"Do you realize that we've fallen into a routine?" Kurt asked, taking a bite of his frozen yogurt. Despite the frigid February air, he'd still begged Blaine to take him to one of their favorite places—the frozen yogurt shop they'd visited on their first date.

"A routine?" Blaine repeated. He took a bite of his own frozen yogurt. He'd begun to venture out a bit, getting some of the more extreme flavors and a variety of toppings. Some of his combinations made Kurt want to gag at the thought, but Blaine always found them deliciously satisfying.

"Yeah. You know, you fly back on Sunday night; we spend Monday night through Thursday night together. We get up on Friday morning and drive to the airport and the cycle starts over."

"Are you complaining about our time together? Because you can hang out with your other friends, you know."

"What? No!" Kurt looped his arm through Blaine's as they walked down the street. It made eating a little more difficult, but he liked being so close to Blaine. The warmth of his body felt nice. "I like spending so much time with you, but I don't want you to feel like you have to come over every night or invite me over to your place all the time. I may not have any real friends in New York, but you do."

"They're just friends from the office," Blaine shrugged. Kurt reached up with his free hand to take Blaine's spoon and took a bite himself. "Do you like it?"

"It's a little better than the bubble gum/raspberry/m&m combo you tried the other day. That one was awful." He took his own spoon and held it up to Blaine's mouth; Blaine eagerly took the bite.

"Hey, now," he began through a full mouth, "that was actually pretty delicious."

"Blaine, you mixed bubble gum flavored yogurt with whole raspberries and peanut butter m&ms. There was nothing appetizing about that."

"Not to you, but to me, it was… what's the phrase I used? Sex in my mouth?"

"Now you have something to compare that to, don't you?" Kurt joked.

"I'd rather have your dick in my mouth than this frozen yogurt if that's what you're suggesting." Blaine threw his nearly empty cup in a trashcan as they passed. "Would you like to go home and try this idea out?" He looked at Kurt who had become speechless. "What? You don't expect me to have amazing sex with you and then not want it all the time, do you?" He hugged Kurt from behind which slowed their pace, but he didn't care. "Because you happen to be quite gorgeous with and without clothes."

"Too bad. You'll get sex when you get it. But for now," Kurt reached down and grabbed Blaine's hand, unwrapping himself from Blaine's arms, and pulled him into a store, "we are going to get you a new phone; one that will allow you to do more than make a call."

"I can text, too!"

"Yes, but with this," Kurt pointed to an iPhone, showing it off like one of the ladies on The Price is Right or something, "you can talk to me, text me, email me, skype me, whatever you want with me."

"Whatever I want?" Blaine asked with a grin, sliding closer to Kurt.

"Blaine, focus," Kurt scolded.

"Sorry. You were saying?"

"I'm saying that if you had this, you could skype me whenever you wanted."

"I can already skype you whenever I want. I have a webcam and a computer."

"What if you're at a restaurant and you don't have your computer or wifi. Or what if you're in the middle of a store?"

"Do you really want me to skype you in the middle of a business dinner? I mean, I guess I can sneak off to the bathroom, but-"

"Blaine," Kurt whined. He actually whined!

"I'm sorry! It's your fault for wearing these pants today. I can't think of anything else."

"You picked them out!"

"And there was a reason for that."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Anyway, as I was saying, what if you're in the middle of a store and need my advice on a shirt or something?"

"A, I could send you a picture of it because my phone does have a camera. It's not that old-school. B, I don't go shopping without you anymore, so that's basically pointless."

"You aren't helping here. This phone would be great for your work. You can email from your phone, and we can even download apps that will let us play games against each other. That way when you're in LA, it'll feel like we're still together."

"You're always with me, Kurt, whether you know it or not."

"You're going to get cheesy on me if we're not careful." Kurt signaled a man over to where they were standing. "Hi, we would like to purchase this phone."

"Kurt," Blaine started, but instantly shut his mouth once Kurt gave him a look.

They purchased the phone, got it all set up for Blaine in the store, and made their way home. Kurt flopped down on the bed, stomach first, and didn't bother to move; not even when Blaine ran into the room and jumped on the bed beside him.

"May I just remind you that you are a twenty-seven-year-old man who just jumped on my bed," Kurt mumbled, barely audible.

"Kurt, this phone is amazing. Did you know that it takes excellent pictures? I got a few of your kitchen, a couple of the city from the living room window, and even a few of the hallway."

Kurt turned his head to the side, but only so his voice wouldn't be muffled when he let Blaine know he was insane. "Did you really take pictures of my kitchen?"

"What else am I supposed to take pictures of?" he shrugged.

"Um, you wait until there's something worth capturing for eternity."

"Not eternity. Just as long as I have this phone." He held his phone up and snapped a picture of Kurt's face. "There. Beautiful. That will be my new background."

"Blaine, that is not background quality. That was me being annoyed by my crazy boyfriend."

"You love me though." He leaned down to give Kurt a quick kiss.

"That I do," Kurt sighed.

"Come here." Blaine motioned for him to sit up.

"What?"

"If that picture isn't good enough to be my background, I want a retake. So fix your hair how you'd like and smile for the camera."

"Can we take a picture together instead?"

Blaine moved to sit next to Kurt. "Of course." He raised the camera in the air and pointed it in their direction before snapping a picture.

"Perfect," Kurt approved.

"Great. Well, now that I was a good boy and took you to your favorite frozen yogurt shop and bought a new phone against my will and took the picture you wanted, can we…." he trailed off, but there was no question of what he was implying.

"Oh my gosh, I'll give you sex if you'll shut up."

"I don't know that I'll shut up because I know we can be quite loud, but I won't-"

"I love you so much," Kurt giggled. "Come here." Kurt pulled Blaine into his arms and began pulling off his shirt.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Blaine asked. He ran a finger up Kurt's bare chest, mapping out the contours of his body for the hundredth time that night.

"Tomorrow is Tuesday," Kurt stated, not exactly answering the question.

"It's also Valentine's Day." Blaine placed a kiss to Kurt's shoulder.

