AN: First off so sorry for the long wait, and possibly the long chapter length it you don't like that. But i was trying to make up for the delay. Because Glee has been killing Klaine, I've not been in the mood to write, but thankfully someone inspired me, so I'm really glad for that. I still don't own anything, because damn Glee would be so much better. All info about computer stuff i get from Google or just make shit up and hope it doesn't sound bad. Also I don't do OCs, any character you don't recognize I got from Glee Wiki website. Thank you for reading!
Chapter Nine
Blaine arrived at what he assumed was the bar, or club, he wasn't really sure what Lauren's preference would be. He could hear music from outside, but there wasn't really a queue and for a Saturday night in New York, that was a bit surprising, there also wasn't a bouncer outside the door. Thinking Lauren might have sent him the wrong address, Blaine texted her quickly to check.
Hey, did you send me the right address? Because there isn't a queue or bouncer. –Blaine
It didn't take more than thirty seconds for Blaine to get a reply.
Yeah, it's a bit of an unconventional bar, just come in, I'm at the bar already. –Lauren
Blaine stared at his screen for a couple of seconds, wondering exactly how unconventional a bar could be, especially for Lauren, but this was for her. Blaine walked up to the door, grabbing on the handle, he had to tug pretty hard to get it open. As soon as it was cracked a little, he could hear the increase of music, sounded like it was classic rock, something that he knew Lauren loved, so he wasn't surprised by that part. Pulling the door open the rest of the way, Blaine crept into the bar, looking around he noticed a lot of leather, black, and denim; Blaine had walked into a biker bar.
Considering the clothes he was wearing, he rushed to the bar hoping to spot Lauren quickly, he wasn't trying to stereotype, even in his head, but still; he knew he looked preppy and didn't want to cause problems just in case. He heard Lauren before he found her, she was talking to the bartender and laughing, this made Blaine smile she needed a good laugh tonight.
Walking the few feet to reach her, Blaine looked around the establishment a bit more, it was clean, no spilt fluids or questionable ones, the music was loud, but less so than any club he's ever been to in the city. Sure most of the people here were clad in leather and denim, and even though the men were bearded, they were clean, nothing like what he saw on TV or in movies.
Blaine tapped on Lauren's shoulder once he got close enough, not really wanting to interrupt her, but he didn't want to stand there awkwardly behind her and come off as a creeper.
"Hey, Lauren."
Lauren turned around on the stool quickly, maybe taking a bit more spin than was strictly necessary.
"Baby cakes! Here have a seat." Lauren patted the stool next to her. "Puck here will get you a drink. You wanna be fruity or straight?"
Blaine glanced at the bartender, assuming that was Puck, the guy was either tanned or mixed, Blaine couldn't really tell, but he looked a little menacing. Going back to Lauren's question, he giggled a little, because while anyone else making that joke it would be offensive, that was just Lauren's way of teasing.
"I think I will be a little fruity tonight, at least for a start." He directed that to Lauren, and then turned to place an order with Puck. "Do you have Smirnoff Ice? Or Redd's?"
Puck narrowed his eyes a bit, but not really directed in Blaine's direction, more like he was thinking hard.
"Yeah man, think we got Redd's in the basement, have to check the date though, wasn't really a big seller."
"Oh you don't need to go down to the basement for me; just I guess, um could you possibly make a Cosmo?"
Lauren and Puck both started laughing, which made Blaine blush, but also smack Lauren in the arm, because he knew exactly why Lauren was laughing. A few months ago Blaine had been bored and had decided he wanted to learn how to mix drinks, and since he loved cosmos, he had decided that would be his first try, he kept botching it up though, and had ended up skyping Lauren while naked and trying to prove to her he would make an excellent performer. It was a moment he sincerely wanted to forget, but knew he never would, if only because of Lauren bringing it up.
"Please tell me you didn't tell him about the Cosmo thing?" Blaine asked giving Lauren puppy-eyes, because if she hadn't yet, which he was almost positive she had, she wouldn't now because she hated when he did the puppy eyes thing. Normally Blaine wouldn't do that, but he really hated that story, God forbid if Lauren and Kurt ever meet, he could NOT bear Kurt knowing that.
Lauren just laughed harder though, which made Blaine slam his head on the bar; internally hoping it was actually clean as it appeared.
"Sorry bro, but yeah she did, probably the first thing she said after she mentioned you."
Blaine groaned into the countertop.
"I don't mind going to the basement though, I mean no offense, you're a decent looking guy and all but I don't want to see you naked." Puck said laughing.
Blaine picked up his head to see Puck walking off, probably headed to the basement, or he assumed. Lauren had finally stopped laughing, though she was still smiling fairly widely. Blaine turned to her, not really minding that she, and the bartender he didn't actually know, had been laughing at his expense; it was good that she was laughing. He was a little curious about what she had been laughing about earlier too, and he assumed she had been here before based on the fact she had been talking so readily with Puck.
"So what were you talking about before I got here? Seemed like you guys were having some fun." Blaine grinned, noticing how Lauren blushed some. It wasn't much, because Lauren really wasn't the type of girl to be insecure but it did happen on occasion, and this was the first time he got to see it in person.
Lauren reached for her drink, taking a long swallow before she answered. "We weren't really discussing anything, just like how crappy some of the music has gotten today."
Blaine threw her a confused look, not understanding how she could laugh like she was about music of all things. "But you were laughing a lot when I came in, how is music that funny?"
Lauren looked surprised for a second and then smiled, almost dreamily; Blaine didn't know she could do that. Then after having thought that, he felt like he should apologize, because of course she could do that, just because she didn't normally show feelings like that didn't mean she didn't actually have them. While Blaine had been thinking of a way to apologize for something he had never actually said, Lauren had been talking.
"Oh well that was actually us talking about how stupid some of the talent shows on TV are, like American Idol for one, I mean I get the point, but some of those people, how they think they can even sing. The actual funny part was how they kept butchering some of the songs, and I was thinking of how you would react too."
Blaine got a little indignant at the last part. "What do you mean how I would react?"
Lauren stopped smiling at Blaine's question, and turned to look at him, noting the slight hardening of his voice, which really didn't happen that often. Blaine hardly ever got offended, or mad even, she saw it happen once, because usually Blaine felt guilty for things even though it was hardly ever his fault.
"Oh come on Blaine, I don't mean anything by it. I just know you hate when people miss up the songs you love, especially a certain female singer that was pretty popular." Lauren winked at him, then looked up and down the bar, trying to see if Puck was on his way back yet.
Blaine's face softened a bit, or really a lot, it didn't take too much to appease him. "Okay, and you're right too, I do hate seeing her lyrics desecrated by plebeians. Which is why if I watch any show it's The Voice, I like the concept much more." He said all this with a very serious tone, not the least bit flinching when Lauren started to laugh. In fact when she did, he began to get confused, because he didn't think he said anything funny at all.
