The day of James' wedding arrived, and Blaine dressed up suitably for the occasion. He knew that he would be getting asked if he was Olivia's boyfriend all night, and he needed to at least seem like a decent choice, if not for his own reputation among his best friend's family, then for her own. "Oh, Blaine, you look great!" Marie said as Blaine stepped into the kitchen, "Have you Skyped Kurt to let him see? You look incredibly dashing, honey. We should drag you along to weddings more often."

"Um, no, Kurt's been busy... but thanks, mom." Blaine smiled.

"It's such a shame that we've never met his family! I mean, his parents live in Lima year round, don't they?"

"Yeah..."

"And we haven't had dinner with them once! Actually, come to mention it, we haven't really had a chance to sit down with Kurt, either. When's he around next? Over Christmas, right?" Blaine nodded. "Great! He is definitely having dinner with us. And we could maybe do something with his parents?" Blaine shrugged. He could mention the idea of their parents meeting later.

"Did you know that Coop kind of has a girlfriend? And she's going to be in Ohio over Christmas as well?"

"No! I've hardly spoken to Cooper recently! He does?"

"Kind of. I mean, they've only been on one date, as far as I'm aware, but they seem to call each other a lot." Blaine only knew about that first coffee date, but he didn't doubt the possibility that he had happened to meet up with her since, when one of them just so happened to be in the other's city.

"So sort of like how you and Kurt got started?" Marie asked. Blaine smiled slightly.

"Yeah, I guess. She lives in New York, he lives in LA..."

"New York? How is it that both my boys snagged relationships from there, of all places?"

"The same apartment, even." Blaine hinted, seeing how long it would take Marie to catch on.

"Doesn't Kurt live with-" Everything clicked into place in Marie's mind. "Oh! Is Cooper dating Leah? She's such a nice girl, I'm so pleased..." Marie continued to ramble on about Leah. Blaine glanced at his phone, checking the time, before kissing his mother on the cheek and escaping out the door.

He arrived in Lima exactly when expected. Olivia's dad ushered him into the house on his arrival and instantly offered Blaine a drink. He politely declined and slipped upstairs to Olivia's bedroom. Since his sleepover a couple of weeks ago Liv had reclaimed her bedroom and James and Carly had moved into their own place in Columbus, but since they were getting married at a church in Lima they had stayed in separate hotel rooms the night before. It was a welcome change to the remaining Harris family members to have James out of their way again.

Olivia greeted him with a hug and finished styling her short hair while Blaine sat on the edge of her bed. Then, she looped her arm through his and they descended the stairs together, before they got into the car with her parents and they drove to the church.

The ceremony was simple and elegant and didn't take any longer than necessary. The wedding party trailed off to a nearby park to take photos while Blaine and Olivia drove her parents' car to the hotel, where the wedding reception was being hosted.

"Live band or DJ?" Olivia asked, while they killed time before dinner. Many of the guests were dancing, but the pair had taken to playing footsies under the table. Blaine had been texting Kurt all evening, despite Kurt's attempts to make him put his phone down and enjoy himself. Kurt and Liv were equal and opposite forces, as Olivia insisted that he continued to converse with his boyfriend.

"Live music, definitely. But maybe a half and half? You know, if the band can only be there for a couple of hours. The closer it gets to midnight the less people care, I think." Olivia glanced over to where James' wedding band was playing. They weren't horrible, but she was sure that a better group would have been in their budget if they had looked hard enough.

"Why do I get the feeling that your preference has some cheesy romantic scheme behind it?" Olivia raised her eyebrows at Blaine.

"I do want to sing at my wedding, actually. Since you brought it up."

"There it is." She shook her head lightly.

"Am I that predictable?"

Olivia nodded. "Hey, can I be your best man?"

"You might have to fight it out with Wes."

"It's on," Olivia paused for a moment. "Blaine? Do you think you might marry Kurt, one day?"

Blaine shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, I love him and I like the whole concept of forever. It's not like we've ever really talked about it."

"Natalie and I used to talk about getting married one day." She shook her head. "No, I'm not even going there. It's been months and I'm over it."

Blaine squeezed her hand supportively. "Isn't it a shame you're related to all the cute high school aged guys here?"

Olivia rolled her eyes. "So which of my cousins do you think are cute?" she pulled him from their table and dragged him out to the dance floor. Blaine nodded subtly towards one of them. "Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if he checked you out, too. But I mean, he's no Kurt Hummel."

"That's true." Blaine replied. Liv looked at him for a second.

"You really do love him, don't you?" Blaine nodded.

"So much."

"You know there is some insanely low percentage of relationships formed in high school that last?" Blaine shrugged. "My bet's on you."

