This fic is largely inspired by season 4 rumors that Kurt will be starting out in fashion and gain a new mentor in the business. It is my attempt to imagine how Kurt and Dave might meet up again and how their paths could become intertwined in post-high school Glee.

Kurt had been exchanging gossip in a circle with a few other lowly assistants during his break, all the while idly sipping the free champagne, when he spotted the out-of-place yet familiar boy from across the room. David was dressed in a well-cut plain Navy blue suit with a slightly garish mustard yellow tie. Aside from the unfortunate accessory, the boy looked well. Surprisingly well, in fact, and while Kurt was happy to see him happy, he could not help wondering what on earth he might be doing at an event like this.

His first thought was that perhaps he was dating someone who had an invite, but somehow Kurt doubted that a nineteen year-old boy who just moved to New York from Ohio last year would be dating someone with a plus-one invite to New York's Fashion Week. How Dave would have even met someone that high up in fashion circles? It's not like they were his crowd…even if many of them were perhaps his type.

So Kurt remained distant, and watched the other boy's interactions with the people in his company. There were three others standing with him; directly to his left, an upbeat loquacious middle aged man whose suit told Kurt plain as day he was not directly connected with Fashion Week in any way, shape or form. Next to him was a very attractive, very tall swarthy man in his mid twenties, who looked vaguely familiar to Kurt but whom he could not place. He was dressed far better than the middle aged man, with whom he appeared to be quite well acquainted, but Kurt still doubted he was directly connected to the event either. And holding hands with the handsome man was someone who unequivocally belonged – a young woman who was clearly a professional runway model. Her waif figure, hairdo and they way in which she held herself marked her as undoubtedly a walker in one of the shows.

But while Kurt at least managed to souse out the reason the woman and her date were there, he still could not imagine what business the middle-aged man and Dave had here with them. Especially since both men seemed to be interacting primarily with the young boyfriend, not the model. After a few more moments of trying to piece it all together and failing, Kurt decided to make his way over and demand an explanation. (He would have said hello to David no matter what, but his curiosity made him even more anxious to make himself known).

With some unexpected butterflies in his stomach, Kurt took leave of his company and approached his old acquaintance, tapping him congenially on the shoulder to garner his attention. Dave looked over, clearly surprised to be solicited by anyone, and clearly even more surprised when he realized who it was.

"Kurt!" he blurted out, the shock evident in his voice.

Kurt watched as Dave's expression came alight with a plain mixture of confusion, surprise and delight.

"What are you doing here?" Dave asked, not at all accusatorily, but with blatant interest.

Kurt realized their conversation was somewhat rudely interrupting the socializing of the other people present, but he knew there would be time enough for introductions in a moment, so he answered Dave's question.

"I'm here with my employer, Jane Hallowell. She's a fashion designer. What on earth are you doing here?"

Before Dave could answer, the middle aged man in the group interjected smoothly.

"David, would you like to introduce us?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Dave responded flustered, as if he had momentarily forgotten about the others. "Kurt this is Robert Stiegler, Victor Lopez, and Delilah Pane."

Kurt shook hands with each of them as Dave said their names and they each smiled politely back at him.

"Kurt and I went to high school together, back in Ohio," Dave explained to the group. He and Kurt exchanged a meaningful look then, and a subsequent subdued smile. Neither of them would ever forget what happened between them, but the pain of it had long since passed, leaving only a formative kind of bond around what they had endured and overcome together.

"Well, it looks like you two have some catching up to do!" Mr. Robert Stiegler declared. "Why don't you go off and I'll find you in a little while?" he said to David genially.

The man had an affable air about him that made him charming and exceedingly likable, but in a totally inconspicuous way. Kurt's curiosity as to his relationship with David grew considerably.

"Okay, thanks. Talk to you all later," David said politely to the group and he followed Kurt across the room to a secluded spot.

"So who is that?" Kurt asked, desperate for the forthcoming elucidation of Dave's company and presence here.

"Mr. Steigler is my mentor. He's a sports agent. I sometimes go with him to meet clients, if they are in or around New York."

The minute David said "sports agent" the wheels in Kurt's brain began turning. He had not forgotten what Dave had said in the hospital last year, about wanting to become a sports agent himself and by all accounts, it seemed the boy was following through. Good for him.

