It was Blaine's last full day in Ohio before he'd be hopping on a plane the next day and heading off to New York City, a place he had only ever dreamed of having the opportunity to go to, much less live in. He awoke early, before Kurt even, and maneuvered out of bed with the intention of going to the kitchen to start breakfast.

When he hit the living room and saw Wes sleeping on the couch, and David sleeping on the floor in front of the couch, the events of the previous day came flooding back to him.

"Fuck," he whispered, slapping a hand to his forehead and running it down the length of his face.

Wes, the lightest sleeper on earth, woke with a jolt and rolled off of the couch, right on top of David, successfully waking the latter boy at the same time.

"Ow, shit, what the hell? Wes, get off me! Damn it, I knew that would happen if I slept here. I told you you should have let me have the couch."

"That wouldn't have been fair! The couch is way more comfortable than the floor!"

"Exactly! What made you deserve it more than me?"

"Guys," Blaine whispered, kicking them both. "Your bickering is cute and all but please try to keep it to a minimum, okay? Kurt's still sleeping and I don't want to wake him up."

Both men on Blaine's floor whipped their heads up to him, mumbled a "sorry" and promptly went back to fighting, now in hushed tones.

"Why are you even still on top of me? Get off!"

"I'm trying! The coffee table is in the way! And I just woke up! Give me a break!"

"I just woke up too! Want to know why? Because you fell on me!"

"It was an accident! Blaine woke me up!"

Shaking his head, Blaine turned and continued his path to the kitchen. He really wanted to make a great breakfast to show his gratitude to Kurt for all he did for him yesterday, and Wes and David of course, but he knew that if he made something like eggs or pancakes or sausage or bacon, Kurt wouldn't touch it. So instead, he went to the fridge and pulled out the green grapes, green apples, bananas, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and basically any other fruit he could find to wash and throw into a bowl. He made sure, though, that before he really started on the fruit bowl, he started a pot of coffee, knowing that after the night they had, everyone in the house would need it.

With the coffee brewing, he started back to work on the fruit bowl, ears perking when he heard footsteps, and sniffing, and turned around to find Wes and David coming into the room, Wes's nose high up in the air.

"Is that coffee, I smell?"

"Yep. And if you're really nice, I might let you have some."

"Ew," Wes's face contorted in disgust. "I hope you don't think that fruit is a suitable breakfast for me. I was expecting something a little more…greasy."

David slapped the back of Wes's head. "That's not nice, dumbass. Looks like no coffee for you."

"Good; that means more for me," Laurel said, yawning and scratching the side of her head. Though, how she managed to get her fingers through the giant lion's mane on her head was beyond Blaine's comprehension. Must be a girls thing.

"Good morning, Laurel," Blaine greeted with a smile.

Honestly, even though seeing Wes and David reminded him of what happened yesterday, seeing them also gave him comfort. He remembered how he felt afterward, just sitting at the party talking with friends, some old and some new; he'd realized how much he didn't need his parents. That was still true. Wes and David were great older brothers, and Laurel was the epitome of a perfect older sister, and Burt and Carole (whom he could now call by their first names) were basically his new parents. He had a family; he just couldn't see it before.

Now that he could, it made him genuinely feel happy and want to smile.

The thought made him laugh to himself, recalling a Youtube video that Jeff had posted on his Facebook wall a couple weeks ago. It was something about Marcel the Shell, a shell with eyes and shoes glued to it. In the video, Marcel was speaking to an "interviewer" of sorts, and he said, "Ask me why I smile. Because it's worth it."

It made Blaine smile even wider now that he understood, and truly believed in that statement.

"Um…Laurel…Blaine is starting to scare me," Wes said, jarring Blaine and making him realize that he had paused mid-cut on one of the strawberries.

"You know, I'm not even going to question it. If he's smiling, I'm smiling," she replied.

His cousin was hugging him before he even realized she had walked over to him. He was grateful for the embrace, though, and returned it fully, leaving the knife on the counter.

"Thank you," he tried to say, though it was muffled by her hair.

Laurel seemed to have no trouble hearing it, probably used to these kinds of problems with hair like that, and just squeezed him tighter. "Anytime."

Blaine felt wetness on the back of his neck, and heard sniffling, and pulled back to see Laurel crying. "Laur? Why are you crying?"

"It's nothing," she laughed, gathering the end of her sleeve in her hand and wiping at her eyes. "I'm just so proud of you, you know? And this is your last day with me. Tomorrow you'll be on a plane and going to New York and starting this whole new chapter of your life! You'll be in a city you've always dreamed of doing things you always wanted to and studying something you're really passionate about. You're getting the life I always wanted for you, and I'm just so happy for you. Especially since you're doing it all with Kurt. He's so good for you, and you're so good for each other; Wes and David and I were all talking about that last night. We're all just so happy for you and proud of you, Blaine. I'm just crying because I'm happy. That's all."

Crap. Now Blaine was crying too.

Knowing that nothing he could say would even come close to how he was feeling, he just brought Laurel in for another hug.

"I love you, Laur. You're my best friend."

"I love you, Blainers. You're my best friend, too."

"Um, hello?" David called, raising his hand from where he and Wes stood in the doorway.

"What are we?" Wes added. "Chopped liver?"

Blaine laughed and opened his arms, leaving space for Wes and David to come join and turn it into a group hug.

"Come on, guys. You two are my besties, too. Get in here."

"David, should we forgive dear Blainers for leaving us out and only thinking to add us when we make ourselves known?"

"Wes, I believe we do, given that he kind of does that to us a lot."

Laurel rolled her eyes. "Just get over here, you couple of hooligans."

"Hooligans? Wes, she called us hooligans!"

"Well, she's called us worse before; I say we count it as a victory and join the hug."

"Don't mind if I do."

The four of them stood in the middle of the kitchen, arms all around each other, for about 10 seconds before Wes pulled away, declaring the entire situation more awkward than he gaged it to be since not a single one of them had brushed their teeth yet and he almost fainted.