"Oh Blaine, you are so proper sometimes, plebeians?! I seriously think that you were born in the 1800s and somehow traveled through time and forgot about it."
Blaine smiled at that, it'd be really cool to actually be able to time travel, and he kind of liked the fact that he came across as proper; though he didn't want to be perceived as not able to have fun either. "Personally I think the use of that word is accurate, and while I might come across as proper as you say, I can still have fun you know?"
"I know Blaine, trust me, I have seen it, even if it was just over Skype, in fact I think I saw too much of your fun, though knowing that your ass is real and not just your clothes is nice."
And they were back at that again.
"Lauren please, no more. I just want to forget that."
Lauren just laughed at him, while patting his back.
Soon though Puck appeared in front of them, with a case in his hands.
"Well, you're lucky we had some Redd's that aren't out of date, and I mean not about to go out of date either." Puck grinned at him, and turned to sit the case down, he pulled a few out and put three in a cooler under the bar top and sat one on the counter for Blaine. "This good?"
Blaine nodded to him, thankful for something that didn't taste too bad, he never understood how people could drink beer, and it really did taste gross. "Yeah, this is great, thanks for getting it."
"No problem, dude. Any friend of Lauren's is a friend of mine." Puck said, while popping off the lid to Blaine's drink. "You starting a tab? Or paying now?"
Blaine thought on it for a second, he didn't want to get too drunk but he did want to enjoy his time with Lauren since this was the first time, and sadly Blaine was normally more outgoing while he was drinking.
"I'll go ahead and start a tab I think." He pulled his wallet out of his pocket to hand his credit card over to Puck, who took it with a grin and a wink to Lauren.
"Looks like you might be seeing a little of your boy's skin tonight!"
Lauren giggled, actually giggled, not her normal laugh, and that made Blaine think Lauren might have a reason for coming to this particular bar. After Puck had walked off to see to the other customers, Blaine turned to Lauren with an expectant look.
She just stared at him not really seeing why he was looking at her like that. "What?"
Blaine shook his head. "Nothing, I was just thinking that Puck there might be the reason you wanted to get laid, but who knows? Maybe you're just into bikers, I mean sure most of these guys around here are bearded and older, but maybe that's your type."
Whilst talking, Blaine had turned around on the stool, gesturing a bit to the other people in the bar. Lauren didn't really know Blaine could actually use sarcasm like that, or she did, but generally the teasing went the other way around.
"Wow Blaine, I'm surprised at you, teasing me like that, also a bit proud too."
Blaine grinned at her.
"But yeah maybe, Puck is cool, and well you saw him, boy's got a nice little body on him, I'd never stand a chance though."
Blaine frowned, he didn't like hearing that at all, for one he didn't enjoy Lauren putting herself down, and two not all men were shallow. He didn't know Puck at all, and he could be shallow, but he still talked to Lauren and wasn't put off by her, so he couldn't be all that bad. Guessing it wouldn't be too hard to figure out, Blaine started asking Lauren a few questions.
"Okay, so when you first came here, was Puck working?"
"Yeah" Lauren frowned at him, not understanding where Blaine was going with the question.
"And did he automatically serve you, or did someone else?"
Lauren thought it over for a second, since she'd been coming to this place for a couple years now, sure she remembered most of seeing Puck for the first time, but it'd still been ages.
"I think so; I know he wasn't rude to me."
"Alright, and did he remember you the next time you came in?"
"Yes, I mean he remembered my face, not my name but he hadn't known it then."
"Did he ask you for it, or did you offer?"
"He asked."
Blaine nodded a little, smiling to himself. "Well I don't think you need to worry about him being shallow at least, seems like he doesn't care too much about your looks, if that was something you're worried about."
Generally Lauren didn't care how people perceived her looks, she knew how awesome she was, but once in a while it'd hit her that she wasn't "society pretty". At least she was still a badass, and whoever she dated would just have to deal with it, because she wasn't changing for anyone.
"I'm not, at least not really, I just think he's out of my league, because he's nice to me and attractive, that doesn't happen too often." Lauren smiled a little, but Blaine could tell it was forced.
Blaine turned to face her, grabbing her hand. "He's not, no one is, I think that has to be the most stupid thing I've heard, it's just society's version of who should be with whom, and personally I think it's bullshit. I don't think anyone is out of anyone's league."
Lauren smiled at Blaine, loving how sweet he was and almost always said something to make her feel better. "You are so full of shit, but thanks sweet cheeks."
"You're welcome." Blaine then hugged her. It lasted about half a minute and then he could feel Lauren shaking, with laughter probably, because the day he hears/sees Lauren cry will be the absolute end of the world. "What's so funny?"
Lauren pulled out of the hug and wiped at her eyes. "I was just thinking about you saying no one was out of anyone's league, but I'm sure you thought Kurt was out of yours, actually I'm 100% sure you thought that."
Blaine scowled at her, mostly because, yeah he did think that, and still does a little, which he knows is stupid, but Lauren hasn't seen Kurt yet. She just doesn't realize how perfect he is.
"I'm not going to say it's different, but it is! You'll just have to meet him one day, and then you'd understand. But you can't because you'd tell him all these embarrassing things."
"Oh Blaine, one day I will, and yes I will tell him about the Cosmos and yes you'll be embarrassed about it, but it'll mean that you'll have been together for a while. So it'll be worth it."
Blaine smiled at her, because yeah that was true.
They spent the rest of the night drinking and randomly bursting into song, even Puck joined in for a few of them. Blaine didn't get anywhere near drunk enough to randomly start removing clothes though, which Lauren was disappointed about and Puck was thankful for. Blaine even remembered talking to a few of the other patrons in the bar, not that he could recall much of those conversations, but he knows both him and Lauren enjoyed themselves. All in all it was a pretty successful night.
…
Blaine woke up Sunday, with a slight hangover, it wasn't nearly as bad as yesterdays, he still had a headache though. It was later in the day, about one pm already, but he needed to get up and go about getting groceries.
Blaine went to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee and made himself some toast. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge too, which he drank half of before the toast even came up. Once the toast was made and the coffee done, he sat at the island, and went over in his head that he needed from the store. After finishing his breakfast, or what he was calling it, he grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down what he was planning to get from the store.
Finishing up the list, Blaine went to have a shower and get dressed, planning to sit around not doing anything after he was finished shopping. Of course he planned to talk to Kurt too, but that didn't really require him to wear anything extravagant.
….
Blaine was just about done shopping when he got a text from Emma saying that he was needed at work, which wasn't normal. He would often go to work on Sundays but Emma didn't like texting very much, she preferred talking, so something must have happened. Deciding that because he had gotten a text instead of a phone call, he could finish his shopping and then go into the office, he still sent a message letting her know though. He wasn't sure what it could be, generally he didn't get too involved with cases, not that it was a case, and there was a time he had been called in for an extensive reprograming of all the bureaus computers. That hadn't been fun, because it was when he had just started and he was pretty sure he was only called in to be seen in action so to speak.
