“I gotta go.”

“David-”

“I’ll talk to you later.”

And he’s gone, just like that. Karofsky rushes through the door, leaving Kurt behind and feeling slightly adrift as this guy, Nick, eyes him with amusement. Kurt glares back, silently daring him to speak again, but Nick just shakes his head and goes back to whatever he was doing. Kurt sighs to himself, a heavy sense of disappointment and anguish causing his shoulders to sag.

The room is suddenly stifling, despite the small amount of patrons, so he hurries to the door. When he shoves it open, Karofsky is speeding away and the cool rush of the February night air hits him full force in the face. He shivers. His shirt is too thin but he just – just can’t sit inside and wait for the party to start. Kurt shoves his hands in his pockets, deciding to walk the perimeter of the building while he waits.

He feels awful.

Just awful.

He can’t stop imagining the way David’s face had fallen or the way his voice had trembled when he mentioned the butterscotch candies. The guy had it rough, Kurt knows. He’s scared of who he really is and it must have taken so much courage for him to actually meet Kurt here tonight. While Kurt really is proud of how far he’s come in less than a year and while he really does like the new-and-improved Dave Karofsky, there’s just too much history now. He can’t even imagine himself dating someone when he knows the relationship was originally bred from hostility and a few too many bruises and a stolen first kiss. Of course, Kurt has completely forgiven Karofsky for the kiss because he now understands the emotional turmoil he had been going through. He has done his best to forgive the bullying as well, but the scars still linger and he doubts they’ll fade completely anytime soon. If anyone faults him for that, well, they can just get over it because even though it was a long time ago, years of being treated as something less than a human being are bound to cause a bit of damage.

Once Kurt reaches the corner of the building, he rounds it and finds himself in darkness, away from the glaring lights of the parking lot. He seats himself against the wall, pulling his knees to his chest to savor what little heat his body produces.

God. And when he took off that suit.

When he took off that suit, Kurt’s heart kind of cracked right down the center. It isn’t just about him not wanting his secret admirer to be David, it’s about the fact that he wanted it to be Blaine. He wanted it to be Blaine because he misses Blaine, he misses him so much. Kurt hasn’t seen him in over a week now because Blaine’s parents had started turning all of his friends away, even Kurt. “He needs his rest,” they had said. “You’ll see him plenty when he’s healed.”

He wishes it had been Blaine. After last year’s disaster of a Valentine’s Day, Kurt was expecting this one to be better because he actually had Blaine’s heart this year and they were in love and wasn’t this their day? Wasn’t this the day they were allowed to say it as much as they wanted, just like every other couple?

Kurt’s chest tightens and his throat closes. His body is definitely ready to cry. And then he thinks about the other cards sitting on his dresser right now, all lined up in a row, proudly displayed and signed ‘Your Secret Admirer’ and none of them were from Blaine, none of them none of them none of them were from Blaine.

Why weren’t they from Blaine?

He feels the first of an endless stream of tears escape. Rubbing them away with a cold hand, he gasps into the night, the night that’s supposed to be for lovers, in that way that only happens when it’s a painful cry, the kind that punctures a hole in your soul. He fishes his phone out of his pocket and thumbs through his list of text messages until he finds only one from Blaine.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Love you lots, Kurt!

And that’s all he has. That’s it. One little text message sent just after nine in the morning. He has a dresser covered in cute, thoughtful cards from a boy he can’t ever love and a single text message from his boyfriend who he hasn’t talked to all day.

It isn’t fair, Kurt thinks.

Can’t he have his happy ending, just once?

Just once?

An hour later, Kurt’s sitting alone at a table until Finn and Rachel walk in and settle next to him. Kurt offers them a half hearted smile until –

“-back from the dead, and cute and compact as ever!”

Sugar gestures toward the door. With a flourish, with a spot light, and with a fedora and a ridiculous heart-shaped eye patch, Blaine Anderson appears.

Kurt’s heart swells.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody,” Blaine says, confidence on his face and in his stance. “This song is dedicated to all the lovers in the room.”

Blaine plucks off the eye patch and struts up to the stage with a little hop in his step. The energy in the room vibrates. Kurt’s skin tingles when Blaine starts the intro to ‘Love Shack’ and ohsweetjesus, is this really Kurt’s boyfriend?

