This is a short reaction fic to the season four finale. It starts off angsty, but it has a happy ending. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee.
The Proposal
"Excuse me, everyone," Blaine said with a bright smile, euphoric due to the happy wedding taking place before them.
He ignored his friend and future best man Sam mouthing a frantic, "Don't!"
"As all of you probably have heard gay marriage is finally legal in New York," Blaine said with a happy smile, looking around the room at everyone except Kurt. "And frankly, I don't want to wait any longer."
Some of his friends faces were puzzled, some excited, some like Sam and Tina were prepared and crossed their fingers behind their backs for a happy ending. Once everyone else figured out what was happening, all their gazes shifted from Blaine to rest on Kurt.
Blaine turned around now, facing Kurt who was standing next to him. With trembling hands he produced the ring box from behind his back to present it to Kurt. He opened it, revealing a shiny engagement ring and went down on one knee.
Someone behind him murmured "Oh, my God," but despite that slip it was deadly quiet in the choir room, as if everyone had stopped breathing.
"Kurt..."
Blaine had prepared a long speech, a five-page love declaration, but the moment he dropped down on his knee and looked up at Kurt, he knew something was off.
Kurt had one arm slung around his middle, the other hand was covering the lower half of his face in shock, and it wasn't the surprised, happy kind of shock.
No, no, no, please, don't do this!, was written all over Kurt's face.
Blaine's eyes were locked with Kurt's widened blue ones, and he felt his heart sink when Kurt did the tiniest shake of his head. No. An answer before he even had popped the question.
For a long second Blaine hesitated, feeling queasy all of a sudden, with his pulse hammering in his ears and wishing he was caught in a bad dream and not in reality.
But Blaine couldn't make this undone. Everybody was watching him, so he stammered helplessly, pleadingly, "I... I love you, Kurt, with all my heart. I want to be with you. Please, will you marry me?"
He was aware that he sounded weak and needy and his proposal had turned into a very unattractive begging.
Please, forgive me, Please, take me back. Please, tell me you still love me.
"Blaine," Kurt started, dropping his arms at his sides. "Please, get up."
Blaine slowly got up on his feet, his legs were wobbly and he felt like a complete idiot. It didn't help that everybody was staring at them like curious bystanders staring at a train wreck.
"Let's talk outside," Kurt suggested, and without looking at anyone he went ahead out of the choir room.
Blaine felt the blush of embarrassment and humiliation creep into his cheeks. For one split second he was angry with Kurt for making him feel this way, for exposing him like that in front of all their friends. But then he remembered that it was his own fault for ambushing Kurt like that. Had he really expected Kurt to choke out a happy yes and engulf him into an embrace? Blaine had to admit that he didn't know what he'd expected. He hadn't planned further than dropping the bomb.
When he walked past his friends to follow Kurt outside, Sam put his hand on Blaine's shoulder and as their eyes met, Sam grimaced as though he wanted to say, Sorry it didn't work out for you, but, told ya!
Blaine stepped out into the deserted hallway, turning left to where Kurt was walking at a quick pace down the corridor. Blaine gripped the ring box tight and started to jog after Kurt.
At the far end of the hallway, Kurt stopped in his tracks and waited for Blaine to catch up with him without turning to look at him.
"Kurt... I'm sorry," Blaine said without even knowing what he was apologizing for.
"Don't." Kurt held up a warning hand, then let it drop with a shake of his head. "God, I'm so angry with you right now!" Kurt let out an exasperated sigh, massaging the top of his nose to keep calm.
"What did I do?" Blaine asked timidly, confused by Kurt's strong negative response to his proposal.
"How about humiliate me in front of all our friends?" Kurt snarled at him, and added with a huff. "Pardon, your friends."
"What do you mean?" Blaine asked, still perplexed.
"You're so selfish sometimes, Blaine. All you can think of is what you need, what you want. Have you even thought about how you make me look like a complete ass by having to say no to you?"
Blaine felt like he'd been slapped, unable to respond.
"They all hate me already," Kurt went on. "You have them wrapped around your finger and I'm the bad guy, because I didn't forgive you already. Yes, you're only human. Well, tell you what, I'm human, too. And I can't forgive and forget and move on that easily."
"I'm not asking you to," Blaine replied in a quiet and remorseful voice.
