***

"I mean, how could we have let anyone go on after that?"

"I know," David agreed, nodding his head in Wes's direction.

"The raw emotion... it would have taken away from Kurt's performance and almost seemed like a... a..."

"Insult?"

"Exactly! No one would have been able to follow it up anyway. Not for all the pop songs in the world," Wes said with a sigh.

"I just don't know what we're going to do on Thursday, because if we count that as an audition-"

"Wes!"

David and Wes paused, turning around in confusion as they saw Blaine racing towards them.

"Wait up, I need to talk to you."

"Blaine? What's wrong?"

Blaine came to a halt in front of them, panting for air as if he had raced as fast as he could from the choir room to hunt them down. His hair was coming loose from its gel, his eyes wide and frantic as he bent over to suck in a breath of air as he held up a hand for them to be silent.

"I need to ask you a question, is Kurt in love with me?"

Wes and David froze, glancing at each other as if to try and figure out what the appropriate thing to say was.

"I don't know Blaine," David said carefully after a couple of seconds of intense, urgent eye contact with Wes, "I mean, I'm not that close with him so if you wanted to know then maybe you should-"

"I'm in love with him and I'm going to ask him out but I just wanted to know if that's what you and the other Warblers had been hinting at when you made jokes about us getting together."

"You're going to ask him out?" David recoiled in surprise, "Really? Is this a joke?"

"Of course it's not a joke," Blaine snapped, "I just had the biggest epiphany of my life and I'd appreciate it if you'd take this seriously."

"We've waited so long," Wes said, staring at Blaine in shock.

"So, so long," David agreed in awe.

"Is Kurt in love with me or am I getting my hopes up for nothing?"

"Uh, right! Yes, he's in love with you," David said quickly, "Are you really going to ask him out today? Because if you wait till after regionals then I win the bet that's been going on since you guys met and I get a lot of money. Regionals is like, two weeks away so in the grand scheme of things it's really not that long and might even be-"

"He's in love with me?" Blaine said, his face filling with hope as he looked back and forth from Wes and David, "He's really really in love with me?"

"Yes Blaine," David said, "He's really really in love with you. Back to the thing about regionals-"

"We've waited so long," Wes said again, sounding confused and still in shock, "I'd almost given up on this day ever happening."

"That's because you thought Blaine would wise up by Christmas," David rolled his eyes, "Which was ridiculously optimistic if you ask me."

"He's in love with me," Blaine said dreamily, "I'm Blaine Anderson and he's in love with me."

"Is this real?" Wes asked, "Because I don't know what I'm going to do if this is some kind of stress dream brought on by Jeff's refusal to dance to the beat. I may have to hurt someone and I don't want to do that."

"Kurt's in love with me."

"We've established that Blaine," said David pleasantly.

"I have to go ask him out!" Blaine snapped out of his daze, turning to face the two senior Warblers with an intense determination, "I have to ask him out right now and be his boyfriend and sing duets with him and kiss him and go on dates."

"Before you do so, how about you take a moment to think about how satisfying it would be to wait two more weeks and ask him out after our regionals win."

"Don't mess this up," Wes said suddenly, seemingly shaken into reality by Blaine's determined expression, "He's waited a long time and I don't think any of us could handle seeing you come so close only to upset him at the last second."

"I'm just going to tell him I love him and that he's the most perfect person I've ever met and that I'm an idiot and I want to be his boyfriend."

"Oh," Wes said, "I suppose that could work."

"You know what else would work? A big confession after regionals, that would definitely get him to say yes."

"I need to go, but thank you for everything!"

Blaine turned to run away, clutching at his bag as he paused for a second and turned back to face them.

"Oh and I don't know if this is actually going to work or anything but if it does, go tell Thad that the girl he's crushing on is Nick's cousin. Oh! And tell Nick that Jeff likes him. And Trent is going to this Italian movie showing next month-"

"Oh, I heard about that!"

"I was actually planning on going."

"-And I think we should all go together because Trent has good ideas and is endearing and plays the clarinet. I have to go ask Kurt to be my boyfriend."

"Oh, okay," David blinked in confusion, watching as Blaine turned and raced away from them back the way he had come, "Are you sure you don't want to wait until after-"

"Bye! Thank you!"

Blaine ran around a corner and disappeared from sight, leaving Wes and David standing in a bewildered silence.

"I don't know what just happened," Wes turned to face David with a frown, "But I think it was good."

