'We all chipped in a little,' Trent replied, after Blaine had wished him a merry Christmas and thanked him profusely for the gift. 'So, how has the day been?'

'Very nice so far,' Blaine answered. He was sitting in front of the phone with his hands in his lap. 'Kurt and his family gave me a cardigan, which I'm now wearing.' He pointed to the hand-knitted navy cardigan which was emblazoned with a red letter "B".

'Classy.'

'I thought so too. And I received the usual from Dalton.' Blaine held up a small leather-bound planner, a gift every Dalton student received before the new year. 'Notice anything different?'

Trent squinted at it through the phone. 'I got mine two days ago, but no. Nothing out of the ordinary.'

'Page four,' Blaine replied, flipping to the page and holding the planner up to the screen. Trent laughed when he saw it.

'Oh, that lucky bird,' Trent chortled, slapping the palms of his hands together. 'Pavarotti gets a full-page spread, and we don't?'

Blaine chuckled. 'If anyone deserves to be called a Warbler, it's him.' He put the planner down beside him. 'How is he?'

'Fine. The new kid's been treating him well, feeding him daily and giving him fresh air every day.' Trent leaned in closer to the screen. 'Now, I want you to tell me about what it has been like living with Kurt and his family. Don't hold back - I want to know everything.'

'And what do I get in return?' Blaine asked teasingly.

'You'll find out how we discovered that Wesley is afraid of the dark.'

'Okay.'

Blaine told him about the events of the past month, moving into the dollhouse and dealing with the family's cat. He spoke about having Christmas lunch with only Kurt, Finn, Carole and Burt. They had decided to spend Christmas day together without any relatives. Blaine was assured by Burt and Carole that they wanted to include him in the celebrations and that they had had wanted to spend their first Christmas without the nosy old in-laws for once. He learnt from Trent that the Warblers uncovered Wes's fear of the dark when it suddenly became pitch black backstage before their performance at Sectionals. Blaine was trying not to cry with laughter at the image of Wes clutching David's arm in fear as he walked onstage.

'So does that mean you'll be back after New Year?' Trent asked hopefully.

Blaine frowned. 'I'm not sure if Kurt is ready to go back yet. And honestly? Besides seeing you and the Warblers, I'm really not sure if I'm ready to go back, either.'

'It's a good thing you're doing for Kurt, my dear friend,' Trent said, smiling brightly. 'So take your time. That does mean we will be pestering you with video calls when the need arises.'

'That's oka-' Blaine began, but he stopped himself and crossed his arms. 'Trent, surely you don't mean…'

'One-am wake up calls? Oh yes,' Trent replied, and he was laughing now. 'You're not getting out of those.'

'Oh no…' Blaine whined, buying his face in his hands. Spontaneous parties occurring after midnight could strike in the Dalton dormitories at any time, and his dorm room had certainly not been immune in the past to a number of uninvited and overly-excited guests. 'Trent…'

'Hey, you guys are invited,' Trent said firmly, jabbing a finger in his direction. 'Whether you value your sleep or not!'

It was a few days later that Blaine walked into Kurt's room after being dropped off at the top of the stairs by Carole. They had shared afternoon tea and a few laughs over the other three men in the house (and Sebastian, though Carole seemed just as fond to talk about him as she did of her husband, son and stepson). He spotted Kurt lounging on his bed with a copy of Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales settled on his chest. Kurt was reading intently, but he must have sensed Blaine's presence because he moved his hand to cover the title on the front of the book.

'Hi Blaine,' Kurt said, eyes flicking to him cautiously over the pages of the book.

'Hi, Kurt,' Blaine replied. He tilted his head to look at the book in Kurt's hands, then to the other books stacked high on Kurt's beside table. They ranged from a well-thumbed through children's novel to a volume of fables.

'Would you like to sit up here?' Kurt asked him, noticing that Blaine hadn't moved.

'No thank-you, I'm fine where I am,' Blaine replied. After a minute, Blaine noticed Kurt's face had slowly turned pink, and he peeked almost shyly from behind his book to look down at Blaine, who was still staring at the book in his hands.

'Um…I, uh…' Kurt began, not knowing what to say. His cheeks flushed even more. 'You're…you're still standing there.'

'Yeah,' Blaine said carefully, stepping forward. 'Why are you reading fairytales?'

'For…um…homework,' Kurt replied, not meeting his eyes. It was a feeble excuse and Blaine knew it.

'I didn't realize it was part of the recommended reading.'

Kurt eyed him warily for a moment and slowly put the book down. 'I…' he began again, then sighed and sat up to face Blaine. 'I wanted to see if there was anything in them about fairy curses.' His eyes flickered away from Blaine quickly, as if afraid to find him angry.

But Blaine didn't feel anything of the sort. He sighed and sat down on the carpet. 'We've looked,' he said. 'Mrs Frederick and I. Fairytales, encyclopedias, the Internet.' He shook his head. 'But there isn't much information on fairies' curses because they are practically unheard of, let alone anything that could break the curse. Believe me, we've tried everything. But after a while, we realized we were getting nowhere so we kind of just gave up on it.'

'But what if you tried again?' Kurt prompted. He looked at Blaine with a resolve in his eyes that Blaine had never seen before. 'Like a different approach. I can research, you won't have to do anything…'

'Kurt, I doubt that there's much we can find.'

Kurt looked down at his comforter and began to pick at a loose thread. 'I just want to do something for you, that's all.'

Blaine suddenly felt a little guilty. He had spent the past month in Kurt's company, trying to keep him in good spirits without allowing Kurt to do the same to him. Sure, he was helping Kurt. But couldn't he let Kurt help him? Would it help to take away a little of Kurt's misery by giving him the opportunity to give hope to someone else?

'Okay,' Blaine said, as Kurt looked up. 'But I'm helping you. We can start the research after New Year's, if that's okay.'

'Sure,' