"If we'd won Regionals, would you have stayed?"

"At Dalton?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that would have given me one more reason to want to stay. I would have wanted to go to Nationals. With you." Kurt sighed. "But it wouldn't have been the right thing to do. It would have cost almost $5,000 for me to stay at Dalton until the end of the year. That's a lot of money for my family. Once it was safe for me at McKinley, it would have been selfish to ask my dad and Carole to keep sending me to Dalton just so I could go to New York with my boyfriend. Especially since we're going to go to New York anyway."

Blaine looked up at Kurt. "Just one more year." Then they'd be in college, in New York City. They'd get student rush tickets for every Broadway show, they'd have picnics in Central Park, they'd go window shopping on Fifth Avenue, they'd find some cool little coffee shop in Chelsea or the Village to be their regular hangout. Even if they had to eat ramen noodles every day it would be worth it, because they'd be in New York. Together.

"One more year," Kurt agreed. "Then we'll graduate and get out of here. But if I'd stayed at Dalton until then, I wouldn't ever have known that Karofsky was really sorry. I would have hated him and been afraid of him forever. And all the closeted gay kids would have been afraid of him too. I know they're there, Blaine. There's not much I can do to help them, but I can show them that it's possible to be out and still have friends and be happy. It means something for me to be at McKinley."

"You're so brave, Kurt."

Kurt laughed. "Mostly I'm just stubborn."

"No, you are," Blaine said. He pushed himself back on the bed until his head was next to Kurt's. "And you helped me to be brave too. I've done so many things that I was afraid of because of you."

"We helped each other. That's why we're such a good couple." Kurt turned on his side so they were facing each other. "Does it bother you a lot that I went back to McKinley?"

"No. Some. A little," Blaine admitted. "I wanted you to stay with me at Dalton, but I knew that going was the right thing for you. Like the end of Casablanca." He tapped Kurt on the chin. "You're Ingrid Bergman."

"I know I am." Kurt smiled. "I have the perfect hat, too."

"Only you weren't leaving me for another guy, so it wasn't even as bad as that. I just...I wondered if there was anything I could have done differently. If I could have made you happier at Dalton."

"You made me so happy." Kurt brushed his fingertips over Blaine's face. "You still do. I just couldn't stay at Dalton anymore. It wasn't about you. I'd love it if we could still be at the same school. Maybe you could transfer to McKinley."

"Oh, Kurt, I don't know about that." Blaine had never actually considered this as a possibility. He liked it at Dalton. "The Warblers..."

"See, it's not easy to leave all your friends," Kurt said sadly. "Not even for someone you really care about."

"I can think about it."

Kurt blinked at him. "Really?"

"I'm not saying it's going to happen, but I'll think about it." Maybe he could convince his parents. Maybe he could make it okay with the Warblers. Maybe he could be brave enough to face public school again. For Kurt. "I want to be with you every day, Kurt."

Kurt's eyes were sparkling again. How does he do that? Blaine wondered.

"If I say that you're beautiful, will you get mad at me again?" Blaine asked. Kurt silently shook his head. Blaine took Kurt's hand in his. "Kurt Hummel, you are the most beautiful boy I know. I mean that in every way. I'm sorry for anything I ever did to make you doubt that. It makes me feel good just to look at you and know that we're together."

"You make me feel good too," Kurt said, smiling. "Let's not talk anymore." He rolled onto his back, pulling Blaine on top of him.

They kissed slowly, deeply. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine's shoulders. There was none of the strange, frightened urgency from before. This was about being close, and how good it felt to be pressed against each other. Their lips parted and Blaine pulled back just enough to unbutton Kurt's collar. He moved his lips to Kurt's neck, leaving a trail of kisses all the way down to his collarbone. He felt Kurt's feet twitching happily as Blaine nuzzled the crook of his neck, felt his hips jerk up oh yes as Blaine began to suck on the soft, soft skin there...

"I'm coming up the stairs, just in case anyone needs to put their pants on!" Finn bellowed from the bottom of the staircase.

Blaine's head snapped up. A frustrated hiss escaped from between Kurt's teeth. "Dammit, Finn," he muttered. Blaine rolled left and Kurt rolled right, off the bed and onto his feet, yelling "We are perfectly decent, and you have a filthy mind!"