"I know. I… I was trying to push that out of my mind. I mean, I didn't know when you were going to get off of work or if you'd be in the mood or even have time to go to dinner or anything afterwards, so I didn't plan on doing anything."

"Well, can I take you out anyway?"

"Of course you can, but I'd like to take you out as well."

"You can have next Valentine's Day. I… already have plans for tomorrow."

Kurt propped himself up on his elbow. "You made plans? Why didn't you mention anything before?"

"I didn't want to get your hopes up if I couldn't get out of work, but my secretary called me this morning and said she could cover for me that way my dad won't find out. Any normal day, I would be able to just ask off, but he might be kind of suspicious if he found out I wanted to take off for Valentine's Day."

"But you took off so you could be with me?"

"Of course I did. I didn't want to miss my first Valentine's day with my boyfriend."

"You are the best ever," Kurt giggled, rolling on top of Blaine and wrapping his arms around his neck.

"Kurt," Blaine groaned when their bare bodies were pressed together.

"Sorry," Kurt said in a way that hinted that he actually wasn't sorry. He kissed Blaine quickly and shifted to make himself a little more comfortable. "Round two?" he asked suggestively.

"Round two," Blaine eagerly nodded.

"Do you know that you've been getting ready for over two hours and you're just now working on your hair? I've been up for thirty minutes and I've already showered and finished getting ready."

"Blaine, looking good takes time. I don't know what we're doing today, so I want to make sure my hair can make it through anything."

"But it's hot when it's all messed up."

"That's what I think about your hair, but you insist on styling it a little."

"What if I ensure you that the most you'll have to deal with is maybe a little sweat or humidity?"

"Humidity in New York. In the middle of February."

"Is your camera still on the shelf in the closet?" Blaine asked, changing the subject and walking back out into the bedroom.

Kurt put the final touches on his hair before leaving the bathroom and sitting down on the edge of his bed. "It should be, but you'll have to get a new memory card from my desk. That one's full." He pulled one of his shoes on and laced them up. "Why do we need a camera. I thought you'd become quite fond of your new phone."

"The camera isn't for me; it's for you. I thought you might want to take pictures of your own."

"I have a camera on my phone, too."

Blaine began shuffling around inside of Kurt's closet. "Yeah," He stood on the tip of his toes so he could grab it off of the top shelf, "but this is a nicer camera."

Kurt stood up and met him in the doorway to the closet. "Are you still not going to tell me where we're going?"

"Nope. Are you ready to go?"

"Have you been into the living room yet?"

"No…." Blaine said curiously.

"Go on! Go!" Kurt pushed him along, closing the bedroom door behind him.

Blaine stopped when he spied the new display on the coffee table. "Kurt…"

"Do you like them?"

Blaine walked to the coffee table and picked up the bouquet of fresh lilies. "They're gorgeous."

"I'm glad you like them. I managed to sneak out to the local flower shop before you woke up. They were out of roses, but I think these are prettier anyway."

"They are. Thank you." Blaine placed his hands on each side of Kurt's face and pulled him in for a kiss. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Happy Valentine's Day." They kissed again, finally parting a few minutes later. "There's some of that fancy chocolate you love in the kitchen. You can have some when we get home."

"You spoil me."

"It's a special day." He gave Blaine's stomach a few pats before pulling away. "Come on. The cab is probably waiting by now."

"We have to make a stop at my apartment first if that's okay."

"Mhm." It wasn't until Kurt had allowed his head to make its way down to Blaine's chest that he realized how exhausted he actually was. His eyes began to close involuntarily, but he quickly opened them back up.

"Tired?" Blaine asked. He had his right arm wrapped around Kurt's body and the fingers on his right hand danced around on the open palm of Kurt's left.

Kurt lifted his head up just enough to look Blaine in the eyes. "I just didn't get much sleep last night."

"And that's because of me," he mentioned sheepishly. "I'm sorry. Maybe I shouldn't wear you out so much."

"I'll learn to live with the consequences."

Blaine held on tighter until they pulled up to the apartment building. "Are you going to stay here? I'll just be a minute."

"Sure." Blaine hopped out of the cab and returned not even five minutes later with a small duffle bag. "What is that," Kurt stared.

"That's for you to find out later." Blaine tossed it in the seat beside them and climbed back in. He handed a slip of paper to the cab driver and leaned back in the seat.

"Brooklyn?" the driver clarified.

Blaine nodded and the cab pulled away from the curb.

"We're here, Kurt." Blaine nudged him in the side as the cab pulled over to the Curb.

They hopped out of the cab and Kurt took note of the words etched into the massive stone entrance as Blaine paid the driver. Brooklyn Botanical Garden. "You brought me to a botanical garden? I thought they weren't even open in February. Nothing's blooming."

"They opened a little early this year," Blaine shrugged. "Have you been here before?" Kurt shook his head. "Good. You have never mentioned it before, so I didn't figure you had."

"I just spend all of my time in Central Park. I never really thought about going anywhere else, and even the few times I thought about it, I didn't want to go alone."

"You don't seem like one to care about being by yourself, especially since it's such a peaceful atmosphere.

"There's a difference between being by myself and being alone. Some things… I guess I just wanted there to be something new to do if I ever found someone."

"Well you don't have to be alone anymore. Neither one of us do." Blaine stopped in front of Kurt and pecked him on the lips. "I love you."

Kurt wrapped his arms tightly around Blaine. "You're perfect, do you know that?" Blaine laughed as Kurt pulled back slightly. "I love you, too. Sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve your love. Out of everyone in the world, you chose me to trust with your heart. You chose me to fall in love with."

"It wasn't so much a choice, Kurt, and that's what makes it feel so right. Now, come on. We can be serious later. I want you to enjoy yourself right now."

"Do you still have my camera?" Kurt asked, trailing behind Blaine as their fingers intertwined.

"It's in my bag."

