I was running late. I was up late last night, studying for the geography mid-term. Why did I do this to myself? I had plenty of time, but I tended to jump whenever Kurt asked and I had put it off too long.

Running down the corridor, I saw Kurt as he turned at the end towards the stairs to the ground floor. I didn't have much chance to catch him, and shouting was just not Dalton etiquette, so I thought I would see him in Literature class. I stopped for a cup of coffee at the kiosk in the courtyard on the way. I was feeling a little adventurous, so instead of our usual coffee orders, I got caramel macchiado for both of us.

Strolling into the class, I had a couple of minutes so I set the cup down beside Kurt and leaned down to give him a kiss on the corner of his mouth. Have you ever noticed those cute dimples that appear with his smile? I bet his mama kissed those dimples every night of his life. Kurt gave me the sweetest smile as I slid into my seat and got out my pencil and book, ready for the class.

After classes were over for the day, I caught up to Kurt in the hallway on the way back to the dorms.

“Hey, where are you off to in such a hurry?” I asked as I double-timed it to keep up with him.

“Oh, nowhere. Just cardio workout, heart problems run in the family,” he answered.

“I don't have any heart problems,” I grinned, “I have you...” My hand on his wrist stopped him and I leaned over to kiss his cheek.

“What are you doing for Christmas?” I asked hoping I would be able to get together with him, even if it was at my house.

“We might be going to visit my aunt in Vermont,” he pouted.

Damn, I'd have to think pretty quickly to get the perfect gift for him. I wouldn't be able to give it to him on Christmas, so it had to be on the 21st, the last day before Winter break and today was the 18th.

“What do you want for Christmas?” Kurt asked me.

“I have no idea. I guess just to spend more time with you,” I smiled before turning off to go to my dorm room. “I'll see you at dinner!”

In the dining hall I sat down at our table, none of the other Warblers were there yet. Kurt and I shared the table with Jeff, Nicky, Wes, David, Thad and Trent. I had a crush on Trent my first year at Dalton, but never acted on it. After I was with Kurt, I had mentioned it to him, just something to laugh at, and he'd gotten quite upset. He apparently had a huge crush on me, too, but was too shy to follow up. I kind of felt bad about that, he was such a nice guy, but we seemed to get along okay, and he wasn't the type to hold a grudge.

Kurt walked around the corner, his face breaking into a smile as he saw me. We were sitting there when I heard a cell phone. I looked around - Kurt didn't have one. But the sound was coming from his bag.

“Kurt?”

“Oh, ah....that must be my phone. Just a second,” he excused himself, taking the phone out of the bag and walking a ways away to answer it. I sat and watched him. He never told me he had a phone, and I wondered why not.

He was getting upset at whomever was on the other end, I could see his face getting red as he spoke to them in a firm voice. He shook his head and then pulled it back from his ear, pushing a button that obviously ended the call.

“Since when do you have a cell?” I asked.

“I don't. This is my dad's, he asked me to use it this week so he could decide if we needed to get one for me. As far as I”m concerned, I don't ever have to have one. I don't like this whole being tied down all the time issue,” he practically growled.

We must have been pretty early because none of the other Warblers were in sight, but we didn't mind being alone. I reached out to hold his hand, twining our fingers together. He smiled that million watt smile back at me.

“I'm sorry you won't be here for Christmas,” I said, feeling a lot of regret. I'd miss him so much. “But I do understand you have family obligations.”

“You don't know the half of it,” he muttered.

“When are you coming home from your aunt's?” I wondered.

“Before New Year's. It will be a long ride home with Finn in the back seat with me, Maine is a long way away.”

We sat in silence for a while. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. I must have had my mind clouded being so close to Kurt because I totally did not pick up on the fact that he told me his aunt lived in Vermont earlier.

After a while, the other guys started strolling in and they finally all got there, we had dinner with the usual amount of kidding and impromptu singing before saying goodnight to return to our dorm rooms.

