Kurt couldn't say exactly when his hands had shot up to frame the shorter boy's face but as it kept Blaine from darting back in panic (as he had tried to do when he realized what he had done) and stop kissing him, Kurt thought it was one of his better ideas, ever. If Blaine wanted to pull back, and this was the first and only kiss he'd share with Blaine, he'd make it last, propriety and future mortification be damned.

Because at this very moment, Blaine was softly pressing his lips against his, a tender counterpoint to the fast, desperate and impulsive kiss that had spurred this one, and Kurt never wanted it to end. Then Blaine's hand shot up and twined into Kurt's hair and Kurt couldn't bring himself to care about his hairdo being ruined because that meant that a piece of Blaine, no matter how small, wanted this to continue for a little longer as well. Soon enough though, tragically, Blaine broke the kiss and lightly pecked him a few times before pulling back.

"Non mi dispiace affatto baciarti, quello che mi dispiace � baciarti prima di averti detto che sono pazzo di te. Mi piaci davvero tanto, Kurt." I'm not sorry for kissing you but I am sorry for doing so before telling you that I am crazy about you. I really like you, Kurt.

"Je ne parle pas soudainement l'italien, Blaine. Tes l�vres son magiques mais elles n'enseignent pas des langues apr�s un seul baiser. Tiens embrasse-moi encore et on verra si �a juste prends deux fois..." I don't suddenly speak Italian, Blaine. Your lips are magical but they don't teach languages after a single kiss. Here, kiss me again, we'll see if it takes two times to work...

Then Kurt pulled Blaine's face back towards his and he put his lips to the boy's as though they were meant to do nothing but kiss Blaine. Thankfully for Kurt, whose sudden onset of flirtatious confidence and nerve seemed to be going as quickly as it came, Blaine didn't hesitate to return the soft pressure, with a happy hum ringing out from behind slightly smiling and very busy lips. Kurt would have been to remain perfectly content in that moment, were it not for the sudden piercing shriek that broke through the pleasurable haze Kurt had lost himself in with Blaine.

"Kurt! Qu'est-ce qui ce passe? Qu'est-ce que tu fais, oh mon Dieu!" Kurt! What's going on? What are you doing, oh my God!

Kurt pulled back from Blaine and shot Rachel his deadliest ever bitch glare.

"Avant que tu viennes ruiner un des meilleurs moments de ma vie, j'embrassais Blaine. Qui m'as embrass� en premier il y a trente secondes. Alors est-ce que tu pourrais me faire une grosse faveur et te jeter dans le feu de la chimen�? Super, merci." Before you went and ruined one of the best moments of my life, I was kissing Blaine. Who kissed me first not thirty seconds ago. So could you do me a big favour and throw yourself in the fire in the chimney? Great, thanks.

Kurt didn't bother waiting for Rachel's reply before turning back to Blaine, who was blushing beautifully but trying to hide it behind a hand to the face. Through spread out fingers, Kurt could see pieces of a nervous smile that had Blaine looking more gorgeous than ever. Blaine lowered his hand and gaze before locking eyes with Kurt.

"I... I like your presents a much. I like you even morer."

Kurt could do nothing but smile and blush and murmur the same broken sentiment in return.

Christmas day was a fun one in the Washington household, with the Dalton and McKinley students exchanging gifts and broken English pleasantries and stories after lunch (which was really brunch, because most the kids had gotten up around noon, in the typical teenager-on-vacation fashion), and then simply hanging out together in the comfortable friendship that had been forged amongst the youths.

Amidst boisterous carols and games and gift exchanging however (and the sneezes cutting through the hubbub every once in a while from Thad who had caught a cold), one pair remained mostly on the fringes, and that was Kurt and Blaine, who chose to stay cozied up on their window seat and watch the beautiful chaos from afar.

Now that they were... Kurt didn't really know, together?- Blaine had become even more freewheeling than usual with the touching, and Blaine had never been anything other than a hugely tactile person to begin with.

