Clearing his throat again to make sure his voice wouldn't break, Kurt turned to face Blaine, forcing himself to make eye contact. "Why didn't you just tell me? Why did you think I would choose Cooper over you? I don't even know him!"

Blaine just shook his head, his expression so sad and tired and resigned it broke Kurt's heart to look at him. "That never stopped anyone before. You don't understand, Kurt. Cooper has always been everyone's priority. I love him. I really do and you have no idea who happy I am that I got to see him again. That I will get to see him again for the next few days. But at the same time I can't help but hate him a bit for always getting everything I ever wanted. Everything I thought I had. And..." His voice trailed off and he turned away so he wouldn't have to look at Kurt.

"You thought I'd be another of those things you thought you had that would inevitably forget you over your famous brother?" Kurt asked, genuinely curious. He had no idea what could have possibly given Blaine the idea he would abandon him just like that. The times Cooper had robbed him off his friends in the past must have hurt him profoundly to make him jump to conclusions so quickly. To make him willing to give up Kurt without a fight over those conclusions.

"It's not like I have you. You're my friend, not my property. But yes, along those lines. Kurt, I-"

"No, Blaine," Kurt interrupted him harshly, unwilling to let him finish his sentence. "Before you say anything else I think I should make something clear. Because obviously, you have no idea what you mean to me. Blaine, you're my very best friend. In case you haven't noticed, I don't really have many friends here. None actually, apart from you and Rachel. And while I love her to pieces even though she's horribly irritating at times, you are the one I'd turn to in every single situation I can possibly think of. I sometimes feel like you understand me better than I do. I'd go as far as to call you my soulmate.

"And while I'll have to admit that I was a bit starstruck over Cooper, I'd never do anything to hurt our friendship. I'm not planning on letting go of you just now, not like that. If you'd just told me I wouldn't have mentioned him ever again. I can't know what happened in the past and I won't pretend I know how it affected you. But I can promise you, whatever you had to experience before, you're not going to lose me." Kurt reached out, letting his hand rest palm up between them with a smile, hoping and waiting for Blaine to take it. Blaine smiled back, a bit hesitant at first, his eyes shimmering wetly, but becoming more genuine when their hands found each other and their fingers entwined seamlessly, two halves of a whole.

They both looked down at their hands for quite some time, fascinated by the way they were so different - one pale and human and distinctly there, one see-through, the tan tone of the skin only faintly discernible - but still seemed to fit so perfectly, as if they were made to hold each other.

"You're my soulmate, too," Blaine whispered as they looked up again at last, smiling softly at Kurt. "And I'm sorry I acted the way I did. I was so sure I was going to lose you, too... You're the best thing in my life, Kurt, and I'm so afraid of the day you won't be there anymore. Cooper's not enough to make us part, though, is he?"

Kurt chuckled a bit at that, leaning even closer. "No, he's not. He's very far from that, actually."

Neither of them would be able to recount how it happened, but suddenly their foreheads were almost touching, lips only a few short inches away from each other. Kurt could faintly feel Blaine's breath on his lips, a shiver running through him at the sensation. He was too caught up in Blaine's hazel eyes and the buzzing that seemed to be in the air between them to wonder about it, though.

There was a delicious scent in the air, enveloping him, seeping into his skin, so intoxicating it made his head spin. He wanted to bury himself in that scent, breathe it in until it was so deeply ingrained in his lungs he'd never have to go without it ever again. It smelt like home, like safety. It smelt right.

Kurt's head was reeling and there was something coursing through his veins, powerful and alive and delicious, something pulling him in closer and closer and he felt so much want he was dizzy with it. His eyes started to flutter closed and his lips parted slowly on their own volition, sucking in the almost static air, waiting for the soft, warm touch he imagined Blaine's lips to be.

It never came.

Instead, the sound of someone clearing their throat rather loudly pulled him back into reality. It took him a moment to realize it was coming from Blaine and another to finally open his eyes again. He was still dazed from being so close and the sudden coldness only registered after a few blinks. A few blinks that also told him that Blaine had put a good deal of distance between them.

Shame rolled through Kurt in hot waves and washed away the last remnants of fog that had remained, clouding his mind. He'd practically thrown himself at Blaine. How wanton he'd must have looked, with his eyes closed like that and leaning in so much! He just hoped he hadn't unconsciously puckered his lips or anything of that sort. The situation was bad enough as it was. Because Blaine clearly wasn't interested and Kurt had just made a giant fool of himself.

"S-Sorry," he mumbled, eyes fixed on a random spot on the floor. He could feel the red flooding his cheeks and prayed that the dim lighting in the auditorium would make it a bit less visible.

"Don't worry, it's fine," Blaine hurried to say, almost stumbling over his own words. "Why did you come here in the first place, anyway?"