Blaine walked downstairs and slid his stack of freshly wrapped presents under the Christmas tree, which was tastefully decorated. He had always been jealous of families that got their kids to decorate the tree, and he had begun to believe that a Christmas tree reflected a family. Blaine's rigid tree with white lights and simple yet expensive ornaments seemed to tell exactly what the nature of his family was. He much preferred the way Kaitlynn's- Wes' girlfriend's- tree looked, set up in their living room and covered in homemade decorations, colourful tinsel and a star that sat crookedly on the top. Perhaps it was the six year old in their family that drove the tree decorating, but that was what Blaine liked the most about it. It felt like it belonged to a family, not a department store.

It was just a week until Christmas and Kurt would be arriving in Ohio the next day. He was quietly excited about it, choosing not to force his happiness on the other people around him. He faced endless teasing from his friends about it, but he always just laughed along.

"You can't meet me at the airport, Blaine," Kurt had said on the phone, "you're meant to be at school. I can't endanger your education like that, not if you want to be in New York for college." Blaine had eventually given in, accepting that Kurt needed to get his way every once in a while- although that was far more often than he cared to admit.

Blaine reached around behind the tree and flicked the switch at the back, illuminating the tree to its full glory. As he headed up to his bedroom he hummed Christmas songs quietly to himself, feeling the smallest bit more Christmassy.

Blaine left his last class as soon as he was dismissed. He planned to skip the usual visit to his locker and find Wes instead to persuade him to give him a ride home, but he didn't get very far. Standing a few steps out the door of the classroom was Kurt, smiling widely in anticipation.

Kurt opened his mouth to greet Blaine but was quickly silenced, Blaine's lips meeting his own in the middle of the crowded Dalton hallway as the students raced for the exits, ready to go home for the weekend. Kurt threaded his arms around Blaine's neck as they disappeared into their own little bubble.

They finally broke apart, and Blaine grinned at Kurt. "Hey," he said, "What're you doing here?"

Kurt beamed back. "Seeing you!" he dropped his arms, taking Blaine's hand in his own. He began to lead Blaine from the school the way he had come in, to the best of his ability from memory. He knew Blaine could subtly steer him in the right direction if he needed to. "I'm sorry, it's probably totally lame to have your boyfriend turn up at your school, but I couldn't wait any longer to see you."

"Probably," Blaine agreed, "but I really don't care. They can be as embarrassed of their girlfriends as they like, but you've been in another state for too long for me to even think about being embarrassed. I'm too happy that we're in the same room."

"Hey, it's only been three weeks. That's nothing on three months, is it?" Kurt kissed Blaine on the cheek lightly.

"It feels about as long. I won't ever have spent enough time with you."

"Cut the sap, Blaine."

Blaine gave Kurt his best puppy dog eyes. "You know you love it."

"I love you."

"I love you too, Kurt." They hadn't even made it out of the parking lot before they had wrapped themselves in each other, commencing in the first of many Christmas make out sessions in Kurt's car.

Blaine and Kurt arrived back at Blaine's house to find Marie was already there, singing softly in the kitchen while decorating a gingerbread house. As they entered the kitchen she stopped singing, and smiled at them instead. Blaine dropped Kurt's hand to go over and give her a kiss on the cheek. "Hi, sweetie, how was school?" School was a distant concept to Blaine. Everything before Kurt was a blur.

"Good, thanks." He said as he reached for an M&M before Marie whisked the bowl away.

"They're for the house, Blaine!" Marie said. She turned to face Kurt, dusted her hands on her apron and opened her arms to him. "Get over here Kurt; I haven't seen you in months." Kurt stepped towards Marie and softened into her hug. "It really is nice to see you, honey. You are coming to dinner on Monday once Cooper gets here, right? And Leah, too!"

"Of course, Mrs. Anderson! We would love to." Kurt replied. Blaine rejoined Kurt, taking his hand again. He had to savour every minute of hand holding he could get.

"Great! It will be the six of us then, because I refuse to let Phillip work through a family dinner, not when Cooper is finally visiting." Marie turned back to the house and Blaine led Kurt from the kitchen and upstairs to his bedroom.

"You have to run me through your schooling for the next week," Kurt said, "You have exams, right?" Blaine nodded.

"Yeah, Monday through Wednesday, and then it's Christmas Eve and Christmas." Blaine left his bedroom door open in the chance that Marie would go upstairs while they were up there. He had found that the best way to earn his parents' trust was to pay attention to their rules, and slowly the rules lessened as he proved himself to be trustworthy. Kurt perched on the edge of Blaine's bed while he hung up his blazer.