Blaine checked out quickly, and headed back home, which was only a few blocks, it'd take longer to get to the bureau if he changed but he really didn't want to go into work looking scruffy.
He walked home as fast as he could, not sure if it'd make a difference how long it took him to get there, but he wasn't really important, so he assumed he could be filled in by Emma when he arrived. Upon reaching his building, he juggled his sacks a bit to get the keys out of his pocket, he really should invest in a clip on ring for his belt, but those looked so tacky. Eventually Blaine got the keys out, and unlocked the door, tossed the keys into the bowl by the door and brought the groceries to the kitchen. To save on time, Blaine just put up the cold foods, and would put the rest up later.
Finished with the groceries, Blaine went to go do a quick shave and change his clothes, because while he wasn't in sweats, he wasn't wearing anything he'd normally wear to work. Blaine shaved first, careful to be quick but also not nick himself with the blade. Then he grabbed some semi-casual clothes, his version of semi-casual anyway, which entailed a polo, slacks, and bow-tie. He changed as swiftly as he could, but slowly enough so as not to wrinkle anything.
Slipping on shoes, Blaine walked back downstairs, grabbed the keys from the bowl, stopped at the door, turned around and ran back up stairs. He'd forgotten his wallet and phone in the jeans he had changed from. As soon as he had retrieved the items, Blaine ran back downstairs and out the door, he was pretty sure there was a train at this time he would be able to catch.
….
Blaine arrived at the Bureau forty minutes after he had received the text from Emma, so he thought he made pretty good time. He was surprised the amount of activity when he reached the floor Emma's office was on, he didn't come up here too often, but he knew his way around, and that even when everyone had a case it wasn't normally this active. Blaine actually saw Mike before he got to Emma's office; he was almost jogging down the hallway with a stack of files. Blaine almost didn't want to stop him, but he needed to know what was going on.
"Hey Mike!" Blaine yelled a bit, waving at him.
Mike stopped hearing his name, looking around a bit, then saw Blaine waving. Mike smiled a little and walked over to where Blaine was standing.
"Man so glad you're here, has anyone told you what happened?"
Blaine frowned, because Mike actually looked worried, which was not a normal thing, even when he had a major case, he was always the calm one.
"No, just Emma sent me a message that I was needed up here. What's going on?"
"Shit, the bureau's computers all got hacked, not like you had, but majorly and from multiple IP addresses. You should probably check in with her, she'll probably have you in the tech room, but on the chance you're needed elsewhere, I'd check first."
Blaine started to get more worried the longer Mike talked; it wasn't easy to hack their system, not in the least bit, because Blaine has done it tons of times, just for the experience factor, and it always takes a while. Of course if the hacker knew enough, which most did, it wasn't too difficult, just time consuming.
"Okay, I'll go check in with her, and why are you carrying so many files?"
Mike scowled at the files in his hands. "Thing is, because everything was hacked we have to use paper files for the cases, and I can't put off this one, so me and Dani will be busy the next few days. I really feel for the agents who worked before computers, never realized what they did for us."
Blaine laughed a little, nodding his head.
"Yeah, they do most of the work, at least with the filing I'm sure."
Mike laughed too. "That's the hard part, or at least the boring part, plus hand cramps. I gotta go though, I'll see you later, I hope, but I have a feeling you won't be leaving that room for days."
Blaine's face sank, because that was probably going to happen, and all that time spent with Artie wasn't going to be fun.
"Alright, bye Mike. Hope I see you eventually, gotta eat at some point though."
"See ya, Blaine."
At that Mike started back in the direction he was originally going, and Blaine went in the direction of his boss's office. Emma's office wasn't in the normal place, since her people were kind of divided, it wasn't exactly normal for that to happen, but that's how it was. She was also different in the fact that she insisted on everyone calling her Emma, normally everyone was referred to by their last names, but Emma didn't like how that implied none of them were friends.
It was only about a five minute walk to get to her office, which upon knocking he found it was empty. Blaine, not wanting to search for her and waste time, called her cell phone; she answered on the second ring.
"Emma Pillsbury speaking."
"Hi Emma, its Blaine. I just wanted to know where you needed me."
"Oh Blaine, yes hello. I'm actually in the tech room right now, if you could come here that would be lovely."
"Of course, I'll be there in two minutes."
"Good-bye Blaine."
"Good-bye."
Blaine smiled while walking in the direction of the tech room, Emma was a great boss, always so nice, he never actually saw her mad at anyone. In fact sometimes Blaine wondered how she became an agent, because she was so soft spoken and he always thought agents needed to have at least a little bit of a hard edge. He shouldn't assume things though, you never know what could set someone off, and Blaine supposed he was like Emma a little, most people wouldn't assume he regularly broke the law.
….
Once Blaine had entered the room, he could see pretty much the same activity that had been on the floor, but more quiet, because most of it was typing, with a few hushed words here and there. They had added a table and four more computers, each had two monitors, which made the room seem overly crowded. There were about five people in the room, not including Emma, one was Artie, and Blaine thought he recognized two of them, but he wasn't absolutely sure. Blaine walked over to where Emma was seated in front of a laptop, she was actually amazing when it came to computers, not many people knew, unless they were her people, and even then not all of them knew.
"Hey Emma."
Emma looked up from what she was reading, never one to wait to give someone attention.
"Blaine, hi, I'm glad you're here, I need you to hack into the system, like you normally would, see where an hole in the code is and then shut it down. I have Artie and Matt encrypting, Brett, Suzy and Frida are all trying to trace the IP addresses."
Blaine nodded as she talked, wincing a little when she said 'like you normally would', he hoped she had meant that in past tense. He wasn't going to say anything if it wasn't. "Okay great, I'll get right to work."
Blaine went to sit at his desk, the computer had already been turned on, so being cautious he checked to make sure his personal firewalls were still intact. Blaine didn't know if other people added onto their own security, he wasn't even sure if he was allowed to, but he wanted to make sure his files were safe, just in case something like this happened.
Getting everything set up the way he liked it, Blaine set to work; he figured he'd go in the easiest way the first time and working up to the more difficult firewalls. Blaine spent an hour doing this before he was interrupted; actually everyone was interrupted, because his cell had gone off. Blaine blushed a little, while apologizing and getting his phone out.
"I'm so sorry; I'll put it on silent."
Emma spoke up. "Actually Blaine if you wouldn't mind turning that off? I really need you to focus and if it's an emergency, I'm sure you have your work number given to your family?"
Blaine nodded. "Yes I do, and of course. I'm really sorry."
"It's okay Blaine, normally it's not a problem but right now I need everyone to focus fully." Emma said the last part to everyone with a smile. The ones that were looking nodded and Emma just smiled at the back of Artie and Brett, because they were already focused.
