1.

It was their sixth Valentine's Day together, and as clichéd as it was, Blaine had decided that it would be the perfect occasion to propose.

He had booked a reservation at their favorite restaurant, a place they went only after saving up for weeks beforehand. Blaine had been saving for months this time and was finally able to buy the perfect ring and set up the perfect date.

Blaine should have realized that things wouldn't go well when Kurt woke up on the day of their date not feeling well. However, Kurt being Kurt, he insisted that it was just a mild stomach ache and he would just take it easy until they went to dinner. Blaine made sure that Kurt had plenty of water and rest throughout the day, and by the time they were getting ready to leave, Kurt seemed to be feeling much better.

The plan was to eat dinner, and then at 8:15 pm sharp, the small band would start to play "Teenage Dream" - the result of another strike of genius that hit Blaine a few days prior, and he had made sure the band had the right sheet music - and once the song was over, Blaine would get down on one knee and pop the question. The ring was ready to be worn and was nestled deep within Blaine's jacket pocket. It was an elegant platinum band embedded with a row of tiny diamonds, only big enough to add an extra bit of sparkle.

Kurt looked absolutely stunning despite being under the weather. Blaine's breath hitched when he stepped out of the dressing room - actually a spare bedroom that Kurt had claimed all rights to - and Blaine was overcome for a few moments with how much he loved Kurt. He had loved him for almost seven years, and there was no doubt that he would love him for a million more. Blaine felt absolutely sure that tonight was going to be the night.

They took a cab to the restaurant, an elegant place with soft lighting and food that could make mouths water from miles away. Blaine took Kurt's arm as they walked inside and proceeded to pull out a chair for Kurt, making him smile at the chivalrous gesture. As they perused the menus, Blaine noticed that Kurt was starting to fidget.

"Hey, you okay?" Blaine asked, placing a hand on Kurt's forearm.

"I'm fine. My stomach is starting to act up a bit. I'll be better after I eat something," Kurt said with a small smile.

Blaine nodded and looked back to his menu, the reality of what was going to happen in less than an hour hitting him all at once and making the words in front of him blur together into a giant page of ink blots. Before the night was over, they would no longer be boyfriends. They would be fiancés.

They ordered their food and drinks, Kurt opting to stick with water instead of wine considering he still wasn't feeling well. Once their food arrived, Kurt seemed to be in good spirits and Blaine was slowly slipping further toward a nervous breakdown. Blaine glanced at his watch and saw that in seven minutes, the band would start to play their song.

As they finished their meals, Kurt grew more and more quiet. He slowly nibbled on the remainder of his food and Blaine felt guilty that he hadn't insisted that they stayed home. However, he also knew that Kurt was as stubborn as a person could get and if Kurt said that they were going, there was no use arguing.

Despite his growing excitement, Blaine was concerned for Kurt, who had suddenly stopped eating altogether and was looking down at his plate like it had offended him somehow. Blaine looked again at his watch.

One minute to go.

"So, the band is sounding good tonight," Blaine said, trying to focus Kurt's attention to the music.

"What? Oh, yeah, they're nice," Kurt replied, clearly very distracted.

Just as the opening notes to "Teenage Dream" started, Kurt said a quick ‘excuse me' and ran from the table in the direction of the restrooms. Not a minute later, Blaine received a text.

We need to leave. NOW.

Blaine quickly put money on the table and grabbed their coats. He met Kurt by the door and flagged down the first taxi he saw. He had been a little disappointed that his proposal hadn't happened, but when he saw the color of Kurt's face, any negative thoughts went out the window.

They could be fiancés another day. This time, Blaine had a boyfriend to take care of.

2.

"Blaine, what are we doing?"

"Hush," Blaine said, leading Kurt into the Hummel's backyard. They were back in Ohio for a few days, a welcome break from the daily responsibilities and overall craziness that had consumed them both in the past few weeks, in turn severely depleting their time to just be with each other. "I told you it's a surprise, so you are going to let it be a surprise, okay?"

Kurt huffed, feigning annoyance, but the smile on his face told Blaine that Kurt actually loved every second. Blaine had promised him years ago that he would always surprise him, and he had made sure to keep that promise.

This is it, Blaine thought.

He and Kurt had been feeling nostalgic a couple of weeks prior, and spent hours on the couch watching old movies. Kurt had surprised Blaine with wanting to watch Tangled, but Blaine was never one to turn down a classic. As they watched, smiling and laughing at the movie and holding each other tightly, Kurt had mentioned how much he loved the lanterns and that they were ‘terribly romantic'. So, naturally, Blaine had started to plan things.