They had started sitting on opposite ends of the bench as usual, with their feet slightly overlapping, but soon enough Blaine was wrapping his ankles and Kurt's together, and then ankles became legs and eventually, after Blaine shifted out from under their blanket, touched the cold window with some exposed skin and started shivering like the frileux that he was (Kurt still couldn't find the English equivalent for that word), Kurt simply opened his arms with a fond eye-roll and wrapped himself entirely around Blaine.

Who looked entirely too happy with the situation if the razzing he got from his friends and the giant smile Kurt could see the edges of was anything to go by.

And so it was that broad back to warm chest, Blaine and Kurt watched their friends interact, with some soft commentary being exchanged between the two.

"Your friend Mercedes, is she with your American friend?"

Kurt looked on at the pair, exchanging mushy looks over Christmas wrapping and shiny baubles. They kept blushing and avoided each other's gazes, and Kurt briefly realized that that's what he and Blaine must have looked like to all their friends.

No wonder they were all ready to stuff us in a closet.

"No, they are just friends. Like we were just friends though."

Blaine made a happy humming noise and not-so-subtly snuggled farther into Kurt's embrace.

"Then they are not as lucky as I."

Kurt smiled and blushed.

"As us."

Kurt thought this was finally the perfect segue to ask Blaine exactly what they were other than ridiculously lucky (at least he was; the fact that Blaine thought so as well was mind-boggling), when his cell phone rang.

"Oui, all�?"

"Kurt! Joyeux No�l mon fils, comment va tout en Am�rique? Est-ce que je peux ouvrir ma facture de Visa sans avoir une autre crise cardiaque o� devrais-je laisser �a � Carole?" Kurt! Merry Christmas, son, how is everything going in America? Can I open my Visa bill without having another heart attack or should I leave it to Carole?

"Papa! Joyeux No�l � toi et � Carole aussi, dis-lui qu'un colis devrait arriver bient�t pour elle de ma part; une ligne de produits cosm�tiques r�tro ann�es quatre-veignt qui n'est pas compl�tement hideuse que je sais qu'elle va adorer, mais j'ai aussi inclu des instructions tr�s claires pour comment les porter. Il y a aussi un petit quelque chose pour toi, mais je pr�f�re que tu sois surpris. T'inqui�te, j'ai fait mes achats de No�l avec mes propres �pargnes alors la carte de cr�dit reste plus ou moins intacte. Je me suis achet� un manteau et une paire de bottes incroyables avec par contre alors, pas totalement intacte mais je promets que les deux �taient en solde et magnifiques." Dad! Merry Christmas to you and Carole too, tell her she should be getting a package in the mail soon from me; it's a line of retro 80's cosmetics that aren't completely hideous that I know she'll love, but I also included very clear instructions as to how she should wear them. There's also a little something for you but I want it to be a surprise. Don't worry, I did my Christmas shopping with my own savings so the credit card remains more or less intact. I say more or less because I bought myself a jacket and some marvelous boots with it but I promise both items were on sale and absolutely fabulous.

"Bon, je dirais rien quand j'ouvrirai la facture alors. Joyeux No�l. Alors, raconte..." Alright then, I won't say anything when I get around to opening the bill. Merry Christmas. So, tell me...

During his phone call Blaine had become rather tense and Kurt had subconsciously begun running his thumb soothingly over the arm he was cradling, an action that Kurt might not have noticed in itself, although he did notice Blaine's shoulders sagging slightly before he was back in the relaxed state he'd been in before Kurt had joyously answered the phone with 'Papa!'.

Kurt stopped thinking about the boy in his arms and zoned back into the conversation with his dad just in time to hear a dreaded question being asked.

"Alors, Kurt, est-ce que t'as quelque chose � me dire en ce qui concerne un gar�on? Je sais que je suis loin mais je suis toujours pr�t � sortir mon fusil de chasse." So, Kurt, anything I need to know on the boy front? I know I'm far away, but I'm always ready to take out my shotgun.

Now it was Kurt's turn to turn stiff. His back was ramrod straight as he tried to think of what to tell his dad, but his momentary silence seemed to have said enough.