Blaine quickly looked at his phone, to see who had messaged him, it was Kurt. Blaine automatically smiled when he saw Kurt's name, but he felt bad because he knew that he wouldn't be able to text him. Hopefully he wouldn't be here too late and could text him tonight, but he'd send him something simple to let Kurt know he had received the text.
Hi Kurt, I did too. I'm so sorry, can't talk right now, so busy with work. Text you soon. (:
Sending that, Blaine turned the device off, he wasn't worried about anyone trying to contact him, Mike and Dani were here, and if Lauren needed something she would email, and he'd get that on the computer.
Blaine turned back to the computer, he had found two holes so far, ones that he was able to close easily, but with the way that the system was set up, there could be thousands just like it. He wasn't looking forward to the first encrypted one he found, though if he did, he'd have to alert Emma in case that was one that had been used. All the case files were heavily encrypted, along with the personal information of all the employees, even the custodial staff. Blaine went back to hacking.
…
Blaine jumped a little when he felt a tap on his shoulder, turning around he saw that it was Emma.
"Blaine, I've ordered some Chinese; I just got a variety so there should be something here that you like."
"Oh thanks Emma, let me just finish this part, and I'll be right over."
"Okay, if it takes a while, we are only taking a fifteen minute break to eat and then I would like you to get back to work. I hope you haven't had any problems, I do want you to tell me if you run into anything." She smiled softly at him.
"Of course, I've not run into anything encrypted yet, just a bunch of random holes in the code, which is probably meant to be used as a distraction." Blaine figured it'd take longer to fix all the missing codes in the html than it would to find the hacker's IP address. That was actually a really good plan; he might use it the next time he needs to hack into a server.
Emma seemed to contemplate that for a moment, and then she nodded. "I think that might be, I'll have Frida help you then, after we've eaten."
Blaine wasn't sure he liked that, normally he worked alone, especially at work, and then with Lauren, but that was completely different. He did need the help though, or this would take weeks to repair, it still might take that long anyway. Blaine didn't like coming off as rude either, so he'd accept the help rather he really wanted it or not.
"That would be great, thank you. Though it'd be easier, I think if she had her own section to check over, we wouldn't want to be redoing the same codes more than once."
"Yes, why don't you make a list of what you checked already, then give it to her and explain what is needed to be done."
Blaine thought that sounded better, then he wouldn't really have to talk to her, at least not more than a few words. Thinking about it though, Blaine wasn't sure who Frida was, there were only two women in here, and one of them was Asian. He wasn't very good at distinguishing race by a person's name, because he was Asian, but his name diffidently wasn't. Might as well just ask Emma that was probably more polite than just guessing who she was.
Blaine lowered his voice a little so as not to be heard by anyone else in the small room. "Okay I can do that, but I do have a question. I don't normally work with anyone but Artie, so who is Frida?"
"Oh yes, sorry Blaine, she's the pretty one with long hair." Emma paused and gasped. "Not that Suzy isn't pretty, of course she is, all of you are lovely looking, but Suzy does have the shorter hair."
"It's okay, I understood what you meant, and I agree. Thank you."
Emma patted his shoulder as she walked off saying, "You're welcome, don't forget to eat though."
"I won't." Blaine quickly finished up what he had been typing before, because now that he had been made aware of the food he realized how hungry he was. He checked the clock on the screen, surprised that it was already 9:00pm. Deciding that his stomach could handle a few more minutes Blaine wrote down which areas of the server Frida should check and which ones he had already checked. The website hadn't been cleared yet, so that should probably be done first, Blaine had been more worried about files when he had gotten here. Not knowing how quickly Frida would be working, Blaine only gave her a few sections; the website for the public might take a long time anyway, since there were so many links.
Done with the list Blaine stood up and stretched, he was used to sitting for hours, but he still needed a good stretch just like everyone else. He walked over to the table with the food, there really was a large variety, and it almost looked like one of each item from the menu with lots of rice and lo Mein. There were some paper plates, so he grabbed one and loaded some orange chicken, rice, and vegetables to it. Looking around Blaine noticed that most of the others were either finished or eating and working, only Brett was eating at his desk and not actually typing anything. Blaine went to put his food at his desk, and then walked over to where Frida was stationed. She had an empty plate sat by her keyboard, ear phones in and was typing, he felt a little bad for interrupting, but he had to. Blaine cleared his throat, and then tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around, first looking irritated and the smiled when she saw who it was.
"Hi Blaine! What can I do for you?"
Blaine's eyes crinkled a bit, not knowing how she knew his name, he didn't think they had ever met, but Blaine sometimes forgot people if he'd only spoken to them once.
"Hello, Frida. Emma is having me fill up the loose holes in the html code, and she wanted me to get you to help, since there's so much. I wrote down what I did, and what I think you should do next, the main website is probably the most important right now. Does that sound okay to you?"
Frida was still smiling when he finished, but a little less happily. "Yeah that sounds fine, just, you don't remember me do you?"
Blaine frowned, trying and failing to remember her. "No, I don't, I'm sorry."
Frida laughed a little, still smiling, so at least Blaine knew she wasn't upset about it.
"It was ages ago, and I haven't seen you here, so I shouldn't expect you to remember, I'm just really good with names and faces. Anyways I competed against you and the Warblers in high school, I assume you were a senior that year, because I only saw you the one time, but you were so good!"
Blaine grinned, almost laughing; he loved talking about his time in the Warblers. "Oh wow! That's cool, what was your group called? I'm only good at remembering numbers to be honest, not so much with faces."
Frida giggled a little and blushed, "Oh god, I laugh every time I think of our name, and it was The Hoosierdaddies. I thought we were pretty good, still can't believe we lost that year."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be you guys really deserved it, I meant more that we lost to even New Directions, I just the singing wasn't any better than ours I don't think. Yes I know I'm still not over something that happened years ago!" She laughed a little.
"Thank you, I remember them, and yeah that year they weren't nearly as good, but a lot of people had graduated the year before. This is going to sound strange but one of my really close friends' works here that was a part of that group. He doesn't talk about it much, he wanted to go into dancing, but had family complications."
Frida winced some. "I know how that feels, but I do like my job, speaking of job we should probably get back to work. Maybe we can talk another time."
Blaine smiled at her, and nodded. "We should get back to work, and yeah of course we'll talk again if only to talk about music."
Blaine went back to his desk, sitting down, he contemplated how weird it was that he kept meeting people he had run into before, even if he hadn't realized he had. He hoped nothing too crazy happened; he didn't want to think of anything bad happening. Though maybe what he was working on now could be taken as bad to some people, but for Blaine it was just another job.
Blaine got back to work, knowing he'd be here for a while yet, giving up on the thought of texting Kurt later, since it was already almost ten at night, he'd just talk to him in the morning.
MONDAY
Blaine woke to the sound of typing, it was dark in the room, only dim lights, which Blaine assumed was from his computer screen. Lifting his head from the keyboard, Blaine looked around and realized that he hadn't fallen asleep at his computer at home, but the one at work. And the typing was from other people in the room, he saw Brett and Matt here, and it looked like maybe Emma had been there at some point because her coffee cup was on the desk she had been using yesterday.
