Part 4
Saturday (Continued)
This morning certainly was a rather interesting and extremely confusing one.
Never had Blaine pictured himself sitting at a table across from his boyfriend's brother asking him for help in coining ideas for a befitting and flawless proposal to present to the love of his life.
He looked up from his plate to glance at Finn, who had just finished wolfing down his own meal and was wiping his hands. "Headache gone yet there, Finn?"
"Yep, definitely; thanks for lunch, dude," he replied, giving Blaine a thankful smile.
"No problem," Blaine said, reciprocating the smile.
Finn leaned forward to let both his arms cross and prop up to rest on the wooden table. "So...you were asking earlier about proposing to Kurt?"
"Uh, yeah."
"And you still want my help?"
"Dear god yes!" Blaine said, slumping forward with the side of his face buried in his hand as it rested on the table. "I don't know how I should ask him! It needs to fit Kurt perfectly."
"Okay, so you want me to just start throwing out ideas?"
"If it gives me a spark of inspiration, yes."
"Well, okay...um..." Finn's face screwed up thoughtfully as he allowed his brain to come up with anything. "You could always give him roses—"
"Really? Doesn't that sound a little too cliché?"
"Just hear me out, Blaine!"
"Okay, sorry."
Finn leaned closer and folded his hands together while Blaine tilted his head slightly to one side to show he was listening. "What if you gave him three roses, but all three of them had a special meaning; they'd all represent your life together: One for the past, one for the present, and one for the future."
Blaine nodded, beginning to like where this was going. "Okay..."
"The one that represents your future can have the ring tied to it!"
Yep, Blaine certainly did like this idea. He allowed his lip to curl into a large smile of approval. "That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea," he said, causing Finn to smile back.
"Yeah, I can only imagine how surprised he would be the moment he spotted the ring; you know how Kurt is." Finn chuckled.
Now that Blaine thought about it, he really could imagine it; the look on Kurt's face, the tears, the blush across his cheeks... "Okay, we've got an idea on how. Now where would I pop the question?"
Finn's mouth twisted in a way that showed he was really looking all the possibilities. "Central Park? Maybe... on the Bank Rock Bridge?"
The Bank Rock Bridge...
An imaginary scene began burning in the back of Blaine's mind.
Kurt stood at the edge of the bridge, impatiently staring at his phone and scrolling through his texts. He looked anxious, if not just plain frustrated; he was waiting for someone.
His phone buzzed.
"Hi!" he answered, holding the phone to his ear. "Where are you?"
Blaine could hear his own voice answer on the other line.
"Sorry, I got stuck in traffic at Broadway."
"Broadway? Really, honey?"
"I was just observing, okay?" Blaine defended. "You're not the only one striving for Broadway you know!"
"Yes, I know," Kurt replied with a hint of giggling in his voice. "So, how far away are you?"
No answer.
"Blaine? Honey?"
"Turn around."
Slowly, Kurt obeyed, twisting a full one-hundred-eighty degrees before he spotted the curly-haired man.
Blaine waved at him with a rather goofy grin before he hit END on his phone and began making his way toward Kurt.
Kurt's face broke into a radiant and loving smile as he stepped forward to meet Blaine halfway across the bridge. His arms came up to wrap around Blaine's neck, feeling so natural resting there.
Blaine leaned over to press a gentle kiss to Kurt's rosy cheek as he wound his arms around the other man's waist.
"Hi," Kurt said again, the giggling still obvious in the little stuttered breaths that passed his lips.
"Hey beautiful."
"So, what exactly are you up to today, dear?" Kurt asked suspiciously. His arms fell from Blaine's shoulders to cross over his own chest.
"What do you mean?" Blaine said playfully, unsuccessfully resisting the grin that forced itself on to his face.
"Oh come on, Blaine! I know you asked me to meet you here for a reason. So what is it?" Kurt's eyebrows flew up in an anticipating stare. "And what is that behind your back?"
Well, it was now or never.
Blaine pulled the yellow and white bouquet out for his boyfriend to see.
Kurt's eyes lit up the brightest Blaine had seen them in a while. "Blaine!" he said, eagerly accepting the roses into his hands. "They're beautiful!"
"Those are actually the real reason why I was late."
"I still can't believe I ever heard you say you weren't good at romance!"
"Look at 'em."
Kurt looked away from the roses to catch his eyes. "What?"
"The three in the middle, the white ones."
"What about them? Besides the fact that they're absolutely flawless," Kurt giggled.
"Here," Blaine gently took the bouquet between both of their hands and poked his hand inside the gaps between the stems into the center.
"Blaine, there's thorns on them, you're gonna-"
"Just trust me," Blaine said with a small wink at the end. He managed to finally feel the tiny piece of silver tied against one of the stems with a small thread.
Here goes nothing.
Slowly, he wedged the three roses out one by one out of the bouquet and into his hand, clasping his fingers over the ring as he pulled the third one out so Kurt wouldn't see the jewelry right away.
"Blaine, what is that?" his boyfriend asked, obviously painstakingly curious. "What's in your hand?"
When Blaine didn't answer him, Kurt shot him a look saying that he was fully aware something was up, and he wasn't going to stop asking until he found out.