"...Kurt? Est-ce qu'il y a un gar�on?" Kurt? Is there a boy?

Kurt shut his eyes tightly as though it would make this any easier.

"...oui? Je ne sais pas ce qu'on est exactement mais c'est comme s'il �tait sorti d'un conte de f�es. Il est tr�s respectueux, t'inqui�te, rien ne s'est vraiment encore pass� entre nous." ...yes? I don't know what we are really, but it's like he stepped right out of a fairy tale. He's very respectful, don't worry, nothing's even happened yet between us really.

Kurt held his breath as he waited for his dad to say something. Another moment passed.

To say anything.

"Papa?"

"... Tu l'as rencontr� o� cet am�ricain?" Where did you meet this American?

"Oh, il n'est pas am�ricain, il est italien, c'est un des gar�ons de l'�change." Oh, he's not American, he's Italian, he's one of the guys from the exchange.

"Quoi? Tu vis avec?" What? You are living with him?

At that precise moment, he knew he had stepped in it. He spent the better part of the next ten minutes trying to talk his dad down from his very angry ledge and had finally succeeded when he passed the phone on to Finn who let it slip that Kurt and Blaine were actually rooming together, which led to another twenty minutes of telling his dad not to fly out to Washington to have 'a talk with this hooligan'. During all of this, Blaine lay in Kurt's arms, enraptured in the conversation he couldn't understand but loved listening to, Kurt's rapid-fire French sounding as beautiful as a symphony to his ears. When it eventually came to an end- almost an hour after it had begun, and only because Kurt started yelling at his dad about how expensive the phone bill would be- Kurt slumped forward in their embrace and rested his forehead on Blaine's shoulder.

A shoulder that was lightly shaking with barely-contained laughter.

"There is something funny, Anderson?"

Kurt shot Blaine a mock glare, which didn't do much apparently other than make Blaine actually burst out into giggles.

"You. You are funny and scary when you yell at Finn. And at your father. You are...the word...adorable? Yes, adorable."

Kurt tucked his head back into the crook of Blaine's neck in part to hide his blush and in part to hide the bubbling happiness building up inside of him and causing him to grin like a fool.

"Well, you are mean."

Kurt tightened his arms around Blaine and pressed a feather-light kiss to the juncture of Blaine's neck and shoulder, smiling even wider when he felt Blaine's pulse quicken beneath his lips.

"Allez les filles! Debout! Il est six heures d�j�, les magasins ouvrent leurs portes dans une heure et vous �tes encore au lit? Honte � vous." Come on girls! Up you get! It's six am already, stores open in an hour and you're still in bed? For shame.

Rachel moaned under her covers and tugged a pillow over her head.

"Kurt, normalement je serais ravie de magasiner avec toi, mais je sais comment tu est avec les soldes apr�s No�l et franchement je n'ai aucunement envie de faire face � �a � six heures du matin. Prends Santana avec toi." Kurt, normally I would be thrilled to go shopping with you, but I know how you get with post-Christmas sales and honestly I have no desire to deal with that at six o'clock in the morning. Take Santana with you.

Kurt huffed in exasperation but let Rachel keep on sleeping. He didn't want to spend 4 hours in Claire's again anyway.

"Bon, ben, Satan, debout. T'as aucune excuse, tu m'as dis toi-m�me que tu voulais mon aide aujourd'hui. T'as de l'argent � br�ler gr�ce � la g�n�rosit� des pauvres d�priv�s d'�cole priv�e alors bouge toi, les soldes n'attendent pour personne!" Alright, then, Satan, get up. You have no excuse, you told me yourself that you wanted my help today. You've got money to burn thanks to those poor deprived private schooler's generosity, so get a move on, sales wait for no man!

"Va te faire foutre Kurt, ton enthousiasme me fais chier. Je serai pr�te dans 30 minutes, va r�veiller Mercedes et Quinn ou quelque chose." Fuck off, Kurt, your enthusiasm is pissing me off. I'll be ready in 30 minutes, go wake up Quinn and Mercedes or something.

