Blaine smiled down at Kurt, lying on their bed wearing nothing but his newly acquired engagement ring.

"Do you like it?" he asked when Kurt didn't stop staring at it, twisting it on his ring finger.

Kurt finally tore his eyes from his hand and grinned up at him. "I love it. You know I love it. I loved the gum wrapper ring; I would have loved a ring made out of tin foil.We're engaged."

He grinned even broader and used his other hand to pull Blaine down in a kiss. When they finally broke away, Blaine's smile was just as broad. "I'm glad" he whispered, pecking Kurt once, twice, before lying down next to him and taking his hand, stroking softly over his ring finger.

"We'reengaged" he repeated incredulously, more to himself than to Kurt. Kurt just laughed and rolled over so that he was facing Blaine on the bed.

"Did you have any concerns that I would say no? You sound so surprised." He pushed himself up on his elbow so that he was looking down at Blaine, his smile soft. It was Blaine's absolute favorite smile; a smile that was only reserved for him.

He took Kurt's hand to his mouth and kissed the ring, murmuring against it and keeping his eyes on the ceiling. "No. I mean, we have talked about getting married and spending the rest of our lives together for what feels like forever, but now... I just- I think I will always be astonished that you are actually mine.Forever. And also.. it's just, I've been waiting to ask you to marry me for what feel likeyears. I'm just really, really glad it's finally happening. That we are doing this. Together."

When he looked back at Kurt, his eyes were a little glassy and his smile wobbled slightly. "If you hadn't already proposed, I would have definitely said yes after this little speech." he explained when Blaine looked at him inquisitively. Blaine laughed and used the hand not still clutching Kurt's to push through his disheveled hair self-consciously.

"Also, had I known that finally popping the question would lead to awesome engagement-sex, I would have actually done it years ago" he teased, laughing when Kurt snatched his hand away and stuck out his tongue. "Way to ruin a perfectly sweet moment, Blaine Warbler. And really, you cannot blame me for being slightly enthusiastic about this turn of events. Seriously, you're acting like we are in our late forties or something with your talk about wanting to ask me for years. Slight exaggeration, don't you think? I'm only twenty, how many years have you been waiting to ask me, hmm?"

It was Blaine's turn to stick out his tongue and though he knew Kurt was only teasing, he couldn't help but answer truthfully. "Well, I told Burt I wanted to ask you to marry me in May 2013, which means you were still 18 and since you are 20 now has actuallybeenyears."

Kurt just stared at him. "You- what? Why? When?"

Blaine blushed slightly and pulled Kurt down so that he was lying half on top of him, his head on Blaine's chest. This was so much easier without Kurt's incredibly blue eyes staring down at him.

"I- When you came home for Burt's doctor's appointment, before regionals my senior year, do you remember?"

Kurt nodded against his chest. "Of course I remember. It hasn't beenthatlong."

"Well.. I told Burt back then that I wanted to ask you to marry me. I also talked to Sam about it. I actually met Jan while I was ring shopping, she owns the store where I got this ring."

He combed through Kurt's hair distractedly and also to keep him down when he tried to raise his head.

"You got this ring in 2013? But- I don't understand. If I remember correctly, we weren't even together back then."

Blaine felt his chest tightening as always when they talked about the months they had been separated. If it was up to him, he wouldn't ever acknowledge that such a time had ever existed. Though he knew now that both he and Kurt had needed the time to experience things on their own, developing and growing into the people they were today to come together even stronger on the other side, it had still beenhard. And he would never not feel guilty that he had hurt Kurt like that. Had hurt himself like that. He vowed to never ever hurt them again, tightening his hold on Kurt in a silent promise. Kurt responded by stroking soothing circles on his chest.

"No, we weren't together. But I still knew. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I knew you were the only one for me. I knew we were right for each other. And I wanted you to know. That I was sure. That you could rely on me. I think it was less about actually proposing and more about me showing you that I could be the one for you. Take care of you. I was ready."

Kurt was quiet for a moment, continuing to stroke his chest. Blaine closed his eyes, letting himself drift in the moment, the feeling ofengaged-happy-finally-blisstwirling around in his chest.

"So why didn't you?" Kurt asked after a few minutes of contented silence. It took Blaine a second to remember what they had been talking about.

"You mean besides everyone telling me I should wait?" he asked dryly, kissing Kurt's head before he resumed his combing movements. "I think it was mostly seeing Jan and Liz. Seeing their love, their relationship- they had been together all this time, they hadn't needed to make it official for it to be real. I mean, I still wanted to marry you, obviously, but I realized that there really was no rush. That I could wait before proposing and what we had would still always be important and real, and just. Everything. You will always be everything. What we have will always be everything. I knew I didn't need to propose for you to know that I would love you for as long as I live. You knew. You know. So I decided to wait until.. you know, we would at least be a couple again. Maybe live together. Have something real."

Kurt hummed against his chest in agreement before finally pushing his head against Blaine's hand and pushing himself upwards to look Blaine in the eye. He was smiling slightly "I'm really glad. That you waited, I mean. And also that you have always wanted to marry me. I don't even know what I would have thought or said if you had proposed back then. This is so much better. I didn't need you to propose to know that you would always be the only one for me. And I think, for me to realize that on my own was better, don't you?" Blaine nodded and Kurt smiled even brighter. "And I love that we have actually been able to test our relationship in real life. Here, in the big city, living together, having the stress of school and forgetting to go grocery shopping and leaving dirty socks on the floor, we have proven that we can overcome it all and be happy. Really happy. Deliriously happy, right now. And I love you so much. And always will. And I can't wait to marry you. Because I've also been waiting for years, you know?"

Blaine laughed and kissed his fiancé, smiling against his lips. Kurt was right. Not that he was surprised, he had learned by now that Kurt wasalwaysright. But this time, he didn't really mind.

This was so much better.