They spent the next hour wandering through a few of the different gardens—Osborne Garden, Lilac Collection, Cranford Rose Garden. Although it was too early in the year and far too cold for the flowers to be blooming, Kurt still found the place beautiful. It wasn't as colorful as it would be during the summer, the trees were bare, and the vegetation was a combination of various browns, but Kurt was still able to find beauty behind all of it. He took pictures of the different landscapes, capturing the gardens at a time when not many people took the time to see them. Occasionally, he'd drag Blaine to a bench and talk animatedly about the things they'd seen before snapping a quick picture of the two of them—sometimes they made silly faces—and moving on to the next Garden. Though Kurt knew Blaine didn't particularly enjoy looking at a bunch of dead plants, he never said a word, not even when Kurt stopped to stare at a leaf-less tree for ten minutes, taking pictures from different angles and distances.

The Japanese Garden definitely went on the top of Kurt's list of favorite places, and he could only imagine the way it would look in the spring. He stopped to take a picture of each unique little statue, the benches that lined the paths, and the waterfall in the distance. Kurt pulled Blaine over to the pond where they sat and watched the ripples in the water and the few birds left in New York soar across the sky. He had to admit that he liked being there at that time of the year. The place was less crowded. He didn't have to put up with the massive amount of tourists or unhappy children. He could enjoy what was around him and take pictures without waiting for someone to get out of the way.

Actually, he hadn't seen a single person the entire morning. "Why is there not anyone else around?"

"It's probably too chilly for them," Blaine shrugged.

"It's actually quite warm today," Kurt pointed out.

"Maybe they had other plans. Hey, why don't we walk down this path?" Blaine turned to the right and headed towards a group of buildings.

Kurt hurried after him. "Why are you trying to change the subject? What aren't you telling me?"

Blaine paused, conflicted as to whether or not he should tell Kurt the truth. "I… it's nothing. Just be happy that you have the entire place to yourself."

"Are you sure we're completely alone? There's not an entire person in the park?" Kurt asked seductively and wrapped his arms around Blaine.

"No. Other than a few workers, we're the only ones here."

"Ha!" Kurt let go of Blaine and backed away, happy with himself. He'd tricked Blaine into admitting part of the truth. "Now tell me how you know that. Actually, tell me why we're here if no one else is."

Blaine looked away. "Because the park isn't technically open," he mumbled.

"Excuse me? I'm going to have to ask you to say that again."

Blaine turned back towards him. "The park isn't exactly open to the public yet."

"What… so we're breaking in or something?" Kurt looked panicked.

"Don't be silly. You saw me pay the guy at the gate." Blaine took Kurt in his arms.

"How do I know that's not one of your friends and he's helping us break the law."

"Do I look like a law breaker to you?"

"You don't look like you eat 4000 calories worth of sweets a day either. Looks can be deceiving."

"Kurt, come on."

"Just tell me how we're here then."

Blaine took a deep breath and let it out as he spoke. "We insure this place so I was able to pull a few strings and get it to open for us today."

"We... you got them to open this place for us and us alone?" Blaine nodded. "But, why?"

Blaine shrugged again. "I don't know. I thought you might enjoy being able to see things the way no one else does. You've always had a knack of finding something beautiful in something that other people generally think is ugly. When we were in central park the night we first kissed, isn't that what you told me your mom was able to do? She could make anything seem like a piece of art? I thought maybe you'd enjoy having the same opportunity. I mean, you don't have to think of it like that, but you could do this for her. It could be one more thing you could do to make her happy, because I know she's looking down on you and she's so proud of you, Kurt. I'm proud of the person you are."

Kurt hid his face in an attempt to prevent Blaine from seeing his tears. "You did this for me," he whispered.

"I'd do anything for you, Kurt. I just like to see you smile." Blaine reached out and wiped the tears from Kurt's cheek. "And now I'm making you cry."

"It's a good cry," Kurt smiled. "They're happy tears. I just feel so stupid now because I wanted to take you out for dinner tonight, but that's it. I didn't have any wonderful plans like this."

"Like I said, you can have Valentine's Day next year. Besides, I don't need you to come up with huge plans. All I want is you. I don't care where we are or what we do as long as you're there."

"You made plans, though."

"Yes, but it's our first Valentine's Day together and I want to make it absolutely perfect for you."

"It already is." Kurt took both of Blaine's hands in his and grinned.

"You know, they actually have weddings here." Blaine pointed to the Palm House they had stopped in front of. Kurt looked up to the glass building and noticed the rows of tables inside and his eyes grew wide, something Blaine didn't notice. "Oh, Kurt, I mean… I was just mentioning that. I read it on the website when I was looking this place up. I wasn't suggesting anything by any means…"

"You're cute when you're nervous." Kurt squeezed his hand a little tighter.

"Is… I mean… what if I wanted to marry you? Not now of course, but I mean… what if I told you I've thought of it before?" Blaine couldn't hide the nerves in his voice.

"We've only been together for four months," Kurt stated, trying to fight back the smile on his lips.

"Y-yeah. Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

Kurt pulled Blaine to a stop. "Hey, I didn't say it was a bad thing." He wrapped his arms around Blaine's neck and pulled him close. "You just… after what you told me, I guess I was just surprised to hear that you've thought about marriage again."

"I don't want to rush into anything, Kurt, but I feel like I already know you're it for me. I don't want to get married right now by any means, and I don't even want to get engaged so soon. I like taking things slow, but that doesn't mean I don't think about the way things could turn out in the future. I'm probably creeping you out."

"Blaine, I've thought those things too, you know. Probably even sooner than you did, so if anyone is creepy, it's me," he giggled. "I know what you mean, though. I don't want to rush into anything, especially since this is my first real relationship, but I love you. To me, that's all that matters right now. And my boyfriend brought me to one of my new favorite places in this city, so for that, I want to thank him."

"How are you going to do that?" Blaine cocked an eyebrow.

Kurt looked around, forgetting that he didn't need to, before pulling Blaine off of the path a little and stopped behind a tree. "Like this." Kurt began to kiss Blaine. Their lips moved against each other as if they were created to fit together.

