There was a great deal of effort made to make it seem like any other day. It was nerve wracking enough without more attention being drawn to it. They stayed in bed far longer than they ever had even on the laziest of mornings, and Blaine had only relented into getting up because of a strong need for coffee. Kurt had gotten dressed quickly so they could go down the street to the coffee shop he'd come to be completely familiar with, and the baristas who worked there had come to know him as well since he no longer had to state his order when they got to the counter. The familiarity of that was more than welcome that particular morning.

"I want to go over really early," Blaine said as they walked back to the warehouse, having gotten some pastries to eat with their coffee for breakfast – though by that point it was practically lunch. Kurt didn't feel particularly hungry, but if he didn't eat then he probably would have avoided it even more as the day went on, and that would have ended badly. "Just to make sure everything is perfect."

They ate on the roof, not leaving the open air to descend back into the building until their food and coffee were gone entirely and it was clear they were simply putting off the inevitable. The two garment bags hanging in the front of Blaine's closet seemed almost ominous, just waiting for the moment they needed to unzip them and get ready for the evening. They had a while still but Kurt knew they were bound to get ready earlier than necessary, even with wanting to be to the gallery early, because of the anxiety of waiting and also in case something went wrong that needed to be fixed. What if his jacket didn't fit? Or the tie went horribly? He felt ridiculous being so worried, considering that he'd tried it all on the night before slipping it into the bag to take to Blaine's, but there was always the question ofwhat if?

What kept Kurt from losing himself to his thoughts more than anything else was how in sync he was with Blaine. It was like their internal schedules regarding that day were timed out perfectly, like they both had the same ideas for what needed to happen when and just how it would go. That was why when Kurt had moved to take a shower, Blaine had just gotten there to turn on the water and the glass door of the shower was already getting fogged with steam. That was how they'd climbed into it together and taken the extra time just tobethere together in that moment and let the hot water pound against their skin and wash away the tension underneath it.

It was a long, glorious shower, and Kurt was glad for it. He got out of it feeling more relaxed than he would have expected to be, knowing what was ahead for the night, but even as he dried off and started to get dressed, he could still feel the warm press of Blaine's hands against his skin, the way Blaine's fingertips had rubbed against his scalp as he'd washed his hair, and how his own fingers had twisted gently into the curls of Blaine's hair as he'd lathered shampoo and conditioner into them each in turn. They'd kept each other close, almost like if they'd moved to far apart the calm that was there in the air around them would have dissipated and it would have been back to stress and nerves.

That closeness remained the entire time they got ready, standing arm to arm to be able to both use the mirror in the bathroom while they were doing their hair and then putting their suits on piece by piece, side by side, and Kurt couldn't help but smile as he found himself absently straightening Blaine's bow tie just after Blaine had finished tying it. That was the moment it really hit him that they were so well in tune with each other, because as soon as his fingers had moved up to straighten the bow tie, Blaine's hands had shifted to smooth down the lapels of Kurt's jacket.

They took a car over, and it was the first time Kurt had made the journey not by subway. It was very different; being able to see everything from the window of the car as opposed to ignoring what was going on around him on the train. Blaine's hand didn't leave his the entire ride, occasionally flexing against his or lacing their fingers together tighter, and Kurt just let his thumb rub over the back of his hand in response. He could feel the nerves jumbling in his stomach the closer they got, and by the time they arrived and climbed out of the car, he felt like he might throw up.

"Okay," Blaine murmured, more to himself than anyone else, as he got out the keys and let them into the gallery. There was paper covering the windows still, though the Synergy logo was there on the window clear as anything, and that was enough for the feeling ofthis is realto set in completely.

The gallery looked magnificent, polished and clean and more put together than Kurt had imagined it would when he'd left the night before. It wasn't that he'd doubted anyone's ability to put it together, it was just that it lookedprofessionaland he knew that was what they were, but he was used to the warehouse and nothing else. That space, their gallery, was more beautiful than he had been able to envision. His hand tightened in Blaine's before letting it go so he could step in further and take it in even more.

"Blaine!" Kurt's head turned quickly at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, and there was a girl he'd never seen before moving out from behind the small desk sitting near the door. Blaine was smiling, which put him more at ease, and after a brief hug was exchanged between the two, the girl smiled and crossed the small distance to Kurt.

"Kurt, right? Hi, I'm Tina," she said, holding out her hand and shaking his firmly once he offered it. "So nice to finally meet you in person."

