You, You Ought to Give Me Wedding Rings: Husbands, Part 1/3
Media: Fic
Title: You, You Ought to Give Me Wedding Rings: Husbands, Part 1/3
Rating: PG
Word count: 7828
Spoilers: none
Warnings: none
Summary: See title. Pretty self-explanatory :)
A/N: YOU GUYS THIS TOOK SO LONG TO WRITE!!! I wanted to get it perfect, so I enlisted the help of my dear friend jst_klo to beta! She was awesome. She also, in her last email, said "Forget wedding ring, the title of this fic should be 'You, You Ought to Give me a Tissue'" which made me laugh hysterically in the middle of a restaurant, and you may want to heed her warning that this is fluff in the most intense of forms, and you may very well be crying at some point. Just sayin'...
Points of interest: This is a continuation of the one-shots in the Lights Verse, but this is a 3-part-er, and it is long. (So long, in fact, that lj won't let me do it in just one post, so just click next to go to the rest of it...) The title (actually all of the titles in this little mini-series) comes from a song called "The Book of Love," which, if you haven't heard it, you need to go listen to it HERE, right now, because it's beautiful.
And so, without further ado...
You, You Ought to Give Me Wedding Rings:
Husbands, Part 1
September 16, 2028
Lily: 2 years, 4 months
Kurt: 34 years
Blaine: 34 years
Blaine smiled at the reflection of Kurt's face in the hotel room mirror and stepped forward, slowly turning him around. He brushed a hand lightly down Kurt's jacket lapel before carefully pinning on his boutonniere. Hazel met glasz as he looked up into the eyes of his betrothed.
“Happy wedding day.”
Kurt smiled. “Happy wedding day to you, too.”
“I don't know if I've mentioned this to you today, but you.” A kiss to his cheek. “Are.” A kiss to his neck. “So.” A kiss to the opposite cheek. “Gorgeous.” Soft lips met soft lips, and the world stood still as Blaine valiantly tried not to run his hand through Kurt's perfectly-coiffed locks, placing it on the side of his face instead. Seconds passed, then a minute, then two, but the men weren't concerned with time or space, not when they had each other so close in their arms.
“I adore you,” Kurt sighed, collapsing into Blaine's embrace as their lips finally left each other.
“Mmmm, me too.”
Kurt stepped back a pace to look at Blaine in the eye. “Do you remember the first time you told me you loved me?”
Blaine chuckled. “Of course I do. In the middle of the Lima Bean, of all places - though, looking back, I suppose that was fairly appropriate, considering the amount of time we spent there. I remember you were wearing seafoam green pants. I remember thinking that there were literally beams of light coming off you while you were talking about New York. I know there weren't, because that's just impossible, but it was like … you were just radiating with … something. See? I can't even put it into words, even now.”
“Oh, Blaine...”
“That's why I said it I think - I couldn't help it. There wasn't anything else to say to you. You know that I was planning to tell you over dinner one night in some fancy, expensive hotel. Instead, I just made you nearly choke on your coffee.”
“It was perfect. The way you were looking at me - I wanted to take a picture of your face. You were adorable. That's how I knew it was real, when you said it, because of the look in your eyes. I wish you could have seen yourself.”
“I'd rather just keep seeing you,” Blaine replied, and pulled Kurt into another soft kiss.
They broke apart, interrupted by a loud knock at the door.
“You boys decent?” they heard Burt's voice call out.
“Yeah Dad, come on in,” Kurt answered.
Burt opened the door and lifted an eyebrow at the scene before him, Kurt and Blaine standing very close together, slightly flushed. “Am I interrupting something?”
“No, not at all,” Blaine said, reaching down to pick Lily up, who'd toddled in after Burt.
“I was trying not to bother you, but none of us can get her hair to do anything, and pictures start in an hour, and I wanted to talk to the two of you anyway...”
“Hey Lil,” Blaine said to his little girl, “Are you having a bad hair day?”