So, as Wes and David retreated to the bathroom and used the back-up toothbrushes they had mysteriously hidden in Blaine's medicine cabinet, Blaine returned to making Kurt's fruit bowl and started some scrambled eggs and pancakes on the stove. The coffee was done, so Blaine dug around to get all of the mugs they owned—("Only four? Laurel, how do we only have four mugs?" "Well, it's only you and me, we only really need two, and then I guess we have a back-up set of two.")—and poured everyone a cup of coffee, setting them all at the table along with the milk, various flavours of creamer, and sugar.

The coffee had Wes and David drawn back to the table like moths to a flame, and also promptly shut them up, something which Laurel had never witnessed in all her years of knowing them. They stayed quiet when Blaine set the ready-for-eating pancakes and eggs on the table, giving them something else to focus their mouths on. He set the fruit bowl in front of the chair next to his, fixed his cup of coffee how he knew Kurt would like it, and started in on his own breakfast as his family all sat around the table eating theirs.

It was at that moment, when everyone was suddenly quiet, that Kurt woke up.

"You're up," Blaine stated. His eyes lit up when he saw Kurt appear in the doorway, and he was standing up and crossing the room before anyone else could voice their own greetings.

"Coffee?"

Blaine chuckled, used to his boyfriend's one-track mind when he first woke up. It had been an adjustment for them to just lay in bed when they woke up together, because normally the second Kurt was up he was downstairs and downing 3 cups of coffee before returning to his bathroom to start in on his morning routine, one not quite as intricate but almost at that same level with Rachel Berry's bedtime routine.

"There are only four mugs, and with Wes and David here, they're all occupied, so you and I are sharing."

He leaned forward and kissed Kurt on the forehead before lacing their fingers together and leading him to the table.

"You made me breakfast," Kurt said.

"Yeah, I figured you might not want the food I made for everyone else, since you never eat this kind of stuff at your own home or to my knowledge when you're here—although you always wake up before me so I can't be sure. But I thought it'd be safe to stick with fruit."

"It's great, thank you. I'm in shock that I'm the last one awake."

"Blaine woke us up," Wes threw out.

"And they woke me up," Laurel added, jabbing her fork in Wes and David's direction.

"You missed the group hug," David told him.

Kurt's face scrunched up in a way that never ceased to make Blaine's heart melt. "Good. I hate group hugs."

"You hate group hugs? David, the kid hates group hugs. I'm not sure how much we can approve anymore. This changes everything."

David and Blaine made eye contact and rolled their eyes at the same time and just continued eating, ignoring how stupid their best friend could be sometimes. Laurel, without anyone having noticed, had gotten the newspaper and was sitting in her chair eating her own food and reading some article.

Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand under the table. "That's okay. I still love you even though you hate group hugs."

"Because as long as I hug you, that's all that counts, right?" Kurt asked, taking a sip of coffee before handing off the mug to Blaine, who took it and smiled, saying, "Exactly," and taking his own sip.

He heard gagging sounds and, reluctantly, turned his attention from his beautiful boyfriend to his idiotic best friends across the table. David was doubled over, leaning towards the ground while Wes patted his back.

"So gross," David groaned, trying to make it sound like he was really throwing up. "They're so cute I threw up my breakfast."

"The breakfast that was only mediocre," Wes nodded, rubbing circles on David's back with a sympathetic look. "I hope Kurt is a good cook because if not I don't know how they're going to cope when they get married and have to cook for themselves."

Kurt scoffed. "I'm an excellent cook, thank you very much."

The hand Wes had on David's back flew to his chest as he sighed in relief and David straightened up in his chair. "Oh, thank God."

"So, Blaine," Laurel started, effectively ending the antics of Dumb (David) and Dumber (Wes) as Blaine affectionately referred to them in his head. "What do you want to do today, on your last day in Ohio?"

"Hmm…" He took another swig of coffee while he thought, and still looking off into the distance handed the cup to Kurt, who finished it off and kissed the top of Blaine's head on his way to pour them another cup. "I have no idea."

Making everyone at the table jump, Wes's hand shot in the air; he waved his arm around like a madman, shouting, "Oh! Me! Pick me! I know! Pick me!"

Blaine sighed. "Wes? Did you have an idea?"

Wes's arm fell to the table and he collapsed, looking exhausted. "Yes. Ready?"

"I am more than ready to hear whatever craziness you are about to suggest."

"Are you sure you're ready?"

"Wes."

"David, I don't think he's ready."

"I don't know, Wes, he looks pretty ready."

"But how can you tell if he's ready? I need to be absolutely positive that he's ready."

"For fuck's sake, Wes, out with it!"

Wes gasped. "Blainers! Such language!"

Kurt returned to his seat and handed the coffee cup off to Blaine. "He cusses a lot in the mornings."

"Well, I know, but goodness! Not in front of your boyfriend, Blaine!" David added, looking equally scandalized.

Kurt rolled his eyes and slipped his hand onto Blaine's thigh, smirking. "He also cusses a lot when we're—"

"LA, LA, LA! DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!" Wes yelled, fingers in his ears and fleeing the room.

Blaine grinned and turned to Kurt. "You found a way to get rid of him. How can I ever repay you?"

"I can think of a few ways," Kurt replied.

They leaned in for a kiss when David shouted out, "Uhh, still here guys! Keep your hands to yourselves! Geez, we're at the dinner table!"

"It's breakfast," Kurt pointed out.

"Same rules apply. Laurel, how are you okay with this? They're making out and throwing googly eyes at each other!"

"I've had to live with it for months now. I'm used to it."

"DAVID, ARE THEY DONE YET? CAN ME AND MY VIRGIN EYES COME BACK NOW?"

"My virgin eyes and I," Blaine corrected absently.

"All clear, buddy!"

Wes swept back into the room, hands covering his eyes even though he was obviously peeking through. "Phew." He dropped his hands and returned to the table. "Now, like I was saying, I have an idea for the day, and to avoid another incident like the one that just took place, I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you my idea."

