Of course Kurt had to have pre-booked the one train that was absolutely full to the doors with people until around five stops after he was due to get off. And of course, he hadn't booked a seat. Why should he? The train was at 2:00 in the afternoon on a Thursday for goodness sake, how had so many people booked this one particular train (and a seat, remember next time Hummel) to the point where Kurt was sat on the floor just to the left of the train doors, with his luggage surrounding him like a mini-fort?

He'd already walked half the length of the train looking for a seat, and any he'd found had been booked in advance with the person due to get on at either the next stop or the one after. Kurt was due to be on the train for about 2 hours, if all went well. And so far, it looked as though he would be spending it on the floor, no doubt ruining the spotless jeans he'd bought not two weeks ago, by covering them in dust and food and whatever else was on the floor of the carriage.

Grimacing at the thought, Kurt shuffled around as though he might rub off whatever had accumulated already. Sighing, accepting what would inevitably by a long two hours, Kurt, begrudgingly, bunched his jacket up and attempted to make it form some form of pillow for him to lean on. He had only just let his eyes slide shut, when the doors connecting his area to the next carriage along slid open, and a lady he vaguely recognised from earlier popped her head round the corner, quickly looking around before her eyes settled on Kurt.

"There's a seat if you're interested?"

Kurt hastily gathered his bags and his jacket and followed the lady through the carriage towards the very end where Kurt saw two free seats. The furthest seat from them was where the lady sat herself, and started talking with a girl sitting opposite, who Kurt assumed was her daughter or some relative. The seat in front of hers, presumably Kurt's, had an occupant in the adjoining seat, who was currently staring at the blurred exterior of outside buildings. Kurt barely took any notice of the occupant, other than the fact that it was a young man, who didn't look much older than Kurt himself, and he was hot. At least from what Kurt could see of him.

Kurt's seat was also backwards facing. "Oh."

"Is everything okay, dear?" The same lady asked him.

"Umm. Sort of, I guess. It's just that this seat is backwards facing, and I get awful travel sickness when I'm not facing forwards."

"Well, it's your choice. But it's better than sitting on the floor for two hours right? It's booked, but the person won't be getting on until a few after your stop if I heard you correctly earlier?"

She had a good point, Kurt thought. Nodding to the lady and glancing quickly at the man he would soon be sharing a journey with, Kurt placed his carrier bag on the seat and went to put his larger bag in the luggage area. Once he returned to his seat, Kurt pulled out his iPod and headphones and was about to put the left earbud in, when he sensed a pair of eyes on him from his right. Glancing to see, his breath caught slightly at the sight of his handsome travel partner smiling brightly at him and staring expectantly with the most beautiful golden eyes he had ever seen.

"Hi." He spoke with a politeness and eagerness that Kurt thought should have been illegal in such stuffy and uncomfortable circumstances.

"Hi," he replied cautiously.

"Want a soft mint? I know they're a bit crushed since they've been in my back pocket, which is pretty gross, but they still taste of mint so I guess that means they're still cool right?"

Kurt blinked. Then blinked again. Who was this guy? And had he just…made a joke about mints? To a stranger on a train? Whilst wearing a thoroughly beautiful smile that seemed to make his whole face light up?

"Oh. Yes, please. Thank you."

The stranger's smile grew a little more as he handed over one of the mints from the packet he'd been holding out to Kurt. "I'm Blaine."

"I'm Kurt."

"Nice to meet you, Kurt. So where are you heading to; where are you coming from?" Blaine asked, never pausing, never stuttering. It was as if it was a totally routine thing to do; ask questions about a guy he'd never met before and would probably never meet again, with the brightest smile imaginable, never losing the most polite and respectful tone Kurt had ever encountered from a stranger. Perhaps that was why Kurt felt he could talk to this stranger. Blaine appeared so open and non-judgemental that he was sure he would not regret responding to the questions. So, he did.

"Umm, I'm going back home to Ohio after coming to visit my friend who goes to NYADA for a few days. I have to get like three trains and a cab, but it's worth it to have seen her again. What about you?"

"Same thing. Kind of." Seeing the question in Kurt's eyes, Blaine elaborated. "My boyfriend goes to NYADA but I'm at New Jerseys' Academy of Dramatic Arts, so I was visiting him for a bit before I'm due back."