Kurt gasped when he walked into the yard. Blaine did an internal happy dance at the awe in Kurt's eyes, which were bright and shining even in the darkness of the evening.

Blaine had - with a great deal of caution and a lot of convincing Kurt to go ahead and spend time with some old friends - made roughly twenty paper lanterns, lighting them just before Kurt got home and tethering them to the Hummel's picnic table, each with a fine string that made the lanterns look like they were floating in midair. He had made sure that each string was either longer or shorter than the last, so the lanterns were scattered rather than in one clump once they filled with enough air to rise. Blaine had also patted himself on the back for being clever enough to tie all of the strings together, so that one cut would send them off into the night sky.

It was perfect.

"Blaine." Kurt turned to face him and moved closer, slipping his arms around Blaine's shoulders. "It's beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as what I'm looking at," Blaine said sincerely, smiling at Kurt's small, amused chuckle. "It gets better, though."

"Oh, really?" Kurt said with a quirk of his eyebrow.

Blaine stepped away from him and held up a finger, gesturing for Kurt to wait a moment. He grabbed the small pair of scissors he had left on the back porch and walked over to the strings, knowing exactly which one to cut. He snipped it quickly, then hurried back to where Kurt was standing, wrapping his arms around him from behind and kissing the back of his neck as they both watched the lanterns slowly start to rise.

Kurt hummed happily and leaned back against Blaine, who was discretely reaching a hand into his pocket to grab the small box. Blaine closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, preparing himself, and started to back away so he could get down on one knee while Kurt was still distracted.

"Oh my god! Blaine!" Kurt yelled, pulling Blaine out of his pre-proposal trance. "Look! The tree!"

Blaine looked up, and sure enough, two of the lanterns had managed to work themselves into the branches of the large tree in the back corner of the yard. Smoke had started to billow out from the leaves, making Blaine groan in frustration rather than join Kurt in panic.

"Blaine! What are you doing? There's a fire!" Kurt ran over to the tree and tried to reach up to grab the strings of the trapped lanterns, which were starting to burst into flames.

Blaine quickly pulled out his phone and called 911, making a mental note to omit candles from his next attempt.

3.

Blaine didn't want many people to know about his intent to propose to Kurt. However, he was finding it increasingly difficult to pull off the perfect proposal. Out of all their friends, Blaine figured that Santana would be the best bet. She already lived in New York, and even though she was a huge gossip, she also knew when to keep her mouth shut.

After Blaine had offered to buy her a couple bottles of wine and a gift certificate to one of her favorite restaurants, Santana had finally agreed to help him out. They planned to meet up on a day that Blaine knew Kurt would be at work for hours, so there was no suspicion of Blaine and Santana's spontaneous bonding time.

Blaine had made a list of four places in the city that meant the most to them. They were places filled with memories of the happiest times they had together. The corner where they shared their first New York City kiss, the coffee shop that they both fell in love with for its atmosphere more than the quality of the coffee, the front doors of the Gershwin Theatre, where they had gone to see their first Broadway show together, and at their favorite bench in Central Park, a spot that they frequented on early weekend mornings for no other reason than to make up silly stories about the people walking by.

Despite her griping about how ridiculously cheesy the idea was, Santana showed up on the day of their scheduled adventure, her digital camera ready. Blaine had four pieces of poster board ready with the words "Will you marry me?" written on them, one word for each location. The plan was for Santana to snap a picture of him at every stop, holding one of the posters.

Other than getting in the way of several people, the day went by smoothly. Santana kept any insults mostly to herself when Blaine insisted that some of the pictures needed to be retaken because his eyes were closed or a random stranger walked through the shot as Santana pressed the button.

All in all, Blaine considered the day a success.

When Kurt came home from work that evening, Blaine greeted him as if nothing was going on. They ate dinner, chatting about their respective days. During their conversation, Blaine casually mentioned that he had borrowed Santana's camera to take some fun pictures of the city, since their own digital camera wasn't great for outdoor shots.

"Hey, I'm going to jump in the shower," Blaine said after they finished the dishes. "Do you mind uploading those pictures I was telling you about? I kept trying to unlock the laptop, but I couldn't remember the password."

