“It was time for a change,” Blaine said as he moved buckets of flowers around.

“But you’ve been here for nearly two years and had the same rainbow arrangement the whole time.”

“Exactly, that’s why its time for a change.”

There were long stems of grass next to peonies and Acadia. The colors mixed harshly and there was no real flow to the shop. The mixture of colors and textures was overwhelming, there was nowhere for his eyes to rest. “So what is this new ordering system then?”

“Alphabetical.” Blaine stated matter-of-factly.

Wes looked confused at the plants, he was no expert, but he knew enough to know that sunflowers and amaryllis were not next to each other in any alphabet he was familiar with. “So you’re translating the names into Italian and then alphabetizing them?”

Blaine stopped and turned to face Wes, holding a bucket of lilies, “No…” Blaine looked around the shop, trying to understand Wes’ confusion, eventually it dawned on him, “Oh! They are organized alphabetically by meaning.”

Blaine pointed towards some of the flowers, “S's over there, submission, shame, and secret love. Ps right next to them here, pride and pure thoughts.”

“I see.” Wes took in the shop again, it looked chaotic, and left him feeling ill at ease, he decided to just watch Blaine instead, which didn’t make him feel much better. “So this is all about Kurt then?”

This time Blaine dropped the bucket he was carrying over to the S's, Lilly of the Valley, and the tiny flowers scattered across the floor. “What? No! It has nothing to do with him, I just… I needed a change.”

“Uh, huh. Which is why you’ve been avoiding my calls for the last two weeks and ignored Sara when she stopped by your apartment over the weekend.” Blaine blanched at his words, Wes knew he was being a little harsh, but he hated to see his friend hurting. “Blaine, you should get out. Come over for dinner tonight, please?”

Blaine stared at Wes for a long minute before nodding in agreement.

“I’ll see you at eight then,” Wes said as he walked out the door.

Blaine surveyed his shop it really was a disaster. His brilliant plan turned out to be less than brilliant, and was really verging on horrible. Blaine had never really thought about how bad flowers could look when they were placed in the wrong combinations, not just by meaning, but also by size, shape, texture, color, and just the general feel of the flower. He moved the last few buckets to the side; he was going to have to start from scratch in the morning.

Just as he was contemplating calling it a day and going home to take a long nap before going over to Wes and Sara’s, a customer walked in. Blaine helped the man, who came in almost once a week, as quickly as possible. The shop surprised the man; Blaine could tell by the way his eyes were traveling around the shop, uneasy and never really taking everything in. Blaine sold him the bouquet and sent him on his way, closing the shop behind him and beginning to plan how he was going to fix the layout.

The next morning Blaine stopped at Greenwich Kitchen to get coffee before heading to the shop. When Blaine unlocked the door and stepped inside, he was struck by the chaotic colors. He saw that assault Wes was talking about. He set to work reorganizing the blooms; first Blaine tried just alphabetizing them by English name, it was better, but still lacked the beautiful flow he was used to. Then he tried organizing them by Latin categorization and then by petal and leaf shape and size. None of the arrangements were quite right. The colors were abrasive and deep reds were next to bright yellows. Blaine knew that he had to change it back to the smoothly flowing rainbow, but it just made him think of Kurt.

Blaine was grateful when a customer entered the shop. He said brightly, “Good afternoon, sir. How can I help you?”

The man looked around briefly before saying, “I’m looking for a flower.”

“Of course.” Blaine smiled, “What sort of message would you like to send?”

“Uh… I guess something like, ‘I’m sorry he’s dead, but not that sorry, he was just a dog and you shouldn’t have loved him more than me’.”

Blaine is both shocked and confused by what the man says, “Can you give me a little more information?”

“Well, my wife’s dog just died. He was a little bastard. It was this small yippy dog that she carried around in her purse. She would let the little shit sleep between us in the bed and didn’t care that I am allergic. I hated that dog, and I am glad that it accidently ate the cherry pits I put out for it.” The man stops speaking for a minute before muttering, “I’m so glad its dead.”

