Kurt and Blaine promised each other one thing before they started their senior year together at McKinley: they would apply to schools in 3 places, New York, Los Angeles and Ohio (as a safety), but no matter what, they would go to the same state together. They mutually agreed on keeping the schools they applied to as a secret. They would wait until they received a letter from each of the schools until they sat down and opened them together. Out of all the letters they would receive, one from each would be handed to the other, depicting their chosen fate.

For months, the boys researched their respective schools, setting their hearts on particular ones and crossing their fingers that everything would fall into place. As the school year moved into spring, letters from universities in their 3 chosen states started to arrive. Blaine and Kurt gave each letter that arrived to their parents for safe keeping and practically sat on their hands to prevent themselves from opening any of them until the magic number had arrived for the both of them. Kurt's was 5. Blaine's was 4. 

A couple of weeks into April, Blaine got his 4th in the mail and Kurt got his 5th. Kurt was the first to call, his breathless voice sweeping into Blaine's ear through his Bluetooth piece as he drove home from school. Blaine lived a good 10 minutes farther away from the school than Kurt did, so he was still a few minutes away from getting a step closer to knowing his future. If Kurt had gotten his 5th letter today, surely he must have gotten the last of his own. Blaine's hands tightened around his steering wheel and took a few deep breaths, trying to not allow the nerves in his stomach dictate his driving. 

Finally as he reached home, he bolted out of his car to the mailbox beside his front door. He opened it to find nothing. Blaine's heart sunk down to stomach and he blinked away the tears of frustration sparking behind his eyes. More waiting, he thought. 

He shuffled into the house and dropped his bag down in the hall. He dragged his feet into the kitchen, wanting to drown his sorrows in ice cream before he made the disappointing call to his boyfriend. Before he made it to the freezer, Blaine spotted a stack of mail on the kitchen table, the crest of a familiar looking university pressed into the corner on the top letter. Blaine's heart started to pound as he skimmed the front of his letter addressed to him.Blaine fumbled for the phone in the pocket of his jeans, hurriedly pressing the buttons to call Kurt.

  “Blaine,” he answered, still a breathless quality in his voice, indicating his nervousness and excitement with the arrival of his last letter.

   “It’s here. I got it. It’s finally here,” said Blaine, all in a rush, sounding just as breathless. He heard Kurt suck in a breath on the other side of the phone.

   “What are you waiting for then? Get over here!” Kurt practically yelled.

  “I know, I know, I have to find my mom…” said Blaine, practically tripping over his feet rushing around his overly large house, trying to find his mother.

  “MOM! MOM? Where are you!” he yelled. Blaine skidded to a stop as his mother stepped out of her bedroom.

   “Blaine, what in the world are you yelling about?”

   “The last letter, it’s here. I need you to give me the rest of the letters so I can go to Kurt’s,” he explained hurriedly.

  His mother looked at him with disdain. When both of the boys explained to their parents about their plan, they weren’t incredibly supportive. Of course both families were incredibly proud and excited for their sons, but they weren’t as willing to wait to hear the results coming in from each school as the two of them where. In Blaine’s case, he was glad he was keeping the results a secret until he met up with Kurt. This way his father wouldn’t be persuading him to pick a certain Ivy League school. Blaine wanted to make sure the decision he made was all on his own. He did have to admit that the decision was practically made in his head already, but he knew the finality of it all depended on the actual results of his letters and what Kurt decided on. Kurt was lucky that Burt and Carole were incredibly supportive of all his decisions, even if they were a little impatient to hear what his future held.

  Also, thankfully, Blaine’s father absolutely refused to allow Blaine to stay in the college dorms, no matter where he ended up because he knew that Blaine would not be able to concentrate solely on his studies and succeed. Blaine scoffed at his father when he mentioned this to him, but thanked him when he realized that he intended to find an apartment for Blaine and pay his rent through all 4 years of school. At first his father was unwilling to allow Kurt to move in with Blaine, but Blaine told him that he would rather live in the dorms, than to live in an apartment alone. He knew Kurt wouldn’t be able to afford a New York or Los Angeles apartment on his own and there was absolutely no way Blaine wanted to be without him. Eventually his father relented and Blaine was getting increasingly excited for his letters to arrive and for his senior year to finish so he could start his life with Kurt, on their own.

   “Not right now Blaine,” said his mother. “Your father is hosting a dinner party tonight for his colleagues and you are expected to attend as the ever doting son,” said his mother, rolling her eyes. She was just about a big of fan of her husband’s work gatherings than Blaine was.

  “Can’t I just skip out, just this once mom, please?” he begged her.

 “Blaine, do you really want to upset your father at a time like this?” As graduation loomed ahead Blaine was attempting to be extra careful around his father. As the breadwinner of the family, Eric Anderson held all control over Blaine’s future, tuition and all. Blaine gave his mother the saddest puppy eyes he could imagine. She sighed and rolled her eyes.

 “Your father is in his study. Might as well try and ask, but don’t you dare pout when he says no. You can see Kurt tomorrow,” she said.

 “Mom, it’s not just about seeing Kurt, it’s about the letters.”

    “I know Blaine, trust me. Just go ask your father and see what he says.”

  Before Blaine walked over to his father’s study, Blaine heard Kurt’s tinny voice coming from the phone he held in his hand.

 Oops, he thought. He completely forgot that he was talking to Kurt on the phone in his excitement.

   “Sorry Kurt,” he said as he put the phone back into his ear. Kurt was softly singing the latest Glee Club song under his breath as he waited for Blaine to return to the phone.

