It's been a bad day.

A terrible, horrible day, and all Kurt wants to do is go home and curl up on the couch with a cup of warm tea and a romcom, to cry his eyes out, because everyone and everything is so unfair and so stupid and so terrible. But of course there's Glee practice, and of course he can't just leave. He drags himself into the choir room, eyes puffy and sore because he's just spent the better half of his seventh period bawling his eyes out in the second floor boy's bathroom. Everyone is chatting and no one notices him as he trudges to the back of the room. No one but Blaine, who smiles as he turns to him and catches his eyes, whose smile vanishes so quickly that Kurt could almost laugh if he weren't so upset, who abandons his seat to join Kurt.

Kurt tries to offer him a watery smile, but he can't, and his lips just tremble pitifully. He wants to kick himself for being such a baby, but this sucks. Blaine's frowning by now as he reaches over to rub at Kurt's back.

"What's wrong?" Blaine asks, voice soft as Mr. Schue walks into the room with a stack of new music. Normally Kurt would be so excited, but not right now. Blaine hates that not even new music can light Kurt's glasz eyes up with that familiar gleam.

Kurt shakes his head. "Can we talk about this later?" He says, and he can almost feel Blaine's hesitation in the way that his hand falters in its rubbing. Blaine wants to know what's bothering Kurt now, Kurt's his best friend and he hates seeing him like this, it hurts Blaine too, but he nods, because now Schuester is talking and they really need to pay attention.

But Blaine's hand doesn't leave Kurt's back not once until they start practicing the new choreography. It's comforting. Kurt relaxes into it.

x

The second practice is over, Kurt is on his way out of the door, Blaine at his heels in a flash.

"Okay, practice is over, so you have to tell me what was wrong earlier. Or what's probably wrong now, considering you might be trying to just act happy.."

Kurt looks a little better now, eyes less red, body less tense. Mr. Shuester had given him a snippet of a solo which had definitely brightened his mood considerably. Kurt is still upset and still in desperate need of a good sob, but he really is fine for now. Blaine tugs at the sleeve of his sweater and Kurt sighs. Blaine is persistent, so it's not like he can just ignore him. Better to get it over with.

"He dumped me." Kurt says, voice hardly more than a whisper, and Blaine gasps. Like he hasn't even expected that. Kurt knows it's for show, though, because Blaine knows him better than that, and he knows that unless someone in his family has died or he's been heart broken, Kurt doesn't cry. He's better at controlling his emotions, and tears aren't good for his skin. The salty moisture dries it out, and that leaves him a splotchy mess, which is by no means okay.

"I'm so sorry, Kurt." Blaine says sympathetically. Kurt shrugs again, fingers flexing on the strap of his shoulder bag. He hates that tone of voice, admittedly, but it's Blaine, so he can't bring himself to snap back. Blaine's hand is suddenly warm on his shoulder, forcing him to stop walking. He tries to ignore how convicted those fingers make him feel for acting like none of this is nothing now, but he really, really doesn't want to talk about this, and he opens his mouth to express that but Blaine just raises a petite hand to stop him. "I'm sorry, but I'm kind of glad that he dumped you." Kurt's jaw drops, eyebrows knitting, but Blaine keeps talking to drown out the indignant squawk Kurt makes. "Really, Kurt, he was kind of a douchebag. He made you stop wearing your Doc Martens because he thought they were tacky. Did you seriously think that kind of relationship would last?"

Kurt stays offended for a second, but then he has to let himself laugh. Blaine smiles warmly at his friend, hand slipping down Kurt's arm to take his hand. His grip is firm and warm and it makes Kurt tear up, because Blaine makes him feel safe, makes him happy even though he's just had his heart ripped out, and because Blaine has always been there to wipe his tears away like this. Kurt hates himself for breaking down again right then and there, in the middle of a gross, disgusting hall in McKinley High School for the second time. Blaine tugs him close and wraps him up in the best hug Kurt has ever had in his entire life, and he lets his best friend cry on him. He doesn't even mind not one bit when he starts being able to feel the wetness of Kurt's tears seeping through the cotton of his shirt, he simply holds Kurt closer, tighter, warmer.