"Two more weeks," David muttered, "Just two more weeks."

"Stop complaining, at least you didn't bet on Valentine's day like half the Warblers did."

"Two weeks!"

"I can't believe we travelled all the way to the Gap for some guy we've never even heard of. Who the hell is Jeremiah anyway?"

***

Blaine hurried down one of the numerous Dalton halls, no longer running as he clutched at the stitch in his side and breathed deeply through his nose.

There was no need to panic, Kurt wasn't going anywhere and if he didn't find him today he knew Kurt would find him tomorrow morning at breakfast. Blaine wanted to find him though, he wanted to talk to him today. He didn't think he could spend an entire night in his dorm room without knowing... without having said...

Kurt loved him.

Kurt was in love with him and he had been for ages and-

Oh god, Blaine faltered to a halt, had he really asked Kurt to pick him up from his date with Terry?

Blaine cringed at the memory for a few seconds before shaking his head, pushing forwards in determination. He would make it up to Kurt, he would make up for everything and spend every day just making him smile and listening to him laugh and watching movies together cuddled up on Kurt's bed.

He was going to be the best boyfriend ever, but more than that, he was going to be Kurt's boyfriend.

Kurt's boyfriend.

The first time Blaine had thought those words to himself they had been a hesitant question, immediately ignored when he realized how fragile Kurt was and how badly he was being bullied. Later the words had been used to think of some faceless, unknown guy, like when Blaine had thought to himself "I wonder if Kurt and Kurt's boyfriend will one day come on double dates with me and Jeremiah."

Later the two words had been thought of with a touch of jealousy, they had been thought in anger and fear of someone swooping down and stealing Kurt away from him.

But now the words were thought hopefully and with a touch of awe.

He could be Kurt's boyfriend, he could hold his hand and go on dates and send him good morning texts everyday even though he kind of did that already.

Oh god, how long had he unintentionally been flirting with Kurt?

Blaine hurriedly made his way down the hallway, concentrating firmly on getting to Kurt's dorm room. He could think about everything else later, he needed to focus on the perfect thing to say.

Actually, now that he thought about it, maybe Blaine should go speak to him tomorrow. That way he could spend the whole night just rehearsing in front of a mirror and ask Jeff to critique each different confession of love so he could get it perfect.

Maybe he could even serenade him!

Blaine brightened at the thought, picturing the Warblers gathering together outside of Kurt's dorm room to croon a love ballad with Blaine at the front, holding a bouquet of roses as Kurt blushed and stammered and smiled with that pleased, scrunched up smile as he looked deeply into Blaine's eyes and-

Wait.

Maybe he should forget the serenade idea completely, he didn't want to remind Kurt of the whole Jeremiah fiasco.

"And what if Kurt rejected him?" A voice whispered in his mind, "What if Wes was wrong about Kurt and he had moved on ages ago? Did Blaine really want to be rejected in front of all the Warblers?"

No, Blaine didn't want to be rejected at all, but a public rejection?

The speech needed to be perfect though, it needed to make Kurt realize how special and incredible he was and how sincere Blaine felt.

He should probably write something down, memorize a couple of cue points and then try later. In fact, that might be the best idea. Asking Kurt out an hour after rehearsal seemed a bit rushed, he could just wait until later tonight when he was feeling a bit more confident and then Blaine would have everything sorted out. His hair was probably a mess after all, he had been running around to find Wes and David and now he had been running around to find Kurt but he should-

Blaine glanced casually into one of the study rooms and came to a halt.

The room was almost completely empty; it was lit up by large windows that let the afternoon sun stream in across leather couches and expensive tables where chairs had been casually abandoned underneath as students left to go home for the day. It didn't look much different than any other study room except for the one lone inhabitant, bent over a table and lost in thought.

Kurt was dressed back in his normal Dalton uniform, obviously working on something as he frowned in concentration and fiddled with a strange box of some kind.

Blaine's stomach swooped at the sight of him, his hands felt clammy and he swallowed nervously to try and get rid of the lump that had suddenly appeared in his throat.

Kurt was right there, he was alone and still just as beautiful as Blaine had remembered him from an hour ago and he was sitting right there. How could Blaine walk away? How could he leave what he had to say until later tonight when Kurt was seated right there and they had both waited so long?

"It needs to be perfect!" The voice insisted again, "It should be perfect or he's not going to like it and then he's going to reject you!"