Blaine was on his feet quickly too. He checked his hair in the mirror. His gel had mostly held. A few quick pats and everything was more or less where it should be. He didn't want to look like he'd been doing a lot more with Kurt than they'd actually been doing. Meanwhile, Kurt was buttoning the collar of his shirt. Both boys managed to get themselves situated demurely on the couch before Finn's heavy footsteps reached the top of the stairs.

The bedroom door had been left ajar, in compliance with Mr. Hummel's rules. Finn pushed it all the way open. "Hey guys, Mom wants to know if Blaine is staying for dinner. She's making lasagna."

It was still kind of amazing to Blaine that all this was okay with Kurt's family. His own father had mostly come to grips with the fact that Blaine was the way he was and nothing was going to change him, but Blaine couldn't have invited Kurt up to his room at home. Not even with the door open. It would just be too awkward. Yet while Kurt's dad had initially viewed him with some suspicion and Finn still seemed worried that he'd walk in on something X-rated, the Hummel-Hudson clan had quickly accepted Blaine as Kurt's boyfriend with all rights and privileges thereof.

"Do you want to stay, Blaine?" Kurt asked. "I've got a tiramisu cooling in the fridge."

"Sounds great." Definitely better than the Dalton dining hall on a Sunday night.

"Cool, I'll tell Mom," Finn said. "Everything should be ready in about half an hour." He turned to leave, then stopped. He looked at the bed, or rather the disheveled blanket on the bed. He looked back at the boys on the couch and said "Oh, and Blaine? Keep it above the waist." Then he was gone, pounding back down the stairs like a herd of buffalo.

"Honestly, he is worse than my dad," Kurt said.

"It's kind of cute how he worries about you." Cuter than Mr. Hummel would have been about it, that was for sure.

"I don't think he's worried about me. I think he's worried that I'm getting more action than he is."

Blaine put his arm around Kurt. "Are you?"

"Well, he is back together with Rachel now. So yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm getting more action." Kurt leaned against him. "They may manage to catch up over the summer, though. While you're gone."

"You know, I don't have to go to that Six Flags audition. Not if you don't want me to." Blaine had been thinking about it. His only choices for the summer were to go home to his parents' house or find a job. Performing at Six Flags would be a good opportunity, but he'd be hundreds of miles from Kurt. Staying at home would be boring and lonely and he wouldn't get to see Kurt much anyway, but he'd be geographically closer and much less busy. He could probably manage to escape to Kurt's house a few times.

"No, Blaine, I want you to," Kurt said.

"Are you sure?"

"Is this Casablanca again? You want to do it and it'll be good experience for you, so yes, I want you to. If you don't get on that plane, you'll regret it," Kurt said, quoting from the movie. "I'm just going to miss you."

"Maybe I won't even get cast."

"Then I'll have to console you." Kurt patted Blaine on the leg. "But you'll get cast. You're one of the best performers I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of show choirs."

That reminded Blaine of something. "Hey, do you remember the first time we met?" he asked. Kurt nodded. "Did you know who I was then? I mean, did you know I was the soloist for the Warblers?"

Kurt shook his head. "No. I didn't even know you were a Warbler until you started singing."

"Why did you stop me, then?"

"I didn't know what was going on and I figured I'd better ask someone."

"That was it?" Blaine asked. "It was just because I was there?" That meant it could have been anyone. Kurt could have stopped any of the other guys rushing down the stairs, and he and Blaine might never have met.

"Well, I thought you looked nice." Kurt smiled. "I was right."

"Wow. All this time I thought you must have come looking for me because I was the new soloist."

"I wasn't that good of a spy." He shrugged. "You hadn't even had a solo in competition yet, remember?"

"You could have looked on our Facebook page."

"Okay, I was really not a good spy at all. Are you happy?"

"Yes. Because we met anyway." Blaine hugged Kurt, his sweet, sarcastic, beautiful boyfriend. Despite the odds, despite the misunderstandings, despite all the millions of ways things could have gone wrong, they were together now. They had each other. "I must just be really lucky. All this and tiramisu. I love you."

"I love you too."

"That time it sounded like you meant it."

"I do."