'Sebastian,' Kurt warned, glaring down at the cat. Sebastian returned the glare briefly before advancing again towards the chair, where Blaine was perched on the armrest and reading opposite the sofa that Kurt was seated on.

'Stupid cat,' Kurt muttered, standing up with the intention of pulling Sebastian away before he reached Blaine, but the cat was too quick for him. He was a little worried to see Blaine slide down to the middle of the chair and shuffle closer to the edge. Kurt worried his bottom lip between his teeth and watched as Blaine bent over to Sebastian and whispered something in the cat's ear. The cat stood still with his ears pricked up and it almost looked to Kurt like he was listening. Sebastian stalked away, turning when Blaine was out of his sight to hiss at Kurt and disappear into the kitchen.

'What was that all about?' Kurt asked Blaine as he helped him up to the armrest and his abandoned book.

'I told him I will pet him tonight if he leaves me alone for the rest of the day, and he agreed,' Blaine replied. His expression turned solemn. 'Also, he doesn't like it when you call him stupid. He's a very clever cat.'

Kurt didn't know how to respond to this, so he returned to reading his own book in silence.

The second was when he was sorting out his wardrobe while Blaine watched him from the terrace of the dollhouse, having his afternoon coffee and biscotti. Kurt turned away for a few seconds to pull out a thick grey coat, and when he turned back around again, Blaine had vanished. His eyes caught him sitting up on the alarm clock, nibbling the same square cookie in his hand.

'Blaine…' Kurt began, staring at him in bewilderment. 'How did you get up there so quickly?'

Blaine froze mid-chew as his eyes grew comically wide. He looked around himself before staring up at Kurt.

'I don't know,' he responded slowly, his expression incredulous.

Blaine had been a constant source of comfort and at times entertainment for Kurt. Sometimes Kurt wondered if Blaine chirpy attitude had been an act to pull him out of his glum moods and to help cheer him up. But he quickly learned that Blaine was just a cheerful person. His energy and enthusiasm were infectious, and Kurt couldn't help himself from smiling a little when Blaine laughed at something he found amusing.

While he enjoyed their long conversations over decaf coffee and reading together in silence or singing a duet when Blaine declared the time for it, Kurt's favorite part of being around Blaine was watching him sleep. When his thoughts began chipping away all hopes of a peaceful night's rest, Kurt would sit by the dollhouse in the dark and observe Blaine some distance away through one of the little brown windows. Blaine slept with a small frown on his face, his body tucked snug under the comforter and blankets of his bed as his tiny chest rose and fell with each intake of breath. Kurt always fell asleep in his own bed soon afterwards.

Kurt began to wonder about the other people in Blaine's life that had supported and cared for him. He could feel the admiration in the common room at Dalton when he had returned Blaine to his peers. Blaine loved everybody; there was no doubt about that. But he wondered if there was room in Blaine's big heart for another kind of love. Kurt didn't want to name the feeling of his own heart beating faster when he felt Blaine's amber eyes on him, or when his small hand brushed against his palm, or when he smiled so bright that Kurt thought the sun was shining outside. It was selfish, but he longed to keep the smaller boy beside him and never let him go.

We're friends, Kurt told himself. Then why did that make him feel so disappointed?

It was already mid-December when Kurt had started to set up the Christmas tree. Blaine thought this was a little late, considering Dalton had their decorations and trees up before the end of November, until Kurt told him the reason for the date.

'It was my Mom's birthday on the fifteenth,' Kurt said, straightening out one of the branches as Blaine looked on. 'So we always set the tree up for her on her birthday.'

'That's a nice tradition to have,' Blaine added thoughtfully.

'It's something I insist on,' Kurt replied, as Finn wandered in to the living room.

'Hey, you need any help?' Finn asked, placing his hands on his waist and eyeing the box of decorations in Kurt's hands.

'Sure, help me with these,' Kurt said, and Blaine watched as the two boys worked around each other, placing ornaments and baubles on the edge of each branch. He did really want to help but there was nothing much he could do, considering how large and heavy the ornaments looked. No two ornaments were the same and ranged from wooden toy soldiers to little reindeer.

'They're all different,' he noted. He meant it more of an observation than a criticism.

'They don't really match, do they?' Kurt replied, placing another bauble on the tree. 'I purchase a new one each year and I try to buy one that represents something special from the year to remember it by. Like this one,' he said, pointing to a white plastic birthday cake hanging on one branch. 'That was the year I turned ten. And this one,' he continued, tapping a rocking horse. 'I rode on a horse for the first time at a summer fair.'

'And what do you have for this year?' Blaine asked.

Kurt hesitated a little. 'I was going to, um, put it up a bit later but…' He reached in to the pocket of his jumper and pulled out a small paper bag. He pulled the ornament out carefully and moved closer to Blaine. It was purple butterfly shape, with silver glitter laced around the edges. It looked rather delicate as the purple areas were made of glass.