"God, Blaine, do you even take a second to think before you pull off something like this?"
"Yeah," Blaine countered, regaining some of his fight. "Of course I thought this through. I bought you an engagement ring! You think I'm not serious about this? I am, Kurt!"
"I know you're all excited about the prospect of gay marriage," Kurt replied in a tired voice. "Do you think I didn't hear you talking about marriage equality nonstop for the past couple of weeks? Do you think I didn't see how excited you got by the idea?"
"It's not just an idea," Blaine defended himself, remembering his recent conversation with Burt. "I know that marriage is a huge commitment, Kurt, and I know we're young, but I'm ready to do this."
"Apparently you've already pictured everything in your head, a perfect romantic fantasy. But in all your planning and daydreaming you didn't stop for one second to actually think of me, did you?" Kurt accused, his face hard. "If you really loved me you would have put my feelings above yours and you would have realized that your timing is so screwed up - again. God, this is the night after Scandals all over again. You expecting me to have sex with you after you spent the night dancing with another guy and now you expect me to say yes when we're not even together? Do you really think it just takes you dropping down on one knee and everything will be okay again?"
"All right, I get it," Blaine said, the hurt of rejection creeping into his mind and heart and bones; he just wanted to walk away and hide in a corner to cry. "I get it, Kurt. You don't want to be with me. I'll leave you alone from now on."
Blaine turned to walk away, clutching the ring box to his chest.
"Wait!" Kurt reached out and took hold of Blaine's arm. Blaine stopped moving, but he didn't look up.
"Sit down," Kurt said gently, tucking at Blaine's sleeve. "Come on."
Blaine remained motionless.
With a sigh Kurt leaned his back against the wall, sliding down to sit on the floor, his legs stretched out and his feet crossed.
Blaine tilted his head, still considering running and finding a hole to crawl into and bawl. But he couldn't move away from Kurt. He didn't want to.
Kurt looked up at him with sincere and attentive eyes and patted the empty place next to him.
"Please, sit down," he repeated softly.
Reluctantly, Blaine got down next to Kurt, Indian style, his shoulders hunched forward and not looking at the person he wanted to be married with.
"Have I told you that I still have your promise ring, the one you made of gum wrappers?"
Blaine let out a choked laugh. "Why would you keep that?"
"Because it meant so much to me," Kurt replied and his hand reached out to rest on Blaine's knee. "If you'd asked me back then I'd have married you without a trace of doubt. Happily and proudly."
Blaine's face scrunched up as he tried to hold his tears back.
"Blaine, look at me, please."
Blaine drew a deep breath, sniffing and bracing himself. He slowly turned his head to meet Kurt's eyes.
Kurt smiled at him sadly and took Blaine's hand to squeeze it reassuringly.
"I love you, Blaine. I guess that'll never change. Please, give us some time. That's all I'm asking for."
"But what if I lose you?" Blaine asked throatily, tears brimming in his eyes.
"You'll never lose me. I understand that by proposing you want to show me that you're serious about us. But let's take baby steps, please."
Blaine just nodded, not trusting his voice to keep steady.
"As for your question," Kurt said with a one-sided shrug. "I'm not giving you a yes, but I'm not giving you a no, either."
"Then what...?" Blaine started with a confused frown.
"Just ask me again at the right time."
Blaine let out his breath, a relieved smile settling on his lips. "When will that be?"
"I don't know," Kurt shrugged slightly again, but he gave Blaine a loving smile. "But I'm sure my answer will be yes then."
Blaine smiled at him, a big happy thankful grin, and he blinked his tears away.
Kurt surprised him by leaning forward and gently pressing his lips on Blaine's, kissing him softly and promising. Instantly Blaine brought his hand up to cup the side of Kurt's face and make the kiss linger.
Far too soon their lips separated with a smack and Blaine's eyes fluttered open, drowning in the intense blue of Kurt's, asking silent questions that needed to be answered.
"We should go back in," Kurt suggested in a murmur, "and tell everyone that they'll have to delay their bets on my answer for an undefined amount of time."
"Okay." Blaine let out a happy chuckle. "Can I tell them we're back together?" he asked carefully, afraid he was going too far.
"No." Kurt returned his gaze and tightened his grip on Blaine's hand. "I want to tell them."
Thank you for reading! :)
Reviews?