Oh.

His smile never faltered. His eyes remained as bright and warm as before. And that only made it hurt more.

Of course Blaine had a boyfriend. Or rather, of course Blaine was gay but was taken already.

Kurt took a deep breath, tried not to let his own smile wobble, and swallowed any disappointment he was feeling. He'd literally only just met Blaine, and he had no right to feel hurt over Blaine's already existing love-life. "That's so sweet. I bet you're glad you get to see him since you're not that far apart. You know, it could be much further."

"Yeah. Any time together is just…amazing." Blaine's smile became ever so slightly wistful, and his eyes turned distant for the first time since they'd fixed on Kurt and held. Kurt was almost prepared to turn away and let Blaine be happy in his thoughts, when Blaine's eyes flicked back to Kurt's and the subject was passed on as quickly as it had come.

"So, Kurt, tell me about yourself."

Kurt raised his eyebrows at the question and he felt the corners of his mouth turn up in a small, surprised smile. His mouth twitched open and he huffed a laugh. "Myself? What about myself?"

Blaine's shoulders raised and dropped quickly in a shrug. "Anything. Everything. Come on, tell me Kurt…" Blaine looked at him expectantly to fill in the gap. Kurt couldn't help but let his smile grow as he supplied his last name to Blaine, who responded with too much enthusiasm to be healthy. "Tell me Kurt Hummel's life story. Who are you? What do you do? What do you want to do? Where have you been? Where do you want to go? Fill me in."

Kurt giggled. Honest to goodness, giggled. He didn't believe in love at first sight, but this man, this Blaine, was something else, and Kurt was 110% sure he'd already fallen halfway into infatuation for this beautiful man. "You're very different to most people I've met."

Blaine's head tilted to the left and his eyebrows quirked in question, but his eyes stayed on Kurt. "How's that?"

"You ask weird questions."

It was Blaine's turn to laugh then. "Hey, I'm a good listener. I talk to people, be polite. Ask them questions. If they don't wanna talk, I let them be. But more often than not, you find that people could really use someone to listen to them for a few minutes, or for an hour, or even five, and I end up having some amazing conversations. I like talking to people. I like people."

"Clearly."

Blaine continued to laugh. It was beautiful. Kurt wasn't sure how he'd come to be in this situation, what works of the universe had allowed him to meet this wonderful man, but he was not complaining. In fact, he was determined to make the most of it.

So they talked, and talked. About everything, as Blaine had prompted, and anything. Kurt told Blaine about the struggles his family and he had faced during the time his Dad had had cancer, he told Blaine about not getting into NYADA even after his successful audition and Rachel's choke, and how all of it had just seemed like a huge injustice. He revealed feelings to Blaine that he'd never even told his friends, told him embarrassing stories, and music interests and life goals and religious beliefs (or non-belief as it was for Kurt). And Blaine matched him word for word with his own stories and feelings.

It wasn't until Kurt heard the call for the station before his, that he realised how long they'd been talking. "Oh, it looks like my stop's next."

Blaine smiled and nodded faintly, as if agreeing, and for one crazy second, Kurt thought he was going to ask for his number so they could keep on talking for the rest of the day, and the next day… "Well, I hope everything goes well in life for you Kurt, and I'll be thinking about you tomorrow."

Tomorrow. Kurt's interview at a local fashion magazine company was the next day. Blaine had remembered a tiny piece of information that Kurt had slipped into conversation probably about an hour back. Kurt was pretty sure his insides had sufficiently melted by now.

"Thank you so much. I really appreciate y- everything you've said."

"Well like I said, I like talking to people, and I've enjoyed talking to you."

The train was slowing down, Kurt's stop was called, and he went to get his bag down, ready to leave. He went to grab his carrier, and was faced with that glowing smile once again that he'd barely seen leave Blaine's face since they'd met. "Well, thanks again."

"Thank you. It was nice meeting you Kurt."

"You too Blaine."

