P.S.
Don’t forget Henry’s food. The vet put him on a very strict diet, so not too much (I know it’s your fault he got so fat in the first place…).

Blaine hadn’t realized he’d turn into one of those people that only went home for Christmas so soon after college. Once he’d gotten his masters in Elementary Education and started teaching (after a terrifying four months of unemployment and the risk of losing his stipend), he went back to Teacher’s College to get another masters, this time in Music Education, at night. He was exhausted, spending all day teaching the kids and all night in class and doing homework. Kurt suggested he take it a little easier, but Blaine was a glutton for punishment; he figured he should do all of this now while he was young and excited. And besides all that, he never expected to love teaching as much as he did.

Once Kurt graduated, he’d been offered a fulltime position at the fashion magazine he’d had internships at before. He was over the moon, not yet ready to go to graduate school and eager to just live. Burt, Carole, and Finn made the trip to New York to watch Kurt graduate, and they’d had a calm celebration with delivery pizza on the floor of Kurt and Blaine’s apartment afterwards. It was much better, thought Blaine, than his own graduation party.

“Those kids giving you a rough time?” Finn asked Blaine, who was practically falling asleep in his food.

Blaine perked up a bit, trying hard not to seem so exhausted.

“Blaine’s teaching and being taught. He doesn’t sleep much,” explained Kurt, patting Blaine affectionately on his knee.

“I’m sorry; I don’t mean to be so rude,” said Blaine, stifling a yawn. “But to answer your question, Finn, no. I love those kids. I really like teaching.”

“That’s great,” said Burt.

Finn took some time to fill them in on his new job at a consulting firm in Ohio. Nobody had expected Finn to pull it together in college, but they were all proud that he had.

As the night drew to a close, Carole and Blaine set to cleaning up while Burt pulled Kurt aside. “Can I ask you a serious question, kiddo?”

“Yeah, Dad, what’s up?”

“How’s the money situation? Because you remember the deal we made.”

Kurt did remember. Burt and Carole would pay for Kurt’s rent as long as he was in school. Now that that wasn’t the case, there was some serious budgeting that needed to happen.

“We can try to help out a bit more,” said Burt, “but I’m afraid it can’t be very much. The business is ok, but it’s not great.”

“I understand.”

That night, after everyone had left, Kurt massaged Blaine’s shoulders while he lay practically comatose on the bed. “Blaine, what do you think about moving?”

“Hmm?” he mumbled sleepily.

“Well, you’re not making too much money, and I’m definitely not going to make much money,” he said, placing a gentle kiss between Blaine’s shoulder blades. “And you’ve basically stopped sleeping in your room, so we only need one bedroom.”

“You want to downgrade?” asked Blaine.

“I was browsing and found some places in Chelsea. One-bedroom places, fairly cheap. At least cheaper than what we’re paying now.”

“If they’re so cheap for two people, I’m assuming they’re meant for one person. Am I right?”

“Probably,” said Kurt, digging an elbow into his back to work out a knot.

“Ow,” he said, flinching as his muscles twisted under the pressure. “Like where?”

“21st street had some walk-ups.”

“But we’re so conveniently located here.”

“But we don’t have any money.” Kurt kissed Blaine again where he’d jabbed him with his elbow. “And I know you don’t want to ask for help anymore.”

“Let me cover some of your rent until I’m done with my masters. I don’t wanna commute from Chelsea to Columbia.”

“I commute from up here to Chelsea for work all the time. It’s not that bad.”

“I guess,” said Blaine. “Can we think about this when I’m not so tired?”

“So, never?” teased Kurt.

“Shut up.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll drop it. But,” said Kurt, peppering kisses across Blaine’s lower back, “if we downgrade, we’ll probably have enough combined to get that cat you’ve wanted.”

Blaine laughed. “Hmm. A cat and a commute. I’ll dream about it and let you know what I decide.”

It only took a week for Kurt to lose patience and arrange a visit to one of the apartments he’d seen in a listing.

The place was tiny. It was a fourth floor walk up; when you walked in the door, there was a bedroom to the left, a kitchen four feet in front of you, and a living room to the right. The minuscule bathroom was between the bedroom (which had no door, Blaine pointed out) and the kitchen (which had only half a stove, Blaine also pointed out, and wouldn’t Kurt miss having their full kitchen?).

“I think it’s perfect,” said Kurt.

“Look at this bathroom,” said Blaine, sticking his head into the small space. “Where are you going to keep your moisturizers and shampoos?”

“A little creative furnishing is all it needs,” said Kurt, his eyes glittering with hope and happiness.

“You’re insane. This place is for one person. Maybe.”

“Actually,” piped the landlord, a petite woman a full head shorter than Blaine, from the entranceway, “it was originally listed as a one-person. But the city lets me rent it as a two-person.”

“Don’t you think it’s adorable?” asked Kurt.

