A/N: YAY! It's done:D

Finally, this monster is complete! Thank you all so much for sticking with me through this things and I hope you've all enjoyed it as much as I have.

So this final part is basically a wrap up of the end of Kurt's junior year. It explains a few key moments in his senior year and then brushes over the years beyond. Some pretty sweet Blangst within—because Blangst is wonderful and really gets everything all schmoopy and makes Klaine all close and asdfghjkjhgfdsa—and tons of fluff at the end:)

Thank you, thank you, thank you all. This has been amazing.

Blaine didn't go with him to New York for Nationals. Couldn't. Had school and stuff and too much, always too much, so he stayed in Ohio but they talked on the phone and texted throughout the day and even though they were away from each other it wasn't really all that bad. Not any worse than the days they spent a two hour drive apart anyway.

But then Kurt got home and it felt like they'd been away forever and they hugged and kissed and Blaine lamented their loss in New York but Kurt had been too excited over everything to actually be down about it.

So it was good. Everything was good and happy and then the year was over and summer was upon them.

They spent every day together. Blaine was done, had a degree, could teach anywhere he wanted. Kurt was going to be a senior, going to apply to NYADA—like he and Rachel had been planning since they'd returned from New York—and there wasn't a doubt in Blaine's mind that he was going to get in.

And so then there was the question of what to do. Blaine had a job as a freshman English teacher at Waynesville High, just a twenty minute drive from his new, bigger, better apartment in Lima that had a spare bedroom and a really awesome shower that he and Kurt had spent at least thirty minutes in on the day he'd gotten settled. He was set for as long as he needed. He was going to be a great teacher and he was going to have fun but…Kurt. It was suddenly more secrets. He couldn't let anyone at the new school know—even if it was legal—that he was dating a high school senior. So there was hiding.

There was also the matter of Kurt leaving for New York. What would happen then? When he got to the big city would he leave Blaine in his dust? Break his heart and find someone younger, someone taller, someone who didn't live a plane ride away?

Blaine didn't want to think about it.

They avoided it for as long they could. They avoided whatever they were scared of, whatever they were uncomfortable with, for a very long time. Until they knew they had to start easing themselves into it.

Blaine's friends were first. About two weeks into summer, just after the purchasing of the new apartment with the sexy-times-convenient shower, Kurt had called and announced his impending arrival after a fight with Rachel. But four of Blaine's friends from his years at Dalton—his best friends in the universe, not including a few people from OSU—had been over. Upon seeing the unknown name pop up on Blaine's cell phone and the way Blaine reacted with flushed cheeks and a stupid grin, an easily-excitable blonde named Jeff had grabbed the phone and turned it on speaker. Kurt didn't wait for Blain's greeting before speaking.

"Hi, Blaine—I, uh, I'm on my way over and I—shit." He sniffed. "Um, Rachel and I had a fight about NYADA and Finn and all these stupid things and I just… I miss you. Which is really stupid because I saw you all day yesterday but I need a hug so…I'm on my way, okay?"

Blaine licked his lips. "Sure. Of course. But, uh, I have some friends over."

There was hesitation. "Oh. Maybe I shouldn't—"

"I'm sure they'd love to meet you. If… If you want." Blaine glanced around at his friends. Wes, an Asian man who was prim and proper on the outside but fun and outrageously silly when you got to know him, was nodding, smiling softly. Jeff, still holding the phone, did the same. Nick and David simply grinned. Blaine knew he was safe.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"You win everybody over."

"…do they even know about us?"

Blaine glared at his friends quickly, begging them not to speak up. Hurriedly, he said, "They do now."

"Okay. I… I'll be there soon. I love you, Blaine."

David's eyebrows went up, looking admiringly at Blaine. He ignored it in favor of saying, "Love you too, Kurt. Drive safe."

Jeff disconnected. Things were silent for a moment before Nick said, "He's young."

Blaine nodded. "He's turning 18 in a month."

