It's days later when Blaine and Kurt finally have a quiet moment together. They're in bed, the morning light just beginning to stream through the curtains, as Blaine blinks a few times and opens his eyes. He sighs and then nuzzles into the chestnut hair in front of him, pulling Kurt back tighter against him. He noses patterns into the older man's neck, breath wet and warm eventually rousing Kurt from his sleep. Blaine can tell when Kurt becomes fully awake and aware because he pushes his ass towards Blaine's morning wood.

"Well good morning."

Kurt just mumbles and turns around in the embrace, snaking his arms around Blaine's waist and pulling him closer, kissing up his chest and around his neck.

"Seems like I didn't tire you out last night after all."

"I may be old but I have some stamina left in me. Helps that we haven't had sex in forever," Kurt says as he continues to kiss Blaine's neck and grind down into Blaine.

"And by forever you mean, what? Four days? I think you really are a teenager."

Blaine grabbed Kurt's ass and rubbed for a few seconds before stilling his hips all together, turning him over, before giving him a chaste kiss and hopping off the bed.

"Nooo," Kurt whined, "where are you going?" The brunette turned himself onto his stomach and watched Blaine's naked form cross the room and ruffle through the clothing in his drawers, all the while moving his hips in search of friction against the sheets. "I know you're hard, why don't you come out and let me finish?"

Blaine reappeared wearing a pair of tight black boxer briefs and a hunter green v-neck, cocking his hip to the side and raising his eyebrows when he saw Kurt on the bed.

"Really?"

"What? I'm horny!"

"Clearly," Blaine laughed and then continued into the bathroom, splashing some water and gel into his hair to help the curls. "Kurt, c'mon, get dressed."

"No, don't wanna," Kurt said, now flipped over back onto his back and stroking his cock quickly, head thrown back and eyes closed. He got about ten strokes in before Blaine emerged from the bathroom. Quickly seeing Kurt, Blaine chuckled to himself and made his way over to the bed, stilling Kurt's hand with his own.

"C'mon get dressed."

"No," Kurt said and continued to stroke sloppily with his left hand, since his right was still restricted by Blaine.

"Tsk, so naughty." Blaine climbs on top of the bed and straddles Kurt, taking both of his hands in his own and pinning them above his head. "You're not going to come right now, so don't try to struggle," Blaine said, a teasing lilt to his voice.

Kurt huffed and then relaxed in Blaine's grip, conceding to his fate, his cock slowly softening. When Blaine thought that he had given Kurt sufficient time to cool down, he released his arms and kissed him chastely, getting up from the bed, and pulling the taller man with him, pushing him towards the closet. "Get dressed, horny boy."

Kurt stuck his tongue out at Blaine and then made his way into the closet, rifling through his clothes. Blaine soon followed, picking a pair of chinos off of a hanger and pulling them on.

"I know that you refuse to tell me what we're actually doing but can you at least give me a hint to what I should be wearing?"

"Hmm," Blaine considered the question as he pulled the cardigan over his shoulders. "It's casual. I mean, not sweatpants casual, though I don't think you'd ever let me bring you out of the house in sweatpants. I mean, I'm wearing this. Just, dress like you normally do. Nothing fancy."

"Uh, Blaine I need you to be more specific."

"Sorry, babe, no can do. Can't reveal too much," Blaine said as he made to zip his lips and throw away the key.

"Ugh, fine, but don't expect me to get dressed quickly."

"That's fine," Blaine says teasingly, as he walks out of the closet, "You have 20 minutes. That's plenty of time right?"

"BLAINE!"

"Kurt!" Blaine called in the direction of their bedroom, "It's been thirty minutes already I'm being generous, c'mon!"

"Coming, coming," Kurt finally emerged, hair styled and looking as put-together as ever. "This okay?" He gave Blaine a little twirl, purposefully giving him a longer view of his ass in his new McQueens.

"They look great, I promise, but we really do have to go now," Blaine said, grabbing Kurt's hand and kissing him on the cheek, pulling him out the front door.

It was only after they had been walking in Central Park for a few minutes that Kurt realized where they were going. "Blaine, you're not very secretive, I've probably taken this path a hundred times since coming to New York."

"You have, have you?"

"Yeah, Eli and I used to go to the exhibitions twice a year and then when Effie was old enough, she would come along too. She never really was quite into it though. Why the Met?"

"Can't I just want to spend a day with my beloved exploring the wonders of modern art?"

"No. You don't like art."

"Kurt, I like art. I just don't like when the art looks like it was made by Ollie."

"Maybe Ollie is a prodigy."

"Well, I'm not questioning that, but he certainly does not deserve to be in the Met...yet." Blaine stuck out his tongue causing Kurt to giggle.

"Ugh, fine, I will accept your spontaneity and try to keep my curiosity at bay," Kurt conceded.

"That's very noble of you, sweetie."

After a few minutes of walking in content silence, Blaine took a right turn. Knowing that Kurt would be confused by this, he turned around and raised an eyebrow, daring Kurt to ask, once again, where they were going. Kurt looked like he was formulating a question for a few seconds, but finally gave in, continuing to walk next to Blaine.

"Why do I feel like you took me this way just to mislead me?"

"Ah, now you're learning," Blaine said, kissing Kurt chastely and giving him a light pat on the ass, quickly running away from Kurt's glare. Kurt picked up the pace to follow his boyfriend and they ended up breaking into a jog, laughing as Blaine ran back towards Kurt and circled his arms around his waist, pulling him close and kissing his nose.

