run his hand through his hair as he sat down and ending up displacing his colorful toque. "Sorry, I'm not exactly fit for company at the moment." Blaine gestured to his stubble and to the hat that was covering messy, curly hair.

"You look cute," Kurt admitted, making Blaine smile, "even if you are a little bit last season."

"It's still cold enough for me to pull this off," Blaine argued. "I'm happy to see you again."

"Me too. I came to RENT... God, it must be last year at this point," Kurt realized, making Blaine chuckle, "but you pulled a LuPone on me and were out of the theatre before I reached the stage door."

"I would have stayed if I had known you were coming," Blaine flirted, but he was only reinforcing the bane of Kurt's existence.

"And now I have another thing I can never, ever admit to Rachel," Kurt said with a sigh, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Rachel..." Blaine trailed off, clearly asking.

"My ex-teammate, ex-roommate, and current best friend, the lovely and talented Miss Rachel Berry," Kurt said, smiling and rolling his eyes.

"Rachel Berry, why does that name ring a bell?" Blaine asked, taking a sip of his own coffee.

"She did mention that she had worked with you before," Kurt said, and he could practically see the light bulb go off in Blaine's head.

"I remember that! She's crazy, but crazy talented," Blaine hedged, obviously trying to spare Kurt's offenses, but he laughed anyway. It was the most accurate description of Rachel he had ever heard.

"Exactly how I would describe her," Kurt assured him once he had caught his breath. "She does have good taste though." Kurt smiled a little coyly at his companion.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning she thought you were cute," Kurt said, making Blaine chuckle and blush a little.

"Well, tell her I said thank you." Blaine was obviously very chivalrous, Kurt decided, and every little thing he learned about Blaine, he liked.

"I wish I could stay and chat, but work calls, and my boss gets testy when I'm late. She would probably excuse me if she knew I was flirting with a hot guy, but still," Kurt said, a little bit bolder than he would be normally. Blaine just smiled.

"Probably getting to work on time would be a good idea," he admitted. "How about we get lunch sometime? My rehearsals usually start around one, so we might end up eating a little early..." Blaine offered, and Kurt hated to say no, but...

"I usually work though lunch," Kurt admitted. "I'm kind of a workaholic, but I love what I do, and if we were to have lunch on a weekday I would be distracted by my ever-ringing phone and perpetually-buzzing iPad. How about a weekend?"

"I have double shows on Saturdays and Sundays," Blaine said with a sigh. "We would end up doing something more like brunch, and closer to breakfast, but even then that would be tight. I require lots of sleep." Kurt chuckled.

"Mondays are good for me, I'm usually off or working from home, considering I usually end up working Saturdays due to Sunday deadlines," Kurt offered, but Blaine shook his head.

"Mondays are black, so not only are they the only day I have to relax, but I also end up running errands, having appointments, planning meetings, writing, and often rehearsing something we screwed up during the show week," which Kurt knew well ran from Tuesday through Sunday without stopping to catch its breath, "so it's always pretty hectic for me. I'm sorry," Blaine said, and Kurt knew his disappointment must be showing on his face.

"It's fine. We'll hopefully keep in touch better this time, and we'll try to find some free time for each other." Kurt tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach and the logical part of his brain that was pointing out how little time he had for anything besides work, never mind a new relationship.

"Sounds like a plan," Blaine said with a smile, picking up his bag. "Get to work, I'll hopefully see you soon."

"Bye, Blaine," Kurt said, and he was hugging Blaine before he had thought it through. Blaine didn't seem to mind at all, clutching to his back like he just wanted him to stay there for hours.

"Bye, Kurt," Blaine replied, finally releasing him.

Kurt ended up being in a considerable rush to get to work, not being able to find a cab, and being almost forty-five minutes late, but, as he had suspected, all was forgiven once he told Isabella about Blaine.

He didn't think he was floating on air as he walked in the door humming, but as soon as he closed the door behind him, the step-brother on the couch who had clearly been intending to ambush him scared the crap out of him asking, "Who's the guy?"

"What guy?" Kurt asked in lieu of an answer after he had jumped, shrieked, whirled, and caught his breath. "And don't do that to me! I gave you a key to my place in case of emergencies, not so you can watch The Big Bang Theory on my couch while I'm working," Kurt chastised as he placed his bag down and pulled seltzer water out of the fridge.

