Hand in hand, Blaine pulled Kurt through the hallways of Dalton Academy. The place was near silent, just the sounds of their footsteps and someone hovering in the distance. Simply being here took Blaine back to the times he'd spent here with Kurt. Everything before that was obsolete.

He glanced over his shoulder. Kurt was running just enough to keep up, his eyes moving all around the huge white corridors, up at the high ceilings. Blaine could see the questions on his boyfriend's face before they reached the open air, but didn't answer. The weight of being back here pushed down hard, silencing the words before they were made.

Then Blaine found it, and the last year of his life flashed before his eyes in reverse. Kurt finding out about the cancer. Moving to McKinley to be with Kurt. Their first time. Sitting in the coffee shop and telling Kurt he loved him. Prom. Singing on stage together, with the warblers behind them. Pavarotti's funeral. Their first kiss. Escaping Karofsky. Meeting on the staircase.

And here they were, back again. Blaine glanced at Kurt and knew he recognised where they were. They were right at the beginning.

"Blaine?" Kurt asked, his voice quiet in the vast hallway.

"There's something I have to say."

He took a deep breath, faint trembles running down his spine. Not nerves. Not fear. Just a hopeful kind of excitement.

"The last few weeks… have been rough. Watching Finn and Rachel plan their wedding, and the way it was on-again, off-again and… and them taking it so lightly… it really got to me. Because I knew that while they were rushing into things and taking it for granted, we can't have that. And marriage is something that I would never throw around. I knew that it wasn't really an option for us, but I always believed that it would be, one day.

"But… It's so hard to wait for something like that when you're convinced you won't last that long. Finding out I had cancer was… In the moment I was told, I was so devastated about not being able to have our chance at a life together that I nearly gave up completely. But then came the best news I could have hoped for: it was treatable. And now… well now it's gone completely. Some people aren't so lucky, and they only have a few years to give, but not me. I'm free tospend my life with you, and I can give you a lifetime.

"I've imagined this over and over in my head, wondering what I'd say and where I'd say it and how you'd react. But no matter how many times I went over everything I wanted to say to you, I never knew where to begin. So I thought… why not start at the beginning? So here we are, back where it all began.

"This is it for me, Kurt. This is where my life started. And even back then, when I first saw you, there was something about you that I… I knew, then, that I had to get to know you. And since then I've been so much stronger and happier than I ever could've dreamed of being without you. You are my inspiration, my safety, my dream. You are my home. And maybe one day, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to call you my husband.

"This is where my life changed, and I'm hoping you'll change it again. Kurt Hummel…" He pulled a small box out of his pocket as he dropped onto one knee, and as he opened it he said, "Will you marry me?"

Kurt's breath caught in his throat.

He'd imagined this happening, but he never expected it to be so soon. They were so young – Blaine was even younger than Finn, and Kurt had been trying to talk Rachel out of getting married so young. She'd asked what he'd do if Blaine proposed, but it wasn't the same, was it? Finn and Rachel had problems. Kurt was meant to be with Blaine, he knew it, so why did age matter? It was going to happen anyway.

Kurt knew he was taking too long. Blaine looked up at him anxiously and began to rise. The answer should've been right on the tip of tongue but his head was a whirring mess he couldn't make sense of.

It was his dream to go to New York, to make a life for himself there, and Blaine couldn't join him yet. Not for a year. But what's a year when compared to a life time? Sure. New York was the future that had come knocking on Kurt's door: He belonged on Broadway. Occasionally he'd picture himself ten years from now, bowing alongside fellow cast members, the audience getting to their feet. But always, he imagined the future-Kurt going home to Blaine. They'd cook together and fall asleep in each other's arms and in the morning Blaine would come tumbling down the stairs, late for work, a bow tie hanging undone around his neck. And Kurt would stop him and tie it up and kissed Blaine and behind them their son or daughter would make barfing noises because gross, dads kissing. He wanted every day to be like that, because in every instance he was so undeniably happy.

But there were no words that said that so he just said "Blaine," and rushed forward into his arms. Kurt could feel Blaine shivering and tightened his grip, whispering in Blaine's ear, "Yes, of course I will."

"Yes?" Blaine cried, pulling back to look at Kurt, a grin splitting open his face. Kurt just nodded, with an uncontrollable smile of his own, and let Blaine slip the ring onto his finger. Blaine laughed, lifted Kurt off the floor and spun him around. There had never been a moment with so much to live for.