Delmonico's is a real restaurant in New York, and quite expensive. Also, the first section will be strange because I am neither American nor a university graduate so you'll have to grant me artistic license. Contains almost insufferable amounts of cheese and fluff and needless building of suspense, and is largely unedited.

A lot of the emotions in this are drawn from when my dad proposed to my now-stepmum. Which is actually why this is so cheesy and fluffy (her hands were shaking so much). Except that proposal had me there and I lasted about two minutes before I started cracking truly awful jokes.

"Blaine Anderson."

Blaine walked across the stage to the dean. They shook hands as the dean handed Blaine his diploma. When he looked over, Kurt smiled and gave him a thumbs up, trying very hard not to start crying, and Blaine's grin stretched even wider.

When, on Blaine's left, Cooper cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "WHOO, BLAINE," and effectively ruined the moment.

"Cooper!" Kurt hissed, lightly hitting Cooper's arm as laughter broke out over the crowd of new graduates and their friends and family, and the dean shook his head, unamused.

The most wonderful thing about New York, Kurt had long ago decided, wasn't Broadway. Yes, Broadway was the initial and a major appeal, but it only came second. The first was being able to be Blaine's boyfriend in public without worry of garnering abuse. As they waited for their food in Delmonico's (mostly Kurt's treat, since his internship was surprisingly well paid), Kurt and Blaine kept their fingers linked and resting on the table, Blaine stroking his thumb across the back of Kurt's hand, even as they talked to their families.

Neither of them would ever admit it but Kurt and Blaine had cried when they'd found out Blaine's parents and brother would be attending his graduation; and then again when Kurt's parents, and even Finn and Rachel, had informed them they would too; and then a third time when everyone had said they would also be joining them for the post-graduation meal. (Kurt had actually cried for a fourth time on his own because otherwise Blaine would ask questions.)

When their food arrives, nerves flooded Kurt's stomach. Which was bizarre because he really had no need to be nervous at all. Was this how Blaine had felt just before their first kiss?

He untangled his hand from Blaine's, stood up, and picked up his flute of champagne. When Finn and Cooper didn't immediately fall silent, Kurt raised an eyebrow at them. Blaine stifled a laugh and tapped his own flute until they shut up.

"Thank you," Kurt said, smiling now, and thankful his voice was coming out smoothly. "Before we eat, I would like to say a few words."

"Kurt," Blaine laughed. (And could their families be any more obvious? Grinning at each other was not conducive to keeping a secret. Thank god Blaine was too caught up making heart eyes at Kurt to notice.

"Blaine," Kurt returned, turning his whole body to address his entire speech to his boyfriend. He felt his smile soften; this was the smile just for Blaine. "I know you're probably tired of hearing this already but congratulations. You've finally graduated. Double majors aren't easy and we're all so, so proud of you." Kurt smiled wider and Blaine looked up at him, pressing his lips together through his own smile to control his emotions. "I'm so proud of you. These last two years have been really tough but you made it."

Kurt drew a deep breath, his nerves turning to anticipation, because of course he had no reason to be nervous.

"The next step is the rest of your life, love. I know you haven't decided what you want to do yet but I also know that, whatever you choose, you'll be happy." With a quick glance around the table (why is Rachel crying? I haven't even asked yet), Kurt put down his flute, brought the box out of his pocket, and went down on one knee. Blaine's jaw dropped for a moment before his lips stretched into a smile larger than Kurt had ever seen, and his eyes sparkled with tears. And when Kurt spoke again, he didn't even care that his voice was shaking. "And I hope you'll let me be there for ever moment.

"Blaine Anderson, will you marry me?"

"Yes, absolutely, yes." Blaine nodded eagerly, and then reached out and pulled Kurt up by his lapels. Kurt would have told him off for that but Blaine was kissing him and he was kissing Blaine and Blaine had just said yes. And when they broke apart, their families were already standing, and both men were being pulled into endless hugs.

It was the unshed tears in Blaine's father's eyes that caused Kurt to start crying. Mr Anderson had been so awkward when they'd first met and now he was unconditionally happy for them and giving Kurt a hug so tight he could barely breathe.

Then Kurt found himself in Blaine's arms again.

"I love you," he murmured into Blaine's shoulder.

"I love you too," Blaine replied. They pulled apart, smiling widely at each other. "So where's my ring?" he asked, and Kurt felt like he was going to explode from how happy he was.

With shaking hands, he picked the band (thin, silver, plain but for three small diamonds embedded in the top) out of its box and slid it onto Blaine's left-hand ring finger (he was pleased to see that Blaine's hands were also shaking). He brought Blaine's hand up to his lips so he could kiss the ring, closing his eyes against another wave of tears. Of course, when he looked up and saw Blaine's eyes shining, he felt his own eyes welling up again anyway.

"You know, this totally isn't fair," Blaine said, his voice thick with emotion. "I actually had this whole proposal planned out for you."

Forget exploding - Kurt was going to float up to the ceiling like a helium-filled balloon with how light he felt.

He gave Blaine a quivering smile and a firm kiss.

"And you're going to let this stop you?"

Five weeks later, during a fairly normal walk through Central Park, Blaine insisted on them rowing out onto the lake. (It took them almost five minutes to figure out a rhythm that didn't make them move in circles.) They stopped about forty metres from the shore so Blaine could play his guitar while they sang traditionally female songs, starting with the clean version of Perfect (there were, after all, children around).

And then Blaine asked Kurt to marry him in return.