He was clearly desperate to distract from the subject at hand, but Kurt couldn't have been more grateful for that at the moment. "I didn't want the three of you to have to celebrate Christmas on your own with no one but this shabby, empty school for company." Hesitantly, he smiled at Blaine, who returned it immediately.

"So that's what the bag is for?" he asked, nodding in the direction of the seat Kurt had disposed his improvised Christmas decoration on.

"Yup," Kurt grinned, jumping from the stage and getting the bag. Carefully, he put it down next to Blaine when he returned, getting everything out piece by piece. It wasn't much, just a few candles, matches, a bit lametta and a small wreath, but it definitely added a bit of much necessary atmosphere to the deserted, gloomy place. Kurt arranged everything as best as he could, not looking up from his task until everything was in place, the candles spreading their flickering light around them.

"Sorry, I didn't get you any presents but I couldn't really think of anything that would be useful for a ghost," Kurt said with an apologetic smile, finally looking at Blaine. He was taken aback by the tears in his eyes.

"Blaine? Did I do something wrong? I can put it away again if you don't like it, I know it's not much, but-" Before he could get any further, he was interrupted by a warm finger pressed to his lips.

"Shh, Kurt. It's perfect. Thank you. I can't remember the last time anyone did that much for me, for any of us, so stop talking yourself down." Blaine smiled softly at him and Kurt smiled back around the finger still pressed to his lips. They stood like that for a while, not moving until Kurt's smile widened and he tapped Blaine's wrist, raising an eyebrow. Realizing his mistake, Blaine blushed a pretty shade of red and quickly removed his finger, mumbling his apology.

"Blaine, it's okay," Kurt laughed, grinning at him. "I just wanted to make sure I was allowed to talk to you again" - he winked at Blaine, who took on an even deeper shade of red - "because I was wondering where Rachel and Sebastian have gone to. I wanted all of you to have a nice Christmas, as much as I enjoy your company."

"Even Sebastian?" Blaine asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Even Sebastian."

They smiled at each other, forgetting about time once more, until they finally averted their eyes.

"I should probably go look for them, then. Are you okay on your own? I promise I won't take long, I think I know where they might be," Blaine said, jumping off the stage as he spoke. Kurt just rolled his eyes at him.

"Blaine, I'm not four. I'll survive five minutes on my own. You go look for them." They shared one last grin before Blaine headed out of the door and disappeared into the empty hallways. Kurt passed the time staring at the flickering flame of the candle closest to him, willing his brain to stop repeating that almost-kiss over and over again. Sooner than he'd expected, he felt Blaine's presence enter the room again. He looked up to find Blaine on his own, shrugging his shoulders when their gazes locked.

"I checked all our usual places and they're nowhere to be found. Seems like we'll have to celebrate on our own."

Kurt smiled to himself, knowing this had to be Rachel's doing, and patted the seat next to him in invitation. Blaine wasted no time crossing the auditorium and hopping up next to him, smiling radiantly at Kurt once he'd made himself comfortable in the middle of the sea of candles.

"You sure went all out on the candles," he smiled, looking over the little circle they were sitting in. Kurt just shook his head.

"I merely grabbed a few handfuls. There can never be too many candles, they're an important atmospheric element," he explained patiently, as if Blaine was a preschooler and he had to teach him the most basic facts.

Blaine chuckled to himself, carefully choosing his words so he wouldn't offend Kurt. "Should I be surprised that your house didn't burn down by now?"

Rolling his eyes, Kurt couldn't suppress a slight chuckle of his own. "I'm very careful. An ardent love for candles brings a lot of responsibility with it."

They sat in companionable silence for a while, admiring the shadows the candles threw on the stage and seats, before jumping into recollections of past Christmases. They laughed at Cooper and Blaine's fights over who'd get to decorate the tree when Blaine was little, inevitably ending in Blaine using his best puppy dog eyes on his brother until he'd lift him up so he could put the star on the top. They shared a smile over Kurt remembering how he'd get up early in the morning, so that he and his mum could finally start on baking cookies, and the way Burt would always burst in on them with some excuse so he could steal a few cookies when they were still warm.

It was getting really late as they shared stories and Kurt knew he should get home sometime soon if he didn't want to risk being caught by Burt. But he didn't want to leave Blaine behind in McKinley of all places. And if he was being honest, he simply didn't want to leave for much more selfish reasons. He wanted to listen to Blaine's voice for the rest of his life, if only he could.

"Would you mind coming back home with me?" Kurt asked out of the blue before he could stop himself, effectively interrupting a story about a teenage Cooper basically drowning the living room in lametta, much to the horror of Mrs. Anderson when she came home from grocery shopping. He cringed a bit at his own bluntness, but didn't make a move to take it back. The radiant smile on Blaine's face told him that he'd made the right decision.

