“Blaine.”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve been wanting to redo my room for a while now, so I was thinking—Blaine!”

Blaine didn’t bother glancing up from where he was intent on viciously mutilating swines upon the loveseat in Kurt’s bedroom. “What?”

“I was thinking we should go to Ikea today, because I—“

By the time “Ikea” had left Kurt’s lips, Blaine’s head shot up, his eyes glimmering with excitement. “Ikea? Oh, could we? I love Ikea!” He then strode across the room and enveloped his best friend in a bone-crushing hug. “This is so cool! Ikea!”

Close to suffocating, yet reveling in the closeness between them, Kurt coughed out, “Yes. Ikea. Why so ecstatic?”

Pushing back from Kurt, Blaine stated, “Because, Kurt! It’s Ikea! It’s so huge and colorful, and it’s a Swedish. Furniture. Store!”

Dazed from the lack of oxygen, Kurt choked, “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then.”

“A yes to what?”

**********

As Kurt pulled the Navigator into the vast parking lot, Blaine was practically bouncing in his seat from pure ecstasy.

“Kurt. KurtKurtKurtKurtKurt.”

“I know my name perfectly well, thank you very much,” Kurt retorted, biting back a grin.

“I just wanted to say I love you.”

Kurt froze. Did Blaine really mean that? Why would he say that? Does he know about his huge crush on him, and he’s saying that to torment him? No, Blaine wouldn’t be that cruel. What is this madne—

“Hello, Earth to Kurt.”

Kurt started, instinctively jerking back and hitting the door with a loud thud, his eyes wide.

“Hey,” Blaine said, his voice softer. He placed a hand on Kurt’s knee. “You ok?”

Kurt glanced up at Blaine to see complete tenderness and concern filling his eyes. Blaine might not have loved him in the way he wanted, but he loved him for who he was, and that was enough for Kurt for right now.

It wasn’t long before he realized that he was simply staring at Blaine’s face, and Blaine was staring right back. Chagrined, Kurt spun to face the windshield, suddenly finding the splattered bugs upon it very interesting. “Shall we go?”

Flawlessly shaking out of his daze, Blaine immediately opened the passenger door and motioned for Kurt to wait. He jogged to Kurt’s door, only sustaining a few injuries on the way, opened the door, and held out his hand for Kurt to grasp. “Our kingdom awaits, sire.”

**********

“Kurt.”

“Yes, Blaine?”

“Look.”

“At?”

“These shopping carts.”

“What about them?”

“We should race them.”

Kurt and Blaine had entered the massive building with high hopes for the day. So far, these hopes were already being exceeded, all thanks to Blaine. They had already eaten in the food court, where Blaine raved about his French fries and lingonberry juice, and “How is this not sold everywhere? I would drink this even if it didn’t taste amazing, just because of the name!” Being the nerd he was, he also just had to point out the Swedish version of Harry Potter and attempt for a good 20 minutes to translate it, failing miserably.

In their friendship, Kurt had never seen Blaine act this childish, let alone this happy. He decided that he liked this Blaine, and if he wanted to race shopping carts, then goddamnit, he was going to do it… after a bit of complaining.

“No.”

Blaine took advantage of Kurt’s weakness and put on his trademark puppy dog eyes and pouted, “But Kuuurt, come on! You’re wearing sandals, so you’ll slide, and it’ll be FUN.” He said this all in one breath, so Kurt had trouble trying not to crack a smile.

He huffed, “Fine. I’ll do it just for you,” and clutched the handle, trying to ignore the obscure amount of bacteria it most likely held.

Blaine turned and shot him a beautiful toothy grin. “Ready?”

Taking a deep breath and releasing it all in one moment, Kurt sighed, “Ready.”

Blaine suddenly kicked off from the wall and started sprinting. Flabbergasted, Kurt stalled and then attempted to run, but alas, happened to be wearing sandals. He took Blaine’s advice and slid across the waxed concrete floor, surprised at how fast he was going. He caught up with Blaine, and together they sped through the store, laughing the entire way.

