With a deep breath, he bent down on one knee.
"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel…"
"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel…" Kurt's heart stopped, his eyes widened.
"Blaine… What are you doing?"
"Kurt, ever since I first saw you on that staircase…" Kurt yanked his hands from Blaine's, covering his ears. He turned, walking across the room.
"LA LA LA LA LA. Not listening. La la la la." Blaine stood, rushing to his boyfriend's side and wrapping his arms around his waist from behind.
"Hey, hey it's okay. Kurt, talk to me, what's wrong?"
"I- I- I-" Blaine felt Kurt's body start to shake with weeps. He turned Kurt around so that they could hug properly. Kurt sunk into Blaine's arms, crying even harder. Blaine stroked Kurt's hair, whispering sweet nothings in his ear to calm him down.
"What's wrong, Kurt?"
"I just… I… High school marriages almost never work out, Blaine. I've read so many stories where the high school sweethearts go and get married and it ends three months later in divorce and tears and… and… I just don't want that to happen to us, Blaine." He sniffed into Blaine's shoulder. "You know how angry I got when Finn proposed to Rachel, they're seventeen! Ugh, you're seventeen and I'm eighteen and we still have our entire lives ahead of us and-"
"Kurt, Kurt calm down." Blaine whispered. "Come on, let's sit. I want to talk to you."
Kurt nodded, shutting up and sitting in a chair. Blaine grabbed his hands and sat down next to him, turning so that they faced each other.
"Kurt… It's okay. We can forget this ever happened if you want. But first, let me talk." He pulled Kurt in for a quick kiss. The countertenor's heart fluttered at the touch. "Do you feel that?" Kurt nodded. "That's something that none of those high school sweethearts had. They didn't have the love that we had. What they had was almost always a case of the high-school crazies." Kurt laughed. "The couple has been driven crazy by high school and feels the need to run off and go get married before they go to college. But what we have, that's different. I don't just want to go run off and get married as soon as possible. I love you, Kurt. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, even if you want us to wait 20 years before we get married." The paler boy nodded, the tears not streaming down his cheeks anymore.
"Can we start over?" Blaine smiled, standing and dragging Kurt along with him. He brought them back to where they were earlier, hands entangled and facing each other.
"Okay, say the whole 'What is up with everyone today and the good lucks?" thing again." Kurt laughed.
"What?"
"Say it!"
"You are such a dork."
"Kurt, say the line."
"Okay, okay! What is up with everyone and the good lucks today?" He said, throwing his hands up like earlier. Blaine bit his lip, reenacting the same facial expressions from a few minutes ago. With another deep breath, he dropped down on one knee.
"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel…"
"Oh my god, this is actually happening isn't it?" Blaine nodded.
"Kurt, when I first saw you on that staircase, I knew we were going to be friends. But my heart knew we were going to be more. I may not have known it yet, but my heart did. I was so clueless those couple of months. My heart was trying to tell me, but I kept pushing it away. To be honest, I was worried that telling you how I felt would mess up our friendship. So I pushed you away, and convinced myself that I was madly in love with Jeremiah. I had no idea how much it would hurt you. Even when you practically told me at the Lima Bean later that day, I still tried to push you away. I was an idiot back then, Kurt. Remember when I kissed Rachel at that party, and then told you that I felt something in that kiss?"
Kurt nodded.
"I didn't feel anything, Kurt. It was a dull, drunk kiss. I only told you that I felt something so you would have a reason to get over me. I was planning on hooking you up with one of the other Warblers… And then I'd have a reason to get over you. Because, honestly, Kurt? I wasn't ready for another relationship. Not after the Sadie Hawkins dance…" A pained expression swept across his face. He shook away the sadness. "That's a story for another time. But Kurt, when you sang Blackbird after Pavarotti died, my heart took over. It showed me just how madly in love I was with you. Hell, I almost got down on my knee and proposed right then and there."
Kurt laughed a little, happy tears spilling from his eyes.
"This past month has been rough, Kurt. And I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you like I should have been. It messed us up pretty badly, but once you told me that you thought you loved me, I knew that we could fix it. That we could fix us. And we did. Kurt, what I'm about to ask you is not a question, but a promise. A promise to stand by your side for the rest of your life, to never leave you, to comfort you when things get bad, to jump up and down screaming with you when you find out that you're going to be performing on Broadway, to take things slow when you want to, and to, in short, love you forever."
Blaine let go of Kurt's hands and reached into his tuxedo pocket, pulling out a small velvet box. He held it in front of him.
"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel… Will you marry me?" Kurt hurtled himself down into Blaine, the tears pouring freely down his cheeks.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"
"Okay, Kurt, I'd love to kiss you right now, but you're smooshing me." Kurt stood, helping Blaine to his feet and pulling him in for a kiss. Their tears mingled on their cheeks. They stood there kissing for what seemed like ages before Kurt broke away.
"Je 'taime, Blaine." The dark-haired teen smiled.
"I love you too." Blaine broke away, bending down and picking up the box that had fallen to the floor. He opened it, revealing two identical engagement rings.
"Wait… Why are there two?" Blaine laughed.
"We're both going to wear one, silly!" Kurt's eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Why not? You're not the only one getting engaged." Kurt shrugged, holding out his left hand. Blaine slipped the ring on, letting Kurt do the same to his hand. They both stared at each other for a moment.
"Can we go home?" Blaine raised his eyebrows.
"We haven't even eaten yet!"
"I don't want to. I just want to go home and cuddle, is that okay?" Blaine smiled.
"Of course it is." Blaine pulled a fifty dollar bill out of his pocket, dropping it on the table. He had come expecting to pay more than that, so why not give the waiter a little surprise? The two walked hand in hand to the valet booth, ignoring the disgusted looks they were being given by customers walking into the restaurant.