Kurt cries because he's mad. He cries because he's sad, because he hates being heartbroken, because he's going to miss having someone to kiss, someone to cuddle with on his bed after school, someone to hold his hand and make him feel wanted and needed. But at least Kurt has Blaine. Sweet, charming, gentlemanly Blaine Anderson, his best friend, the one who's always been there when Kurt needed someone to rant to, to take his anger out on, to gossip with, to hold him when his heart does get tortured like this. He's seventeen and had too many heartbreaks, too many bad relationships. He's too young for this.

"I kind of wish they could all be more like you." Kurt says, quietly admitting. Blaine chuckles.

"If everyone were this dapper the world would be a much better place." Blaine says. Kurt laughs, his last tears slipping free, rolling down his cheeks. Blaine tilts his head back gently and swipes them away with his thumbs, grinning goofily down at Kurt. "You laugh because it's true."

Kurt rolls his eyes, but his expression softens into a slight smile. "I'm being serious, though. If they were like you, even just a little, maybe they'd last longer." Blaine hums, blinks, and then has an idea.

"Have you ever heard of those marriage pacts?" Blaine says, bouncing on his heels. Kurt quirks an eyebrow.

"Um, no?"

Blaine laughs before explaining softly. "Sometimes two people make promises to each other, that if they're not both married to other people by a certain age, then they'll marry each other."

"... Are you suggesting...?"

Blaine grins sheepishly. "Well why not?" But then his words seem to catch up with him, and he flushes, stuttering. "I mean-- I don't mean that we have to-- it's just a silly idea! Forget I said anything--"

"Let's do it."

Blaine falls quiet, mouth still open just a tiny bit, and Kurt looks so serious in that moment that Blaine has to swallow to keep himself floored. He hadn't been expecting that. It was a joke, something to lighten the mood, but if Kurt's serious then... "Really?" Kurt nods, and Blaine nods back mindlessly, brain all clouded up because wow. "Okay. So, um, then what age do we...?"

"Thirty." Kurt says quickly, resolutely, like he's given it thought before even if not in this exact context. "I've always had this crazy fantasy of being legally married by the age of thirty. So it has to be by the time I'm thirty."

"Okay, fair enough. Thirty then." Blaine says, and then they're quiet again. The hall is empty, and it must be getting late, but Blaine gets another idea (he seems to be loaded with them today), smiling to himself. Kurt's eyebrows shoot up as Blaine unwraps himself from Kurt and then drops down onto one knee, and Kurt snorts when he catches on. He crosses his arms and cocks out a hip, though, deciding that he's just going to humor his best friend. What harm can it do, he figures.

Clearing his throat, Blaine says, "Kurt Hummel, if neither of us have found a befitting significant other by the ripe age of thirty--"

"Ripe?"

"--then will you allow me to take your hand in marriage, forever binding us together, til death do we part--"

"Blaine--"

"--in sickness and in health--"

"Oh my god, Blaine--"

"--something about love and living and happiness and wealth or something--"

And Kurt cuts him off with a loud bark of laughter that just makes Blaine laugh too, as he watches his best friend cover his face with both hands. When Kurt is sure he can actually breathe, he peeks through the spaces of his fingers, glancing down at where Blaine is still kneeling like the idiot he actually is. Denying it has never proved the fact wrong. But Kurt smiles behind his hands, because Blaine is his best friend, and if there's no one else out there, Kurt couldn't imagine a happier alternative to spending his living days by the side of this boy.

"I accept your most gracious proposal." Kurt says haughtily, and Blaine rises to his feet before swooping Kurt up in a bear hug, the two of them dissolving into laughter as they spin in that otherwise empty McKinley hallway.

Kurt doesn't think his day is so bad after all, all things considered.