"The guy that's making you hum Have You Ever Been in Love? after what was probably a pretty stressful day at work," Finn clarified, and they had obviously spent way too much time living together.

"If you can recognize brief snatches of Celine songs being hummed, I think you've spent way too much time with me," Kurt replied, still not answering, as he shot-gunned his water. "And for your information, Blaine's just a friend, if even that. I don't see him enough for him to be anything more." Not that he didn't want him to be more, but he was pretty sure Finn knew him well enough to hear the implied part of his sentence in his voice.

"Oh, dude, LD? Seriously? That's worse than cradle-robbing!" Kurt rolled his eyes.

"No, not long distance, he lives here in New York. We just... keep meeting each other, but I don't really know him, and he knows even less about me." Kurt sighed. "He is pretty sweet though."

"Why not just ask him out?" Kurt shook his head.

"Do you remember when I was on Broadway?" Finn shrugged in reply. "I was a maniac, constantly performing and rehearsing and only having a moment to myself on black days. That's the spot Blaine's in right now, especially since he's debuting, and he has no time for me. And I'm busy, always, even now, so I have no time for him."

"Make time," was Finn's suggestion, but Kurt rolled his eyes and ignored it.

"I appreciate the encouragement and maturity, Finn, but this isn't going to work out. At least, not right now." Kurt reached into the fridge for another water.

"What, is that like your alcohol or something?" Finn asked, gesturing to the sparkling water, but Kurt just ignored him. He was remarkably good at it.

Kurt settled into his seat, trying to ignore the looks he was getting for having a dressed-up Rachel on his arm, which were mostly incredulous and disbelieving. He didn't blame them, and he didn't care.

"Did you tell him we're here this time?" Rachel asked, looking ridiculous considering she was at a performance of Avenue Q, but she had spent the earlier portion of her evening at a Broadway charity benefit and hadn't had any time to change.

"I'm about to. This way, it'll be a nice surprise, but we'll still see him," Kurt said, firing off a text and preparing to laugh his butt off for the rest of the night. He was dressed more casually than Rachel, in tight jeans, and an Avenue Q t-shirt of old he had edited slightly to make more of a fashion statement.

"Clever," Rachel said, trying to figure out how to sit down comfortable in her skirts.

Nicky was a small part, but the hardest Kurt laughed all night was during If You Were Gay. Watching Blaine deny his sexuality was way too entertaining, and Rachel was rolling her eyes at him. It was well worth the poor performance by the show's Rod. Besides Blaine, there was no way anyone in the cast should be on Broadway.

"So, I'm guessing we're stage-dooring?" Rachel asked, sounding rather bored. Kurt had been able to tell she wouldn't be able to enjoy the show because of the poor acting by the first scene.

"Very funny," Kurt said, as he dragged her out of their aisle seats, headed for the close door. He had booked tickets according to how fast they could get out of the theatre.

"You are absolutely ridiculous about this guy," Rachel commented as Kurt nearly pulled her arm out of its socket, but she sounded happy about his happiness.

"Shut up," Kurt said as he pulled her around the side of the theatre, more holding her hand than dragging her at this point. The stage door was already open, and the people that had gotten out of the theatre before them (black magic, he swore, was the only thing that prevented them from being the first at the door). Blaine wasn't out there yet, but the girl who had played Kate was posing for pictures, and Rachel bee-lined for her to offer the pointers Kurt was sure she had been thinking over throughout the entire show. Rachel was nothing if not predictable.

Blaine was the next one out, and he grinned when he saw Rachel, giving the ridiculously-dressed soprano a kiss on the cheek and taking a picture with her for an ecstatic fan before he turned to look for Kurt, who was hanging out on the edge of the small pool of light around the door. Blaine smiled brightly and headed for him, but he never got the chance.

"Kurt Hummel!" Jason Moore said as soon as he could see Kurt. "As I live and breathe, if it isn't my former superstar." Kurt knew Jason had been directing the show, and he respected the man immensely, but at this point he would honestly kill the talented director in order to talk to Blaine.

"If it isn't my favorite Les Mis director," Kurt lied. Not even close. "I'd love to stay and chat, but if you wouldn't mind..." Kurt tried to rebuff him pleasantly, but the man latched onto his arm, and when he threw Blaine a look, the actor just shrugged, smiled at Kurt, and turned back to his enthused fans, who clearly recognized talent when they saw it.

