Thank you: Mailroomorder, electrictoes, and heywhoaIwroteafic for being my betas 3 This fic wouldn't be the same without you guys, whether I pulled you in two years ago, at three am the other night, or a few months ago when I finally decided to throw my focus at it.

It was second week of January and Kurt was already feeling the stress of being back in school. He was in his second to last semester at NYADA, somehow managing to retain his internship at on a part time basis, and was living with Rachel and Santana for the third year in a row. On top of all of that, Blaine had ended up in New York City after graduating Dalton the year after Kurt had graduated McKinley. To Kurt's delight, he'd ended up attending NYADA as well, and was only a semester behind him. Having another friendly face in the fickle NYADA corridors was a relief, even if the rumor mill did immediately assume that the two of them were dating.

The weather was oddly nice for January, so Kurt decided to stop by Blaine's apartment on his way home from class. Blaine only lived a few blocks away from Kurt's place – closer to NYADA than him actually – so Kurt didn't really have to go out of his way to visit. Besides, he had plans to talk to Blaine tonight anyways, he might as well do it in person.

"How'd the talk with the lawyers go?" Kurt asked when he arrived at Blaine's apartment that evening.

Blaine cringed slightly. "Yeah... it was interesting..." Kurt raised a questioning eyebrow as Blaine trailed off. He grabbed a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and two glasses from the kitchen. It sounded like this conversation was going to call for alcohol.

"Go on," Kurt gestured for Blaine to continue, empty wine glass in his hand. He settled down in the armchair next to Blaine as he poured two drinks.

Blaine sighed, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly before speaking, not quite meeting Kurt's eyes. "Apparently, in order to inherit my grandparents' estate I have to be married for at least a year. And according to their stipulations, I have a month to get married before their estate goes to someone else."

"What?!" Kurt spluttered, setting down his glass so he didn't spill it everywhere in shock. "You just turned twenty one!"

"Yeah... I'm still confused that they're giving everything to me instead of Cooper or my parents or any other relatives honestly. Regardless, why they want me to be married I don't even understand. Apparently, it 'connotes responsibility.' Do they realize I'm twenty one and single?!"

There was a long pause as Blaine grabbed the bottle of wine and sipped directly from it.

Kurt stared at him in shock.

Blaine set the bottle back down. "If I were twenty five I'd be able to inherit just fine without marriage actually."

Kurt blinked, silently thanking his grandparents for being normal. "So... what are you going to do?"

"I kind of don't really have a choice, I have to do it," Blaine groaned. "The inheritance includes the house my parents are living in, and the terms of the will don't allow me to get married for an hour to get everything, and then have it annulled. My grandparents set it up so that I would gain temporary property rights and a quarter of the money now, and the rest of it on the date of my first wedding anniversary. I don't even know... I've been trying to think of someone I could ask. I don't know that many single gay guys though… There's Luke.. and there's...," he rubbed his forehead in consternation. "I could maybe ask Jeff? He's bi..." Blaine trailed off, staring into space.

A little hurt that Blaine apparently didn't even see him as an option, Kurt took a sip from his glass. "Well, you could always marry me," he joked. "I look fantastic in a tux."

Blaine blinked, eyes widening as he looked over at Kurt. "Wait, would you?" Kurt stared at him. "I didn't even think- Shit. Sorry. I know that was mostly a joke, I just- It could work?"

Kurt's jaw dropped a little. "Are you- Really?"

"Think about it! We're best friends, you already know what the situation is..." Blaine hesitated. "I trust you way more than I do anyone else."

Kurt bit his lip. He was tempted to say yes, but… he opened his mouth to speak but Blaine got there first.

"I know it's a lot to ask, but I think we could do it?"

"Yeah that's- I," Kurt took the wine off the table and downed some of it himself. "Huh." He set the bottle back down, mind racing. "Maybe? Let's just... Sleep on it. We can talk about it in the morning." He paused before meeting Blaine's surprised gaze. "Although," Kurt attempted to tease, hoping to add some levity to the situation, "If we do decide to do this, I expect an actual proposal, mister."

A laugh startled out of Blaine. "Yeah, okay, I think I could do that. It's the least I could do if you decide you'll do this for me."