Kurt rolled his eyes but knew better than to argue with Santana or chastise her for her attitude the way he would have done Rachel or Mercedes at any other time. Instead he allowed himself to shut the door as loudly as he could, just to irritate Santana a little more.

Maybe she'll be irritated enough to get off her ass and get ready quick.

Kurt then crossed the hall and knocked at Quinn and Mercedes' room, expecting to have to wake the girls up only to find Mercedes getting dressed and Quinn reading in bed.

"Bonjour les filles! Vous avez bien dormi?" Morning, girls! Did you sleep well?

Quinn smiled softly from the top of her book. She looked incredibly beautiful, even in her pajamas, with no make-up on and her hair mussed from sleep.

"Oui, merci. Malheureusement je ne peux pas me joindre � vous, je me suis r�veill� avec le rhume de Thad, mais j'ai donn� ma carte de d�bit � Mercedes, alors si vous voyez de quoi de merveilleux, pensez � moi, ok�?" Yes, thank you. Sadly, I can't join you guys, I woke up with Thad's cold, but I gave Mercedes my debit card, so if you see something fantastic,think of me, okay?

In that moment, Kurt was truly sad for her; such a gorgeous girl, a woman really, clinging desperately to a boy who was obviously in love with another girl. She truly deserved someone who would appreciate for her for all she had to give, more than her looks or her status, Quinn was a smart, eloquent and loving person, with a lot of love to give, but just didn't know how yet.

Kurt smiled at her and patted her foot through the thick comforter she had cocooned herself in.

"C'est beau, r�pose toi bien ma ch�re. Je connais ta taille et ton style, quand j'aurais fini avec toi tu pourras pas retourner en France parce que tu auras �t� embauch�e par Tyra Banks en tant que top mod�le." Thanks okay, get some rest my dear. I know your size and your style, by the time I'm done with you you won't be able to return to France because Tyra Banks will have hired you as a Top Model.

Quinn let out a high laugh that turned into a small coughing fit, but she looked slightly happier as he and Mercedes left the room than she did when he had first come in.

"Allons lui acheter quelque chose de fantastique, oui?" Let's go buy her something fabulous, yeah?

The shopping had progressed well, and by lunch time, Kurt had deemed them fit for a break, if only because Santana had threatened to slice him with the razorblades in her hair if he didn't let them sit down for a while. Kurt had to admit that after 5 straight hours of boxing day shopping, a lunch break sounded pretty good, even to him.

Re-fueling for the rest of the day's shopping.

They settled into one of the six seat tables, their overflowing bags taking up most of the space and took turns to keep an eye on their bags and to make sure nobody took their seats. While Santana went to get a salad and a smoothie, Kurt tried to get Mercedes to break and tell him about whatever it was that was happening between her and Sam, but aside from a tell-tale glint in her eyes and a coy smile on her face, Mercedes divulged nothing. As soon as Santana came back, Mercedes bolted from her seat to get a burger and it became Kurt's turn to ignore Santana's inquisition regarding 'the hobbit's sexual prowess'. Kurt had never been gladder to have his turn to wait in line for food. Once they were all gathered again and their lunch was well underway, they talked about their shopping strategies for the afternoon. They were planning what mall to hit up next when Kurt's phone buzzed from it's place atop the table.

"Oui, all�?"

"Kurt? It's I, Blaine. Are you doing well?"

Kurt's heart was thrumming in his chest and his palms had broken out in a panicked-but-pleased sweat at the sound of Blaine's voice coming through his phone.

"I hope is okay, I asked Rachel for your cell number. I asked because wanting to talk to you but I also asking because Rachel and Quinn wered yelling and I think it is good distraction. Is not a... too much?"

Kurt realized his stunned silence might be making Blaine nervous.

"No! No! It is more than okay. I am happy for your call."

"Good!" Kurt could practically hear Blaine's smile from across the city. "Was wondering if you maybe like more company for the shopping? The other Dalton boys no want to shop with me, they say they know better."

