It’s a few weeks until graduation and New Directions is rife with talks of getting ‘small-enveloped’.

It all started the week earlier, when Kurt and Blaine were sat in the Hummel living room watching a Gilmore Girls re-run. It was the episode where Rory gets back her college acceptance letters, and Blaine took that moment to say, ‘that’s gunna be us soon.’ The comment was supposed to come out as a joke, but there was no denying the uncomfortable tension that filled the room as soon as he spoke.
‘Oh God, it is,’ Kurt murmured.
They had already had The College Talk at this point and had both applied for colleges in New York. The forms were filled in and they held hands and wished each other good luck as they pushed the envelopes through the mailbox slot.
He was quiet for a long time, so Blaine wasn’t completely focused when Kurt spoke again.
‘Blaine,’ he had whispered, a thought striking him suddenly. ‘Blaine!’ He’d shouted a little louder, fear evident in his voice.
‘What’s wrong?’ Blaine asked as he tore his gaze away from the girls on screen.
‘What if one of us doesn’t get into a college in New York?’ And Blaine would never forget the panic in his eyes as he said, ‘Oh God, what if I get small-enveloped?’
Blaine tried not to laugh. He really did. But come on – small-enveloped?!
‘What does that even mean?’ He’d asked between giggles.
‘It means – oh, shut up!’ Even Kurt couldn’t help but chuckle along. ‘When you get back your college letter, it either comes in a big envelope or a small one. See ...’ he gestured to the TV where the same thing had more or less been discussed minutes ago. ‘And if you get the big envelope, you’re in. But if you get the small envelope then you may as well kiss your chances goodbye.’
It kind of made sense at the time, what with them having to include the next set of forms.
‘Come here,’ Blaine had said, wrapping his arms round Kurt and kissing his cheek. ‘Of course you’re not going to get – what was it again? – oh yeah, small enveloped. You’re fabulous and smart and any college would be lucky to have you. Besides, we both applied for lots of different colleges and courses. You’re bound to be accepted by one, if not all of them.’ And then they’d kissed until there wasn’t a trace of envelopes on either boy’s mind.

‘I heard that one guy last year got small-enveloped from Ohio State College,’ Mercedes says to the group at large one day at lunch, not even touching her tots. ‘Ohio State!’
The phrase has kind of took off by now and is a worry that all of New Directions shares, though realistically none of them need to stress over it. Except perhaps Brittany, Kurt thinks but then scolds himself for being catty, and Blaine really must be rubbing off on him if he’s feeling guilty for his remarks.
‘Mercedes,’ Blaine starts, sounding tired and as though he’s repeated himself a thousand times already – which he has – ‘you are not going to get small-enveloped.

And she doesn’t. Blaine does.
Graduation is a week away and they’ve all dubbed these next few days ‘The Weekend of Truth’. College letters are being sent out now and the Glee club decided to not make any plans; they’re all waiting in their houses so they don’t miss any letters coming. Kurt and Blaine promise to text each other when they get a letter – even if it’s of the small variety – and are under strict orders from each other to not freak out.
So when Blaine races downstairs after he hears the mailman he’s already got his phone out and a blank text to Kurt open. His heart sinks when he sees the return address on the white envelope – because seriously, could they get it any smaller? They’re basically laughing at you with their tiny letters – and he realises that this was one of the courses he was really considering. He fires off a quick text, trying to push past it and focus on the fact that he applied for other great possibilities. He doesn’t even bother opening the letter, knowing it’ll just say something condescending or pretentious. Stupid NYU.
Getting small-enveloped on your first try kinda sucks. Can safely rule out NYU theatre. :(
Blaine assumes that his boyfriend is waiting by his cell phone, considering how fast Kurt calls him back.
‘Hey,’ Blaine answers, trying and failing to keep the glumness he felt from tainting his voice.
‘Hi,’ Kurt replies. ‘Don’t worry about not getting into Theatre. You said yourself you’d rather go to a Performing Arts college if you did go down that route. One small envelope isn’t going to take away all your chances.’ And how does he always know exactly what to say to make Blaine feel better?
‘Yeah, you’re right. Thanks. So have you got any letters yet?’
‘I just got one, probably at the same time as you. It’s from the same course,’ and Kurt sounds uneasy for some reason.
‘And...?’ Blaine prompts.
‘And it was a big envelope.’ His boyfriend replies in a small voice.
‘Kurt, that’s amazing!’
‘You’re not... mad?’
Blaine face pales a little, but it’s not like Kurt can see anyway. ‘Why would I be mad? Because you got in and I didn’t? I didn’t realise I came across like that...’ his eyes sting a little, which is stupid, but he can’t help but feel like a bad boyfriend or something.
‘No, no!’ Kurt hastily reassures him, his voice tinny but sincere. ‘You don’t. I just... it felt like I was flaunting it in your face or something. It sounds silly now.’
‘We just have to tell each other the truth,’ Blaine decides. ‘No embarrassment. Just a quick text saying what course it is and whether we’re in or not. Okay?’
‘Yeah, definitely,’ Kurt agrees, glad that they’ve settled this. ‘Okay, I’ve gotta go sit by the mailbox for the rest of the weekend. Love you.’
Blaine laughs. ‘Love you too.’

