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Despite himself – and his rule about waking up early on Sundays – Kurt was bright-eyed and bushy-haired and walking towards Blaine's apartment in Murray Hill by ten o'clock, excitement denying him any extra sleep he may have usually indulged in. He and Blaine had been texting all week, mostly during Kurt's lunch breaks, and Blaine had sent him his address the day before.

Walking across New York in the morning sunshine, Kurt browsed through his conversation with Blaine over the past few days on his phone as he wove in and out of the oncoming foot traffic.

Hope you had fun last night – was awesome knowing you were in the audience B

Are you kidding? You were amazing! Your job is way better than mine… K

Mmm, I bet ;) What is it you teach? B

Musical Theatre Studies. A good reason for me to know nearly every musical on Broadway off by heart, don't you think? K

Ah, so that's the reason, huh? B

No. Just a good excuse ;) K

Ha ha

As Kurt crossed over 7th Avenue, he looked down towards the Palace Theatre. The theatre didn't look as impressive during the day as it did at night, crowds of people just passing it by as they got on with their business of the day. Kurt stood on the corner of the street, gazing at the just-visible West Side Story sign, smiling at Blaine's name above the entrance.

He crossed the road, having to run to avoid a taxi that pulled out at the last second, and walked a little further down the street before browsing through some more texts.

So where do you live? K

Murray Hill. You? B

Chelsea. K

I nearly got a place there! How strange so what are you up to? B

Drinking coffee and going over some papers I have to mark. You? K

Jersey Shore's on, so I guess I'm watching that for now! B

Kurt was nearly at Blaine's apartment and so slipped his phone back into his pocket, nerves and excitement bubbling within him. He thought over all the things he wanted to ask him about; up until now they had only spoken about their day-to-day lives, but they had yet to venture into the past sixteen years that they had been apart for.

Despite what he had seen the other night in Puck's, and the picture he had found in Blaine's dressing room earlier on in the week, Kurt still found himself questioning Blaine's sexuality. Maybe he wasn't gay, maybe the guy he saw in the bar was someone who just looked like Blaine. He had been on the other side of the bar after all, and it was dark and full of people. Kurt could have just seen it wrong.

But then what about the picture?

Friends… they could just be close friends who went on holiday together, no big deal, right? Without any evidence that Kurt considered to prove that Blaine was actually gay, he was going on what he'd seen and his own experiences.

He wasn't sure why he felt so nervous about asking Blaine which team he was on, but he was. He was only asking so that Blaine could affirm his presumptions, but Kurt thought it was something more than just wanting to check that was making him nervous. If Blaine was gay, when had he realised? How long had he known? Had life been easier for him than it had been for Kurt when he'd come out? How had Aileen and Dennis taken the news? Had they been as supporting as Burt had been for him? And how long had he been with Sebastian?

Kurt sighed to himself; finding Blaine again had been fantastic, implausible, but it was starting to become a little confusing. Blaine was a completely different person now, and so was Kurt – what if they didn't like each other anymore?

Kurt shook his head, expelling the thought from his mind, and looked up to see Blaine's building just down the street. He took a deep breath, strode up to the door and pressed the buzzer for apartment 25.

Blaine jumped up from his seat at the table when he heard the buzzer and nearly ran to the door. He was so excited to see Kurt again, to tell him all about what he had been up to since they had last seen each other and even more eager to hear about what Kurt had done with his life.

"Hello?" He asked into the buzzer.

"Hello? Blaine?" Kurt's voice came through the speaker. Blaine smiled to himself, unable to keep his excitement hidden. This was his best friend, who he hadn't spoken to in sixteen years, how could anyone blame him for being delighted?

"Yeah, come on up." He pressed the button to allow Kurt into the building, and then stood by the door, waiting nervously for him to arrive. He began pacing, and then looked into the floor-length mirror in the hall again, checking his appearance over for the sixth time. He straightened his yellow bow tie, admiring how it stood out against his bright red jumper, and smoothed down his gelled hair one more time, stepping away just as there was a knock on the door. He took a deep breath to steady himself and opened the door, smiling widely.

"Kurt!" Kurt was stood timidly with his hands in his pockets, but Blaine's greeting had visibly cheered him up no end. Before he could move or say anything, Blaine had pulled him into a tight hug just as he had done only a few nights before. "Come in, come on!" Blaine tugged Kurt by the hand into his apartment, shutting the door behind him, and inviting Kurt to sit down on the leather sofa. Kurt slowly followed him, gazing about him with intrigue and curiosity for what Blaine owned. "Do you want some coffee?" Blaine asked, moving towards the kitchen.

