Lobsters

Kurt eased himself down into the hot tub next to Blaine. He was a little unsettled about hopping the fence of his neighbors backyard for this opportunity, but with Blaine by his side, he felt courageous enough to do all sorts of out of character behaviors.

His neighbors had never specifically told Kurt he wasn't allowed to have boys in their hot tub late at night when they asked him to water their plants while they were out of town, but Kurt suspected it was one of those things that didn't need to be specified. Breaking the rules and wearing barely any clothes this close to Blaine made Kurt's heart beat faster than a scared kitten's.

Kurt had never been more aware of his pale skin than when he peered through the bubbling water at his knee knocking into Blaine's. He wasn't ashamed of his pale skin. Just very aware of the olive skinned boy's soft, dark hands inching toward his lower thigh and the contrast of those fingers against him.

He couldn't help but satisfy the urge of looking over his shoulder to see if his dad had turned any lights on; a tale tale sign Burt Hummel was awake. But to his relief the house was just as dark as any other night at 1:00 am.

"Would you calm down?" Kurt could hear the smile clinging to Blaine's voice. "We're going to be fine. No one suspects us. No one's looking for us. And it's late. We have the tub and the night to ourselves."

The moon was full in the sky, putting light on Blaine's face. A shadow landed around his jawline and under his brow. Kurt is a little displeased that he couldn't see Blaine's beautiful eyes. But the feeling soon passed as Blaine's lips landed lightly on Kurt's porcelain shoulder. Blaine's hand that wasn't on Kurt's thigh found its way into Kurt's hair.

Kurt closed his eyes, listing to nothing but the bubbling water, the crickets, and Blaine's lips moving up to his neck. Eventually when Blaine's lips had found Kurt's jaw, he turned his head to meet Blaine with a kiss. Kurt moved his hands up Blaine's smooth back and pulled him closer. Blaine scraped his teeth along Kurt's lower lip as he pulled away to land kisses on Kurt's ear, his neck, his chest. Kurt brought Blaine's face back up to his so he had something to kiss. His hands became tangled in Blaine's ungelled, curly hair.

Blaine still had a strong hold on Kurt's thigh. He severely wanted to plunge into Kurt's boxers, but decided to inch his way up Kurt's leg. If Kurt wanted him to stop, he knew the drill and would grab his hand. Blaine would then know to keep away, but would still be able to continue kissing Kurt. There was little space left between Blaine's fingertip and the elastic of Kurt's boxers.

Kurt suddenly became extremely aware of the placement of Blaine's hand. He didn't know what to do. He was enjoying Blaine's advances, but he always became too nervous when it got to this point. Kurt was comfortable around Blaine, sure, but he still felt as though he wasn't mature enough to handle anything more sexual than a few kisses straying from the mouth. But nothing below the belt. He had been in a relationship with Blaine for, well, a year now as it would be their anniversary tomorrow, but they had never touched each other in anyway more heated than roaming the belly and back area. Not to say that they hadn't had their fair share of heavy make out sessions because those were frequent and invited.

Kurt had been worried about keeping Blaine waiting for so long. It was always in the back of his mind, the possibility of Blaine being sexually frustrated and wanting to leave to find someone who was more willing. Maybe tonight could be the night? Maybe this time Kurt wouldn't stop Blaine's hand. But the very idea made Kurt go rigid and halt all actions.

Blaine's kisses came to an abrupt stop when he realized Kurt was not participating. "Kurt? Are you okay?"

"I'm… I'm fine. Just a little nervous." Kurt's voice was breathy and almost a whisper. The heat (from the hot tub and otherwise) along with his nerves produced beads of sweat on Kurt's forehead.

"About me?" Blaine rested his head on Kurt's shoulder and moved his hand down to Kurt's elbow. While the hand that had been gripping Kurt's thigh now laced fingers with him. This was a position Kurt was much more comfortable with.

"No… Not about you. Just about… My dad. He doesn't even let you stay past 11:00 o'clock. I can't imagine what he'd do if he found us."

"Are you sure that's the only thing bothering you?"

"I'm sure."

"Pinky promise?" Blaine released Kurt's hand and held up his littlest finger.

Kurt couldn't bring himself to pinky promise on a lie. "Well… Okay… I am a little nervous about you."

"I knew it." Blaine laughed lightly. "Kurt." He said the name scolding, yet fondly. "You know, you know I will never ever pressure you to go any farther than you want to. You just have to stop me when you're feeling uncomfortable. Don't just sit there scared. If I were to ever touch you in a way you didn't want I would be beside myself with guilt. And it was a really close call tonight. I never want to hurt you, Kurt. Not ever. Not in any way. You're my… You're my lobster."

Up until the mentioning of crustaceans, Kurt had been overflowing with joy and glee from the dark boy's promises. But he was completely taken aback by the "lobster" thing. Surely he had heard Blaine wrong. "I'm your what?"

Blaine laughed. "Haven't you ever watched Friends? The hit TV series? All the rage in the 90's and very early 21st century?"

"Well, occasionally, but I don't see where you are going with this."