How in the hell did he swing that?

Eventually, Blaine crosses the stage, leading with his hips, and comes to be directly in front of Kurt, urging him to sing along. Blaine’s mere presence lifts his spirits and yeah, he’ll definitely sing along. Rachel had already slipped him a microphone under the table earlier, though where she got it, Kurt will never know. She probably keeps one in her purse at all times because, to Rachel, any moment is an opportunity for a performance.

Oh holy – Blaine drags him toward the stage by his tie. Kurt’s pretty sure he’s never been turned on so quickly in his short, teenage life, and damnit if he doesn’t have the best time up on the stage. Blaine’s behind him, his hip bone brushing against Kurt’s ass as the song continues. They’re flirting up here, dancing in front of everyone and Kurt’s previous depression regarding Valentine’s Day evaporates.

Because Blaine is here and he’s all better and he smells so familiar and sweet and his hands are warm and bless his heart, he looks totally smitten.

I’m so in love with you, Kurt thinks later as the song ends and the room is awash in bright, shiny balloons. Everybody’s smiling, laughing, and kissing. Blaine has this goofy, adorable look on his face and Kurt decides he looks a little too pleased with himself so, naturally, it’s Kurt’s job to bring him down a peg.

Microphone still in hand, Kurt launches himself at Blaine, arms wrapping tightly around Blaine’s neck and tugging him closer. Kurt kisses that too-pleased look right off his face, completely ignoring anyone who might disapprove in the room.

If they’ve got a problem, they can kiss his ass.

Blaine responds in kind and the familiar circle of Blaine’s arms around his waist causes a shiver and a thrill of excitement in Kurt’s body.

“Did you like my surprise?” Blaine asks with a grin when their lips finally part.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” Kurt breathes, pressing their foreheads together.

“Well, after last year’s travesty, I knew I had to do something awesome for you.”

Kurt nods, allowing someone to take their microphones as a slow song drifts through the speakers. Blaine takes one of Kurt’s hands into his own and leads them in a lazy, little circle on the floor, kissing Kurt’s cheek as they dance.

“I’m glad you came,” Kurt says. “I – I kind of thought that the text message you sent earlier was all I was gonna get.”

“Kurt,” Blaine says sadly, pressing their cheeks together and Kurt hears Blaine emit a soft, wounded sigh. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Kurt whispers, even though, deep down, it wouldn’t have been.

“After I texted you, I had my last doctor’s appointment and they cleared me to come back to school tomorrow and told me I could stop wearing the eye patch. I was gonna surprise you at lunch but then Sugar called me and told me about the party thing and asked me to be a surprise guest. I guess I thought, you know, showing up here was like…more romantic or something. And of course I spent most of the afternoon trying to pick out something to wear.”

Kurt giggles against Blaine’s skin, an honest-to-god giggle and he feels Blaine smile against his cheek when he hears it.

“Well,” Kurt says, “maybe it’s a good thing you didn’t come at lunch.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because then you’d have seen me get a gorilla gram from my secret admirer.”

Blaine stiffens. He pulls away to look Kurt directly in the eye.

“…I didn’t send you a gorilla gram.”

“Yeah, I know that now,” Kurt says with a roll of his eyes. “And I’m guessing you didn’t leave a card in my locker or an invitation to meet you here before the party. Especially when I showed up and it was someone else.”

“Do I even want to know who it was?”

“It…was Karofsky.”

They stop dancing, frozen in place with their hands still held up and clasped. Blaine blinks rapidly, as if he’s having trouble processing the information.

“Are you serious?”

“Mmm,” Kurt hums. “He said that – that he loved me and tried to hold my hand. I felt really bad for him, Blaine. I told him I was with you, obviously, and I really think he just, um, loves the idea of not being alone. And since I’m the only gay guy that he really, really knows, strangers in a bar excluded, I was the only one he thought of.”

“…Wow.”

“He left,” Kurt continues quickly. “I didn’t want him to leave, though. I wish he would’ve stayed to try and enjoy the party or something. Everyone deserves to be happy.”

Blaine nods in agreement but he doesn’t say anything else on the matter.

“I just – I really wanted those cards to be from you.”