Blaine began groaning into the kiss and dropped the small duffle bag he'd been carrying around to run his hands through Kurt's hair, something Kurt couldn't even begin to care about in the moment. "Kurt," Blaine moaned and pulled him back in for another kiss. "I'm so in love with you. I don't want to overuse those three little words, but I do love you, and I never want to stop saying it."

"I love you. But, come on," Kurt grabbed his hand and pulled them back onto the path. "From what I hear, we've got a busy day ahead of ourselves."

"That we do. Are you finished here, or would you like to look around some more?"

"Can we go grab something to eat? It's almost 1:00 and we skipped breakfast."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I seemed to satisfy my hunger this morning," Blaine nearly growled.

"I'm leaving you now." Kurt let go of his hand and started walking away, making sure to flaunt his body in front of Blaine. Needless to say, it wasn't too long before he felt Blaine's hand slide into the back pocket of his jeans as they exited the park.

"This doesn't look like lunch." Kurt stared at the pond in front of him, well aware that they were in the middle of Central Park.

"It's Turtle Pond," Blaine clarified. He sat down on the grass and began unzipping his duffle, pulling a blanket out and spreading it across the ground. "Sit," he said, patting the spot next to him.

Kurt did as told but looked at Blaine questioningly. "I'm not following." Blaine leaned forward and quickly kissed him with a smile on his face. After giving up on Blaine telling him what was going on, he leaned back and made himself a little more comfortable. "You know, it's uncharacteristically warm for a February."

"Even New York has its heat waves."

"Ah, did you plan this?"

"Hoped for it actually. We," Blaine turned to his bag again and began pulling out a few containers, "are having a slightly-chilled, no cooking necessary lunch." He sat three different containers in between him and Kurt and reached back in for the rest. "Pasta salad, carrots with dip, bread I picked up from one of my favorite bakeries, strawberries and pineapple chunks, and for dessert, triple chocolate cheesecake." Kurt stared at the cheesecake in front of him, wondering if Blaine had forgotten there was no way he would ever eat anything like that. "Okay, the triple chocolate is for me." He reached into his bag and pulled out the final container. "I got you a low-fat cherry cheesecake."

"That's better," Kurt laughed. "I can't believe you did all of this. I would've been fine going to a restaurant or something."

"Oh, that's for later tonight. I have reservations at one of the nicest restaurants in New York."

"I don't even know what to say to you right now. You're amazing." Kurt leaned forward and pressed his lips to Blaine's for a chaste kiss. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Blaine smiled and kissed him again. "Okay, ready to eat?"

"Yes. I'm starving." They picked up the containers and started removing the lids before digging in. "When did you have time to prepare all of this food anyway?"

"Ah. That's my little secret. I'm not going to divulge such mysteries to you."

"You're right. Your mysterious charm is the only think keeping me around."

"Ooooh, and now the truth comes out. You're just using me for my sex and bad boy reputation."

Kurt snorted. "Bad boy?"

"What? I can be pretty badass." Blaine picked up a baby carrot and dipped it in ranch dressing before popping it into his mouth.

"You're a businessman, sweetie. I hate to break it to you, but that profession is neither mysterious nor daring."

"Oh yeah? I hear I can be a little daring in bed."

Kurt felt a blush come up to his face. "That's not something everyone sees, though."

"Are you sure about that?" Blaine joked, but Kurt looked shocked. "Hey, you know I'm just joking." He grabbed Kurt's hand and squeezed it tight. "You're the only one I willingly spend time with outside of work." Blaine lifted a strawberry to Kurt's lips which he eagerly took a bite of. He wiped a bit of juice away from Kurt's chin before it dripped onto his shirt.

"You know, I had no idea you were such a man whore until recently." Blaine set the half-eaten strawberry back in the container and remained silent. "Blaine, you know I'm just kidding, right?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, what's wrong?" Kurt moved a little closer and forced Blaine to look up.

"I just… I don't want you to think badly of me. You… your opinion means the most to me. I may joke around about myself a lot, but I hope you don't honestly believe me."

"Is this about you loving sex with me? Because if it is, I can totally understand why. I mean, I'm amazing," Kurt laughed; Blaine didn't. "Blaine, I'm sorry. I… you are the best person I know and nothing is going to change my opinion about that."

"It's not just sex, Kurt. I mean, I love doing... those things with you because I trust you. I feel like we're one single entity and not two different people when we're making love. We're not Kurt and Blaine, we're KurtandBlaine. I just want you to realize that this isn't me having the mindset and hormones of a teenage boy. This is me being one hundred and ten percent, completely and ridiculously in love with you and I want to give you everything. I want to give you myself. I want to give you something that I never want to give to anyone else ever again."

"Blaine, stop."

"What, I'm sorry, I just-"

"Don't be sorry. I just want you to stop long enough for me to kiss you." He leaned forward and pressed their lips together, forcing them to lie back across the blanket. Blaine eagerly agreed to the kiss until Kurt threw his leg over Blaine's and pressed their hips together.

"Kurt, people-"

"I don't care, Blaine. I don't care." He shook his head. "It's Valentine's Day. I want to be able to kiss my boyfriend without having to worry about it." He kissed him again, this time licking along Blaine's lower lip and biting down a little.

"Fuck, Kurt," Blaine groaned.

"I think we should go back to my apartment so you can do that right now."

Blaine pulled away. "That's for tonight." He immediately missed the warmth of Kurt's lips on his, but he knew if he didn't stop at that moment, he wouldn't be able to at all. "Finish up, though. We can go see if there are any turtles in the water before moving on to the next thing on our list."

"Which is?"

"You'll see."

"Are you ever going to tell me while we're walking towards the river?" Kurt swung their joined hands back and forth and looked around. He took note of the other couples walking along the pier; they seemed just as happy as he and Blaine were.

"Is there anything else to do in the Hudson River than go kayaking?" Blaine asked. He felt Kurt's hand rip out of his when the other man planted his feet in the ground, making no effort to move any closer to the end of the pier.

"We are not getting in that water. Please tell me we aren't getting any closer." Kurt frantically shook his head and Blaine noticed his eyes widening with fear.