"Wonderful."

"Laser-tag!"

Immediately, Blaine opened his mouth to protest, because he was so sure that whatever nonsense was going to come from Wes would need to be instantaneously vetoed, but really, it wasn't a bad idea. Laser-tag actually sounded like a lot of fun. Plus, the thought of him and Kurt against Wes and David sounded like the best idea in history.

Blaine smiled, an evil glint in his eye. "You're on."

Wes and David fist-pumped at the same time, then high-fived while their hands were in the air and brought their arms back down at the same time. Blaine suspected it was a move they'd practiced together.

"Yes! Awesome! This is going to be epic. Laurel, are you in? You get to choose whose team you're on, me and David or Kurt and Blaine. Although, I'd recommend joining your cousin and cousin-in-law, because they're gonna need all the help they can get."

"Yeah, right. Kurt and I are going to kick your asses."

Laurel laughed, picking up her plate and coffee mug and standing up. "No, that's okay. You guys go ahead."

Blaine grabbed his plate and followed her. "Are you sure, Laur?"

"Absolutely. As long as I get you for dinner and a movie later. Sound fair?"

"Sounds perfect," Blaine smiled, setting his plate down in the sink next to Laurel. He bent down and kissed her on the cheek. "You pick the movie."

"On your last night with me? Not a chance. You're picking."

"Fine. I pick that you pick."

Laurel laughed and ruffled his hair. "Doesn't work that way. Sorry, kiddo. I'll give you the day to think about it, though. Just have one picked by tonight."

"Yeah, yeah. Wes, David, you guys go start getting ready first. Kurt is going to take hours."

Kurt started to protest but stopped and shrugged his shoulders. "It's true. You guys better go ahead. Blaine and I can get ready at the same time, anyway. He can take a shower while I do my moisturizing routine."

David almost spit out his mouthful of coffee. "You guys get ready in the bathroom together?"

Blaine's cheeks colored.

That was something they'd started doing recently. It wasn't that they'd seen each other naked, because they hadn't, but they had reached the shirtless stage, and with it a new level of comfort with each other. They practically lived together; they slept together, changed together, ate together, watched movies together, read together. Really, they were at the point in their relationship where the only thing they hadn't done was get naked together. Even that, though, Blaine knew was only a matter of time. If Kurt was okay with one of them being naked with only a shower curtain separating them, he was obviously getting to the point where he'd be okay with it if they took away the shower curtain.

"Oh my God, Wes, I bet they shower together."

"They better not," Laurel said, glaring at Blaine.

Blaine threw his hands up in surrender. "Hey, they said it, not me! I still remember our talk."

Laurel narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing him, and Blaine recognized it as her look when she was trying to tell if he was lying or not. She seemed to find her answer and relented. "Fine. I trust you."

"Thank you. Now, if Dumb and Dumber over there are done being nuisances, you two are free to go get dressed. As in, go. Now."

"Alright, fine, we're going! No need to get all bitchy," Wes said.

"Someone obviously didn't get any last night," David added.

They left the room to go get ready after that, leaving the remaining three to sigh in relief. Blaine felt that sometimes dealing with those two was like looking after toddlers.

Laurel folded all of her fingers down except for her index and middle fingers, pointing them at her eyes and then at Blaine, then at her eyes and then at Kurt. "I'm watching you two."

With that, she followed suit and left to, presumably, go to her own room.

Blaine blew out a breath and smiled sheepishly at Kurt. "Sorry. I know Wes and David are a handful."

"They're…hyperactive, yes, but enjoyable all the same. I can see why you like them so much."

Kurt stood up and walked over to Blaine, throwing his arms around Blaine's neck and kissing him properly. All of the tension immediately left his body and he allowed himself to just sink into Kurt, into Kurt's body, Kurt's embrace, Kurt's lips. He loved that just a simple touch of their lips could relax him so completely.

"Mmm, good morning to you, too, love," Blaine murmured against Kurt's lips.

"Less talking, more kissing."

"Yes, sir."

…

Almost three hours later, the group was finally ready to go. David called shotgun, which Blaine vetoed because he was driving and his boyfriend gets automatic shotgun privileges, something that Wes and David complained about the entire drive to laser-tag. They even went so far as to start kicking the backs of the front seats, but that was put to an end pretty quickly when Kurt swiveled around in his seat and threatened to turn this car around and go back home. Wes and David were perfect angels after that.

Once they were there and getting geared up, the employee helping them told them that they had to pick nicknames. There was a binder of suggestions, which Wes went crazy over, and in the end, their nicknames were as follows:

Wes: BlueWarrior1111

David: KlaineLover69

Blaine: ChiaPet

Kurt: Soulmate

Blaine's nickname made Kurt laugh outright, and Kurt's nickname made Blaine smile sweetly and give his boyfriend a kiss, which promptly had David gagging and coming up with his nickname, making Kurt and Blaine both roll their eyes. Wes's nickname was surprisingly tame, if not a little stupid with all the ones at the end. When it came time to pick the color of their teams, though, it made everyone confused because Wes insisted that he and David be red.

"You can't have the nickname of BlueWarrior1111 and be the red team! It doesn't make any sense! It's just going to make everything confusing and complicated!"

They finally decided that even though it didn't make sense, Wes and David would be the red team and Kurt and Blaine would be the blue team—("It's fine, Blaine, this shade of blue goes better with my skin tone anyway and I've already disinfected the blue team guns for us."). Once they were all geared up with their guns and nicknames and everything was ready, the employee let them loose in the room, and Kurt immediately took control. Blaine guessed that he should have been surprised that his boyfriend was as amazing at something as ridiculous as laser-tag, but it made sense. Kurt was a cheerleader, meaning he was graceful, quiet with his steps, and flexible to crouch into positions to pounce out and attack; he was clever, meaning he could come up with strategies Blaine himself never would have thought up and thus outsmarting Wes and David. They were so good, in fact, that Kurt and Blaine got in a couple minutes of making out in a dark corner before Wes started whining that it wasn't any fun if they were just going to sneak off and have sex.