The disclosure of Mr. Steigler's profession also caused Kurt to realize why the tall handsome man in the group looked familiar to him. He was a baseball player. Kurt could remember seeing the occasional close up of the man's face on his father's big screen TV, sweating in high-def as he prepared to pitch a baseball across a plate at 105 mph.

"And the handsome gentleman is his client, I take it," Kurt filled in, prompting Dave to say more.

"Yeah," Dave said with a chuckle, clearly amused by Kurt's affected pronouncement of 'handsome gentleman.'

"Lopez plays for the LA Dodgers. Got a pretty impressive record, actually. Almost pitched a no-hitter against the Giants last year and averaged-"

Dave stopped as he looked at Kurt's overly amused face.

"What?" Dave asked a bit confrontationally. Kurt smirk got to him a bit, even though the boy was obviously not in mean spirits.

"Nothing, just…you."

"What about me?" Dave replied, nervously, still a bit on edge.

"Nothing. You just seem so…happy," Kurt responded letting his honest surprise show.

If his expression was anything to go by, Dave was taken aback by this response.

"Oh. Well yeah, I guess," he then said shrugging, as his face turned pink and sheepish.

It was so endearingly sweet Kurt had to laugh. He'd already had just enough champagne that day to make him a bit loopy, and, as it happened, a bit more verbose than usual.

"You're so cute," he said out loud, then, before he could stop himself.

A moment that had previously been light-hearted suddenly turned weighty and awkward. At Kurt's words, Dave's slight blush turned a full on beet-red and the boy shuffled his feet nervously, avoiding Kurt's eyes. He then changed the subject quickly.

"So, last I heard you were still in Ohio. How did you end up out here?"

"It's a long, complicated story," Kurt replied as he delicately waved away David's question with his right hand. "Suffice it to say I was 'discovered' by Jane and she offered me a position in her company. The pay is terrible but I'm learning a lot and I get to come to events like this, so all in all, it's a good deal. I love it."

"Yeah, I bet," Dave said, grinning at Kurt's apparent glee. There was no doubt the boy fit right in amongst the throng of high-end fashionistas and it occurred to Dave that it must be nice for someone like Kurt to finally live in a world where he wasn't always the odd man out.

"So, tell me, why is your Mr. Steigler meeting his client here, of all places?"

"Well Victor's only in town for a few days. He came to see his girlfriend walk in the show, and Robert has been trying to get him a meeting with Calvin Klein's people."

"An endorsement deal?" Kurt asked, his professional side kicking in.

"Yup," Dave replied.

"Underwear?" Kurt further probed.

"Well, it's what will get him the most money, and exposure," Dave replied matter-of-factly.

Realizing the pun a second after he said it, Dave met Kurt's eyes and they both cracked up.

"Yeah, I'll say," Kurt concurred after moment, still giggling slightly. "Well he's certainly hot enough."

"Tell me about it," Dave continued, still light-hearted but in a definite undertone.

Since the subject of Dave's attractions had been broached, Kurt took that moment to ask, "So are you seeing anyone?"

Dave then let out a snort that gave the answer plain as day.

"No," he said emphatically, looking down and shuffling his feet again.

"You?" he then asked after a minute. "Still with that guy from back home? Or is there someone else?"

"I…um, well it's…complicated," Kurt responded his discomfort blatantly evident.

Dave knew the correct thing to do would be to leave it alone and change the subject. But with the discovery that the boy was living in the same city as him, and that his relationship status was murky at best, Dave could not help but press the advantage the moment seem to be offering.

"Complicated like there's someone else, or complicated like long distance is hard?"

"Complicated like we had a huge fight over Christmas and we've barely spoken at all since then," Kurt replied.

"Oh, I see. Well, I would try to give you advice at this point but I'm afraid I'm fairly useless when it comes to relationships."

"That's okay. I'm beginning to think I am as well."

At that moment, a waiter arrived and offered a tray of freshly poured champagne flutes. Both Dave and Kurt took one without hesitation.

"To being useless!" Kurt declared dramatically, as he tilted his glass toward Dave.

Dave smiled and instantly clinked their glasses together.

