“KURT HUMMEL IS BACK AT MCKINLEY!” Kurt’s voice rang out over the courtyard and gathering place outside of McKinley High School. For the most part, polite applause was scattered throughout the student body, but a few boos and mumbled “homo”s were to be heard as well. Scanning the crowd for Karofsky, Kurt shook it off and traveled down the steps looking for his friends and fellow Glee club members. It had been far too long.

Kurt was immediately crushed when Burt and Carole broke the news to him that the tuition at Dalton Academy was too costly for him to continue. He had made some terrific, and he hoped lifelong, friends at Dalton and would be sad to leave them behind. He was terrified when thinking about Karofsky and what his return to WMHS would mean for that situation. Burt assured him that he and Carole (and surprisingly, Finn) had met with Principal Figgins several times to discuss strategies for keeping Kurt safe. Eventually they had agreed that Karofsky would be kept on somewhat of a tight leash. Kurt’s schedule would keep him and Karofsky in different parts of the building at all times. They would never attend the same class, lockers would be in different hallways on different floors, and their lunch periods would occur at different times, and most likely in different places as well, as Karofsky preferred to take advantage of the open campus for lunch time and Kurt liked to eat with his New Directions friends in the choir room. Even their assigned parking spots would be on opposite sides of the parking lot.

He had to admit, he WAS looking forward to the return to McKinley almost solely for his return to New Directions. The Dalton Academy Warblers were a top notch group, but unfortunately, his blunt assessment of the group several weeks earlier was a little too true – he preferred a group where not just one star shone all the time, while the rest of the group were nothing but backup singers. The harmonies and vocal percussion were lovely, but it got boring, so fast. While New Directions tended to still focus mainly on Rachel and Finn as their leads, there were still more opportunities to mix things up. When Kurt attended his first official Glee club rehearsal, he planned on having a heart to heart with them all, sharing what he had learned at Dalton. Hopefully such a talk would result in everyone, or at least more people than usual, getting their few moments in the spotlight at Nationals. He hoped he would be one of those people – he had, after all, sung that beautiful song with Blaine at Regionals, proving he could be a good lead. Also, New York was a good place to showcase your talent. If he ever wanted to break into anything resembling Broadway, any chance, no matter how small, was worth snatching and holding onto with a death grip.

But the worst part of leaving Dalton was leaving Blaine there. Kurt’s departure was a huge blow to such a brand new relationship. When Kurt first arrived at Dalton as the New Directions’ spy, he was absolutely transfixed by the beautiful boy. He felt a tingling in his hand when Blaine grabbed it to rush him along to the Dalton performance room. He could do nothing but stare at Blaine while he sang about skin tight jeans and teenage dreams – at times, Kurt felt as if Blaine was singing directly to him.

Kurt had thought he was practically “in” with Blaine when they had sung “Baby It’s Cold Outside” together. Kurt made sure to let his inner flirt rise to the surface and poured his admittedly limited seduction abilities into the song. Blaine flirted right back and Kurt thought he had him, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be at that time. It was at that time, though, that Kurt realized he was seriously falling for the talented curly-haired boy that filled his thoughts.

Finally, FINALLY, Blaine began to speak about the guy he liked. Kurt’s heart began to flutter while Blaine spoke, thinking This is it, this is the big confession. However, when Blaine told Kurt that his crush Jeremiah was a junior manager at the Gap, his heart sunk down into his shoes. He had misread all the signs. Or perhaps he had made everything up in his head. Blaine was only interested in him as a friend. As much as Kurt was dying to run out and have himself a good cry, he did what any great friend would do. He took a deep breath, put on his big boy Underoos, and gave Blaine the pep talk he so desperately needed.

He felt terrible, but he couldn’t help but feel a little hopeful after Jeremiah rejected Blaine. The whole situation was awful – Blaine was feeling totally humiliated, Jeremiah was looking for a new job, and Kurt was hurting because Blaine was hurting. However, he felt that maybe, very soon, it might be a good time to let Blaine in on his interest. Blaine had been a little surprised to hear that Kurt thought that he would ask him out, but he figured it wouldn’t be a good time to act on that. After all, Kurt was rapidly becoming the best friend he had ever had and a very important person in his life in general. He would be an idiot to mess that up. When Pavarotti died though, Blaine couldn’t help but be slapped in the face with all the wonderful things that made up Kurt Hummel. Kurt was ridiculously talented, sensitive, caring, loving, and sure of who he was. All the things that Blaine wanted to be, or improve upon, in his own self. His “public” persona tended to make people think he was this confident, outgoing, charismatic young man, while his inner self struggled to make heads or tails of things. He was absolutely gay – Rachel Berry was instrumental in that definite realization – but who else was he? He was lead singer for The Warblers, yes, but that didn’t define him. But what did?

Blaine wanted Kurt. Suddenly, he was never more sure of anything in his life. As Kurt sang his tribute to Pavarotti, his jaw dropped. He was stunned and he could do nothing but watch his every move. Blaine wouldn’t be surprised if he had even drooled a bit before the song was over. Kurt finished his song and left the room in tears. Blaine allowed him his space, but then made up his mind that it was time to speak to Kurt. The rest of the Warblers filed out of the room leaving Blaine alone to think. He realized that had he actually been successful at the Gap and landed a date with Jeremiah, it probably wouldn’t have lasted. Sure, they had spoken a few times, but Jeremiah was really hard to read and to get information out of. They probably would have been too different. Yes, he decided, making an ass of himself had been a good thing after all.