When the buzzer sounded and time was up, Wes and David started taunting Kurt and Blaine, rubbing it in their faces how they were better and they won and Kurt and Blaine should bow down and praise them as their kings…until the employee handed them each a score sheet, which showed the Red Team at 270 points and the Blue Team at 820 points.

"How is that even possible? I know we did better than that! I demand a recount!" David shouted. He rounded on Wes. "This is all your fault!"

"My fault? How is it my fault?"

"You're Asian! You should have known that Kurt was a ninja!"

Wes sounded scandalized. "That is racist!"

"Oh, don't talk to me about racist! You told me to put on sunglasses and not to open my mouth because if they couldn't see my eyes or teeth I was basically invisible in the dark!"

Blaine tuned them out and turned to his boyfriend, who was trying to unbuckle the gear and get out of it. It was stuck, and he was having trouble, so Blaine came over and placed his hands over where Kurt's were. "Let me help."

Kurt smirked. "Yes, sir."

The implications of when one of them had last said that was not lost on either of them.

As Blaine started working on the buckles, looking at the straps and figuring out how to get them off of Kurt, he realized just how they were placed; the straps were hugging around Kurt's thighs and hips in such a way that it almost framed Kurt's crotch, practically begging Blaine to notice. So, really, when he got distracted and was just sort of staring down, it wasn't his fault, but the straps'.

"Blaine? Do you need some help?"

Painfully, Blaine looked up into Kurt's amused eyes. "Sorry…I, uh…" He was blushing, he knew he was, but thank God Wes and David were too wrapped up in their argument to notice what was happening with him and Kurt, or he'd have never heard the end of it. "I was just…"

He glanced down again, unable to help himself; Kurt followed his gaze and turned even redder than Blaine when he realized just what Blaine was so enraptured by.

"Oh," Kurt murmured.

They both fell silent after that, and Blaine chanced a look up to see Kurt's eyes latched on to the same place, only on Blaine's own body. He was absolutely positive by now that they were both redder than the colors on Wes and David's laser-tag gear.

A moment too late, he realized that it wasn't just the two of them that were silent, but everyone in the room, a fact that was brought to his attention when he heard David say, "So, are you two just going to stare at each other's junk all day or can you guys take off the gear so we can go?"

While Blaine was dying of embarrassment, Kurt fixed David with one of his patented bitch glares that Blaine saw him direct at Finn most of the time and replied very cooly, "Oh, don't be such a sore loser, David. Face it, Blaine and I are just better than you."

David was now completely focused on the game again. "No way! You've never even played laser-tag before today! It was beginner's luck!"

"Really? How much do you want to bet?"

"Twenty bucks! Round two, if you and Blaine win Wes and I each give you twenty bucks—"

"Hey! I'm not giving them anything!"

"—if we win, you guys owe us twenty bucks and I get shotgun and you two aren't allowed to make googly eyes at each other for the rest of the day!"

A slow smirk made its way onto Kurt's face as he held out his hand to shake. "Deal."

…

"You owe me twenty bucks. Both of you."

"It's just not fair! How did they beat us again?"

"This is your fault, Wes!"

"How is it always my fault?"

"It just is! Now Kurt gets shotgun again and we're both out twenty bucks and they're going to have eye-sex the entire way home now that they both have the mental picture of what the other's package looks like with that stupid gear. I hope you're happy, Wesley. I hope you're happy now."

Of course, Kurt being Kurt, seized the open opportunity to sing Wicked. "I hope you're happy how you've hurt your cause forever, I hope you think you're clever!"

Blaine laughed and joined in. "I hope you're happy! I hope you're happy too! I hope you're proud how you would grovel in submission to feed your own ambition!"

They shared a look, agreeing with their eyes to continue together. They harmonized beautifully, as always, singing, "So though I can't imagine how, I hope you're happy right now."

The couple collapsed into each other in giggles, Blaine pinning Kurt to the passenger side door of the car and leaning his forehead on Kurt's collarbone. Wes and David stood on either side of the car in front of the backseat doors. "Can you two stop flirting for a second to unlock the car so Wes and I can at least sit down and escape the sexual tension?"

When Blaine lifted his head, Kurt reached a hand up to brush a stray curl out of Blaine's eyes as he absentmindedly hit the unlock button on his keychain. He heard the doors opening and closing, but didn't really register it as Kurt stared up at him—(he was sort of slouched now, making Blaine taller for once)—with those piercing eyes of his.

"Hi," Kurt whispered, a soft smile gracing his features and lighting up his whole face.

Blaine would never understand how he got so lucky as to fall in love with the most beautiful person on the planet. "Hi."

"Good work today, Chia Pet."

"That was all you, Soulmate. I had no idea you were going to be so good at this game. We would have gone a long time ago."

"Yeah, well, I can't help it that I'm just naturally good at everything."

"And you look good in everything, too," Blaine added, propping himself against the car with one hand and placing the other hand on Kurt's left hip.

Kurt slid his gaze down to where Blaine's hand was dangerously close to his back pocket and back up to his eyes. Blaine could practically feel the charge surging through the air around them; Wes and David were right, their sexual tension was palpable, and Blaine was suddenly wishing that he and Kurt could go back to the house and take a shower together like they suggested earlier.

"We should, um…" Kurt's voice wavered, and Blaine realized that he was back to being that same nervous boy about sexual situations like when they first met. "We should go back to your house."

Neither of them moved.

"Yeah. Wes and David should probably be heading home soon," Blaine agreed.

They still didn't move.

"I should be going home too, to give you and Laurel some family time."

Blaine nodded, only bringing his face closer to his boyfriend's. It was true, he needed—and wanted—alone time with Laurel that evening, but he also wanted to spend time with Kurt. Blaine was flying, but Kurt's dad had insisted on driving him to New York, so they wouldn't get another chance to see each other until they were both already in New York. Even though he wanted to have time with Laurel, he also wanted one last night in Ohio with the boyfriend he found there.