"My parents say I have to spend the weekend with them since I spent the whole last time I was here with you... so we have dinner with your parents on Monday night," Blaine nodded, "Tuesday night I'm hanging out with my dad and Finn, and then we're going out on Wednesday."

"We are?"

"Of course we are, don't sound so surprised. And you can stay over on Wednesday night, and then we can spend Christmas Eve together, and then we'll be with our own families for Christmas, I'm guessing. I say we plan the rest of your break as it happens."

"You get first priority at spending time with me. The others can wait until you go back to New York." Blaine said, and Kurt smiled.

"In that case, come here, Blaine." Blaine crossed the room and sat down too, shuffling into Kurt's arms, resting his head on Kurt's shoulder.

"I could do this forever," Blaine said, "I love you so much, Kurt."

"I love you too, Blaine." They sat in silence for a moment.

"Do you... ever think about getting married?" Blaine asked, thinking about his conversation with Olivia, "Like, not necessarily to me. But in general?"

"All the time. I grew up planning weddings, and I had my hand in planning my dad's wedding to Carole. There is no way I could have planned all those hypothetical weddings without fantasising about my own eventual wedding some time."

"I have a few ideas for when it happens, but I would be happy with something simple. I just want to be able to sing."

"I think I can tolerate that," Kurt said, before turning bright red and clamping a hand over his mouth. "Well shit, I just implied that it would be our wedding."

Blaine pressed a kiss to Kurt's cheek. "Hey, I don't mind. You don't know that it won't be our wedding."

"Do you think about marrying me one day? I'm not in any rush, but I like the thought... and if I had to pick tomorrow, I would choose you to spend the rest of my life with."

"Yeah, I do." Blaine let a small smile slip across his face, and Kurt smiled back similarly.

"I'm pleased we're on the same page. That we both think that one day down the line we could tie the knot." Kurt said as he leaned forward to kiss Blaine.

"One day. I like that." Blaine closed the miniscule gap between them, kissing Kurt.

Blaine collected Cooper from the airport on Saturday afternoon and they drove back to the house. "I can't believe I missed you getting a license! You're my baby brother, you aren't meant to be able to drive!" Cooper exclaimed. Blaine laughed.

"I'm not that little, Coop. I'm a senior these days, you know? I'm applying to colleges and stuff." He said.

"College! What do you want to do, anyway?"

"I want to do Musical Theatre, at NYU or NYADA." Cooper snorted.

"Dad's going to love that."

"Well yeah, he wants me to do law, but he's not exactly my biggest fan as it is." Blaine said. Cooper knew what Blaine meant. He was quietly worried about any time he would spend with Kurt and Phillip in the same room.

"And mom?"

"She knows everything and she loves Kurt, and she's just slowly trying to get dad to adapt to it all." Blaine explained. Marie was slowly choosing the right moments to talk to Phillip about Blaine's future- knowing that he wanted to study Musical Theatre and that he had no desire to carry on the Anderson name in the law firm, she was a safe ally for Blaine. She referred to Kurt in conversation as being 'Blaine's boyfriend' and that had seemed to work, regardless of whether or not he was happy with it.

"Good, good."

"Leah and Kurt are coming over for dinner on Monday."

"Leah- What?" Cooper had not been told there was any dinner involved.

"I may have told our mother that Leah was your girlfriend."

"She is, kind of. We've only really been on one date, and we've talked a few times..."

"And when are all of us going to be together again? You can go out with her before then. Call her. Now."

"Blainey, you can't make me..."

"Which one of us is meant to be the handsome charismatic one?"

"Fine. I'll call her when we get home." Cooper folded his arms across his chest and pouted.

Blaine's phone rang in his pocket. He fished it out and passed it to Cooper. "Can you answer it?"

Cooper took the phone. "Yo, Blaine's phone." He answered. It was Kurt.

"Oh, hey, Cooper, do I assume there's a reason why Blaine didn't answer his phone?" Kurt asked.

Cooper turned to his brother. "It's your boyfriend, Blaine." Blaine nodded. "Yeah, he's driving. Anything you want me to pass on?"

"No, it's okay, I'll call him back in a bit."

"Just put him on speaker," Blaine suggested, and Cooper did so.

"Did I do it right?" Cooper asked.

"You did."

"Hey, Kurt." Blaine said.

"Hey, Blaine! Gosh, I can't even remember why I called."

"Because you wanted to tell me that you loved me?" Blaine suggested.

"Because you secretly wanted to hear my sexy, sexy voice?" Cooper quipped.

"Ha! Well, I love you!"

"I love you too," Blaine and Cooper said in unison, Blaine seriously and Cooper teasingly. "Hey Kurt, can you put Leah on the phone? Cooper needs to ask her out."