Wes tapped his fingers on the counter absently. "How long?"

There was no need for elaboration. "It'll be six months on the thirteenth."

There were congratulations and hugs and smiles and they were perfect around Kurt. They welcomed him and shook his hand, talked about colleges and high school, made fun of Blaine, even sang together for a while until Kurt had to leave to meet his curfew. Blaine followed him out into the hall, closing the door behind him, and kissed him gently.

"I'm sorry about Rachel," he whispered. "She'll come around. She overreacted."

"There's a picture of her next to 'overreacting' in the dictionary," Kurt grumbled.

Laughing, Blaine tilted his head up to kiss him again. "They liked you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Because I wanna be around you a lot longer." Kurt kissed him on the forehead, on the nose, and then on the lips, just lingering slightly, before waving goodbye and walking down the hall.

Blaine knew without having to ask that his friends had been watching through the peephole. He hadn't expected anything less.

There had been other things. By the end of the summer, most things were figured out. How to see each other, how to answer questions about their love life, how to do everything really. So all that was left was…NYADA.

"Even if I don't get in, I'm still going to New York."

It shouldn't have been a shock. Blaine should have figured that that was reality, that was what Kurt wanted. But he was still surprised when it was said. And it still hurt.

"And I want you to come with me."

He went kind of numb then. He'd just gotten a job, just bought a new place, just gotten settled, and in less than a year Kurt wanted him to reverse all of that and go to New York with him? Start over? Find another job, another home, another coffee shop, another community theatre? It was a huge deal. It was scary. But what was even more scary was the fact that Blaine knew there was only one answer.

He sat there, at his kitchen counter, and waited for Kurt to lift his head from the final chapter of his last summer reading book. When he did, Blaine nodded shortly. "Okay."

Kurt looked stunned. Blinked. "Wh… Really?"

He nodded again. "Yes."

"...are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, Kurt." He reached out, grabbing Kurt's hand. "I'm always sure when it comes to you. I've been looking for you forever. I'm not going to let you walk out of my life so quickly."

There was brief moment of silence before Kurt launched himself at his boyfriend, kissing him quickly and sloppily but it didn't matter because it was them and they were happy. When they broke away, Kurt laughed, "I'm never saying goodbye to you."

They weren't stupid. The year was long and they had time to worry and get anxious and they exploded into fights over and over again but always to the same result. They'd both apologize, no matter what had happened or what had ignited it all. They apologized and kissed. They hugged, promised each other it wasn't over, said "I love you," and went on their way.

Sebastian wasn't around any longer, what with Blaine's stint at Dalton over. Karofsky had actually wound up at the private school after being pushed out of the closet by some guys on the football team. He and Kurt talked regularly. They were friends.

The glee kids were still the same, plus a few new additions. Sugar, Rory, and Joe were all nice enough but Kurt didn't see himself bonding with any of them too much. He and Rachel fought a few times, he and Mercedes talked about boys and college and fears, and when he got home to Finn, Sam, Burt, and Carole, he felt like the luckiest person alive. It was astounding how much could change in a year.

But it was easy to tell that the changes weren't over.

-0-

"We go to a Halloween party every year in Westerville," Blaine said, scrolling through pages of costume ideas on his phone while Kurt finished up homework. "My old Dalton friends I mean. Everyone takes time off from school to go and we all hang out for a few days afterwards."

"That's cool."

There was silence in response.

Kurt was sitting at Blaine's desk in his bedroom—the apartment hadn't come with a study but it was all just as well because Blaine preferred to work as close to his bed as possible so that he didn't fall asleep before he hit the mattress—as he worked, hunched over a notebook with a pen in hand. To his right, in bed with the sheets pulled up to his hips and dressed in nothing but his watch, Blaine watched him for a moment before saying, "Wes brought his girlfriend last year. David brings his every year."

"Sounds fun."

"…do you wanna go with me?"