"Do you have a fear of water?" Blaine casually made his way back to Kurt. Kurt avoided eye contact and looked towards the water in panic. "You do, don't you?" He brought his hand to his mouth with regret.

"I…"

Blaine grabbed Kurt's hands and raised them to his lips to kiss them tenderly. "Hey, look. It's okay. We'll—we'll just go find something else to do until dinner."

"Are you sure?" Blaine leaned forward and pecked Kurt's lips. Kurt took that as a yes. "I'm sorry. I… water isn't something I like to do. Mr. Schue proposed to his wife, Emma my senior year. He asked the glee club to help out with the proposal, but he wanted it done by singing and synchronized swimming and I almost had a panic attack."

"May I ask you why you're so afraid of it?" Blaine cocked his head.

"I don't know. I guess I wasn't around it much when I was younger and never ended up learning how to swim. My pale skin didn't exactly get along with the sun too well, so while other kids would go to the community pool in the summer, I'd be inside watching musicals and having tea parties with my mom."

"That doesn't sound all that bad."

"No, but when you're twenty-six and don't know how to swim, that creates a bit of a problem, don't you think?" Kurt's voice lacked humor.

"You… oh." Blaine went silent once he realized what Kurt had meant.

"I know," Kurt moved to sit down at a bench at the edge of the walk, "what twenty-six year old can't even swim. I'm some kind of weird loser." His voice started to shake from embarrassment.

Blaine sat down next to him. "You want to know a secret?" He nudged Kurt with his shoulder. "I'm irrevocably in love with that weird loser."

Kurt's mouth formed a small smiled and he turned his attention back towards the water. "We should do it."

"What?"

"Go kayaking. I mean, I have to conquer that fear at some point in my life, right? Who says today isn't that day. They have life jackets in case something were to happen and I know you wouldn't ever let anything happen."

"Kurt, I don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with. You can take time to think about it first, okay? You can mentally prepare yourself. We can just take a walk through the park or something today."

"You wanted to do this, though."

"I wanted to do it with you, but I wanted you to enjoy it as well. We can come back as soon as you're ready. Deal?"

Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand and pulled the two of them up. "Deal. Thank you, Blaine."

"There's no need to thank me. I'm kind of excited that the next few hours of our lives will be spontaneous. When's the last time you lived in the moment?"

"Actually, I've been doing that all day," Kurt laughed.

He looked above as a few birds flew through the sky. He loved how free they were to do whatever they wanted. They were able to see the entire city from above, something Kurt could only do from the confines of a plane. Each bird, no matter the color or size, had to learn to fly with little help. Each baby bird was pushed from its nest and forced to spread its wings and fly, something Kurt was never able to do growing up. He had always kept to himself and never strayed away from what felt comfortable and safe. With Blaine, however, it felt like he was able to soar wherever he wanted. The wings that had always been pinned down were finally loosened. He had the courage to expand them and take flight. He was no longer afraid to try new things and the thought of not making plans and living a less-constructed life thrilled him.

Kurt turned his focus back to Blaine, only to find that he was staring at him the entire time. "Ready to go be impetuous in the park?"

"The park where all of this began. Our first date, our first kiss, when I realized I was in love with you, all of it. That seems like a much more appropriate place to spend our first Valentine's Day together than in a kayak on a smelly river, don't you think?"

"I can't believe you waited so long to tell me." Kurt leaned into Blaine's side.

"You weren't exactly forward with your feelings either." Blaine snaked his arm around Kurt's waist and pulled him closer. They began heading towards the street to grab a taxi. "Besides, I think I had some things I needed to deal with so that when the time was right, I could completely give myself to you."

"I wouldn't change a thing, you know. It allowed us to get to know one another better." Kurt squeezed Blaine's side and he felt Blaine squeeze back. "Hey, how is it that you even know how to go kayaking."

"I didn't have many friends the first couple of years I was in New York so I took lessons every summer. By the third summer, they were asking me to teach the lessons. I had to decline, of course. Can you imagine what my dad would have said if I told him I was going to add kayaking lessons to my work schedule?"

"Did you want to do it?" Kurt tilted his head to get a better look into Blaine's eyes.

"Not really, no. It would've been fun and a little less stressful than being in the office, but it didn't pay very well. It wouldn't have been worth the time. However, I did get some pretty nice arm muscles out of it." Blaine lifted his arm and flexed, causing Kurt to giggle.

"Is that what I have to look forward to? Finally getting rid of these spaghetti arms?"

"Your arms are perfect."

They finally reached the street and Blaine managed to flag down a taxi for the two to take to the park. Central Park was nauseatingly full of couples making loving eyes towards each other. He was sure most of them were from out of town and had come to New York for that one day, but for once, he didn't care about the tourists. He felt comfortable and content walking through the park with Blaine. He got to know a little more about what Blaine did when he first came to New York and in return, Kurt told him about the things he used to do to keep himself entertained when he was younger.

Before they knew it, they found themselves at a restaurant Kurt had never seen before for their seven o'clock reservation.

"What is this place?" Kurt whispered as he looked around at the fancy décor. Their server began leading them to a table.

"It's called One if By Land, Two if By Sea. The history nerd in me was suddenly intrigued by the name, so I hope you like it. I don't know what they offer or if it's any good, but at least it looks a little promising."

"It's beautiful. That's for sure." He noticed a portrait of Paul Revere along the back wall and the 1700-style chandeliers hanging from the ceiling above the bar—the candles were unlit, but the ambiance in the restaurant didn't suffer. A white tablecloth was draped over each table and a single candle was situated in the center; the server lit the candles when they approached the table.

Blaine pulled Kurt's chair out and smiled politely as the server handed each of them a menu. He poured each of them a glass of red wine and walked away. "Pick whatever you want. You get an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert, so I hope you're hungry."

"I'm starving." Kurt looked down at his menu, instantly overwhelmed by the titles of the food. The menu was far from simplistic. He didn't have a clue what anything was other than the occasional "lobster" or "oyster" being mentioned. Nevertheless, he looked down at the menu and smiled, trying to hide his confusion. Blaine, however, picked up on it.