“Gwampa says my haiw is like a biwd's nest,” Lily said, giggling.”I told him that was silly, cause biwd's nests awe bwown and my haiw is blonde.”
Kurt looked at Burt, who just shrugged his shoulders.
“Did you and Carole use the de-tangler on it when you washed it last night?”
“Which one was that?”
Kurt sighed. “The pink spray bottle, Dad. Here … I brought along some of her stuff just in case this happened … I'll fix it. Come here, Lil, let Dad make your hair all pretty like a princess, okay?”
“Pwetty pwincess! Will you cu- cuw- ...make it like Daddy's?”
They laughed. “Curl, Lily. Can you say curl?” Blaine prompted her.
She scrunched her little face up with the effort. “Cuwl.”
“Very good!”
Kurt walked over to his suitcase and pulled out a curling iron and a bottle of de-tangling spray. “You know, Lily, your hair is curly like Daddy's already. Yours is just longer, so it needs a little more help behaving.”
“Lily's haiw is bad?”
Kurt chuckled. “No sweetheart, your hair isn't bad at all. Just a little wild.”
“Like the book?”
“What book?”
“You know, Dad,” Lily said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “Let the wild wumpus stawt!”
Kurt looked over at Blaine, who grinned sheepishly. “So this is what you've been reading to our 2-year-old at bedtime?”
“She likes it! Don't you, Lily?”
“Wild Wumpus!”
“Yes, that's what I'm worried about. And all the gnashing of terrible teeth and terrible claws and all that...”
“Oh, come on Kurt, she's fine. We can talk about that later. You need to fix her hair, and I think your dad said he wanted to talk to us...”
Burt was trying not to laugh at the exchange between his son and son-in-law. Kurt huffed a breath of air out of his mouth, but plugged the curling iron in and seemed to be appeased.
Burt did chuckle as his son sat down behind Lily, spraying her hair with the detangler and combing through it with a large-toothed comb. “I don't know what we would've done if I'd had to do that with you when you were younger...”
Kurt looked up. “You would have figured it out, or I would have. Just like everything else we had to do, Dad. You learned how to drink tea properly, and I learned how to work on cars.”
He grunted in reply and stared, transfixed, as Kurt took the curling iron and wrapped small strands around it, talking quietly in Lily's ear to help her stay calm and hold still.
“Anyway … before things get busy and crazy and the paparazzi get here-”
“Photographers, Dad.”
“I don't care what you say, son, anybody with an entourage and that many cameras is paparazzi in my book. Anyway … before we get to where we can't really talk, I just want to let you both know how proud of you I am. You know, Kurt, when I was first getting used to the idea that you're gay, a wedding was the last thing on my mind. But sometime after you met Blaine, after you guys started getting serious, I started thinking about it. Frankly, it pissed me off that you had to live in a world that not only didn't accept you, but also didn't give you the same rights as everybody else. I was real worried that you wouldn't ever get to have a wedding - and that I wouldn't get to be there on your wedding day. And I just have to say - I'm thrilled to death to be here with both of you guys. If anybody deserves a fantastic wedding, it's the two of you.”
Kurt's face softened, and he set the curling iron down where Lily couldn't reach it. He pushed himself up off the floor and loped to his dad in two long strides, enveloping him in a bone-crushing hug.
“I'm glad you're here too, Daddy.”
Burt froze with his hands on Kurt's back for a moment. He hadn't called him Daddy since he was ten years old.
“I just wish your mom could be here, Kurt,” he said, squeezing even tighter. “She would've been so proud of you.”
With one final squeeze and a quick kiss on Kurt's forehead, Burt turned to Blaine.
“Now son - I don't want to make this any harder for you than it already is, but I really feel like I need to say this. I am sorry your parents aren't here today. I am sorry that they are cowards who always cared more about themselves than they did about you. I am sorry that you had to make do with just me the last several years, and I'm sorry that there's not always enough of me to go around.”