"I have an idea. How early do you have to wake up tomorrow?"

Kurt shrugged, sliding his hands up the front of Blaine's shirt, resting them on his pecs and fisting the cloth there. "Around 6am. Dad wants to be packed and hitting the road by 8:30am."

"Okay. How opposed are you to sneaking out with me tonight? Say, around midnight?"

"If it's to spend time with you, I'm not opposed at all. What are you thinking?"

Blaine smirked and replied, "You'll see," taking them both back to their first date, when Kurt had said the same thing.

"Oh, you are just evil."

"Yeah? Let's see how evil I can be."

Finally relieving both of them, Blaine leaned forward and pressed their lips together. They probably would have stayed there forever, kissing and touching and feeling, both in the physical and emotional sense, if Wes hadn't started banging on the window.

"Quit making out and let's go! Mom wants me home for dinner!" he shouted through the closed window.

"Your friends are impossible," Kurt said, laughing and pulling away.

"It's like dealing with children."

Kurt was looking at Blaine with the most intense Love Look yet. "Yes, but they're our children."

Hearing those words, and combining them with how Alex had looked on Kurt's hip, and the way Kurt had turned around and made Wes and David behave earlier on the car ride here, Blaine realized not for the first time that he and Kurt would be together for the rest of their lives. It was no longer just an assumption by two people who were young and in love; there was no doubt in his mind that he and Kurt would get married, and have children, and grow old together.

And Blaine was more than ready to begin.

…

Blaine collapsed onto the couch with a loud sigh, throwing himself all across, and thus landing his back right over Laurel's lap.

"I'm exhausted."

"I'm sure you are. You were carting around Dumb and Dumber all day."

"Yeah. But it was good to see them before I left. I haven't really had a lot of time to hang out with them this summer."

"Because you were wrapped up in Kurt," Laurel pointed out.

He sighed again, but this time it was more happy than tired. "Yeah. Kurt. You know, at laser-tag today, he chose his nickname to be Soulmate. I almost started squealing like a giddy 13-year-old girl."

Laurel barked out a laugh and patted Blaine's stomache. "I would have liked to have seen that."

"I said almost."

"You better have a movie picked out by now, mister. I gave you all day to think about it."

"Let's watch…Milk."

"Again? Will you ever grow tired of that movie?"

"Hey! You said I get to pick! It's a really inspirational movie. It got me through the toughest part of my life, when I thought that everyone would hate me forever for being gay because my parents did. That movie is really important to me, just like you, so I want to watch it with you tonight on my last night at home. Okay?"

Laurel's face softened as she looked down at him. "Okay. Fine. Get up so I can put the movie in. Do you want popcorn?"

"Is that even a question?" Blaine asked, swinging the bottom half of his body off the couch to let Laurel up, then throwing himself right back on the couch. "And I know I don't need to tell you how to make it, but just don't forget—"

"I know, I know. Pop one bag, pour into bowl, microwave cup of half a stick of butter, pour it onto first bag of popcorn in bowl while the second one pops, add second bag to bowl, mix well. I've got it, Blainers."

Blaine smiled to himself. Yeah, he basically had the best family anyone could ever ask for.

When Laurel returned, popcorn made to Blaine's specific preferences, they started the movie. Laurel sat further down so that Blaine could still lie down and have his legs lay across her lap, and they set the popcorn on Blaine's stomache for easy access by both of them. They watched the movie in silence, because both of them were the type of person who hated when people spoke during movies, and just enjoyed each other's presence.

It would be hard, Blaine knew, to be away from Laurel. He'd gotten used to seeing Laurel and being with her almost all day every day. Even when he was in school, she taught there, so they were constantly passing each other in hallways and one time he even had her class. Laurel was a constant in his life, just like breathing, and he honestly didn't know what he was going to do when he didn't have her anymore. He knew he would have Kurt, and that was comforting since he'd initially thought he would be all alone in New York, but Kurt and Laurel both served very different functions in his life. They were on the same level of importance, both equally his best friends, but on two completely separate planes. Having Kurt wouldn't be the same as having Laurel.

By the time the credits started rolling, Blaine's mind wasn't even on the movie anymore. He glanced over at Laurel and found her crying.

He laughed. "You know, for all your grumbling, I know you secretly love this movie just as much as I do."

"Yeah," she nodded. "I do. You know me, I'm into politics and everything, and you're so special to me, I'm a big advocate for gay rights. I just hate what happened to Harvey Milk. He was such a good man. He didn't deserve what happened to him."

"I know."

"And the guy got off! Dan White got off without a scratch! With a stupid Twinkie defense! That is the most absurd thing I have ever heard of. See, this is why I wanted to go into politics, so that I can change asinine stuff like this."

Blaine looked down at his shirt and started plucking at invisible threads around the hem. "But you got stuck with me and had to become a high school teacher."

"Hey, no, look at me." Laurel reached across to lay a hand over one of Blaine's. "I did not get stuck with you, Blaine. I wanted you. I made the decision to have you live with me and to teach at Dalton. Those were things I chose for myself because you are more important to me than anything. I will fight to the death for you, and for your rights. Maybe with you going to NYU, in a couple of years I can revisit the grad school idea. But right now, you are my priority. That's how I want it, and that's how I like it, okay? It makes me happy to take care of you."

In a flash, Blaine launched himself at Laurel, squeezing her in his arms with his legs still folded awkwardly across her lap. That didn't matter, though. Nothing mattered except for how unconditionally loved Blaine was, and how much he was mentally slapping himself for never seeing it before. He couldn't hate himself for it, though. Not when he felt so loved.

It was an honest mistake. When you're repeatedly shown that you're worthless, you begin to believe it. For a while, that was all Blaine was told. How worthless he was, how wrong he was, how out of control and volatile he was, how mean he was. All negative, all the time. Now, though, he was being repeatedly shown how loved he was. How smart he was, how talented he was, how cared for he was, how kind he was. And for the first time, Blaine was beginning to believe it.