"Well, on the show Phoebe said Ross was Rachel's lobster. She claimed lobsters mate for life. And that you could see old lobster couples walking around holding claws." Blaine brought both of his hands out of the warm water and linked his fingers together in the form of claws like Phoebe had done on Friends. After he'd finished with his impression he took Kurt's hand again and looked into his eyes. "And you have to know that Ross and Rachel were end game."

"End game?"

Blaine made a sound of frustration. He's ability to profess his undying love for Kurt was not going as well as he planned. Tonight was supposed to be so special and he was having the hardest time getting these words out to Kurt.

"End game. As in they were the couple. The couple that everyone knew would end up together. The perfect couple that would... that would last forever."

Kurt thought his heart was going to pound out of his chest, out of his throat, out of his ears it was beating so rapidly. He thought he knew what Blaine was trying to say, but he didn't want to assume wrong.

"I love you, Kurt." His voice was so soft it was barely audible over the bubbles. "And I plan on loving you forever."

Kurt was wide eyed. It was as if Blaine was telling him he loved him for the first time all over again. "I love you so much."

"And, as you know, tomorrow, or well I guess technically today is our one year anniversary. I have the best date planned out, don't you worry. But!" Blaine leaned over the edge of the hot tub and rifled through the pockets of his Dalton academy hoodie. "I've been carrying this with me for a while. Waiting for a really good opportunity. I was going to do this after our incredible date, but I'm too excited to wait any longer. Besides, this way you can flaunt it all day tomorrow."

Kurt was seriously worried about his heart exploding in his chest.

Blaine finally turned to Kurt after he had found what he was looking for. He was holding a very small black, velvet box.

Kurt still didn't want to assume anything, but was having an extremely difficult time not doing so.

With both of them still sitting in the hot tub in their boxers, slightly sweaty Blaine opened the box to reveal a gorgeous, tasteful, silver ring with an onyx band around its middle.

"This is a promise ring. I promise to love you forever. I can't imagine a day passing where you aren't the first and last thing on my mind. And everything in between. You are everything to me, Kurt. You've changed me, for the better. You've opened me up. You've kept a smile on my face ever since I met you. You've kept me up thinking about you all night. You've kept me company. You've kept me waiting to have all of you, which is something I really respect. Because with you, I don't care about being physical. I care more about keeping you safe and comfortable. You are the most important person in my life. I love you. I love you so much. Do you accept this ring?"

Kurt felt as if he might throw up or cry or run around screaming about how happy he was. It took every bit of control not to fall over and drown in his emotions right in the hot tub. He was frozen from pure elation.

And the longer it took for Kurt to answer, the more apprehensive Blaine became. He was starting to think Kurt didn't feel the same way. He couldn't even imagine how upset he would be if Kurt denied him. He would be broken. Completely broken.

Finally Kurt made some sort of noise. "I uhm. Yeah. That's. I. I."

Blaine was completely confused and didn't know if this was good stuttering or bad stuttering.

"I love you too. I… Of course. I do. I mean. Oh, god. Of course I accept. I love you. Of course."

A smile broke over Blaine's mouth. He removed the ring from its box and set the box on the edge of the hot tub. He then took Kurt's left hand.

His hands were shaking so violently from all the nerves that as he tried to slip the ring on Kurt's ring finger, it fell from his soggy fingers into the torrents of the hot tub.

They were both stunned. "Oh my god."

"No!" Kurt almost broke into tears.

"What do we do?"

"Turn off the hot tub!"

Blaine scrambled over to the opposite side of the tub to turn the dial all the way down to "Off." The bubbles tapered off and it was suddenly quiet, save for the crickets.

"Do you see it?" Blaine rejoined Kurt where the ring had dropped.

"No." Kurt's voice was utter defeat.

Blaine could tell all that was holding Kurt back from dunking his head under water for a better look was the fear of the chlorine breaking out his perfect complexion. He smiled watching Kurt scanning the water, bent over, his nose just millimeters from the surface.

"I'm going in!" Blaine plunged himself under the 3 and a half foot deep water. He didn't normally enjoy having his eyes open under extremely hot water, but emergencies called for desperate measures.

Blaine had to resurface 4 times to grab a quick breath before he finally found the ring, but he saw it drifting in a dark corner.

He came up out of the water right in front of Kurt and on one knee.

"Did you find it?" Kurt couldn't hide his anticipation.

"I did." Blaine brought his hands out of the water and this time successfully placed the ring onto Kurt's finger.

As he stood up, the boys embraced, laughing happily.

"Thank you, Blaine. I love you so much. Forever." Blaine loved the way Kurt's voice softened when the flawless boy was speaking just for him.

They clambered out of the hot tub, deciding they had had enough of it for one night. They dried off and Blaine wrapped his hoddie around Kurt's shoulders.

The boys held hands as they walked back to Kurt's back door. Blaine felt warm delight when the metal of Kurt's ring pressed against his fingers.

Blaine's voice was quiet and happy when he finally broke the silence. "And since we'll be heading to New York with Rachel… Who knows what could happen in a year or so."

Kurt's heart was on the verge of popping again when the image of marrying Blaine popped in his head. Maybe we could book the Plaza…