***

Jen loves watching people.

There is just something fascinating about the millions of lives that touch a person every single day, each so completely whole in itself yet so isolated apart from a few bonds and ties. She loves watching people, loves picking up the little threads of a person to weave her own picture, loves trying to figure them out through passing encounters. Loves those little insights that make people people.

Sure, her old classmates in high school had called her an "obnoxious stalker bitch". Though she so wasnt stalking. ‘Observing is a more appropriate term. And please, like their lives coughed out anything even remotely interesting. In the end, shes the one pursuing a Creative Writing degree in NYADA while they are still stuck taking shifts at Burgerman, so screw them.

Jen loves NYADA - a bunch of theatre nerds with high-strung egos and a flair for drama all rubbing shoulders in an enclosed space? Its a never-ending source of creative inspiration.

So when a certain brilliant Kurt Hummel crashes into her field of vision during that years Winter Showcase, standing out even among a display of the schools best, and winning a hundred hearts with one of the most grippingly raw, heartfelt performances of ‘Being Alive, Jen cant help but perk up with a special interest. With that impeccable fashion sense and aloof untouchable exterior, contrasting fascinatingly with the soul of his performance, Kurt Hummel promised to be an excellent study.

And Jen has never been good at letting those pass by.

That night, she writes a tragic piece about a lonely, sad boy calling out to his one true love (gender neutral, but she has her suspicions) and goes to sleep wondering what Kurt meant when he said he finally understands the true meaning of that song.

*

The first time she sees Kurt after the Winter Showcase is pure accident.

She goes ice-skating with a few of her friends and is just setting out back to her dorms after saying goodbye to them when she nearly runs into a heavy-set, middle-aged man in a baseball cap.

"Im so sorry," she apologizes, moving back with a sheepish grin when he turns to her and that would have been that. Except she notices that his baseball cap reads "NYADA".

"Ohmygod, I go to NYADA!" she says flailing at his cap like a complete moron and then tries to fix it with a coherent polite enquiry, "Does anyone you know go to NYADA?"

"My son," the man proclaims proudly, puffing up like a bullfrog. Its kind of adorable. "He got his acceptance just a couple weeks ago, hes startin in Musical Theatre next semester."

Jen doesnt know what shes more curious about, the fact that this kid is starting halfway through the year or the circumstances that couldve caused that (Laryngitis on the week of his auditions? He was on Broadway and had to defer his acceptance for 6 months? Or maybe the kid is one of those annoying child prodigies and is like, twelve...)

No, the most fascinating thing is that the man in front of her looks like the very definition of a beer-chugging, ignorant, artistically-intolerant all-American white male and he is literally bursting at the seams with pride over his son getting into a performing arts school.

Ooh.

"Well, its nice to meet you!" is all she says though and moves away with a polite, "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas!" the man waves genially, his focus already shifting to someone on the ice-rink, a fond happy smile growing on his face.

Jen turns as she walks away, following his gaze. And nearly trips, because unless she is very, very mistaken (she isnt, shed remember him), the tiny figure ice-skating in the distance is Kurt Hummel.

And he is skating with a boy. Skating really close with a boy. Coupley-close.

Jen stands there a few more minutes trying to discern what Kurt Hummels man looks like, but all she can make out is that hes a little well, littleand that he wears his hair excessively gelled down. She sets off again before it turns from curious staring to creepy staring, but not before turning back for one last glance at Kurt Hummels dad.

Mr Hummel is just standing there staring at them with a smile on his face, except his expression has now graduated from merely fond to fond-happy-relieved-proud.

A man who looks like the walking stereotype of beer-chugging, ignorant, artistically-intolerant, all-American white male, smiling happily at his gay son ice-skating with his boyfriend on Christmas eve.

As she walks away, she firmly slots Mr Hummel into the role of coolest dad ever.

She also pores over her previous dramatic musical creation later that night, mentally striking out the ‘longing to meet his one true love part. Looks like Kurt Hummels performance was just an excellent piece of acting.

Or maybe loneliness over a possibly-long distance relationship, plain and simple. Way too much pathos given the situation, but hey, long-distance is hard.

