I have no idea how I’m going to do this.

There’s no pressure, I try to tell myself. It’s just asking Kurt a question, right? No different to any other question.

Except that it’s not just any other question - it’s the question. The one that will determine the rest of our lives. The one that will show him how much he means to me. The one that will be the first step to making sure that the love of my life becomes my husband. And since Kurt is the ultimate romantic, I have to go all out. I have to be amazing. I have to be everything he’s ever dreamed about, because hopefully (I beg and wish and pray) this will be a once in a lifetime thing.

It has to be perfect because Kurt Hummel deserves perfection.

But I seriously can’t think of anything that hasn’t been done before. What kind of proposal hasn’t been covered by movies, news stories, blogs or TV shows? I can’t think of a single original idea and I’m starting to fall into a slight bout of anxiety about it.

I try asking Cooper for help, but his advice that I shouldn’t stress about it and just hand him the box while we’re grocery shopping or something seems to be more of a hindrance than anything else. And I’m too scared to go the Rachel Berry route. I love the girl, but she’s only a few sprinkles short of a crazy cake. I’m afraid any plan she might suggest might involve hot air balloons and small furry animals. Not that I’m opposed to either, but the term ‘over the top’ does spring to mind.

I wish I knew what to do. I’ve had the ring for ages now. It’s the one he pointed to when we were Christmas shopping last year - around the time we first started seriously talking about marriage. He happened to see it on display when we slipped into a jewelry store looking to buy earrings for Carole and instantly declared his love for it.

I bought it the next day.

But it’s become a heavy burden in my pocket, begging to be given but offering me no help in getting me to that point.

Completely useless.

I sigh and rub my eyes in exactly the way Kurt has told me not to on numerous occasion, and it does little to relieve the tension there.

What if I just carried it everywhere and spontaneously surprised him if we ever ended up somewhere nice? That could be romantic, right?

I don’t have much time to consider it, because moments later I hear Kurt’s key in the front door. I scramble to shove the ring into my pocket before he strolls into the living room looking absolutely breathtaking. His cheeks are flushed from walking in the chilly air outside and he’s got that look on his face again like he can’t believe I’m real.

I can’t believe he’s real.

“Oh good, you haven’t changed,” he says finally with a smile, helping me up from the sofa and pressing a small, playful kiss to my lips when I’m steady on my feet.

Well someone’s in a good mood tonight, I think to myself, kissing back enthusiastically.

“Do we have plans?” I ask, breaking the kiss to do so. I know when Kurt gets like this it’s normally because he’s got something good up his sleeve.

“Nothing too fancy,” he says, his arms firmly circled around my waist, holding us close together. “It’s just really nice out and I kind of wanted to go on a walk with you. We can grab coffee later too, if you’d like.”

“Sold,” I say, with a grin, placing a kiss on his nose and making my way over to the kitchen counter where I left my phone and wallet.

“Don’t you dare,” he says as I make to pocket the wallet, and I immediately stop. “I’m paying tonight, okay?”

“Okay,” I say, having learned long ago not to argue when Kurt is in a ‘let me pay’ mood. Kurt beams as I grab my coat and we make our way downstairs and into the crisp autumn evening outside. It’s just starting to get dark and the city seems to sparkle. It’s honestly my favourite time of the day at my favourite time of the year.

“I love New York in the fall,” I say, threading my fingers through Kurt’s as we stroll down the avenue in the direction of our favourite coffee place. “It’s just so… I can’t put my finger on it, but the city is at its best.”

“I know what you mean,” says Kurt, smiling contentedly. “For me, it makes me believe that anything is possible. I mean, just being here to see the seasons change year after year - it reminds me so much of when I first brought up how much I dreamed about coming here.”

“I remember that,” I say, running my thumb lightly across his hand as I spoke. “You were just about to go to Nationals and you were so excited and you just sort of blurted it out.”

Kurt chuckles.

“Yeah, it wasn’t the most graceful of approaches, was it?”

I give his hand a playful squeeze.

“But do you remember what you said?” he asks, stopping to look at me seriously a few feet away from a street busker strumming out a soft version of a currently popular top forty tune.

“I think I said something horribly embarrassing about how I wanted to move in with you even though we had barely just started dating.”

Kurt smiles and softly shakes his head.

“No, you said - and I quote - ‘I just want to be where you are.’ And despite everything - all the shit we’ve been through - here you are Blaine. Right here with me. And though I didn’t really know what to say back then, I know exactly what I want to say to you right now.”

My heart hammers excitedly and I momentarily turn to look at the guitarist when I realize that he’s now playing “Teenage Dream”. He’s smiling softly to himself as if anticipating something and I wonder what he could possibly be waiting so expectantly for. I turn back to find Kurt smiling at me nervously before he drops to one knee and produces a little black velvet box from his coat pocket.

My knees go so weak I almost join him.

“Blaine Anderson, I love you so much it hurts sometimes. You drive me crazy. You make me wonder sometimes if I’ve hit my head and woken up in someone else’s life. You make me want to be everything you deserve. I don’t ever want to imagine my life without you. You are my everything now. I just want to be where you are.”

He opens the box and I can’t seem to stop the river of tears cascading embarrassingly from my eyes.

“So would you make me the luckiest man alive by letting me be your husband?”

I choke out a laugh as I also drop to one knee, producing Kurt’s ring as I do.

“Only if you promise to let me be yours,” I say, opening the box.

I see a single betraying tear track down Kurt’s perfect cheek as he nods silently, stunned at the fact that I had been planning the same thing. I take the ring out of the box and slide it onto Kurt’s shaking left hand. He does the same with my ring and afterwards we laugh because we both realize that we’re still kneeling in the middle of a New York City sidewalk.

I help him up and waste no time in kissing him softly - hoping that it conveys what I can’t seem to articulate at that point.

Thank you. I love you. You’re my forever. I can’t wait for the rest of our lives.

We break apart and I take his hand again, feeling the rapidly warming metal band on his ring finger against mine and wondering why I had even been worrying about this in the first place.

It would have been perfect no matter what, because Kurt was perfect.