"It's on a Wednesday. I have school the next morning. And, knowing us and our party-going routine, we'll probably end up wanting to have sex when we get home and I will be a wreck at school the next day."

Blaine tapped his forefinger against the back of his phone as he shifted, leaning farther back into the pillows and staring up at the ceiling. "Yeah. And I'll have to teach."

"You should go—it's your tradition. Just be responsible. You have young ones whose minds it is your responsibility to brighten."

He laughed, looking at Kurt again, and found that the young man was looking back at him. Kurt smiled easily.

"You know how I decided to take art this year? So I could sketch my designs better?"

Blaine nodded, mashing his face against the pillow inadvertently.

"Can I sketch you?"

It wasn't really a question because Blaine didn't have to answer. He gave a kind of nod but Kurt was already digging his sketch pad out of his bag and grabbing a pencil. He said something to himself about lighting and sweaty skin and that goddamn sheet but Blaine pretended not to hear in favor of lounging back against his pillows and closing his eyes.

He began singing eventually. Something slow and romantic that Kurt couldn't quite place. Blaine's voice was rich and sensual, shaking purposefully on low notes that went straight through Kurt's body and made his toes curl. But they didn't speak.

Blaine moved from song to song, humming or doo-whopping when he forgot the occasional line, and then, sometime later, Kurt crawled into bed with him—dressed solely in his boxer briefs—and they stayed there, kissing, for what felt like hours.

"Can I see what you drew?" Blaine asked eventually.

"It's not very good. You're too difficult to draw. So many lines and shapes…" Kurt ran his hand down Blaine's sculpted torso, curling his fingers in the chest hair and then tapping along his belly playfully. "I'm better at drawing clothes."

They were silent again.

Their anniversary fell on the first day of winter break. They spent all day together, as close as they possibly could. When Kurt first walked in the door, they only made it to the couch before they were on each other like dogs. They made breakfast in T-shirts and underwear, showered under a too-hot spray until they were pruned, and had sex on every viable surface in Blaine's apartment.

When midnight struck, Kurt whispered to Blaine in the darkness of his bedroom, "I'm sad to think about leaving this place."

Blaine snuggled closer to his boyfriend, nuzzling his neck. He knew Kurt wasn't talking about Ohio or Lima—they'd had that conversation about his family and his friends and how he'd miss them but New York was what he wanted and he wouldn't be upset that he was going—so there was only one option as to his topic of conversation. "You weren't sad about the other place."

"You brought your bed from the other place here," Kurt sighed, affirming Blaine's suspicion. "I didn't really lose anything when you moved."

"We can bring my bed to New York. We'll put it on the truck."

Kurt ducked slightly to kiss Blaine's temple. "What will we do on our first night there?"

"We'll figure it out, Kurt. We always do."

Kurt's letter from NYADA arrived at the same time that Blaine received a phone call. So when Kurt raced to the apartment after school, letter in hand and elated grin on his face, he was met with an angry, tired, and frustrated Blaine.

The smile was replaced by a frown. Blaine was slouching, dressed in an old wrinkled T-shirt that was obviously too big on him and sweatpants that had what appeared to be a coffee stain mid-thigh on the right leg. He looked exhausted and his eyes were angry and dark.

"Did you go to work today?" Kurt asked softly.

"Felt sick so I left early," was Blaine only explanation—mumbled and weak—before he shuffled back to the couch and collapsed onto a pile of blankets.

When Kurt stepped farther into the apartment, he saw ice cream and junk food laid out on the coffee table, Zombieland playing on the TV, and all of the curtains closed.

"You look like you just went through the most horrifying breakup in existence," Kurt said numbly, closing the door behind him. "We're not breaking up, are we?"

"No."

Kurt wandered over to the couch and got his boots off so that he could curl up with Blaine. Blaine went to him instantly, pressing his face into Kurt's neck.