"I love you. And your nose."

"I love you, too," Kurt said, kissing Blaine on the lips, "and your nose is okay, I guess."

Blaine stuck his tongue out in mock offense, pulling away from the embrace and, instead, pulling Kurt's hand into his and walking towards their final destinations. A few turns and a few more kisses later, Blaine stopped just outside of the Shakespeare Garden, in front of a concrete bench. When Kurt realized that this was their destination, he looked at Blaine in question.

"You've never been here before?"

"No, I mean, I've walked past it a couple of times, I'm sure, but, I've never stopped in front of it if that's what you're asking."

"Well, do you know anything about it?"

"Um, other than the fact that it's a bench? No."

"Okay well it's," Blaine grabs Kurt's elbow and leads him to sit down, "It's called the Whisper Bench. It's designed so that if someone is sitting at one end and someone else is sitting at the other end, the first person can whisper something and the other person will hear it all the way across the bench."

"Okay…" Kurt said, still not quite understanding.

"Okay well what I thought was…well, why I think it's so great for us and why I wanted to bring you here is…I feel like you get me. Okay, so if we're across a crowded room from each other and this one guy from work is giving me crap and I'm not listening at all and I see you, you just know what I'm thinking how I feel. Like even when I can't express something through words, you know what I want, what I need. I love our ability to just have a full conversation with our face, like we can read each other's minds because we just know. It's just right." Blaine paused his rant, looking up at Kurt for the first time to gauge if he was understanding at all. The man seemed to be doing all right, nodding infinitesimally with a subtle smile on his face.

"Okay, well, that's pretty much what I had to say. And I wanted to try it! So," Blaine claps his hands together and then get's up off the bench, "you stay over there and I'm gonna go over here. I really hope this works or it will be a total buzz kill."

Neither said anything for a minute, Kurt waiting for Blaine and Blaine wringing his hands together in nervousness. Finally, Kurt turned around and scooted over to Blaine tapping him on the shoulder. Startled, Blaine turned around with a sheepish look on his face. Kurt kisses him slowly, and when he pulls away simply says, "we gonna do this or what?" Blaine smiles and nods, motioning for Kurt to go back to his side and when Blaine sees that Kurt has turned around, he leans down, making sure the sound gets into the rounded concrete.

"I love you," he whispers.

"I love you too," he hears, in a ghost-like response, and smiles.

"I think I've loved you my whole life. You know, I mean I've loved other people and maybe my love for you hasn't always been in the foreground but I never stopped loving you." It takes a minute for Kurt to respond.

"It scares me, but I think I feel the same way."

"You're an easy person to love you know. Someone would have to work really hard not to," Blaine paused for a few seconds, letting the words have time to sink in, "You're kind…intelligent…genuine…witty….dramatic…fashionable…and so supportive."

"Thank you."

It was hard to tell by just a whisper but Kurt's voice sounded as if he were close to tears.

"No, thank you…Thank you for loving me…Thank you for being all of those things for me, for Ollie, for everyone in your life. You're so amazing and I'm the luckiest guy on earth."

It took a few seconds then, "I didn't know we were supposed to prepare a speech," Kurt was definitely softly crying now.

"Turn around," Blaine whispered.

Kurt did and he was immediately engulfed by Blaine's embrace, guiding his face into his shoulder, Blaine rhythmically petting Kurt's hair. Kurt lifted his head after a few minutes and looked at Blaine, really looked at him and leaned in to kiss him. It was deep, passionate, and short, Blaine quickly pulling away. "I didn't actually prepare any of that," Blaine laughed quietly at himself, "Um, that kind of just…came out? I don't know, but I did have one thing prepared that I didn't actually say, or um, ask yet."

"Okay…what is it?" Kurt asked.

"You have to turn around first, Kurt, duh."

Kurt laughed. "I'm sorry I didn't realize we were only talking through whispers now."

Blaine winked one last time before turning around again, tapping his hands lightly against the bench with one hand, the other fishing around the pocket of his sweater, finally pulling out and opening the box. Finally, Blaine leans down into the concrete and whispers a soft, but clear, "Will you marry me?" before quickly turning around, getting down on one knee and looking expectantly towards Kurt, who is still turned to face the rounded part of the bench, seemingly frozen in shock. When he finally does turn around, his eyes immediately find Blaine kneeling on the ground, looking expectantly for an answer. He looks to the ring, and then back to Blaine—Blaine his wonderful amazing, hot, awesome, smart, funny, giving, loving boyfriend or—whatever he is—and he just knows.

"Yes."

YAY! Finally, the proposal! We have one more chapter left (the epilogue) and then this will officially no longer be a WIP! It's been so long since I started writing this and I'm so happy with the reception it has gotten. Please continue to review and follow (perhaps tell me what you'd like to see in the epilogue, wink wink, nudge nudge). Also for all of you who are so sad it's almost over, do not fret: as I said in an earlier author's note, I will be taking prompts for ficlets in this 'verse so send those my way by PMing me or messaging my ask on tumblr. Speaking of, I just did renovations on my fanfic tumblr so it is all fancy and nice now (I even am posting all of my stories up there so look out for that). My tumblr is kcollinspfanfic . tumblr . com. Thank you again! Sorry for the long note! xoxo