Fast-forward two days and Blaine is sat cross-legged facing his front door. Scattered around his feet are envelopes - small envelopes. He’d opened one out of the seven, the one he cared least about, which confirmed his suspicions; small envelopes meant no entry. After the first few had arrived he just stopped telling Kurt. How can he tell his boyfriend that at this rate he isn’t going to New York?
There’s one more letter left to come, and Blaine thinks that if he doesn’t get into Ohio State then he may as well give up and ask his mom if he can live at home forever.
He just doesn’t understand it. He went to Dalton for the best part of two years, and his grades were still above-par when he transferred to McKinley for senior year. He didn’t expect to be accepted into every course and college in the country, but to get rejected from seven out of eight?
The mailman walks up the drive and Blaine throws the door open and practically bombards the poor man, who hands him their mail and walks away looking slightly scared. Blaine shrugs, runs back inside and sifts through the letters. He puts the ones addressed to his parents on the coffee table and then finally finds an envelope addressed to a Mr B. Anderson. It’s a big envelope.
He should feel happier than this.

There’s a sharp tap at Blaine’s door, followed by a ‘Blaine. Let me in.’
Kurt’s boyfriend has been pretty much silent ever since their phone call after his first college rejection, save for a few texts. Their graduation is next week and there’s no classes anymore, so it’s not like Blaine’s skipping school, but it’s Tuesday now and they haven’t seen each other since Friday.
‘Kurt?’ His voice is weak and croaky, and Kurt knows without having to look at him that he’s been crying.
‘I’m coming in,’ Kurt warns him, because he respects the boy’s privacy and all, but there’s no way that he’s going to let a door stand between them when his boyfriend’s upset. Blaine’s parents are both away on business, and so Kurt thinks that he probably won’t have had proper communication with another person for a good few days.
He opens the door to find his boyfriend lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling like it holds the answers to life itself. Kurt glances over to the bedside table and sees a neat stack of small, unopened white envelopes. The sight nearly kills him. Not because it means that Blaine probably isn’t moving to New York – that they can work through. It nearly kills him because it means that not one of those colleges has enough common sense to accept someone as smart and hardworking as Blaine Anderson, and it’s so unfair.
‘You... I thought you said you’d been accepted to a few?’ Kurt asks, trying to keep his tone light and not in any way accusing.
Blaine looks at him then, and his eyes are bloodshot and red. ‘One. Ohio state.’ His voice is croaky and breaks on the last word.
‘Well! That counts for something!’ Replies Kurt with an overly bright attitude.
‘Does it?’ He answers bleakly. It doesn’t require an answer. ‘I mean, say I stay in Ohio... then what? What about us?’
Kurt’s quiet for a second – not too long to worry Blaine, but long enough to actually think – before he answers. ‘You’ll go to Ohio and I’ll go to New York. We’ll see each other at least once a month, and then when we graduate you’ll move to New York with me and show those stupid colleges what they’re missing.’
Blaine smiles, and suddenly he doesn’t feel as bad anymore. They lay together on the bed and eventually drift off to sleep.

‘Blaine!’ Kurt’s shaking his boyfriend’s shoulders and shouting into his ear frantically. ‘Blaine! I swear to God, if you don’t wake up right now I’ll –’
‘M’up, m’awake,’ Blaine’s muttering as he rubs his eyes. ‘What’s up?’
‘Did you open the letters?’
Blaine’s face pales a little, but it’s dark so Kurt can’t see. ‘One of them. Told me all I needed to know.’ He flicks on the light because he knows this conversation isn’t going to end soon.
Kurt’s practically beaming, which is kinda mean, Blaine thinks, but he doesn’t pull him up about it.
‘So you only opened one? Out of all eight?’
‘Well, I opened the Ohio state one too, but yeah, I left the other six.’ Blaine informs him.
Kurt’s off the bed before Blaine even knows what’s happening, and then is suddenly sat back down with the letters in his – slightly shaking – hands.
‘Can you remember when we applied for the courses?’ He asks, and waits for his boyfriend to nod. ‘And I said that writing out applications was more personal, but you said that – ’
‘Typing them up looked professional, yeah,’ Blaine finishes for him. ‘I don’t get...’ but suddenly something clicks, and he looks up at Kurt with hope in his eyes. ‘You think – ’
‘Open one.’ The other boy orders.
Blaine does. His fingers fumble when he pulls the letter out, and he unfolds it and begins to read frantically.

Mr B Anderson,
We are pleased to tell you that you have been accepted into the Theatre course of New York University.
There is no doubt you will not succeed at this course and we hope you consider it.
You have opted to complete your forms and send them via email. The details to do so are enclosed in this envelope.
Blaine stops reading at this point. ‘I got in!’ He shouts, jumping up and down.
Kurt screams and kisses Blaine passionately, then pulls away and hits him over the head. Hard.
‘You – idiot!’ He shouts between smacks. ‘You made me think we were going to have to do long-distance or something because you didn’t even open the letters?’
‘Ow!’ Blaine moans, rubbing his head. ‘You were the one going on and on about getting small-enveloped! I thought it was a fact. I’m never listening to you again.’
‘I don’t blame you,’ Kurt relents. ‘I got that information from a Gilmore Girls re-run.’
They both look at each other for a second before bursting into laughter.
‘Open the next one!’ Kurt cries, clapping excitedly.
Blaine opens the other five. He gets small-enveloped once – though why they’re still calling it that he’ll never know, because that theory is definitely false – which means he can’t do two of the eight courses he applied for. But he’s still got five more options than he thought he had, so he doesn’t even care a little bit.
‘I cannot believe you,’ Kurt chuckles as he shakes his head, and Blaine knows that if he wasn’t so relieved he’d be extremely annoyed.
They’re suddenly both exhausted, and so they turn off the light and get back under the covers.
‘When we move to New York,’ Kurt says around a yawn, ‘I am looking after all your mail for you.’
Blaine laughs. He’s okay with that.

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