Blaine couldn’t repress his smile as he pulled into McKinley’s parking lot. He hadn’t told Kurt that today was a teacher evaluation day, so he was planning on surprising him in glee club. He’d gone ahead and gotten the ok from Mr. Schuester, even though Mercedes, his inside help, insisted it wouldn’t have mattered. They were weeks away from rehearsing for sectionals since they never planned anything more than a few days (or minutes) in advance, and it would give the club something to talk about until some new drama came along.

He didn’t care about New Directions politics- he just wanted to let his boyfriend know how much he cared for him without thoroughly embarrassing him. He’d considered serenading him but decided that he wanted something unexpected and a bit more subtle. Mercedes had helped him formulate his little surprise, and he loved her for agreeing to help out so much.

---

Mercedes had just hit the second number of her locker combination when she looked to her left and saw Blaine walking with a bouquet of flowers. She rolled her eyes as she saw he was still in his uniform.

“You didn’t even change?” she asked.

“No,” said Blaine as his smile began to falter. “I didn’t think I would need to.”

“Well you’re just lucky Kurt would love you no matter what you wore,” she teased.

“I sure hope so,” said Blaine, and Mercedes could tell he was nervous. She wished he could hear just how much Kurt talked about him to calm his fears. It might have been annoying if it wasn’t so sweet. Kurt often confided in her that for the first time his life seemed too good to be real and he was just waiting to wake up. He had grown so much from that scared boy with the smiley-face tie who came out to her before anyone else, and Mercedes was truly happy for her best friend.

“He’s gonna love this, trust me,” she said. “So when I give the signal, you come in and surprise him, got it?”

---

Few classes had been as boring as sophomore algebra, but senior English was seriously threatening to topple it from the top spot, Kurt thought. Mrs. Robinson had chosen the driest anthology to make selections from, and she talked to them as if they were all thirteen. Every day, Kurt paid just enough attention to answer the occasional question but focused most of his energy on counting down to the final bell because that meant it was time for glee. It was still his favorite class, especially now that they felt that they really had a shot at winning nationals this year.

He dropped off his books at his locker and walked into the choir room to see, among his other friends, Mercedes sitting on the front row with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a huge grin on her face. Kurt began to smile as well, certain that someone at this po-dunk school had finally realized how gorgeous Mercedes was and had plucked up the courage to ask her out.

“So who’s the lucky guy?” he asked.

“Blaine Anderson,” she replied.

Confused, Kurt began to ask, “Wha-” but Mercedes thrust the flowers into his hand. “They’re for you, silly. Read the card.”

Mouth agape, he found the tiny white card with Blaine’s handwriting:

Exactly one year ago today you came into my life; now I can’t imagine it before you. Thank you for choosing me on that staircase. You have changed me more than you know. I love you Kurt.

Blinking back tears, Kurt said, “He didn’t sign the card. Typical.”

“Well you’ll have to tell him you found a flaw in his gift,” she laughed. “You can tell him when you see him next- aren’t you supposed to have a date tomorrow?” she asked in a slightly louder tone.

“Yeah, we’re going to that new French caf� then seeing a movie.”

“So, was that Blaine’s idea for your date tomorrow?” she asked, loud enough for the entire room to hear. Kurt just looked at her.

“Yes, it was his idea. Mercedes, are you ok?”

Mercedes had been peering around Kurt’s head into the hall. She snapped her eyes back to Kurt, “Of course! I’m just trying to talk with you about your date tomorrow,” she practically shouted.

Kurt turned around to try and figure out what she was looking at. “Mercedes, what the hell?”

“Oh hold on,” she huffed as she made her way to the hall. Before she reached the door, however, Blaine walked in, completely covered in green and purple slushie.

---

“And after Mercedes gave her cue I was going to sneak behind you, put my hands over your eyes, and make you guess,” said Blaine as Kurt continued to rinse shampoo from his curls. “So there I was, all ready to be a perfect boyfriend, and two jocks had to go and ruin it with a pair of slushies.”

Kurt gave Blaine a quick kiss before grabbing a towel to dry. “You are the perfect boyfriend, Blaine. You set up this surprise for a really important day. You gave me flowers. You gave up your free time to come all the way out here. That means a lot to me.”

Blaine opened his eyes and smiled. He put an arm around Kurt and pulled him into his lap. Kurt gave a surprised, “Oomph!” but happily wrapped his hands around Blaine’s neck.

“I’m so sorry you got slushied,” he said. “Especially in your uniform- I remember how expensive it is.”

“It’s not your fault,” said Blaine. “And if being with you means taking the occasional slushie, so be it. I meant what I said in the card, Kurt. I can’t imagine my life without you in it; that includes the good and the bad.”

Kurt brought their lips together a second time. “I love you,” he whispered.