"You don't come to places like this very often, do you? I'm sorry. I tend to forget sometimes." He closed his own menu and leaned forward. "These are the kinds of places my dad likes to bring potential clients when they're searching for insurance for a big business or something. Apparently he thinks it will impress them." Blaine rolled his eyes. "I think it's a waste of money when they can go somewhere far more affordable, but it's the company's money. Is there anything that sounds good to you?"

"The appetizers seem more like meals if you ask me." Kurt looked back down at his menu with round eyes.

"If you don't finish everything, you can just take it home. Don't worry about it, okay?"

"The dessert sounds good."

"Oh, I think you should save your dessert for tomorrow. I had something a little different in mind for dessert."

Kurt couldn't tell what Blaine meant until he saw the blush filling Blaine's cheeks, causing his own to redden in response. "I..."

"It's still chocolate if that's what you're wondering," Blaine added with a wink.

"Blaine," Kurt groaned.

"Sorry. We can talk about that later. For now, let's look at the menu." Blaine picked his menu up again and read through the appetizers.

"Petite spring salad. That's something I recognize." Kurt made a mental note to go back to remember that item.

"Haricot verts?" Blaine's forehead furrowed in confusion.

"It's French for green beans," Kurt nonchalantly clarified.

"You know, I've never heard you speak French. You told me you did, but that was it." Blaine sounded impressed.

"Have I not spoken in French in the past four months?" Kurt took a sip of his wine to give his hands something to do other than pick at the corners of the menu.

"I don't believe you have."

"Ah. Well, oui, Je parle français."

"You're sexy when you speak another language." Blaine sat his menu down again and folded his hands on the table, turning his full attention to Kurt. "You should say some more."

Kurt mimicked Blaine and sat his own menu down in order to fold his hands. "Que veux-tu me dire?" Blaine didn't say anything; he just continued staring and Kurt laughed. "D'accord. Je t'aime et tu es l'amour de ma vie. Est-ce bonne?"

Blaine was so into Kurt's fluid speech that he hadn't noticed he had stopped speaking until his blue eyes were staring back into Blaine's hazel. "I have no idea what you just said, but it was wonderful."

"Je pense que tu es merveilleux."

"Was that a compliment?"

"Oui," Kurt took Blaine's hand. "At first, I said 'What do you want me to say?' Then I said 'I love you and you're the love of my life.'"

"You're mine," Blaine said affectionately.

"And that I think you're wonderful as well." Kurt looked away bashfully.

"Are you going to speak French for me again?"

"Si tu veux."

"Okay, enough French for now. I want to understand you tonight." Kurt tore his hands away from Blaine when their server arrived at the table and picked up his own menu to order. For their appetizer, they each went with a salad, deciding it was the safest thing on the menu.

For the next hour, they enjoyed their meal as well as each other's company. Kurt shared his chicken with Blaine and Blaine pretended not to notice when Kurt snatched a bite of his lobster. During their time inside the restaurant, they seemed to forget that anyone else existed. There weren't other couples sitting at surrounding tables. The servers were practically non-existent. Kurt didn't think about anything in his past that had previously led him to believe he'd never spend Valentine's Day with a man he loved. Blaine's thoughts didn't turn to his past marriage for a single second. He didn't worry about his father finding out about his relationship. The only think that mattered to him was making sure Kurt was happy, and in the moment, it seemed as if they were quite possibly not only the happiest two men in the world, but the luckiest as well.

"Daddy! Daddy! Look what I got today!" Kurt stepped off of the bus and waved a construction paper heart in the air as he ran to the front door. Burt enveloped him in a hug and led him inside the house.

"Why don't you go put your backpack and your coat in your room and then you can come into the kitchen and show me what it is while you eat your snack, okay?"

Kurt nodded with more excitement than Burt could have imagined one kid could have and ran up the stairs. He tripped once when his short leg didn't quite make it up to the next step, but he quickly stood up again and disappeared into his bedroom. Burt made his way into the kitchen to slather a few graham crackers with peanut butter. After Kurt's mom died, Burt made it his mission to maintain a sense of normalcy in his life. He made sure he was there every day when Kurt got home from school and always had snacks ready. They would sit down at the kitchen table with their juice boxes as Kurt enthusiastically told him about his day. Burt wanted to make sure Kurt knew he still had someone in his life that he could count on; someone he could talk to when he was still young as well as someone he could turn to for advice as he got older.

Kurt returned not even two minutes later with the same red, construction paper heart in his hands. Burt noticed a few words scribbled on it in crayon and a thin, white ribbon tied through a hole at the top. "Is this from the party you had today?"

"Yes. Miss Riley told us to choose a partner today. We got to make our partner an extra special card. The card was different. It wasn't like the ones we gave everybody else. I made one for Michael and he made one for me." Kurt held up the card and Burt saw Kurt's name written beside the word "to." There were a few other words that he couldn't quite make out. "Some of the kids in our class made fun of us. They said we were supposed to give our card to a girl. I didn't want to. None of the girls have pretty eyes like Michael."

Burt shifted in his chair. He would be lying if he said it didn't make him a little uncomfortable every time Kurt mentioned another boy in a way he had always hoped he'd talk about another girl. However, Burt didn't want to be that parent. He didn't want to be the parent that couldn't accept his child exactly the way he was. Elizabeth would have wanted him to love Kurt no matter what, and that included any chance that he may have a boyfriend when he got older, rather than a girlfriend. The only thing Burt would do was make sure Kurt never tried to change who he was because someone else though his son was less than perfect.

"Well, buddy, sometimes people say some mean things, but that's just because they don't know that you can be different. This is your chance to show them that you don't all have to be the same. If you want to give a boy your card, you can. He made you a very pretty card, too."

Kurt traced a finger above his name. "Miss Riley told us she was going to eat dinner with a boy tonight and that he made her happy. She said she hoped that one day we would all find someone that we loved too." He played with the ends of the ribbon where they began to fray. "Do you think that someone will love me one day, too?"