It reminded him of when he first met Blaine and was dragged through the elegant halls of Dalton; when time itself seemed to decelerate; when Blaine’s presence made the world beautiful.

Through the kid’s section, the bedrooms, the kitchens, and the offices, they both sprinted until both decided to stop in the living rooms. Unfortunately, while the carts complied, their feet did not, and they both collapsed on a plush white couch, Kurt’s head landing in Blaine’s lap.

“That was—so much—fun,” Kurt breathed between laughs, “I’ve never—had that much—fun.”

Blaine’s laughter stilled, his breathing still heavy. He glanced down at the angel resting in his lap. “Really? Never? What about when you were little? What about you and Mercedes? Don’t you do stuff like this with her?”

“I was rather somber as a child. After my mother died, I… A-and before then I never really had any friends. My parents were my best friends, and I would throw tea parties and fashion shows, but we never did anything like this.” Kurt’s eyes fluttered when Blaine wiped a stray tear off his cheek with his thumb.

He struggled to hold back more tears and continued, “Mercedes and I are great friends, we really are, and I love her to death, but we don’t connect like we used to. And we never did anything like this.” Kurt took a deep breath before sitting up and saying, “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, Blaine. I really don’t know what I would do without you.”

Deeply touched, Blaine immediately formed a devious plan.

He smirked and started softly singing to Kurt, “When everything is wrong I’ll come talk to you.”

Not recognizing the song, yet still ever-so-mortified, Kurt spun his head around to see if anyone was noticing and shushed Blaine, “Oh no. Not now, Blaine. Please.”

Still intent on delivering his message, Blaine whispered, “Just listen. I mean every word.”

With that, Blaine continued singing, “You make things alright when I’m feeling blue.”

Kurt listened as Blaine jumped up from his spot on the couch and pulled a guitar from God-knows-where.

“You are such a blessing,

and I won’t be messing

with the one thing that brings light to all my darkness.

You’re my best friend

And I love you,

And I love you.

Yes, I do.”

Damning his ability to tear-up at the slightest of things, Kurt viciously wiped his tears and continued to listen to what was rapidly becoming his favorite song.

“There is no other one who can take your place.

I feel happy inside when I see your face.

I hope you believe me,

‘Cause I speak sincerely.

I mean it when I tell you that I need you.”

Blaine’s audience steadily grew as he repeated the chorus of the song that meant so much to him. With the last verse of the song, Blaine knelt in front of Kurt, just to confirm the sincerity in his words.

“I’m right here beside you.

I will never leave you.

And I feel the pain you feel when you start crying.”

By the final chorus, Kurt’s resolve had tumbled completely, and he was full-out sobbing like a blubbering idiot. When Blaine finished, he threw himself at his best friend and clutched on to him like a life-line; the one thing that was keeping him sane; the one thing making sure Kurt was always who he wanted and needed to be. Other than his father, Blaine was the most important person in his life, and there was no damn way he was ever going to let him go.

**********

“God, Blaine, where’s the salt?”

“I thought you bought some when you went to the grocery store?”

“No, you were supposed to go to the grocery store!”

“When?”

“Today!”

“Oh.”

Kurt opened up the display refrigerator in the New York-esque Ikea kitchen. “What? Where the hell is all the food?”

Blaine stared down at his feet, the slightest smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “I-I was hungry.”

“So you ate the entire inside of the fridge. Would you like to come finish the fridge off as well?”

“Sorry.”

Kurt gave an exaggerated huff and plopped down on the seat across from Blaine at the mahogany dining room table. “Well, let’s order take-out. Is Chinese ok?”

Blaine looked up at Kurt and they both shared a knowing glance before they burst out in to hysterical laughter.

“God, I feel like a kid again!” Kurt sniffled through his chortles.

Still giggling, Blaine almost-sighed, “I’m glad I make you feel like one.”

**********

“I’m serious, Blaine! That dress was God. Awful.”

“Come on, Kurt! You didn’t think the pink sequins were a nice touch? I thought Marcus’ was the best dress out of all the competitors,” Blaine pleaded.