Blaine looked at his computer which had been turned off, not knowing if he had done it, but since he had feel asleep on keyboard it probably wasn't him. Since Blaine didn't really know Brett or Matt very well, Blaine turned his computer on to check his email and see if Emma had sent him anything. It'd take a few minutes for the computer to start up, so Blaine decided to go to the restroom and maybe the break room for some coffee.
Blaine left the office and headed for the restroom, outside the tech room it was relatively quiet. Blaine wasn't really sure what time it was, he could see the sun through the window at the end of the hall, it was bright enough to indicate it was morning, but not middle of the day. Blaine went to the toilet first, and then tried to wash his face a bit, not sure if he'd be staying here a while or not. On his way to the break room, Blaine ran into Dani, since he didn't actually get to talk to her yesterday he wanted to see how she was doing.
"Morning Dani didn't see you yesterday. Everything okay?"
She looked tired, a little dark circles under her eyes, but not too bad. She sighed answering him. "Morning Blaine, yeah it was kind of crazy, though it'll be like that for a while, till you guys can get everything cleaned up. I sorry you guys have to deal with it though."
Blaine just shrugged, not really minding the intense work. "It's fine really, I don't mind. You didn't answer how you were though."
Dani rolled her eyes, "I'm fine, no more stressed than normal, just more paperwork that we have to write out. I'll survive it; Mike won't stop complaining about it though, which is annoying."
Blaine laughed. "Yeah he mentioned that in passing yesterday, I feel for you guys about that. I don't really like writing. Do you happen to know what time it is? I was headed to the break room; I'm letting my computer warm up."
Dani nodded reaching into her pocket to get out her cell phone. "Yeah I do, it's 6:53am, and I'll walk with you to the break room. What time did you leave last night?"
"Okay, Thanks. And I didn't actually leave, fell asleep at my desk, not really sure what time it was either. At least after midnight, because I remember having a small meeting with Emma at 11:30 last night."
They made their way to the break room, which wasn't really that far, just about twenty feet.
"Oh wow Blaine, you really need to go home. You're probably getting overtime for this, or you better be, but still that's a lot of work."
"I'm getting paid normal until forty and then overtime after, but the official week started Sunday so we'll see how quickly I can get forty in. I want to talk with Emma before I leave, I think she's here, I just wanted to get some coffee before I called her."
"Okay"
They both walked through open door of the break room, there were a couple people in there, that Blaine didn't know, and he didn't think Dani did either since she didn't saw anything. Blaine made a beeline for the coffee machine, which was actually good coffee, it wasn't Starbucks, but just as good as what he had at home. Blaine was focused on making his coffee that he didn't notice Dani had started talking to him, until she smacked his arm.
"Hey! You didn't hear a word, did you?"
Blaine shrugged sheepishly; he really needed his coffee in the mornings. "Sorry, I told you I needed coffee."
Dani laughed shaking her head a little. "It's fine, I was just telling you about Santana, not sure if I should text her and let her know what happened with work or not? I mean I don't want to assume she wants to know that yet, she might not even care."
Blaine gave it some thought, it had only been a couple days and generally speaking waiting for four or five days after a date to make contact wasn't frowned upon. He didn't really know Santana at all, so he couldn't guess her personality type, Blaine knew for himself he'd want to be contacted right away.
"Well is she like me at all, or more like you?"
"Not like you at all! Maybe a bit like me, why?"
"Well if it were me, I'd want to talk soon, based on your past relationships you didn't mind waiting a week to talk again. I think maybe make a post on Facebook, if your friends and then just wait until you have more time to talk."
Dani smiled at him. "Okay, yeah that sounds good, I did post something yesterday about it, and we are friends on there. Speaking of Facebook though, are you friends with Kurt?"
Blaine took a long drink of his coffee before he answered. "No we haven't really talked about Facebook, I didn't actually think of it, he texted me yesterday, but I told him I was really busy with work. I think my phone is dead right now though."
"Awe that sucks, but you are in luck I have a charger on my desk."
Blaine smirked at her, "Oh but you're forgetting the big debate we had, the one where we kept arguing over whether the iPhone or Android was better, so we decided to each get one. So your charger won't work for me."
Dani's eyes went wide, remembering that, they had jokingly argued for a week straight. "Oh yeah! Still think mine is better. Okay then, why don't you have one here, or man this is the FBI, and you work in a tech room you should be able to find something!"
Blaine blushed a little. "I just didn't think to look, and I wasn't really worried about it either. If I end up staying I'll go ahead and find something, Emma doesn't want us using our phones in the tech room anyway."
Blaine walked over to the vending machine, considering getting some granola to hold him over until he could either go home or get a proper breakfast. Checking his pockets for change he found that he didn't have any, he had cash though, he knew because he got some after he went for groceries yesterday. Pulling his wallet out, he only had a five, maybe Dani had some dollar bills.
"Hey Dani, do you have any ones?"
"Nope, I don't have any cash on me, sorry."
Blaine pouted, he didn't want to have a bunch of quarters, but he wanted to eat, so he'd deal with it. Putting the bill in the slot, he pushed the buttons, and prepared himself for the rush of coins, that never actually came, only a few clanks could be heard. Bending down, Blaine saw that he actually got the dollar coins back instead, which was awesome. Blaine grabbed his change and the granola and walked back over to Dani.
"I should go back to the tech room, see if Emma is there, or if anyone knows if I should stay or take a break."
Dani got off the table she had been sitting on and hugged Blaine. "Okay, hopefully you can go home for a bit, get a shower and some sleep. Stop by when you can."
Blaine hugged her back and spoke into her hair. "Yeah I hope so too. I will if I can, don't know how busy I'll be, if not I'll try to get you a message."
They released each other from the hug and said their goodbyes. Blaine grabbed his coffee cup off the table and walked out behind Dani, going in the opposite direction. The trek to the tech room was quiet and brief, not many people got here this early and even with the buzz of activity from yesterday, it seemed to have calmed down a lot. That could change later though.
Blaine got back to the tech room, and sat the coffee down at his desk, still only Brett and Matt in the room, neither noticing him entering, or at least not acknowledging him. Sitting down, and moving the mouse to turn the monitor on, Blaine sipped his coffee. As soon as the monitor lit up, he saw an icon saying "BLAINE READ ME", he was a little wary about reading it, considering they had just been hacked. With that in mind Blaine ran a scan over the computer just in case. It took only a few minutes for it to read the desktop, so even though it wasn't completely finished Blaine was pretty confident he could stop the hacker if that's what it was.
