Another update! Before I get to the prompt, thank you all so much for being patient and reading and sticking with the story. A special thanks to Stormaggedon, Strangeangelsxx, Canadian-23, and Nutella Alchemist for being great readers and reviewers and prompters who I can count on to keep coming back.

Prompted by cole5148:

It's not Jessie that follows Rachel to New York, it's Blaine surprising Kurt. Maybe after they find out 12th place.

Not my best chapter, but not my worst either. Enjoy.

New York

Blaine stepped out of his cab onto the busy New York streets and took in a deep breath, closing his eyes and enjoying the warm wind against his face. He'd been in the city for fifteen minutes, and already, it was intoxicating. It was so alive, so full and vibrant and pulsing with the lifeblood of activity that was so clearly there in the purpose with which the people around him moved and spoke and carried themselves. It filled Blaine's veins, too, like adrenaline, and he felt like he was living for the first time.

The blaring horn of a car further down the street snapped Blaine out of his reverie and he opened his eyes to realize that people on the sidewalk were stepping aside to move around him while he stood transfixed in the middle of New York City, eyes closed and grinning blankly.

He cleared his throat gruffly, feeling foolish, and pushed his way through the revolving door into Kurt's hotel. He paused and stared around in wonder at the elaborate luxury of the hotel, and wondered vaguely how the New Directions had ever paid for this by selling salt water taffy.

"Can I help you?" the tall, mustached clerk at the desk asked.

Blaine startled and glanced at the slip of paper in his hand where he'd scribbled down Kurt's room number. "I'm visiting #511?" he said, making it sound like a question. The clerk genial's genial expression shifted curiously, and he nodded. "It's the third on the right when you get off the elevator," he informed Blaine. "Good luck."

Blaine puzzled over the odd parting words as he stepped into the elevator, but when the doors slid open at his floor, he knew why immediately. Even from there, he could hear Santana screaming furiously in Spanish, her voice piercing over the disgruntled rumbling of several other, equally angry people.

Blaine reached their open door and stared at the pandemonium within. Santana was struggling to lunge at Rachel and Finn, while a number of hands on her arms and shoulders restrained her, all of them shouting at each other and none of them being heard. In the back of the room, behind Santana, Kurt was perched on a bed, glaring at Rachel and pressing his fingers to his temples as if his head hurt.

Blaine paused and cleared his throat uncomfortably over the disorder, suddenly unsure if he'd be welcome in the hotel room. Before he could doubt his presence, however, Kurt's head snapped up and his eyes lit up as he saw Blaine. He rose and maneuvered between Santana and Rachel to the door, slipping his arms up and crossing his wrists behind Blaine's neck, beaming.

"You came," Kurt whispered, kissing Blaine breathlessly. "You're here." Even with their faces too close together to see each other properly, Blaine could hear the smile in Kurt's voice. A moment later Kurt paused and drew back slightly, asking, "What are you doing here?"

Blaine chuckled and snaked his arms around Kurt's waist, pulling them both out of the doorway and turning until his back was against the wall of the corridor. "I guessed that a week with the New Directions might drive you a little crazy, and I thought" - Blaine paused to trail kisses along Kurt's jaw - "that we could get away together." They leaned their foreheads against each other's and breathed heavily, enjoying the closeness and intimacy they'd been craving for the past week. "I guess I didn't realize just how out of control they would get." Blaine craned his neck back around to cast a glance at the Glee club inside the hotel room, all of them still viciously arguing.

"Let's get out of here," Kurt whispered. "We're in New York. We can go anywhere."

Blaine grinned and reached across, taking Kurt's hand and running eagerly down the hallway with him as they had at Dalton on that very first day. "Show me all the great places," Blaine urged once they were outside in the cool, breezy spring weather.

Fifteen minutes later found them at Times Square. "It's better at night, when everything's lit up," Kurt whispered into Blaine's ear as they sat next to each other on the tall steps that Kurt told him they'd stopped at on their very first day in the city.

"I have a hard time believing that it can get any better than what it is right now," Blaine murmured, looking around with the eyes of someone who was seeing for the first time. "Can you just imagine, years from now when we have -" Blaine stopped short abruptly, realizing barely soon enough how close he'd come to saying when we have kids and live here and internally scolding himself for almost scaring Kurt off by how far into the future he imagined them together.

He looked up at Kurt, very aware of how warm his neck and face had grown, and saw Kurt gazing across at him and smiling quizzically. "Have what?" he asked, running his thumb over the back of Blaine's hand.

"When we have Broadway careers," Blaine answered quickly, covering in what he believed was a smooth manner.

Kurt, however, appeared unconvinced, and stared a moment longer before replying vaguely in a way that Blaine didn't think was a direct response to what he'd actually said, "I can't wait to watch all of our dreams come true together."

"Me neither," Blaine said, cursing the fact that he was nervous around Kurt for the first time in weeks and that his hands were sweaty.

He was just about to shift slightly away when Kurt reached for the hand he didn't already have and turned to face Blaine fully and look him directly in the eyes. Kurt took a deep breath and then said, all in a rush, "I love you!"

Blaine's eyes widened in shock and amazement, but then a moment later he was beaming so widely it hurt and squeezing back hard on Kurt's hands to make himself feel that this was real, and murmuring, adoration in his voice, "I love you, too."

A pretty, rosy flush appeared in Kurt's cheeks, and he laughed breathlessly, his eyes sparkling happily and revealing his ecstasy. "You never asked how we placed at Nationals," Kurt said suddenly.

Blaine shrugged, both boys still unable to keep their smiles off their faces. "I figured it wasn't good news when I saw the state of your team members."

"We were twelfth," Kurt said, chuckling and shaking his head ruefully. "Because Finn and Rachel decided it would be wise to make out on stage. We'd all been doing so well up until that, too. We might have won."

"I'm sorry," Blaine said, his expression sobering while he gave Kurt another little squeeze.

"Don't be. I'm not. I'm in Times Square with the one person I want to experience it with. What on earth do we have to be sorry for?"

In that moment, gazing at the skyscrapers and billboards and, most overwhelmingly astounding of all, Kurt himself, Blaine couldn't agree more.

I know it was short, but I couldn't figure a way to make something more out of it, so my apologies.

Now, not to be a complainer, but I'm going to go ahead and complain anyway - I'm barely getting any reviews for this; I used to get four or five, and now I'm lucky to have one. I know from my hits that you people are out there somewhere reading this... so review!

Thanks for putting up with my whining. Happy Easter if you celebrate it, and have an amazing day all the same if you don't!