A/N: so Blaine's and Marley's friendship has been my favorite since the beginning of season 4 and I sort of felt the need to write this after the season finale. It was just quickly typed out on my phone, so I apologize for any spelling mistakes!

I don't own Glee or Blaine or Marley or Kurt, I just like to think I do. Totally unfitting title from "Marry Me" by Train because it's the best song ever.

"Blaine?"

Marley's voice makes him jump, and the rubber feet of the chair squeak as they slide slightly across the linoleum. Blaine looks up, sniffing, and he's still turning the ringbox over in his hands. "Hey, Marley."

"What're you doing in here? Everyone else is in the teacher's lounge celebrating," she says, crossing the floor and taking the seat next to Blaine. "I mean, it's not much of a party... but there's coffee and sugar packets."

Blaine sniffs again and shrugs. "Just kinda felt like being alone."

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Marley eyeing the velvet box. "I'm guessing it didn't go so well? The proposal, I mean. Tina sort of told me about it—but it's okay, I'd never say anything," she adds when Blaine looks up at her with wide eyes. "It's not my place."

Blaine sighs and drags a thumb over the seam at the back. "It's alright."

"Am I allowed to see it?" Marley asks hesitantly. Blaine opens the box and holds it out to her, tries not to look at the expensive silver band embedded with white diamonds.

Marley's eyes go wide. "It's beautiful," she breathes. "Must've cost a fortune."

"Just a little one," Blaine chuckles coldly. Marley crosses her hands and sets them in her lap as Blaine closes the box.

"Did he say yes?" she asks after a minute of silence. Blaine's mouth turns down at the corners.

"I didn't ask him," he says, voice wobbling. "I just—I couldn't."

Marley puts a hand on Blaine's shoulder, but he shrugs it off. "Don't. I don't deserve sympathy. I'm just stupid for thinking this would work in the first place."

"Don't say that," Marley says softly, but she retracts her hand anyway. "I mean... you never know. I don't know him very well but I see the way he looks at you, Blaine. Everyone does. Friends don't just look at each other like that."

Blaine bites his bottom lip and wipes a tear from his cheek with his sleeve. "He has a boyfriend back in New York, anyway. He couldn't say yes even if he wanted to. I just—" He takes a steadying breath and composes himself before he speaks again. "I just can't help feeling that I'm not doing everything I can and even with this he's never going to take me back. He's the only person I've ever loved and the only person I probably ever will love and he h-hates me." He lets go of the box—it bounces off his knee and lands upside-down on the floor—and drops his face into his hands, biting his palm to suppress a sob.

Marley sighs and puts a hand on Blaine's shoulder again, and this time he doesn't push it away. "You can't beat yourself up, Blaine," she says, rubbing her thumb over his shirt. "He'll realize what he's missing out on soon and come running back and all you can do is wait with your arms wide open and catch him."

Blaine sniffs and looks sideways up at the girl. "You think he'll come back?"

"Yes!" Marley says with a wide smile. "You're amazing, Blaine Anderson. You're sweet and nice and so wildly talented! Who wouldn't want someone like that? Kurt just needs some time to calm down and who says he can't have fun with someone else while he's doing it?"

Blaine sits up and leans back, thumbs a few tears away and takes a deep breath. Marley rubs at his back. "He'll come back, I promise."

Suddenly there's a knock at the open choir room door. It startles them both; Blaine looks up to see Kurt with his hand poised in a fist and he might've been smiling a second ago but now his face is worried, eyes swimming with questions and mouth turned down. "Are you guys okay in here? You're missing a pretty cool party."

Blaine tries not to look at the box on the floor and Marley notices, subtly kicks it under her chair with her heel and shoots Kurt what she hopes is a convincing smile. "We're fine," she says, pats Blaine's shoulder and stands up. "Blaine was just giving me some wardrobe advice."

"Wait, Blaine, have you been crying?" Kurt asks, stepping into the room. Blaine quickly stands up and plasters on a smile.

"Nope, allergies," he says quickly, sniffs and wrings his hands together as he takes a step towards Kurt. "We were just leaving, actually."

Kurt frowns but doesn't question it, waits for Marley to walk past him before he reaches for Blaine's hand. Blaine takes it, a little too desperately maybe, but if Kurt notices he doesn't say anything.

"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" Kurt questions as they walk down the hall towards the teacher's lounge. Blaine looks at his feet and then at Kurt, nods with a smile and a squeeze of his hand. "I know."

"Good," Kurt says, squeezes his hand back and lets go as they turn into the room. Mercedes beams at them and Blaine takes a deep breath, lets himself be pulled towards the coffee machine where Artie's just about to shovel a spoonful of coffee beans into his mouth and sighs as he leans up against a table. It's going to be a long night.