"Kurt, these three roses represent us."
Kurt's quirked an eyebrow in a mixture of curiosity and confusion. "Us? How so?"
"This one," Blaine answered as he held out the first one, "represents our past together. Back in high school, both of us always caught hell for trying to be ourselves, out of the closet; but when I met you, things changed so drastically. When I first met you, I never thought I'd eventually become the luckiest man in the world, the one who got stuck with you- you and only you." Blaine watched happily as the rosy red color spread across Kurt's cheeks as his smile widened at Blaine's words. "This one," he continued, bringing out the second rose, "represents the present- this moment right here, right now. Kurt, I could never ask for a better man to share everything in my life with, or a better partner to take on the world with. Right now, all I want is to be with you..."
Blaine paused for a long time before slowly pulled out the third rose with his hand still hiding the ring from Kurt's view. "This one represents our future, or at least, what I hope will get to be our future." He held it out to Kurt, who simply stared at it. "Take it."
Kurt didn't say anything, but he obliged and took the rose from Blaine's grasp, whilst the curly-haired man briefly took back the bouquet.
A loud shocked gasp escaped Kurt's lips when the ring fell to dangle on the thread against the stem. "Oh my god!" he exclaimed with a hand flying up to cover his gaping mouth as he watched Blaine's knees bend underneath him until he was firmly knelt on the ground in front of Kurt's feet.
"Doesn't sound like too bad of an idea," Blaine said abruptly, snapping himself out of his fantasy. "But proposing out in the freezing cold on a bridge in the middle of winter doesn't sound like the best idea either."
"Well, you asked me to throw around ideas; that was idea number one."
"Okay, throw me idea number two then."
"You're not even going to consider the idea of the roses?"
"I've given Kurt roses plenty of times-"
"Exactly! He won't suspect anything different if you propose with them, and then you can really surprise him!"
"But this is Kurt we're talking about! If I'm going to ask him to marry me- to spend the rest of his life with me- I need to do it in a way that is fresh and brand new."
"You gotta be so damn picky about it?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Finn huffed in frustration. "If you don't want my help then don't ask me for it."
"I do need your help! That's why I asked you to give me ideas; typically something perfect will come to my head at some point, it always does that way."
"Have you thought about what you want the ring to look like yet?"
Blaine paused. "No, why?"
"Maybe you can think of something based off what the ring looks like. If it's going to be all covered in diamonds, that's when you need to worry about making the proposal mind-blowing; but if it's simple, then the proposal can be as simple as you want it to be, but still unique at the same time."
"Huh," Blaine breathed, "that's kind of a cool way of looking at it." He leaned over to prop his elbow on the table and rest his cheek in his hand. "Kurt would want a more simplistic ring- one that's absolutely stunning, but still simple all the same. I know he wouldn't want just a simple band, he'd definitely like a little bit of diamonds, but not to where they're covering the entire ring."
"Does this call for a little ring shopping? Or is that jumping the gun considering you only decided on this yesterday?"
"I think we can put worrying about the ring on hold, but we still know what we're looking for."
"Okay, simple. Gotcha... Wait! That's it!"
"What?" Blaine sat up.
"The proposal doesn't just start with the ring, it is the ring itself!"
"I don't believe I follow."
"Okay, say one morning you wake up before Kurt does, and you slip the ring on him before he wakes, and then just wait until he realizes he's wearing it!"
"Oh!" Blaine had to admit, Finn might not have the best common sense or romantic skills, but he sure had some decent ideas when it came to getting someone to marry you. "That's not a bad idea either!"
Early morning sunlight blinded Blaine as his eyelids slowly fluttered open.
He hummed sleepily and stretched his arms above him on the bed, until he felt a light weight gently pressing into his chest. He lifted his head to peer down, and a small smile spread on his lips at the sight.
Kurt was snuggled into his side, still sound asleep; his left arm was draped across Blaine's torso and his right was cradling his head into the pillows.
Slowly and gently so as to avoid waking his lover up, Blaine slid his hand underneath Kurt's and lifted it to his lips to press a butterfly-like kiss there.
Kurt stirred and Blaine worried he may have disturbed his sleep, but he ended up only shifting an inch deeper into Blaine's embrace and let out a long sleepy sigh before he relaxed again, his eyes never opening.
Relieved, Blaine knew if there was any right time to do what he had to, it was now before Kurt did actually wake up. He detached his right arm from where it was wrapped over Kurt's back; he rolled slightly so he could stretch his arm out to the side table at the edge of the bed and pull open the top drawer. His hand rummaged silently but quickly through stacks of papers and sticky notes (from Kurt's previous job at the office) until his fingers sensed a soft solid fabric. He grasped it and slowly slipped his hand out to close the drawer again, whilst attempting to avoid shifting his body so much. He flipped the small box open and watched as the small piece of jewelry inside it glistened in the sunlight coming in from the window. He pulled the metal out and set the box back down on the table.
Blaine's heart began to race as he took Kurt's hand again. Slowly, he coasted Kurt's promise ring off of his fourth finger and replaced it with the diamond-ornamented band; it slid onto his appendage perfectly.