But well, shes not altering the original piece to accommodate these new developments. Because the original piece is awesome.

And there is something called artistic license, after all.

*

The next time Jen sees him is actually within the hallowed halls of NYADA. She is just scurrying along for her next class when she spots Kurt Hummel strolling in front of her. Accompanied by the blonde English senior, Adam, whod tried to recruit her for his show choir at the beginning of the school year. She pauses and changes route, because screw class, this is more important. (She is not a creepy stalker, she didnt go out tofind them, she just happened to be in the right place at the right time, okay.) And tentatively moves closer so she can hear what they are saying. (Thats totally normal.)

"So I was thinking we could hang out at your loft tonight?" Adam says as they pause leaning against a wall and its flirty. "Make it a date?"

Oh boy, hes hitting on Kurt Hummel. A very much unavailable, I-have-a-boyfriend Kurt Hummel.

Excellent.

She surreptitiously leans on a table nearby, spreads out her books and tries to look industrious, while waiting for the epic smashdown of Adams hopes wherein Kurt would deliver an impassioned speech about his one true love and let down his besotted admirer with grace and poise.

"Uh. Um," Kurt says. "Rachel and Brody will be there. We can meet up for a drink somewhere instead?"

What?

She looks up with her mouth open, surprised stare turning to accusation, before remembering shes not supposed to be listening in the first place and ducks her head down.

"Coffee at 5? At that excellent shop we went to last time?" Adam says, winking.

Smarmy boyfriend-stealer.

"Lets have tea at that little bakery down the street instead?" Kurt says.

"Tea? Kurt, you dont have to drink tea for me," Adam says, grinning widely and winking again and how on earth does he do both at the same time, anyway? "I may be English but I have fallen for your American coffee."

That totally sounds like a pick-up line.

"Um, actually I switched to tea temporarily because Professor Sanders said its better for my voice," Kurt says, blinking bemusedly before smiling. "But I guess we could go for coffee! God knows I miss it."

"Medium drip, right?" Adam says, leaning in unnecessarily close for someone just checking a coffee preference. "See, I remember how you like your coffee."

Kurts entire face falls, like someone kicked his puppy or burned his scarf collection. Possibly both.

"Not anymore," Kurt says, his voice gone weirdly choked up. "I think its time for me to try new things."

Jen really doesnt think hes talking about coffee anymore. And darn it, shes really late for class.

She gathers up her notes and starts towards her classroom. And when she passes them, gives Kurt a particularly disdainful look, to let him know she most definitely does not approve of him messing up her mental narrative of his life story.

Startled, confuses blue-green eyes stare back at her and she sweeps on to the class shes extremely late for.

"Maybe they broke up," she tells herself later, while not listening to the class she was extremely late for. "Maybe long-distance got to be too much and they broke it off and now Kurts trying out a rebound."

That night she writes an extremely angsty scene of lost love and places it in the binder along with the previous one.

*

Over the next few weeks, she only hears talks and whispers here and there. NYADA is a pretty close-knit community. Everyone knows abouteveryone. It filters through the grapevine that Kurt and Adam are maybe-sort-of-not-exclusively "dating" and that Kurt had an epic breakup a few months before, which involved his ex crying over a piano at Callbacks.

The timeline makes no sense to Jen, because that implied Kurt and his now-ex-boyfriend broke up way before Christmas. But then again, the people here arent exactly known for their trustworthy retelling of gossip.

And then everyones buzzing because Kurt wins Midnight Madness, beating reigning diva, who also happens to be his best-friend, Rachel Berry. Theres a lot of hype and excitement over that, which Jen finds sort of boring.

Youd think none of them had ever heard him sing. Of course he won. Rachel is special and incredibly talented, but Kurt is one of a kind. People, honestly.

The first real thing of remark happens a few weeks into March.

Theyre just back to regular classes after a week of shut-down due to snow. Jens walking towards her Musical Theory class when she spots a commotion in the dance room and peeks in to find a really hot Latina girl working it on the prop metal bars. She wants to hang around and see whats going on ("She doesnt even go here," one of spectators next to her is saying) but she has a test. With a deep sigh, she moves on.