"Good. Now I'm going to go to my apartment to think about this. I'll be back in the morning around eleven?"

"Yeah, okay, that sounds good. I'll see you in the morning then." Blaine walked Kurt to the door, hugging him before he exited.

Closing the door after Kurt, Blaine slumped against it and slid to the floor in despair. Someone should have told him about this inheritance condition sooner. Or his grandparents could have just not included it in the first place. This would not even be a problem if his family didn't live in a house that was technically part of his grandparents' estate. Because of this, they would lose their house and half of their belongings if Blaine didn't inherit. Plus there was the fact that his uncle would inherit if Blaine didn't and he would take it. He hadn't even mentioned that aspect of the situation to Kurt. His uncle would try to make it impossible for them to just be legally married. They would have to act like a married couple, too.

Kurt let himself into Blaine's apartment at 8:58 the next morning. He peeked into Blaine's room to find him starfished out on the bed. Kurt smiled at the sight before easing the door closed. At least one of them had been able to fall asleep. While he was waiting for Blaine to wake up, he could make them some food. Chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. Their typical breakfast when they had a busy day ahead of them.

An hour later, Blaine stumbled out of his room. Kurt looked up and couldn't help but grin at his best friend's poofy hair and the way he was rubbing at his eyes sleepily like a small child.

"What're you doing here so early?" Blaine got out around a yawn.

Kurt removed the last pancake from the pan before turning the stove off and moving to face Blaine. Shrugging, he said, "I woke up at seven and couldn't fall back asleep, so I figured I would come by and make us some breakfast."

"Alright," Blaine looked around, an adorably lost expression on his face. "I... I'm going to shower real quick?"

"Take all the time you need. And this cup of coffee." He pushed a mug into Blaine's hands before turning him to face the door.

"Thanks," Blaine yawned, cuddling the mug close to him with a smile on his face as he breathed it in. "I'll try not to take too long."

Ten minutes later Blaine emerged from the bathroom. His hair was a wet, curly mess, but he was fully dressed and looked much more awake.

"I can't believe you broke into my apartment to make me delicious breakfast."

"I've heard fiancés are supposed to do things like that. Or," he grinned slyly, "Fiancés to be."

Blaine grabbed a plate and had a piece of bacon halfway to his mouth before Kurt's words registered. "Wait, you mean you'll do it?"

"Yeah, yeah. Of course I will. We just need to talk out details so we're both on the same page here."

"Okay, okay yeah, we can do that." Blaine beamed at him, a happily surprised look in his eyes. "We can definitely do that. Alright, umm, telling people the truth about this? The fewer people who know it's a sham, the better, because my inheritance might be revoked if someone finds out."

Kurt shot him a confused look as he finished cleaning the counter. "How is anyone involved on the legal side of things going to find out and then revoke your rights?"

"Oh, right, I forgot I hadn't told you. My Uncle John – my dad's younger brother – apparently inherits if I don't. Which would theoretically be lovely and could solve all of our problems, but he's kind of-" Blaine sighed. "He's kind of a jerk and hates my dad, so he wouldn't be letting my parents stay in their house without charging them through the nose for it. He apparently really wants the money though, because he pulled me aside after the talk with the lawyer and swore he'd take advantage of the 'Real Marriage Clause' bit of the will which basically states that someone will be periodically checking up on me and my husband, as well as our family and friends, to make sure that the marriage isn't a sham. I think they have trust issues because Uncle John's first wife only married him for the money. Although why they're worried that I would run away with the money I don't know. In any case, that means I can't just be legally married to someone, we have to convince the world that we're at least somewhat happily married so my uncle can't just get me knocked out of the will."

"…Seriously?"

Blaine sighed. "Unfortunately. I'm sorry I didn't tell you yesterday. If you want to duck out now, I fully understand. It's a lot to ask of you."

Kurt stared at the plate that he'd filled with food in silence for a moment, contemplating all that this meant he would have to sacrifice – dates, honesty with his friends, trying to fall for someone who wasn't Blaine… After a minute, he looked up and met Blaine's nervous gaze. "We still only have to be married for a year though, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course. I asked my lawyer and the full inheritance is signed over to me after one year. After that no one can take it away from me, even if we get divorced."