Upon opening the icon, Blaine found that it was just a message from Emma telling him to go home until noon, and that they would have a meeting at that time to check on progress. Frida would be in at nine to continue her part of the work, and that Blaine needed some actual rest that didn't involve sleeping on his keyboard. Blaine smiled to himself, really glad he had a boss like her, maybe even feeling a little guilty because he was still breaking the law, and he didn't know if Emma would get any repercussions if he got caught. He certainly hoped not, of course he also didn't plan on getting caught either.
Since he didn't needed to be up here for a while, Blaine shut off the computer again and went home. Planning to take a shower, charge his phone, eat and take a nap, not necessarily in that order.
….
Blaine arrived back in the tech room at five till noon, traffic during midday wasn't something he was used to, since generally he was already at work, and it wasn't often that he went out for lunch. He had received a good morning text from Kurt around seven that morning, and he didn't reply back because he felt guilty for not having replied right away and he wanted a good reason, or at least a good way to apologize. He might be over-thinking it though, just Kurt deserved Blaine over-analyzing things, Kurt was worth that much thought.
Blaine was surprised that he was the last one, even felt a little like he was late, but this was the time that Emma told him to come back. A couple of people looked up when he walked in, but quickly turned their attention back to what they were doing before. Emma was typing on her laptop, but Blaine figured he should talk to her first; she might want him to work first or wait for the meeting. He stood at her desk, waiting for her to pause in her typing; it didn't take more than ten seconds for her to notice his presence.
"Blaine, hello, I'll be done in just a moment, go ahead and get your computer running, and then we'll start the meeting."
Blaine nodded to her and then walked over to his seat to get everything set up. Hopefully he would be able to have a break that he could text Kurt and let him know what was going on. He figured that if he could explain it, Kurt wouldn't be too upset about him not replying this morning, or at least he hoped so.
It had only been five minutes when Emma stood up and called attention to everyone.
"Okay guys, if you could please turn and face me?" Everyone did, some stood up and moved closer, even though it was a fairly small room. Blaine stayed where he was.
"Thank you, now I want to thank all of you for the extra work and how much you've been able to do in such a short amount of time. The public website is just about fully restored, there are still some links that aren't working fully, but Frida you are doing very well. Artie, Matt you guys are doing great with the encryption. Brett, Suzy, you've been able to place quite a few of the IP addresses, well done. Blaine has closed a lot of holes and fixed some of the html codes that were missing from case files. Everyone has been pulling their weight, and I'm proud of all of you." She paused and smiled serenely at everyone, most of us smiling back at her. "We unfortunately have come across a bit of a problem, seems like whoever hacked into the system was able to get employee information and we're not sure exactly why it was taken, since they have already been able to get into the system. The problem with this is it causes a safety issue, so we are kindly asking you not to speak with anyone you haven't known for more than a month."
Emma paused again; probably to let that sink in, there was murmuring but no outright problems. Blaine on the other hand may have been internally panicking, oh if only he had just texted Kurt earlier, why did he insist on waiting!? He wasn't even sure how long this would last, he had only been around for a year when it'd happened before, and he didn't have any new friends at the time, so it hadn't affected him at all. He wondered if it was the entire bureau, it had been last time, which would mean Dani wouldn't be able to contact Santana either. He briefly considered going ahead and just sending Kurt a message anyway, but if he told Santana, and then she told Dani, whom wasn't really a stickler for rules, but she thought he was, and that could just cause suspicions to arise that were unnecessary.
Blaine shook off his thoughts, tuning back to hear that Emma was talking again. "…so basically you just need to keep quiet, if you need to post something to Facebook so no one will worry, we do have a generic statement we'd like you to use, though you can change it up to fit your personality if you'd like. Any other questions?"
Hoping that no one else had already asked this Blaine went ahead and asked, he could blame it on shock if someone had. "Is it everyone that can't have contact?"
"Yes, it's everyone in the building, I don't think it will last too long, once we have the IP addresses placed, and once you have sorted through the holes in the codes we can lift the ban. Artie is going to start helping you once him and Matt are finished with the encryption, which you guys don't have much more, correct?"
"No, we've got most of it finished, we've been alternating the files, with different codes, so it's stagnant, but it's still a pretty simple process." Arite answered.
Emma clapped her hands. "That's great, also when they are finished, Matt you will be helping Brett and Suzy with the IP addresses, we want to get this done for the ban lift and because it's our job. So let's get to work." She finished with a big smile, waving her hands in a shooing motion.
Blaine walked back to his desk, a little upset, well a lot upset; he did not want to put off talking to Kurt for an undetermined amount of time, especially when they had only just started talking. He didn't want to make excuses for himself, but really this couldn't be avoided, it just really sucked.
The rest of the day went by fairly quickly, there was a break for dinner at five, food being provided by the bureau, and they had another meeting after that. Artie had started helping Blaine around eight that evening, Emma insisted that nobody was allowed to stay after eleven. They would meet in the morning for an update at precisely eight am, and Emma said she expected everyone to be bright-eyed and bushy tailed. Blaine got home that night at 11:23 and immediately stripped his clothes and feel into bed, though he did make sure to set an alarm for the morning.
TUESDAY
Blaine woke up that morning, not really looking forward to the day at all. Normally he didn't mind going into work, it kept him occupied, but knowing he wasn't able to do what he wanted, he wasn't happy about it. The work was also taxing, because it required for him to read code constantly, instead of what he normally did, which let him go back and forth from different code types.
He went through the motions of getting ready, and heading to the subway, stopping for Starbucks on the way, he figured until he could talk to Kurt again, he'd splurge to keep his mood up.
Walking into the tech room, he only saw Emma, Matt and Suzy so far; Emma said "Good morning," while the other two just waved at him.
"Good Morning." Blaine answered to her, he received a smile in return.
Blaine went over to his desk; doing exactly the same thing he did every morning, just without any particular excitement. As he got everything turned on, the rest of the team came in, almost all together, since about every ten seconds the door would open. Once the last person had arrived Emma stood up from her desk, clapping her hands to get everyone's attention.
"Good Morning everyone! No new announcements for today, we are making progress though, we could see this finished by the end of the week. We'll have another meeting around three this afternoon, and then you guys can break for lunch at noon, just take a half hour though. If anything happens, I'll make you aware, now I believe your emails are all up and working properly, so I'll be contacting you that way if I am out of the room. That will actually happen more today, since I'm going to be meeting with the heads of departments to check on their specific files."
Blaine wasn't very happy about the end of the week news, he had hoped they'd be lifting the ban before that, maybe he could talk to Lauren and see if she knew of any ways to make this move faster, he really didn't want to wait that long. Blaine was sure Kurt wouldn't want to talk to him after having to wait for a week. He'd just have to hope for the best.
"Now any questions about this morning?"
No one spoke up.
"Alright, to work then!"
