#inscribe

"No. Yes? Oh God, Kurt, when did you do this?"

"I definitely did NOT do this! Everything was in place when I left. Tell me you didn't hit your head."

"No, this!" And he started reading: "You always make me happy, To the sweetest man in the world, You're the best husband, I'm so lucky to have you, Happy anniversary, I love you forever, ..."

"Oh... You found it!"

"Looks like I did."

"Well... um... it was a long time project... Like really-really long."

"I can imagine! It must have taken days. Or a week or two! When did you work on this? How did I not notice?"

"I started a while ago. About 4 years or so..."

Blaine's eyes widen so dramatically that Kurt can't help but laugh.

"I didn't just do it yesterday, honey. You got them like that."

"No way."

"I'm telling you."

"But you give me a bow tie every month."

"I know I do. And each one has a little message inscribed on it. I'm not saying it was always easy, but... you like it, don't you?" - Kurt asks hopefully.

"Of course! I love it, this is the sweetest thing ever, Kurt. I love you so much!"

"Then it was worth it. I love you too!"

"Why didn't you tell me about this years ago?"

"It was a secret project, obviously... I was hoping you'd notice one day, but it was more of a surprise. I just wanted to... I wanted to be with you somehow, even when I wasn't."

"Oh, Kurt..."

And it pays off, because when Blaine arrives in the lobby and Kurt waves it around, Blaine’s entire face lights up.

“Kurt!”

“Blaine!”

They run towards each other and hug each other tightly. Kurt buries his face in the crook of Blaine’s neck and Blaine tightens his grip.

“You’re here,” Kurt says against Blaine’s skin.

“I am, love.”

“Welcome to New York!”

They stand there for a few more seconds, but then it’s time to go. Kurt’s eager to show Blaine around. They’re first going to drop Blaine’s suitcase off at Kurt’s apartment, and then they’re going into town. New York has a lot to offer.

--

“This place is insane,” Blaine says as he looks around Times Square. Kurt knows Blaine’s been to New York before, but he gets it. New York also takes his breath away. You get used to it when you live here, but it’s nice to be reminded. When Kurt came back from Ljubljana, he had to take it in as well.

He’ll miss it when he goes to LA.

If he goes to LA.

Classes start next week, so then Kurt can really sink his teeth into this. But now, he doesn’t need to think about being with Blaine in LA, since Blaine is here.

Blaine makes some photos of the billboards.

“Ljubljana was never this flashy.”

“True.”

“But I wouldn’t want it to be.”

“Same.”

When Blaine’s done taking photos, Kurt takes his hand and they make the trek to Central Park. Kurt had prepared a little picnic. He even bought a second hand picnic basket at a bargain store!

It’s a nice August day as well. It’s perfect. They roll out a picnic blanket and feed each other food. It’s too cute for words and Kurt loves it. He loves seeing Blaine smile.

“We’ll take the train back to your place next?” Blaine asks after a while.

Kurt nods.

“Do you already want to go home?”

Blaine shakes his head.

“No. Not necessarily, but just checking.”

“Why?”

“Because of your roommates.”

“Ah.”

Yes, they’re going to tell Rachel and Santana. They won’t be home until the evening, which is fine, because then Kurt will have Blaine for himself for a bit longer, but they will be home and they will notice that someone else is there.

“Could you tell me about them?” Blaine asks.

“Oh. Well. They’re cool, albeit busy,” Kurt starts, “They come from the same school and decided to live together. I joined the household later. Santana is a professional dancer. She works at this dance studio and she has a girlfriend named Dani. Rachel is driven and passionate. She landed an agent while I was in Ljubljana, so she spends most of her time auditioning and what not. Not going to lie, she almost makes me feel bad about it.”

Blaine frowns, so Kurt elaborates.

“It’s just… she’s advancing in her career. I fucked off to another country and she’s actually going somewhere.”

“But you also did it for your career!” Blaine argues, “It looks amazing on your resume. And career aside, it was also a lot of fun.”

Kurt sighs. He knows that. And he met Blaine, which is arguably the best part of his semester abroad. Rachel unfortunately tends to make remarks about how much better she’s doing. She’s not even doing it to hurt him, more to show off, but it’s noticeable.

“Besides, multiple ways lead to Rome, and with Rome I mean a theatre career,” Blaine continues, “Your degree is important and you’ll do an internship this year too, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you already started thinking about that? You can show that off to Rachel!”

“I haven’t,” Kurt lies.

He needs to change the subject. He can’t dwell on the internship thing and accidentally spill the beans.

“But yeah, that’s Rachel!” he quickly says, “And Santana. My roommates.”

“And you like them, right?”

Kurt nods.

“I do. They’re my friends. I actually miss them.”

He does. Kurt, Rachel and Santana are roommates first, friends second. It’s the truth, but they’re still friends and Kurt cares for them and he knows they care for him too. Rachel and Santana truly haven’t had time to just relax and catch up. Well, maybe Santana has had, but she prefers spending her free time with Dani.

“I can’t wait to meet them, then,” Blaine says.

They finish their picnic and then they take the train back to Kurt’s place. Kurt’s desperate to have some time with Blaine in private and judging by the way Blaine keeps reaching out, the feeling is mutual.

It’s almost as if the train ride is endless.