A couple days later, shes lounging in the little bakery down the street from NYADA, eating cheesecake and slurping tea while reading ‘Fifty Shades of Grey (the book is absolutely horrific, but one does have to keep up with popular culture to be able to tap the pulse of the current audience), when the same super-hot Latina walks in accompanied by none other than Kurt Hummel. She perks up in interest and tries not to look like shes spying while the two of them get some cake. She buries her nose in the book when they start walking towards her, trying to look as un-stalkery as possible. It mustve worked because they proceed to plop down practically right on top of her, in the table next to hers.

Its just fate at this point. She is meant to be eavesdropping Kurt Hummels life.

There are a few minutes of silence. Jen sneaks up a look to see the Latina and Kurt Hummel engaged in some sort of silent eye-wrestling. She subtly moves around a little so shes settled in such a way she can observe them while hiding behind her book. Sure if they glanced her way, theyd judge her when they see the book cover, but its better than the other option.

"Move in with us again," Kurt says abruptly and the Latina lets out a noise like an angry cat.

"Like Id ever come crawling back to you losers again after you kicked me out," she says, all razor-sharp words and angles.

"Santana, I was worried about you," Kurt says, leaning in a little, pleading now. "Where even were you for the past couple of nights?"

"Its none of your fucking business," the girl, Santana apparently, says, disinterestedly checking her nails.

"Of course its my business. Tell it to anyone and Ill vehemently deny it, but I do care about you."

"You sure showed a lot of care when you sided with Berry and kicked me out."

"Im sorry, okay?" Kurt leans back, a strange mixture of apologetic and pissed off. "Except you owe us an apology too, what were you eventhinking, crashing into NYADA like that? We go to school there, Santana. We could get kicked out!"

"Like theyd ever kick you and Berry out," Santana scoffs. "Youre both reek of Broadway. They know youre both gonna end up on there and they want their dumb college riding on your glittery coattails."

"Maybe that applies for Rachel but not me," Kurt exclaims. "I got in on luck, I was rejected remember? I cant jeopardize this by getting in trouble."

Another beat of silence while they stare at each other. Jen gleefully files away every little tid-bit for later thought.

"Thats bullshit," Santana says, sharp as a whip, like shes angry at what Kurt said. "Theres nothing ‘luck about it, they just finally got their head out of their asses and realized what idiots theyd be to let you go."

Kurt is smiling at her, looking all touched and teary-eyed and a little suspicious and Santana looks vaguely discomfited by her outburst. They both take a sip of their tea, avoiding each others eyes.

"Look Im sorry, alright," Santana says, looking at the tabletop. "Not makin any promises, but Ill try not to crash into your college again."

"Thank you," Kurt says, all graceful and regal, before he straightens his cuffs and picks up his fork for some cheesecake.

Looks like that is that. Jen studies them a little longer, committing the vivid picture they make to memory before ducking behind the book again.

"I still dont understand how the hell that happened," Santana says without preamble a little while later, placing her cup down. "They let in Waxed Ken Doll, not to mention British Boyband Wannabe, but they reject you?"

"Santana stop calling Adam that," Kurt says tiredly, rubbing his forehead. "He acts like he doesnt mind, but I can tell it bothers him."

"And yeah lets talk about that while were at it," Santana says, and everything about her straightens and sharpens. A woman on a mission.

"Talk about what?" Kurts eyebrows are raised warily, defensively.

Jeez, these two are better than cable. Jen wishes she had some popcorn instead of nearly decimated cake and the final dregs of tea.

"Talk about you and Adam," is the scathing reply Kurt gets. "Talk about why you two are still a thing, when you were fucking Blaine halfway to next year on Valentines day."

Jen very nearly has a coughing fit as she snorts in her final sip of tea. What?

Kurts gone all stiff like a cat with its fur on end.

"Everyone hooks up at weddings," he spits and hisses. "You and Quinn did. And she isnt even gay."

"Dont need to be to want a piece of the Snix," Santana says leaning back with a smug grin. "All that sexual tension for over four years, it was bound to happen at some point. And I have to tell you, it was f..."