Blaine was flabbergasted; he can’t believe that this man had so much hate in his heart that he would intentionally poison an animal. “You know…” He started, and then took a step forward and shouted, “Get out of my shop.”

Blaine was crowding the man towards the door, “What? Why? I want to buy flowers. That’s your job.”

“My job is to create beautiful arrangements to bring joy and happiness. Not spread malicious will. Get the fuck out of my shop.”

The man was taken aback and said before walking out of the shop, “I’m never shopping here again.”

“Good! You’re not welcome here!”

Blaine was convinced that if he were a cartoon character, there would be smoke coming out of his ears, he couldn’t believe this asshole poisoned his wife’s dog and then expected him to create a flower arrangement to console her. No way. The chimes over the door sounded, and Blaine took a moment to school his face into a more polite expression before turning around. The expression didn’t last long as he saw his brother standing in his shop.

“Cooper! What are you doing here?”

“Well, I was in the neighborhood so I thought I’d stop by, and see how you’re doing. But on my way down the street, I met a man who was ranting to everyone he encountered on the street about how you are a terrible shop owner and everyone should boycott your shop. What did you do?”

Blaine blushed and looked down, “I told him to get out because he poisoned his wife’s dog and then wanted to get her condolence flowers.”

“Blaine, you should have sold him the flowers. Wait? He poisoned the dog? How do you know?”

“He told me. Point blank.”

Cooper laughed, “Wow, that guy is an idiot. I can’t believe he told you that. But that’s not the real reason I’m here.”

“I figured.” Blaine walked behind the counter, picking up flowers to finish organizing them. He still wasn’t satisfied with the arrangement, and will most likely move it back to the rainbow he had before. “Why are you here, then?”

“Wes called me and said that you were depressed.”

“I can’t trust any of my friends anymore.” Blaine muttered with his back to Cooper. He turned around before asking, “What did he tell you?”

“Not much actually. Just that you had your heart ripped out and stomped on and he was out of ideas and I should come cheer you up.” Cooper put his hand on Blaine’s shoulder, “So what do you say to closing the shop and taking an early lunch, I doubt you’ll get too many customers in the next hour with that guy still on the streets.”

Blaine sighed and nodded, grabbing his coat before following Cooper out of the shop.

***
Cooper took Blaine to the most expensive restaurant within a mile of Floriography. Which, admittedly was not the most expensive in the city, but it was at least $15 per plate more than Blaine typically spent on a meal out. Blaine protested, but Cooper just used the excuse of being an up-and-coming movie star, which was sort of true. Cooper was starring in the new Hunger Games movie, but he was just a citizen of the capitol. Although it did mean that Blaine got to laugh at the ridiculous costume they put him in. Blaine secretly hoped that he would be in a pink frock with teal accents, something that would really make Kurt cringe. Of course, the second he thought about Kurt, his heart sunk into his feet, he lost his appetite, and Blaine was sure his face fell as well.

“… filming should start next month. But I’m going to head to the area in like two wee… What’s wrong Blaine?”

“Hm… nothing.”

“Nuh uh. No you don’t. I know what your face looks like when you are miserable. I’ve let you dodge the topic this long, so spill.”

“Alright. About a year ago, I met this guy, Kurt. He came into the shop, and I was doing the flowers for his wedding…” Blaine told Cooper the entire story over lunch, dessert, and coffee. It was well into the afternoon before Blaine finished the story, only leaving out some of the details about having sex on his worktable. Cooper would enjoy that entirely too much. “So, what should I do?”

Cooper, who had been uncharacteristically quiet through Blaine’s story, only adding small noises to encourage Blaine to keep going, had to be dying to speak. “I… Honestly?”

Blaine nodded, “At this point, I hope you would at least have enough decency to tell me what you honestly think.”

“I wish this could work for you. A guy like Kurt is perfect for you. But he’s married, and not willing to end that any time soon. So I think you need to get a little perspective. Maybe go back to Ohio and visit Mom and Dad for a while. See some of your friends from Dalton. Hell, maybe you can find a one-night stand at that god awful gay bar. I think it would do you a little good to get away. When was the last time you took a vacation, anyway?”