It was quiet for a while, Kurt just holding Blaine as he spread out on top of him. But then Blaine opened his mouth and let out a sad sigh before saying, "You're so lucky, Kurt." He said it so quietly that Kurt had to strain to hear it. "Your parents—they love you so much."

"I know." He did.

"And you're young and you're excited about college—you get to go to a new city and meet new people and have new experiences and nobody can tell you that you're not allowed to."

Kurt ran his hand over Blaine's back again and again until the man shuddered and let out a sob.

He broke.

"You get to go home for holidays and bring whoever you want with you." He was heaving, body shaking with the urge to dissolve into tears. "You get to tell your dad about our dates and ask Carole for advice on what to wear to impress a guy."

Kurt was so stunned that the only thing he could think of to say was, "I would never ask Carole for clothing advice."

Blaine laughed wetly, shoving his face into Kurt's neck again. "They love you so much, Kurt. No matter what you are or who you are. Promise me you'll never take advantage of that, okay?"

"…I promise."

They laid there for a while. Eventually, Blaine stopped crying. His breathing evened out, his body went lax, and Kurt knew he was asleep.

His heart ached. His letter was abandoned on the coffee table between a carton of ice cream and a bag of barbeque Lays. Blaine's tears were still wet on his neck and soaked into his collar. His heart felt so big in his chest, made everything inside of him turn into knots with the suddenly desire to take care of Blaine, make sure he never broke like this again.

Suddenly, there were things that were more important than New York. Kurt had never thought that that would be possible.

He couldn't figure out what it was that had turned Blaine into such a mess. He knew Blaine wasn't sick. When Blaine was sick he stayed in bed, watching romantic movies and practically inhaling chicken soup. And the things he'd said about Kurt's dad and Carole…

They'd been together for a year and they never talked about Blaine's parents. Ever.

There had been a moment just after they'd gotten together, around New Year's, when Blaine had talked about going to see his family but there had been no other mention since.

Kurt knew nothing.

Were they divorced? Did Blaine have siblings? Did Blaine have cousins or uncles or aunts? Nieces, nephews? Anything besides his parents? Did he still have both parents? Where did his family live? Did they see each other at all besides on Christmas? Why didn't Blaine ever talk about them?

Kurt was still wondering about that when he fell asleep.

-0-

"—out like a light. Yes, sir, I'll have him back by curfew—you have my word. R-right. Of course, Mr. Hummel. Um. Burt. Yes, goodnight."

Kurt rolled over on the couch so he could stare at the man hovering above him. Blaine set down the phone on the coffee table—which was clear of everything except two remotes and Kurt's NYADA letter—and sat at the end of the couch, pulling Kurt's feet into his lap.

"Hey, there."

"Hi."

"Do you have homework to get done?"

"No. I can stay. I want to stay." He sat up and curled in on himself, knees against his chest. "Do you wanna talk about…whatever?"

Blaine was cleaner than he had been an hour ago. His hair was wet, his dirty, oversized clothes replaced with a fitted cotton shirt and pajama pants, and he looked significantly more alive. But he still wasn't smiling. And his eyes were still angry, his body language still tense and guarded. Kurt could feel Blaine building walls up again. He didn't want that.

Leaning forward onto his knees, Kurt took Blaine's face in his hands and kissed him gently. Once. Twice. Down to his jaw and then over his throat, back and forth until he got up to Blaine's ear, then to his temple, his forehead, his nose, and his lips again. "I love you," he whispered. "Whatever's wrong, we can fix it. Just talk to me."

Blaine gazed up at him with wide eyes, his mouth set in a line of worry. "I sent my mom an email a few months ago," he started. "And when she didn't respond I assumed she didn't care. So I just…let it go. I don't really have a good relationship with my parents. They're both Christian conservatives—they go to church every Sunday and make sure they keep up appearances. And when I came out to them, they weren't very…understanding. They cared too much about what people would think.