Before Kurt could answer, Blaine gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and practically ran in the direction of the bathroom. He figured he should actually take a shower, and then grab the ring on his way back out to the living room. If he was really lucky, he wouldn't even need to put on any pajamas.

A few minutes later, Blaine went into the bedroom to grab the ring from its hiding spot among his bow tie collection. Kurt never went through it just like Blaine stayed away from Kurt's scarves. Before he could retrieve it, however, Kurt charged into the bedroom, obviously seething.

"Blaine Anderson! Was that your idea of a joke?" Kurt yelled. "Thanks to you, I'm going to have to find a way to bleach my brain!"

Blaine swayed where he stood, feeling suddenly dizzy. He expected Kurt to be surprised, but this was not how things were supposed to go.

"I'm sorry, Kurt," Blaine said quietly, trying not to cry. "If this is about the pictures, we can talk about it if you - "

"Talk about what? The fact that I saw way more of Santana's lady parts than I ever wanted to in my entire existence?" Kurt folded his arms across his chest, clearly not amused by Blaine's actions.

At that point, Blaine was even more confused.

"What are you talking about, Kurt?"

"The pictures, Blaine. The pictures."

Blaine briskly walked back into the living room and tapped the keyboard of the laptop. He let out an undignified noise at the image in front of him.

It was Santana in all her naked glory. Judging by the number of limbs in the photo, she hadn't been alone.

I'm going to kill her, Blaine thought to himself. Santana had assured him that the camera didn't have any other pictures on it.

Blaine sighed to himself and shut off the computer before heading back to the bedroom, knowing that he would have to do some major damage control and start planning his next proposal.

There was no way Kurt would say yes to anything that night.

4.

Blaine decided that it was time to step it up a bit. He had been thinking too small and it was time to pull out all the stops.

One of his coworkers had mentioned a place an hour or so north of the city that offered hot air balloon rides. It was something that he and Kurt had on their bucket list, so he quickly found the contact info and scheduled them in for the upcoming weekend.

It still wasn't enough, though.

The perfect idea came to him the next day. He was practically giddy after making a few phone calls, incredibly proud of himself for being able to pull off such a huge proposal. Everything was set, and the chances of something happening to ruin the day were nonexistent. There wasn't much that could go wrong as far as proposals go when up in a balloon thousands of feet above land.

The day of their big escapade, Blaine was in a great mood, which proved to be contagious. Kurt seemed to be just as excited, talking animatedly the entire way to the air field about how gorgeous the view would be. The weather was perfect, with bright sunshine and only a few stray clouds. Blaine was absolutely positive that this was going to be the big day.

Once they were in the air, the view was breathtaking. The air field was located in the country, with rolling hills visible as far as they could see. Kurt and Blaine watched the scenery around them in silence, Kurt's arms wrapped securely around Blaine's waist with Blaine resting his head on Kurt's shoulder. The balloon operator was a younger woman in her early thirties, and she had commented several times at how cute she thought they were.

About fifteen minutes into their ride, the sound of a small airplane filled the air. Blaine's breathing got shallower as the plane started to emit clouds of smoke into the air, painting words in its wake.

"Oh, Blaine! Look! Someone's proposing!" Kurt was smiling as he pointed in the direction of the skywriter, who had successfully spelled out ‘marry' and was working on ‘me'. Blaine reached into his pocket for the ring, glancing over at the balloon operator, who had a knowing smile on her face.

"Wow. Whoever Kari is, she is quite a lucky lady, huh?" Kurt said, catching Blaine's attention just as he was starting to kneel on the floor of the basket.

Blaine blinked and looked in the direction of the words in the sky, and his hand twitched before he shoved the ring box back into his pocket and stopped himself from covering his face with his hands and yelling every obscenity he knew.

Marry Me Kari

"Honestly though, the idea is terribly cliché," Kurt said thoughtfully. Blaine wanted to burst into tears and punch something simultaneously.

"Cliché. Yeah. Totally," Blaine responded, nodding his head fervently.

"Are you alright? You seem a little shaken up," Kurt said, wrapping an arm around Blaine's shoulders.

"I'm fine. I guess the altitude is making me a little dizzy," Blaine replied, cursing whoever took down his writing request and the horrendous handwriting that must have caused such a huge mistake. He would definitely be writing that company a very strongly-worded letter.

5.

"I don't know about this, dude," Finn said, looking at the large box hesitantly.

"Finn, it'll be fine. All you have to do is tape up the box and attach the bow and the sign. Kurt will be home in about half and hour, so we need to hurry up and do this."

