“So, we have cheddar …”

“Check.”

“Monterey jack.”

“Check.”

“Pepper jack.”

“Check,” Blaine answers, moving food items from one end of the shopping cart to the other as Kurt names them off his mental shopping list.

“Blue, goat, and gouda.”

“Check, check, and check.”

“Great. All we need is brie and crackers, and we’re all set.”

“Got it.” Blaine continues down the aisle towards a display containing soft cheeses, festooned with plastic pumpkins and fake leaves in preparation for colder weather holidays. But Kurt and Blaine have a different cause to celebrate. Tomorrow night they would be hosting their first official dinner party in their brand new apartment. Their apartment, not the loft that, even though it was an amazing space for an amazing price, never really felt like home to Blaine. This apartment was their place. They chose it together. It belonged to the two of them in equal parts. And even though it was smaller by probably half the square footage and more expensive by several hundred dollars, Blaine couldn’t be happier. This was another first to mark off the list, the most important bucket list of all - the one they created to commemorate their life together.

They’d start with the apartment, and then, in a few months from now, when they were settled with school and their jobs and each other, Blaine would ask Kurt to marry him.

With any luck, the pain of their past would be far enough behind them that Kurt would say yes.

“No, wait. Didn’t Sam mention wanting to try …?”

“Oh yeah.” Kurt frowns. “He wanted that tacky fruit-and-nut cheese, didn’t he? That’s neon orange and comes in a ball?”

“Yeah.”  Blaine chuckles, recalling the abject horror on Kurt’s face when Sam first mentioned it. But they’re pulling out all the stops for this dinner. They want to include a little something special for every guest, which is why they’re buying a six-pack of Rachel’s latest obsession – coconut mango flavored Chia Vitality beverage, and a box of Franzia sunset blush for Brittany.

Kurt originally turned his nose up at the idea of buying wine that comes in a box. He lives by the adage that friends don’t let friends drink boxed wine, while Blaine sees it as an adult version of Capri Sun.

But Santana says Brittany thinks wine tastes fancier when it comes from a box, so boxed wine it is.

“Do you think we look for it under ‘cheese balls’ then?” Blaine asks, snickering at his own question.

“No. It has some weird name. I texted it to myself.” Kurt reaches into his messenger bag and pulls out his phone, but something else falls out. A small, leather box hits the ground with a dull thump. The second it does, both men’s eyes dart to it – Blaine’s with curiosity, and Kurt’s with fear. With the same thought in mind, they both reach for it.

Blaine gets to it first.

“Kurt?” He holds the box up, examining it for any indication that it’s anything more than an empty old box. If he hadn’t been paying attention, he might have written it off as the box to the promise ring he had given Kurt back in high school, the one he’d made from chewing gum wrappers. Kurt used to carry it around with him everywhere. But that box was red.

This one is black.

“Kurt? What is this?”

“Oh, that?” Kurt reaches for it, but, without Blaine making a move to keep it, he pulls his hand away. “It’s just a … it’s kind of a …”

“Kurt” – Blaine is on the brink of opening it, but he doesn’t want to. Not without permission. If Kurt just lets him open it, it might not be what Blaine thinks it is.

What he hopes it is.

“Is this a …?” He runs his thumb over the lid, the edges a little worse for wear, as if Kurt has been carrying it around in his bag along with his school books for quite some time. Kurt looks at Blaine’s face, contemplating how to get out of this quickly, painlessly, and more importantly, honestly, but he can’t figure out a way around it. He didn’t think he’d have to come up with an excuse for this, not now, and not here in the middle of the deli department. He looks into Blaine’s hope-filled eyes and sighs.

“Yes. It’s an engagement ring.”

Blaine’s hand holding the box trembles, as if the weight of what’s inside has suddenly become too much for him. “H-how long have you had this?”

“Well, I … actually, I bought it the day I moved to New York.” Kurt takes Blaine’s hand in his. “After my plane landed, I went wandering the city streets, thinking about how much my life was going to change, and how much I wanted you to be a part of that change because being in the city of my dreams, working towards getting on Broadway, it wouldn’t be as much fun without you.” Kurt uncurls Blaine’s fingers from the box, but Blaine is reluctant to let go of it. Now that he knows it exists, he doesn’t want to give it up. But Kurt doesn’t put the box away. He lifts the lid, revealing the most beautiful white gold filigree ring Blaine has ever seen, set with sapphires in the center of the swirls. It’s simple but elegant, and perfect in absolutely every way. “I was walking past a pawn shop when I saw this in the window.” Kurt glances down at it, laughing nervously at the memory, but also at the reality of presenting Blaine this ring in the middle of the supermarket, with a small crowd of onlookers gathering. “It kind of leaped out at me. I couldn’t stop looking at it, couldn’t stop picturing it on your finger. I knew right then that I could search the rest of my life and never find a more perfect ring. It reminded me of how you came into my life, out of the blue, and how I knew from that moment I would never meet a more perfect person for me.”

“Do you still believe that? E-even after everything?” Blaine asks in disbelief, not going so far as to divulge the dirty details in front of their impromptu audience.

“Even after everything,” Kurt says with a small smile. “It may sound silly or naïve, but I knew it would be you. In a year from now or ten years from now, it would always be you. And once I came to terms with that, everything else fell into place.”

Blaine looks at the ring, its sapphires twinkling beneath the bright market lights, and swallows hard. “Kurt, I …”

“Just tell me, before we make a scene …” Kurt gets down on one knee, lunging instead on kneeling so as not to ruin his jeans “… would you …?”

“Yes!” Blaine exclaims, holding out his hand so Kurt can slip the ring on his finger. “Yes! Absolutely, yes!” He grabs Kurt’s upper arms and helps him up, then throws his arms around him and kisses him. Normally, Blaine wouldn’t kiss Kurt in public. They’re cautious about even holding hands. But he can’t help himself. Not after that speech, and what has to be one of the happiest moments of his young life. Not when all he can hear is Kurt moaning into his mouth, and the modest but gleeful applause billowing around them.

“How about we go home and celebrate in private?” Kurt suggests, opting to cut their kiss short when he remembers that they’re not entirely alone in the cheese aisle.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Blaine says, happy to abandon their shopping and head for the nearest exit. They walk three feet past a line of beaming shoppers, still wrapped in each other’s embrace, when Kurt stops short and spins with Blaine still latched to his arm.

“Wait!”

“What?”

“We still need to buy cheese for the party!”

“Except now it can be a housewarming-slash-engagement party,” Blaine points out.

“Which means …”

“We should buy another box of wine.”

“Absolutely,” Kurt says, steering them back towards the alcohol with Blaine’s arm in his. “If one box is fancy, two will put us over the top!”