"Yes please." Kurt smiled, and Blaine dashed behind the counter, pulled out two mugs and poured out some coffee he had made before Kurt's arrival. As he added milk and sugar and stirred, he watched Kurt as he sat primly on the sofa with his hands in his lap, taking in the room around him without really investigating like he wanted to. Blaine could practically see Kurt's fingers twitching, wanting to pick things up and look at them properly.

"You can look around you know," Blaine smiled, bringing the coffees over and setting them down on the table in front of them. "You are allowed to touch things. Most of the stuff in here isn't breakable, so you're fine." He winked at Kurt, referring to Kurt's clumsiness as a child. There had been numerous occasions during their brief friendship where Kurt had not been watching where he was going or had turned too quickly, and some object or another had gone flying.

One specific occasion was the first time Burt had come over to introduce himself to the Andersons, bringing a shy and reluctant Kurt with him. Blaine had sat quietly, watching Kurt as he sat incredibly close to his father, waiting for him to want to play with him. When his mum had eventually invited Kurt to go up and see Blaine's playroom, Kurt had jumped down off the sofa and knocked over one Aileen's vases as he did so. Burt, Dennis and Aileen used to tease him, directing him away from objects such as vases on a daily basis.

Kurt flushed furiously, the bright red creeping down his neck as he grew hot with embarrassment, but laughed. Even now, he was rather clumsy and so had limited himself to just sitting and waiting for Blaine, but Blaine's encouragement had prompted him to stand up and move around, looking at pictures and objects properly. Kurt took in the framed theatre posters that hung on the walls, the collection of books that filled the bookcase next to the kitchen, and it wasn't long before he found the framed photographs.

In the centre of the bookcase, one shelf was filled with framed pictures of Blaine and Sebastian throughout their years together. Kurt took them all in, a pang of jealousy for their relationship hitting him square in the chest.

One picture specifically caught his eye. It was obviously the most important to the couple, as it sat at the front of the pictures in a gorgeous silver frame. Kurt picked it up and looked down at it, vaguely aware of Blaine watching him in the corner of his eye.

The picture was of Blaine and Sebastian grinning at the camera, dressed smartly in suits with an arm around each other's waist. Each of them held a glass of something bubbly, Kurt guessed champagne, and they were stood somewhere outside, a lush green lawn and bright blue sky serving as their backdrop. Suddenly Blaine was next to Kurt, coffee in hand, inspecting the picture he seemed to have so much interest in.

"Ah, yes," Blaine smiled at the picture. "That was our anniversary last year. That's my boyfriend, Sebastian-"

"I know," Kurt interrupted, and Blaine looked at him, shocked. "I met him at West Side Story, I borrowed his programme." Kurt explained, shrugging slightly.

"Oh, so you're the handsome stranger he told me about!" Blaine laughed. Kurt's eyes widened and he blushed, looking back to Sebastian in the picture, remembering how the man had given him a glance over when they'd first met.

"H-how long have you two been together, then?" Kurt stammered slightly as he tried to get over his embarrassment.

"Well, that was our 5 year," Blaine pondered aloud. "So… six years this year." He smiled and took a sip of his coffee, and Kurt slowly put the picture back on the shelf.

"How did you guys meet?" He moved along the bookshelf, browsing the vast collection books rather than the pictures.

"We went to school together," Blaine replied, moving along slowly beside him. "We both went to Dalton Academy, this all-boys school just outside the city. Sebastian was two years above me, but he helped me through school and we quickly became friends."

"Oh, so no fleeting high school romance?" Kurt teased, and Blaine shook his head.

"No, Seb was already dating a guy called Jeremiah by the time I got there. We were all friends together – obviously, I did have other friends in my own year, but I guess I was closest to Sebastian. He used to help me go over scripts whenever I had an audition, and he came to my opening night of Wicked. He did bring Jeremiah, but…" Blaine seemed to wince slightly, an obvious dislike for Sebastian's ex-boyfriend. "There was nothing I could do about that." A brief silence fell between them and so Kurt turned his gaze back to the books next to him, even though he was barely taking in any of the titles. "Anyway," Blaine cleared his throat. "Sebastian and Jeremiah graduated a few years later, and I went through my last two years of Dalton by myself. Then, a year after I graduated I ran into Sebastian in a gay bar – I forget the name of it now – and we got to talking. It turned out that he'd broken up with Jeremiah a few months before, and, having had a crush on him since half way through my first year, I asked him out. We've pretty much been together ever since."

Kurt nodded as he slowly sat back down on the leather sofa, having looked around enough to satisfy Blaine. He took the cup left on the table in his hands, relishing in the warmth it brought to them, and took a sip. It wasn't scalding hot anymore, but luckily it was still warm enough to pass as acceptable for Kurt. Blaine sat on the other leather sofa that made a corner with the one Kurt was sat on. "So, when did you realise that you were, y'know… gay?" Kurt asked, drinking almost half of his coffee in one breath. Blaine thought about his answer for a second, looking at the floor in contemplation.