Kurt smiled ruefully. "Sounds like the perfect anniversary present."

"You'll still do it then?" Blaine asked, mouth hanging open slightly in disbelief.

"Yeah…" Kurt nodded. "As long as we can tell my dad - and by extension, Carole – the truth. I can't lie to them about something this big, I can't. Everyone else we can hide it from though. We'll pull off the best sham of a marriage that these people have ever seen. Just make sure you figure out what 'having someone check up on us' entails?"

"Yeah, definitely." Blaine beamed at him, unable to help himself despite the seriousness of the situation. "Okay, just them then." Blaine seemed to be fully awake now as he continued. "I was also thinking that because you're doing this for me and my family, I owe you part of my inheritance. Now, I won't be able to get to all of it at once, but-"

"Blaine, no." Kurt interrupted shaking his head. "I didn't agree to this thinking I'd get money out of it. You aren't paying me to be your husband."

"But Kurt-"

"No. Also, we're getting a prenup because this is your family's money. Not mine."

"Okay, what if-" Kurt made a sound like he was about to interrupt but Blaine cut him off. "-No, listen. We're going to have to live together if we want to make this convincing, so while we're married, I'll pay for the apartment and food and college. It's only fair."

"Alright," Kurt conceded. "I just want you to know that if we really were to get married for reasons other than inheritance, the only reason I would ever let things be that imbalanced would be because I'm poor and I wouldn't want us living in a total shoebox because I'm stubborn."

Blaine laughed, "I'm aware. Just- let me do this as a thank you."

"I will."

"Okay... I think the last big thing is a story to tell people."

"Oh, I've got this. Ready?" Kurt looked excitedly over at Blaine as he nodded. "Alright," Kurt sat up straighter, preparing to reveal his idea. "We started secretly dating a few months ago, maybe Halloween? We didn't want to tell anyone because it was such a momentous change for us and we were afraid that other people knowing right away would throw us off. We definitely weren't planning on getting married so fast, but we were drinking one night and called The Foundry just to put our names on the list in case we wanted to get married in the next two years, because it's our dream wedding location. They said they would call us if they had a cancellation. They called us yesterday and said there was an opening. January 28th. We have three weeks."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yup. I called them this morning and they just had an opening," Kurt grinned at him. "As I was saying, at first we weren't going to take the spot, but then we decided what the hell. We might as well; we're going to end up married anyway."

Blaine stared at Kurt with slack-jawed awe. "How did you even come up with that so quickly?"

Kurt shrugged, biting his lip nervously. "I was thinking about it last night while I couldn't sleep and figured we should have a story and some reasoning behind the sudden marriage. And, well, this pretty much fell right into my lap when I called The Foundry this morning."

"Wow, you are - wow."

Kurt laughed at the stunned look on Blaine's face. "What can I say? I'm the perfect fiancé."

"You can say that again."

Kurt merely smiled, reaching over to his bag and pulling a scrapbook out of it. "I also have this. It's all the details of what I want from a wedding at The Foundry. I know we have to slim it down a bit - that's totally fine. But you should look through it and then we can negotiate it down and add in things that you want."

"Kurt - I can't believe how on board you are with all of this - I know I'm freaking out."

Kurt scoffed. "I'm freaking out a bit too, but I planned Dad and Carole's wedding in a week. I'll freak out about getting married later. Right now I'm too busy with the wedding planning."

"Just so we're clear," Blaine said flipping through the book, "You can pull out of this deal whenever you want - no hard feelings. Also you are hands down the best friend I have ever had."

Kurt gave him a look. "Blaine, I'm not going to back out. I will gladly bear the mantel of your best friend ever though."

"Okay, okay" Blaine conceded, holding his hands up in defeat. "I believe you. Now. Wedding planning first or should we call people?"

"Let's wedding plan for a bit. Then call. Also, I still expect a proposal even if our story doesn't necessitate one. Just so you know."

"I know," Blaine grinned. "Don't you worry one bit. I am going to give you the proposal of a lifetime, Hummel."

An hour later they called Burt.

"Hey bud."

"…Hi Dad."

"What's up?

"I- Blaine and I have something to tell you."

"The two of you start dating?"

"What? No!" Kurt squeaked, blushing. Blaine laughed nervously as Kurt put the phone on speaker.