“Coop, I own my own store. I don’t get vacations. Besides who would watch my shop? I can’t just close for a week.”

“I’ll do it.”

Blaine looked at Cooper, surprised. “You’ve never even liked flowers…”

“But I want to stay in the city for a while, and you need to get out. I’ll watch your shop, I won’t sell anything hideous, hell you can make lists for me and I’ll just take care of everything. I’ll even housesit, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Blaine looked skeptical, “So you’ll do this out of the goodness of your heart?”

Cooper looked like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, “Alright, fine. I’ve got an interview in the city later this week, and I was hoping you’d let me sleep on your couch. But if you’re gone, I can sleep in your bed.” He added almost as an afterthought, “And I’ll keep your shop open.”

“I really shouldn’t let you, but you’re right. A vacation would do me good.”

“Blainers, when are you going to learn, I’m always right!”

“Don’t call me Blainers.” Blaine fixed him with his best death glare, but Cooper just laughed and reached across the table to ruffle Blaine’s hair.

***
Blaine took a cab to the airport the next morning, he left earlier than was strictly necessary, but with the morning rush hour, and having to check a bag, he wasn’t sure how long it was going to take.

Of course, because he allowed two and a half hours, it only took a half hour to get to the airport and then another 15 minutes to get through security and to his gate. Blaine was sitting at his gate with a venti Starbucks when his phone rang. Blaine answered it without checking the ID, and immediately kicked himself for not checking it first when he hears the sweet smooth voice he’d been dreaming about and dreading for weeks over the line.

“Hey, Blaine! How are you?”

“Uh… Hi, Kurt. I’m fine, how are you?” Blaine tried to keep his voice neutral, void of emotion, void of anything that would give away his hurting heart.

“I’m doing well. I was just in the neighborhood and I was wondering if you were going to be at your shop this morning and wanted coffee? I wanted to come talk to you.”

“Kurt. I can’t. You’ve made your position very clear, and I am doing my best to respect that. I’m not going to be in the shop today. Bye, Kurt.”

“Blaine, wait! Where…” Blaine hung up the phone before Kurt could finish his question. It caused Blaine pain to hang up on Kurt, but the whole point of the trip to Ohio is to get away from New York and from Kurt for a while.

***
Kurt stared at his phone when he realized Blaine hung up on him. Instead of heading to Greenwich Kitchen, he turned around and headed straight back to Floriography. When he got there, there was a tall man standing behind the counter, his dark hair swept off his face. If Kurt squinted just a little bit, he could see that this man looked a little like Blaine.

Kurt walked in, almost expecting Blaine’s friendly greeting, but instead he was met with Cooper saying sleepily, “ Mm’ goo’ mornin’”

“I guess I should have brought that coffee anyway…” Kurt muttered to himself.

“Coffee?” the man perked up behind the counter.

“Oh, I was going to bring Blaine coffee this morning.”

Cooper looked at him speculatively for a minute before saying, “You’re him, aren’t you.”

“I’m sorry”

“You’re the man Blaine’s in love with and can’t be with him.”

Kurt blushed, “Yeah, that’d be me. Who are you?”

The man reached out a hand, “I’m Cooper, Blaine’s older brother.”

Kurt shook his hand firmly before Cooper said, “So what are you doing here?”

Kurt is taken aback by the near attack from Cooper. He stuttered, “I… uh… I came here to talk to Blaine. To apologize to Blaine. I just need to talk to him, do you know where he is, he isn’t answering my calls.”

“He’s on his way to Ohio. What do you need to tell him?”

“I don’t know if I should tell you this. I don’t know you.” Kurt paused thoughtfully, but he came here this morning to talk to Blaine, and really needs to talk to someone. He felt like he was about to explode, “I broke up with my husband.”

Cooper nodded, pulling out his phone and sending a quick text. “You look like you need someone to talk to.”

“I need to talk to Blaine.”

Cooper sighed lightly, “Are you really done with your husband?”

“I told him I was in love with someone else. I told him I couldn’t be married to him anymore. I broke his heart.” Kurt’s voice broke on the last word.

