Kurt swayed side-to-side, singing a few "oohs" and "ahhs" behind Rachel's solo. His heart was beating so hard, he was worried that it would beat straight out of his rib cage. His palms were clammy, and his forehead was sweating under the harsh stage lights. Rachel hit the final note of her song, and the audience burst into applause. She played coy to their enjoyment, and backed up to the semicircle formation for the next song. Kurt wanted nothing less than to run backstage again and leave his solo to someone else. But the lights were on him, so he stepped forward, closing his eyes. The soft piano music began, and he started to sing as though his voice was action of its own volition.

And all shall fade

The flowers of spring

The world and all its sorrows

At the heart of everything

Kurt's forehead was now drenched in sweat. He was embarrassed to be in front of all those people. He was pretty sure that they were all out there in the audience, laughing at his voice, his face, the amount of eyeliner he had had to apply to make sure that his face was visible.

But still it stays

The butterfly sings

And opens Purple Summer

With the flutter of its wings

All the others began humming behind him. He wiped his palms on the side of his pants. He finally opened his eyes, seeing nothing but the blinding white spotlight in his eyes.

The Earth will wave with corn

The Gray Fly Choir will mourn

And mares will neigh

With stallions that they mate

Foals they've borne

And all shall know the wonder

Of Purple Summer

The rest of the club joined in with him now, adding harmonies and riffs over his solo. As the music crescendoed, Kurt's ears buzzed. He was disappearing into this song, and, for the first time in a while, he felt good.

And yet I wait

The swallow brings

A song too hard to follow

That no one else can sing

The fences sway

The porches swing

The clouds begin to thunder

Crickets wander, murmuring

As the volume of the choir grew, Kurt felt himself fading back into the cohesive unit that was Glee. He was safe. He was home. His solo was over. He turned to his right, and saw Blaine, smiling through his singing. Kurt weakly smiled back.

The Earth will wave with corn

The Gray Fly Choir will mourn

And mares will neigh

With stallions that they mate

Foals they've borne

And all shall know the wonder

I will sing the song of Purple Summer

And all shall know the wonder

I will sing the song of Purple Summer

All shall know the wonder

Of Purple Summer

And with that, the song was over. The audience erupted with applause, a few people getting on their feet. In the shift between formations for the next song, Rachel grabbed his hand. She gave it a quick squeeze, and moved forward to take her place in center stage. The loud piano introduction blasted through the speakers, and Kurt kept in time to the choreography. It felt great to be back onstage. He was a different person in front of people. The Offstage Kurt was shy, weak, easily heartbroken. The Onstage Kurt, though, was strong and sexy. He could take on anything. By the time the group took their final pose for the song, Kurt's hands had stopped sweating. He was running on adrenaline, the positive energy from the audience. And when they broke into applause again, a few people rising from their seats, Kurt realized that Onstage Kurt needed to make a backstage appearance.

New Directions skipped offstage, heading back into the green room. Right outside the door, Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked.

Blaine's forehead wrinkled, and his eyes grew wide. "Absolutely."

"Well, you know I've been going through a rough patch lately." Kurt started.

"Yeah. And I'm behind you 100% in whatever you want to do."

"Good, because I feel like-"

Blaine cut him off. "I really like you a lot, but if we need to break up, I understand." Tears were beginning to well up in his eyes.

Kurt stood frozen for a minute. "What? Blaine, breaking up with you is the last thing I would ever want to do."

"What? But all the signs are there. You're distant, you don't want me to touch you, we haven't spent much time together..."

Kurt swallowed hard, feeling his face flush. "I know. I've been a terrible boyfriend lately. And I hate that I've done that. Something happened to me, Blaine. Something I'm not completely ready to talk about yet. I hope that you understand that. But if you will be my prom date next week, and continue being the amazing support system that you have been these past few weeks, I promise that I will do everything I can to make it up to you."

Blaine sniffled a bit, his face breaking into a smile. "You have no idea how happy that makes me. I... I'm in love with you, Kurt. There's no other explanation." And, in a move so quick that Kurt thought he was injured, Blaine dropped to one knee, and took Kurt's hand in his own. "Kurt Hummel, will you do me the honor of being my prom date?"

Kurt laughed. "Of course. Now stand up and kiss me already."

Blaine was only too happy to obey. They kissed with such a fire that Kurt was pretty sure his lips would be bruised. Blaine snaked his fingers through Kurt's hair. Kurt felt his shoulders relaxing, not realizing that he had been so tense. When the kiss finally broke, they heard a soft cough behind them.

Finn was leaning his head out of the doorframe. "If it's okay with you two, we were going to discuss the performances? You know, if it's not a problem."

Everyone in the green room was staring out at the red-faced boys. Santana yelled out, "Get some!" as Rachel hid her face beneath her hands. Kurt interlaced his fingers with Blaine's as they made their way into the room.

Two hours later (the longest two hours of their lives), they sat in the auditorium, waiting anxiously for the announcement of who won the competition. The wife of the mayor of Lima moved the scorecard in between her fingers as the chatter in the auditorium died down.

"In third place," she began, with a voice like nails on a chalkboard, "The Riverwood Singing Otters." Everyone clapped politely. She scanned her finger along the scorecard. "And, the runner up..." she waited a few seconds for suspense, "Westvale's Aural Intensity. That means that McKinley High's New Directions, you are going to Nationals!"

The entire club jumped up to their feet at the same time and screamed. Everyone hugged each other. Even Mr. Schuester hugged Puck, which ended in an awkward manly slap on each others' backs. The whole ride back to McKinley, the club was on a high, singing every song from Rent and Wicked that they could think up. Blaine suggested that they try another Spring Awakening song for Nationals, since "The Song of Purple Summer" had been such a success.

"Yeah, I don't think that'll work." Mr. Schue laughed. "Have you heard the other songs from that play? Even I think they're inappropriate."

"Besides, Wendla is so pretentious." Rachel rolled her eyes.

It was already dusk when the bus arrived back at the school. Kurt gave Blaine a dry kiss goodbye, and followed Finn to his car. As he pulled out of his spot, Finn patted Kurt on the shoulder. "I'm proud of you, bro." He said. "You were great today."

"Thanks." Kurt smiled. "Sorry you had to see me and Blaine making out."

"Meh. You've seen Rachel and me going at it plenty of times. It's only fair."

"Speaking of Rachel, are you two going to prom together?"

Finn groaned. "It's all she talks about! I swear, if I have to hear the phrase, 'pocket square' one more time, I may die!"

Kurt laughed. "Well, now that Regionals are over, we have to look forward to the next thing."

"True that." Finn smiled.

A/N: Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing! The next chapter will be prom, possibly taking up two chapters, and then the story is done! I hope you all enjoy!