“Do you want to go watch a movie?” I asked, not wanting to leave Kurt for the night. He would hardly ever stay the night with me, but he'd cuddle and watch a movie sometimes.

“Sure,” he said.

“Your room or mine?” I don't know why I asked. We never went to his room. I was beginning to wonder why.

“Yours would be good,” he said. We walked in silence.

Sitting on my bed, I was leaning against the headboard and Kurt was leaning on me. His head was situated so his ear was over my heart. I don't know if it was by design, but he did that a lot. I had him wrapped tight in my arms and his butt was in the space between my legs. Sometimes I wrapped my legs around him, too. I could never get close enough to Kurt. He was just resting I think, as I dropped the occasional kiss to his hair or temple. I wish sometime we could go back to that moment in time and freeze it, we were so happy and content.

But I had to break that peace.

“Listen, Kurt, about Christmas,” I started. He tensed up. “I want to be with you. I know you have family obligations, but I'll be here if you have a change in plans. I could come to your house the day before you leave, maybe? Just to exchange presents and say goodbye?”

“No. It just wouldn't work out. I'll be packing. My dad is miserable at packing, so I'll be doing his and don't get me started about Finn.” He sounded panicked.

“Okay, okay, I won't come. Sheesh. It was just an idea,” I was a little offended. It was quiet again, but not the easy silence kind. You could cut the tension with a knife, and I was in a pissy mood now. Not a good combination with the thoughts that had been floating around in my brain.

“How come your aunt lives in Vermont one minute and Maine the next?” I asked. He just stared at me. “And why don't we ever go to your dorm room? I've known you since the beginning of the semester, I've had my tongue down your throat and your cock down mine...but I'm not allowed into your dorm room?” Okay, I know. As a blue-ribbon champ of the Dalton Debating Team, this was not logical. Sue me.

To his credit, he didn't smack me – which I so richly deserved at that point. But he did sit up. He scooted to the end of the bed and looked back at me, tears running down his face. Of course I regretted everything I'd just said. I moved to get up, intending to pull him into a monster embrace and beg him to forgive me by kissing every tear away. But I never got the chance. He stood up, grabbing his boots and left - the door still open as he ran down the corridor. No. Not this again. I pulled on the nearest pair of jeans and went after him, skidding to a halt in front of his door in my stocking feet. I banged on the door, asking him to open it, trying not to make a spectacle of myself. He did have neighbors, and they didn't need to know our business.

“Kurt, open the door. I'm sorry. Please open the door.”

He finally relented, looking like he had just combed his hair and washed his face. I took his hand and led him back to my room.

“Look, Kurt, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you,” I said. He just looked at me like I had lost my mind.

“Okay...”

“Are you alright?” I asked, but he only nodded. For somebody that had just run from me a few minutes ago, tears streaming and unable to speak, he looked rather pulled together. Kurt was such a mystery some days.

“Can we just not talk about it?” he asked, sighing. I nodded. He crawled back into my lap and put his arms around me. I sort of melted into him as the movie went on. I hadn't thought to turn it off when I went after him. “It's a Wonderful Life” is one of my favorite traditions, so I let the peace reign once again between Kurt and myself and we fell asleep in each other's arms.

In the morning I woke up to a cold and empty bed. I missed Kurt already, but wasn't sure if I could walk down the hallways to confront him. What the hell was going on? I tried to think about this logically. He had always been kind of a mystery to me. I trotted out my best debating logic skills and a notebook to keep my thought straight.

First, there was the weird way he could change demeanor from one minute to the next. He would be high on life one minute, and confused and pouting the next. Some days French came easy and he was helping me conjugate verbs, the next he was struggling with pronouns. Most of his subjects were like that.

There was the inconsistency sometimes about silly little things, like his aunt living in either Vermont or Maine. Did he just forget? Or was the whole story made up and he forgot which lie he told me? That was a scary thing. If he would lie about something like that – something that was so inconsequential, what else was he hiding? And why?