Blaine shook his head wordlessly. Burt's statement couldn't have been farther from the truth - Burt Hummel made sure there was always enough of himself for all three of his boys.
“But let me tell you this, Blaine - you are so much better than them. They do not deserve to call a man like you their son. Your heart is so pure - you've been so good to my son over the years, loved him so much, more than I ever thought... I didn't trust you at first, but you have more than earned my trust now. And if people like your parents can't see how big your heart is and how good of a person you are, it's their loss. So I want you to walk down that aisle today with your head held high and show them, and everyone like them, that you deserve happiness just as much, if not more, than they do.”
He wiped a tear out of the corner of his eye, and he could see Kurt's shoulders, facing away from him quivering ever so slightly. The curling iron was still in his hand.
Blaine had his head down, and Burt could tell he was trying to hold it together.
“Blaine, look at me.” He did so, tears shining in his eyes. “I love you, kiddo.” His son-in-law strode forward into his arms. “And there's not a single person on this earth who I'd rather share my name with than you.”
Blaine drew in a sharp breath. They'd never even discussed it with Burt, he realized, the changing of both their last names to Anderson-Hummel.
“Hey, it's okay,” Burt said, pulling back so he could look Blaine in the eye. He was nervous all of a sudden. “And, now that you're officially a Hummel … I know I should have offered you this a lot sooner than now, please forgive me for that, but … you can … you can call me Dad. Y'know, if you want to.”
He watched Blaine's face contort through four different emotions - first shock, then disbelief, then confusion, and finally tearful joy. Blaine pressed his head back into Burt's shoulder, not even trying to stop the tears at that point.
“You have no idea,” he sniffled, “how much that means to me. No idea.”
Tears were silently rolling down Kurt's face as well as he stood up once more and threw his arms around Burt and Blaine together. Not understanding what was happening, Lily was distressed by all the crying.
“Daddy, Daddy, don't cwy! Please don't be sad. It makes me sad in my heawt!”
Kurt grabbed tissues for everyone (knowing that Blaine was about 3 seconds from wiping snot all over his sleeve), and dabbed at his own eyes. “Lily, honey, it's okay.”
“Yeah, Daddy's fine,” Blaine reassured her, wiping his eyes and stooping down to her. “These are happy tears. Daddy's just really, really happy right now, okay?”
She threw her arms around his neck. “Why awe you cwying if you'we so happy, Daddy?”
“Because sometimes, Lily, when people are really really happy, their hearts just aren't big enough to hold all the happiness, and it all just runs out their eyes in the form of tears.”
“Awe you suwe you'we not sad?”
“Yes, baby, I'm positive.” He picked her up and hugged her close. “That was so sweet of you though, asking if I was okay. You're the best little girl a Daddy could ever ask for.”
“I love you, Daddy. And Dad. And Gwampa.”
They all leaned in to kiss her, getting remnants of salty tears on her face.
“Dad? Awe you all done with my haiw?”
“Yes.”
“Can I put on my pwetty pwincess dwess then?”
“'Course you can sweetheart - Nana's got it back in our room. I bet she'll help you get into it,” Burt said. “Let's give your dads a few minutes by themselves, okay?” He gave Kurt one last hug, and did the same for Blaine.
And he barely heard it, but the words came in the form of the quietest whisper. “Thank you … Dad.”
* * * * * * * *
It was dusk. They could feel anticipation and thrill in the air, as if the whole world was abuzz with the enchantments that lit up the garden in front of them like a wonderful, make-believe fairyland. Tiny lights twinkled all around, candles hanging in jars from the branches of the huge tree which they were about to walk toward, luminaries lining the aisle to light their way. Notes and bars and stanzas of rapturous music floated about, further transporting them and their guests and even passersby into the almost-imaginary evening.
Almost.
They watched their own, very real, 2-year-old fairy twirl and sway in her very fairy-like dress, a crown of flowers adorning her blonde curls, and waited as the last guests were seated.