"I really dont want to hear the sordid details," Kurt interrupts hurriedly, looking pained.

"Well, I do," Santana says, leaning forward with a decisive nod.  "So spill it, Hummel. What is actually going on with you and Blaine? And dont tell me its nothing because I was there when you bawled your eyes out over that dumb song last week."

"Come what may isnt du-!"

Santana sends a truly terrifying glare at him and Kurt cuts himself off, mouthing wordlessly for a second before dropping his eyes to the table.

A beat of silence. Kurt stares at the table and tiredly rubs his eyes.

"I love him," Kurt says, not looking up. "I still love him, so much I cant breathe sometimes -"

He breaks off, choking a little. Santana stays still, letting him speak.

Jen stays still too. For the first time since this entire thing began, she feels vaguely uncomfortable. Sure, she likes observing people, sometimes she may even have crossed from nosy to invasive to borderline creepy in her quest for "observing", but this. For some reason it feels too intimate to be eavesdropping on this.

But she cant exactly get up and leave without drawing attention to herself. Not to mention possibly breaking their moment - its so fragile. And if theres one thing she knows for sure, its how hard it is to get a moment right again once its lost.

"I love him," Kurt begins again, playing with the cup in his hands. "But I cant... I cant get back with him again. He cheated on me, Santana. Barely two months apart and he... In hindsight, I realize it wasnt all his fault. I knew he was worried about us, that he feared Id get too busy for him, but I waved it off. And I got too caught up here, I just trusted wed be okay and didnt make sure we still were..."

Kurt pauses, takes a deep breath.

"But he really hurt me. Hurt us. And I forgive him now, I think. I know hes sorry, and I cant not forgive him. Hes my best-friend. Not talking to him hurt so much, I miss him... but I cant get back with him again. I cant... if he ever does something like that again, I cant risk that, I wontsurvive -"

He tilts his head back, stares at the ceiling trying to supress tears. Santana is watching him, concern and sympathy in every line, all trace of her prickly exterior gone.

Jen is just kind of speechless right now. She kind of wants to throw caution to the winds and go hug him, he looks so sad and broken.

Santana does it for her.

They hug it out, Kurt sniffling into Santanas shoulder before pulling back, dabbing delicately at his eyes.

"I love him and I forgive him," Kurt finishes. "But Im scared of giving my heart to him like that again. It... I cant Santana.

"Hey," Santana says earnestly, settling back in her seat. "Its not my place to tell you what to do or how to feel -"

"But youre gonna do it anyway?" Kurt asks with a wry, watery smile.

Santana puffs out a laugh.

"Hell yeah, I am," she says, smirking at him before turning serious again. "Look, I just want to say. I was there right after you guys broke up, okay? I was there for Grease and... do you know why Blaine was Teen Angel and not Danny Zuko?

Kurt raises his eyebrows questioningly.

"He wouldve totally nailed that part, you know its true," Santana continues. "Finn and Artie kept trying to get him to play Danny. But he refused, kept going on about how he couldnt play ‘the truth of Danny Zuko when hed ruined his own romance or something."

Kurt snorts out a laugh, some strange happy-sad hybrid.

"He always did have a tendency towards the overdramatic," he says, his face all lit up with fondness and love. Why on earth would anyone cheat onthat? Jen kinda dislikes this Blaine guy at the moment.

"Im guessing its a hobbit thing, look at Berry," Santana says, though her smirk has no real bite to it. "But what Im trying to say is, you dont have to worry about Blaine hurting you like that again. Or ever. I dont know what went on between you guys to put you in this mess, but Blaine wont do something like that again, Kurt. You know that. You know Blaine."

"Yeah, but I never thought Blaine would in the first place," Kurt whispers, staring into his tea again, but his voice doesnt really have any anger or bitterness, just a sort of forlorn emptiness.

"Everyone fucks up, Kurt," Santana says, and Jen cant even relate this soft-spoken, soft-eyed girl to the crackling furnace shed been ten minutes ago. "Everyone fucks up at some point. And Blaines always been kind of nauseatingly perfect, so he was bound to screw up enough for ten people when he did finally got around to it."