"I guess, when I got to Dalton." Blaine admitted, his cheeks rouging ever so slightly. "I mean, there I was, a confused 14 year old boy in the middle of a school of boys. I'd already kissed girls by that time, but they just didn't really… do anything for me, if you get what I mean."

"I know exactly what you mean, don't worry." Kurt smiled, and Blaine chuckled, shaking his head softly. "So, what made you realise?"

"I don't know, really. I never really had a crush on any of the guys – only Sebastian really caught my eye, but he was two years older and already dating. I guess, seeing a gay relationship in person rather than on TV or in books made me realise that that was what I wanted, and I just sort of accepted it. Dalton was fantastic for its zero tolerance on bullying, and so I was free to be myself. It was when I went home that things got complicated…" Blaine frowned, and Kurt nearly spluttered on his coffee in shock. What had happened when Blaine had told Aileen and Dennis?

"Your parents didn't take it well?" Kurt asked, leaning forward with concern.

"Not exactly, no." Blaine mumbled without looking up. "Out of the two of them, Mum took it the best, and she nearly threw me out." Kurt gasped. Aileen had always seemed so supportive of her son and was the image of a perfect mother who baked cookies on a whim and doted on her son, not at all like a mother who would threaten to turn her back on her son for being gay.

So how had Dennis taken it?

"Blaine, I-" Kurt leant forward and put his hand on Blaine's knee to comfort him, but he didn't know what else to say rather than "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Blaine smiled, putting his hand on Kurt's. "It was years ago now." Blaine gave his hand a squeeze and, when he smiled, Kurt slowly pulled his hand away. He moved next to Blaine, sitting next to him rather than across from him.

"What about your dad?" Kurt was almost scared to ask, but he wanted, no needed to know how it had been for Blaine, suddenly feeling slightly guilty about how easy it had been for him with his own dad.

"He didn't talk to me for a few days," Blaine swallowed hard, blinked back the inevitable tears. "Told me that I'd disappointed him and dragged me to Church, determined that he was being punished for something and prayed for God to 'cure' me." He looked down at the empty coffee cup in his hands and put it down on the table in front of him before sitting sideways so that he could look at Kurt. "Yeah, he didn't take it too well."

Kurt was gobsmacked. He stared at Blaine in disbelief; how could his own parents have treated him so wrongly for being who he was? How had they become so different to the people Kurt had known as a child?

"What about you?" Blaine was asking, his features had softened and he was partially smiling, one side of his mouth pulled up in a half-smile. "When did you realise?" Kurt raised a shaped eyebrow in confusion. Blaine's mouth fell open in shock; Kurt was gay, right? "…that you were gay?" Blaine ventured, and Kurt seemed to understand him.

"Well, Dad will tell you that he's known since I was three and I apparently asked for a pair of 'sensible heels' for my birthday," He smiled, happy to see Blaine laughing again. "But I guess I've kind of always known, on some level. I just never realised what it was that was different. At least it made telling Dad easier, seeing as he basically already knew."

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Blaine asked, and Kurt flushed slightly. Luckily, it wasn't enough for Blaine to notice.

"No," Kurt replied truthfully. "I've had a few… flings and stuff, but I've never really had a boyfriend. Not a proper one, anyway." Another silence fell between them, and Kurt nervously fiddled with his jacket buttons.

"I'll just take these out," Blaine muttered, standing up and taking the coffee cups back out to the kitchen. "Or do you want another one?"

"As long as it's not too much trouble?" Kurt smiled, looking up at him.

"Of course it's not." Blaine chuckled, walking back over to the kitchen. In his absence, Kurt decided to have another look around, this time venturing into the other side of the room behind the sofa. It was mainly the kitchen and an area which served as a breakfast/dining room, but there were still odd bits and bobs around for Kurt to investigate.

"So where is Sebastian?" Kurt asked as he traced his fingers along the edge of the table, admiring its fine workmanship.

"He's in Wisconsin, actually," Blaine answered, bringing over another cup of coffee. Kurt turned to him, his eyebrows raised in surprise. "He flew out on Monday night," Blaine continued. "His mum phoned him saying that his Nan was ill, and so he flew out to see her. He called me on Wednesday and told me she was getting better, but he was going to stay out for the rest of the week, just to make sure."

"Oh, well tell him I send my best when you see him."

"I will. Thanks."

"No problem." They settled back against the table, looking out of the window at the view of the city. Kurt marvelled at how much of the city he could see from here and became a little jealous of Blaine. He realised then that he was jealous of him for more ways than one; he was jealous of his apartment, despite the fact that the one he shared with Rachel was perfectly adequate; he was jealous of his relationship with Sebastian, and he was sickeningly jealous of his career. "You know, of all the times I imagined what you'd be like now," Kurt said, still gazing out of the window. "I never thought you'd be an actor on Broadway in one of my favourite musicals." He saw Blaine turn to face him in his peripheral vision with a slightly bemused expression and turned to face him, smiling.