"Um-y-yes! I would like that much! We are finished lunch and we are going to only two more stores before going to other mall. The one closer to home? We have went to the farther one first thinking it would be nice to finish the day and get home faster. Would...you like to meet me at the doors in about one and half hour?"

Even though Blaine was the one asking to join them, Kurt was still fighting down the creeping dread of him turning down his invitation. Irrational, he knew, but as natural a reaction to him as the cool fa�ade he put forth when the invitations he extends are shot down. As they usually were.

"Sounds fantastic! See you then, bello! Ciao!"

The beep of the call disconnecting snapped Kurt out of his momentary Blaine induced stupor and set him into a frenzy of grabbing his bags, grabbing his girls and heading off to the last stops at this mall immediately.

He felt infinitely more energetic, although he didn't think his Greek vegetable platter were what had actually re-fueled his tank.

An hour later, Kurt, Santana and Mercedes were grabbing a taxi to the mall they were meeting Blaine at. Santana had decided to bow out for the day, having made the poor decision to wear heels for the day and therefore being unable to take another step without limping. She had been talked into dropping Kurt and Mercedes off at the mall and taking their purchases with her, liberating them of trudging through the second mall already bogged down by at least half a dozen large bags each, which had Kurt and Mercedes and high spirits.

Santana was muttering darkly under her breath about being their pack mule, but when Kurt promised to get her the dress that she had seen at Zara's in the right size as soon as he got to the second mall, she stopped her grumbling. Good thing Santana was easily bought or Kurt might not have trusted her to not inflict any damage to his new clothes as retribution.

About twelve minutes later the taxi stopped in front of the glass doors to the mall. Kurt and Mercedes quickly climbed out, not wanting to irritate Santana by raising the fare by dawdling, threw a couple of bills at her for their share of the fee and walked towards the door with the energetic gusto of seasoned shoppers.

Like the first mall they had frequented, the halls and stores were packed with people. Some stores, like the Best Buy, the video game store and Sephora actually had lines to get into them, and Kurt was glad that Santana had gone along home or he doubted he would have been able to get out of waiting in line for the overpriced make-up with her.

Kurt appreciated a good moisturizer, foundation and hair product as much as the next gay man, but that did not mean that he was in any way willing to waste valuable shopping time waiting to get into the veritable lion's den that that store would be.

Kurt shuddered at the thought of the damage Santana would have wreaked upon the poor women flocking the Latisse and the falsies.

They had planned to go straight to the Zara and be back at the doors in 17 minutes (the short amount of time spent in the store only permissible because they had spent nearly an hour at the Zara in the other mall and had purchased all they wanted already), just in time to meet up with Blaine, but their carefully planned dress crusade was rendered useless when upon entering the mall the pair caught sight of one Blaine Anderson, lounging carefully against one of the mall's large potted palms, patiently waiting for them while playing a game on his phone.

Kurt fought the urge to run straight into his arms and instead strode briskly up to him with a huge smile on his face.

"Early, Blaine?"

Blaine's head shot up from his phone, causing his to lose his particularly impressive run of Ninjump, but the smile with which he greeted Kurt told him it didn't really matter.

"I thinked you would like to maybe get more shopping done and would be early too. I was right."

Blaine put his phone in his pocket and grabbed Kurt's hand in his and turned to Mercedes as though it was the easiest thing in the world.

"Where is we go first?"

Kurt opened his mouth and closed it a few times, trying to get his brain to work enough to answer the damn question, but obviously took too long for Mercedes' taste who answered for him. And then Blaine was pulling him along and they were walking, hand-in-hand towards Zara as Mercedes described the dress Santana had found in the other mall but in a Large.

"So it is a small, tight-fitting dark red dress with big black zipper on the back. Sleeves to elbow, size Small?"

"That's right. It shouldn't be hard to find it, there were many of them in the other Zara, just not in her size."

"Sounds good. Your English is very good, Mercedes, you almost sound American!"

Mercedes blushed and looked down to her shoes with a big smile on her face.