"To being useless," he repeated, downing a healthy sip immediately after.

The equilibrium of the moment restored, Kurt continued with their light-hearted catching up.

"So you seem awfully young to already be meeting clients with a mentor. How did you swing that?"

"Well, you're right. Most of the guys in my program don't start their mentorship till their second or third year. But you could say I got lucky. Mr. Steigler was looking for a new mentee in the fall, but the first event he was attending with a client was the Fall Fashion Week. Pro athletes have a thing for models, and a lot of them come into town to see their girlfriends walking in the shows, or just to mingle. Most of the guys in my program were uncomfortable with the idea of coming to an event like this, so I was the only one who ended up volunteering."

"That's weird. I'd have thought they would have loved to hang out near a bunch of models, too" Kurt replied, unthinking.

"Yeah, but a lot of them don't want to hang out around a bunch of faeries," Dave responded, with a meaningful look.

"Oh, I see," Kurt replied, cottoning on. "Well, their loss, your gain."

"Yup. Worked out really well, actually."

"Oh, now I really see," Kurt said teasing after a moment, as if he had stumbled upon Dave's real reason for coming. "You volunteered because you thought it would be a good place to pick up guys."

Dave could not help but laugh at this.

"Yep, that's totally it. You found me out."

They both shared a smile over the idea of Dave using his mentorship as a means to find dates. Although truth be told, the idea had not entirely eluded Dave when he originally volunteered to go during the fall. He knew what he liked, and he knew there would be no shortage of it at such an event. And although he had not been wrong, catching anyone's attention had been another matter entirely.

Dave was not exactly practiced or fluent in the codes and habits of gay male pick-ups. He also was fairly certain that most of the men at events like this took one casual glance at him and immediately passed him off as straight. Which wasn't exactly unwarranted. He knew they were only being efficiently pragmatic. But it was still frustrating sometimes not be given even the chance to indicate interest. Perhaps if he were better dressed he might have more of a shot, but he did not know the first thing about fashion, or style, or what might be more flattering on him.

Almost as if he could hear Dave's thoughts, Kurt then chimed in with a question.

"Although, can I give you some advice?" he asked as he grimaced in mock discomfort.

"What?" Dave replied in kind, raising an eyebrow at the other boy's affected expression.

"Next time, don't wear that tie. It doesn't really match, and mustard is not your color anyways."

"What would you suggest, then, oh wise and all knowing fashion guru?" Dave inquired with exaggerated deference

"A pale pink," Kurt said after a moment, his tone softening to suggest he was being serious once again. "Pink goes well with blue," the boy said with an air of professionalism, as he removed a piece of lint from the front of Dave's suit jacket and smoothed it out. "And it would complement your coloring."

Silence hung in the air and this time it wasn't awkward but weighty with promise; the moment was affectionate and it held the possibility of something more, something much more. It made Dave's heart skip a beat. And it heralded the return of the butterflies in Kurt's stomach.

After a long beat, Dave broke the silence and simply said with quiet sincerity, "Okay. Next time pink, I promise."

His tone said he meant it and Kurt felt something in that moment he had not felt in a very long time – a frank and unmistakable sexual thrill. The words "I promise" whispered in Dave's soft voice shivered down his spine and tingled on his finger tips. And for a brief second Kurt had the mad urge to actually kiss the other boy.

Repressing that feeling he simply smiled and said, "I look forward to it."

That would have been The Moment, the moment for someone to ask someone if they would like to go get a drink or a cup of coffee or go see a movie some time. But unfortunately, before such a turn of events was allowed, Mr. Stiegler came and apologized for having to ferret Dave away. The boys regretfully said goodbye to each other, exchanging phone numbers before Dave was inauspiciously hurried off.

Both were sad they did not have more time to catch up with one another. But both were equally hopeful today was just the beginning of something wonderful on the horizon. They each knew, without a doubt, the exchange of phone numbers had not been a perfunctory nicety and that more was surely to come.

And indeed, not five minutes after they parted, both were aching to make use of the brand new contact number saved in their pockets. But both waited, each too scared of seeming desperate or clingy. So instead they kept their distance and counted the hours before it would appropriate to make contact again.

It felt like a really long wait all around.