They headed out to Blaine's car shortly after "Dancing Queen" ended. Things had turned out okay in the end, but they had no interest in staying any longer now that the dance was over. No one gave them any trouble as they left, even without Karofsky there to play bodyguard for Kurt.
They spend the short drive back to Kurt's in silence, both absorbed in their own thoughts. "Come in for a bit?" Kurt asked. It was early still, not even 11:00 pm. The house was quiet as they came in, although Kurt had seen the light on in Burt and Carol's room from outside. There was no sign of Finn yet. As they took off their suit jackets and hung them up by the front door Burt came down the stairs.
"Did everything go okay, Kurt," he asked?
"Yes, everything turned out okay. I'll give you all the details tomorrow."
"Are you sure," asked Burt, sensing that there was more that his son wasn't telling him.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Alright, we'll talk about it tomorrow then. Don't stay up too late," he said, giving Blaine a firm look. "Goodnight." Burt headed back upstairs.
Blaine and Kurt headed downstairs to the den and sank down on the couch. "You were amazing tonight," Blaine said. I can't believe how brave you were. I couldn't even get up the nerve to ask you to slow dance, and you stood up to the whole school and got coronated queen."
"You make be brave. I don't think I could have done it if you hadn't been with me. And the way you asked me to dance in front of everyone was incredible." Knowing that Blaine still wasn't very comfortable displaying affection in public, unless it was in the form of a song, and especially knowing how nervous he had been just going to a dance, Kurt had been very impressed by that move.
"I guess you make me brave, too. I do still wish we could have had a slow dance, though."
"So why don't we?" asked Kurt, jumping up off the couch to put on some music. It takes him a few minutes to find what he's looking for, then as the first notes of "Stand by Me" start playing, he reaches for Blaine's hands and pulls him off the couch.
"I love this song," Blaine says.
"Well, it is a timeless classic." Blaine's arms slide around Kurt's waist, pulling him close. Kurt's arms reach up around Blaine's shoulders and they move slowly to the music. When the song gets to
"No I won't be afraid, no I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me,"
Kurt sings the words softly against Blaine's ear. He stops singing to enjoy the comfort of Blaine's arms around him, the heat he can feel from Blaine's body, and the delectable smell of Blaine's cologne mixed with a touch of sweat.
They kiss gently until the song ends and Blaine pulls away. "I'm so lucky to have you, Kurt." They hold each other tightly for a few seconds, then Blaine, thinking of Burt's look, says "I should probably get going."
Reluctantly, Kurt follows him back upstairs. Blaine kisses him softly and leaves, promising to call him tomorrow. Kurt gathers up the stupid crown he's left at the front door and slowly heads upstairs. The sight of it bring back all the hurt from that night and once more, tears start to slide silently down his cheeks. As he gets into bed a few minutes later, his thoughts are of Blaine, wishing Blaine was there, wishing Blaine could hold him all night.
The next morning, Kurt was leaning back against his pillows, listening to "Stand by Me" on his ipod and thinking about that slow dance with Blaine. In the daylight it was much easier to think about all the wonderful things that had happened the night before instead of that terrible moment when his name was announced. The crown was hidden under his bed where he wouldn't have to see it.
"Kurt?" Burt calls, knocking on the door.
"Come in, Dad."
Burt enters, obviously glancing around the room to make sure Blaine isn't there. Satisfied, he says "So do you want to tell me about the prom? There was obviously something you weren't telling me last night. Kurt hesitates, not sure how to begin. "Did that Karofsky kid threaten you again?"
"No, no one threatened me." He pauses. "It was the prom king and queen election. They elected me prom queen."
"How the hell did that happen?" Burt explodes.
"Apparently I got a lot of write-in votes."
"No, I mean who was in charge? How could they let this happen?"
"Principal Figgins, I guess, he's the one who made the announcement."
"First thing Monday morning, I'm going down there to give him a piece of my mind. What the hell kind of school is he running where they let something like that happen?"
"Wait Dad, everything ended-up turning out okay."
Downstairs, Finn is eating breakfast when he hears a soft knock on the door and sees Blaine standing outside. He gets up to let him in.
"Morning Finn. Sorry, I know it's early. Is Kurt up yet?"
"I haven't seen him yet, but I heard his music playing awhile ago. He's probably just upstairs still."