Kurt started giggling incessantly, “I swear, Blaine, sometimes you’re more gay than me.”

Blaine smirked and whispered in his ear, “Believe me, you’re just as gay as me.”

Shivering from Blaine’s warm breath, Kurt jumped back and started coughing, frantically scanning the room for an excuse to change the subject. “Um, oh! Look! Office chairs! Let’s… um… spin in them! Yeah!” Kurt hashed out, almost facepalming at his lameness.

Sexual tension ignored, Blaine giggled, “I think I’m rubbing off on you.”

“Wait, you don’t mean—“

Pretending to be offended, Blaine gasped, “My, my, young Kurt! Get your mind out of the gutter!”

“After you get yours out of the sewer,” Kurt retorted, laughing at his own lame joke and plopping down on one of the chairs.

Very un-gracefully collapsing on his own seat, Blaine started spinning. “Oh- you- think- you’re- so- clever- don’t- you?” he called in between spins.

Following Blaine’s lead, Kurt started twirling as he chuckled, “At- least- my feet- can- reach- the ground!”

“Hey, you can’t go there,” Blaine argued, halting.

“Of course I can, Blaine. I’m bigger than you,” Kurt chuckled.

Choking out his laughter, Blaine shouted, “But I’m stronger!” With that, he pounced on Kurt, sending the two of them to the floor. Wrestling Kurt, he managed to overpower and pin him to the ground. “See?”

Struggling under Blaine’s force, Kurt tugged on Blaine’s curly mat of hair. “Let go! Let go!” he guffawed.

Blaine chuckled and relented ever-so-slightly. “Not until you admit it. I’m stronger.”

Now gasping for breath from his laughter, Kurt choked, “Ok, ok, you’re stro—“

“Hey, fags! Stop making out on the floor!”

The pair froze.

Azimio.

Kurt immediately rolled from under Blaine and stood up proud but intimidated. He held his head high before the menacing jock lumbering over him, and Blaine quickly followed suit.

Azimio towered over Kurt and returned the boy’s expression of panic with one of pure and utter loathing. “God, Hummel, do you have to be a fag everywhere you go?”

Kurt simply stood there. He didn’t bother fighting with him; he wasn’t that stupid. It was one thing to be bullied at school; it could never go too far. But it was another outside of school; Azimio could do anything he wanted to Kurt or Blaine, even though they were in public. It wouldn’t be that hard to get them into a secluded part of the store and beat them to death. Kurt could handle pain; he wasn’t weak. But Blaine… he could never see him hurt, so he had to do everything he could to never reach that point. He remained silent.

“Isn’t it enough to stalk every guy at school? Now you’ve got new perving territory? What a whore.”

At those words, Blaine shoved the bully backwards with a surprising amount of force, startling and almost knocking him over. “Just leave him alone, man!”

The entire office section was now peering in on the trio. One timid girl started to slowly shuffle forward.

Azimio shouted, “And you! Are you the fairy’s boyfriend? I should—“

“Hey!” The squeak echoed throughout the silent hall.

All three turned to find the girl standing directly behind Azimio, face set as serious as it could get for a girl so young. She was holding herself as tall as she could and yet, was barely half his size. Looking all of seven years old, she glowed of confidence.

“Why are you being so mean to them? Stop it! Why does it matter that they’re different? You’re different, too! Everyone is! Stop being such a bug bully!” With that, the girl stomped off Rachel Berry style, leaving the “big bully” in shock and her mother in tears. Azimio silently trudged away, and when Blaine turned around, Kurt was gone.

**********

The mirrors in the hall were abundant, and they were all mocking Kurt. No matter how many times he stared into one of the surrounding mirrors, his reflection never altered. He remained himself; he still looked like Kurt. Kurt, who was the bitchy, girly, gay kid who everyone hated, no matter how hard he tried to be liked, even by himself. Kurt, the kid who hated himself.

