The sunlight was streaming in through the second floor window, illuminating bits of dust in its glow as they fell to the earth. The carpet was worn down in spots, but the fabric of the duvet on the bed was soft to the touch. Burt Hummel sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing a small circle of metal in between his hands. It was a simple thing, just a thin gold band with a swirling pattern etched into the outside. The ring had been cool to the touch when he had picked it up out of the back of his nightstand, but he had warmed it with his hands.


It had been almost ten years.


Ten years was a long time in the grand scheme of Burt’s life. He had spent most of them alone, hoping and praying that maybe at some point, the pain of loss would get better. He had hoped that the empty void he felt inside his chest might be filled and that maybe at some point, someone would walk in to his life and teach him how to dance again. And then Carole had come along. And he had put a new ring on her finger and a new ring onto his own. It was time for this ring to pass along to someone else.


Burt stood up, watching the dust as it danced in the sunlight for a moment, and wondered if maybe she was there with him. He thought she might be, and he knew she would approve of his plan for the ring. He pocketed the ring before making his way down to the kitchen, descending the stairs slowly, still partially caught up in memories of so long ago. He stepped into the kitchen to find Kurt sitting at the table, working on homework as he drank from a mug of tea. As he took the seat across from his son, Kurt looked up at him and smiled gently.


“Are you alright? You look unhappy.” Kurt tipped his head to one side, setting his pen down next to his notebook.


“I’m alright,” Burt replied. “I’ve just been doing a lot of thinking. And there’s something I wanted to talk to you about, I guess.”


Kurt raised a single eyebrow skeptically and reached over to shut his textbook, settling back into his chair to listen to his father. Burt took a deep breath before launching into what he had wanted to say.


“You know how I met your mother in high school… And you know we got married right after we graduated…”


Kurt smiled. “Yeah. You’ve told me before.”


“Well, I’m not saying that’s what I want for you. I definitely don’t think you should get married right out of high school. I’ve seen how good you are at those clothes designs and I think you should just… You know, keep going with those. And definitely go to college.”


“Dad, if you’re here to tell me not to rush into anything, you know I’m not going to…”


“That’s not what I’m talking about here, Kurt. Just listen.”


Kurt frowned slightly, but closed his mouth and waited for his father to continue. Burt touched his hand gently to the ring where it was hidden in his pocket, gathering strength before continuing.


“Listen, Kurt. I know how serious you are with that boy. I see how you look at him, like your whole world would explode if he wasn’t in it anymore. And I see how he looks right back at you, and I gotta tell you Kurt… That scares me a little bit.”


“Dad…” Kurt began warily. “I thought we already had enough of the sex talk thing…”


“Will you just relax, Kurt? Let me say what I need to say. This is important.”


Burt scooted his chair closer to the table and rested his hands on top of it. Kurt was watching him expectantly. At least Burt could take comfort in the fact that he knew his son would listen for as long as this took. Kurt always valued what Burt had to say. Burt met Kurt’s eyes, and almost lost his train of thought. He had been back in those memories all afternoon, and Kurt’s eyes just looked so much like his mother’s.


“It’s just… I know you love him. I know how important he is to you. And I wanted to give you something.”


Burt reached into his pocket and took out the ring. He rubbed it once more between his fingers before reaching out across the table to drop it into Kurt’s palm. Kurt took it and studied it, a puzzled look on his face.


“Isn’t this… Isn’t this the promise ring you gave mom when you were seventeen?” Kurt looked up at Burt, his eyes huge and questioning.


“Yeah, it is. Like I said, Kurt… I see how much you love Blaine. And I thought maybe… You’d want to give it to him. I thought maybe he’d like it. From you, that is.”


Kurt was silent. He stared down at the tiny gold ring in his hand and a single tear dripped onto the tabled. He looked up at his father, not knowing exactly what to say.


