Blaine drops it casually into conversation during his weekly phone call with his parents like it's nothing. "It's so cold here already, and just the beginning of December."

"Here too," his mother answered, grumbling good-naturedly.

"Snow on the ground already," his father said. "I need to hire a new guy to shovel the sidewalks. The one we had last year never called me back this week, so I had to do it myself."

"I should think of some excuse to visit Cooper in L.A. when I can't stand the cold anymore," Blaine said, carefully making the statement sound offhand. "Especially now that he finally has an apartment all to himself."

His mother hummed thoughtfully, and Blaine launched into a story about his acting class.

The following week, it paid off.

"Good news, Blaine," his father said. "We took your suggestion. Christmas is at Cooper's this year! I'm about to buy your plane tickets if you could just check the scheduling with me."

"Oh gosh, Dad," Blaine said, being sure to sound surprised and uncertain. "I know I talked about visiting Cooper, but I didn't mean at Christmas. I was really looking forward to seeing all my old friends from high school over the break. Everyone's going to be back ... the kids from McKinley, and all the Dalton guys ..."

"I didn't think about that ..." his mother said. "I'm sorry ..."

Blaine had to sell this perfectly, he knew. "I wonder if I ... would you mind ... I mean, I just saw you guys at Thanksgiving, but I haven't seen most of my friends in months. How would you feel if I go to Ohio anyway, and you guys can still visit Cooper in Los Angeles? I don't want to spoil your beach vacation, I just ... I'd rather be in Ohio. Is that okay?"

"Well—" his father began, and then stopped.

"It's okay," his mother said quickly. Blaine wondered if they'd had a conversation about his level of independence since Thanksgiving. "I understand. You're an adult now, you can make your own decisions. And you're right, you did just see us a few weeks ago, so ... I guess it's fine."

"I'll miss you," Blaine said sadly. "I'll mail your presents to Cooper, okay? And I'll see you soon. Spring break, probably, right?"

"Yeah ... that sounds good," his father said hesitantly.

"My little baby all grown up!" his mother exclaimed, her voice breaking a little. "Remember the first time Cooper didn't come home for the holidays? He took that winter trip to Europe with a group of his college friends and ... oh god, it seems like ages ago now, and it also seems like yesterday."

"Where will you stay in Ohio?" his father asked, turning to practicalities while his wife got emotional, as always. "Do you want us to leave you a spare key, so you can stay at the house?"

"Oh, no, don't worry about it," Blaine said breezily. "I'll find a friend to stay with. It'll be best to be closer to Lima anyway, I think."

He grinned at Kurt when he got off the phone. "Time to implement Phase 2."

Kurt pulled his phone out of his pocket and called his dad.

"Everything's great, Dad. There's just something I wanted to ask you. Blaine needs a place to stay for the holidays. His parents are going to visit Cooper out in California, and ... no, of course they offered to take Blaine with them, but he'd rather come to Ohio and see everyone who's home from college, so ... yes, exactly ... Great! Thank you! We—I mean, he really appreciates it. Yes ... yes, okay ... okay, talk to you later! Bye!"

"Mission accomplished," Kurt said to Blaine as soon as he hit the end call button.

Blaine held up his hand and Kurt high-fived him. "Blam!" Blaine shouted.

Kurt rolled his eyes, but he was grinning.

"Sorry, habit."

"You regret marrying me instead of Sam, don't you? Don't try to deny it. I'm on to you, Anderson."

Blaine stared at him with mock-shocked, wide-eyed innocence. "What? Me? Never!"

"You miss his abs," Kurt said accusingly.

"He does have lovely abs," Blaine admitted. "But I adore your beautiful flat stomach. Can I see it now? Can I look?" He reached for the hem of Kurt's shirt.

Kurt slapped his hand playfully. "Absolutely not."

"Abs-olutely, haha!"

"Oh my god, you are such a dork and I love you."