A/N: This is the my first attempt at Klaine, and my first attempt at something this long in a loooong time. I usually don't post my writing, but I'm actually quite proud of this. So here goes. :)
ALSO, this was written before the finale.
Kurt took a deep breath and turned his head towards Blaine, studying the outline of his face, trying to memorize every curve, every line, and every single little freckle on his boyfriend's face. He reached out and gently ran his fingertips along his cheek, implanting the feel of his skin into his memory. August had come much too soon and he wasn't ready for the morning and leaving Lima, Ohio. He was nowhere near ready to begin the rest of his life. Kurt needed, with every cell in his entire being, for this night to last forever.
"See that?" Blaine's whispered excitedly, his voice breaking Kurt out of his trance and Kurt glanced up to where he was pointing in the sky. A smile flicked across their faces as they watched the shooting star dance its way across the atmosphere, leaving a glittering trail in its wake.
"Make a wish," Kurt heard himself whispering back in the darkness. He usually didn't waste his time or energy on something as pointless as wishes: If he wanted something, he knew he either had to work his ass off to make it his or to just forget it completely. He never had made an eyelash wish, or a wish at 11:11, and he certainly had never made a wish on a shooting star. But tonight was different. Tonight he felt the urge deep down in his bones to make things change, and he knew it was almost too late for him to do anything about it on his own. So he was leaving it up to fate.
Closing his eyes, he took Blaine's hand in his own and gave a squeeze before throwing all of himself into his wish. Selfishly, he wished that Blaine would come to New York with them. There was still time for him to get registered in high school up north, and Kurt already had an apartment with Finn and Rachel. One extra body wouldn't hurt much, especially when leaving that same body in the morning was likely to kill him. But he knew that, after a summer of trying to find the courage to ask such a huge thing of the boy he loved more than life itself, it wasn't likely that he would the night before he left.
Without missing a beat, he was wishing that if Blaine couldn't come with him, that he would ask him to stay in Ohio for just another year, until he was out of high school and could come with him without a fight. He knew that he would say yes without even thinking about what he was doing, and it scared him. If Blaine would just ask, Kurt would put his dreams and life on hold for a year, though he couldn't imagine having a life without Blaine to begin with.
Kurt chewed on his bottom lip, trying to keep the tears at bay. He had been crying all day, and he was pretty sure that was the only reason Burt had actually agreed to let him have the truck for the night for their makeshift campout, and he had promised himself that he wouldn't let his emotions ruin the night.
When he felt Blaine's free hand caressing his cheek, he blinked a few times and glanced over at his boyfriend, trying his best to hide everything behind a smile, though he knew it was probably coming off as something more of a grimace. Kurt leaned into the other's calloused hands and let out a gentle sigh before turning his head to place a simple kiss to his palm.
"I don't want to go," he whispered, surprised by the wavering of his own voice.
"I know."
"I don't want to leave you."
Blaine remained silent as he propped himself up on his elbows, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat as he swallowed back the lump that had formed there. "I don't want you to leave either, Kurt. The thought of you leaving me tomorrow is scaring the shit out of me, and there's a gaping hole in my chest that's already forming and I never in a million years ever dreamed that my heart could physically ache like this because of some guy." A look of confusion crossed over Kurt's face as Blaine moved to reach into the cab of the truck, stretching through the back glass to get into the glove compartment.
"What… Blaine. What is that?" His voice had taken on an almost frantic tone as he looked in Blaine's hands to find a black velvet box. "What ar—"
Blaine's lips moving slowly, methodically against his own cut him off. Just as soon as the kiss started, it was over.
"J-Just be quiet and listen. It's not what you think." Kurt nodded.
"You are everything to me, Kurt Hummel. Ever since I met you, colors have been a little bit brighter; music has been more harmonious; candy has tasted even sweeter. I was lost before I found you, and then you came into my life and suddenly, mine had a purpose. I was found. You've touched me, both literally and figuratively," Blaine blushed a little bit, and Kurt let out an embarrassed cough, "In ways that I'd never imagined. You have impacted my life in such a positive way that it's hard to imagine my life without you in it. Tomorrow is going to be the hardest day I'm ever going to have to go through, and every day after, until I can finally be by your side again."
"We're gonna see each other again over fall break," Kurt interrupted, causing Blaine to perk his eyebrows up into his hairline, trying his best to glare at him for cutting into his speech that he had been preparing for a while now. "Sorry," he mumbled. Kurt had tried to liven the mood, but fall break already felt like a lifetime away to both boys.