"Nice to meet you too," he replied, his brow furrowing slightly.

"Tina handles all our media," Blaine explained, biting his lip with a light grin. "Well, she maintains our website and helped a great deal in getting tonight planned and put together as smoothly as it went. She's also who I have to constantly thank for getting you here."

"I may or may not have been the person who hacked into your computer at work," Tina admitted, looking rather proud of herself. "I mean, their security was kind of easy to get through but..."

"Somehow I'm not surprised," Kurt said, a smile turning up the corners of his mouth as he leaned down to brush a light kiss against her cheek. "Thank you."

"Anyway, I was just going to start getting things ready, I need to get the covers off the windows and clean them before I can get changed," Tina went on, wandering away from them as she spoke. It sounded like she was going through a checklist in her head, and Blaine slipped his arm around Kurt's waist to pull him further into the gallery as she started in on the windows.

It was like he didn't know where to look first, and he settled on taking in the arrangements of work for each artist from each other. They were at the far end of the gallery, meaning that they had to walk through everything else to get to them but he figuring working their way back to the front would work out just fine. It was surreal, seeing it all finally put together. The pieces from Brittany were clearly the biggest, stretching almost entirely from the floor to ceiling, with the other pieces arranged to the side of each. Kurt was drawn to his first, which he felt was probably natural, and he let go of Blaine's hand to stand and take it in.

Santana had done an incredible job with his silhouette, taking what information he'd given her and somehow working it all in. There were pieces of everything, from fashion magazines, pictures of places in Ohio that he recognized, pieces of pencils he'd worn down and she'd asked for, scraps of fabric, all somehow coming together to make a more accurate representation of himself than he'd honestly expected. It stood out beautifully beside his dance with Brittany, below the pictures from Blaine. There were three pictures, all different in their own right. There was the first one Blaine had taken, when he'd made Kurt blush right off the bat, in black and white, the middle one in color with the green pigment standing starkly against his skin as he looked straight on at the camera, and then the last in black and white with one of his hands against his neck and the other in his hair, charcoal and pigment clearly smudged across his skin.

Sam had made a stamp of the Brooklyn Bridge – he'd asked Kurt what his favorite landmark of the city was – but as if it had been constructed out of pencils instead of how it was in real life, and done a print of it. The detail of it was incredible, and Kurt found himself standing as close as he could get without touching to take it all in. Quinn had done a piece for all of them together, which Kurt had known because she'd commented how she didn't know what she would do for anyone individually but she had an idea for them as a collective. It was in the middle of that area, between all their organized representations of each other. The sculpture was simple but elegant, and it wasn't difficult to see what she was trying to convey – that they were a cohesive unit and that being there together was their own version of home. There were little instances of each of them there, easy to pick out for the knowledgeable eye but not so abstract that someone just wandering through wouldn't have been able to see it, especially with all the helpful hints of the art around them.

One by one he took in the art that had been done for everyone else. The photographs were incredible, which Kurt had expected but it was different to see them done of people he considered his friends as opposed to strangers seen in passing. There was something beautiful that Blaine had been able to catch in them all, almost haunting in some, and Kurt wasn't sure if he'd ever be over the fact that he had such gorgeously talented people in his life – and that one in particular. Brittany had chosen a specific dance for everyone, and it was easy to see how they'd all so wonderfully reflected the person involved. Maybe some people would just look and see footprints jumbled together, but those people clearly weren't looking. There was his waltz, Blaine's jive, Quinn's foxtrot, Sam's salsa, and Santana's rumba, and maybe it was the bit of research he'd done for her drawing that made them stand out so clearly to him but no matter what it was, they were all right there.

By the time they made it back to the front of the gallery, the windows were uncovered and sparkling clean. Tina had gone off to change, but not before letting in the people who were doing the catering for the evening – and the fact alone that they hadcaterersjust emphasized more to Kurt that this wasrealand they wereactuallydoing it.

Everyone else showed up early, just like they were supposed to. They all looked at least a little anxious but incredibly well put together, though Kurt realized he'd never really seen any of them outside of working at the warehouse so of course they would look better when they were covered in paint or clay or the like. Still, there was something to be said about being covered in one's art, and even that thought alone brought a smile to his face because it made him remember that night in the photography studio, pigment filling the air and just how covered in art and each other he and Blaine had been.