Everyone went to work, some people more awake than others, but all of them efficient. The day went by quicker than Blaine thought it would, he mostly stayed at his computer, occasionally stopping for a restroom break, and even once going to talk to Dani. They had lunch, Blaine was able to look at his phone at that time and saw another text from Kurt, which dampened his mood considerably since he couldn't reply. Then the meeting was held not too long after, Emma was surprised about how much they had gotten done, only about fifteen IP addresses needed to be traced, and they were 68% of the way through the websites. They were working much quicker than she had predicted which made her bring up the date to Thursday instead of Friday. Then if the IP addresses were done quickly enough they might even get finished sooner. Though she did say that they'd be checking and tracing everything for the next six weeks, which would really be Blaine's and Artie's job, plus the normal things they both had to do. They didn't stay as late today, Suzy, Matt, and Frida all left at seven, Artie at 7:30 and everyone else at eight.
When Blaine got home that night, he really considered texting Kurt, he had a feeling he was already dependent on him, which was really weird, but sometimes people just connect. Hopefully he doesn't come across as clingy though. He went to sleep that night thinking of everything he would say to Kurt when he was able to text him, he'd do anything to keep them talking.
WEDNESDAY
Blaine woke up in a bit of a better mood that morning, he had more hope that he'd be able to talk to Kurt tomorrow, might be twenty-four hours still, but it was closer, and Blaine was happy about that. At the end of the evening yesterday, Emma had said they were fore-going a meeting, because she had to attend a meeting herself, and that they were just to continue what they had been doing, and if the IP addresses were finished before she got back, for those people to start with the html code.
So when Blaine got to the bureau, he went straight to work, they had brought in a dry eraser board yesterday so they could mark off what areas had already been looked over. So that it was easier to keep track, and if someone was working on something, they'd have to put their initials by it.
By lunch Suzy had joined the team doing the html code, and Brett only had two more addresses to track. Emma had yet to communicate with anyone, but Suzy had sent her an email telling her she had finished her addresses and was starting on the code, and what percentage everyone was at, at that point in the day.
Emma came back at 1:30, she looked extremely happy too, which had Blaine crossing his fingers for the ban to be lifted even earlier.
"Guys if I could get your attention? Thank you. I am so proud of you guys, you've worked really hard, got just about everything completed in a really short amount of time. You only have 6 more sections to go, and Brett is just about done with his last trace. The ban could possibly be lifted tonight!"
There wasn't much of a reaction, probably because it hadn't affected too many people in here, Blaine was ecstatic, though he kept it contained pretty well. Still everyone clapped for a job well done, because overall they would probably be getting recognition for this, since it was done in record time.
"Even if you don't care that much about the ban being lifted sooner, there are other agents that do, and for all your hard work, there was talk in the meeting of bonuses for you guys."
This did cause a cheer to happen, even Blaine clapped for that, though being able to talk to Kurt made him happier, he knew that not being happy about money would look weird.
"Good job guys! Get back to work; if you can I'd like to get this finished tonight."
With a new sense of urgency everyone went to work, if nothing else the promise of extra money made people work harder. Only thirty minutes had passed and Brett had started working with everyone else. Then twenty minutes after that Artie finished his last section, ten minutes after him Suzy was done, then Matt, Blaine, and Frida, Brett was the last to finish. Emma had them recheck the links for the whole site, which was a lot quicker than checking code, there were a few mistakes, but those only took a few minutes to fix each one. By the time they completely finished it was 4:37pm, and Emma was maybe a little too happy for them. Though Blaine figured she would get a bonus for it too, and probably more recognition than the actual team would get, but that's how it went with management.
"Oh this is just excellent news! All of you get the day off tomorrow, paid of course, unless you want to come in, but I bet you guys need a break. I know I've already said it a few times, but I'm really proud to call you guys my employees, you've put so much into these last few days, and just worked really hard. So go ahead and get everything shut off and I'll let management know that the ban can be lifted now."
As soon as she finished everyone immediately turned to shut off their computers and gather their stuff. Blaine tried not to rush too much but he could not wait to text Kurt. In fact he would as soon as he walked out of the building.
"Oh guys, wait until you get the official release before you talk to anyone, an email will be sent out soon."
Blaine actually groaned at that, causing Suzy who was standing next to him, to give him a funny look. He just gave her a small smile, not really wanting to explain to a person he didn't even know, about how disappointed he was. Blaine figured since he had to wait now anyways he could go by Dani's to see how she was doing. She hadn't come into work today, her and Mike were stuck in their case, and couldn't look up the file they needed until everything had been fixed. Because of course the file they needed didn't have a hard-copy, Dani had complained about this a few times already. He sent a text to Dani to let her know he was going to come over.
As Blaine was walking out the building he received an email from work telling him that the ban had been lifted. Blaine shook his head at his phone, figures that would happen, but at least he could text Kurt now. Though he had to think of something to send him, he thought about canceling on Dani, but that'd be kind of rude, and it's completely possible that Kurt won't even reply to his message. He could be working still, or he could be mad at Blaine too, hopefully not the latter though. Blaine decided to go with something simple and to the point.
Hi Kurt, I am so sorry for not replying to you before. Something crazy with work happened and I just got busy, really there is no excuse for that. –Blaine
Thinking that wasn't enough information Blaine sent another text.
I mean I do have an excuse of course, but it seems so juvenile to give you one. –Blaine
Then he thought maybe he should mention how Dani wasn't able to talk either.
I suppose I could anyways, explain what I'm allowed to tell you. Dani wasn't able to talk to Santana either, so I was hoping you had been able to deduce it being work related. –Blaine
Maybe even let him know what it was about, as much as he could without anyone knowing.
Basically there was a very sensitive case, and we had to cut off any contact that was more recent than a month. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true I swear! –Blaine
Blaine hoped he didn't come off as clingy, or weird, maybe he had sent too many texts; he really should learn how to control his urges when it comes to Kurt. Knowing that no matter what Kurt was doing Blaine probably wouldn't reply right away so he stuck his phone in his pocket, and headed for the subway. Ten minutes into the ride, Blaine felt his phone vibrate; crossing his fingers that it was Kurt, Blaine quickly pulled it out and unlocked the screen. Sadly it was from Dani.
Wanna pick up some food? I'm starving! –Dani
Blaine replied with an affirmative, because even though it was relatively early for dinner, he hadn't eaten much lunch, wanting to work as much as he could, so as to finish earlier. Figuring it didn't matter too much what he got, and feeling like he deserved something good, Blaine went to the nearest pizza place once he was off the subway.
Once he got to Dani's it'd been an hour since he'd text Kurt, or almost an hour, close enough that he started to pout into his pizza. Dani noticed and started laughing at him.
"What's your deal? Tired?"
Blaine shook his head, but then nodded, causing her to laugh again.
"I am tired, but no, Kurt hasn't replied to my text yet."
Dani's face fell, she felt bad, because Santana had already replied to her, though she said she was going to bed, so they hadn't really talked; but at least Dani had gotten an answer. Not wanting to upset him, Dani didn't say anything about Santana.
"Oh honey, he might still be working, it's not really that late."
"Yeah I know, but what if it's because he's mad?"