"Well, what is it then?" Burt asked, perplexed. "You sound nervous about something. Not to mention ya usually don't call me this early."

"We- you know what? You tell him, Blaine." Kurt shoved the phone closer to Blaine, who suddenly stopped laughing and gulped nervously.

"I- okay. Hi Mr. Hummel, sir."

"Okay, I don't know why you're suddenly going all formal on me but I know you can't be telling me one of you is pregnant. So what is it, kid?"

"Um. Well. Okay. See. You remember how my grandparents passed away a month ago?"

"...Yes?"

"Okay, well, I met with the lawyers yesterday and apparently I'm the sole inheritor."

"Really now?" Burt asked in surprise. He paused. "What's this got to do with needing to call me though?"

Blaine was silent as he stared at the phone as though it was going to kill him. "Please can you be the one to tell him Kurt? He's less likely to kill you."

Kurt glared. "It's your family."

"But I-"

"Will someone just spit it out already?" Burt's voice growled exasperatedly through the phone at them.

Blaine and Kurt sat in silence as they tried to stare the other into telling. After a minute of stalemate and another annoyed plea from Burt, Blaine finally spoke.

"The stipulation for me to inherit is that I have to be married within a month, for at least a year. I don't know why they did that, but that's what the deal is. And I have to do it because my parents technically live in a house that's part of my inheritance and it'll be a whole legal minefield if I don't."

"Okay..." Burt intoned, sounding as though he was beginning to see where this was going.

"So I umm..." Blaine rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "KurtandIaregettingmarried," he blurted out.

"What was that, kid?"

"I- Kurt agreed to marry me. Just for the year so I can get the money and I'm going to pay all the rent on our apartment and pay for food and-"

Kurt rubbed Blaine's shoulder gently to make him stop babbling.

"I don't even know where to begin..." Burt sighed tiredly into the phone. "Are you sure this is necessary? Aren't there other solutions? You know, solutions where you don't get married?"

Kurt glanced over at Blaine. "There aren't, and we're doing this dad. I wasn't asking your opinion."

Burt snorted. "I feel like I just stepped into a crazy wormhole." Kurt listened as his dad shuffled some papers around. He may not need his permission, but Kurt certainly wanted some sort of approval. "Do you kids realize what you're getting yourselves into with this?" he finally asked, "I know you don't need my permission, but even if it's not a real marriage it's going to be difficult. Unless – do you guys have to make this out to be a real marriage, or do you just need the license?"

"Well," Blaine coughed a little to clear his throat. "We kind of have to actually make everyone believe we're married. My Uncle John gets the inheritance if I don't, and he's threatening to ensure that it's not just a sham marriage. If he gets proof that it's a sham before the year is up, he has legal grounds to revoke my inheritance rights."

"Okay… so you guys are committing to lying to all of your friends while pretending to be married for a year?"

"Umm, yes?" Blaine said uncertainly. If anyone could make him feel really bad about this, it was going to be Burt.

Burt sighed. "You kids think about how you'll be stuck living together or how you'll be able to navigate any potential dates with the fact that technically you're married and can't have extramarital affairs without fear of being caught? Or how hurt your friends might be when they find out – and they will find out – that you lied to them about this?"

"Dad," Kurt sighed while Blaine frowned guiltily at the phone. "We've talked about a lot of the potential issues. We know there'll be road bumps but - Blaine needs to marry someone and I'd rather him have a sham marriage with me than someone else who might end up trying to use him for something."

"I'd rather that, too, but... I just want you boys to be conscious of the fact that this isn't going to be easy... Can you take me off speakerphone, Kurt?"

Kurt's stomach knotted. "Sure," he picked up the phone, meeting Blaine's worried eyes. "I'm gonna take this in the guest room..."

Blaine nodded, and Kurt took his dad off speaker, stepping into the other room and closing the door behind him. "What's up?" he said, trying to sound casual.

"Kurt," Burt admonished.

"Dad," Kurt tried to joke back. There was a sigh. "Okay, fine, yes. I know that logically this is a terrible idea, but it's Blaine."