There was his family. Burt seemed nice enough. The day I went to the shop he owned to talk to him about Kurt, he was nice to me. But Kurt would do anything to keep me from spending time with him or going to his house. Finn was another puzzle. Kurt was very adamant that I not make any bonds with him, he hovered close the two times I had been near Finn, as though he didn't trust Finn around me. Hell, I thought Finn was straight, he had a girlfriend, so why the protective act? Was Finn a homophobe that might harm me? I didn't think so...??

And the completely strange breakdown when I followed Kurt to his dorm room and sat outside while he had an argument with himself.

None of this was adding up. Kurt was born in late May, making him a Gemini. Didn't that make you moody? Some sort of split personality or something? If I believed in astrology, then that might make sense, but...well, no. Just no.

I had no idea there were so many strange quirks before I put them down on paper. Now I was not just curious, I was determined to find out what the hell was up with my boyfriend. And now was the best time to find out. It was Saturday, and he would probably be asleep, so I was going down there to find out what was going on. He owed me some explanations.

Knock knock

I heard a shuffling inside and the door opened about four inches.

“Kurt, I need to talk to you,” I said. He looked at me for a second and nodded his head.

“I'll get dressed and meet you in your dorm room in twenty minutes, okay?” he said.

I have no idea why this made me so angry. I just cannot explain it. I shoved his door open and was going to just barge in and demand answers. I didn't expect what came next. Looking over his shoulder, I saw his bed across the room. With somebody asleep in it. They were wrapped up in the blankets, a naked leg thrust out from under the covers and a snore coming from under the pillow that covered his head. His? What the fuck?

“Kurt?” I asked, my mouth hanging open for a second while my mind was busy trying to piece together this puzzle into something resembling sense. One look at his stricken face told me all I needed to know. I turned and ran.

I ran and ran until I was out in the courtyard, running full tilt into the woods behind the parking lot. I ran until I couldn't run anymore, then I collapsed on the ground. I was devastated. I didn't want to live.

Let me tell you why I was so stupid here. It was December 19th. This was Ohio. Guess what was on the ground? Yes, snow. About twenty inches of it. I had walked down the hall to Kurt's room in my stocking feet, the marble floors were cool, but not cold. I was wearing thin pajama pants and a tank top, my usual bedtime attire. No pockets, so no phone, no keys, no nothing. I had heard the door to the dormitory lock as it closed behind me. Damn.

Well, I had done this to myself. Shit. Now the wind picked up. Really? Shit. I was so cold, and I didn't know what to do. My feet were bleeding. Well, pine forest, lots of needles and ice and things. I saw a fallen log and sat down. Maybe somebody would come and find me? I just didn't want it to be Kurt.

It seemed like hours later, though it was probably minutes, I heard him calling me. I didn't respond. I laid down on the log, still shivering. I can tell you that it was the cold that made my brain short circuit, and that is why I didn't call out. But it isn't true and you know it. I think stubbornness is probably one of the main causes of death in the teenage population. No, I think I'll stick with the whole frozen brain = bad judgment theory. Eventually Kurt's voice went away, along with my hopes of getting warm again in this lifetime.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, I was surrounded by Warblers. Kurt must have called in the cavalry because David was there, sitting on the log beside me, trying to get me to speak to him. Trent had me wrapped in his heavy winter coat with his arms around me. Jeff came up and picked me up out of Trent's lap and carried me back into the dorms. I closed my eyes, thanking god or whomever that the guys were there. Kurt was not.

After a hot bath, which I'm sure Trent enjoyed more than I did, I was dressed in wool socks and sweats, wrapped in numerous blankets, and fed hot soup while five of my best friends in the Warblers took turns sitting with me. Not one of them asked me why I'd been asleep in the snow with no decent clothes. I assume Kurt told them.