Cooper nodded and handed Kurt his phone, “Call the airline, and tell them you need to get on the 10am flight to Columbus. Make up some excuse to get them to hold the plane.”

As soon as Cooper finished the sentence, a woman walked through the door.

“You texted me, what is the emergency. How have you managed to fuck up Blaine’s shop after only twenty minutes?” Lauren barked. “God, I don’t know why he trusts you.”

Cooper nodded meaningfully to where Kurt was talking to the airline and mouthed ‘that’s him’ to her. She nodded and walked behind the counter.

“God, what would Blaine do without you?” She kissed his cheek.

“You are amazing, you go from hating me to kissing me in less than a minute. I haven’t even had my coffee yet.”

“Well, you’re in luck, I am going to make a quick run to Greenwich Kitchen and get some to go coffees, because I haven’t had one yet either, and Kurt over there looks like he could use one too.”

Cooper made a sign that said ‘What kind of coffee do you want?’ and handed him a pen. As soon as he finished writing Cooper headed out the door to get three large coffees, it was going to be a long, stressful morning.

When Kurt hung up the phone, Lauren was on him. “So you’re the guy. Mr. Lavender Roses, the one who has Blaine head over heals.”

Kurt blushed slightly, “Yeah. Does everyone know about that?”

“Blaine told most of his friends about you. He has been in love with you since he gave you that first lavender rose.”

“I’m starting to figure that out.”

Lauren put her hand on Kurt’s shoulder nodding. “But, you are figuring it out. At the same time that Blaine is trying to figure himself out.” Kurt looked confused, so she continues, “That’s what he’s going back to Ohio to do. He’s going back to figure out what he wants, and to try to get over you. Were you able to get on the flight?”

“Oh.” Kurt was silent for a moment before answering her second question, “Yeah, I was. There were mechanical issues with the plane anyway, so I need to get going to the airport.”

“Cooper is going to drive you as soon as he gets back with your coffee.” Kurt smiled, albeit slightly sadly, at Lauren, he likes her already. “Oh, come here, you look like you need a hug.”

Kurt melted into her arms, and stayed there for a long minute. It just felt good to have someone hugging him, and she gave such good hugs.

“Damn it, don’t tell me you are now falling in love with her. I don’t think Blaine’s heart can take it.” Cooper said walking back into the shop.

Both Kurt and Lauren laughed. Lauren said, “He has the wrong parts” at the same time he said “She has the wrong parts.”

They smiled at each other. For the first time in days Kurt had a genuine smile on his face.

“Good, then let’s get going. We’ve got a plane to catch and a boy to win over.”

Kurt followed Cooper out of the shop. Lauren called after them, “Good luck!”

Kurt got in the passenger seat of Cooper’s BMW X3 SUV. “Holy shit, this is a nice car.”

“Top of the line. Drives like a dream. Best car I’ve ever owned.”

“Why, exactly do you have a car in New York City?”

“Um… because I want one.” There was no arguing with that, Kurt just nodded and sipped his coffee. “So, spill. What happened between you and your husband?”

“Ex-husband. God, that sounds weird.” Cooper nodded, but remained quiet giving Kurt the chance to continue at his own pace. “About two weeks ago, I visited Blaine at the shop, and things… got a little out of hand.”

“You had sex with him,” Cooper stated as a matter of fact.

Kurt blushed and nodded, “Anyway, Troy walked out of the shop and I pretty much just ran away from Blaine.”

Kurt walked into the apartment, feeling guilty and like the biggest asshole in the world. Of course, Troy was in the kitchen, apron tied around his waist, making shrimp gumbo. On the table were the beautiful bouquet of orange and red dahlias that Troy requested, and Blaine so delicately and purposefully arranged, elegance. Kurt touched one of the blooms gently, the petals smooth under his fingertips. It’s all he could do to contain the sob that threatened and tightens his throat.

“Hey, babe. Glad you’re home. I’m making dinner.” Troy said without turning around.

Kurt took a deep breath and mustered up all the courage he could before walking over to Troy and wrapping his arms around his stomach. Kurt kissed his ear, “Hi, honey.”