"I knew you would come to check out my experiment eventually," Jason continued, keeping a firm hold on Kurt's arm and leading him back into the theatre. "Your boy is quite talented. Where did you scout him? I'm looking for more talent like that. If you have any more recommendations, be sure to tell me, I'm pretty sure he's the only thing holding this show together. The cast and crew love him. How are you? What are you working on right now? I haven't seen you in Playbill news lately..."

The man continued to talk his ear off for two hours, offering Kurt scotch (which he thought tasted like rubbing alcohol) in his office and not giving Kurt a chance to get a word in edgewise, not even to answer the man's rambling, non-rhetorical questions. He had only come to the show to see Blaine, and he didn't see him for more than two minutes. Rachel ended up spending the night at the stage door with him, and going out for an after-show dinner and pointers. Needless to say, Kurt gave her the cold shoulder for two days after throwing several heavy objects at her when she walked into his apartment the next morning.

"It's nice when everything works out," Rachel said, unable to stop smiling as Kurt helped her pack up her apartment. Since she had broken up with Finn, he was the one she called when she needed someone to lift heavy things for her, and he did not appreciate it.

"I can't believe you're moving in with him," Kurt said, attempting to sit on an overly-full box and duct-tape it shut at the same time. He was going to get taped to a box at some point, he knew it.

"Kurt, we've been together for five months," Rachel argued. "Just because you wait three years before moving in with someone, doesn't mean we all do. I learned my lesson with Finn. I move in with a guy as soon as possible so I know that our schedules and routines are compatible. If they're not, and they insist on using my bathroom, I move on."

"I sincerely hope, for Paul's sake, and my back's, that Paul has two bathrooms," Kurt grumbled as he managed to close the box and was faced with the worse task of lifting it.

"Paul's apartment is gorgeous, spacious, closer to the Theatre District, and has a better view than mine," Rachel continued, completely ignoring his comments. "It's expensive, but it will be much more manageable with us splitting the cost."

"What is it exactly that he does again?" Kurt asked.

"He's an Executive Strategy Coordinator at a division of General Electric," Rachel replied sassily.

"What does that mean?" Kurt had managed to life up the box but was in serious danger of tipping over whilst trying to carry it. Rachel just shrugged.

"He makes a lot of money and his hours aren't too brutal. That's all I care about," Rachel replied, and to anyone else that would make her sound like a gold digger, but Kurt knew her better.

"I'm glad you're happy Rachel, but perhaps a little less talking and a little more packing?" They had packed and placed six boxes by the door so far, and he had packed all of them. His back attested to the fact he had moved all of them as well.

"So, how are things with you and Blaine?" Kurt glared at her for her question, just for the sake of principle. Last time he had seen Blaine, he had literally done nothing besides see him, and Rachel had gone out on almost a date with him. He had to discourage this kind of behavior in the future.

"There isn't anything in existence that remotely resembles me and Blaine," Kurt replied, rather testily. "We promised at the end of the last time we spoke that we would find time for each other, but we haven't thus far." Rachel dropped the first thing she had attempted to pack and, following the loud crashing sound, knocked one of her other dishes out of Kurt's hands.

"Call him!" she demanded, abandoning packing all together. "Call him right now, Kurt Elizabeth Hummel! If you don't, I will, and you know how good my impression of you is!"

"Caller ID would thwart you, Rachel," Kurt argued, keeping his hand over his phone in his pocket.

"This isn't important," Rachel said, tossing away a box. "Call him or I will take you to the carpet!"

"You still don't know what that means, do you?" Kurt asked, remembering when she had asked Mercedes after graduation. Mercedes had just laughed and told her never to take anyone to the carpet, she was too white.

"Doesn't matter. Call him. Now." Kurt sighed, knowing arguing was useless at this point, and also kind of excited to talk to Blaine for the first time in a month.

Kurt dialed Blaine's number as Rachel breathed down his neck, and as soon as he pressed the phone to his ear, Rachel's ear was pressed to the other side of the phone. "Hey there!" Blaine greeted after two rings, and Kurt couldn't help but smile.

"So you finally put me in your phone?" Kurt asked, and Blaine laughed.

"If I hadn't, I wouldn't have stayed after at Avenue Q. I'm sorry about that, by the way, Moore can get pretty intense, but he's a great director." Even annoyed, Blaine sounded sunny and optimistic. Gaga, Kurt missed him.

"It wasn't your fault, and I know," Kurt said, rolling his eyes at his ex-director's occasionally crazy stunts, "but he's so happy with you that he wants me to part-time talent scout."