Tears threatened to well in Blaine's eyes as he simply rested there, staring at his boyfriend's hand, admiring the sparkling stones in the way they enhanced the beauty of Kurt's pale fingers.
A few minutes went by just like that before Blaine realized he didn't know what time it was.
He leaned over to glance at his alarm clock.
8:24
Coming to the conclusion that he may as well get up now, he unlatched himself from the angel beside him and began to pull away, but something came up around his waist and tugged him back down.
"Noooo, don't leave me," Kurt said sluggishly.
"Oh honey, I'm sorry I woke you!" Blaine said, turning on the bed to face Kurt.
"S'okay... you're just so warm..."
Blaine couldn't resist how adorable Kurt was. He giggled.
"Don't laugh at me."
"I'm not, I'm not! You're just... you're so cute when you wake up in the morning."
"Not my fault I'm irresistible."
"Maybe not," Blaine said, pressing feather light a kiss to Kurt's forehead.
It was Kurt's turn to giggle.
"There you go again, being too cute for your own good."
"Oh, stop."
"What? Is it wrong that I can't resist the man I love?"
"I love you, too," Kurt said, scooting over to bring his hand up to the back of Blaine's neck and kiss him softly.
"Have I ever mentioned how much I love you?"
"Nope, never," Kurt teased.
"Well, then I better start now."
"And how exactly do you plan to do that?"
"Well, I don't want to rush you darling, but we should probably leave here by ten o'clock."
"Mmmmm...Why?" Kurt asked, rubbing his eye with his palm before looking back up at Blaine curiously.
"Because this morning I'm taking you out for a romantic breakfast and then a romantic walk through the park."
Kurt yawned. "What's the occasion?"
"Why does there always have to be an occasion? Why can't you and I just have a nice time without the stress of friends or family or work and just be together?"
Kurt pursed his lips before replying with a shrug. "Okay, you're right. I wouldn't mind going out and taking a peaceful stroll around the city; it sounds rather inviting after every audition I've had these past few weeks."
"Give it time, honey, it will happen."
"I know."
Blaine leaned over and smacked a loud kiss against Kurt's cheek, causing Kurt to giggle again and then pout when Blaine began to slip off the bed. "I'm gonna go hop in the shower. Care to join me?"
A gentle blush swept across Kurt's face. "I'd love to; just let me pick out my clothes real fast."
"M'kay. I'm gonna grab some stuff from the living room."
"What kind of stuff?"
"Oh you know, stuff for you."
"Oooh!" Kurt giggled.
"Be right back."
"Okay."
Blaine quickly dashed out into the living room, opened the coat closet beside the front door, and began scrambling through the coats to find the bouquet of flowers he had hid on the back bottom shelf the night before.
In the meantime, Kurt was fishing through the dress across from the bed, trying to pick out the perfect outfit for the day.
As his hands roamed through the middle drawer, he felt the piece of metal lightly digging into his middle finger.
He didn't think much about it since he was used to the promise ring Blaine had given him years ago feeling that way all the time. He brought his left hand up to rub his eye again, and then he held it out in front of him to check that there wasn't anything disgusting stuck in his eye.
That's when he finally noticed the back of his ring.
He gazed at it for a second, not sure if he was still just that exhausted or if he was hallucinating.
There was something off about his ring. It was shinier than it usually was... and the band was... smaller?
And that's when the realization hit him harder than the force of a hundred-mile-per-hour wind.
He stared at it with wide eyes, seeing it, but refusing to believe it.
It seemed to happen in slow motion, flipping his hand, telling himself that he was wrong, that his vision was just still blurry from waking up only a few minutes ago.
Nope, he was right.
"Blaine!"
"So what do you think?" Blaine heard Finn ask as the image in his head faded.
"I like it."
Finn beamed. "Seems like I'm pretty good at this stuff, eh?"
"Yeah..." Blaine said, his voice drifting.
Finn's smile faltered. "What?"
"There's just something about it that isn't... well, right. It's not that it's a bad idea; it just doesn't seem to fit Kurt the way it has to. I mean, imagine waking up one morning, and BAM! There's an engagement ring on your finger! He might get the idea that he actually got drunk the night before and we got engaged while he was wasted or something. You've seen 'What Happens In Vegas!' You know what I'm talking about!"
"Like I said, you shouldn't be so damn picky."
"Sorry," Blaine replied, smiling apologetically at his friend.
Finn shifted in his seat. "Look, I better get home; Rachel might get suspicious if she notices I've been out for too long, and you know how bad she would be at keeping secrets from Kurt."
"Right, okay."
He slowly stood up, eliciting an awkward pause between the two of them. "Um... thanks again for lunch dude."
"No problem."
"Okay, see ya later."
"Yeah, later."
And then Finn walked out, leaving a frustrated and stuck Blaine to his thoughts.
Heeeeeeeeeyyyyy y'all! This chapter was kinda long for what I typically write, but it definitely won't be the longest chapter, trust me.
Many, many, many more proposal ideas to come! Especially now that I know who I'm going to have propose! Who will it be? You'll just have to find out near the end of the story. ;)
That's all for now! Peace out!