Kurt’s breath was too soft, too light, too close to tears, and Troy heard it, turning around in Kurt’s arms to ask, “Rough day?”

“You could say that.” Kurt leaned in to gently press his lips to Troy’s. “Dinner smells great.”

“Mmhm, it should be ready in about ten minutes.” Troy rubbed comforting circles on Kurt’s back, but Kurt couldn’t find comfort in the touch.

“Ok, I’m going to run and change,” Kurt walked out of his arms and Troy turned around to finish cooking the meal.

Fifteen minutes later, Kurt and Troy were sitting down to dinner, the flowers on the table flanked by two lit candlesticks. The gumbo was delicious, one of Troy’s specialties, and one of Kurt’s favorites. Troy never let Kurt help him make it, because it was his secret recipe. They ate in companionable silence, chatting occasionally about work and the interesting people they ran into on the subway.

After dinner, Troy leaves the dishes on the table, takes Kurt’s hand and pulls him over to the couch. Kurt looks at him, questions written all over his face, before he can say anything Troy answers them, “You looked like you needed cuddles more than the dishes needed to be soaked.”

He pulled Kurt down onto the couch, holding him tight. Troy was just patiently waiting for Kurt to talk to him; he always did, in his own time.

After a long time of just sitting in silence and cuddling, Troy wasn’t sure if Kurt had fallen asleep, just as he was about to pick him up and carry him into the bedroom, Kurt started to speak.

“I love you, you know I do. But I…” Kurt wasn’t sure how to continue the sentence, he had to, but whatever he said, no matter how he phrased it, he was going to break Troy’s heart. “I… I don’t know if we love each other enough to make this work.”

Troy pushed away from Kurt to look at him, hurt already evident in his eyes, ‘What are you saying?”

“I am more in love with someone else than you.” Kurt barely whispered out.

“Blaine?”

Kurt turned, shocked, “Wha… How?”

“I’ve had a feeling for a while.”

Kurt nodded, tears finally leaking out of his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Troy’s voice was soft and broken now too, “Do you remember what we promised when we first started dating?”

Kurt watched him, confused. “We said that we would stay together only as long as we made each other the happiest we could possibly be. You deserve to be happy, Kurt. I deserve to be happy. If you love someone else more than me, then we have reached our end.”

“I didn’t want it to end like this,” Kurt choked out, voice breaking in the middle, almost sobbing.

“Neither did I. But I love you enough to let you go. I only hope you love me enough to do the same. I want you to be happy, more than I want to be the one to make you happy.”

“God damn it, why did I have to be so stupid.”

Troy, despite his broken heart, still had it in him to pull Kurt close and hold him while he cried, saying, “Shhh, you’re not. You fell in love with someone else. I can’t hold that against you.”

Kurt pulled back to look him in the eye, “But what about you?”

“Then I get to fall in love with someone again, too.” Troy was quiet for a long minute, Kurt wasn’t sure what to expect, but it wasn’t what Troy says next, voice watery and thin, “I have just one question. Can we still be friends? I can’t imagine my life without you in it, somehow.”

Kurt leaned in close, brushing his lips against Troy’s cheek, “I can’t imagine my life without you in it either. Friends?”

“Special friends with history.” Kurt nodded in agreement. “And I get the apartment.” Troy added, almost as an afterthought to their deal.

Kurt nodded he would give him anything. He was also sure that if Troy had come to him with this news, he would not have handled it this gracefully. Kurt wiped his eyes, “If you ever need a letter of recommendation for the next person you fall in love with, you know you can count on me.”

Troy laughed through his tears; Kurt joined him. It felt almost like old times, but with the weight of expectation lifted.

“I should probably go.” Kurt said, not making any effort to move.

“Yeah.” Troy pressed a kiss to Kurt’s lips before gently pushing him off the couch.

“We’ll figure out the stuff later, yeah?”

Troy nodded, watching as Kurt gathered his bag, coat, and shoes and walked out of their apartment.

“He was so, so great about the whole thing. I can’t believe I am breaking his heart.” Kurt said to Cooper as they enter the airport.