 “It’s alright. I overheard your conversation with your mom. Do you think your dad is going to say yes?” asked Kurt, hopefully.

  “I really don’t know Kurt. I know he’s just as anxious about the results as I am and he knows I’m adamant about following this plan through. I’m going to let you go and I’ll call you back as soon as I know, okay?”

 “Okay, love you.”

   “Love you too, Kurt,” said Blaine, before he hung up the phone.

Blaine approached the closed wooden door of his father’s study, took in a deep breath and knocked.

“Come in!”

Blaine opened the door slowly to see his dad sitting at his desk, reading over some legal briefs.

            “Blaine, what can I do for you?” he asked him.

            “Sir, I was wondering if I would be able to skip out of tonight’s dinner party and go to Kurt’s. We both received our last letters in the mail today,” said Blaine, giving his dad a hopeful look.

            Eric studied his son’s face carefully as he took off his glasses and placed them on the desk.

            “As soon as I saw the letter on the kitchen table I knew there was no hope of you staying tonight Blaine. I knew if I kept you here you’d be miserable and pouty. No to mention you’d be unable to answer any questions that my colleagues would ask you about your future,” said Eric. He stood up from the desk and unlocked on of the file cabinets close to him with a key from his pocket. He handed Blaine four letters.

            “Home by midnight. We’ll be waiting up to hear your decision. Choose wisely, Blaine.”

            Blaine nodded at his father and repressed the huge smile threatening to appear on his face. “Thanks Dad,” he said, before he bolted out the door.

            Blaine rushed to the kitchen, while once again calling Kurt. He grabbed the letter on the table, grabbed his keys and rushed out the door.

            Before Kurt could even say hello, Blaine said, “I’m leaving now.” Kurt squealed into the phone.

            “I’ll see you soon, baby,” he said quickly, hopping into the car. “Love you.”

            He heard a distant “Love you too!” before he hung up the phone and started the car, laughing out of excitement and nerves. He cranked up his favourite Top 40 radio station and sang along loudly to every song on his way to his boyfriend’s house.

As he pulled into the driveway, Kurt was sitting out on the front step, holding a stack of letters in his hand and dressed cozily in one of Blaine’s Dalton Academy Warblers sweatshirts. He grabbed his own stack of letters from beside him and bolted out of the car. Kurt met him halfway and practically tackled him to the ground with a hug. Blaine clutched onto him strongly and breathed in the scent of his boyfriend, warm vanilla sugar and expensive hair product. He reluctantly let go to see Kurt quickly wiping his eyes.

            “Why are you crying?” asked Blaine, surprised.

            “I’m just really excited,” said Kurt, sniffling a little. “We’re going to find out our future today, Blaine Anderson.”

            “I know,” he said, smiling. He kissed Kurt softly on the lips and took his hand, dragging him into the house and upstairs to his bedroom.

            Blaine sat on the end of Kurt’s bed, while Kurt sat up near the headboard. They placed their letters in a row in front of them on the bed.

            “Ready?” asked Blaine, softly.

            Kurt nodded, “Not a word until we’ve both decided and placed our chosen letter in the middle. No peeking either, Mister.”

            “I’m not going to peek!” Kurt just looked at him, eyes narrowing. “I promise,” said Blaine, laughing.

            Kurt pressed his finger to his lips and shushed him. The both of them picked up the nearest letter and started to open it. One by one, Blaine and Kurt opened and read each of the letters sitting in front of them. Blaine’s heart was attempting to beat itself out of his chest. After little to no consideration (seeing as he had practically already made the decision and just needed the actual acceptance to make it final) Blaine placed a letter face down in the middle of him and Kurt, pushing it toward his boyfriend. Another part of the deal was that they would reach each other’s letter once they decided.

            With just as much time passed between his reading and opening letters, Kurt had also already made his decision and placed his letter face down, pushing it towards Blaine.

            They both looked up at each other. Kurt’s chest was rising and falling quicker than normal and his eyes were wide and shining with tears. Happy ones, Blaine assumed. They both nodded at each other and reached towards the respective letters sitting in front of them.

            Blaine picked up Kurt’s, reading over Kurt’s name and address at the top, completely missing the insignia from the school in the corner of the letter.

            Blaine scanned his eyes over the beginning sentences of the letter picking up, Dear Mr. Hummel….pleased to accept you…Tisch School of the Arts…New York University.

            Blaine sucked in a breath as he realized his brain was screaming at him to breathe.

            Tisch School of the Arts, Voice and Theatre program, NYU, New York, ran through Blaine’s mind.

            Across from him, Kurt also sucked in a breath, presumably reading: Dear Mr. Anderson, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into New York University for Social Work.

Both of the boys put down the letters in front of them, barely breathing.

            “New York.”

            “NYU.”

            “We both picked the same school.”

            “New York Blaine, NEW YORK.”

            “New York, Kurt. We’re going to be together in New York.”

            And suddenly they were pressed together, letters falling off the bed. They were kissing passionately and Blaine could feel tears on his cheeks and he couldn’t tell if they were his or Kurt’s. They were kissing and laughing in between and hugging and suddenly Kurt was off the bed and away from Blaine, jumping and laughing and clapping and kind of yelling “NEW YORK, NEW YORK!” and Blaine was laughing along with him.

            “We need to tell everyone,” said Kurt.

            “In a minute,” said Blaine, before he kissed Kurt again. And again. And again.

            “I love you,” whispered Kurt, barely removing his lips from Blaine’s.

            “I love you too,” he replied. He grabbed Kurt in a fierce embrace before following Kurt downstairs and telling Burt, Carole and Finn their final decision.