"Thank you so much. I know I tell you that all the time and it's probably losing some of its meaning, but I just need you to know how truly grateful I am for everything. You do so much for me, and some of it you don't even realize you're doing; it's just the natural effects of how much you love me. You probably get tired of it, of hearing 'thank you' all the time, but I just need you to hear it one last time before I'm miles and miles away and I won't be able to tell you every day anymore."

"That's okay. You can say it as many times as you want, really. I don't mind hearing you sing my praises," Laurel replied, teasing, but giving Blaine an extra squeeze to know that in all seriousness, she accepted his gratitude and loved him all the more for it.

Blaine chuckled and kissed the side of her head before pulling back. "You're starting to sound like Kurt."

"Speaking of Soulmate, I'm surprised you didn't have him stay tonight."

"Are you kidding? Tonight was our night. You and me. Kurt and I will have all the time in the world when we're both in New York. I just wanted to spend some alone time with the best older cousin I could ask for." He decided to leave out the part where he'd be sneaking out in a couple hours to go see said boyfriend.

And when the biggest smile he'd ever seen spread across Laurel's face, he knew he made the right choice in keeping their little tete-a-tete a secret.

"I love you, Blainers."

"I love you too, Laurel. So much so that I have grown accustomed to the nickname 'Blainers' and have deemed it acceptable for you to call me."

"Please. You and I both know that you've secretly loved the nickname your entire life and just pretended to hate it."

"Like you and Milk?"

"Precisely."

…

Approximately two hours later, as he'd predicted, Blaine had successfully snuck out of the house and headed over to Kurt's. At the moment, he was standing outside Kurt's bedroom window, ready to throw pebbles to catch his boyfriend's attention. The problem was, though, that Blaine couldn't see very well in the dark (no matter how many carrots he ate), so he couldn't seem to find any pebbles. He started throwing leaves, but given that Kurt's room was on the second story, they didn't even make it close.

With a sigh, Blaine abandoned his grand romantic gesture and sent Kurt a text.

Open your window.

Not even thirty seconds later, the glass was sliding up and Kurt's face was peering down at him. "Blaine? What are you doing down there?"

"Where for art thou, Romeo?" Blaine replied, grinning goofily. In all honesty, as much as Blaine loved literature, he loathed Shakespeare. He wasn't even sure if those were the right words, or if those words were even spoken in the balcony scene—(there's a balcony scene, right?).

Kurt seemed charmed anyway. "My boyfriend, the clueless romantic."

"I wanted to throw pebbles, but I can't see very well in the dark, so I couldn't find any. Then I tried throwing leaves, but you can probably guess how well that worked out. So I decided to take advantage of modern technology to make this easier than me trying to climb your trellis."

"We don't have a trellis."

"Exactly."

Even in the dim lighting from Kurt's window, Blaine could tell Kurt had that Love Look again. Blaine had a feeling he'd be seeing that a lot from now until…well…forever.

"I'll be down in two minutes."

"Is that a regular two minutes or a special I'm-Kurt-so-I'm-going-to-moisturize-and-do-my-hair-and-choose-an-outfit-and-primp-in-the-mirror two minutes?"

"A mixture of both."

Before Blaine could say anything else, Kurt had already closed the window and disappeared into his room.

He retreated back to the car and waited patiently, leaning against the passenger door. After about five minutes, Kurt was opening the front door and shutting it gently behind him, then walking softly down the steps and the sidewalk path to Blaine.

"Took you long enough," Blaine teased, opening the door for Kurt.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe making fun of your partner is in the Romantic Rulebook."

"I added it in the margins."

Once they were on the road, Kurt reached over to fiddle with the radio when Blaine batted his hand away.

"Nope. This is a date and I have it planned down to a 't' and that includes the music. I've already connected my iPod and have it set on the right playlist, I just need you to press 'play.'"

"I must really love you to trust your taste in music. Also, why are we going on a date in the middle of the night? Not that I'm complaining, I'm just curious."

"Because nighttime is more magical, don't you think? It's been my experience that people become more vulnerable at night. They open up and say things they wouldn't during the day. I like to think it's because of what the dark symbolizes."

"And the dark would symbolize what exactly?" It wasn't asked in a condescending tone, but one of genuine curiosity, with a hint of amusement and adoration.

"The unknown. People who say they're afraid of the dark, they're not really afraid of the dark; they're afraid of the unknown that lies within it. When it's dark, you can't see, so even if there's nothing there, your imagination throws all of your worst fears into it. It's not the dark people are afraid of, it's the manifestation of all of their real fears and the possibility of them being staring them in the face and they aren't able to do a thing about it."

Kurt was silent for a moment, but finally asked softly, "What are you afraid of?"

He didn't answer right away; he wanted to really think about it. So, while he drove the familiar path to their destination, he searched his head for things that he was afraid of. There were plenty, some serious and some silly; failure, not being good enough, never achieving his goals, letting people down, turning back into the person he was when he was with Trevor, goats, poison ivy, the sound of a toilet flushing in the middle of the night. But really, with Kurt, none of them seemed that scary at all.

Even if he failed, he knew Kurt would be there to support him and encourage him to try again. As he was told several times, simply by being himself he was good enough for Kurt. If he went to NYU and got his degree and pursued a professional music career and couldn't make a living and had to resort to some mediocre back-up plan, it would be okay because he still had Kurt. He knew that nothing he ever did could let Kurt down, and Kurt would never let him become that person he was before. Kurt would never dare take him to a petting zoo or a farm, and if they ever happened to come in contact with poison ivy, he knew Kurt would be there with cream to help the pain and itching subside. He knew that when they lived together, Kurt would understand if Blaine never flushed the toilet if he had to get up in the middle of the night to pee.

He knew all of these things the way that he knew that he loved Kurt with every single part of him. It was just a fact of life. So really, at the end of the day, he didn't have any fears. Not with Kurt.