"This whole thing is a terrible idea, kid. In some ways it being Blaine of all people makes it worse." Kurt pressed the phone to his ear as his dad breathed quietly on the other end, waiting for him to continue. "You might think I'm oblivious, but I know how you feel about him."

"Well of course," Kurt tried to play it off. "He's my best-"

"Kurt," he interrupted sternly. "We both know that's not what I'm talking about."

Kurt squeezed his eyes shut, flopping down on the futon in the corner. "I know. I'm just..." he took a breath. "I've thought about this a lot, Dad. I know it seems stupid and impulsive and- Every time I come up with a reason... It's Blaine, Dad. It's not like my feelings are suddenly going to change. God knows I've willed them to over the years."

Burt sighed. "And you're not expecting anything out of it relationship-wise? I don't want to see you get hurt."

"No," Kurt answered, tamping down on the hopeful voice in his head that said yes.

There was silence on the other end of the line before his dad spoke again, this time with a little less concern, and a lot more begrudged resignation. "Do you guys have a date for the wedding figured out?"

"Yeah" Kurt perked up excitedly, "January 28th at the Foundry..."

When Kurt got off the phone with his dad, they decided that they should tell Rachel, Santana, and Finn about their wedding next, which was made easier by the fact that Finn was visiting for the week. All they needed to do was take a trip over to Kurt's loft.

Kurt halted outside the apartment, key poised to open the lock. He turned to Blaine. "We should probably act more couple-y to make this more believable."

Blaine's hand automatically shot into his empty one, tangling their fingers together and squeezing gently. "We can do this."

"Yeah, yeah okay. We've got this." Kurt let them into the apartment, yelling out for Santana, Finn, and Rachel to join them in the living room because he had news to share.

"What do you want, Hummel?" Santana asked in a bored tone, entering the room. "I have-" her eyes zeroed in on their clasped hands. "Holy shit, did you two finally do it?"

Blaine made a confused noise while Kurt just rolled his eyes. "I did say I have news."

Rachel and Finn entered the room. "What's going on?" Rachel glanced between the three of them.

"Kurt and Blaine finally got their shit together."

"Kurt and- what?" Confusion colored Rachel's voice.

"Wait, are you two dating?" Finn asked, noticing their hands.

"So it would seem," Santana smirked.

"Kurt!" Rachel bounced over to hug him, while he cringed slightly. In an attempt to ward off any congratulations that might hint at his crush, he interrupted her.

"That's not even the biggest part of our news!"

"What is then?"

"We're getting married!" Kurt announced as Blaine squeezed his hand.

Everyone gaped at them. As the silence grew, Kurt shifted awkwardly, not sure what it meant. Understandably they were all shocked, but Finn and Rachel almost looked a little hurt.

"How the hell did that happen?" Santana finally asked.

As soon as they finished telling everyone how they'd "gotten together" - which took longer because of Rachel's questions and the indignant looks on the three of their faces that they had no idea this was going on - Santana smirked. She glanced from Kurt to Blaine and then to the way they were sitting on the sofa, hands clasped between them on Blaine's leg. "I've been wondering when you two would figure it out."

"What?" Blaine blinked at her, confusedly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kurt asked.

"Oh come on, the two of you have been in love with each other for ages. You've practically been a married couple since the day you met. It's good to hear that you'll finally be making it official soon. We all knew this day would come sooner or later."

Finn, who looked hurt that Kurt hadn't informed him of this development in his life sooner, finally spoke up. "So you weren't okay with Rachel and me wanting to get married senior year but you're just up and marrying Blaine at twenty one after dating for less than three months?"

"My problem with you and Rachel getting married was that we were in high school and the two of you were going into it for the wrong reasons. You were scared of the future and wanted an insurance policy. Blaine and I aren't getting married because we're afraid of losing each other and not having anything else going for us, we're getting married because we love each other and we figure it'll happen sooner or later, so why not now when we have the ability to rent out our dream wedding spot?"

"Dibs on maid of honor," Rachel suddenly shouted, jumping out of her seat and running over to Kurt excitedly. "I can forgive you for not telling me about this sooner, but I'll be happier about it if I have a sparkly dress that I get to wear while performing the Maid of Honor duties."

"Bitch please," Santana interrupted. "I'm going to be Hummel's Maid of Honor. He needs someone who can kick Anderson's ass if he tries to run away at the last second."