Kurt huffs out another soft laugh and wipes his nose on his sleeve.

"But you guys have something really special," Santana continues. "Remember how all of New Directions voted for you two for ‘Most Likely to still be together in 50 years?"

Kurt giggles and wipes his nose again. "Blaine and I made a binder on where exactly we see ourselves in fifty years that night. It involved buying a lighthouse in Provincetown and starting an artists colony."

Jen forgets all pretence and just stares for a second. Are they even for real? Christ.

"Ugh, gross." Santana says, face scrunching up. "See? So disgustingly married. I can feel the vomit at the back of my throat just thinking about you two."

"...Thank you?"

"Dont give up on that," Santana says, leaning back. "You dont want to give up on all that for something this stupid, Kurt."

Kurts suddenly gone all rigid again, his eyes flash and he shoots her a death glare. He looks pretty terrifying in this moment too.

"I know cheating may not seem like a big deal for you, but for some of us its a pretty big fucking deal."

"Ugh, keep your pants on," Santana says, looking annoyed. "Thats exactly the point I was making, you moron. The very fact that its a big fucking deal for him too tells you everything you need to know. Its been months and hes still making those sad bambi eyes and running after you like an eager puppy when you so much as look at him."

"Its not my fault he..."

"And has he been bugging you about Adam?"

"What? No, of course not! Blaines been perfectly supportive and mature about..."

"You think he doesnt go cry over a piano every time you mention Adam? ‘Cause, newsflash, he totally does."

"... What?"

"Youre not the only one with friends at McKinley, Kurt."

"But he never said - "

"Because hes trying not to pressure you, you idiot. You know what a noble sad-sack he can be. Do you I have to remind you about that time he took rocksalt to the eye to protect you?"

"I remember perfectly fine, thank you," Kurt says stiffly.

"Well, remember better," Santana says. "The balls in your court, Hummel. You can either catch it or lose it."

"If youre saying I should run back to him just because he might not wait for me again -"

"Jesus, do you always get this uptight and defensive," Santana snorts. "I meant that you dont want to look back on this in twenty years and regret how much time you wasted over something youve forgiven already. Think about it, Hummel."

The table descends into silence again and Kurt stares down at the floor while Santana takes a few pulls of her tea.

Jen takes a moment and reviews everything shes heard about this Blaine and tries not to swoon, ‘cause is he the classic broken ace trope or what? Ugh, flawed heroes are like crack to her.

"I think," Kurt says, voice thick. "I... My dads last appointment is in a month. Im flying down to Lima again. I think Blaine and I will really sit down and have that talk this time. Im done tip-toeing around this. Us. Im ready to talk... and see where it goes."

"And Adam?" Santana prods. Jen really has to admire her focus.

Kurt gives a long-suffering sigh.

"Im gonna have to break it off with Adam," he says grimacing and draining the last of his tea. "I assured him just last week he isnt a rebound. Now I have to tell him hes totally a rebound. Its not going to be pretty."

"Well you can still keep him around for the sex for a month and then dump him."

"Santana!" Kurt spluttered, coughing.

"What? I agree Adams got nothing on your jailbait boytoy. Blaine has a magnificent ass, even Ive been tempted a few times, especially when he wears those super-tight pants and starts wagging them around in the name of dancing. But hey, Blaines not here so you gotta make do with what you got. At least Adams not made out of plastic like the one Rachels screwing."

Kurt just stares at her for a minute, looking thoroughly horrified.

"I dont even know which part of that to begin with!" he exclaims finally, voice all squeaky and screechy. "First of all, Blaine is not a jailbait! Hes eighteen years old! And oh my god, youre gay, please never talk about Blaines butt or all the creepy things youve thought about it!"

"Like you havent ever -"

"Please stop, oh my god," Kurt says, his face is bright as a tomato. "Also Adam and I arent having sex! We were never going to be having sex! Sex was never part of the plan! The most weve done is hold hands and kiss a couple of times!"

"Yes! Berry owes me 20 bucks."

"...What?"