Blaine had decided that the best thing for his sanity would be to propose to Kurt in the comfort of their apartment. He still wanted to do something special, though, so the idea to pop out of an old dishwasher box - casually stolen from outside a neighbor's door - seemed like a clever idea.

Blaine was dressed in one of the outfits that he knew Kurt liked best, the ring securely in his pocket. He had lucked out with Finn's surprise visit, saving him the trouble of finding someone else willing to tape him up into a box and leave him there. Of course, he had to tell Finn what he was planning on doing once Kurt found him, but there was no way that Kurt and Finn would talk before Kurt got home, so Blaine figured his secret was safe.

To add a little more pizzazz, Blaine had purchased a few glittery helium-filled balloons, and due to his small stature, the balloons would fit perfectly in the box with him. It would be a little snug, of course, but Blaine wasn't planning on spending too much time in there. When Kurt got home, he would find the box, open up the top, jump back in surprise, and then Blaine would pop out with the ring and a smile. There was nothing that could go wrong.

Blaine carefully lowered himself into the box, which he had decorated with wrapping paper in Kurt's favorite shade of blue. He had even bought a matching ribbon that resembled a bow tie for Finn to attach to the top. Finn handed him the balloons one by one, and he used his arms to hold them down as Finn closed the top of the box. Blaine could hear Finn ripping the tape and pressing it to the top, sealing him inside.

"You okay in there?" Finn asked, tapping on the side of the box.

"I'm great. Did you put the bow on top?"

"Yes."

"Did you tape the sign down?" Blaine could hear another small rip of tape and a muffled rubbing sound above his head.

"Yes."

"Okay. Thank you. Now get out of here before Kurt sees you," Blaine said, shifting a bit to get more comfortable.

"Good luck, dude." Finn called as he left, and Blaine could hear the click of the door.

Blaine went to check the time, but realized that he had left his phone on the kitchen counter. He shrugged to himself, knowing that Kurt would be home soon. Blaine couldn't wait, not only because he would finally be able to propose to the love of his life, but because it was starting to get a little warm. He also scolded himself for not using the bathroom before turning himself into a human present.

Three hours later...

"Blaine?" Kurt called as he walked through the door. He had gotten stuck at work much later than usual, and Blaine hadn't responded to any of his calls or texts saying he would be late.

Kurt walked into the living room and spotted a large, blue wrapped box in the middle of the room. He walked toward it slowly, furrowing his eyebrows at the strange item. He then saw the bow tie ribbon and sign, the words "Please Open Me" written out in Blaine's loopy script, and smiled to himself, knowing that Blaine had something up his sleeve. Although, it was strange that Blaine seemed to be nowhere to be found. Kurt looked toward the bedroom, certain that Blaine was in there, nervous and giddy while he waited in anticipation of Kurt opening his gift.

Kurt went into the kitchen and grabbed the box cutter, noticing Blaine's phone on the counter. He shrugged and returned to the box, carefully removing the bow before cutting the tape. When he opened the top, he stood back as two balloons flew out, and then moved closer to look inside the box. There was nothing that could have prepared Kurt for what he saw.

Blaine was curled up in a half-sitting position, covered in sweat, with one balloon behind his head and another clutched to his chest like a stuffed animal. He was also fast asleep. Kurt pulled out his phone to snap a picture - Blaine looked adorable - then reached in and nudged Blaine's shoulder.

Blaine's eyes opened slowly, but then he seemed to panic a bit, flailing in the box and batting away the remaining balloons. He stood up quickly, immediately falling to the side and knocking the box over in the process. He landed on the floor with a thud, face first on the carpet, and Kurt rushed to kneel at his side.

"Are you okay?" Kurt asked, fighting the urge to laugh hysterically.

"M'feet sleeping," Blaine responded, his face pressed against the carpet. He used his arms to do a sad-looking army crawl out of the box before collapsing back down onto his stomach.

Kurt covered his mouth to suppress his laughter, causing Blaine to grunt in irritation.

"What were you doing in the box?" Kurt asked, running his hand over Blaine's back. Blaine turned his head so he was facing Kurt.

"I wanted to surprise you." Blaine said pitifully.

"Well, consider yourself victorious." Kurt laughed again, shaking his head at how much Blaine resembled a small child when he pouted. "Now, why don't you get up, and I'll make us something to eat."