Burt smiled at his son. It was times like that when he realized just how young and naïve Kurt was. He wished Kurt could stay like that forever and never have to worry about the difficulties that came with growing up. "One day, you'll find a boy who will love you just as much as I do." Burt hadn't even noticed that he said "a boy" instead of "a girl" or "someone," but it didn't matter. It didn't matter because although Kurt wouldn't come out to him until he was in high school, he already knew. Burt already knew that one day Kurt would find a man who would treat him like a prince. He would find someone who would love him as much as Burt had loved Elizabeth. Deep down, Burt knew that with time, Kurt would find Blaine.

"Blaine, stop," Kurt squealed. "Ouch. Stop. We're going to break something." Kurt began backing through his apartment with Blaine's mouth attached to any free area of skin he could reach. Their clothes were already being shed, leaving a trail from the front door, through the living room, and into the bedroom.

"Why are you wearing clothes?" Blaine grumbled as he began to undo the belt of Kurt's jeans.

"You didn't seem to mind that too much earlier." Kurt moved his hands to unfasten Blaine's pants as well. It was a bit difficult for them to do it at the same time, but they managed. Blaine pressed kisses to Kurt's lips again before biting down on the skin at the base of his neck.

As they walked through the bedroom door, Blaine pushed Kurt's pants down to his ankles and lifted him out of the heap of clothes and into his arms. He carried him to the bed and gently set him down before removing his own pants and crawling in close. "You're still not naked."

"No, that part comes once you decide what exactly you want to do with my dick."

"You're very blunt tonight." Blaine kissed a trail from Kurt's mouth, down his neck, across his chest, and to his stomach, moving to straddle him as he went. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Since when do you ask?" Kurt chuckled and pulled Blaine down for another kiss.

"I just want tonight to be perfect for you." Blaine began rubbing his thighs, getting dangerously close to Kurt's hard on.

"It already is, Blaine. Didn't you say something earlier about wanting to share everything with each other? I want to do that, okay? I want to show you how much I want to be yours forever. I want you to feel how much I love you."

"Forever?" Blaine questioned.

"Only if you'll take me for that long."

Blaine kissed him again. "Forever wouldn't be long enough for me to show you how much I love you, Kurt Hummel, but I can start right now if you'll let me."

Kurt simply nodded, the last coherent thought leaving his mind for the rest of the night.

"Tell me again why there are two flight attendants and I'm on a larger plane than normal." Blaine looked around at the passengers of the plane, realizing that the majority of them were couples.

Kurt shrugged. "I don't know. I guess they're finally heading home after Valentine's day."

"It's Sunday. Valentine's day was last Tuesday," Blaine pointed out.

"Not everyone can get their secretary to get them out of work so they can spend the actual Valentine's Day with their partner." Kurt poured a cup of coffee and handed it off to Blaine.

"I'm just saying. It's going to make it hard to give you a blow job in the bathroom with all of these witnesses."

The small Styrofoam cup Kurt was holding almost slipped out of his hands and a bit of it splashed onto the cart. "Blaine, people can hear you," he scolded.

"No one's even listening." He took a sip of his coffee and grabbed a packet of sugar from the tray. "You didn't say no, though. I mean, the flight will be over soon, so if we're going to do anything, we better go now."

"I'm not saying anything. I'm doing my best to be professional right now."

Blaine picked up the last few packets of sugar from the tray and stuffed them into his pockets. "Oops. Looks like you're out of sugar. I think you should go get some more from the back."

"You're unbelievable." Kurt turned around and pulled the car along behind him. Blaine stood up and made his way into the aisle. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to the bathroom. It happens to be back here as well."

"I'm not joining you."

"Contrary to what you believe, I really do need to go to the bathroom. Drinking four cups of coffee just to get you near me has its consequences."

Kurt stared at him, trying to decide if he was being serious or not. Finally, he turned back around and pulled the cart into the back. A few minutes later, he felt a pair of cool, damp hands covering his eyes. He spun around and found himself in Blaine's arms. Before he could say anything, Blaine was kissing him with a little more force than he would have liked.

"Blaine," he pushed him away. "We can't do this here. Someone could walk back here at any minute."

"So let them. I'm tired of hiding this, Kurt. How long are we going to do this? We're in a committed relationship. This isn't a one-night stand between a flight attendant and a passenger. This is real."

"I know," Kurt shot back. "I know it's real. That doesn't mean you're allowed back here or I can make out with you in the middle of the flight!" The overhead speakers began telling the passengers to fasten their seatbelts to prepare to land. "You should go back to your seat."

"What if I don't?"

"I have to force you to or call the in-flight security."

"You would really do that?"

"Blaine, please," Kurt said weakly.

"Do you want this to be real? Do you want your co-workers to know about us?"

"Why would you ask something like that? Of course I want this to be real. Have I not shown you that enough in the past four months. I just don't want to risk my job until I'm absolutely sure nothing is going to happen." The message came on the speakers again, but Kurt ignored it. He leaned in to kiss Blaine reassuringly. "Does that prove to you how real this is?" Blaine nodded once before Kurt kissed him again. "You really do need to go back out there," he rested their foreheads together.

"I'm sorry about overreacting to everything. I just want everyone to know you're mine."

"And they will when the right time comes."

As Blaine leaned in to kiss Kurt again, the door swung open and the other flight attendant stepped through. She paused when she looked up to see the two of them. "Kurt…"

Kurt quickly moved away from Blaine and pushed him out the door. "Go sit down." Once Blaine left, Kurt closed the door and turned to the flight attendant (he still hadn't gotten her name). "I… are you going to tell anyone about this?"

"Who is he? Some fuck buddy?"

"What? No. He… His name is Blaine. He's my boyfriend."

"And what? You decide an impromptu make-out session is more important than maintaining the safety of your passengers?"

"No! I… we were just talking. You walked in at the wrong moment. I was just telling him to go back out there and sit down."