"So they asked me to keep it to myself. We never talked about it. Ever. They never knew that I dated guys, never assumed I was lying when I said I was going out with friends. They tried to set me up on dates with girls and convince me to stop the nonsense." He took a deep breath. "They told me I was sick. And that it was a phase I'd grow out of."

"Oh, Blaine—"

"They live in Westerville," Blaine continued. He was staring fixedly at Kurt's chest. He couldn't meet Kurt's eyes. Not yet. "But we don't talk a lot. We see each other on Christmas when my brother and his girlfriend come for a visit. He's a lawyer. Successful, handsome, smart. His girlfriend is gorgeous and sweet—they're actually engaged now. I… I found out today. The email I sent—I told my mom that I was moving to New York over the summer and I probably wasn't going to see them before I left. Cooper, my brother, lives in Philadelphia. I called him up to tell him—he's excited for us. He wants to meet you."

Kurt smiled softly, rubbing his thumb over Blaine's cheek. "I'd love that."

"My mom told my dad about me moving, my dad asked Cooper, and Cooper didn't know—it wasn't his fault…"

"…Blaine?"

His eyes were closed tight. His hands came forward and fisted in Kurt's shirt and when he opened his mouth again, he made a pained noise.

"Hey, it's okay; it's okay." Kurt kissed all over his face again, kissed him until he started crying a little and then shifted them so that they were lying down together, both on their sides, Blaine crying into his shirt. "It's okay, baby. It's okay."

"I told Cooper that I was moving to be with you," he said weakly. "I told him about you and how much I love you and how we were going to be together for as long as you would have me. I told him that you were the one for me and he was so happy for me, Kurt. He doesn't care that you're only eighteen, he doesn't care about anything except that I'm happy but he didn't know that Mom and Dad didn't know and so he told them."

Kurt gasped involuntarily. A small intake of breath that made Blaine snuggle in closer.

"My dad called me today during lunch. He berated me for a million things—for being with you, for still being gay, for wanting to leave with you. He told me about how Cooper proposed and said I wasn't his son anymore."

"Blaine, I—"

"But I don't care. I can't care. I'm going with you and that's final."

"But, Blaine—"

"Please, Kurt. Just hold me, okay?"

Sighing, Kurt tightened the arm he had around Blaine's waist. "I love you, you know," he whispered into Blaine's curls. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'm never letting you go. I… Can I sing to you?"

He nodded. "Please."

Hearing Kurt sing Perfect was like a paddle to the heart. It revived him, restored him, and he wasn't just suddenly complete again but he knew he was going to get there. Because he was surrounded by people that loved him. He didn't need those who didn't.

-0-

Blaine eventually found out about Kurt's finalist letter. Kurt eventually met Cooper.

Blaine was at Kurt's house when he got his acceptance letter. They celebrated for hours.

They flew to New York a week earlier than Rachel over the summer to settle into the little apartment they'd bought. Blaine got a job at a private high school. Teaching French.

Rachel took up their guest room—it was only fair—and was the perfect roommate. Most of the time.

Kurt graduated from NYADA and immediately got a part in a show off Broadway. Rachel was in the show with him. Blaine was there on opening night.

Rachel eventually moved out.

They bought a cat. And a piano.

Seven years to the day after Kurt met Blaine in that small McKinley High classroom, he got down on one knee in the middle of Times Square and asked Blaine to marry him.

Blaine said yes.

Five months later, Kurt walked into Blaine's classroom after school and found roses, candles, and a little velvet box on the big, wooden desk.

They got married the year after that.

Their rings matched.

Eventually, they had kids. They moved into a bigger apartment, had brunch dates with Rachel and her husband, met up with other teachers and friends from Broadway on weekends, and they were happy—happier than either of them thought they could ever be.

Against all odds, they were together. They had each other. And they were going to stay that way. No matter what.

A/N: New info on new stories coming soon! Again, thank you all so much! I cannot express how grateful I am for all of the alerts and reviews. You guys rock my world.

Love,

E. M. Zeray