"Of course! I couldn't let you walk home in the cold on your own, anyway, and at this hour!" Kurt smiled back at him and in no time the candles were out and back in the bag, along with the wreath, lametta and the remaining matches. By the time they were out of the building and back in the cold, they had already launched back into their stories.

Time flew and the way back seemed much shorter than Kurt remembered it to be. Before they knew it, they had arrived at Kurt's house. They quickly checked on Burt who was still peacefully asleep on the couch. With a soft smile, Kurt pulled the blanket his father had kicked down sometime in the past few hours back over him, tucking him in like he would with a small child. Blaine watched him with warm eyes, quickly looking away when Kurt approached him again.

They went down to Kurt's room together, throwing in a movie for background atmosphere. Kurt disappeared into the bathroom to change into his pajamas, only to find Blaine still standing in the same spot he had left him when he returned.

"Do you just want to stand there or...?" Kurt asked, highly amused. Of course Blaine would be too much of gentleman to just assume it was okay to sit down on the bed with him, even if they had done so a million times before. The only difference being that Blaine usually left before Kurt went to bed and had never stayed the night.

"I wasn't sure if I should... I didn't want to assume..." Blaine stuttered, the blush back high on his cheeks.

"It's okay," Kurt laughed, smiling at him. He quickly slipped under the covers and patted the spot next to him. "Make yourself comfortable!"

Hesitantly, Blaine sat down next to him, leaning carefully against the headboard. He looked everything but comfortable, his eyes shifting everywhere, never resting on Kurt, as if he wasn't sure where to look.

"Blaine, you don't have to sit on the bed with me if it makes you uncomfortable," Kurt offered, though he couldn't hide the note of disappointment that tinted his voice. He wanted a chance to lean a bit on Blaine and enjoy the unexplainable warmth radiating from him, but not if it made him uncomfortable or turned out to be too exhausting.

"Oh no, no, I'm fine!" Blaine hurried to assure him. He smiled somewhat awkwardly in Kurt's direction before relaxing a tiny bit, his body no longer as tense as if he was about to jump up and run for his life.

"If you're sure..." Kurt muttered, anything but convinced. He wasn't about to argue, though.

For a while, they said nothing and just concentrated on the film. It turned out that Nightmare Before Christmas had been a good choice on Kurt's side since Blaine had never seen it before - as he could say about most movies that had come out within the last decade, unlike Rachel, who'd never let an opportunity pass to sneak into someone's house and watch over their shoulders while they weren't aware she was even there. He seemed to enjoy it well enough and Kurt could feel himself getting sleepy as he stopped worrying about Blaine getting bored. He'd seen the movie quite a few times and it wasn't sufficient to keep him awake.

Kurt slowly felt himself drifting off and as much as he wanted to take pleasure in Blaine's presence as long as it lasted, he couldn't fight off sleep forever. By the time his head fell heavily on Blaine's shoulder, he was already too out of it to care or wake up from the deep sleep he was about to slip into. Blaine let him, smiling to himself as he carefully pushed a stray strand of hair out of his face. Kurt leaned into the touch, humming contently at the back of his throat. Blaine wanted so badly to lean in and kiss those pink lips, see if they were as soft as that flawless skin felt under his fingertips; it almost physically hurt to restrain himself.

Somehow, he gathered the willpower to resist. At first, he distracted himself by watching the movie but it ended soon enough and Blaine couldn't find it in him to move and possibly wake Kurt up. He was a bit afraid that his energy would leave him, causing Kurt to fall through him at some point - which really was anything but a pleasant way to wake up - but it never happened. Blaine wondered how it was possible for him to stay solid for hours on end when usually, a few minutes cost him all his energy. But that never seemed to be a problem around Kurt. Being around him made Blaine feel like he was alive again on so many levels. Maybe even more alive than he'd ever been, even before the fateful night of the Sadie Hawkins dance.

Hours passed and the night slowly started to turn into morning. Blaine was content sitting on Kurt's bed, watching his chest rise and fall with each breath, watching his eyelashes flutter in his dreams. He sometimes ran a hand through the soft brown hair that felt just as silky as it looked, others he'd let his fingertips wander over the incredibly soft skin of his cheek, always careful to keep his touch gentle enough not to wake or startle Kurt. Every single time without fail, Kurt would remain deeply asleep, unconsciously leaning into Blaine's touch.

After the third time it happened, Blaine told himself he'd stop, that this was nothing but masochism. This couldn't possibly lead anywhere, but he couldn't bring himself to stop touching Kurt, his heart jumping in his chest whenever he got the same reaction. No matter what he told himself he should do, he couldn't pull away or even avert his eyes.

Needless to say, Blaine was still in the very same place he'd been in all night when Kurt finally woke up.