Blaine looked around, trying to take it all in, coloring memories on his frontal lobe in permanent ink so that they were there to stay. The way the color palate looked against the setting sun - plums and browns and taupes and ivories, complementing the beauty of the sunset perfectly. The heavy pull of his boutonniere on his jacket lapel, trachelium and silver brunia tied with a brown ribbon. The voices of their friends and family, softly wafting toward them over the sound of the music. The unusual but gorgeous rustic wood benches that Kurt had insisted on for seating in lieu of traditional chairs. The sight of Wes, standing by himself at the front of the aisle under the big tree, waiting to officiate their ceremony. Kurt's contented smile, the one that, when directed at him, made Blaine feel like he was home. Kurt's form-fitting light mocha brown 3-piece suit (identical to his, but Kurt's looked better - somehow clothing always managed to mold perfectly Kurt's body, hugging him as if to say 'I was made for him' - but Blaine could understand. Because he did the very same thing whenever he got the chance.)
Then the music changed, and Kurt breathed in a deep breath as Finn escorted his elderly grandmother down the aisle, looking back at them and giving them a warm smile as she sat down with a hmmph. Burt and Carole followed behind them, but before they started toward the luminary-lit path, Burt turned around. Even with the dimming of the natural light, they could see tears glistening in his eyes. He nodded first to Kurt, and then to Blaine, and the corners of his mouth turned up just slightly. Blaine grabbed at Kurt's hand as they both fought back the tingling sensations behind their eyes. As Burt gently guided Carole toward their place under the illuminated tree, Blaine's eyes drifted toward the bench that should have been occupied by his family, but was instead filled with his friends. Kurt saw and squeezed his hand right as a pang of sadness clouded the gleaming joy he'd felt through the rest of the day. He held on, feeling Kurt's quiet strength pouring into him, anchoring him, reviving him. And he thought of Burt - Dad, now - and how grateful he was for the man, who didn't always understand, but did always want to do what was right. It was not a day for sadness, for dwelling on the past. It was a day of celebration, meant for looking into the future, toward what was to come for them. He concentrated on that, and saw only good things.
Next!
Title: You, You Ought to Give Me Wedding Rings: Husbands, Part 1/3
Rating: PG
Word count: 7828
Spoilers: none
Warnings: none
Summary: See title. Pretty self-explanatory :)
A/N: YOU GUYS THIS TOOK SO LONG TO WRITE!!! I wanted to get it perfect, so I enlisted the help of my dear friend jst_klo to beta! She was awesome. She also, in her last email, said "Forget wedding ring, the title of this fic should be 'You, You Ought to Give me a Tissue'" which made me laugh hysterically in the middle of a restaurant, and you may want to heed her warning that this is fluff in the most intense of forms, and you may very well be crying at some point. Just sayin'...
Points of interest: This is a continuation of the one-shots in the Lights Verse, but this is a 3-part-er, and it is long. (So long, in fact, that lj won't let me do it in just one post, so just click next to go to the rest of it...) The title (actually all of the titles in this little mini-series) comes from a song called "The Book of Love," which, if you haven't heard it, you need to go listen to it HERE, right now, because it's beautiful.
And so, without further ado...
You, You Ought to Give Me Wedding Rings:
Husbands, Part 1
September 16, 2028
Lily: 2 years, 4 months
Kurt: 34 years
Blaine: 34 years
Blaine smiled at the reflection of Kurt's face in the hotel room mirror and stepped forward, slowly turning him around. He brushed a hand lightly down Kurt's jacket lapel before carefully pinning on his boutonniere. Hazel met glasz as he looked up into the eyes of his betrothed.
“Happy wedding day.”
Kurt smiled. “Happy wedding day to you, too.”
“I don't know if I've mentioned this to you today, but you.” A kiss to his cheek. “Are.” A kiss to his neck. “So.” A kiss to the opposite cheek. “Gorgeous.” Soft lips met soft lips, and the world stood still as Blaine valiantly tried not to run his hand through Kurt's perfectly-coiffed locks, placing it on the side of his face instead. Seconds passed, then a minute, then two, but the men weren't concerned with time or space, not when they had each other so close in their arms.