“Are you on something? Or drunk?” whispered Blaine. “This is nuts. We’ll kill each other in here.”

“We’ll think about it,” Kurt said to the landlord. Blaine wasn’t sure if Kurt had heard him at all.

“Okay. I’ve got another couple coming in tomorrow morning. If they want it right away, it’s theirs.”

“We understand,” said Kurt with a smile. “Thanks for taking the time to show us.”

“Not a problem,” sighed the landlord.

They bickered the entire ride back uptown. Blaine argued that the whole space was the size of their living room, and Kurt countered that Blaine was exaggerating. Kurt insisted that it was worth it for how much money they’d save, and Blaine countered that even if they were saving enough to get a cat, the cat would get stepped on with two people living there. But somewhere between this argument and August, the boys boxed up everything they owned and made the move downtown to their own little walk-in closet.

From: Kurt Hummel < khummel@gmail.com >
To: Blaine Anderson < b.anderson@gmail.com >

Subject: Re: Hell Froze Over

WHAT? Wow. So happy to hear that. :) He’s been added!

I didn’t over feed your precious darling. And I would say Henry’s obesity is your fault based on the fact that you insist he sit like a lazy oaf on the couch with you and watch TV every night. He should be exercising with a ball of yarn or something. I’d play with him more, but he sheds too much for the amount of black I have in my wardrobe.

Also, just so you know, the bakery had the wrong cake order for us. They called today to confirm a plum-pineapple cake or something too weird – even for me. I was appropriately freaked out and screamed at them for a few minutes. Turns out they were just reading the wrong sheet…so your chocolate monstrosity has been confirmed. Thoroughly.

Come back fast; as bossy as I am, I clearly can’t handle this without you.

Say hi to your mom for me. Wish I could be there for you, but I have to say, I’m glad I’m still in New York.

Love,
Your frazzled fianc�e

Kathleen came home and hugged Blaine. It had been a few months since they’d seen each other. Blaine tucked his face towards her neck, like always, and they laughed through joyous tears together. “Thanks,” whispered Blaine.

Four years of living in a shoebox was quite enough for Blaine. He always thought that this place would be a temporary situation for them, and his five-year plan for after college never included struggling with crappy living conditions. They never got a cat, and with four years’ worth of accumulating things, the place was just too small to deal with any more. Not to mention that as the beginning of November was approaching, the weather was turning colder, and their heat was shoddy at best. Of course it wasn’t always bad; the two of them had spent many a pleasant evening together in their apartment. But Blaine felt ready for more. “Between my pay raise and your promotion, we have enough to upgrade. If we each swing an extra 500 a month, we can get a serious improvement. Like, a real apartment. Not just a place to live. A home.”

“Where are you thinking?” asked Kurt, avoiding eye contact. Blaine could tell Kurt was reluctant to let him know that he was right all along; getting Kurt to acknowledge that they could use more space was always easy until the topic turned to actually doing something about it by moving. At that point, Kurt’s pride got in the way.

“Upper West Side,” said Blaine, pulling a piece of paper out of his back pocket. He walked to where Kurt was curled up on their couch balancing his dinner plate on his knees (their dining table was covered with Blaine’s lesson plans). “This place is twice the size of where we are now, maybe even bigger, and it’s rent controlled, so it’s a slightly lower price than similarly sized places in Chelsea. Another teacher at my school showed me the listing today at lunch.”

Kurt, chewing pensively on a vegetable, scrutinized the address with narrow eyes. It was a great neighborhood. $1,000 dollars more per month, but he could certainly afford his share between all they’d saved the past four years and the fact that he was pretty high up at that fashion magazine now. Commuting from the Upper West Side was an expense, but ultimately not too big of a deal. He probably (definitely) wouldn’t be able to buy extra moisturizing products or quite as many new jackets as he was used to, but the way he was crunching numbers in his head made it seem like it was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

“We can look at it tomorrow,” said Blaine, leaning forward a bit, as if this would somehow encourage Kurt to speak.

Kurt swallowed, then sighed.

“C’mon, Kurt, you must be tired of eating dinner in your lap every night. Don’t you think we deserve this? We’ve paid our dues as struggling New Yorkers.”

After a moment, Kurt nodded. “You win.”

Blaine fist pumped and laughed victoriously. “Great. Thank you.”

Kurt blushed. “Yeah, yeah.”

“So, did you like it?” asked Blaine, bouncing up and down as they walked towards the subway that would take them back to their tiny apartment. This was partially from excitement, partially to keep warm as the wind bit at his ears. The apartment was everything Blaine wanted: spacious, with a big bedroom, a living/dining room area, a decently sized kitchen for New York, and an extra room that could easily be a study or a small guest room or anything they wanted.

“Yeah,” said Kurt, a small smile playing at his lips.

Blaine waited for him to say more, but he didn’t. “But?”