I was sick the next day, December 20th. I had a raging fever and stuffy nose, a dreadful cough and didn't want to be awake. The Warblers were the best mother substitutes you can imagine. Trent had called his folks and they were all for me coming to spend the holidays with them, bad cold and all. I have to say I was sorely tempted to go. But I did have family obligations, so I had to turn them down. Still, knowing those guys had my back was such a great thing.

By December 22nd, I was on the mend. Sort of. I still hadn't seen Kurt, and I missed him. I was still devastated, still angry and hurt, but when you love someone as much as I loved Kurt, those feelings don't go away. I know you might think I'm crazy, but I really wanted to see him. I wanted an explanation. But I was too much of a coward to take that walk down the corridor to knock on his dorm room door again. Besides, he was probably gone by now. Everyone had left by now. Every one of the Warblers had offered to stay with me. They knew my troubles were about Kurt, but not one asked me for information. They just knew I couldn't talk about it yet. I was going home in two days, the last in the dorms to leave. Cooper and Samantha were coming to pick me up and take me to the airport so we could spend this Christmas in New York. Dad had rented a penthouse so we could stroll the streets and have a great holiday shopping and watching the ball fall in Times Square on New Year's Eve. I was looking forward to it.

I hadn't been able to do any Christmas shopping. I was only today feeling like getting out of bed, my strength returning. I had the presents for my family all ready, and the rest of them I'd get in New York. I had just finished packing and sat down to watch “White Christmas” when there was a knock at the door. Must be the janitor, he had said he would be around in the mornings this week, so he might look in on me -although I thought he'd left a few hours ago for home. Maybe he brought me cookies again? His wife could sure bake.

I got up and opened the door. Of course, you know it wasn't the janitor, don't you? Haha, wouldn't it be funny if it was? I should say it was just to mess with you. No, it was guess who.

Kurt was standing there, looking more sheepish than the last time he came to apologize. In spite of my anger, I scooped him up in my arms and held on so tightly he was squirming to breathe. I would try to tell you I was not an emotional mess, but we both know that is not true, so I'll spare you the lie. I was crying by the time I let him go. I took his hand and dragged him over to my bed and fell on top of him, kissing his cheeks, his chin, his mouth, his neck – anywhere I could reach.

We kissed for a long time, and when we came up for air, it was suddenly awkward again.

“We have to talk,” he said.

“No, we don't. I forgive you. I don't care who that was – if you tell me you still love me, I forgive you,” I babbled.

“Oh, Blaine. It isn't that simple. I do have to explain. How long are you going to be here?” he asked.

“Coop and Sammy are picking me up day after tomorrow,” I said. “Aren't you supposed to be on your way to Vermont or Maine or Arizona or somewhere?” Okay, I said I was okay, but maybe a teensy bit of my snarky attitude came in there.

“It's actually Vermont. But I'm not going. I wasn't sure of where exactly because I don't know her. It's Finn's great aunt, and I've never even met her. This was a whim of Carole's and my dad went along with it. I'm sorry if it seemed I was making up lies or something, but it was just I forgot where Finn said she lived.”

Now I felt bad. I had made stupid assumptions. But that was just a small thing. How about the boy in his bed?

“Blaine, I came here to Dalton to get away from a bad situation. I never expected to fall in love. But I did. It complicated my whole life, and I tried to keep up with everything, but it was getting too hard. I needed to stop and regroup.”

“That's why the boy was in your bed – to relieve tension?” I was incredulous. That didn't sound like the Kurt I knew at all. Or did I know him?

“No. Stop jumping to conclusions, please. I will explain it all. Just not here.”

“Well, then. Where? Because everybody is gone from the dorms except me. I have special permission to stay until the 24th, but the headmaster said I would be alone. Why are you here?”

“Same thing. But I stayed because I asked my dad if I could. I needed to explain things to you, and I knew it would take a while. If you would still talk to me. He isn't fully on board with me doing this, but he understands. So does everyone else involved.”