But once they’re inside and Blaine’s pushed Kurt against the door to kiss him, it all goes so fast. Kurt doesn’t mind. They take off their shoes and dump the picnic basket before heading to the bedroom.

-

Kurt and Blaine decide to make themselves presentable before greeting Rachel and Santana. They have a quick shower and then get dressed.

Then they wait.

They’re lying in Kurt’s bed, holding each other. Kurt has his head rested on Blaine’s chest and he can hear Blaine’s heartbeat go fast.

“It’ll be fine,” Kurt reassures him. Santana is a lesbian and Rachel has two dads, so they luckily don’t have to worry about homophobia.

“Yeah,” Blaine sighs.

Then, after a few more minutes, they hear the front door open.

“Anyone in here?” Santana screeches out. The walls of this apartment are relatively thin, so Kurt can hear her crystal clear.

“Santana, Kurt’s shoes are here!” Rachel says back.

“… together with another pair of shoes,” Santana notices.

“Kurt?” Rachel also calls out.

Kurt looks over to Blaine. Blaine nods. It’s time.

Kurt rolls of Blaine and Blaine slides out of the bed and walks towards Kurt’s mirror to check his appearance. What a ridiculous man, Kurt thinks fondly, He wants to look at his best when he meets my roommates.

“Ready?” Kurt whispers, so that Rachel and Santana will not overhear.

“Yeah,” Blaine says under his breath.

Kurt also gets out of bed and walks towards the door to open it. He does and pokes his head out of the doorway.

“Hey,” he says lamely to Rachel and Santana.

“Hey,” Santana says back in the same tone.

Rachel’s already moved to the kitchen to probably make tea with honey for her voice, but she also says a quick hello.

“So?” Santana says with a knowing smile, “Something you wanna tell us, Hummel?”

“Yes, actually,” Kurt says and he looks back over his shoulder. Blaine gives him a thumbs up. “Ladies, I have a boyfriend.”

Rachel lets out a delighted shriek.

Santana just yells: “Called it!”

“And he’s here. Ladies, please meet my boyfriend,” Kurt opens the door even wider. It feels so formal. Blaine appears in the doorway, next to Kurt, and he opens his mouth to speak, but then his eyes widen.

Santana has a similar look on her face.

“Blaine Anderson?” she asks in disbelief.

Kurt smiled and approached, turning Blaine with a gentle press to his shoulder. He reached for the tie, but instead of fixing it like Blaine hoped he would somehow manage, he started untying it. “It’s a perfectly fine tie, and it fits you perfectly fine, but ,” he slipped it off Blaine’s neck and tossed it to the side, “you are correct. It doesn’t look right because it’s not right.”

“That’s the tie we decided on,” Blaine argued, “it matches yours, I have to wear that tie.”

Kurt wrinkled his nose. “And who says that?”

“Mercedes,” Blaine stated, “the one who has been planning this whole thing down to the millisecond. Your best friend who might just kill us if we make a mess of this wedding like literally every other New Directions wedding.”

“Changing a tie won’t mess up the wedding. In fact,” Kurt pulled a box out of his back pocket, “I think it will make it all the better.” 

Blaine looked down at the box. “What’s this?”

“Your new tie,” Kurt said simply.

“Where did you get this new tie?” Blaine asked, taking the box cautiously.

“I made it,” he said, “special for you on our special day. Mercedes is doing this for us, she can accept us improving upon her ideas a little bit, I promise.”

Blaine carefully lifted the lid to the box and gasped softly. Inside was a bowtie, made from the same fabric as his old tie. 

“I don’t know why you thought I’d be letting you wear a regular tie on our wedding day, Pet,” Kurt chided softly, “after all the meaning behind your bowties.”

Blaine flushed. “We decided we were going to keep this wedding vanilla,” he said. “Entering into this union as equals.”

“Of course we are,” Kurt said, wrapping his arms around Blaine’s waist to pull him closer. “You have always been my equal. Even when you’re on your knees and even when you’re wearing my collar. But that part of us, of you , is so integral to our relationship, how could we pretend it doesn’t exist today of all days.”

“But–”

“I know, it’s not some big kinky affair, a lovely collaring ceremony with you crawling down the aisle to me. That version may only exist in our fantasies. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make sure at least part of it happens today.”

Blaine stroked the edge of the bowtie gently. 

“Untie it for me, Pet,” Kurt whispered. Blaine glanced up at him, a question in his eye, but did as he was told. Kurt took a step back and lifted the bowtie gently from the box and held it up for Blaine to see. Inscribed in a gentle stitch along the inside of the fabric was one simple word. 

Pet . 

“I thought ‘Property of Kurt Hummel’ might be a little too gaudy. But this should get the point across nicely.”

Blaine grinned, tears glistening in his eyes. “You made me a wedding collar,” he said.

Kurt shrugged. “I’m surprised we hadn’t thought of this sooner. For when we’re in public, but your leather cuff clashes with your outfit. Bowties were your first collar, after all.”

“You should make me more,” Blaine said, “I know how you like to have options when picking my clothes.”

‘To write’ is escribir in Spanish.

A not so common English synonym for desk is escritoire. (It originates from French.)

Pictured: Ernest Hemingway’s desk in his home near Havana where he wrote The Old Man And The Sea.

The letter is on the desk. La carta está en el escritorio.