Which did leave him with one very real fear.

"Losing you," he replied finally, reaching over the console to take Kurt's hand.

Kurt squeezed his hand in return. "This is a very good romantic, middle-of-the-night date so far, Blaine Anderson."

"Only the best for you, Kurt Hummel."

Kurt knew where they were going. Blaine knew he knew because they had come here enough, both together and separately, that there was no way he wouldn't know. Still, Kurt didn't say anything. He didn't even hint that he knew where they were going. He just rested his head against the back of his seat and closed his eyes, a content smile gracing his features as they both just listened to the music and existed.

When they got to the parking lot and Blaine started to get out of the car, though, Kurt wouldn't release his hand, effectively stopping him.

"Kurt, if we never get out of the car you won't get to see what awesome things I have planned."

"It's past midnight, Blaine. I don't think we're supposed to be here."

Blaine shrugged. "I never asked. And if you never ask, you never have to hear the 'no.' And if they never told me 'no,' how was I supposed to know it was against the rules?"

Kurt rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling, so Blaine knew it was more just because rolling his eyes was a very Kurt thing to do. He opened the back door and grabbed his backpack, then shut it and locked the car, now that Kurt was standing in front of the hood.

"If you're bringing me here to do homework I might break up with you."

"No," Blaine laughed. He swung the other strap around so that both were securely around his shoulders and took Kurt's hand again. "Our relationship is very stable, I can assure you. I just needed something inconspicuous to carry my supplies."

"What supplies would you be referring to?"

"If you walk a little faster you'll find out in a few minutes."

"Forgive me for being fatigued after a day of running around with Wes and David and packing the rest of my belongings."

"Somehow, I think you'll survive."

Finally, they'd completed the well-worn path to their spot at the Arboretum. Even though it was Kurt and Kurt's mom's spot once, Blaine liked to think that when Kurt brought him there on their first date, it was an offer; it was Kurt's way of saying, I'm willing to let go of the negative feelings I've associated this place, and I'm trusting you to help me create positive ones. Blaine sincerely hoped he'd succeeded in that. If not, well, he was sure that tonight would seal the deal.

Kurt made to sit down, but Blaine reached out and touched his forearm, shaking his head. Kurt tilted his head quizzically but moved aside regardless as Blaine searched in his bag for the blanket. He shook it out and lay it flat on the ground, then fished around for the battery-powered lantern he had and set it beside the blanket, turning it on.

Sufficiently set up, Blaine gestured to the blanket and let Kurt settle down first before falling to the ground beside him.

"A lantern, Blaine? Really?"

"I already told you I can't see very well in the dark; I wanted to be able to see your face."

Kurt smirked and gave Blaine a playful shove on his shoulder. "Blaine! If this is your idea of seducing me, it won't work. We are not having sex for the first time outside."

"The thought actually did not cross my mind, but now I know what you're thinking about. Good to know."

Kurt shoved him again, but they were both laughing. Instead of straightening up after he fell to the side from being shoved, Blaine lay down and tugged Kurt on top of him, his head landing on Blaine's chest. Kurt sighed, sounding content to Blaine, and wrapped an arm around Blaine's waist. He nestled his head in Blaine's chest but kept his face tilted to see the sky. Blaine had one arm wrapped around Kurt and brought the other back to pillow his head.

Being in a small city, and given that the Arboretum wasn't in the heart of it, meant that they could see some stars. It wasn't a lot, but it was more than someone in a busy city could ever hope to see, and that was good enough for Blaine.

"Just think," Kurt started, voice soft, "we look up at that sky, and we think that we're seeing so many stars, you know? We think that just because we can't count them, that there's a lot. But think of all the ones we can't see. There are so many more out there. With all of our modern advances, us humans tend to think we're these hot shots. We send people out into space and talk about how awesome we are that we can accomplish that and we can go out and see the universe, but that's not true at all. We can't see the universe. We're only seeing a tiny, tiny fraction of it. Even our solar system, with our sun and our planets and our earth, isn't even a speck of dust in comparison to the rest of the universe. And if that's true, what does that make us?"

It wasn't really a question that needed to be answered. It was just Kurt thinking out loud. All the same, hearing that, it made Blaine suddenly feel very small. He thought of asymptotes. Why Blaine thought of math at a time like that, he'd never know, but he did. Asymptotes just fascinated him. He had struggled to grasp the concept at first, but then his teacher explained it in a way that made so much sense.

She told him how an asymptote was like if you took a whole circular cake, and started cutting it in pieces. First you'd cut it in half, then fourths, then sixths, then eighths, and so on and so forth. You could cut a cake over and over again, the pieces getting smaller and smaller, and you could cut it forever, get the slivers as tiny as possible, but you could never make it disappear. No matter how many times you cut that cake, you could never make the cake slices go from .0001 to just .0, period. It just wasn't possible. That was how an asymptote was. It would get closer and closer and closer to a number by tiny fractions without ever reaching it.

But Blaine just couldn't forget the metaphor of the cake. No matter how small he and Kurt were in this giant universe, so big it wasn't even comprehensible, that didn't discount their existence. They may be next to nothing in comparison to the rest of the universe, but that was just it. They were next to nothing. They would never really be nothing.

"What are you thinking about?" Kurt whispered.

"I'm thinking about how, even though the universe is bigger than we could possibly imagine, that doesn't make us, you and me, any less real in it. We may be tinier than tiny, but we're still here. The fact that our presence is so small doesn't mean we're not here at all. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah. I do."

They lay in silence for a while, enjoying their microscopic presence because at least they had a presence at all, and at least it was a presence they could share.

After a while, Blaine thought Kurt might have fallen asleep, so he nudged him a little.

"Soulmate? Are you awake?"

"Barely, but awake enough to smile because you called me 'Soulmate.'"

"Well, for a couple minutes, that was your name."

Kurt laughed, quiet and melodic. It was a sound that never ceased to make Blaine's heart flutter.