“But,” said Kurt, swinging his hand into Blaine’s, the fabric of their gloves sticking together. “It was kind of a mess.”

“Well, sure,” said Blaine, “but it just needs a good scrubbing and some new paint. Once whoever lives there moves out – you have to look past the furniture. Right? Think of the space. There’s so much of it. It’s like those places they have in When Harry Met Sally. Really old school New York.”

“You’re right,” said Kurt, but there was still a hint of – something in his voice.

Blaine nudged Kurt’s arm. “What’s up?”

Kurt chewed on his lip pensively. “I’m just thinking about what you said yesterday.”

“What did I say? I’m sorry, I take it back, I’ll never say it again,” he ranted.

Kurt laughed. “It wasn’t a bad thing, Blaine.”

“Oh. Then I stand by what I said completely. I’d repeat it if I knew what it was,” he said, leaning in close to Kurt and planting a kiss on his cheek as they kept walking. “What did I say?”

“How if we took this apartment, we’d have a home, not just a place to live.”

“Yeah,” said Blaine. “I meant it.”

“It just got me thinking is all,” said Kurt, who was now looking at his feet.

They walked on in silence, Blaine trying to lace their fingers together despite the thick knit of their gloves. “What are you thinking about?”

Kurt opened his mouth to speak, but he stopped himself. “Nothing. It’s just a nice sentiment is all.”

“So, can we take it?”

“It is kind of a lot more money,” said Kurt. “But it’s worth it.”

Blaine squeezed Kurt’s hand tight and made a high-pitched sort of squeal. “Great. I’m calling them back right now.” Blaine ripped his glove off, made the phone call, and made an appointment to sign all the paperwork. They could move in next month. “C’mon,” said Blaine enthusiastically, “I’ll buy you a coffee. It’s freezing out here.”

They walked into a Starbucks near the subway station and toasted their coffees to their new home together. “To being more than roommates,” said Kurt.

Blaine laughed. “We’ve always been more than roommates. How many people love their roommates the way I love you?”

“So,” said Kathleen, “are you ready for all of this?”

“Please,” laughed Blaine. “I’ve been ready for years.”

The night before they could move into their new apartment, Blaine and Kurt stacked all of their boxes in the most space-efficient way possible and settled on the floor for dinner. They ordered in Chinese food, yet another surprising instance in which Kurt said nothing about oil or MSG, and ate among the forest of boxes and belongings. “I guess I’ll miss this place,” said Blaine.

“Seriously?”

Blaine chomped down on some kind of flavored chicken. “Nah.”

Kurt laughed. “At least if we have children some day, we can tell them we had an authentic New York City experience, right?”

Blaine laughed quietly, then smiled at Kurt. “You think we’ll have children some day?”

Kurt’s face turned bright red. “I mean – well, it’s also just a figure of speech, right?”

“Yeah,” said Blaine. An awkward silence fell over them. “If we did have children, they could go to my school for free. It’s in the policy.”

Kurt choked on his string beans. “Oh, is it?”

“Do you need water?”

“No, no, I’m fine.”

Silence.

“Blaine,” said Kurt.

“Yeah?” said Blaine.

Kurt fumbled with his words, wanting to say something perfectly scripted like in the romance novels he liked to read on long subway rides. But instead, he stuttered lamely, “I’m glad we’re still together after all this time.”

Blaine nodded and grabbed Kurt’s left hand, squeezing it tight. He released his hold, but lingered, lightly stroking the soft skin on the back of his hand with his fingers. He dragged his index finger down to Kurt’s thumb and tapped it once, then moved on to tap each of his fingers gently down the line to his pinky, then back one to his ring finger. He stroked it gently a couple of times, looking deep into Kurt’s eyes and smiling.

Kurt’s heart started racing, and he wondered when he turned back into a nervous high schooler, sitting unsuspectingly in a common room, wishing the love of his life would read his mind – and then he did.

Blaine muttered something under his breath.

“What?” asked Kurt.

“I think you’re beautiful,” said Blaine, a little louder.

Kurt giggled.

“Marry me,” said Blaine calmly.

Kurt’s vision blurred for a moment, but when everything came back into focus, he giggled again. “You don’t think we’re too young?”

Blaine shrugged. “No.”

Kurt blushed and looked down at his lap.

“So?” asked Blaine.

Kurt looked up at him with a goofy, tooth-filled grin. “Absolutely.”

The next day, Kurt and Blaine loaded up a small rented U-Haul truck to drive uptown to their new building and spent the day lugging boxes into the empty space. By 4:00, the sun started sinking down behind the tall buildings, a sign that winter was coming. Once all the boxes were stacked inside, Blaine pulled Kurt out the door and onto the streets. Dressed in baggy sweatshirts and old jeans, the boys walked into a jewelry store and peered into glass cases, looking for two perfect engagement rings.