**********

Blaine couldn’t find Kurt for the life of him. He had practically searched the entire store, and still, Kurt was nowhere to be found. Had he left him? Oh God, he shouldn’t have lost it like that. He didn’t scare Kurt, did he? That’s the last thing he ever wanted to do. It was just Azimio and how he treated Kurt; he was hurting him. Blaine could see it in his eyes. He couldn’t let someone do that right under his nose and just let it happen.

The cafeteria, the children’s section, the bathrooms, and pretty much every other section had left him empty-handed. By now, he was starting to panic. He hadn’t answered his phone, and Blaine had been searching for over half an hour now. Did Azimio get to Kurt? No, that couldn’t have happened; they were in public. But Azimio really hates him; he could do it if he really wanted to. Oh God. He needed to find him, and fast.

Just about when Blaine was about to give up hope and call Burt, he turned the corner to enter a small, square room, adorned with various, glittering mirrors. And reflecting in the specula was Blaine’s beautiful Kurt. Blaine’s? What? When did that happen? Wait… was Kurt crying?

Kurt’s face was blotchy and streaked with freshly-shed tears. He was staring at himself in the looking-glass and clutching his torso vulnerably, the image of insecurity. Blaine felt his heart shatter at the sight. At this, he made a decision; a decision that would change their lives forever.

**********

Kurt felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist and a head rest on his shoulder. “Kurt, I’m so sorry.”

Kurt leaned his head against Blaine’s temple and whispered, “ I’m not worth it, Blaine.”

Blaine backed away and gently turned Kurt to face him. “Yes you are, Kurt. You’re worth everything. You’re… you’re beautiful.”

Kurt’s breath hitched, either from Blaine’s words or the pure emotion that swam in his eyes, he didn’t know. He subconsciously shuffled a bit closer to Blaine, the mood in the room shifting.

Blaine continued, his decision final. “Kurt, I… I don’t really know how to tell you this, but I’ve been waiting so long to, and I finally built up the guts to say this. I—I can’t stop thinking about you. You’re my best friend, and I don’t know if it’s selfish, but I want so much more. I want you, Kurt. I want you to be mine and me to be yours. You’re the most selfless, kind, talented, beautiful person I’ve ever met. I just had to give it a shot, even if this makes you hate me. I just—“

It was with those words that Kurt snapped out of his ecstasy-filled daze. “Blaine.”

“had to do this, and—“

“Blaine!”

He finally got the hint and shut up. He let his eyes drift up to Kurt’s, immediately transfixed and meekly questioned, “…yes?”

Finding his breath along with his courage, Kurt simply stated, “I like you, too.”

Something seemed to break in Blaine at Kurt’s words, and with restrained excitement, he enveloped Kurt in his arms. Kurt hesitated, his heart running a marathon in his chest, but he continued when he saw the expression in Blaine’s eyes. Their hearts seemed to run in sync as they inched forward. When their lips finally met, every love song and storybook romance seemed to apply to them at that moment. They were happy; they had each other. No one could take this moment from them.

After a good 30 seconds, the pair separated, hearts in their eyes.

“Wow,” Blaine breathed.

Still a little breathless, Kurt murmured, “Uh-huh. I just—um, wow.”

Blaine grinned just a tad and whispered, “And you call me inarticulate.”

For the moment, Blaine and Kurt just gazed at each other. At eyes, cheekbones, lips, they simply memorized every feature of their faces. Their expressions mimicked each other’s, ones of elation, bliss, and something indefinable. Neither could pinpoint what it was.

That, or they couldn’t believer it.

**********

Kurt knew it was a bad idea; he knew he shouldn’t have made out with Blaine in the privacy of the “mirror room,” as they’ve now come to call it. But it was just Blaine’s eyes, and his heart, and his stupid, beautiful face, and there was no way he could possibly resist. So now here he was, locked from the inside of the vast Swedish furniture store known as Ikea, all because he was too goddamn horny to hear the announcement that the store was closing.

God, he had to work on his self-control.

“Kurt? Kurt, it’s ok.”

“No, it’s not ok, Blaine! What part of we’re locked in Ikea overnight don’t you understand?” Kurt spazzed.

