SUBWAY STRANGERS

— CHAPTER 4

XVIII.I

In a moment of sheer panic, Kurt hailed a taxi.

The moment he sat down and told the cabbie where to go, he immediately regretted it. Why waste the perfect opportunity? Kurt could say he saw him perform at a bar his friend recommended, which was, after all, the truth. That guy—Lucas—must have said something. It was the perfect excuse.

What the hell was he so afraid of?

Blaine sat in the train that morning, tapping his foot, not out of the need to move to the music on his iPod, but rather, out of nervousness.

How does one go about initiating contact in a situation like this?

Blaine shook his head, no, he'd cross that bridge when he got there, so he waited.

And wait was all he was able to do.

XIX.I

It was Friday, and Kurt's only Saturday class was cancelled. So he went to the bar. In the middle of the day.

The bell jingled and Kurt prayed to the universe that he wouldn't be there. Please don't be there.

But he was. The moment his foot stepped onto the wooden floor, a mess of curls moved over and greeted him. He was wearing a black short sleeved polo, the first button left open, showing a patch of skin and a few chest hairs poking out. Kurt's mouth dried up at the sight.

The boy—Blaine—seemed to lose his composure for about half a second as his eyes widened, but he regained it quickly.

"Table for one, sir?"

Kurt's mouth moved wordlessly a couple times before he was able to choke out a "Yes."

"Let me take your coat," He said, and Kurt nodded slowly and just stood there as the boy put his hands on his shoulders and took the coat and placed it on a rack by the door. The touch made Kurt's skin buzz, even through several layers.

Blaine's mouth curled up in a smile as he gestured for Kurt to follow him, "Right this way, sir."

The restaurant was brighter during the day, with the lights turned up a notch and the sunlight poking through the curtains. There was a small crowd of people over at the booths, the sounds of glasses and silverware the only noise in the air. It was light, and it seemed like the kind of restaurant Kurt would frequent.

He sat at a circular table at the corner of the room, right next to the window. When he sat down, Kurt stared at the small centrepiece; a single flower in a glass vase. Anything to keep his eyes from wandering to—

"My name is Blaine," His grin was wide and infectious, "And I'll be your server this afternoon."

Kurt pursed his lips and nodded. His fingers fiddled with the hem of his vest. Blaine held out a menu for him to take. When Kurt refused to meet his eyes, he just placed it in front of him on the table and smiled again.

"Just call me when you're ready to order," Flashing another toothy grin, he left.

Kurt would never survive being a waiter—smiling all the time, and at people who didn't care about you. He'd go insane before the first day was over.

He flipped open his menu and stared, the word swirling around in his head.

Blaine gripped Lucas' bicep with more force than necessary, "Dude, he's here."

"Who's here?" He said, ignoring the pain in his arm and continuing to clean up the dirty plates from a recently emptied table. Blaine's voice became more panicked.

"Kurt." He hissed, and then looked over his shoulder to the pale boy sitting by the window, the sunlight dancing lightly on his table and across his lap. What was he going to do? Keep playing dumb? No, he couldn't just make conversation with a customer. He had to stay professional. What was he going to do? Lucas chuckled.

"You're on break in half an hour. When he finishes, grow some balls and ask him out." Lucas brushed his arm of impatiently and went into the kitchen.

Ask him out?

He made it sound so simple.

Kurt kept glancing up from his menu to stare at Blaine, who had retreated to the darker area of the restaurant near the kitchen door. He was talking to someone.

Oh, crap. Kurt recognized the bright blonde hair.

It was Lucas. Blaine was talking to Lucas.

He hid his face behind the menu once again, trying to remember exactly what he had said to the blonde when they met. Shit, most of it had been Lucas teasing him about Blaine, which honestly, was entirely Kurt's fault. After a bit of consideration, ultimately deciding on a Caesar salad and some yummy looking rolls filled with cream cheese.

It was a bit of a splurge, but this week stressed him out more than usual. He deserved it.

Seven minutes was long enough to decide on what to eat, right? Not the Blaine was counting.

He walked back over to Kurt, whose face was expressionless.

"I—uh," Kurt started, leaning his head downward to hide the blush that was slowly spreading on his cheeks, and Blaine tried not to smiled in amusement.

"I think I'll just get the, um—" Kurt just pointed at the menu, and Blaine just nodded, his lips in a tight smile as he jotted down his order.

"Got it. Your meal will be here shortly," Blaine said, smiling wide at Kurt, who decided to fiddle with his cellphone.

Blaine bit his lip as he walked back to the kitchen. He announced Kurt's order and then chef nodded at him. Lucas pushed into the room, a smirk on his face.

"Dude, you have got to calm down."

Blaine glared at him before he brushing past him, back into the flurry of other customers he was supposed to serving. Kurt wasn't the only person in the restaurant after all.

XIX.V

Blaine didn't say a word when Kurt's food arrived, the two of them communicating with facial expressions and hand gestures. A tentative raise of his glass to indicated he'd like a refill. A smile when his food was served.