'They look like wings,' Blaine remarked, looking at it curiously.

'They're, um, fairy wings,' Kurt added, circling the purple glass with the tip of his finger. 'For…uh…you. You know, not that you have wings or anything but I thought it would be nice…to have you represented on the tree because…' Kurt's voice trailed off and he looked down at the fairy wings with sudden interest. Blaine didn't need to hear the rest because he already knew what Kurt was trying to say.

I think you're something special.

'That's…that's lovely, Kurt,' Blaine said, feeling genuinely touched by the gesture. 'Thank-you.'

'It's no problem,' Kurt quickly replied, a faint blush rising to his cheeks. Blaine had noticed Kurt had been doing quite a lot of blushing lately. He thought it might have something to do with the heating in the house. Either way, he found it quite endearing.

'You mind if I ask you something?' Finn had just finished placing the star up on the top of the tree and was now holding out his palm to Blaine. 'Just a small favor?'

'Sure,' Blaine replied, glancing over at Kurt, who had turned away to place the fairy wings ornament on the tree. He stepped up on to Finn's palm and sat down. Finn walked them over to the tree and gazed up at where he had just placed the star.

'Do you think…' he began, and Blaine squeaked as Finn lifted him up high in the air, his palm now raised well past his head. '…that this star looks straight to you?'

'Finn!' Blaine heard Kurt call from below. 'Put him down!'

'Y-yeah,' Blaine stammered before he felt himself being lowered to Finn's chest. 'It looks straight.' He was facing Kurt, who seemed even more pale than normal and whose eyes looked fraught with worry.

'Sorry, dude,' Finn said to him. 'I wasn't thinking when I did that.'

'It's all right,' Blaine replied. He gave Kurt a smile of reassurance. 'That was kind of fun, actually.'

…

Christmas day came early. Blaine woke to the sound of Kurt pulling back the covers of his bed and shrugging on his dressing gown. Blaine yawned and slipped out of his own bed, wandering sleepily over to the terrace to see what Kurt was up to. It couldn't have been any time later than six-thirty, he reasoned. Kurt turned his head towards the dollhouse and Blaine saw a look of guilt cross his features.

'Oh, I didn't mean to wake you,' Kurt whispered, walking closer to the house and kneeling down in front of Blaine. 'Merry Christmas, I guess.'

'Merry Christmas, Kurt,' Blaine replied, no longer feeling sleepy now that he had seen something curious flash through Kurt's eyes. 'Are you planning on going downstairs to the Christmas tree?'

'Yes,' Kurt replied, and confirmed to Blaine that it was excitement that he had seen in Kurt's eyes before. 'Would you like to join me?'

They crept downstairs and into the living room to find Finn sitting on the floor by the tree, inspecting a square candy-cane patterned present. Burt and Carole were presumably still asleep.

'You guys have to tell me what you've got,' Finn said, squinting at the box in his hands. 'Seriously, I've been waiting for the past half-hour and I'm dying to know.'

'We'll have to find out then, won't we?' Kurt replied, quickly snatching up the box from Finn's hands as he sat down the floor. He placed the box between them and Blaine climbed down to sit on Kurt's knee, seeing for the first time a paper tag on the present that read For Blaine & Kurt.

'You do the honors,' he told Kurt, and he rubbed his palms together as Kurt carefully unwrapped the present. Finn urged him to go quicker, his eyes shining with just as much excitement. When the gift was finally unwrapped, Kurt and Finn stared at it in astonishment. It took Blaine a little longer to work out the big picture on the box, but when he did, he made an elated leap off Kurt's knee. It was a brand new iPhone with a post-it note attached to the side of the box.

'Cool!' Finn whispered as Kurt read the note.

'If we can't have face-to-face time, who says we can't still Facetime?' Blaine chuckled and muttered dorks under his breath. 'Merry Christmas! Warblers. Well…' Kurt continued, eyes flicking back to the box. 'That's…very generous.'

'I bet it was Trent's idea,' Blaine said, making a mental note to call and thank him later. 'There's a small one for you somewhere, Kurt.'

'For me?' Blaine made his way past the new phone towards the edge of the Christmas tree. It felt like he was entering a pine forest of colored lights but he quickly located the parcel covered in red tissue paper. He nudged it towards Kurt.

'Carole helped me a bit with attaching the back to it, so…' Blaine said, watching with his hands clasped behind his back as Kurt removed the paper and uncovered the small velvet box that was big enough to hold a piece of jewelry. 'I hope you like it.'

Blaine held his breath as Kurt opened the box. He was a little worried by Kurt's silence as he stared at the item that the box held, so he decided to continue talking. 'It's a brooch made out of Juicy Fruit wrappers. I know how you have a brooch collection like I have my bowtie collection, and I know you like Juicy Fruit, so I put the two together.'

'It's perfect,' Kurt whispered, and the smile that shone on Kurt's face as he touched the brooch reverently was better than any phone or Christmas present that Blaine could have received.