“Exactly! It’s just overnight! We’ll be ok. We might as well make the best of our situation.”

“The best of our situation? Where do you expect us to sleep? ‘Cause I’m sure as hell not sleeping on the floor!”

Blaine sighed, gently facepalmed, and rubbed his eyes. “Kurt? Kurt, just calm down and listen to me, “ he added when Kurt refused to stop flailing. “We are in Ikea. We are in a furniture store. There are beds here.”

Kurt deflated, still hyperventilating from his panic attack and lowered his volume. “Oh. Yeah. Oops. Well… let’s go check out the beds, then.”

Blaine’s eyes crinkled as he grinned at Kurt and shot forward to peck him on the lips. “You’re so adorable. Of course. Let’s go,” He the took Kurt’s hand and sauntered off to locate the beds

**********

The couple separated once they found the bedroom section. As backwards as it may seem, they decided to sleep in separate beds now that they were together. It had already been established that they couldn’t keep their hands off each other, and they didn’t want any temptation.

They were now testing all of the beds. There were options, so why not?

“Ugh, no!”

Kurt spun around to see a fumbling Blaine flailing on the beds next to him. “What? Is it too hard?”

“No! Too soft! I can’t even get out!” he exclaimed, still rolling on the bed, trying to get out.

After 17 pitiful seconds, Kurt finally hoisted Blaine up off the bed. “Maaaybe that bed wasn’t for you,” he giggled and took a glance at Blaine, who was still panting. “Are you sure you’re gonna make it?”

Blaine glared at Kurt and immediately his persona changed. His toothy grin shocked Kurt, and he darted off to discover the perfect bed.

Kurt was happy. Not for the reasons you would think, though. Even though their feelings for each other had been confessed, they still acted the same way around each other. They were still the trademark “Kurt and Blaine,” or “Klaine,” as Blaine had referred to them earlier that year. He was happy that nothing had changed; he still had his Blaine.

Of course, he was still happy as hell that he could kiss him now.

**********

Kurt had already found the perfect bed, much to Blaine’s discontent. Both teenagers had calmed down and were now in their respective beds, albeit, 10 feet from each other. They room was silent, the only sound being the gentle buzz of the air conditioner and the occasional sigh.

The silence was broken when Blaine spoke up. “Kurt?”

“Yes?”

“What are we now?”

Kurt flipped over towards him and cocked his head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, a-are we dating now?” Blaine whispered, blushing.

Not expecting that question, Kurt grinned. “Yes, of course we are.” Suddenly filled with nerves, he added, “If you want to.”

Eyes almost disappearing in his dopey smile, Blaine quickly responded, “I do. More than anything.”

“Good.” Kurt turned back around to stare at the ceiling, barely containing his excitement.

Both rested in the vast showroom, simply pondering their luck and listening to the other boy breathe. It was peaceful, calm, and one of the best days of their lives.

Around midnight, about 4 hours after being locked in, Kurt heard shuffling. He was about to turn around to see what it was, when he felt the bed dip beside him and a strong pair of arms wrap around him. His body flooded with warmth, and a grand sense of “home” encase him. He honestly loved the feeling.

“I’m sorry,” Blaine’s breath cascaded across his neck, “I just needed to be with you.”

“Me too,” was all that Kurt whispered. It was all that was necessary.

He had slept with Blaine many times before, as a friend of course, but for some reason this time felt so much different. So much better. He glanced over at the sleeping boy beside him; the boy who could make him smile at even the darkest moments in his life, knew every secret and regret he held and still stayed; the boy, who even though had been through so much turmoil, still appreciated and cherished any and everything he had in his life. Even Ikea.

At that moment, Kurt realized something he might have known for a while but didn’t want to believe. This time, there was no denying it. It hit him like a head-on collision with a freight train. How had he never seen this before? Was he that blind?

He turned and snuggled into Blaine’s chest and kissed his cheek. “I love you,” he whispered to the sleeping boy, as he too drifted into the depths of sleep.