It kept Kurt calm. Why was he so nervous anyway? What's wrong with him?

It didn't help that he decided to actually text someone instead of just staring at his phone. That move resulted in a flood of texts from Rachel, telling him that if that boy really was "that attractive," then Kurt should just get up and talk to him.

If only it were that easy. If Kurt ever had an actual conversation with Blaine, the only thing it would be was awkward, considering he's done nothing but stare at the boy every time he was in the same room as him. God, it was like he was in high school again.

A forkful of lettuce was halfway to Kurt's mouth when the chair opposite him was suddenly occupied. Lucas' eyes were practically gleaming with mischief as he held up his hand to prevent Kurt from saying anything. Strangely, it worked.

"Let's get this straight," He started, leaning an elbow onto the table and not-very-discreetly pointed at Blaine, "You find him hot."

Kurt opened his mouth to protest, but he held up his hand again and continued, "And he finds you hot."

His blue eyes widened at that, and Kurt felt his stomach flutter again. Blaine found him hot? Really? Lucas caught on his expression, "Yes, he does. And now, riddle me this, buttercup, why are you making this so difficult?"

Lucas finally gave him space to say something, but he was at a loss for words. He opened his mouth several times but his thoughts got stuck somewhere on the way to his lips. What was with him lately? Was school getting to him? This wasn't good, especially since his major required him to be able to think logically and speak with persuasiveness under pressure. Still, Lucas was a character, acting like he knew what Kurt should and shouldn't do. He probably didn't know anything about their regular subway encounters.

If you could call them encounters.

All he managed was, "In what way am I making this difficult?"

Lucas laughed, not loud enough to draw attention to himself, but loud enough to make Kurt raise an eyebrow at him.

"Sweetheart, stop making things so complicated. If you think he's hot, then just talk to him." Rachel's texts flashed in Kurt's mind, and he stared blankly at Lucas' amused grin, "It's not that hard. I do it all the time."

Kurt scowled, wondering why on earth this idiot was talking to him. He didn't know anything about Kurt, but somehow, everything he said made sense.

Why was Kurt being so difficult?

He raised his hand in the air, "Bill please?"

Lucas was gone before Blaine could catch sight of him.

You can do this, Blaine. You can.

It's just a goddamn number. It's not like you're proposing.

He took a deep breath and hung up his apron in the backroom.

Kurt had paid and he had given him his change. It was 1:30 pm, which meant Blaine was on break now. He walked out of the back door just in time to see a flash of chestnut brown hair turn the corner. Blaine could've walked, just caught up with him over time. No, he didn't. Instead, he ran.

Blaine tapped Kurt's shoulder when he was close enough, still a bit breathless. Kurt walked fast.

"Hey," He greeted, smiling as wide as he could.

"Hi," Kurt said, his eyes widening at the sight of the other boy, "How may I help you?"

Blaine's grin was replaced with urgency, "Oh—um, I mean, hi. I'm Blaine. Of course you know I'm Blaine, I was your waiter, anyway, um, I saw you the other night. And we see each other on the train, right? That's you, right? And I was just—I, um, god, I was just wondering if I could have your number."

What the fuck are doing, Anderson? Pull yourself together.

Kurt raised an eyebrow at him, an amused smile creeping onto his face. Blaine could've sworn he's never blushed harder in his life.

"Yes, that's me on the train." Kurt started, opening his coat pocket and pulling out the pen he always kept there, "And since you asked so nicely," He looked like he was supressing it, but a giggle escaped. Blaine scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed as hell.

"Give me your hand."

It took a couple seconds for that to register in Blaine's head, but he held out his arm and Kurt held it softly as he wrote his number on the back of his hand. The boy's fingertips made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. His hand was soft.

"Make sure you actually use that number," Kurt said, smiling wider as he capped his pen and put it back in his pocket. Blaine nodded mutely, his grin growing as each second passed.

"See you," Kurt said, turning around and walking away.

Blaine looked at his hand. It was actually his number.

He couldn't subdue his glee, so he skipped back to the restaurant, grinning wider than he's ever remember grinning before.

Lucas spent the next hour trying to calm him down enough to be able to go back to work.

A/N: SORRY IT'S SO SHORT OMG I FEEL SO BADDDDD. SORRY GUYS, BUT IT'S FINALS UP UNTIL MARCH 23, I DON'T THINK I'LL BE ABLE TO UPDATE UNTIL THEN. (and i've got a party on the 24rd, so, yeah.) by the way, thanks to some of you guys who encouraged me. I'm most probably not failing math! I did well enough on my last test on my final project to pass. Anyway, yeah. Finals time. That's college for you. I promise to write a shitload in that grace period in between the end of this semester and the start of the summer semester, so yeah. Sorry it's short! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed :)

PS. i changed my tumblr url again. i've changed it thrice since i started writing this, jesus. it's now tequiladarren, but i'm on hiatus right now :) so. yeah.