"Really?" Blaine's eyes twinkled slightly, and Kurt put it down to amusement at what he had just said. He nodded.

"Really. I always thought you'd be some businessman with a beautiful wife and adorable children," He blurted before he even thought about it. "Which goes to show that I never thought you'd be, well… gay." He blushed and looked at the floor, asking himself why he'd just said any of it. But, to his relief and slight confusion, Blaine was laughing. He looked up to see the dark-haired man leaning back against the table, his gaze returning to the view.

"To be honest," He said, still chuckling slightly. "Neither did I." He turned to Kurt and smiled, and Kurt felt slightly better about what he'd said. "It just sort of… happened." He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, before giving Kurt an odd look of curiosity.

"What?" Kurt asked, self-consciously wiping his mouth.

"You really used to think about me like that?" The twinkle returned to Blaine's eye, and Kurt's cheeks grew hot as he flushed almost the same colour as Blaine's bright red jumper. He looked at his shoes and attempted to shrug his shoulders, but he was near frozen in embarrassment, and so resorted to a small, sharp nod. Blaine chuckled again, and put his hand on Kurt's shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry about it," He said. "I used to do the same thing."

Kurt looked up at him, amazed, but Blaine just smiled, almost smugly. "Really?" Kurt couldn't help but laugh; to him, the idea that Blaine used to imagine what he would be like now was completely unbelievable.

"Really." Blaine nodded, grinning at how their roles had reversed. "And I must admit, I never thought you'd be a teacher!" He laughed, the noise so beautiful and infectious that Kurt felt as if he had to join in so as to not be rude.

"What did you think I'd be, then?" He asked, the conversation beginning to flow freely and comfortably. Blaine's laughter died down slightly as he thought about it.

"I don't know, really," He smiled. "At one point, I reckoned you'd be the next big fashion designer Sebastian would just happen to tell me about," He admitted, absent-mindedly recalling all of the scenarios he had dreamt of meeting Kurt again in. "And then it changed to you being an actor in a film I went to go and see, and then I just used to imagine meeting you in a park or something crazy like that." He smiled at the memory for a few seconds longer before snapping back to the present. "Anyway, that was when I thought you were still in Ohio," He smiled. "I used to wish that you would come to New York, but for some reason the whole idea just seemed so implausible to me. But now you're here, it all seems… right."

Kurt, who had been watching Blaine as he spoke, felt his stomach flip at Blaine's last words. He wasn't sure why, maybe it was just because it meant that Blaine had been thinking about him, too, or maybe it was because no-one had ever told him that him being with them felt 'right'. He pushed the thought aside and took another sip of his coffee, thankful that there were only a few drops left as it had turned cold this time.

Blaine took the cup from Kurt, noticing that he had finished, and without asking if he wanted another took it into the kitchen and placed it in the sink, along with his own. He looked over to see Kurt adjusting his hair in the mirror that he had used before letting Kurt in, and slipped away into his bedroom.

Checking that Kurt hadn't followed him, Blaine almost skipped across his room to his wardrobe and slid the door open. He parted his clothes that were hanging up and leant down to look around the bottom of the wardrobe. This was where he hid most of his personal stuff, the stuff that he didn't necessarily want Sebastian, or anyone else, to know about. It wasn't exactly the best hiding place, but Blaine had noticed a few months ago that Sebastian had slowly been moving his clothes into the wardrobe in the spare room and so he hardly came in here anymore, making it the perfect place for him to hide things.

He could tell that there was something amiss with Sebastian; he seemed a little more distant recently, and was becoming more like a friend or a big brother figure. The thought made Blaine shudder: he did not just refer to the man who he slept with as his 'big brother'. Urgh. But he knew what he meant; the spark from their relationship was slowly fading, but Blaine put it down to him being back on Broadway. It meant that their schedules conflicted with Sebastian teaching during the day and Blaine performing during the evenings, leaving very little time for them to actually be together.

Blaine finally stumbled upon what he'd been looking for; a sleek, black book with 'Photos' embossed on the front. He brushed his hand across the surface of it, smiling to himself with a slight hint of pride but mainly excitement, eager to show Kurt. He put his clothes back together and slid the door shut again before leaving the room, beaming as he walked over to Kurt with the book behind his back.


So that ends Chapter 11. Who else is bummed that Glee's finished now? I've been listening to Glory Days and I'll Remember constantly over the past few days... as well as pretty much every other Glee song I own! But still, Glee's over! Until September at least...

And Klaine got to stay together 3

Until next time :) xx