The next afternoon, Blaine drew up every speck of courage he could and tracked down Kurt. He found Kurt in the common room decorating Pavarotti’s casket. Blaine smiled a bit – it was adorable and a totally Kurt Hummel thing to do. He decided to break the ice by talking about the song he thought they should sing together at Regionals and suggested they should practice.

Kurt looked up at Blaine and said, “Why did you pick me to sing that song with?”

Blaine took a deep breath. This was it. This moment would likely make or break any chance he had with Kurt. Practicing what he preached when he and Kurt first met and letting the courage flow through him, he began to speak.

"Kurt, there is a moment when you say to yourself, 'Oh, there you are. I've been looking for you forever.’” Blaine felt the need to be closer to Kurt as he continued to speak, placing his hand on top of Kurt’s on the table. "Watching you do 'Blackbird' this week, that was that moment for me. About you. You move me, Kurt. And this duet would just be an excuse to spend more time with you."Unable to stop himself, he leaned over and connected his lips with Kurt’s. Oh my god, he thought to himself. I can’t believe how perfect and how right this feels. He felt Kurt tense up a bit out of surprise but continued. Kurt relaxed a bit into the kiss and reached up to cup Blaine’s cheek with his hand. Thank you God and all that is holy, Blaine thought.

The boys broke apart and Blaine thought Kurt looked a bit overwhelmed and flushed, but also definitely very interested. Blaine felt a little sheepish and stuttered, “We should….we should practice.”

Kurt looked at Blaine and cheekily replied, “I thought we were.”

Feeling bolder now that he knew his advance was welcomed, Blaine leaned in again for another kiss. Their lips moved excitedly together for much longer this time, breaking only when the need for air couldn’t be denied any more.“Wow,” Kurt breathed.

Blaine took a moment to catch his own breath and said, “I second that motion.”

Laughing, Kurt said, “Blaine, you’ve been with the Warblers too long. You’re starting to sound like Wes and David with that motion business.” Blaine smiled. It was true. Wes, David, and Thad, the Warblers council members, did tend to get overly serious about running the group.

“So… what now?” asked Kurt. “As fabulously beyond words as that was, we should probably talk about this. About us.”

Blaine replied, “I completely agree. I believe that communication is one of the most important things in a relationship. And I don’t want to screw this up.”

“Is that what this is? A relationship?”

Kurt looked a touch on the wary side, Blaine thought. He chose his words carefully. “I meant what I said at the coffee shop back around Valentine’s Day, Kurt. I really care about you. I’m not good at romance, but I would love the opportunity to learn. With you.”

Kurt smiled. “I’d love that, Blaine. If I’m being totally honest, I’ve been extremely interested in being your boyfriend practically since the moment you dragged my underdressed self off that staircase the day I came to spy on you. Now that you are finally ready to give me, us, a chance is like a dream come true to me.”

Returning Kurt’s smile with an even wider one of his own, Blaine said, “Well, that settles it. Kurt Hummel, will you be my boyfriend?” and he held out his hand.

“Blaine Anderson, I’d be delighted,” and Kurt placed his hand in Blaine’s. The two boys embraced, shared a sweet chaste kiss, and headed off to Warblers practice, hand in hand.

They entered the room, and as the other boys noticed Kurt and Blaine’s hands, they gave them a standing ovation. “IT’S ABOUT TIME!” they all said in unison.

Blaine blushed a deep red, while Kurt hid his face in Blaine’s shoulder. However, their embarrassment didn’t loosen the grip they had on each other’s hands. They both seemed to sense that there was no need, their fellow Warblers were accepting of their new relationship.

Blaine cleared his throat and said, “Um, was it really that obvious?”

The entire room burst into laughter. Jeff scoffed, “No shit, Sherlock!”

Chuckling, Blaine said, “Okay okay, point taken.”

Kurt looked up at their smiling friends and laughed. He said, “Okay, since I know you’re all curious, yes we’re together, yes it happened today, yes we kissed, and no that’s all you’re getting. Now, we’ve got Regionals to win! Let’s get to work!”

With attention successfully diverted from them, Kurt gave Blaine a quick peck on the cheek and joined the rest of the group. Blaine wondered how he had gotten so lucky, and then followed his adorable boyfriend across the room.Regionals went well, but they still lost to New Directions. Kurt wasn’t really all that surprised. He knew that once Rachel set her mind to something, it would happen, and her powerhouse solo number was the clincher. However, the loss still stung. If it hadn’t been for Karofsky, he’d still be with New Directions and he’d be going with them to New York.

“I just really, really wanted to win,” he sighed.

Blaine stepped closer to Kurt and took one of his hands in both of his. “You did win. So did I. We got each other out of all this. That beats a lousy trophy, don't you think?”

Kurt smiled. “You are absolutely right, Blaine. I truly believe that this is the way things were meant to happen.”