“Can I talk to you?” Blaine asked immediately, as if he’d been rehearsing it.

“Sure,” Kurt said, taking a step back. “Come on in.”

“Um, no,” Blaine seemed suddenly nervous, thrown off guard, like the script he’d been adhering to had been abandoned, and he didn’t know what to do without someone feeding him lines. “Can we just talk out here? You know, alone?”

Kurt raised an eyebrow. Why did Blaine want to talk to him alone? And even then, why outside? Kurt easily could have taken him up to his room.

Kurt decided to humor him, though. “Okay,” he said, stepping out on to the porch and closing the door behind him. He turned to Blaine. “What’s up?”

Blaine sighed, closing his eyes for a second. “There’s just...something I needed to talk to you about.”

“Okay,” Kurt said. “Go ahead and talk.”

Blaine looked at Kurt, and then looked away, out over the driveway. The trees were nearly all bare by now, leaves of varying colors littering the ground, leaving behind only twiggy skeletons. Kurt took that moment to notice that Blaine’s eyes were like the color of a vibrant autumn leaf. Blaine opened his mouth, and then closed it.

“Blaine,” Kurt said, quietly, barely audible over the breeze rattling the fallen leaves. “You can tell me anything. You know that, right?”

Maybe Kurt was overstepping. Maybe they weren’t to that point in their friendship- but Kurt didn’t care. He wanted Blaine to tell him everything. He wanted to know Blaine inside and out. And if Blaine didn’t feel the same way, well...what they had was nice while it lasted, anyway.

Blaine exhaled, seeming to relax a little bit, and met Kurt’s eyes again. “I left my family dinner to come here,” he told Kurt. “I just got up and excused myself and left. I don’t-” he laughed humorlessly. “I don’t even know how long it took them to notice I was gone. I turned my phone off on the way here.”

Kurt’s eyebrows drew together, concerned. “Blaine, why did you leave your family?”

Blaine shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. That’s not what I came here to talk about.”

“Then...what?”

Blaine took a deep breath, steeling himself. “I am...so confused. These last few weeks- ever since I met you- my life has been crazy. And at first, I kind of thought it was falling apart, or something. If you’d asked me a month ago, then...yeah, I’d qualify this as really, really sucky.” He laughed slightly at himself. “I’ve broken up with Maia. My parents are driving me insane. I’m stressed about school, and I don’t know what I want to do in the future. But...” Blaine paused, biting his lip. “But right now? I don’t feel like my life is falling apart. Sure it’s kind of...messy, I guess. Things are changing. But for once, I’m kind of okay with change. I’m ready for it. I want it. I’ve never wanted things to be different before. I’ve always been happy the way I was, in my comfort zone.”

Blaine rubbed his face with his hands, placing them momentarily over his mouth before continuing. “But, Kurt, you have done so much for me. I know that you think I’m just saying that, or something, but...before I met you I’d never have taken any of this in stride. I never would have considered new, alternative options. And it’s all so fucking confusing, but at least I’m thinking for myself for once.”

“Blaine…” Kurt said softly. He wasn’t sure how to respond to this.

“Just let me finish,” Blaine told him. “Let me get this all out before I lose my nerve.”

Kurt closed his mouth and nodded. Blaine continued speaking. “So, I’m finally thinking for myself, but I’m…I’m not sure what to make of all the thoughts I have. Things I never would have considered, things- feelings that I don’t understand, or don’t want to-“ Blaine paused suddenly, staring at his feet and shaking his head. “No, I do want to understand them. And even more than that, I want to act on them…”

“Blaine,” Kurt said, unable to keep quiet. “What are you…what do you mean?”

Blaine continued to stare at the porch for a moment. Everything was quiet except for the slight breeze, rustling the fallen leaves. Finally Blaine looked up, meeting Kurt’s eyes. “I don’t know how to say this. I don’t know what I’m doing. I know I usually have my shit together…But, Kurt, I- you’ve become so important to me in the past few weeks. More important than- than anyone else. No one has ever affected me the way you have. No one has ever made me feel so close and right and okay. I don’t really know how to describe it. It’s like my whole life I was looking for something, someone and then you showed up and I went, ‘oh, there you are. I’ve been looking for you forever.’ There’s something there, something that I feel about you, that I never expected, or anticipated, but now…there are so many things I want to change about my life. I want to change everything. And I’m terrified. I’m so fucking scared. I’ve never gone out of my safe, simple little life I’ve made for myself before, but somehow…I think you’re worth. I think all of this is worth it.”

Blaine stopped speaking, and Kurt stared at him. There was a sort of buoyant bubble expanding in Kurt’s chest, rising and threatening to escape out his throat. Kurt was full of hope and fear, right on the edge. But he was certain of one thing.

Blaine looked so raw, so open. He’d never spoken so freely to Kurt before. Not even when he’d told Kurt about his dead brother. Blaine’s expression was pleading, praying for understanding. And Kurt understood. Kurt knew exactly what to do.

Blaine kept eye contact with Kurt, determined to see this through to the end. Whatever the verdict was, he’d face it head-on. He hoped Kurt would know what he was trying to say. Kurt seemed to be thinking, his eyes still on Blaine’s face.

“Blaine,” he breathed. Blaine timidly waited for him to go on. “Can I kiss you?”

There it was. Gaze unwavering, Blaine nodded slightly.

Kurt leaned forward, closing the distance between them, and pressed his lips to Blaine’s, soft and gentle. They rested there for only a moment before Kurt pulled back, looking at Blaine with wide eyes, as if he were still hesitant whether it was right. 

Blaine laughed suddenly, ridiculously. “You call that a kiss?”

Kurt laughed too, and the tension was broken, and Kurt was leaning back in and they were kissing again, for real this time, lips moving against eachother smoothly, and Blaine felt like fireworks were going off inside him and he’d never felt so simultaneously terrified and relieved in his life.

But he was in Kurt’s arms, and he liked Kurt, and Kurt liked him, and that was all that really mattered.

Kurt pulled away, his eyes searching Blaine’s face, his hands on Blaine’s shoulders.

“What?” Blaine asked, his fear resurfacing.

Kurt broke into a smile. “I just- is this real? Is this really happening?”

“Believe me,” Blaine answered, his heart racing. “This is so, so very real.”

“Finally,” Kurt whispered. He moved forward again, but not for a kiss. He wrapped his arms around Blaine, hugging him tightly.

Blaine let out the breath he’d been holding. “Finally,” he said back, feeling giddy.