How cryptic could he get?

“Kurt? Who the hell is 'everyone else'? I don't mean to seem impatient, but...what the hell is going on?”

“Come with me and I'll show you,” was all he said. He held out his hand and led me down the hall to his dorm room. He knocked twice and opened the door slowly, then walked through and gestured towards the bed, indicating I should sit. I did.

“What's up with knocking first?”

“All in good time, Blaine.” he said and began to unbutton my shirt. I didn't protest, and he continued, soft music playing in the background. When he had everything off, I slid under the covers to keep warm as he took off all of his clothes. He turned me so I was facing the wall and snuggled up in back of me so I wasn't at an angle to see his face. With his arms around me, tightly holding my waist, he began his story.

“First, my name is not Kurt.”

“No?” I tried to figure out why he would give me a false name – not only me, but the school. All of the teachers called him Kurt.

“My name is Rolf.” I giggled at him.

He laughed, too. “Yeah, my mother liked the Sound of Music, what can I say?”

“Okay, why the charade?”

“Oh, how to tell you this?...I guess I'll just have to show you.” He whistled. Yeah, really, he whistled. I heard someone open the bathroom door and walk over to the bed. Rolf or Kurt or whoever he was, was holding me so tightly I couldn't turn to see who it was, and being naked made me not want to go flailing around and knock the blankets to the floor for some reason. I stayed still, knowing that whatever was going to happen would happen with or without my participation. I felt the bed dip and a body climb around the two of us. I opened my eyes as the new person pulled back the blanket to slide in just in front of me. But it was Rolf...how had he changed places? My mind was very confused.

“I'm Kurt,” was all he said. I did turn at that point, and he was behind me, too. It's funny how your brain can absolutely refuse to function at times of extreme stress, just fucking refuse to accept what is presented right before your eyes. It took me the longest time to figure it out, even though they were both there, next to me, touching me. I closed my eyes to absorb the shock of it.

“Are you okay, Blaine?” Rolf asked.

“We should have done it differently, Rolf, I think we sent him into shock,” Kurt said to his twin.

“He'll recover, as soon as his brain catches up,” Rolf said.

Suddenly the argument behind the door that night made perfect sense. Kurt was not fighting with himself, he was fighting with his brother. Their voices sounded exactly alike. How could I be so stupid?

“You are not stupid,” Kurt said. Oh, I'd said that last bit out loud.

“You must think I am. I need explanations. Now. Have I been …....oh, my gods. Have I been dating Kurt, or Rolf, or...both?” I had no idea what to do. This was mind blowing. Speaking of mind blowing, who had I blown? Argggh. I refused to let my mind go there.

“Both. I'm sorry. We're sorry. But it was necessary so we didn't blow our cover. We did not mean to play you, Blaine. You have to believe that. It started out so innocently,” Kurt said.

“Then it got out of control,” Rolf added. Sheesh, they even finished each other's sentences.

“Out of control? You think?” I almost shouted.

“Yes, and we're sorry,” Kurt looked truly sorry. So did Rolf.

“Do you two have another brother, a triplet, named Friedrich?” They both laughed and it broke the ice.

“Tell me the whole thing, from the beginning,” I demanded. Well, as much as I could considering I was lying naked in bed between two gorgeous guys, also buck naked. How was I not hard?

“We went to McKinley. If you think being the only out gay kid in a big high school like that is hard, you can imagine how it was for twins,” Kurt started.

“So, when we got beat up and our lives threatened, Dad had to do something. He and Carole took their honeymoon money and registered Kurt at Dalton, he was being harassed the worst and was taking it the hardest,” Rolf explained.

Kurt looked at Rolf, “I'm sorry, you know I would have stayed for you if Dad had let me,” Kurt said to his brother.

“It's okay, I know it wasn't your fault,” Rolf put his hand on his twin's shoulder.