Did Kurt want perfect though?

He deserved it, but did he want it?

Blaine paused in the doorway, biting his lip anxiously. He thought back to the conversations he'd had with the other boy, the promises he'd made where he'd sworn he'd let Kurt in more. The conversations where in return, Kurt had promised that he didn't want Blaine to be some flawless, faultless friend, didn't want him to be some teenage dream who always said the right words and did the right thing.

There were some words floating around in Blaine's head, words about an anchor and a guiding light and Kurt being his best friend and how Blaine had waited so long to find someone like him and almost missed him completely because he couldn't see what he already had.

There were even words about Kurt that Blaine wanted to tell him, words like beautiful and courageous and inspiring and so strong. He wanted to tell Kurt exactly what he thought but the words wouldn't form into fully constructed sentences.

The option to run away and think was taken out of Blaine's hands however, when Kurt looked up from his table, sensing someone's eyes on him as he turned to face the door.

"Blaine?" Kurt asked in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"I..." Blaine paused to swallow nervously again, feeling younger and more vulnerable than he had in a long time, "I wanted to come check how you were doing."

"Oh."

Blaine made his way hesitantly into the room, dropping his bag underneath Kurt's table as he pulled out a chair to sit down. Kurt fidgeted with what he was working on, his long fingers playing with the corners of the box as Blaine studied it curiously.

"Is that..."

"Pavarotti's coffin, I was just decorating it."

"It looks nice."

Kurt didn't reply, instead glancing down at the coffin to avoid Blaine's eyes as an uneasy silence fell over them. Blaine had no idea what to do, he could feel Kurt pulling away from him and wanted him to stop.

"How are you feeling?" Blaine asked, smiling nervously when Kurt glanced up to meet his eyes again.

"I'm a lot better now, thank you for coming to my audition, even if it wasn't what you expected," Kurt said with a slightly wry smile.

"It was beautiful," Blaine said, trying to sound as sincere as possible as Kurt pulled back in surprise, "It was one of the most beautiful performances I've ever seen."

"Okay, now you're exaggerating."

"I'm not."

Blaine paused, feeling Kurt watch him in confusion as he took a deep breath. This was it, the next few moments were going to completely shape his life.

"It has to be perfect!" The little voice from the back of his head demanded.

Blaine pushed it away stubbornly, straightening up as he forced himself to start speaking. It didn't have to be perfect, it just had to be enough to make Kurt understand.

"There was another reason I came to talk to you," Blaine moved to cover one of Kurt's hands with his own, relishing the feeling of the soft, warm skin as his heart beat started to speed up in anticipation and slight fear.

"Oh?"

There was only curiosity in Kurt's voice with a slight amount of confusion, he obviously had no idea what Blaine was going to say and Blaine had no idea if that was a good thing or not. At the very least Kurt hadn't pulled his hand away from Blaine's.

"Yes. You see, for a long time I feel like I've been searching for something," Blaine started off slowly, trying to form the right words that would make Kurt understand, "I guess it's almost... ironic in a way, because I was so desperate to find this person, this sense of security and safety and love that I didn't realise what I was looking for had been right in front of me the whole time."

Blaine paused to think, he glanced up again to meet Kurt's eyes who was staring back at him, still confused but now with what might be the beginnings of hope forming on his face. Blaine found himself growing more confident at the look and straightened up, speaking slightly more loudly as Kurt made no move to interrupt him.

"There's this moment in life," Blaine started again, leaning forward so he was even closer to Kurt, "When something changes, when you gain a new perspective and suddenly someone you thought you knew becomes a completely different person. There's a moment- a-a whole new side that you'd never seen before and once you've seen it you can never look at the person the same way again."

"You're rambling," Kurt said softly.

"Let me finish," Blaine smiled nervously, gaining confidence from the fond smile Kurt gave him in return, "I'm almost done. There's a moment when you look at someone and think 'Oh there you are, I've been looking for you forever' and watching you do blackbird today was that moment for me about you. I want to spend more time with you, I want to make up for all the times I've been an idiot and hurt you but mostly I just want to make you happy."

"Blaine..."

"I'm in love with you," Blaine said with more confidence than he felt, "And I would be honoured if you would give me the chance to be your boyfriend."

Blaine took in Kurt's stunned facial expression and frozen posture, suddenly feeling a swarm of nerves as he hurried to correct his words.

"That is... if you'll let me."

