Awesome song fic! :) The song was so perfect for the situation. I kinda felt like the story went a bit off track on a few occasions like when Kurt was thinking about Brad, but it was amazing aside from that. :)

I have to confess that my reading of this was bookended by jumping up and down. A lot. There was clapping, too. Aw shucks I'm just like that.

You know I was too excited from the disclaimer to get past the first line until I jumped around for a while, but then I finished reading while walking home from a crowded train station and didn't care if people thought I was crazy for skipping and jumping along while squeeling. Yay!

I will never neglect to check my email for two days again!

Hey, I told you Kurt would know the song! See? He even knew the lines! Hahaha

So... Your descriptions of place are just as wonderful as always like your other stories. I want to LIVE in those gardens! (And I DID for the duration of this story.)

I find it amazing how your writing makes a reader glide through plotlines while effortlessly understanding the background and seeing and feeling the surroundings the characters are in and the body language of the characters without ever feeling like our attention is being drawn away by the author telling us things and describing things. It's just there. That's an incredible quality I couldn't even begin to figure out how to emulate. Gorgeous.

I love how you're able to give them really strong and deep feelings for each other and have them express them the way one would in high school. No big sudden "I love you and always have" moments like 30 year olds in a movie. You have them growing and learning boldness and all that together. You also have them sounding like their tv versions! Kurt would totally say that about being ready for his first real kiss as the phrase to finally land on there.

Blaine threw a single daisy at Kurt on stage? That's simply too adorable I can't stand it. He picked it on a whim from a garden? Oh my. In one sentence that gave the image of Blaine as a closet romantic whose heart is made light and whimsical by the thought of Kurt.

Blaine carved their initials in a tree? Thinking it was only because Kurt was pondering about leaving their mark as the current generation at Dalton? Oh, SO closet romantic! OMG and running outside to do Singin' in the Rain! I could see the whole scene with their infectious joy drawing bunches of other students unable to resist joining in. Half the population! Awesome. I can totally believe it.

I love how you flash all these images in retrospect that show so much about how they've been acting and feeling for months, all during this one duet out in the garden! And boy have they been acting adorably in denial all along. So many sweet moments and telling actions! "where he had somehow ended up snuggling into Blaine's shoulder" Yeah, right, Kurt! "Somehow" for sure! And Blaine pauses a movie and dances for hours on his balcony with ALL his friends I'm sure. Super cute denial.

Oh my gosh, what it takes me pages and whole new characters to do, you can do in one paragraph! From "Blaine..." to "I - I couldn't" I think my heart flipped four times.



Then it launches from there with suspense and momentum and twists and depth and oh my poor heart! all the way to the end.

I'm sorry to say it but: way better than our favorite TV writers as far as your build-up and anticipation and fear of completely plausible and almost inevitable missed opportunities and continued misunderstanding, and oh my goodness! You ACTUALLY somehow made it so that I was shocked and moved and so proud of your Blaine for pushing past his obstacles and finding enough boldness to say "I want them to know we're in love" despite Kurt's self-protective reactions that should have scared Blaine into the age-old "protecting the friendship" yet again! Oh, you're GOOD!

When Blaine followed his Harry quote with "And thus I stand before you quoting a movie" it was SUCH the perfect thing for him to say. It made the moment totally his own, and also brought back all the history of Kurt's and his continual habit of watching and quoting movies and musicals which you set up in the story as a major thing they share.

WHY, even though I knew of course it was Blaine's footsteps approaching, did I actually feel so scared that he was gone and feel so lonely watching those ducks? I was SO in Kurt's shoes there, instead of in my own head with the omniscient point of view over the story... I was never pulled out from the suspension of disbelief.

That's just incredible. In most plotlines like that, whether it's TV or movies or novels, my mind is trying to run ahead of the writer and mostly thinking about the writing process and how the writer is going to make the obvious conclusion pan out. It's a rare and wonderful thing when I can be caught up in the story, and instead of thinking "yeah yeah, there are going to be thoughts in Kurt's head at this point in the story so that he can then be surprised..." my mind actually just got swept away with Kurt, and thought "it's time to move on" and "yeah it would be nice to meet some new people" and "wow it must still be spring time for those two ducks!" THAT is pretty cool.

And that is how you made it so natural for Kurt to get angry thinking that Blaine is just being insensitive to his known crush on him in that next moment, and for him in that state of mind to continue to not get what Blaine was really saying. Even with his saying that he's been trying to express his feelings through song. Oh, my! Perfect connection to what he said on the show might I add. (But you gave it meaning that they missed out on utilizing on the show!)

SO with your storytelling prowess engrossing me in the narrative, and enjoying my army of butterflies, out pops the perfect reference to Joey's heart and the other Sally's heart dancing upstage, and I laughed out loud IN A CROWDED TRAIN STATION with sheer joy. Delightful. Kurt's right, it's totally fitting.

Also, can I just say that you DID what you -oh my gosh it just hit me after I started writing this sentence, you didn't just figure out how to get Blaine from the coffee shop "clueless" lines on Valentines day to here, you ALSO did EXACTLY what I dreamed you could do when I asked about it! You tied all the loose ends that I complained about after that episode and explained the disconnect I was worried about and made all the inconsistencies (that I had told you were bothering me) make SENSE and you made them all better! I asked how you could get them back on track and you went so much deeper! Oh my gosh that was amazing!

I feel like all I have to do is ask you to explain why my career isn't perfect and true love hasn't landed yet and all of a sudden one day an email alert will appear and everything will come together beautifully in the story of my life too! Heeheeheee! I think I'll try it. "Marte, tell me a story!" Lots and lots of them, please!

And you know what else I just realized? I've been craving a thunderstorm ever since I read that story of yours with the storm outside, and we haven't had one yet in all this time. Please don't write about donuts or ice cream because then I will be in serious trouble. Well, OK you can write about anything and I will try to restrain myself.

Thank you for this story! And you even put Brad in it! Fantastic!

Wonderfully cute.