Going into the quarantine, Kurt had thought of Rachel as both his greatest asset and biggest challenge. She was ahead of the curve when news of a rapidly spreading virus first began to appear. With a callback for an ensemble track in Wicked coming up she refused to take any chances, and had quickly evolved into an absolute nightmare to live with (or more of a nightmare, really). Kurt didn't mind it at first — Rachel's first measure for keeping herself safe was dedicating nearly seven hours to deep cleaning their apartment. She'd done an impeccable job — Kurt hadn't seen the apartment so clean since the day they moved in. Hell, it was probably cleaner than it was when they first moved in.

But things quickly took a turn for the worse. She imposed a curfew on all house guests, along with an additional rule that any guests be kept strictly in the living room. Under no circumstances were non-inhabitants allowed to enter the kitchen, either of their bedrooms, or even the bathroom. Kurt had briefly considered murder when Rachel berated his coworker who had swung by for after work drinks because she deigned to ask to use the bathroom.

Kurt is prideful, and refuses to admit that Rachel was right to be so concerned about the virus as the city gradually slows to a halt. They watch as their favorite neighborhood spots begin to close down and the shelves of their always plentiful grocery store grow barren. Kurt is able to get a seat on the subway every day during his final week of commuting to the Vogue offices in midtown — which hasn't happened in all of the years he's lived in Park Slope with Rachel. It's eerie, to say the least, and he finds himself counting down the days until he's free of the obligation to come into the office.

Kurt's boss, Isabelle, can sense his apprehension as things in the Vogue offices grow more and more hectic. Assistants are running around frantically to try to juggle their usual work loads, along with the added task of holding down the office while their bosses are working from home. Isabelle was cleared to work from home weeks ago, but insisted on standing by her staff and helping out with the transition to remote work until the very last moment. Kurt's immensely grateful, her presence alone is a calming beacon in a sea of uncertainty. She sends him home early on their last full day in the office, insisting that he take the rest of the day to take a much needed self care break. She even sneaks a bag of her favorite lavender bath salts into his bag before he heads out, with an attached note telling him to relax and enjoy.

Kurt has been in his apartment for approximately five minutes when Rachel arrives and dashes any bit of calm Kurt's managed to muster on the ride home. She announces that she's moving back to Ohio to wait out the remainder of the quarantine. It was no secret that her dads had become increasingly concerned about her remaining in New York. They'd pleaded with her to consider coming back home — it would make them feel so much better if they could at least keep an eye on her. She insists that she can't bear to part with the city, and that it's for the best that she stick it out — no one knows when the city will awaken once again and she needs to be ready at a moment's notice for Broadway's eventual return.

It's no secret to Kurt, or anyone for that matter, that Rachel's dads pay her rent. They agreed to alleviate the financial pressures of making rent every month for her to pursue her acting career full time. Kurt had spent several months stewing in jealousy about her ability to spend entire days doing either nothing, or bouncing from auditions to vocal classes to dance classes without a care. There had been a time when he'd hoped he could balance his own burgeoning acting career with his then part time apprenticeship at Vogue, but when Isabelle plucked him out of the sea of apprentices to be her full time assistant all hopes of managing an acting career and a full time career in fashion were dashed. In time, he gets over the initial disappointment — working for Isabelle has been a dream, and while the work itself isn't groundbreaking or all that meaningful he knows he's on the path to something great.

When the subject of Rachel moving home comes up yet again during her usual Thursday night Skype call with her dads, Kurt can't help but crane his neck and try to catch snippets of the conversation from his place in the kitchen. Her dads reveal that Hiram is temporarily out of work — the theatre where he's served as an artistic director for the past several years had to shutter for the time being due to the quarantine. They're financially stable with Leroy's steady income, but can no longer continue to support Rachel. It's a huge blow — Rachel doesn't attempt to hide her disappointment. After she hangs up minutes later she makes her way to the living room and collapses onto the couch. Kurt keeps to himself, focusing on the onions he's sautéing, when she breaks out into sobs.

Rachel spends the following two weeks doing her best to find some kind of income source. She has enough saved up to cover her rent for the next three months, but she'd have to seriously cut back on a number of luxuries — notably her favorite brand of organic oat milk. At no point does Kurt worry — he has enough on his plate, he doesn't need to tack on Rachel's problems too. The announcement that she's decided to move back home to Ohio is shocking — he hadn't expected her to give in to her dads. Though she'd never admit it, Broadway will always come first, her fathers doomed to always come in second.

"Are you still going to pay your half of the rent until you're back?" Kurt asks, not bothering to beat around the bush. It's a difficult time for everyone, and the last thing he needs is the brunt of paying for a two bedroom apartment on his humble salary.

"About that…" Rachel begins, biting her lip as she ducks her head — it's her tell, she's done something Kurt won't be happy about.

"What did you do, Rachel?" Kurt begins to investigate the living room, looking for anything out of place. Ever since she'd sold their shared coffee table so she could buy a new microphone ("For self tapes!") he's kept a watchful eye over their mutual possessions.

"It's not so bad, I swear!" she calls out, rushing into her room before returning with her laptop.

"That implies that whatever you've done is bad," Kurt replies, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms.

"Think of this as a social experiment."

Kurt is prepared to strangle Rachel as she turns her laptop to him. It's pulled up to a Facebook profile — it's not anyone Kurt immediately recognizes. Blaine Anderson — definitely not anyone he knows. Kurt squints as he scrutinizes what he can see of the profile — wondering if "Blaine" is someone who went to NYADA with him and Rachel, and what he has to do with their current predicament. It dawns on him mere seconds before Rachel announces with a flourish:

"Meet your quarantine roommate!"