On the day of their first wedding anniversary, Kurt woke up to sunlight creeping around the edges of their shades, and the sound of Blaine singing in the kitchen.
Kurt stretched, yawning, before he picked up his phone.
Kurt: Come back to bed
He heard Blaine's phone chime with an incoming text in the kitchen and waited, tossing his boxers in the general area of the hamper.
Blaine: Shhh I have plans to surprise you with breakfast in bed
Kurt: I just want you in bed ;)
Blaine's laugh rang out in the kitchen. "Just give me two more minutes."
Kurt sighed, "I guess I can check my email while I wait…"
"Don't you dare Kurt Hummel," Blaine called back. "I have plans that don't involve you thinking about work all day."
Kurt let himself fall back onto the pillows. "Okay, okay, I'm putting the phone down," he said, setting his phone back on the nightstand.
"Good. Now," Blaine continued, footsteps heading towards the bedroom. "Indulge me and pretend you're asleep?"
Blaine cracked the door open and peeked his head inside. Kurt grinned back at him, blatantly not pretending to be asleep.
"Such a disobedient husband."
"Get in here with my breakfast," Kurt teased.
Blaine rolled his eyes mockingly but stepped inside, kicking the door closed behind him. "I made you breakfast!" he announced, as though Kurt didn't know already, as he set the tray up on the bed. "Chocolate chip pancakes, coffee, bacon, and some scrambled eggs."
"What, no side of divorce?" Kurt teased, his joke falling flat as Blaine's face fell minutely.
Before Kurt could say anything else however, Blaine spoke. "Why would I taint breakfast with a sour aftertaste?"
Kurt was tempted to press Blaine on the subject, because he wanted to make sure Blaine knew that he didn't really want a divorce, but, wary of rejection, he instead pulled a plate of food towards himself. "It smells delicious."
And with that, the subject was dropped for the time being.
"So," Blaine said, giving Kurt a once over after a few minutes of eating. "What happened to the not eating shirtless rule?"
Kurt shrugged, grinning at him cheekily. "The same thing that happened to your 'no eating in bed' rule."
"It's not my fault. I didn't know how appealing breakfast in bed could be until we started sleeping together!" He looked over at Kurt again. "We should also probably drop the no shirt rule because of how appealing you make it," Blaine waggled his eyebrows.
Kurt shoved his shoulder, laughing and shaking his head.
"What?" Blaine finally asked.
"You are such a dork." Blaine pouted. Kurt sighed in mock exasperation. "Do you think all marrieds have to put up with silly come ons from their husband?"
"'Marrieds?'" Blaine asked with a chuckle, moving the tray to the floor.
"Yes, 'marrieds,'" Kurt raised an eyebrow in challenge, purposely ruining the effect as he rolled onto his side, hooking a bare ankle around Blaine's.
"We should probably talk about the marriage thing," Blaine said, his expression turning serious.
Nervous about what Blaine would say, Kurt scooted closer to him, bare calf flush against Blaine's as he brought a hand to Blaine's thigh, right where his boxers stopped. "What about it?"
"About-" Blaine's breath hitched as Kurt walked his fingers closer to his cock. "About our marriage. Because- oh god," Blaine gasped as Kurt brushed his fingers over Blaine's clothed cock. "Are you-?" Blaine started to ask, his hands wandering down Kurt's body until he was able to determine for himself that Kurt was in fact completely naked under the covers. He moaned, squeezing Kurt's ass. "You're so hot," he said, pulling Kurt on top of him.
Kurt was coming down from his orgasm, Blaine resting his head on his shoulder when Blaine reached over him, pulling something out of his nightstand. "Stay married to me?" he asked, placing something on Kurt's chest.
Kurt blinked down at it, trying to get his breathing under control. It took him a moment to process what Blaine had asked. "Wha-? Is that-?" He picked up the little ring box, staring at the ring inside of it. "Are you-" Kurt stopped, too busy trying to make his brain catch up.
"It's, um, your mom's ring. I wanted something physical to give you, and when I talked to your dad-" Blaine took a breath as Kurt ran his finger over the ring. "It's yours no matter what your answer is, but I wanted to do the proposal the right way."
Kurt laughed. "I can't believe you-" he shook his head, beaming. "My answer is yes," Blaine kissed his neck - the closest part of Kurt to him - "but I'm not sure most people would consider your proposal very orthodox."
"I almost put the ring in the scrambled eggs," Blaine confessed, unable to stop smiling at Kurt.
Kurt's mouth dropped open in horror. "You what?"
Blaine's eyebrows shot up in alarm. "I thought it would be cute!" Kurt glowered. "Obviously I came to my senses though! I had plans to be a little more romantic. You were the one who ruined that mister 'I know you're in the middle of saying something, but I just have to stick my hand down your pants. And by the way, I've been naked under here the whole time.'"
Kurt nuzzled under Blaine's ear. "If you ever propose to me again, you're just going to have to find the middle ground. I mean, going from public serenade to right after I orgasm?"
"Whoops?" Blaine shrugged, not looking sorry at all.
"I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with you," Kurt said, biting on his lip to keep from smiling.
