Chapter 21

Blaine knew Kurt was up to something as soon as he saw his boyfriend whispering to Rachel, who couldn’t help herself and glanced back at him with a huge goofy smile. Kurt himself couldn’t hide his sneakiness well either, but his face betrayed nothing more than how deep in thought he was. Acting inconspicuous was what both boyfriends settled for, only Blaine was the one who did a slightly better job of pretending there was nothing out of the ordinary going on.

They were back at their motel room door late in the afternoon, when Kurt finally let something out.

‘I was thinking tonight could be our date,’ he said, fumbling with the key. It gave him a perfect excuse to keep his eyes off Blaine.

The whole dating stuff was still strange and a little confusing. It felt like they jumped head first into a pool that seemed just deep enough for them to dive in safely, but now was turning out to be almost bottomless and the waters more threatening.

‘Yeah, sure,’ Blaine replied. ‘We don’t really have anything else to do, right?’

Kurt managed a small smile, even though he was growing anxious with every second.

‘Just don’t expect fireworks or anything like that, I have limited resources.’

‘I’m going to love it, no matter what it’s going to be.’

‘I have to admit I hoped you’d say that,’ Kurt said with a smile to mask his relief.

The moment they were back in the room, Kurt pushed Blaine into the bathroom, ordering him to get ready. There really was no point in arguing, so he obeyed without objection. He hadn’t even managed to start the water in the shower when the front door banged close. A peek outside from the bathroom told him his boyfriend ran off somewhere. Blaine grinned to himself, quite confident whatever Kurt was doing, it had something to do with whatever he was planning.

Kurt was back almost an hour later, with an air of excitement about him.

‘I just need ten minutes, okay?,’ he told Blaine, before scurrying off to the bathroom.

Sitting around waiting proved to be an unusually demanding activity. After all, this was going to be the first real date in Blaine’s life. The fact that it was with his best friend and boyfriend didn’t diminish his nervousness about it.

When the ten minutes were almost up, a sharp tap on the door distracted Blaine from imagining what Kurt could’ve possibly come up with in a strange city. Frowning, he walked up to the door. He expected to see Rachel, maybe Finn or Santana. Any of their friends.

What he did not expect was to see a flower delivery boy, holding a simple bouquet of red and yellow roses.

‘Mr Anderson?,’ the boy asked formally.

‘Y-yes,’ Blaine stammered in response. Before hearing his name he was positive it was a mistake.

‘These are for you.’ The boy handed him the flowers.

Blaine took the bunch with an expression of an unceasing shock. He did know Kurt was a romantic, but he hadn’t even thought he’d get flowers.

‘Thank you,’ he mumbled finally, burying his face in the roses to inhale their scent.

‘You have to sign, sir,’ the delivery boy reminded him, extending a clipboard and a pen to him.

Blaine obeyed, automatically signing his name in the right space, and closed the door. He couldn’t decide what he wanted more – to stay where he was and breathe in the sweet fragrance of the flowers, or run to Kurt immediately and show him how thankful he was for the roses.

He was just about to stop doing the first to do the latter when the bathroom door opened. Blaine’s eyes darted to Kurt who somehow managed to look even hotter than earlier, even though he’d only had enough time to change and fix his hair.

‘You like them?,’ he asked quietly.

‘I love them.’ Blaine took one more whiff of the scent. ‘Do they have a meaning? I think I know what the red ones stand for, but the yellow...’

Kurt strolled up to where Blaine was standing by the door and brushed the soft petals with his fingers.

‘The red mean “I love you”, as in “I’m in love with you”,’ he explained slowly, delighted by the way Blaine’s face lit up at the words. ‘The yellow symbolise friendship. Our friendship. Because no matter what, you still are and always will be my best friend.’

There was no way to stop the tears that welled up in Blaine’s eyes. If he had ever thought of a scenario like this, those would be the exact words he’d wish Kurt to use.

‘And you are and will be mine,’ Blaine said, his voice heavy with emotion.

‘Shall we?’

Kurt put his hand on the doorknob, ready to let Blaine walk out first.

‘I’ll just put these in something and we can go.’

It took him a moment to find a vase in one of the cupboards in the tiny kitchen space. And as soon as the door closed behind them, Blaine noticed that something was missing.

‘Where’s our key?,’ he asked puzzled.

‘I gave it to Rachel,’ Kurt replied noncommittally.

‘What? Why?’ Blaine frowned. What was the use of that? Unless... ‘Wait. Don’t tell me you left them some condoms just in case Burt didn’t put any in Finn’s baggage.’

Kurt chuckled at Blaine’s sudden terror.