"No one else is allowed back here, Kurt. Only employees," she stressed the last word.

"I know. I told him that! It won't happen again."

"And you consider yourself a professional."

"I am a professional! I've had nothing but excellent reviews ever since I started working here. I've always done the very best I can."

"Whatever. If I ever catch you again, I'm not keeping it a secret, do you hear me?" Kurt nodded. "We're landing in five. I'd get back out there if I were you." She turned around and slammed the door shut behind her.

The second the last passenger exited the cabin, Kurt cleaned up the aisles and did everything necessary before leaving. He didn't want to be near the other flight attendant anymore. He didn't want to think about what had happened; the problem was, he had to think about what would happen. A part of him didn't trust the lady enough to know she would keep her mouth shut. Kurt knew he would be in serious trouble if anyone found out what had happened, and he didn't want to put Blaine at risk either. Blaine had a steady job, and although he worked for his dad, Kurt was fairly sure he still ran the risk of getting fired if he was anything less than professional.

Kurt ran through the employee door as soon as he could and began making his way to his car. He didn't pay attention to the man following quickly behind him or the words coming from his mouth. Kurt didn't acknowledge Blaine at all; not until Blaine moved in front of him to slow him down.

"Blaine, please." Kurt choked back a few tears.

"Why are you running?" Blaine placed a hand on his arm to prevent him from moving.

"Isn't that what I do best? I run before I can get hurt? Well, guess what. It's too late. We're past that point. I'll get hurt no matter what."

"Kurt."

"No. We can't do this. I can't be a risk to you. I could never live with myself if I was the reason you lost your job or got into trouble or whatever."

"Kurt, it doesn't have to be like that. It's my fault. I'm the one who snuck back there and kissed you. I shouldn't have done it and it won't happen again."

Kurt moved around Blaine and headed out into the parking lot. He stopped at his car when he realized he was the one who drove Blaine to the airport on Friday and the one who was supposed to take him home today.

"Kurt, you can't just walk away from everything because some stupid flight attendant saw me kiss you. I know things are hard and I know every day we're together I'm putting my job at risk, but I don't care. Every single second I'm with you makes up for every wrong thing that happens in my life. I'm not going to let you walk away from us, from what we have. The love we have is so much stronger than anything that can try to tear us down. I don't care what my dad thinks anymore. He can tell me what I'm doing is wrong. I don't care. All I care about is how happy you make me and I'm not going to give up on the one single thing that has brought joy into my life and made it worth living." He moved towards Kurt and took him in his arms. "You know what I think? I think you're scared."

"Scared of what?" Kurt sniffed.

"You tell me."

Kurt pulled back and Blaine wiped a tear from his eye. "I run. That's what I've always done."

"Well, don't run from me, Kurt. Please. I don't want to know what it's like to be without you. I don't know what I ever did before I met you."

"It scared me. I know I'm the one who brought it up, but it terrified me when I actually thought about it."

"What did?"

"Forever." Kurt buried his face in Blaine's chest. "It's not that I don't want it with you, because I do, Blaine. I want an entire future with you. I just never imagined I could want it that much until you were laying there with me and telling me you wanted the same thing. My mom and dad were supposed to have their forever and then she was ripped away from him. I'm terrified that somehow that will happen to me, too, and I can't lose you like that, Blaine. I can't."

"Hey," Blaine began rubbing Kurt's back to help calm him down, "that's not going to happen. You didn't deserve to lose your mom and she didn't deserve to be separated from you, but you can't let that affect us. I mean it when I say I am here until you tell me to leave. I'm never going to go anywhere. I promise."

Kurt leaned back against the car door. "What's the point, Blaine? No one knows about us. It's like we're walking the opposite way on a conveyer belt. Everything we feel for each other is trying to push us forward, but then there's our jobs pulling us back. We're not going anywhere."

"You said you didn't want anyone to know. Just an hour ago you told me no one could know."

"I changed my mind. I just want to have a normal relationship with you. I don't want to have to hide from anyone."

"Okay. Tell anyone you want. I meant it when I said I didn't care what my dad thinks or if my job is at risk. I just want to be with you." Blaine pressed a kiss to Kurt's forehead. "Would you like to go home now?"

Kurt nodded and hopped into the car. He allowed Blaine to drive so he was alone with his thoughts. A future with Blaine. That is what he wanted, but he kept asking himself one question. How soon is too soon to start that future?

Blaine opened the front door of his apartment and let Kurt slip inside. Kurt flopped onto the couch and turned on the TV as Blaine shuffled through the mail he'd received Friday and Saturday. Blaine paused to look at Kurt as he turned on an older movie and propped his feet up on the coffee table. He liked how comfortable Kurt felt in his apartment. It was almost as if Blaine's apartment was Kurt's and Kurt's apartment was his. They shared everything. They didn't feel like a guest when they were with each other. They were just them.

Blaine turned his focus back to the envelopes in his hand and froze when he saw an envelope he recognized. It was similar to the official company stationary apart from his father's own logo and name in the upper left corner. This envelope wasn't one that went out to the entire company. It was one that his father sent out when he had something important to say; something that he couldn't wait for his secretary to send. This letter had been personally mailed by his dad. Blaine moved to the center of the room and sat down on the end of the couch near Kurt.

"What's that?" Kurt motioned to the envelope Blaine was studying.

"It's a letter… from my dad."

"And that is strange." Kurt stated.

"Yeah. The only time he ever mails something himself is when it's something urgent."

"Are you going to open it?"

"I-I have to." Blaine reached into his bag and pulled a letter opener out. He slowly began tearing the envelope open and pulled out the single leaf of paper. He carefully unfolded it and began reading, not sure he wanted to hear what was being said.

Kurt studied Blaine as he read, trying to find some kind clue as to what was in the letter. He couldn't tell if it was good or bad. Kurt didn't know if Blaine would be happy or mad. In fact, Blaine wasn't showing much emotion at all. "Well?" Kurt pressed.

"My dad is permanently transferring me to Los Angeles," Blaine whispered. "I start next Friday."