"If I'll let you?" Kurt laughed, hope and awe filling his face as he shook his head in amusement, "Of course I'll let you, I... I love you too."

Blaine's face split into a huge smiling, watching as his expression was mirrored on Kurt's face as they both beamed at each other.

"You love me?"

"Of course I do."

"I love you too, I love you so much I..."

Blaine couldn't hold himself back any longer and with a huge burst of nerves, he surged forward to finally kiss Kurt for the first time.

Blaine's lips pressed firmly against Kurt's as he inhaled deeply through his nose, tilting to push in further as the rest of the world disappeared around him.

If someone had walked in right now, Blaine wouldn't have been able to notice. He was deaf to all other sounds besides the slide of his and Kurt's lips, deaf to any sound beside the small gasp Kurt let out in surprise. Everything disappeared around him until the only thing he could focus on were the parts of his body that were touching Kurt.

Kurt's lips were soft against him, sweet tasting and hesitant at first as he started to kiss back until Blaine nipped at his bottom lip and he started to respond with the same enthusiasm and want.

Kurt let the other boy's weight push him backwards until he hit the back of his chair, Blaine bracing himself on the chair's armrest as he tilted Kurt's head up to the perfect angle.

Kurt's left hand had come up to cup Blaine's cheek and every soft caress of Kurt's thumb sent tingling shivers down Blaine's spine, goose bumps rising on his arms as he squeezed his eyes tightly closed in pleasure.

Kurt's smell was invading his nose, the familiar tang of coconut shampoo and expensive cologne was making his stomach clench and his head swim dizzily. That smell had always driven him crazy, but how long had he been waiting to kiss Kurt senseless? How long had he wanted to bury his face in Kurt's shoulder and just breathe deeply? Everywhere he touched was so smooth and soft and the taste of Kurt's lips left him leaning in for more, biting and sucking at Kurt's bottom lip as Kurt's hand clenched around the back of his neck. Everything about him was so addictive and Blaine had no idea how he had not realized what his body's reactions to Kurt's smell and touch had been trying to tell him all along.

Blaine's head was filled with a soft humming, some kind of all-consuming happiness that had risen from his stomach and taken him over completely, until his toes were curling in his shoes and the only comprehensible thought he had was an overwhelming need to drag Kurt closer, kiss him deeper and harder and never stop because this moment was too perfect to let go of.

Their mouths moved in sync for a few more seconds, lazily sliding against each other until the gentle stroke of Kurt's thumb against his neck brought Blaine back to the present and with a reluctant sigh, he pulled back to slowly end the kiss.

Blaine let out a shaky breath, slumping down into his chair as he glanced up at Kurt shyly and with a touch of nerves to see if he'd enjoyed it as much as Blaine had. Just by looking, he realized he wouldn't even need to ask as he drank in the sight of Kurt's pleased smile and still closed eyes. It was almost as if the other boy was basking in the moment- and oh okay, Blaine's heart fluttered as he felt a huge boost of self esteem at the thought.

He'd never known kissing could be like that.

He'd kissed Rachel and that had been okay, but kissing her was nowhere near what it had felt like to kiss Kurt.

He'd felt as if he was floating, as if he could fly right out of his seat and swoop around the room and sing and yell that he and Kurt were boyfriends so the entire world would know.

This felt right.

He and Kurt were right for each other, they were right together.

Blaine couldn't remember ever being as happy as he was in this moment, he couldn't remember ever being as-as certain or sure of something in his entire life.

He wanted to kiss Kurt again. He wanted to hold his hand and hug him and curl up with him in bed and-and-

Oh, wow. Kurt was his boyfriend.

"I can't believe you asked me out while I was decorating a dead bird's coffin," Kurt said suddenly with a breathless laugh, turning to face Blaine again as he beamed, "Couldn't you have waited until a slightly more romantic situation presented itself?"

"No," Blaine stared at him with huge wide eyes, feeling something in his stomach tighten pleasantly at the pleased look on Kurt's face, "Kurt, I honestly couldn't have waited an extra five minutes."

"Well," Kurt shrugged a shoulder with an airy reluctance, "I suppose we'll have to make do."

Blaine and Kurt caught each other's eyes again as Kurt's mouth slowly curved up into what was becoming Blaine's favourite smile. Unable to stop himself and giddy with the knowledge that he didn't have to, Blaine pushed Kurt back into his chair again, kissing his boyfriend until he felt the rest of the world disappear.