The first person who came in that wasn't someone that Kurt didn't recognize was a small girl, shimmering with all the jewelry adorning her, who practically squealed as she looked around at the gallery. She looked positively overjoyedabout it all, and was quickly introduced as Sugar Motta – Blaine's friend who had modeled for him in college and who had been the catalyst for Synergy starting in the first place. Her father was going to be there later, Kurt knew, and he wasn't sure if the amount he was grateful to the man could cancel out how terrified he was of meeting him. It was just the fact that he was the person who'd made everything possible and who essentially held all their futures in his hands, so Kurt figured he was allowed to be a little scared.

Blaine kept his arm firmly around Kurt's waist as they waited for the actual event to start, and Kurt knew it was that need for the calmness that came from being close. Everything was set and there wasn't much they could do but wait for the clock to tick down. There were people from the business who came over to talk to Blaine, clearly the more behind the scenes entities of Synergy, but it wasn't until it was actually time forofficialopening that Kurt realized just how many people were there mingling around the catering tables.

It seemed to move in a blur, from the moment Blaine stepped away to make some sort of announcement or greeting – Kurt couldn't even remember what was said, the way it all seemed to hit at once as soon as he lost that contact. He was still standing there with everyone else, gathered in close together like their solidarity would keep the anxiety from actually getting them. All he knew was that Blaine was his normal charismatic self, that he vaguely remembered a mention of the publication and Motta Industries (which had gotten a whoop from Sugar), and then the mass of well-dressed and incredibly professional looking people were unleashed properly into the gallery.

They mingled, or at least tried to, considering that the people were there to look attheirart and it was the first time anyone in Synergy had ever actually opened themselves up to being known, so there was a fair amount of curiosity. Kurt didn't know how many people he talked to throughout the night, but he did know that the first person who introduced themselves as being from a media source had caught him off guard and he'd taken a moment to recover and remember that Blaine had talked about just how much of the media that had been invited had RSVP'd that they were coming. It was the glimpse behind the curtain that many had been waiting for since Synergy started, and no one had wanted to miss it.

That was what made everything go by so quickly, though far from frantic – the constant stream of people. Kurt wasn't sure he'd ever been asked so many questions about himself, let alone his work, though he was grateful for the ability to pawn some of them off on Blaine. He didn't mind answering some things about Synergy in general but he knew he wasn't the best source of material for that, and Blaine was. Besides, he liked being able to stand back and watch Blaine discuss something he was so passionate about, because if there was one thing he could talk about endlessly it was what he'd been working on building for so many years. Kurt could see the strong sense of ownership that Blaine had in what he did, what he'ddone, and was glad that he was going to get the proper amount of recognition for it despite the fact that he still managed to be incredibly modest and humble about all he'd accomplished.

It was just a whirlwind, and the only thing that kept Kurt from getting swept up in it entirely was the glances he would get from Blaine any time there was a moment of pause. The space seemed so small when it was full of people as it was, but somehow everyone Kurt actually knew seemed far away. It wasn't until the crowd started to thin as the night went on that he felt he could breathe properly, and he was grateful for the glass of wine he found pressed into his hand, Tina offering him a knowing smile before patting his arm and moving back to where she'd been keeping brochures and business cards organized on the top of the desk by the door.

"Now I know why you didn't do this before," Kurt murmured teasingly once he'd finally made his way back to Blaine, his eyes roving over the people still there before looking over to him. "It's a madhouse."

"But thebestmadhouse," Blaine replied, his hand pressing softly against the small of Kurt's back as he leaned up to brush a kiss against his cheek. "And only this mad for a night and then it won't be as bad and we can go back to hiding away in Brooklyn."

"I really can't wait for that," Kurt said, leaning in against him with a soft smile playing across his features. "As nice and perfect as this is."

"Aren't you glad you cut out from your boring job?"

"I've never been more glad for anything in my life."

Because as crazy as it was that night, Kurt knew he'd lucked out in everything leading up to it. Somehow he'd gotten found amongst the masses of people in the city, sought out by people who were good and welcoming, not something that was all that common in New York, and given the opportunity to do what he loved andflourishat it. More than that, there was Blaine. Being able to create artwork as he pleased and do what he wanted, that was all well and good, but he doubted he would have been anywhere near as content with his life he hadn't found someone to share it with, someone to love and be loved by. Maybe that was the luckiest part of all.

And fate. Also fate.