"Rachel is convinced you are ‘fully embracing your New York life and all the delights it offers. I told her not everyone sleeps with pornstar-lookalikes to feel like theyre being adventurous."

"...You and Rachel took bets about my sex life?"

"Of course we did, were your best friends."

"...Lucky me."

"You love us," Santana says flippantly.

But Kurt is earnest when he looks back at her, his smile is soft and grateful.

"Yes I do," he says. "I havent talked like that to anyone about this whole Blaine thing. I needed that. Thank you, Santana."

Santana gives him a small, genuine smile in return before getting up and stretching like a cat.

 "Well, now that thats all cleared up, Auntie Snixs job here is done."

Jen tries not to check her out while Santana does a few more stretches, but really, its a losing battle. Shes kind of ridiculously hot.

"Well, Ill go get my things and be over for dinner," she says as she walks away. "Cook something fancy, ladypants."

"Sure, Satan," Kurt says but hes grinning as he gets up to throw their cups in the trashcan before following her out the door.

Jen stares after them, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey long forgotten. Because... wow.

*

That night, she cracks and settles down for some quality facebook stalking. She usually refrains because it just takes away the mystery of a person, its more fun stalk- observing someone over time, in person.

But right now Jen needs to find everything she can about Kurt Hummel and this Blaine. After the information overload that afternoon, she justneeds to see this guy and the relationship shed heard about... um, eavesdropped on.

Which is why its exceptionally frustrating when she finally gets to Kurt Hummels facebook page and its more locked down than Pentagon secrets.

Jen groans and dramatically flops onto her desk before remembering Rachel Berry and the fact that she is supposed to be Kurts best friend. Surely she would be friends with Blaine...?

She lets out a whoop of victory when Rachels page loads and its completely public. One quick friend search later, she finds an eighteen-year old from Lima, Ohio named Blaine Anderson.

This has to be Kurts Blaine.

And shit, Kurts Blaine is ridiculously pretty.

Everything about him is bright and colourful. She takes a few seconds to admire his beautiful honey-gold eyes and sunshine-warm smile, before clicking though his profile. His profile, like Rachels, is mostly public too and she clicks through it, trying to get a handle on who he is.

An hour of intense stalking later, she learns that Blaines kind of an over-achiever (Cheerleader, Student Council President, unofficial leader of the school show choir, member of a dozen different clubs and a good student to boot? Christ), that he has an obsession with bowties and polo shirts (and he is rocking the 1950s old-Hollywood-dreamy), that he adores the X-Men series and swears by Marvel comics, that the Buckeyes are his football team, that he has an unironic love for Katy Perry and disco, and wants to invent a time machine just to high-five Bryan Ferry.

No wonder Kurt fell for this kid, he is adorable.

Jen clicks through to his photos. Initially, they are mostly of what seem to be Glee club performances, with a blonde boy and a pretty Asian girl found frequently next to Blaine. She smiles at a particularly sassy one where Blaine and the blonde kid are posing in colourful short-shorts and t-shirts and Blaine has an earring in. 

The first picture of Kurt and Blaine makes her fully understand what Santana had meant by "you guys have something really special". It looks like it was taken at some sort of formal dance or a reception. Kurt and Blaine are both dressed in smart black suits and arent aware of the photo being taken. They are obviously in the middle of a slow dance, wrapped in each others arms and so perfectly content and lost in each other.

She sighs deeply. God, they make a lovely picture.

She clicks through more pictures and they start appearing together more often. In a high school courtyard, Blaines head tilted to rest on Kurts shoulder and Kurts smile taking up his whole face. At a graduation ceremony, Kurt in a red gown, crying, while Blaine offers him a kerchief with a fond smile. Two prom pictures side by side, (they went to two proms together? Nawww), one adorable and the other thoroughly ridiculous (are they riding a dinosaur?), uploaded with a ":) <3" by Kurt and replied to with ":D <3 <3" by Blaine. The two of them in a choir room, gazing adoringly into each others eyes, uploaded by a Santana Lopez (Oh, Santana!) and titled "barf" which has 256 likes. On and on it goes right down to a picture about two years ago with Kurt and Blaine dressed in prep-school uniforms, Blaines arm resting companionably around Kurts back and both smiling at the camera. She stares at it for a few minutes and flips back to the very first picture shed seen, the one where they are holding each other and dancing, lost to the world.

