Hummingbird: Chapter Nineteen Outtake, Part Two

There was a knock on the apartment door. "It's open!" Blaine shouted, and he glanced up, watching as Christian came inside. "Hey," Blaine said breathlessly, standing up, giving Christian a quick peck on the lips.

"Ready to load this stuff up?" Christian asked.

"Almost," Blaine said with a nod.

Christian slowly made his way to the half-kitchen and refilled his plastic water bottle. He tilted his head as he took a long sip, the paper bag from the estate sale on the counter. "What's this?" he asked, pulling out one of the jewelry boxes and snapping it open to look inside.

"Present from my mom," Blaine told him off-handedly, and Christian turned to him with a curious expression.

"I didn't think this was your mom's style," he said, and Blaine suddenly realized that he'd opened the box with the brooch.

"Oh," he said lamely. "No, the necklace is for her."

"And this?"

Blaine tried to shrug casually. "I just... got it," he said.

"Not for yourself," Christian pressed on. "And not for me." He paused, realization slowly setting in. He laughed, cold and bitter, shaking his head. "For him." He narrowed his eyes at Blaine. "It is, isn't it?"

The darker-haired man didn't answer. Christian took in a deep breath. "Look, this is not okay," he said, doing his best to keep his tone angrily. "I know that when we met, when we started dating, I was coming out of a bad break-up, and you weren't over your ex, either. I know that we don't talk about the guys we used to date, especially you. But I thought we got over that, Blaine! If you don't want to be with me, than we need to end this now."

Blaine squeezed his eyes shut tightly. "I want to be with you," he said. "I love you, Christian."

"I know," he sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I love you, too." He looked at Blaine again. "I don't want it to be like this anymore, Blaine," he told him. "I want to know that it's just you and me." He paused, licking his lips. "I know we talked about... taking a break or whatever when you went to Europe, and when I go to Greece. But, well... you're not going anymore. And I'll only be gone for two weeks." Another pause. "I want to come to Ohio with you, once I'm back. I want us to get married."

Blaine stared at him blankly for a moment. "Seriously?" he asked.

"It wasn't the way I wanted to propose," Christian sighed. "I had other ideas in mind, but—"

He was cut off as Blaine kissed him harshly on the mouth. "No," Blaine muttered. "It's fine, it's perfect. I—yes. Yes, I want to."

Christian smiled softly at him, grabbing onto Blaine's face and pulling him in for another kiss.