"My vocabulary is still not so good, but I listen to a lot of American music and Sam has been helping with my pronunciation."

"You are doing very good! My English is still terrible! Not know how Kurt or any persons understands me at sometimes!"

"Nonsense! You are doing very good too! It has only been around three weeks we have been really studying the language outside of basic classes back in Europe, I think we should be proud of us. That is what Sam says anyways."

"Hmm, Sam maybe right. What do you think, Kurt?"

Blaine squeezed his hand lightly and turned to him.

"I-um, I think so too. We are much better than when we first meeted anyways."

Blaine smiled wide at him and simply carried on talking to Mercedes as they neared the store, and Kurt was trying to figure out how on earth he was doing it, if maybe the fact that he was holding Kurt's hand through a mall in front of hundreds of people didn't quite register as being as big a deal to him than it was to Kurt. When they got to the store they agreed to split up and look for the dress separately to increase their chances of finding it before 'some other size Small slag gets to it first again'.

Kurt didn't know where Santana was picking up her English from but it sounded as impressively vulgar as her French at this point. Kurt figured it was from the Cheerios at their school; he had being seeing Santana with Brittany quite a lot recently.

Kurt started scouring the store for the dress on his own, getting into his Shopping Zone, and out of his Blaine-Is-So-Dreamy Zone, because there was shopping to be done damn it, he couldn't lose focus every time Blaine touched him or this could get embarrassing. Eventually he heard Mercedes' yell of success and he made his way over to the cash, knowing that Mercedes would go there and hand the dress over for him to pay.

Two people were served before Mercedes reappeared, dress clutched tightly in hand.

"Une madame to comme quarante ans a essay� de prendre la robe d'entre mes mains! T'imagines? Un vieille madame dans une robe Santana!" Some woman who was like, fourty, tried to snatch the dress right out of my hands! Can you imagine? Some old woman in a Santana dress!

Kurt brought a hand up to his eyes and shook his head. Some people were hopeless.

"Incroyable. Est-ce que t'as vu Blaine?"

"Ouais, apr�s que j'ai trouv� la robe il est all� vite vite au Brooks Brothers. Il a dit qu'il y avait une veste, ou des vestes je pense." Yeah, after I found the dress he went over to the Brook Brothers real quick. He said something about a sweater, or sweaters or something.

"Hmm, on dirait bien que c'est son genre." Hmm, it does seem to be his type.

"Ouais moi aussi je connais quelque chose qui est son genre," Yeah I know something that seems to be his type too, Mercedes said with a nudge to the ribs and a wink. Kurt simply rolled his eyes, took the bag from the cashier and made his way over to the store Blaine was currently raiding. Even through the masses of people Kurt could spot Blaine, arms already overflowing with jackets, sweaters, pants and polos. Kurt grinned at the figure before making his way over to him, and grabbed some of the clothes for Blaine (who only momentarily panicked and clutched at his clothes desperately thinking somebody was trying to take them from him).

"I see you finded lots of things?"

Blaine blushed and shrugged a bit.

"I like their clothes, and they never have sales! Help me pick some?"

The three of them spent almost an hour in the store as Blaine tried on sweater after sweater after jacket after polos (which Kurt was particularly fond of as they showed off Blaine's toned arms deliciously).

After Blaine went back into the dressing room one last time to change back into his clothes and grab his final round of selections (Kurt had done very little in the way of helping his narrow down his options), Mercedes turned to him.

"You certainly have one hot boyfriend, mon cher."

Kurt ripped his gaze from the curtained room Blaine's fantastically clothed back had gone into and looked at Mercedes who had already gone off to look at some accessories.

She had called Blaine his boyfriend. Is that what they were? Were they boyfriends?

They hadn't kissed again after Blaine's impromptu kiss on Christmas Eve, and aside from their cuddle session on Christmas day and Blaine holding his hand earlier, nothing had really changed between the two since before The Kiss (as Kurt had taken to call it in the corner of his mind that hadn't stopped replaying the moment since it happened). Kurt had meant to ask Blaine about it but was interrupted by the call from his dad and then by the simple joy of having Blaine in his arms.