If theres one common denominator in each and every one of them, its the undeniable chemistry and affection and love between the two of them.

Jen isnt in the theatre world without possessing a pretty good fraction of misty-eyed romanticism. And right now every part of that romanticism is pointing at the two boys who are electronically in front of her, jumping up and down and screaming "True Love! Soulmates!!".

And hell, looking at the way they look at each other, even her rational, cynical part agrees.

*

Jen settles into her bed with a huff, burrowing in her comforter and starting up her laptop. Today was particularly awful and all she wants to do is watch cute kitten videos and eat ice cream for dinner.

With that goal in mind she loads Youtube while opening a huge tub of Ben and Jerrys . After scooping a spoonful into her mouth, shes about to type ‘cute kittens cuddling in the search bar, when the most popular video of the day catches her eye.

It is simply titled ‘Blaine proposes to Kurt. It already has almost a million views.

Her mouth falls open and the spoon flumps down on her bed, a small glob of ice cream staining her sheets. But she doesnt even notice.

Because that is Blaine in the video previews, dressed in a sunshine-yellow suit. And Kurt is standing opposite him dressed in sky blue.

She hurries to click the link, her heart thumping because oh my god.

The video belongs to youtube user ‘abrams95 and has over a hundred thousand likes. Everyone in the comments is just yelling and crying.

She turns up the volume and waits.

Loud trumpets blare as the entrance of what looks like a castle comes into focus and the camera slowly, tastefully moves in towards Kurt who is standing there with his mouth wide open, looking stunned.

It takes a second before Jen realises the song is ‘All you need is Love and she actually screams out loud because oh my god.

There is a marching band standing honour-guard in front of the castle entrance and playing their trumpets. The door opens and Blaine steps out, his face so full of hope and love.

"Theres nothing you can do that cant be done..."

Hes singing. He has a beautiful voice.

Another angle of the camera, this time it closes in on Kurts face. There are multiple angles to this thing, its practically a production, good god...

"Nothing you can sing that cant be sung..."

More people come streaming out, harmonizing, boys in prep school uniforms, perfectly matched dancers in baby blue dresses, their partners in tasteful dress pants and shirts, another group of school students, how many people even are there?!

"Its easy..."

Blaine reaches out with a smile and takes Kurts hand. Smiles wider at his stunned face and leads him in, singing.

They are at the top of a wide, beautiful staircase, leading down to a domed antechamber. Blaine skips down the stairs while Kurt pauses where he is, taking in the view, looking thoroughly overwhelmed.

Jen doesnt blame him. There are actual rose petals raining down from the ceiling and what looks like half of Ohio singing and smiling.

Blaine is in the middle of the throng, popping out like a bright yellow tulip in a field of red flowers, singing his heart out.

"All you need is love..."

Blaine leads them through wide, tapestry-clad corridors, beautiful wood-panelled sitting rooms, spacious ballrooms, god did he hire an actual castle for this? Kurt follows him like he cant help it, like he cant help being caught in the magnetic pull that is Blaine, like he never wants to leave it. 

The whole thing is beautifully planned and executed. Its even more flawlessly caught on tape; abrams95 deserves to be in Hollywood.

"Love is all you need..."

They are back in the domed antechamber with the staircase as the song draws to a close. Blaine has lead Kurt halfway up the curving, spiral staircase and has hopped back down to look up at him.

 "He loves you yeah yeah yeah yeah..."

Everyone is silent, waiting with barely concealed excitement as Blaine steps forward and pulls out a tiny black velvet box. Jen is barely breathing.

Kurt looks pretty darn breathless too.

"Excuse me, can I ask you a question?" Blaine says, smiles up at Kurt with his heart in his eyes.

Kurt chokes, his eyes fill with tears. That sentence has some meaning to them, it means something special.

"Two years ago, I saw you for the first time, right here," Blaine says voice wavering, and oh. "And that was the very first thing you ever said to me." Oh, oh, oh.