“It’s still engraved, Dad… It still says ‘Elizabeth and Burt.’ I don’t… I don’t think I could give this to Blaine, it’s just too…”


“I think your mom would have wanted you to.” Burt was quiet as he spoke next. “I think she would have liked Blaine. In fact, I think she would have loved him. She would have obsessed over how polite he is. And his hair. Liz had a thing for curly hair.”


Kurt’s lip quivered slightly as he ran his fingertip around the circumference of the ring, but then his face broke into a small smile. He picked the ring up and peered at the inside of the band, and then looked back up at his father.


“There’s room on it, I think… I could add ‘Blaine and Kurt.’ I mean, if that would be okay. Okay with you and with… If you think it would have been okay with Mom.” Kurt said hesitantly, clutching the ring close to his chest.


Burt smiled at his son. “I think she would have loved that.”






******


Several months later, Kurt sat with his boyfriend on the deck in his backyard, stroking his fingers gently through the small curls at the base of Blaine’s neck. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to Blaine’s cheek, lingering for a moment to feel the roughness of the stubble there beneath his lips, before leaning back and looking into Blaine’s eyes.


“I have something for you,” Kurt said, reaching into his pocket to find the small metal band and pulling it out, clutching it in his fist. “This is very important, so I’d like for you to listen.”


Blaine gave Kurt one of his dazzling smiles and Kurt felt his heart expand a size. “Okay. So when my mom and dad were in high school, my dad gave her something that sort of… symbolized how important she was to him. It was his promise to her that he’d always be faithful and that he’d always love her. And now… Since we’ll be going away to college soon, I wanted to give you something as well. Something that will always be there to remind you of how much I love you.”


Kurt took a deep breath and reached for Blaine’s hand. He ran his fingers over Blaine’s knuckles, feeling the texture of the lines that he had memorized from over a year of holding this boy’s hand. He turned Blaine’s hand over, placing the ring in Blaine’s palm and closed his fingers around it, taking his own hands away and looking up expectantly at Blaine’s face. Blaine looked puzzled for a second, but his eyes lit up when he realized what Kurt had given him.


“Kurt, I… This is lovely. I love it. It’s… is it a promise ring?”


“Yes,” Kurt replied breathily.


“But isn’t it a bit small for me to wear?”


“Well, yes…. Read the inside.” Kurt whispered, twisted the hem of his shirt in his fingers nervously.


Blaine turned the ring around in his fingertips before finding a good angle at which to read the engraving on the inside of the ring. Kurt watched as Blaine’s lips formed the words on the inside of the ring and then his eyes left the ring to meet Kurt’s.


In the year that they had been together, Kurt had never seen Blaine’s eyes filled with so much love and adoration.


“Kurt was… This is… Your dad gave this ring to your mom?”


“Yeah, he did. When they were in their senior year of high school. He wanted to make sure she really understood just how much she meant to him.” Kurt reached over and stroked his finger along Blaine’s jawline, keeping his eyes on Blaine’s all the while. He put so much into that simple gesture. He hoped Blaine understood.


“Kurt, I… I don’t know what to say, I…” Blaine fell silent as tears began to fall gently down his face.


“Just say you love me,” Kurt whispered. “Just say you love me and you’ll be there when I need you. That’s all I ask. Because I am going to promise you the exact same thing in return. All of my love. All of my heart. Only for you.”


“I love you. I will always, always be here for you. I promise. I am yours forever.”


Blaine pressed the ring to his heart and leaned across to close the distance between them, pressing their lips together in the gentle promise of a thousand more kisses to come.






*****


As Blaine Anderson fixed his tie in front of the mirror, he ran his fingers across a small circular lump underneath his shirt. He had worn the ring on a chain around his neck for almost nine years. In those nine years, he had rarely ever taken the ring off.


On this beautiful fall day, he would walk down the aisle towards his fianc� and put a different ring on his finger. Nine years ago, he had made a promise to Kurt.


He had never had any intention of breaking it.