Blaine's mouth dropped open in surprise as Santana and Rachel started yelling at each other. "Excu-?" Kurt sighed, squeezing Blaine's hand lightly, cutting him off, before he stood up.

"Hey!" Kurt yelled. "Ladies. Neither of you is going to be my maid of honor!"

"Excuse me?" Rachel whorled around to glare harshly at him.

"What's this now?" Santana asked, hands on her hips.

"Thank you for your attention." Kurt smiled at both of them as he sat back down next to Blaine. "There won't be a maid of honor. If you both behave yourselves you can be bridesmaids or whatever you would call it for a groom, but I'm having a best man instead. That is," Kurt focused nervously on Finn, "If you would like to be my best man, Finn."

"Wait, seriously?" Finn asked, a smile crossing his face.

"Yeah," Kurt laughed. "You're my brother, so that honor should fall to you."

"I would love that, man. Thank you." Finn got up to hug Kurt, as Rachel and Santana had a whispered battle over who would have been Maid of Honor had Finn not been in the picture.

After a while everyone settled down and they ordered pizza, throwing in a movie to fill the silence as they ate. The movie wasn't entirely captivating however, and they quickly fell back into conversation.

"You know it's okay if you guys kiss in front of us now, right?" Finn asked. "Your secret's out."

"Oh." Kurt blushed, shooting a glance at Blaine.

"Ah- yeah, totally hadn't thought about that." Blaine rubbed the back of his neck anxiously, tightening his grip on Kurt with his other arm. "We'll keep that in mind." Finn continued to stare at them as though waiting for them to kiss. "We're not just going to kiss on command, Finn," Blaine added as Finn continued to stare at them as though waiting for them to kiss.

"Oh- right. Sorry." He focused back on the TV once more and the silence remained unbroken for a while until-

"You never told us how you started dating. I have bets placed on this shit so I need to know."

"Um." Blaine gulped nervously, shifting uncomfortably next to Kurt.

"What, did all the sexual tension just become too much for the two of you all of the sudden and you just started going at it?"

"No!" Kurt squeaked out.

"Alright, let's hear it then." Santana demanded.

"Fine. You tell them, Blaine."

"What?!" Blaine yelped indignantly. "I have to tell them?"

"Ooo, now I really want to know." Santana said, leaning closer to them while shoving popcorn in her mouth.

"Go ahead sweetie, just tell them. Santana isn't going to stop asking until she knows."

With a final glare at Kurt, Blaine focused his attention on Santana, elbowing Kurt when he noticed the smirk on his face. "We, umm. We-"

"Spit it out, Warbler."

"Kuuurt," Blaine whined, looking at him pleadingly.

"What?" he asked innocently. "It's your fault we started this whole thing. I think you should tell it."

"I hate you." Blaine huffed, removing his arm from where it was wrapped around Kurt in favor of crossing his arms over his chest. "Alright." He quickly wracked his brain to come up with something. They had totally not prepared for this question. Fuck. "Okay, so the day after Halloween? When Kurt came over to my place to rehearse, and then he fell asleep at my place and you all freaked out?"

Three heads nodded in memory of the day while Kurt tried to look as though he knew where this was going.

"Well, we both fell asleep on the couch because we were up watching a movie after, and when I woke up in the morning- well." Blaine turned to smile adoringly at Kurt while tamping down on the sly smirk that was trying to escape his lips, uncrossing his arms to grab Kurt's hand once more. "The sunlight was on his face at just the right angle and he looked so beautiful that when his eyes opened a moment later I couldn't help but kiss him."

Blaine kissed Kurt's head lightly before Santana spoke up. "Okay, see I was expecting something juicier with all that avoidance you did a minute ago."

Kurt laughed lightly at her, trying not to blush from the intensity of Blaine's gaze. "Oh, the story does get juicier than that. You're just not going to hear about it. It's for Blaine and I to know and everyone else to never find out."

"Well, at least this all explains the two of you going out for dinner on New Year's Eve. Glad to know it wasn't yet another crazy platonic date." Kurt wasn't sure whether he should be offended by this or if he should take Santana's worry about their relationship as a compliment, so he merely smiled at her and focused back on the movie.