“I adore you,” Kurt sighed, collapsing into Blaine's embrace as their lips finally left each other.
“Mmmm, me too.”
Kurt stepped back a pace to look at Blaine in the eye. “Do you remember the first time you told me you loved me?”
Blaine chuckled. “Of course I do. In the middle of the Lima Bean, of all places - though, looking back, I suppose that was fairly appropriate, considering the amount of time we spent there. I remember you were wearing seafoam green pants. I remember thinking that there were literally beams of light coming off you while you were talking about New York. I know there weren't, because that's just impossible, but it was like … you were just radiating with … something. See? I can't even put it into words, even now.”
“Oh, Blaine...”
“That's why I said it I think - I couldn't help it. There wasn't anything else to say to you. You know that I was planning to tell you over dinner one night in some fancy, expensive hotel. Instead, I just made you nearly choke on your coffee.”
“It was perfect. The way you were looking at me - I wanted to take a picture of your face. You were adorable. That's how I knew it was real, when you said it, because of the look in your eyes. I wish you could have seen yourself.”
“I'd rather just keep seeing you,” Blaine replied, and pulled Kurt into another soft kiss.
They broke apart, interrupted by a loud knock at the door.
“You boys decent?” they heard Burt's voice call out.
“Yeah Dad, come on in,” Kurt answered.
Burt opened the door and lifted an eyebrow at the scene before him, Kurt and Blaine standing very close together, slightly flushed. “Am I interrupting something?”
“No, not at all,” Blaine said, reaching down to pick Lily up, who'd toddled in after Burt.
“I was trying not to bother you, but none of us can get her hair to do anything, and pictures start in an hour, and I wanted to talk to the two of you anyway...”
“Hey Lil,” Blaine said to his little girl, “Are you having a bad hair day?”
“Gwampa says my haiw is like a biwd's nest,” Lily said, giggling.”I told him that was silly, cause biwd's nests awe bwown and my haiw is blonde.”
Kurt looked at Burt, who just shrugged his shoulders.
“Did you and Carole use the de-tangler on it when you washed it last night?”
“Which one was that?”
Kurt sighed. “The pink spray bottle, Dad. Here … I brought along some of her stuff just in case this happened … I'll fix it. Come here, Lil, let Dad make your hair all pretty like a princess, okay?”
“Pwetty pwincess! Will you cu- cuw- ...make it like Daddy's?”
They laughed. “Curl, Lily. Can you say curl?” Blaine prompted her.
She scrunched her little face up with the effort. “Cuwl.”
“Very good!”
Kurt walked over to his suitcase and pulled out a curling iron and a bottle of de-tangling spray. “You know, Lily, your hair is curly like Daddy's already. Yours is just longer, so it needs a little more help behaving.”
“Lily's haiw is bad?”
Kurt chuckled. “No sweetheart, your hair isn't bad at all. Just a little wild.”
“Like the book?”
“What book?”
“You know, Dad,” Lily said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “Let the wild wumpus stawt!”
Kurt looked over at Blaine, who grinned sheepishly. “So this is what you've been reading to our 2-year-old at bedtime?”
“She likes it! Don't you, Lily?”
“Wild Wumpus!”
“Yes, that's what I'm worried about. And all the gnashing of terrible teeth and terrible claws and all that...”
“Oh, come on Kurt, she's fine. We can talk about that later. You need to fix her hair, and I think your dad said he wanted to talk to us...”
Burt was trying not to laugh at the exchange between his son and son-in-law. Kurt huffed a breath of air out of his mouth, but plugged the curling iron in and seemed to be appeased.
Burt did chuckle as his son sat down behind Lily, spraying her hair with the detangler and combing through it with a large-toothed comb. “I don't know what we would've done if I'd had to do that with you when you were younger...”