"I can't tell if you sound happy about that or not," Blaine admitted, and Rachel 'aww'ed quietly. Kurt pushed her away.

"It's pretty time consuming, I don't know what he means by this 'part time' nonsense, but it's almost... charity, making sure great singers and actors like you aren't overlooked because of the system." Rachel was back to her position of eavesdropping within seconds. Actresses, Kurt thought, rolling his eyes.

"I noticed you didn't mention anything about dancing," Blaine said with a chuckle. "Something you want to tell me, or did Rachel already pretty much cover it?"

"I haven't talked to her about it, but I'm sure she thought of everything I did and more. I didn't have many criticisms about you, and they're only things a trained professional would notice, something Rachel never takes into accounts. Your cast mates, however..."

"Hey, hey, hey, be nice," Blaine objected immediately, and Kurt just wanted to hug him again. "No one expected this to be a swing season, and it is admirable that they were even up for the challenge. Besides, we're all still improving."

"Maybe I'll come see the show again, and compare," Kurt flirted, making Rachel roll her eyes.

"I'd like that," Blaine retaliated, his voice deepening a little and making Kurt shiver despite his best intentions. He knew Rachel would tease him about that later. "Maybe you should give me some advanced warning this time, and I'll poison Moore's food." Kurt outright laughed at that one, the tense (in a good way) atmosphere gone.

"Maybe something less drastic?" Kurt suggested, making Blaine chuckle.

"I'd love to stay and chat, trust me, I really would, but it's a Monday, in case you forgot, and I have places to go and things to do. We'll talk more soon?" Blaine sounded so earnest, Kurt only possible answer was yes.

"Absolutely, as long as it's not people to do," Kurt said before he had thought about it, and Rachel died laughing at the mortification on his face, loud enough for Blaine to hear her.

"Oh, hi, Rachel," Blaine said, sounding a little surly for the first time since Kurt had met him. "And I can definitely promise you that," Blaine replied to Kurt, who smiled a bit in spite of himself. They were both faithful to the other, even though they weren't actually dating.

"Then we'll definitely stay in touch."

"Bye, Kurt." Blaine's tone dimmed as he added, "Bye, Rachel."

"Bye, Blaine," the once twin dynamos said at the same time, Kurt's goodbye considerably flirtier than Rachel's.

"Aw," Rachel said as soon as Kurt had hung up. "You're so crazy about him."

"You make it so difficult for things to be romantic," Kurt retorted, but he couldn't be upset with his crazy, demanding, pushy best friend. She only wanted the best for him... he assumed.

"Well, I couldn't figure out what the problem is!" Rachel announced. "You've known him for almost as long as I've known Paul, and we're moving in together while you guys are barely even friends. And I still don't see the problem!"

"We never see each other, we're both busy, we're both too focused on our careers and self-improvement to worry about romance," at least that was his excuse, "so, no, we're not anything more than friends. Someday, I'm sure we will be," Kurt said, and Rachel just sighed.

"Sometimes you are so frustrating," Rachel said dramatically. "Make time!"

"Now you sound like Finn," Kurt pointed out, irritating her further.

"You do realize one of your points is completely invalid, right?" Rachel said, having figured out over three years ago that switching to logic occasionally helped her argument. Not that she didn't deliver it dramatically, but it at least made sense.

"Oh really?" Kurt asked, curious about what she had come up with.

"Do you remember what I was like before I started dating Finn?" Rachel asked him, and Kurt had a feeling he was in for a long lecture. "I couldn't dress myself in the morning, I couldn't relate to anyone, I couldn't find a hairstyle that worked for me," Kurt was trying his best not to laugh at Rachel's serious speech, but couldn't help chuckling at that one, "and by the time I had broken up with Finn, I was a completely new person. You had given me a makeover, I had bangs and friends. Finn was a major part in the changes I made while I was part of the New Directions. Relationships can be fodder for self-improvement, especially romantic ones, and you shouldn't discount them in your big, dramatic, meticulous life plan. Someone like Blaine would change you for the better."

"Are you done?" Kurt asked, after some fake-yawning and waking up.

"Very funny, Kurt."

"Thank you for the very parental speech, Rachel, but I am twenty-four, almost twenty-five, and perfectly capable of taking care of myself." Rachel sighed. "However, I will think about what you said and try to... cultivate my relationship with Blaine more. Keep in touch more." Rachel gave him a million-watt smile, the kind she always gave paparazzi when she was in a good mood.