"Love me?" Blaine fluttered his eyelashes. "And try to avoid telling our children about how our marriage was a sham at first."
"Maybe we can just threaten them with arranged marriages."
"Well, they'll have to carry on the Anderson-Hummel dynasty of course, and strategic marriages are at the core of achieving that," Blaine agreed, mock serious.
Kurt laughed, kissing Blaine's arm lightly. "I love you."
"I love you too."
"I'm still making you get a washcloth."
"I know."
"Okay, so how exactly does this whole 'getting engaged when we're already married,' thing work?" Kurt asked that night as they lay sprawled out on the couch, dinner sitting mostly eaten on the coffee table.
"I was planning on asking you the same thing," Blaine replied, squeezing his hand.
"All I know, is that we need to tell your parents that it's not about the money."
"We'll have to tell my parents to stop laughing about how they knew this would happen because they have an unhealthy obsession with Hallmark and Lifetime movies."
"They already know," Kurt pointed out. "We don't tell your brother though."
"He'd be so thrilled though!"
Kurt laughed as Blaine nuzzled his shoulder.
"Should we tell everyone about it? Can they retroactively take the money away from you?" Kurt asked.
"Once it's mine, it's mine whether we lied or not. So we can tell them."
"Does that mean we can invite them all to dinner and just announce our engagement as though we're not even married?" Kurt asked, an evil grin spreading across his face.
Blaine's eyebrows shot up, a smile threatening to spread across his face. "Does it go against the rules to throw ourselves an engagement party? We never got one the first time around!"
"Can you imagine the invitations?" Kurt laughed.
Blaine laughed, turning and nuzzling his nose against Kurt's cheek. "We should probably tell them all. Just- not yet? I need to get everything settled with the lawyers."
"And then we need to rework our finances because if we're doing this for real, we need to talk about that."
Blaine nodded. "Are you feeling better about not going to London now?"
"I got a part in a Broadway show, of course I don't feel all that bad about it," Kurt laughed. "It might just be as a chorus member, but I have to start somewhere."
They lay in silence for a while before Blaine tentatively started to speak. "Would it be crazy if I said I wanted to stay your husband?"
Kurt blinked, "I thought that was what the proposal was all about?"
Blaine rolled onto his side to look at Kurt. "It was- I just-" He let out a frustrated huff. "I just want to be married to you. We've been husbands for a year now. We've been actually dating for more than half of that, and I-," he grabbed Kurt's hand. "I feel as though we'd be taking an unnecessary step back if we start calling ourselves engaged. I was…" he paused, licking his lips nervously. "Feel free to tell me it's too much and I swear I'll back off, but my intention with the proposal was more about reaffirming our relationship? If you want another ceremony, I'd be open to doing a vow renewal, but I was thinking we could just do something a bit more private between the two of us?"
Kurt took a moment to process the information before squeezing Blaine's hand gently. "Staying husbands sounds perfect. And maybe a vow renewal ceremony eventually, but right now this is all I need." Blaine tilted their foreheads together, kissing him softly. "You sounded like you had an idea though?"
"Yeah, I-" Blaine wiggled his ring off his finger. "I was thinking we could get something engraved on the inside of these? We didn't really do anything to personalize the rings or tailor them to our relationship before, and I thought it could be nice, having something personal there that no one else knows about."
Kurt laid a palm on Blaine's chest. "I think that sounds perfect. Now put that ring back on."
"Yes sir," Blaine grinned. He bit his lip. "You're really on board with this idea? Because it's okay if you're not, I'll un-"
Kurt leaned forward, kissing him hard. "I am very much on board with your idea. And I think maybe we should just… not tell everyone about why we originally got married. It would probably only make them angry, and it's not like we're lying about anything anymore."
"Whatever you want," Blaine grinned at him before promptly yawning in Kurt's face.
"Time for bed, sleepy?" Kurt asked.
Blaine nodded, eyes scrunching closed as he yawned.
"See, this is what happens when you stay up late and then try to wake up early to do nice things like make me breakfast in bed, you're ready for bed at nine pm. This is why we never go out anymore."
"We never go out anymore because we're an old married couple," Blaine replied, standing up.
"We're an old married couple because you go to bed so early," Kurt retorted, picking their plates off of the coffee table as he stood up.
"You love our old married couple ways," Blaine said, somehow managing to pull him into a short kiss without bumping into their plates.
"I love you," he turned, heading for the kitchen. "Go get ready for bed, I'll come join you in a minute."
"Okay," Blaine yawned. "I'm tired."
Kurt smiled, walking into the kitchen as Blaine retreated to their room. If someone had told him a year ago today that this is where he'd be today – married to Blaine because they were in love - he would have laughed. Apparently, however, a lot could change over the course of year, and Kurt wasn't going to complain about it.
Three Years Later
The night before Santana and Brittany's wedding they all - Rachel, Finn, Puck, Quinn, Artie, Santana, Brittany, Mercedes, Tina, Mike, and Sam - went out for drinks after the rehearsal dinner wrapped up. To Kurt's chagrin, Blaine was soon three drinks in and, with the celebratory atmosphere, he was overly talkative, sharing stories that Kurt would rather have no one know.