‘Relax, I wouldn’t do that.’ The image that was creeping into his mind was something he’d rather never witness. Walking in on Brittany and Santana was absolutely enough for a lifetime. ‘And now, thanks to you, I have a picture of my step-brother in a decidedly compromising situation in my mind.’

‘Didn’t you used to have a crush on him, though?’

Kurt groaned at the memory. Even though it hadn’t been a year since their parents’ wedding, he couldn’t look at Finn in any other way than his brother anymore.

‘Yes, but that’s ancient history. Now we’re family, and there’s only one person I’d like to see naked.’

The words rang in the air for a moment, as a flood of scarlet covered Kurt’s face. It had been obvious their attraction was physical as well as emotional, but that statement was the boldest confession of that so far.

‘Who’s that lucky guy, then?,’ Blaine asked as jokingly as he could, hoping the answer wouldn’t be painfully disappointing.

Kurt grinned mischievously, grabbing Blaine’s hand in his.

‘You know, he’s just this incredibly handsome, sexy guy I’m going out tonight with.’

‘Then he really is lucky, if he’s going out with you,’ Blaine said, beaming.

They made their way out into the street and ahead, down Octavia Boulevard. The sun was descending slowly in the sky, hiding behind some of the taller buildings and peeking from between them. Kurt and Blaine stayed quiet for a while, cherishing the warm rays whenever they hit their faces and soaking up the peacefulness of having a moment alone like this.

‘Can I ask you something?,’ Blaine said finally, breaking the silence with reluctance.

‘You can ask me anything.’ Kurt sent him an encouraging smile.

Blaine hesitated; the question had been nagging him for almost a week now, but he wasn’t sure what to expect for an answer, so he’d refrained from asking it.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?,’ he said.

‘Tell you what?’

‘That you- you know,’ Blaine stammered. ‘That you felt this way about me.’

Kurt nodded, a sad smile arranging his features.

‘I could ask you the same thing. But you asked it first, so I’ll tell you.’ He stopped, pulling Blaine to stand in front of him. ‘I was scared. Scared that if I told you, you’d freak out, stop talking to me. That you wouldn’t ever be able to feel this way about me, and that I’d lose you. And I just couldn’t lose you.’

‘You’re not going to lose me,’ Blaine said.

‘Now I know that.’ Kurt squeezed his boyfriend’s hand reassuringly. ‘So, why didn’t you tell me?’

‘Because I didn’t want to lose you, too.’

***

It was already dark when they left Patricia’s Green after spending an hour in the square, admiring the art installations.

‘Hey, we’re going back?,’ Blaine asked suddenly, realising they turned right, heading in the direction of their motel.

‘Yes, but that’s not the end of our date,’ Kurt answered with a cryptic smile.

‘Okay, I guess.’

The teasing made Blaine impatient to be back. On the other hand, walking with Kurt by his side through the streets of San Francisco was too pleasant to pick up the pace and let it end too quickly.

On the way to their room, they stopped by Rachel’s to get their key. She greeted them with a wide excited smile and waved them goodbye with a “Have fun!”.

When they reached their door, Blaine could discern a delicate glow coming from the window next to it. He was about to say there was something wrong, but Kurt was already holding the door open for him. Blaine wasn’t even halfway through the threshold and everything was clear. The table and all other smooth furniture tops were lined with candles. The comforter from the double bed was spread on the floor, a bottle of wine and two plastic cups sitting on top of it.

‘This is why you gave Rachel our key!,’ Blaine said, amazed.

‘Yup,’ Kurt admitted. ‘I couldn’t really do this myself, unless I wanted to spoil the surprise for you or set the room on fire.’

Blaine sat carefully down on the comforter and watched as Kurt did the same.

‘I see you got Puck something to do, too.’ Blaine pointed to the bottle between them.

‘Yeah, he was suspiciously keen on helping.’

Kurt took a glance at the clock on one of the walls, just before a short knock sounded at the door.

‘Just in time,’ he muttered, jumping to his feet.

‘Just in time for what?’

Kurt shushed his boyfriend and opened the door. After a minute of a quiet conversation with whoever it was outside, he closed it again, turning back to Blaine, with his arms filled with boxes of Chinese takeout.

‘Dinner is served, sweetheart.’

Blaine gaped at him in wonder.

‘You organised us a candlelit dinner? With wine?’

‘And it’s a picnic of sorts,’ Kurt added with a satisfied grin. ‘But I have to confess that there is an ulterior motive behind the wine.’

‘Which is?’ Blaine raised his eyebrows queryingly.

Kurt smirked.

‘You do tend to get incredibly kissy when you’re drunk.’