Kurt looked up. “You would have figured it out, or I would have. Just like everything else we had to do, Dad. You learned how to drink tea properly, and I learned how to work on cars.”
He grunted in reply and stared, transfixed, as Kurt took the curling iron and wrapped small strands around it, talking quietly in Lily's ear to help her stay calm and hold still.
“Anyway … before things get busy and crazy and the paparazzi get here-”
“Photographers, Dad.”
“I don't care what you say, son, anybody with an entourage and that many cameras is paparazzi in my book. Anyway … before we get to where we can't really talk, I just want to let you both know how proud of you I am. You know, Kurt, when I was first getting used to the idea that you're gay, a wedding was the last thing on my mind. But sometime after you met Blaine, after you guys started getting serious, I started thinking about it. Frankly, it pissed me off that you had to live in a world that not only didn't accept you, but also didn't give you the same rights as everybody else. I was real worried that you wouldn't ever get to have a wedding - and that I wouldn't get to be there on your wedding day. And I just have to say - I'm thrilled to death to be here with both of you guys. If anybody deserves a fantastic wedding, it's the two of you.”
Kurt's face softened, and he set the curling iron down where Lily couldn't reach it. He pushed himself up off the floor and loped to his dad in two long strides, enveloping him in a bone-crushing hug.
“I'm glad you're here too, Daddy.”
Burt froze with his hands on Kurt's back for a moment. He hadn't called him Daddy since he was ten years old.
“I just wish your mom could be here, Kurt,” he said, squeezing even tighter. “She would've been so proud of you.”
With one final squeeze and a quick kiss on Kurt's forehead, Burt turned to Blaine.
“Now son - I don't want to make this any harder for you than it already is, but I really feel like I need to say this. I am sorry your parents aren't here today. I am sorry that they are cowards who always cared more about themselves than they did about you. I am sorry that you had to make do with just me the last several years, and I'm sorry that there's not always enough of me to go around.”
Blaine shook his head wordlessly. Burt's statement couldn't have been farther from the truth - Burt Hummel made sure there was always enough of himself for all three of his boys.
“But let me tell you this, Blaine - you are so much better than them. They do not deserve to call a man like you their son. Your heart is so pure - you've been so good to my son over the years, loved him so much, more than I ever thought... I didn't trust you at first, but you have more than earned my trust now. And if people like your parents can't see how big your heart is and how good of a person you are, it's their loss. So I want you to walk down that aisle today with your head held high and show them, and everyone like them, that you deserve happiness just as much, if not more, than they do.”
He wiped a tear out of the corner of his eye, and he could see Kurt's shoulders, facing away from him quivering ever so slightly. The curling iron was still in his hand.
Blaine had his head down, and Burt could tell he was trying to hold it together.
“Blaine, look at me.” He did so, tears shining in his eyes. “I love you, kiddo.” His son-in-law strode forward into his arms. “And there's not a single person on this earth who I'd rather share my name with than you.”
Blaine drew in a sharp breath. They'd never even discussed it with Burt, he realized, the changing of both their last names to Anderson-Hummel.
“Hey, it's okay,” Burt said, pulling back so he could look Blaine in the eye. He was nervous all of a sudden. “And, now that you're officially a Hummel … I know I should have offered you this a lot sooner than now, please forgive me for that, but … you can … you can call me Dad. Y'know, if you want to.”
He watched Blaine's face contort through four different emotions - first shock, then disbelief, then confusion, and finally tearful joy. Blaine pressed his head back into Burt's shoulder, not even trying to stop the tears at that point.
“You have no idea,” he sniffled, “how much that means to me. No idea.”
Tears were silently rolling down Kurt's face as well as he stood up once more and threw his arms around Burt and Blaine together. Not understanding what was happening, Lily was distressed by all the crying.
“Daddy, Daddy, don't cwy! Please don't be sad. It makes me sad in my heawt!”
Kurt grabbed tissues for everyone (knowing that Blaine was about 3 seconds from wiping snot all over his sleeve), and dabbed at his own eyes. “Lily, honey, it's okay.”