"No, you don't have to do that!" Cooper said far too quickly.

"Well now I have to! Leah, come here!" They heard Leah going over and taking the phone from him.

"Hello?" she said, almost shyly. Cooper looked at Blaine for help. He grinned in response and shook his head.

"Uh, hi, Leah," Cooper said, "Are you busy tomorrow night?"

"Um, no, I don't think so! Did you want to do something?" she was audibly happy and Blaine hoped Kurt was standing close by on the other end of the phone, hearing the conversation too.

"Yeah, yes! I'll pick you up at seven?"

"Sure! See you then!" Leah said, before speaking away from the phone for a minute, "Kurt, do you want your phone back? Okay, Kurt told me to just hang up. So Blaine, I'll see you on Monday, and Coop, I'll see you tomorrow! Bye guys!"

"Bye Leah!" Blaine said, and Cooper hung up. "I think that was successful. It's cute how shy you get around her when you usually date models."

"I don't really date anyone, Squirt. I kind of usually just have hook ups, but I want to change that. And yes, models."

"Leah isn't a model, Coop. She's just kind of... Leah." In the scheme of Cooper's love life, Leah was incredibly ordinary looking. She was pretty, but she had soft, delicate features. She wasn't striking.

"And I like that, you know?" Cooper said. Blaine smiled.

"I know."

"Don't even pretend you do, Blainey, you're dating Kurt Hummel. Now, I might not be gay, but I can identify attractiveness, you know? And I'm ninety-eight percent sure that Kurt is hot." Blaine laughed.

"Oh, he is," Blaine said, "trust me."

Leah kissed Cooper goodnight on the front doorstep of the Hummel-Hudson residence and headed inside, immediately faced with Kurt who grabbed her hand and pulled her upstairs.

"How did it go?" he asked, pulling her down onto his bed.

"It was nice. Really nice."

"Oh god, you sound exactly like Blaine after the gala and he danced with Kurt." Olivia said, wandering into Kurt's bedroom and sitting down. Kurt smiled at the mention of Blaine, imagining how his conversation with Olivia had gone.

"When did Olivia get here?" Leah asked Kurt, looking at the other girl as she joined them on the bed.

"I invited her over after you left for your date because I got lonely and didn't have anyone to watch Top Model with." Kurt shrugged. As far as he was concerned Liv had become his friend, too. He hoped that it wouldn't be weird for Blaine, since they had never really talked about it. Sometimes having mutual friends could be weird in a relationship, especially when one person was friends long before the other.

"And his boyfriend lives all the way in Westerville, after all. So I was the logical choice." Olivia finished.

Kurt continued to glare at Leah. "So that was how we spent our night. And you?"

Leah took a deep breath. "We went out for dinner at this Italian restaurant that was swarming with teenagers-"

"Breadstix, I'm guessing?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, that's the place. And after dinner we went for a walk-"

"Did you hold his hand?" Kurt interrupted.

"Yes, I did, if you must know, and then we came back here and-"

"You kissed him!" Olivia and Kurt half-squealed in unison.

"Well, he kissed me, but yeah, there was a kiss. It was old fashioned and cute and romantic and..."

"Nice?" Olivia prompted sarcastically.

"So it's just you now, Liv. Where are we going to find you a boyfriend slash girlfriend?" Kurt asked, nudging her lightly.

"Leave the poor girl alone, Kurt!" Leah said, and Kurt pouted.

Olivia smiled. "No, I don't mind. I know you mean it affectionately."

"What can I say? I'm an affectionate person." Kurt shrugged. "So can we go and watch more TV now?" he turned to Leah, "unless you have anything more to share. I don't mind gossiping."

"We could gossip about your boyfriend, Kurt. I'm sure Olivia has vital information about him you wouldn't mind hearing." Leah replied.

"Oh, and I bet you have things to share about him I don't know. How does he kiss these days?" Olivia teased.

"Well," Kurt answered, with a completely dead straight face, "because you were his first kiss, right?" Kurt remembered talking to Blaine about it. His own first kiss had been on screen, and then after that there was only one guy before Blaine, whom he had kissed just to get it over with at a party.

"Yeah! Actually, what's the date today? The twentieth? It's the five year anniversary of my first kiss with Blaine today!"

"Did you ever kiss after that?"

Olivia shook her head. "No, we just kind of diffused. We were best friends again and nothing else. Hey, I should just kiss you, Kurt, and then we would all have kissed each other." She looked at her phone. "Oh, I told my parent's I'd be home ten minutes ago. I'd better leave." She hopped off the bed and hugged Leah, and then Kurt, kissing him on the cheek quickly before fleeing the bedroom.

That was more than enough for bragging rights as far as Olivia cared.