Before he could forget, he nudged Kurt again. "Sit up for a second. I need to get to the romantic part."

"I thought we already did."

"Good. That was my plan, just in case you found this next part too corny."

He dug around in his backpack for a minutes, trying to remember which pocket he'd put it in, when he found it. He procured the little pouch and clutched it in his hand, not yet offering it to Kurt but showing it to him.

"What is that?" Kurt asked.

"It's called a Knapsack of Hope. To be fair and not take credit for something I didn't come up with, I found it and got the idea off of the internet. But I like to think that the magic of it will still stand."

"What's inside it?"

He held it out to Kurt. "Open it and find out."

Blaine was excited. When he found the picture of it months ago, before he even met Kurt, he'd immediately saved it to his computer for future reference. He knew that it would come in handy someday, either for himself or for someone else. It was a neat idea, one that he absolutely fell in love with the second he saw it. He'd been cleaning out the files on his computer and came across the picture and knew Kurt would love it, so he set to work on making one for him. The difficult part was when to give it to him, but with their time in Ohio coming to a close, he decided that their last night there would be perfect.

With a curious expression, Kurt took the pouch and opened it, pouring the contents out into his hand. A small gold star charm, a paper clip, a miniature lock, an eraser, a penny, and a rubber band fell into his palm.

"I'm not sure I quite understand."

Blaine chuckled. "There should be a piece of paper in there that explains it."

Kurt brought the opening of the pouch to his eye, said, "Ah," and pulled out a small roll of paper. He unfurled it and read, "'A star to remind you to keep shining. A paperclip to help you hold your things together. An eraser to fix all the small mistakes. A lock to keep all your secrets safe. A penny so that you're never broke. A rubber band to help you stretch beyond your limit.' Blaine, what…?"

"We're leaving in less than 24 hours; today, technically. I know that we're only going to be a floor away, and that we'll probably spend even more time together there than here, if that's even possible. But in the event that we both somehow get too busy for a while, I want you to open this and read that paper and remember what it means. It's exactly what it's called, a Knapsack of Hope. They're small objects that are all seemingly insignificant, but it's more about their meaning.

"I highly doubt you'd ever need a reminder to keep shining, but if all the other talent at NYU ever starts to intimidate you, you can look at that gold star and remember to keep shining, because you shine so brightly, Kurt. And I know you're a very organized person, but sometimes even you tend to go overboard, so if things start to get a little out of control for you, you can look at that paperclip and know that you have me to help you hold all of your things together (because I doubt a paperclip would help very well in the literal sense). I'm sure that in our time at college, we're both going to make tons and tons of mistakes, but you need to remember not to sweat the small stuff, so you have this eraser for the small mistakes. Your secrets are safe with me, you know that, but the lock is just kind of a representation of that, so that you always remember you can trust me and tell me anything.

"The penny, well, let's face it; we're going to be poor college students. It's inevitable. But a penny leads to another penny leads to another and before you know it you have a quarter, and then you have another one and another one and soon you have a dollar, and then you have another one and another one and suddenly you have money. During tight financial times when you can't buy yet another pair of boots that you're just dying to get, remember that if you even save just a little bit of money, it'll all add up and you'll be okay again before you know it. And, just like you go overboard, you try so hard to do so many things at once that sometimes I'm afraid you're going to overextend yourself, so the rubber band is especially important, to help you do all of those things that you want to do and stretch your limitations."

By the time Blaine had finished with his explanation, Kurt's eyes were literally shining with Love, and he launched himself at Blaine, initially just hugging him but then moving to kiss him all over. The side of his head, the top of his head, his forehead, his nose, his cheeks, everywhere. When he finally connected their lips, they lingered a little longer, and Blaine melted again, like he always did when they kissed.

They pulled apart at the same time, and Kurt carefully unclenched the fist with all of the objects and started placing them all back in their pouch, one at a time. He finished and pulled the drawstrings to secure it.

"This," Kurt said, "is the best present that I have ever gotten in my entire life."

"Good. That makes me happy."

"You make me happy." They smiled at each other, holding each other's gazes, before Kurt glanced back down at the pouch in his hand. "I can't believe you thought I'd think this was corny."

"I guess I just didn't want to oversell it, in case it fell short of expectations."

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Blaine. This—what did you call it?"

"Knapsack of Hope."

"Yes, this Knapsack of Hope is beautiful."

"Like I said, I didn't come up with it. I found it on the internet."

Kurt's eyebrows furrowed. "The internet didn't come up with that explanation. Nor did it come up with this incredibly romantic date."

"No, that's true. I thought of this."

"Exactly. This was all you, sweetheart. So let me tell you how amazing you are. Okay?"

Blaine laughed, nodding. "Alright. Go ahead and tell me how amazing I am."

"You," Kurt began, grasping Blaine's face in between both hands and kissing his forehead again, "are the most," a kiss on his nose, "amazing," a kiss on his left cheek, "beautiful," a kiss on his right cheek, "romantic," a kiss on his left eyelid, "thoughtful," a kiss on his right eyelid, "boyfriend in the entire universe." Kurt let his lips hover above Blaine's but kept a half-inch of space between them.

"Is that so?" Blaine asked, staring into Kurt's eyes, reveling in the feel of his breath against his lips.

"Mmhmm."

"I'm not sure I believe you."

"Then I guess I'm just going to have to show you."

"I guess so."

They finally kissed, and Blaine thought it was a kiss different from all their others. It was more intense, somehow. Like, for the first time, they both just let go of everything else and let their love for each other take over.

A couple of hours spent alternating between kissing and just lying together later, Blaine took Kurt home. They kissed again slowly before Kurt went inside, but it didn't live up to that kiss at their spot. It was still amazing, as kissing Kurt always was, but that one was just unadulterated love, and it was a moment that could never be recreated.

That didn't mean he couldn't try, though. And Blaine looked forward to many more attempts at recreating that moment for the rest of their lives.