Cooper was silent until he stopped the car in front of the drop off, then he turned to face Kurt and asked, “Do you love Blaine enough to give up everything?”

Kurt didn’t hesitate, “Yes. I do.”

“Then you are doing the right thing, and Troy will recover, so will you, and so will Blaine.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Cooper smirked, “I’m always right. Now go get him. You’ve got a plane to catch and only fifteen minutes to do so!”

***
Kurt raced through the terminal, thankful that he had asked the woman on the phone to send his boarding pass to his phone, so he could just run through security and race to the gate, dodging groups of tourists just landing to spend their spring break in the city. Kurt nearly bowled over a family with two small children, muttering an apology as he ran past. He was pretty sure he heard one of the parents say “Look at these New Yorkers, always in such a hurry.”

When he reached the gate, the agent scanned his ticked and said, “Glad you made it Mr. Hummel.”

Kurt walked down the jet way, taking the extra 45 seconds to catch is breath and adjust his clothes, which had shifted out of place while he was running. He paused at the door to the plane, taking a deep breath. He had been planning this moment since he got in the car with Cooper an hour ago, how he was going to go about winning Blaine back. Kurt smiled at the flight attendant, apologizing for his tardiness before heading to his seat.

Kurt spotted Blaine five rows before he was standing next to him. Thankfully, Blaine was engrossed in his book, and not paying any attention to the passenger walking down the aisle past him. Kurt thanked the powers that be, who put him catty-corner behind Blaine, and that this is a plane with only to seats on either side, making his plan so much more effective.

Kurt could see that Blaine had headphones in, rather than disturb him yet, he waited until the announcement was made that he has to remove them for takeoff. As soon as the flight attendants finished their safety demonstration and the plane had taxied away from the gate and was now waiting in line to take off, Kurt started humming, under his breath at first then a little louder.

And I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket
But I've got to get a move on with my life
It's time to be a big girl now
And big girls don't cry

***
Blaine could hear the soft humming, and he wasn’t sure where it was coming from, but he needed them to stop. It was making him think of Kurt, and the whole point of this trip was to get away from Kurt and figure out what he wanted for himself.

Blaine tried to ignore the humming, but it was getting steadily louder, he wondered why no one else was bothered by it. Which was, of course, when the person started singing:

“Like the little school mate in the school yard.” Blaine looked around the plane, in front of him people were starting to turn around and look at him, no right behind him.

“We'll play jacks and Uno cards.” Blaine turned to look at the woman next to him, who was craning her neck to look behind her.

“I'll be your best friend and you'll be my Valentine.” Blaine knew the voice, but he couldn’t place it. He craned his neck to see between the seats. Blaine finally got a glimpse of the man softly singing as the line “Yes you can hold my hand if you want to.” Before he was fully conscious of it, Blaine was singing along on the next line, just like they had on Valentine’s Day. 'Cause I want to hold yours too.

As soon as he finished singing, Blaine asked quietly, “Kurt?”

“Blaine!”

The woman sitting next to Blaine turned to look at Blaine before asking Kurt, “Would you like to sit here so you can talk?”

Blaine’s expression could be called nothing but stunned. The last person he expected to see on a plane to Ohio, and also the person he most wanted to see, was sitting behind him, standing up and moving to switch with the woman next to him, the flight attendant was shouting from the front of the plane that they needed to be seated with seatbelts fastened. Kurt apologized and sat down next to Blaine.

He smiled and said, “You look surprised.”

His words broke Blaine from the spell he was under and was able to shake his head and clear his thoughts, “What are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to you.”

“Yeah, but why are you on the plane, to Columbus Ohio, on a Thursday morning?”

“Like I said, I need to talk to you.”

Blaine looked skeptical, but nodded and added, “So talk.”

Kurt told Blaine everything. How he came home and found the flowers Blaine fixed for Troy on the table, and then how he told Troy everything, well almost everything. How amazing Troy way about the whole thing, and how terrible he felt walking over to Rachel’s. He told Blaine how much the last two weeks have sucked, and how much he missed Blaine’s friendship and whatever they had been doing with each other. How much he missed having Blaine in his life.