Kurt is openly crying now and smiling like his heart is bursting.

"You are the love of my life, Kurt," Blaine continues, hes tearing up now too, crying and laughing. "And when you know you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start right away."

Jen lets out another soft scream, shes crying now too, because ‘When Harry met Sally reference? Is this boy even for real, who even does things like this in real life...?

"And so Im here, and Im asking you..."

He fumbles open the box in his hands, holds it up like hes offering his whole fragile heart to Kurt, eyes full of love and nervousness and hope.

"Will you marry me, Kurt?"

Everyone waits with bated breath as Kurt just stills, stares at Blaine and the elegant band glinting in the box.

"Yes," he breathes in an exhale, barely audible. And then hes lunging forward like hes falling, throwing himself into Blaines arms, yelling, "Yes, yes yes yes yes yes!"

The tape manages to capture Blaines small choked-off laugh in the split second before the entire congregation bursts into a mass of sound. People are yelling, hugging each other and crying, celebrating. The singing starts up again.

"He loves you yeah yeah yeah..."

In the middle of the chaos stand Kurt and Blaine, lost in each other, exchanging breathless words and kisses, oblivious to the entire world.

Jen just breathes for a minute as the video ends, laughing and wiping her eyes. Her heart is soaring like it usually does after she has watched a particularly beautiful love story.

Jen loves watching people. And she has to admit, out of all the love stories shes seen in her short life, shes never seen anything quite like Kurt and Blaine.

And honestly, even if she lives to be eighty, she still doesnt thing she would meet two people quite like Kurt and Blaine.

Some love stories are called timeless classics for a reason.

And those two are a timeless classic if she ever saw one.

*

A few months later

Its the first day back to college after summer break and Jens day so far has been excellent. Her summer assignment (‘Write a musical inspired by something you witnessed in real life) had gotten high praise from her professor, her dance partner for the semester is both hot and just crazy enough for her to adore him immediately and shes managed to land a single room this year. Its been a good day.

It goes from good to truly goddamn perfect when she spots Kurt Hummel walking in her direction in the courtyard. Accompanied by none other than Blaine Anderson, his fiancé.

Jen takes a minute to duck behind a statue and squeal and flail.

She covertly pops her head out to see them both settle against a cherry blossom tree close to her, Kurt leaning against it with a coy smile and Blaine moving in to kiss him softly, lovingly.

Jens squeal is a little too loud this time.

Their heads snap apart and turn towards her simultaneously and she stands frozen while they blink at her, thoroughly nonplussed.

Awkward.

She teeters a moment between quickly running away and running up to them to blubber out how perfect for each other she thinks they are. Blaines tentative, polite smile decides it for her.

She walks towards them quickly, briskly.

"I just wanted to tell you both I think you are the most perfect, awesome couple ever and if there were such a thing as soulmates you two would be it and Im rooting for you two and one day when youre both famous, I want you to call me up because I want to do a biographical musical of your epic love story and its going to win us all multiple Tonys and I just wanted to wish you both good luck and I hope you buy that lighthouse and start that artists colony! Happy engagement, guys, all you need is love!"

She manages the whole thing in one breath, and frankly shes impressed with herself. She is also deeply mortified and she scurries away to find another statue to hide behind again. As she walks away, she hears them talking.

"Kurt, do you know her?"

"I have no idea who she is! How does she know about our engagement?"

"I guess she saw the Youtube video. It does have over ten million views."

"But how does she know about our plans for the lighthouse?"

"...Fair point. Okay, that is creepy."

"Oh my gosh, shes probably one of those weird groupies too. You know, the ones who keep crying in the comments of our video and leaving fanfiction about us!"

Blaines reply is lost to her as she walks out of range. She finds a convenient statue and huffs as she leans against it. She totally does not write fanfiction about them.

Nope, shes writing an epic, chronicling their timeless love in a grand musical of pure brilliance.

Okay, maybe what shes writing is musical fanfiction. But hey, its still gonna win them all a Tony, so she totally doesnt think they should be complaining.

*

Epilogue

It wins them all a Tony.

***