Kurt thought they were boyfriends. It certainly didn't feel like he and Blaine were still just friends. But what if Blaine didn't feel the same? Maybe that's why he was so unruffled at holding hands with him in the mall, maybe for Blaine it was just some...some...

Kurt didn't really know what Blaine could think them to be but all he knew was that if he stayed sitting there waiting for Blaine to come out he might have an aneurysm. He called out that he would be browsing the accessories with Mercedes before bolting, not waiting for a reply.

He made his way over to where Mercedes was and joined her in salivating over the absolutely gorgeous but absolutely overpriced hats, scarves, ties and pocket squares laid before them. He reached out to one especially beautiful scarf, made of a stripped navy cashmere. One look at the price tag had him sighing and putting the scarf back down in front of him.

"Tu te rends compte que Blaine a l'intention d'acheter tout ce que t'as dans tes mains en plus du reste des v�tements qu'ill a essay� tant�t, non?" You do realize that Blaine intends to purchase all the clothes you are currently holding for him on top of al the clothes he tried on earlier, right?

"Oui? Et?" Yes? And?

"Kurt, chaque chandail co�te pr�s de 70$, de m�me pour les vestes qui en fait co�tent dans les centaines chaques? Sans compter les deux manteaux � 478$ et 349$ respectivement? Ton chum est riche!" Kurt, every shirt costs near to 70$, same goes for the sweaters who actually cost something closer to hundreds? Not counting the two coats that are 478$ and 340$ respectively? You boyfriend is rich!

For some reason- and Kurt couldn't quite figure out how- Kurt had failed to notice the bill that Blaine was racking up with his shopping frenzy. His logic was just swept away in the face of Blaine enthusiasm and the joy for shopping that matched his own. A quick tally brought Blaine's purchases well into the thousands and Kurt had to close his eyes for a second, dizzy at the thought of all he would buy if for some reason he had the same crazy budget Blaine seemed to.

Before Kurt could come up with something to say to Mercedes however, a sure hand wound itself around his waist.

"Well I am ready to go I think. You two see anything?"

Kurt gave the scarf on the table one last longing stroke before turning to Blaine.

"No, I think Mercedes and I are good. Do you need help taking things to the cashier?"

Blaine just smiled, shook his head and took the clothes from Kurt.

"Is okay, you two can go sit while I pay. Your foots must be tired."

Kurt was about to say that no, they were fine and happy to keep him company when Mercedes cut in and said that yes, her feet were killing her, grabbing Kurt and leading him out the door before Kurt could even realize what had happened. As soon as they reached the mercifully empty bench Mercedes collapsed into it, toed off her sneakers and began rolling her toes in them in an attempt to get some blood flowing. They promised each other foot massages once they made it home as they waited for Blaine to re-emerge. As the line was surprisingly small for the amount of people in the store (Kurt suspected most of them were mostly window shopping and hoping that whatever it was that they were after was on sale) Blaine made it out rather quickly, with no less than seven bags in his arms. He walked over to them and set his bags down, stretching his back after finally being load free. Then he looked at Kurt excitedly.

"I had no reason to buy a scarf or gloves because an adorable boy gived me some for Christmas but then I remember that you said scarf was meaned to be yours so I got you something."

Blaine reached into the bag closest to his foot, and pulled out none other than the cashmere scarf Kurt was looking at. He quickly ripped off the price tag, pulled Kurt's current red scarf from around his neck replaced it with the new navy one.

It felt even softer around his neck than it did in his hands.

"There! Looks beautifully, bello."

"Blaine, I-I can't accept this! Is a very costly scarf, I can not-"

"No! You spend time making mine, I spend a little money on yours. Your scarf means more this just a little thing to try and... match it, I think is word? Make up? In any case, is yours now."

Kurt looked at him with what he knew was probably the most disgustingly smitten look ever worn by anybody.

"Thank you Blaine. It is perfect, you did not have to do this."

"What, I cannot buy my boyfriend a gift?"