Of course Kurt was going to be late on his first day to work at , because he had to have picked the subway train that was unable to move for twenty minutes, after some damned idiot decided to push the emergency stop button. It's called emergency stop for a reason, people. So on his first day at a job he had been fighting to get for over three weeks, Kurt was going to have to explain why he had been over half an hour late. To his boss. Wonderful.

As the train came into his station, the thought crossed Kurt's mind that he always seemed to pick the wrong trains at the wrong times. Like the other week when he'd decided last minute to not take a cab and instead be a real New Yorker and get the subway, and had ended up almost fifteen minutes late to his meeting with Mercedes at their favourite coffee shop. Or like when he'd gone home from visiting Rachel at NYADA around…four, five years ago…

Blaine.

The name had often entered his mind. It had become almost a balm for his mind when he was stressed or nervous about something, after their 2 hour chat on that train. Kurt's interview had gone amazingly well. He wasn't so naïve as to believe it was a 'sign', but the link it had made in his mind between Blaine and serenity and stability stuck to that day. He had often wondered where Blaine was, what he was doing, if he was still with his boyfriend. If he would ever see him again.

It was difficult to try and stop the childish hope that bloomed in his chest and lifted his spirits whenever he imagined seeing Blaine again. Of course simultaneously, Kurt was terrified that Blaine wouldn't recognise him, and instead every single possible reunion Kurt had thought of would be inconsequential.

The train stopped, finally, and Kurt was the first out as the doors opened, bodies spilling onto the platform and scurrying in different directions like ants. Kurt loathed to be that one person that ran around the subway station, people staring at him and thinking "oh he's late for whatever, good thing I'm not because I factored time delay into this situation", but today, he would have to be. Dashing for the exit up onto the street, he'd almost made it to the escalator when he bumped into someone on his left.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, are you-"

Kurt knew that voice. Turning his head, he saw the same golden eyes that had been staring at him five years previously, on that same handsome, bright face that had smiled at him the same way it was now.

"Blaine."

"Kurt"

They openly stared at each other for a few too many moments, and only started moving again once they'd been shoved out of the way by a few too many disgruntled members of the public. Kurt was relieved that Blaine seemed to be going in the same direction as him. He'd gone five years without seeing that beautiful face, and now that he was there in front of him again, it was like his eyes were hungry to remember, to discover if anything had changed. Whilst Blaine seemed to be sneaking glances at him from the corner of his eye, Kurt continued to…well he supposed he was gawking.

"So, how are you-"

"I've been thinking-"

They both stopped to giggle, and then the noise of the busy streets of New York drowned out anything they were going to say. With the tempting aroma of a pretzel stand not five feet away, the tall magnificent buildings Kurt had dreamed of surrounding him, and Blaine at his side, Kurt felt like they fit together. Like in another life, one where he'd met Blaine earlier, they would have been emerging from the station as two people who belonged.

"I'm so sorry, I really have to be somewhere right now, but if you have the time, I'd love to meet up later?"

Blaine nodded, his gelled hair looking slightly more relaxed than Kurt remembered, the curls that were obviously natural still tamed, but also softly encouraged into the position rather than forcibly. "I'd love that. I can't believe it's you, I-" His words quietened towards the end, and he seemed to finish the thought in his head, because his smile widened and his eyes brightened. "Here," he said, pushing his phone into Kurt's hands, "put in your number and I'll text you. We can meet for lunch or something."

"Yeah, okay."

Kurt didn't want to leave Blaine so soon again, he still craved the sight of Blaine's impossibly luminous smile, his contagious and endearing positivity, but as he handed Blaine's phone back and got a text not a minute later from a new number that simply said Guess trains are a thing for us ;), his body relaxed. He would see Blaine later, and they would likely contemplate the incredibly movie-esque circumstances in which they had met once again, whilst drinking coffee.

Maybe he did pick the right trains at the right time.

A/N: Hey guysss :D wow so I'm just not going to address the amount of time it's been since I updated this. Just know that I'm very sorry, and am deeply embarrassed by how long it's been. Anyway, I posted this on my tumblr a while back so thought it might be nice to put something on here as well. It's loosely based on an experience that happened to me. I just haven't met the guy a second time...yet :P Hope you are all ok, and thank you to the guests for your reviews 333 they are much appreciated and your kind words make my day x