Dani's face scrunched up in thought, "Yeah that is possible, but if he is, I can always verify it was both of us, and actually work related. It's really not your fault and he should understand that. This could happen again, though hopefully not that soon, I hate these bans."
"Yeah they aren't fun, but both of us have only had to do it once."
"I know! Doesn't mean I like it. The last one lasted for two weeks!"
"Yeah but it wasn't really that bad, neither one of us were talking to anyone new, at least I wasn't."
Dani threw her pizza crust at him. "Not the point Blaine!"
Blaine laughed, "Sorry."
The table vibrated, or more precisely Blaine's phone on the table vibrated, twice. Blaine reached for it as fast as he could; knowing Dani would try to read it, just because she knew he was waiting for a text.
Hi Blaine! I'm glad it was work-related; I was a little worried I had done something wrong. And I hadn't talked about it with Santana until today, but once I realized she hadn't talked to Dani either I guessed it was work. –Kurt
Well and the fact that on Sunday you had said you were busy with work –Kurt
Blaine smiled, glad that Kurt wasn't mad, he was a little sadden that he had made Kurt worry though. He replied to him, hoping that he wasn't worried anymore.
Oh good you replied! I thought you might be mad at me. –Blaine
Sunday was really a surprise, and it immediately got hectic, then my phone died. –Blaine
Dani picked up Blaine's plate to bring into the kitchen, knowing he wouldn't be paying attention until Kurt stopped talking to him, because she knew damn well Blaine wouldn't be the one stopping first.
First off of course I would reply, even if just to yell at you. Well text yell, though I wouldn't do that to you, you're way too sweet. –Kurt
Second you don't have to tell me everything you do, and everyone's phone dies at inopportune times at some point. –Kurt
That's good to hear! I really did want to talk to you, a lot! I almost broke the rule to send you a text, but it's harder to cover up that stuff when their watching my IP address. –Blaine
I love it when you talk like that, all smart and stuff. You should do it more often. –Kurt
Blaine stared at his phone, not really knowing how to reply to Kurt. Should he flirt? Should he ask Dani? No he can't do that, she's make fun of him forever. Shame that Mike wasn't here, he didn't want to wait to text him either. It wasn't that big of a deal, Blaine could do this.
Um, yes I could do that. If you wanted to, I know lots of words and things. –Blaine
Oh God, that sounded stupid!
I bet you do ;) –Kurt
Blaine choked a little; well at least Kurt liked it.
So aside from work, how have you been? –Kurt
I've been really good, busy of course with work. So I haven't really had much to do lately, but it's been a normal few days. –Blaine
What about you? –Blaine
That's good to hear. Oh pretty much the same, nowhere near as busy as you though. I did forget an important event, now I have to do an emergency shopping trip. –Kurt
Oh really? What kind of event? I love shopping though, don't you? –Blaine
Blaine would be so surprised if Kurt didn't like shopping; actually he thought that'd be impossible.
My step-mother's birthday, I actually feel horrible I forgot about it, I never forget these kinds of things. I actually do love shopping though, it's just with gift buying I like to buy a month in advance. –Kurt
Oh, well there's a first time for everything, don't feel too bad about it. I could help you, if you wanted; I mean I buy my mom stuff all the time. –Blaine
Not that I'm saying it's the same thing, I'm sure your step-mother has her own tastes, but it'd be some help. If you wanted. –Blaine
I don't want to pressure you. –Blaine
Blaine just kept putting out these amazingly awesome texts, expect he wasn't but Kurt still seemed to like it, maybe he had a thing for awkward.
During the time that Blaine had been texting, Dani had slowly made her way over to read over his shoulder, trying not to laugh at some of the things Blaine said, he was just so adorable.
You would be a life-saver if you helped me! I wouldn't feel pressured at all. Besides shopping would make for a lovely third date don't you think? –Kurt
Before Blaine could even comprehend the text Dani had snatched the phone out of his hand and ran into the bathroom. Blaine chased after her; he got his foot in the door before it closed.
"Dani you better not text him, I swear I will never speak to you again!"
Dani just laughed while typing, knowing she didn't have that much time, Blaine may be a tiny little thing but he was still strong, and Dani wasn't that big of a girl.
"Don't worry so much, you'll thank me"
Sending the text off, she moved off the back of the door. This caused Blaine to fall into the bathroom, picking himself off the floor he glared at her, and grabbed his phone out of her hand. "I hate you."
He left the bathroom and read the text.
That would be really great actually, I mean you and shopping sounds really fantastic. –Blaine
He groaned, that didn't sound like him at all!
That wasn't me! I mean yes of course I would love too! But my friend stole my phone. –Blaine
It's fine, I'd be happy with either text, you still said yes. ;) I really enjoy spending time with you! –Kurt
Blaine sighed thankful that Kurt was happy with either, not that Dani had sent a bad text, but still!
Ok, that's great. I feel the same way. When do you want to go? –Blaine
How about Saturday? I don't want to have to rush after work; I do need to go before Sunday for sure though. –Kurt
That sounds perfect actually; I'm normally not working Saturdays, unless something happens. And we could start early too, so we have plenty of time to search. –Blaine
Do you have any ideas? –Blaine
Dani had walked back into the living room, sitting right beside Blaine, and smirking.
"You just shut up."
"Sorry, but I'm pretty sure that's gonna be worth it."
"Shut up."
Dani just laughed.
Ok great, Saturday it is. But you still have to talk to me in the meantime I don't want to have to wait till Saturday. Sadly I don't have any ideas, which is my problem. –Kurt
Of course I'll talk to you, I'm so sorry again for before; I promise I wanted to talk to you. –Blaine
It's ok that you don't have any ideas; maybe we could have breakfast first, and discuss what she likes before shopping? –Blaine
Blaine closed his eyes after sending that, hoping it wasn't too forward, but he really wanted to spend as much time with Kurt as possible.
That sounds great! And you really don't have to apologize I believe you. –Kurt
Ok great, I really can't wait for Saturday. –Blaine
Me too. You really are amazing. –Kurt
Blaine blushed at that, not believing it at all, but not wanting to offend Kurt he said thank you anyway.
Thank you, but you're way more amazing. Actually I still can't believe I actually met you, and that you want to talk to me. –Blaine
Blaine, I have no words for you. You are just the best. –Kurt
I don't know what to say, but thank you Kurt, I feel the same. –Blaine
Sitting his phone on the table, Blaine turned to Dani.
"I cannot believe you did that, but thanks I guess."
Dani jumped off the couch smiling, "Ha! I knew it!"
Blaine shook his head at her, "I would have said yes anyways, just might have taken a little longer."
"Well whatever, I didn't want to spend all night listening to you text."
"Thanks Dani, I'm really glad we're friends."
Dani scowled at him, "Sarcasm doesn't suit you Blaine. So what are you going to wear for Saturday?"
Blaine's face fell. "Oh shit."