Blaine sat there, listening quietly for Kurt’s entire story. He was quiet when he asked, “How did you know where I was?”

Kurt turned to more fully face Blaine, “After you hung up on me, I went to the shop and met Cooper. He told me where you were going, and helped me get a seat on this flight.”

Blaine blinked, “You dropped everything to come chase me? Why?”

Kurt looked down, almost shy about his answer, “I needed you to know exactly what I meant. Exactly what I was trying to tell you, it couldn’t wait. I waited two weeks; I couldn’t wait any longer, Blaine. I haven’t stopped thinking about that afternoon.” Kurt paused, swallowed and then whispered the last part, “I’m in love with you too, Blaine.”

Blaine looked down at his shoes and was silent for a long minute. Kurt was worried that he did the wrong thing, said the wrong thing, he asked, “Can you say something?”

“I just…” Blaine trailed off, his voice was too quiet, too rough, too close to tears, he cleared his throat before continuing, “I just never thought I’d hear you say those words.”

Kurt whispered, “I mean them.”

Blaine finally turned to face Kurt, “I’m in love with you too. I’ve been in love with you since I first gave you that lavender rose over a year ago.”

Kurt blushed, he turned to look Blaine in the eye, “I think I’ve been in love with you since then too. I’m sorry, I was so stupid.”

“No.” Blaine said a little bit louder, shocking Kurt with his outburst, “Don’t apologize. No regrets. We just go forward from here.”

Kurt smiled, bright and almost ear to ear. He said slyly, “So what’s the first step?”

Blaine returned his smile and leaned in to kiss Kurt. It was awkward, the armrest digging in to his stomach and arm twisted at odd angle. Kurt pulled back entirely too soon, pulling a face. Blaine looked confused, Kurt clarified, “The armrest is awkward, and the angle is kinda weird.”

Blaine lifted the armrest and pulled Kurt to him as best as he could, kissing him soundly. Kurt deepened the kiss, licking into Blaine’s mouth. They kissed for long minutes, only stopping when the flight attendant cleared her throat to ask them what they wanted to drink. They blushed, like teenagers who got caught making out on their parents bed.

After they got some pretzels and a drink, Kurt curled up against Blaine’s arm, resting his head, and quickly falling asleep. Blaine watched him sleep, wondering how he ended up with a married, no formerly-married, gorgeous fashion designer sleeping, and drooling slightly on his arm. He never thought he would be as happy as he is right now about drool. Blaine thought about all the things he’s been with Kurt in the last year, stranger, wedding florist, florist, friend, ‘complicated friend’, friend with benefits, and ‘the other man’. If you had told him a year ago that his entire life would change with a rose, a lavender rose, he would have told you “bullshit.” He could hardly believe how much has changed, and how amazing it all has been, even despite some of the challenges.

Blaine woke Kurt up for landing. He sleepily blinked at Blaine, smiling before he said, “I like waking up to your face.”

Blaine blushed and pressed a kiss to Kurt’s cheek. They cuddled during the entire landing, ignoring the glares they got from the flight attendants when they refused to put the armrest back down.

When they reached the gate, Blaine got his bag out of the overhead bin, and the woman who gave her seat to Kurt asked him a question, and Blaine only caught Kurt’s answer, “Yeah, I raced across the city to catch this flight in hopes that he would take me back. I guess this time it did work out.”

She smiled and said, “You’re lucky. Don’t waste the opportunity.”

Kurt squeezed Blaine’s free hand, “We won’t.”

They walked hand in hand through the airport, when they got to the baggage claim, Blaine turned and asked, “Do you need to get your bag?”

“Uh… no. I don’t have anything, I came straight from your shop.”

“Right. What do you want to do?”

“What are you doing?”

“Going to my parent’s place for a couple days. Did you… Do you… Would you join me?”

Kurt nodded. “What happens next?”

Blaine looked confused, “We get a rental car and drive to their house…”

“No. Blaine, what happens next?” Kurt asked earnestly.

Blaine understood what Kurt meant. “I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out together.”

15