“With me gone, things got really bad for Rolf. Even with our friends in Glee to watch out for him, it just kept getting worse. So we cooked up this scheme. Dad and Carole didn't have enough money for tuition for both of us,” Kurt relayed.

“So I came and stayed in Kurt's room and we split the classes. That way we both get an education, but we don't have to pay the tuition twice.”

“It makes me uncomfortable, but I will pay back my tuition as soon as I can get a job,” Rolf said.

“And I'll help.” Kurt added.

I was just in awe. I had so many questions, but had no idea how to begin.

“Why the ruse this afternoon....why am I naked?” I asked.

“Don't you like it?” Rolf asked, rubbing his body against mine.

“That,” I said as steady as I could, considering the state of my arousal at this point, “isn't the question here.”

“We did it so you couldn't run.”

“Like you did when you saw him in my bed a few days ago.”

“I was so worried, and I tried to find you. Lucky for me, Wes was walking into the building and I saw him, flagged him down and he called in the Warblers to help find you.”

“We almost got caught,” Kurt told him. “We were both looking for you, there was no way one of us could stay in the room while we knew you had run out in your pajamas.”

“Trent came running and I smacked into him,” Rolf said, “and he looked at me really strangely. He stared for a second, like a light bulb had gone off in his head, but he got up, said he was going out to look for you and was gone.”

“It wasn't until later when we compared notes that we realized he had spoken to Kurt just moments before. And Kurt was wearing different clothes.”

“He hasn't said a word, so I think if he does suspect anything, he isn't saying.”

“Usually, we take turns leaving the room. If Kurt is out, say at classes or with you, I stay in the room and vice versa,” Rolf explained, winking at Kurt.

“Wow.” Hey, I know, not profound. But, given the circumstances, you wouldn't be, either. I challenge anyone to have this surprise sprung on them and be able to do much more than drool on themselves for the next hour. I thought I was doing very well.

“It's all making sense now: the way you seem to be flawless in French class one day, and floundering the next, the way you need to warm up to sing twice in the same day...how didn't I figure it out?”

“You would have. I thought we were caught a couple of times.”

“During sex. Rolf and I neither one had that kind of experience, so when you did something with one of us, we had to tell the other one, who had to pretend he knew all about it if he was the one caught in your room.”

I just sat there, the staring and drooling about to begin. Fuck. They had been sharing me. How was I supposed to feel about that? Suddenly the moratorium on love bites made sense. It would make them different if anyone was looking.

“Am I going to know which one I did what with?” I asked, my voice suddenly cold as I though about how unfair this whole thing was.

“Mostly Kurt, he was here first and you were with him for the first month. I came in October. I knew basically what had happened...in the bedroom shall we say....but having never even kissed a guy before, I had to play catch up pretty fast. I had no intention of falling in love, just protecting our secret. But, Blaine, I did fall in love,” Rolf confessed. I looked over at Kurt. Was he angry? It appeared not as he gave his twin a look that said he was sorry and he loved him. I knew that look.

“I don't know what to ask now. Do I want to know who gave me the blow job? Which one I made love to?”

“You gave Kurt the first blow job, then the day you decided to show off your new talent for deep throating and took me by surprise? That wasn't me, it was Rolf and you scared the holy hell out of him. I, ah, hadn't gotten around to telling him we had done that, so you can imagine his surprise when you just jumped on him and his cock was down your throat before he could take a decent breath? That's why he ran back to the room. I came back to your room, Blaine, Rolf was too shook up to come back that day,” Kurt smiled a little, hoping this wasn't freaking me out the way it had Rolf.

“How is this going to work? Should I just leave now?” I was pretty sure not, I was naked after all. I doubted it was only insurance to keep me from running before I heard the whole story.

“Please,” they said in tandem, “don't leave. We both love you, Blaine, and we both want you to stay.”

How could I refuse two sets of those beautiful ocean blue eyes? I stayed. For my Christmas present.