Blaine nodded, his stomach agreeing as well. He realized that his plan had failed again and he sighed as he got up from the floor, the pins and needle sensation in his legs and feet finally gone.

He would come up with a new plan. A better plan.

First, however, he really needed to use the bathroom.

+1

Blaine woke up to the smell of blueberry pancakes and fresh coffee, smiling as he stretched out on the bed. Kurt's side was already cool, which meant that he had been awake for a while already. Blaine got out of bed slowly and put on a pair of sweatpants before padding over to the bathroom. He brushed his teeth while thinking about all the times he had tried to propose to Kurt. He knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with him, but maybe it really wasn't the right time to take the next step.

Blaine made his way into the kitchen and found Kurt already dressed, looking dazzling in a pale green button-up shirt and his favorite jeans. He was hovering over the stove, flipping pancakes and tending to the turkey bacon. Blaine crept up behind him, sure that Kurt didn't hear him based on the way Kurt was humming and focusing on cooking breakfast.

As soon as he was close enough, Blaine dug his fingers into Kurt's sides, wiggling them and making Kurt jump and squeak loudly. Blaine let go and moved away, laughing at Kurt's red face and angry glare.

"You're a jerk," Kurt said, biting his bottom lip to hide his smile.

Blaine was still laughing as he opened up the cabinet to grab a mug. He didn't notice Kurt reaching for a handful of flour, and he certainly didn't expect it to hit him on the side of the face. Blaine set his mug down calmly and turned to face Kurt, who had gone back to cooking and was trying to look innocent.

"Oh, it's on now, Hummel"

A few minutes later, they were both covered in flour, eggs, and pancake batter. The kitchen looked horrendous, and they were in the middle of it, sitting on the floor, tangled up in each other, and laughing hysterically. As much as he knew the clean up would be no small feat, Blaine loved moments like this. These were the times that were just them. There were no deadlines, no events to attend, no responsibilities to take care of. They were able to be carefree and silly without any fear of judgment.

Blaine was suddenly hit with a giant surge of emotion. Kurt was a complete mess, batter streaked across his cheek and in his hair, cheeks flushed and eyes watering from laughing straight from his belly. This was the moment Blaine was waiting for and he didn't even know it. There was no need for elaborate plans or fancy dates. He didn't have to do anything spectacular. He just had to tell Kurt how he felt.

"Marry me, Kurt," Blaine blurted out, all the silliness of the moment melting away in an instant, replaced with wave after wave of adoration and passion. Blaine felt his heart speed up, every beat for Kurt, the man who was his entire universe.

"W-what?" Kurt looked completely stunned, eyes wide and looking at Blaine with both hope and confusion.

"I've wanted to ask you for so long. I've tried so many times." Blaine let out a huff of laughter and dropped his gaze, starting to play with a button on Kurt's shirt. "I made so many plans and they never worked out and I was going to try again, but then I thought that maybe all those failed attempts were just signs that I shouldn't."

"Oh, Blaine," Kurt said, placing both of his hands on either side of Blaine's face, tilting his head up so that he could look at him properly. When he spoke again it was barely a whisper. "Are you serious?"

Blaine grabbed Kurt's wrists, pulling his hands away and holding them in between their bodies. He tangled their fingers together, smiling at the stickiness of their skin and how it made them feel even more connected.

"Kurt, I tell you that I love you all the time," Blaine started, speaking slowly. "Every time I say it, I mean it more than the last. You are the best thing that ever has or ever will happen to me, and I can't even begin to imagine life without you. There is no life without you. You're it for me, Kurt. You always have been and you always will be."

Blaine paused for a moment, swallowing hard and giving up on fighting the tears that had started to fall from his eyes. Kurt was already crying, smiling so brightly that the entire city of New York could have lit up with the power of it. Blaine kissed Kurt's egg-covered knuckle before continuing.

"What I'm trying to say is... " Blaine sniffed loudly. "Marry me, Kurt. Marry me and tell me you will love me forever because I don't think there is anything I could possibly need more than you by my side for the rest of my life."

Kurt launched himself at Blaine, a steady loop of yes and I love you tumbling out among his sobs. They grabbed onto each other and didn't let go until they were both sated and sprawled out on the floor, much less clothed and much more in love.

Later on, kitchen clean and ring in its rightful place on Kurt's finger, Blaine sighed contentedly. Kurt was curled up next to him on the couch, and in that moment, Blaine finally felt like he had won.