"Come here, my crazy best gay," Rachel said. "I'm going to hug you now." Kurt laughed, so many memories flooding back, and hugged Rachel in return.

"You're so insane," he muttered, but Rachel ignored it.

Isabella had been his slave driver for the entirety of that morning, and by the time Kurt had helped her plan out her negotiations with her board of bosses, he was ready to go home, and the day was only half over. The spread he had photographed a few days ago, which would include the cover page, was almost guaranteed to show up in his inbox at any moment, and Isabella had been bothering him for the last five days to be a part of a photo shoot, as an actual model. She was still trying to convince him, despite his objections that he wasn't exactly a model. She had taken advantage of the web site he had created to get hired the first time, edited and added to it (stealing pictures from Rolling Stone articles from when he was a Broadway star was just low), and apparently the people running Marc Jacobs' distribution were interested in borrowing him for an afternoon, so he could look pale and scrawny, yet normal, in comparison to Marc by Marc Jacobs' usual type of models. Plus, he would have to deal with their stuck-up attitudes and over-the-top demands, and even though he would be on level with them, they would still treat him like producing dirt. Yes, he was thrilled by the offer, but under no circumstances was he going to accept it.

So, when Kurt's phone rang, he took the opportunity to avoid the work on his way and Isabella, and answered it.

"Do you really think I want to spend a portion of my summer on the beach with you ogling me?" he asked Santana on the phone as she tried to invite him to Puck's beginning of summer beach bash, walking into his apartment after having argued with her on the phone for over an hour.

"Oh, please, Hummel, I'm married."

"Britt told me you still have threesomes," Kurt argued, making a face and being glad Santana couldn't see him to make fun of him.

Santana sighed. "Of course she did. Look, Hummel, if I promise that Britt and I won't make comments about you, or Rachel, will you please consider coming to Puck's? It'll be fun, especially considering how rainy it is in Chicago right now." Now Santana was making a face. He just knew it.

"Fine, but I'll have you now that Los Angeles sun and this albino, Ohio-raised skin is not a good combination," he said, getting the final word in their argument before hanging up on her. Rachel would be here any minute, and Kurt had to make a good argument to her as to why they should take a vacation and travel to Los Angeles.

His phone buzzed as he went to get a drink for him and Rachel. For as anti-alcohol as she had been while she was underage, she was more than happy to have a drink after a busy day now. Assuming it to be Rachel, about as punctual as she is sane, Kurt ignored it. He said a bad word when the phone read: Missed Call Blaine Anderson. "Shoot," he corrected himself, picking up the phone and dialing his friend back. Five rings and it went to voicemail.

"Hey, sorry," Kurt began after the beep, "I missed your call because I assumed it was my crazy best friend. Um, I'm calling you back, but you're obviously busy, so I'll call you again... later, I guess. Bye, Blaine." Could he have sounded any more stupid, he wondered once he hung up the phone.

"Hell...," Rachel paused, "o. Why do you seem upset?"

"What?" Kurt asked absentmindedly, his disappointment clearly showing on his face. "Oh, I'm fine. I'm just still awkward over the phone," he said with a laugh. "So, Santana called me earlier to proposition me," he began, sliding Rachel her drink, "about us going to Los Angeles for a bit during June. She promised it wouldn't be too hot, but you know how many doors tanning opens for you." Rachel had tanned religiously for several weeks last summer in order to play the role of Maria in a revival.

"You seriously think the tanning opportunities was a better route to go then getting to see all of our friends?" Rachel asked, obviously realizing what Kurt was trying to do as she took a sip of her drink. Kurt shrugged. "Taking a vacation is difficult for me, but I think I can manage. You know I like to take a month's break for my voice during the summer. Let's make it June."

"Cheers," Kurt agreed, clinking their glasses.

"Now, have you seen Blaine's reviews?" Rachel asked, and they spent the next hour drinking and Googling Blaine. It was way too much fun.

A/N: So I have decided that Fridays and Tuesdays will be update days for this fic (mostly because I'm very likely to forget on Mondays). I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and be prepared for shenanigans from the entirety of the New Directions next chapter.

Songs used/mentioned:
'Have You Ever Been in Love?' by Celine Dion (mentioned)
'If You Were Gay' from Avenue Q (mentioned)

Reviews are Love.