Everything was ready. Blaine had ran over his mental check-list fifty times in his head, and there was nothing more to do except ... Get married.
The thought made him giddy. He felt like some ridiculous fangirl or something. Today was the day. He had been waiting for this day since he was seventeen. He was marrying Kurt Hummel.
Blaine took a moment to make sure he was pleased with his reflection. It had pained him to do so, but he had not used any gel in his hair - this was a treat for Kurt, who preferred Blaine's messy blob of curls.
Blaine's mind wandered as he waited for his parents to come pick him up. He thought back to the night that had begun the lead up to now: the night when he knew, just knew, that he loved Kurt, and that one day, he wanted to marry him.
It was the night of Kurt's junior prom. Blaine had experienced so many emotions that night, all for Kurt. That was the thing that had convinced him most that Kurt was the one; Blaine could never imagine feeling that much for anyone else. Sometimes he thought that he felt more for Kurt than he did for himself.
For a while after that night, Blaine didn't know how to put into words how he felt. And then Kurt had inadvertently spelled it out for him, completely innocently.
On arriving back from Jean Sylvester's funeral, Kurt had been in awe of Sue's speech. He had repeated to Blaine something that she had written:
"When you love someone like I loved her, they're a part of you. It's like you're attatched by this invisible tether, and no matter how far away you are, you can always feel them."
There had been more to the quote, but that was the only part that applied directly to Blaine. Of course, Kurt had been so wrapped up in the fact that Finn had used this quote as justification for breaking up with Quinn that he didn't even realise the massive realisation that was happening in Blaine's mind: this was exactly how he felt about Kurt.
And now here Blaine stood, ten years later, getting ready to marry Kurt. He gave a tug on that invisible tether, and almost felt Kurt's excitement on the other end, and he knew that the two men were feeling the exact same things at the thought of this day.
There was a knock on the door. Blaine went to answer it, and his father came in, bouncing, closely followed by his mother, who was radiant with joy, and just as giddy as Blaine was.
"It's the big day!" she squealed, giving Blaine a squeeze.
"Yeah," Blaine said, overcome with emotion. He was ready to go - had been ready for ten years - but there was something that he needed to say to his parents first. "Guys, just ... Thank you." He looked at his father, and spoke directly to him now. "Thank you so much. You have no idea how much it means to me ... That you've accepted me. For what - for who I am. I know I used to act like it didn't matter, but ... This wouldn't have been right without you."
The three of them beamed around at each other. Blaine had never felt this complete and happy in his life.
"How do you feel?" his father asked him. "No cold feet?" he added jokingly.
Blaine sighed contentedly and beamed up at his father. "I feel ... Perfect," he exclaimed, unable to contain his sheer joy. "I feel like the luckiest man on Earth. I do not have one bad feeling about this day. I've been waiting for this since I was seventeen," he admitted, only a little sheepishly. "I know that everything hasn't been easy, but that's OK. I really and truly have no regrets."
The little family left the apartment, euphoric. And finally, at last, everything in life seemed right.
No regrets, just love.
Blaine woke up calmly, tears leaking peacefully down his face. He had slept himself out again. Sleep hadn't been coming to him as he'd like it to - he was finding himself restless, alone with only his alcohol, his thoughts and his tears.
He was finally able to appreciate the rest of that quote, the one that had sculpted his entire life:
"When you love someone like I loved her, they're a part of you. It's like you're attatched by this invisible tether, and no matter how far away you are, you can always feel them. And now every time I reach for that tether, I know there's no one on the other end, and I feel like I'm falling into nothingness."
Once again, he tugged on that tether. That invisible tether that bound him to that one person, the person that he would never, ever stop loving. It was a reflex, a habit. An action that used to give him so much joy, now just destroyed that tiny ray of hope that he woke up with every morning. That little voice in his head that whispered, "maybe it was a dream. Maybe he's in the kitchen, cooking you breakfast. Or drawing up some new designs."
But one tug on that tether told him what he already knew; Kurt Hummel was gone, and he was never coming back. Never coming back for Blaine.
But Blaine wasn't sour. He didn't wish for one second that he hadn't known Kurt. Sure, his life was a pile of shit now because of it. He wasn't denying that.
But the short year and a half that he had known and loved Kurt had been glorious, blissful, and he wouldn't have given it up for the world. It didn't matter that nothing was right now, or that Blaine would probably never be happy or normal again, let alone love again. Now didn't matter, because that part of his life had been so perfect, so beautiful, that Blaine could bear what was to come. He could bear it all because, if someone as perfect as Kurt Hummel had touched his life, then he could be doing a lot worse.
No regrets, just love.
A/N: Ok a lot of you guys have been asking about the ending. Yes, Kurt died; Blaine couldn't feel him on the end of the tether any more. If they had just broken up, he still would have felt him. Thanks for your reviews!