“Yeah, Daddy's fine,” Blaine reassured her, wiping his eyes and stooping down to her. “These are happy tears. Daddy's just really, really happy right now, okay?”
She threw her arms around his neck. “Why awe you cwying if you'we so happy, Daddy?”
“Because sometimes, Lily, when people are really really happy, their hearts just aren't big enough to hold all the happiness, and it all just runs out their eyes in the form of tears.”
“Awe you suwe you'we not sad?”
“Yes, baby, I'm positive.” He picked her up and hugged her close. “That was so sweet of you though, asking if I was okay. You're the best little girl a Daddy could ever ask for.”
“I love you, Daddy. And Dad. And Gwampa.”
They all leaned in to kiss her, getting remnants of salty tears on her face.
“Dad? Awe you all done with my haiw?”
“Yes.”
“Can I put on my pwetty pwincess dwess then?”
“'Course you can sweetheart - Nana's got it back in our room. I bet she'll help you get into it,” Burt said. “Let's give your dads a few minutes by themselves, okay?” He gave Kurt one last hug, and did the same for Blaine.
And he barely heard it, but the words came in the form of the quietest whisper. “Thank you … Dad.”
* * * * * * * *
It was dusk. They could feel anticipation and thrill in the air, as if the whole world was abuzz with the enchantments that lit up the garden in front of them like a wonderful, make-believe fairyland. Tiny lights twinkled all around, candles hanging in jars from the branches of the huge tree which they were about to walk toward, luminaries lining the aisle to light their way. Notes and bars and stanzas of rapturous music floated about, further transporting them and their guests and even passersby into the almost-imaginary evening.
Almost.
They watched their own, very real, 2-year-old fairy twirl and sway in her very fairy-like dress, a crown of flowers adorning her blonde curls, and waited as the last guests were seated.
Blaine looked around, trying to take it all in, coloring memories on his frontal lobe in permanent ink so that they were there to stay. The way the color palate looked against the setting sun - plums and browns and taupes and ivories, complementing the beauty of the sunset perfectly. The heavy pull of his boutonniere on his jacket lapel, trachelium and silver brunia tied with a brown ribbon. The voices of their friends and family, softly wafting toward them over the sound of the music. The unusual but gorgeous rustic wood benches that Kurt had insisted on for seating in lieu of traditional chairs. The sight of Wes, standing by himself at the front of the aisle under the big tree, waiting to officiate their ceremony. Kurt's contented smile, the one that, when directed at him, made Blaine feel like he was home. Kurt's form-fitting light mocha brown 3-piece suit (identical to his, but Kurt's looked better - somehow clothing always managed to mold perfectly Kurt's body, hugging him as if to say 'I was made for him' - but Blaine could understand. Because he did the very same thing whenever he got the chance.)
Then the music changed, and Kurt breathed in a deep breath as Finn escorted his elderly grandmother down the aisle, looking back at them and giving them a warm smile as she sat down with a hmmph. Burt and Carole followed behind them, but before they started toward the luminary-lit path, Burt turned around. Even with the dimming of the natural light, they could see tears glistening in his eyes. He nodded first to Kurt, and then to Blaine, and the corners of his mouth turned up just slightly. Blaine grabbed at Kurt's hand as they both fought back the tingling sensations behind their eyes. As Burt gently guided Carole toward their place under the illuminated tree, Blaine's eyes drifted toward the bench that should have been occupied by his family, but was instead filled with his friends. Kurt saw and squeezed his hand right as a pang of sadness clouded the gleaming joy he'd felt through the rest of the day. He held on, feeling Kurt's quiet strength pouring into him, anchoring him, reviving him. And he thought of Burt - Dad, now - and how grateful he was for the man, who didn't always understand, but did always want to do what was right. It was not a day for sadness, for dwelling on the past. It was a day of celebration, meant for looking into the future, toward what was to come for them. He concentrated on that, and saw only good things.
Next!