"Tell us something we don't know about your wedding, Blaine!" Artie called down the table.
"Behind the scenes drama!" Tina declared.
"I don't know about drama," Blaine frowned. "It was rather drama free."
"Oh come on," Santana rolled her eyes. "You're both control freaks; there must have been some drama. Even Brit and I had a few fights over decorations."
"If we'd been together there would have been drama," Blaine shrugged, downing the rest of his beer as Kurt winced. "That's why we had that big fight while planning our vow renewal ceremony."
Everyone gave Blaine a funny look, except for Brittany who was too busy trying to kiss Santana. Eventually, Sam turned to look at Kurt. "What is he talking about?"
Kurt sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before looking around at them all. Blaine's eyes had gone wide in panic. Kurt squeezed his leg, leaning over to whisper, "I guess now works for telling them." He took a breath, stealing himself for their anger.
"We didn't actually start the… romantic part of our relationship until after we'd been married for four or five months."
His statement was met with silence and confused looks.
He rolled his eyes. "We got married so that Blaine could inherit from his grandparents. And we had to pretend to be in love because the terms of the will meant that the more people who knew, the more at risk we were of someone discovering the lie, which would have meant someone else inheriting."
"I knew something was weird about you two," Santana said with a triumphant grin. She turned to Puck. "You owe me twenty dollars."
Rachel ignored her. "But now you can tell us?" she asked, glaring over at him.
Blaine fiddled with his empty beer bottle, looking far more sober than he had five minutes before. "It can't be spread around everywhere, but yeah, the first year we had to keep it quiet."
Kurt chanced a glance at Finn, who stared back, looking hurt. "Our parents, they knew?"
Kurt nodded. "I wanted to tell you – all of you -," he glanced around at them all, Blaine squeezing his hand under the table, anchoring him. "We couldn't risk it though. We didn't want to put any of you in the position of having to lie, and the less people who knew, the safer we were."
The silence stretched for a long moment before Mercedes burst out laughing. "Let me get this straight, you two got married, pretended to be intimate, and it took you months to realize you were in love with each other?"
Everyone else started laughing at this. Kurt couldn't stop himself from smiling along with them. "That about sums it up, yeah."
"You two are so strange," Quinn commented with a shake of her head, and a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "I'm just surprised you two finally worked it out."
"We were all wondering why you guys needed a vow renewal ceremony so soon after you got married."
A few more teasing remarks were made, and then the conversation shifted back to other topics.
Blaine rested his head on Kurt's shoulder. "Sorry I let it slip."
Kurt kissed the top of his head lightly. "It's alright, they seemed oddly alright with it. I'm sure we'll hear about it again later, but it was probably time they knew."
"I still don't regret it."
"Neither do I."
One Year Later
Kurt stretched, yawning after the nap he'd accidentally taken. He smiled as he heard Blaine plunking away at the piano down the hall. Just as he was contemplating getting up and joining Blaine, his phone rang.
He glanced over, sitting up against the headboard as he picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Kurt?"
"Yeah, who else would it be Finn? You called my phone."
"Right. Well, I have some news."
"Ooo," Kurt straightened up. "News?"
"Yeah. Rachel and I are getting married." Kurt let out an excited squeak as Finn continued. "Like a normal wedding where two people stand in front of their friends and family and commit their lives to each other because they're in love."
"I know you're trying to be all clever and make fun of me, but I don't even care right now because I'm just so excited for you!" He bounced excitedly. "You're finally getting married! Tell me everything and then have Rachel give me a call so she can give me her side of the story!"
"I have to get off the phone and call Puck in a minute, but I can give you the short version if you want?"
"Yes please!" Kurt said excitedly, grinning at Blaine who'd just entered the room.
"First of all, you should know that I didn't ask her to marry me so I could inherit some money. I-"
"Finn!" Kurt half laughed, half shouted into the phone. "I get it, okay?" he beckoned Blaine over. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner. Now will you get on with the actual story before I make Blaine call Rachel to ask her?"
Finn laughed. "She wants to tell you guys about it first actually. I just had to call you first to tease you. I'll have her call when she's off the phone with her dads."
"Alright, love you Finn," Kurt said.
"Love you too bro."
"What's up?" Blaine asked after Kurt had set his phone down on the table.
"Finn finally proposed to Rachel… again."
"Again?"
"If we're counting crazy high school proposals, then yes it is 'again.'"
"Well," Blaine kissed his cheek lightly. "It's about time they got engaged."
"They've only been living in the same state for a few months," Kurt shrugged. He rolled his eyes and smiled. "It's definitely about time."
Blaine shifted, lifting Kurt's arm and putting it around his shoulders. "Does this mean we should wait a few weeks before we share our news with them?"
Kurt pulled Blaine closer. "I don't think I could make it through dinner next week without spilling the beans."
Blaine nodded, playing with the ring on his finger silently. He bit back a smile, looking over at Kurt. "I can't believe that we're going to be parents."
"Eventually." Kurt said firmly. "It can take years to be matched with a surrogate."
"I know, I know," Blaine sighed. "I'm just excited."
Kurt weaved their fingers together. "I can't wait."