They'd won Nationals!
Better yet, McKinley cheered them when they came home. They were like heroes to the school for a moment and it felt amazing.
Kurt even felt safe enough to whisk Blaine off his feet and kiss him hard like they'd just won a war or something.
Burt called Kurt to make sure he brought Blaine to the Hummel's.
When they got home, they were greeted by a bigger surprise.
Blaine's mom was there as well.
"Your letters came when you were in Chicago!"
They entered the living room and Kurt tried to take them.
"One at a time!" Pam insisted.
"I'll open Columbia first," Blaine suggested.
His mom handed him it. He took Kurt's hand and squeezed it tight.
"I can't open it," Blaine said after a minute. "Kurt, you do it."
Kurt nodded, taking it. He opened it up and read the first few line.
"We are pleased to inform you that-," Kurt started and the room exploded into cheers. "Well Blaine's going to New York," Kurt said nervously.
"So are you!" Blaine reassured him. "Let's do NYADA now!"
Blaine's mom handed them their envelopes and Blaine traded his with Kurt's.
They both opened the letter and stayed silent as they read.
Blaine bit his lip not wanting to tell Kurt.
"You got in, Blaine!" Kurt grinned.
Blaine just shook his head, not wanting to say it out loud.
Waitlisted.
Kurt collapsed on the couch in shock and despair.
"You've still got NYU, Kurt," Burt reassured him.
Blaine took Kurt's letter from his mom and handed it to Burt.
"I can't open it either," Blaine explained, sitting down and holding Kurt's hand tight.
Burt tugged the paper out of the wrapping and read it over.
"Kurt! You're going to New York! You did it, Kurt!" Burt cheered.
Kurt jumped up and grabbed the letter, needing to read it himself.
"I'm going to NYU!" Kurt yelled.
Burt picked him and spun him around laughing. When he released Kurt, Blaine was there jumping up and down in excitement with him.
"We're going to New York, Kurt!" Blaine started crying. "New York!"
"I know!" Kurt cheered.
Pam cleared her throat. "I think you're forgetting something."
Blaine rushed over and took his letter, no longer nervous. Even if it was his first choice.
He opened the letter and slipped it out.
He started giggling in delight.
"Blaine, words?" Kurt reminded.
"I got in! We're both going to Tisch!" Blaine grinned.
"Are you sure, Blainey? You're going to turn down Columbia and Nyada?"
Blaine nodded, "I never thought I'd get into those two. I applied just in case."
"We've got to start looking for apartments!" Kurt realized. He grabbed Blaine's hand and they ran upstairs.
"I swear it was just yesterday, Blaine first called me mama," Pam said wiping away a tear.
"Kurt learning to walk around in his princess heels to go see Mulan," Burt reminced.
"Blaine insisted he was going to marry Prince Philip," Pam laughed. "I guess he might have been right."
"I'm going to be a mess when that happens," Burt agreed.
"Blaine promised at Christmas that he wouldn't propose till they were twenty," Pam told him.
"Now we've just got to hope Kurt doesn't until then," Burt mused.
"I think we've still got time. I still see Kurt admiring that little promise ring Blaine made from time to time," Pam reassured him.
"Do you ever wonder if maybe we changed McKinley a little with our relationship?" Kurt asked. "I mean look at all the tadpole gays just out and proud."
"You changed McKinley, Kurt. I can't take any credit," Blaine informed him. "And I think it helps that there are less bullies around because the world is changing."
Kurt looked around and shot a smile to two guys that were holding hands much like him and Blaine.
Finally it was graduation day.
Blaine dressed in the outfit that Kurt picked out for him and then put on his gown. He looked like a little kid playing dress up. But it would have to do.
He kept the cap off until Kurt could fix it so he'd look perfect.
They meet Burt, Carole, Finn, Kurt, and Rachel at the front of the school. Rachel explained that her dads were saving all the parents a seat.
Finn, Kurt, Rachel, and Blaine went to the designated place for graduates.
"Oh, you look so cute in your graduation gown, baby," Kurt grinned, kissing him lightly. He put on Blaine's cap for him making it perfectly askew.
"This time last year I was just finishing sophomore year, Kurt. And now we're here," Blaine bubbled with excitement. "Off to New York as freshmen in college!"
"You don't know that yet," Rachel teased.
"Oops," Kurt said regretfully. "Rachel, we already opened our letters with our parents."
"But we were supposed to do that after graduation."
"We're sorry. They were just there when we got back from Chicago," Blaine apologized. "And our parents were excited."
"Well?" Rachel asked.
"Well what?" Kurt asked.
"Did you get in? You had to of if you know you're freshman," Rachel reasoned.
"Actually we're going to Tisch," Kurt explained. "But Blaine got into NYADA."
"Everyone in your places!" a teacher informed the graduating class.
"See you on the other side, baby," Kurt grinned, kissing Blaine once more before they went separate ways.
"I can't believe you got into NYADA, but you aren't going," Rachel complained, whispering to him, trying to be heard from between the people Anderson to Berry.
"I always planned on Tisch, Rachel," Blaine whispered.
The line started to move.
Graduation felt like a blur. One second he was waiting for his name to be called, the next was switching his tassel to the other side.
Blaine couldn't resist the urge to kiss Kurt when he got his diploma too. If Rachel and Finn could do it, so could they. He heard a few boos in the audience but didn't care. He was done being a scared high schooler. He was graduating to Out and Proud New York College Freshman.
Rachel ended up with two letters from NYADA. One claimed she was waitlisted, and the later dated one said she was accepted. She tried to stay home with Finn until he got into college, but he sent her off to New York to go clarify what happened with NYADA.
Blaine and Kurt decided that they didn't want to go quite yet, but saw her off at the train station with the rest of their friends.
"Blaine we can't take all your scrapbooks now," Kurt said a little frustrated. "Only the bare essentials until we find a place to live."
"Actually," Pam said from the doorway. "I have a surprise for you."
Blaine looked up from where he was packing up his sweaters. "What is it, mama?"
"Just come meet me downstairs, you too, Kurt" Pam suggested.
Kurt finished what he was doing with Blaine's bowties and followed Blaine downstairs.
When they were both settled on the couch, Pam brought one of her books of photography to them.
"These are your choices," Pam stated. "When Blaine and Cooper were younger, I bought up a few properties in New York. I intended to give Cooper the first choice when he turned eighteen, but he decided on California instead."
"What do you mean?" Kurt asked in disbelief.
"Well I'd like my boys to focus on succeeding instead of being starving artist. So I bought them so Cooper and Blaine would have a place when they first started out," Pam explained. "I won't mind if you stay there longer than that. But you can choose one of the two properties."
"What about the third?" Blaine asked blown away by how beautiful it was.
"That is a present for either you or Cooper on your first big break. Like starring on Broadway or Cooper's first movie," Pam explained. "Some motivation."
"This is so nice!" Kurt commented, pointing out the various architecture of one of the apartments.
"I can't believe your mom bought you an apartment!" Kurt exclaimed a little while later.
"Us," Blaine corrected him. "You're going to live there too."
"Blaine, she bought that apartment before I was even a blip on your radar. She bought you an apartment," Kurt grinned, starting to resort through Blaine's room now that they knew where they were living.
"Where are we going to store our cars?" Blaine wondered. "We definitely can't take just your car anymore."
"I was going to ask my Dad to drive a moving truck while we drove my Navigator," Kurt reassured him. "I can't think of any reason why he wouldn't."
"We're going to New York!" Blaine bubbled out in excitement. They'd both been doing that periodically. He picked up Margaret Thatcher dog and put it in the take box along with their two proms photos.