"Right," says Blaine, turning to head upstairs. He's carefully avoiding mentioning anything about last night, knowing that Finn got kicked-out, and imagining that things probably hadn't gone well with Quinn afterwards. He's also not sure if Finn knows what happened to Kurt and doesn't want to be the one to tell him. As Blaine reaches the top of the stairs, he can hear Burt and Kurt's voices through Kurt's partly open door.
"How could things end up okay?" asked Burt.
"Well, when I got coronated, I stood up in front of them all, flashed them my gorgeous smile and said "Eat your heart out, Kate Middleton." Everyone laughed and started clapping."
"Only you could pull off something like that, Kurt," Burt says, shaking his head in amazement.
Kurt smiles and continues. "Then they announced the dance between the king and queen, and the guy they elected king obviously didn't want to dance with me and walked out. And Blaine was incredible, and came to my rescue, and asked me to dance in front of everyone. Blaine's amazing, Dad. I never thought I would find someone like him. He makes me happier than I've ever been in my life."
At this point, Blaine, now blushing furiously, decides that standing frozen at the top of the stairs is probably not the smartest thing to do, and turns and heads back downstairs silently.
"He's talking to his Dad," explains Blaine to Finn. "I'll wait until they're done."
"You want some breakfast?"
"No, I'm okay, thanks."
Kurt walks in with Burt right behind him, and happily exclaims "Blaine!" when he sees him, going over and giving him a hug.
"I couldn't wait to see you," Blaine says quietly so only Kurt can hear him. And make sure you were really okay, he adds silently.
They pull apart and Blaine asks "Do you want to go get some coffee?"
"You know me too well. I'm always up for coffee." Kurt grabs his jacket and they head outside, Blaine heading towards his car.
"Why don't we walk instead?" asks Kurt. "There's a little place nearby that's pretty good, although it's no Lima Bean."
"Sure," answers Blaine, surprising Kurt by taking his hand as they start walking. "How are you feeling this morning?" he asks cautiously.
"Good, actually," he says, flashing a bright smile. I think I've put the worst parts of last night behind me, and I'm only thinking about the good parts, which are pretty much the ones involving you."
They get to the coffee shop, get their coffees and sit down outside, joking about some of the outfits people had worn last night, and speculating on what might have happened to poor Finn when Quinn got a hold of him afterwards.
When they get back to Kurt's place, they find an empty house. They head up to Kurt's room. Kurt closes the door and turns back to find Blaine standing very close. They start kissing and after a few minutes, Blaine gently leads Kurt to the bed, lies down next to him, and reaches over to kiss him very softly. Despite the gentleness, when they pull back, they're both breathless. Blaine pauses to catch his breath for a second before leaning in again. But before he can continue kissing Kurt, Kurt moves away.
Blaine is somewhat surprised. He knew Kurt wanted to take things slowly, and the only other time Blaine had tried to get him horizontal, Kurt had put a stop to it right away. That was a few weeks ago, though, and after everything they'd been through the night before, Blaine thought Kurt might be ready for a little more intimacy.
"Is everything alright, Kurt? If you're not ready for this, that's totally okay and I will completely understand, but if there's something else, you can tell me."
Kurt seems on the point of saying something, but hesitates.
"I mean it, you can tell me anything and I won't get upset."
"Or laugh at me?" asks Kurt.
"I would never laugh if something's bothering you."
Kurt takes a deep breath, looks Blaine in the eye and blurts out "I'm uncomfortable because you get me so turned on by just kissing me," Blaine gasps, surprised to hear those words come out of Kurt's mouth. "But you think I'm about as sexy as gas pains," Kurt finishes.
"I was such an idiot to have said that, Kurt. I didn't realize it then, but when you're not trying so hard, you're the sexiest guy I've ever laid eyes on. Asking you to do all those different looks was stupid. It would have made anyone uncomfortable. I think your sexiest face ever was that adorable shocked look you had the first time we kissed. And you know what?" Blaine's voice drops to a whisper. "Someday, when we're both ready, I would give anything to make love to you."
This time it's Kurt whose breath catches at Blaine's words.
"That's the look I'm talking about. Now you're just trying to drive me crazy on purpose," Blaine says jokingly.
Kurt laughs, finally, and Blaine pulls him against his chest. "So, are we okay?" he asks tenderly.
"No," answers Kurt, "we're way better than okay." He crawls on top of Blaine to give him a shy kiss, then snuggles down against Blaine's chest, where he stays until they hear Burt's voice downstairs a little while later.