“I’m so sorry, Kurt.”

“Don’t be,” Kurt says softly, pressing a gentle kiss to Blaine’s lips. “This is better.”

Two and a half hours later, the majority of the guests are gone. The members of New Directions are the only people to remain, save for Puck who had disappeared an hour ago with three of the girls who had been on his arm that night. The night is winding down and all of the girls have taken off their shoes. Rachel begins to sing a very pretty ballad onstage, and Brittany pulls Santana up for one of the last dances. Blaine takes Kurt’s hand, leading him to the dance floor as well. Kurt plants a kiss on Blaine’s temple as they begin to sway before nuzzling his face into the crook of Blaine’s neck, just breathing in the scent of him.

A few seconds later, however, Blaine pulls away.

“Wha-”

“I think this dance is reserved for someone else,” Blaine says softly, gesturing with his chin toward the door.

When Kurt turns, he’s surprised to see Karofsky standing alone, looking uncharacteristically small and nervous, not knowing what to do with his hands. Blaine waves him over with his hand and Karofsky shuffles over to them, ducking his head.

Kurt looks back to Blaine, shock probably written all over his face.

“Blaine, are you su-”

“Well considering I’m the one who got his number from someone and called him and told him to come here,” Blaine says with an easy smile, “yeah. I’m sure.”

Blaine backs away, taking a seat at a table to make some sort of explanation to Finn and Mercedes. Kurt is left with David, who looks absolutely terrified, and realizes he’s going to have to be the one to initiate this. He takes David’s hand and David jerks slightly in response, but he allows Kurt to place his other hand on David’s shoulder. A large hand settles on Kurt’s waist and they begin to sway slowly, ignoring the strange stares from Kurt’s friends. They stand a respectable distance apart, of course, but Kurt can smell David’s cologne now. It’s a little strong for Kurt’s liking, but it’s still nice.

“I’m glad you came back,” Kurt says.

“You are?”

“Of course I am,” Kurt says honestly. “I may not believe you love me, but you think you do. And it’s Valentine’s Day. Everyone should get to have at least one dance with the person they love on Valentine’s Day.”

David’s face softens. His smile is a little watery, but it’s enough to make Kurt smile in return.

“You’re a good person, Kurt.”

Kurt lowers his head shyly in response.

“So’s your boyfriend.”

At that, Kurt’s head shoots up and his eyebrows lift in surprise.

“The first time I ever met the guy, I shoved him into a fence,” David remembers. “I shoved him into a fence and he’s letting me dance with you on Valentine’s Day.”

“He-” Kurt swallows, “he has a big heart.”

“Yeah,” David agrees. “I – I watched you guys dance for a little bit when I walked in.”

Kurt doesn’t know if he’s supposed to say something, but he doesn’t know what he would say if he is, so he just doesn’t speak and continues to dance.

“You’re really in love with him, aren’t you?” David asks.

Nodding, Kurt ducks his head again. “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”

“I’m glad it’s him, then,” David says. “At least he’s someone who’ll treat you right.”

Unable to stop himself, Kurt takes a step closer and rests his head on David’s chest. He can feel David inhale sharply, but as he exhales, his hold on Kurt’s hand tightens. Kurt allows his eyes to close and he listens to Rachel’s soft, sweet voice come through the speakers as she wraps up the song. They only have less than a minute left to dance, but they’re both sure to make it count.

When the song finally ends, David pulls back and Kurt looks up at him. David leans down and presses a brief kiss to Kurt’s forehead.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Kurt.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day, David.”

With that, David smiles and releases his hold on Kurt, stepping away and heading over to Blaine.

“Thank you,” he hears David say.

Blaine holds out his hand and David shakes it without hesitation.

“Thanks for sending Kurt all those things today,” Blaine says. “I hate that I didn’t get to come to school, but I’m glad he had something to make the day better.”

“Sure, man.”

David turns one last time and waves to Kurt, who waves back a little helplessly, before David nods once more and takes his leave. When he’s gone, Blaine strides over to Kurt.

Kurt takes Blaine’s face in between his hands and kisses him fiercely.

“I love you so much,” he says.

“I love you too, Kurt.”

And that’s how Kurt Hummel gets his happy ending. Finally.