"Anyway… The thought of losing you, the thought of being away from you for longer than a couple of days, it's terrifying. I've had nightmares about it. I've woken up in the middle of the night, screaming into my pillow over the thought of losing you to some stupid asshole up in New York, knowing that it's damn well possible and that I may lose you forever if I don't make a move. More than anything, I want to ask you to stay. I want to be that selfish: I want to cling to you and beg you like a five year old, to just wait a year until you move to New York. I want, so badly, to beg you to wait here for me. But I can't. I'm not that selfish, and if I were honestly the reason why you put your life on hold, I could never forgive myself. So instead," Blaine scooted closer to Kurt, their knees touching now as he sat in front of him, and opened the box in his hands. Kurt's bottom lip was trembling as he looked, seeing the claddagh ring for the first time, the emerald heart shining brightly in the moonlight.
"Instead, I want to make a promise. I promise that, this time next year, we're both going to be in New York. Together. No matter what happens over the next year, you are still the love of my life. After tomorrow, there may physically be five hundred and thirty-two miles between us, but you're always going to be right here." Blaine reached out, taking Kurt's left hand and placed it over his heart. "And I couldn't let you leave tomorrow without knowing just how much you mean to me. I promise you my heart forever, Kurt Hummel. Until my dying breath."
Kurt let out a breath he wasn't even aware that he had been holding, his fingers trembling against Blaine's chest as he let his words envelope him, seeping into his every pore. His heart felt like it was about to explode in his chest, and the only thing he could do was nod and blubber like a fish, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to find the right words to say: It was like he had completely forgotten how to string together a proper sentence.
A silence blanketed them, Kurt desperately trying to find his voice, Blaine looking down at his hand that was still against his chest, his fingernails gently kneading into the younger boy's chest.
"I—I'm sorry," Blaine blurted out. "I shouldn't have… The ring, the whole speech. It was stup—." This time, it was Kurt who shut his boyfriend up with the kiss. Their lips molded together perfectly, working together as if four had become one. He slid his tongue along Blaine's lower lip, smiling as he felt his lips part to allow him entrance, but he pulled away before he could get too caught up in the moment.
He pressed their foreheads together, sharing each other's breaths. Kurt's hear was thrumming so loudly that he was sure Blaine could hear it.
"I love you," Kurt whispered, his voice breaking. "I love you, I love you, I love you. And no one, especially not some stupid asshole from New York, is ever going to change that: You cannot be replaced, and I don't even want to try. Not now, not ever. So yes, Blaine. I accept your ring and the promises it holds, and in a couple of years from now, we can replace it with a proper engagement ring."
He finally managed to pull himself away long enough for Blaine to slide the claddagh ring on his ring finger on his right hand, the heart pointing directly at his own.
Kurt was openly crying now, tears streaming down his face in a steady flow, and Blaine wasn't in much better shape. The older boy opened his arms and the other immediately fell into him, burying his head into his neck. He lay back, pulling Blaine down with him and clutched him to himself tightly, never wanting to let go.
Their bodies melted, folded, dissolved into one. They were a tangle of limbs and teeth and mouths, sucking, biting, grabbing. They rose higher and higher, and then crashed back down to earth together breathlessly. Neither boy spoke a word, both too busy trying to remember how their bodies felt pressed together like this, how their hearts beat in tune to the same music. It felt like they were touching each other for the first time all over again, hands shaking and awkward as they brushed over the juxtaposition of curves and sharp edges, memorizing every dip, every bump, and every inch of their partner.
Kurt collapsed down on top of Blaine, his breathing heavy. He reached up and wiped Blaine's bangs away from his forehead and pressed his lips against the exposed, damp flesh. "God, I already miss you," he murmured, his lips ghosting along his skin.
Blaine said nothing as he pulled Kurt into his arms and turned onto his side, pressing their naked bodies up against each other's under their blanket. He sighed contentedly and nuzzled into his shorter hair. "Don't. Don't make me ask you to stay. You know I can't, and you know that's asking too much of me."
Kurt hummed softly from the back of his throat before closing his eyes. "If anyone could make me stay here, it'd be you."
Their hands were cupped together across Kurt's chest and Blaine gave them a squeeze, sighing as he shook his head. "That's what I'm afraid of. " He paused for a couple of minutes, his fingers absentmindedly playing with Kurt's.
"You're going to be brilliant, you know? Your name will be in lights. You're going to be a household name…" He trailed off, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips despite himself.
"I know," Kurt returned, a smug smile gracing his own features.
The only sounds that punctured their comfortable silence came from the bullfrogs and crickets surrounding them, their cadence almost lulling them to sleep; neither boy wanted to fall asleep, though. They wanted the night to stretch out around them and last forever, but they knew it would be morning before they knew it, and that the sun would soon be peaking out over the horizon to break the magic in the air that they had created. Until then, however, they were both content to spend what little time they had left entangled in each other's arms, knowing that their other half was just an arm's length away, no matter how many miles would soon separate them.
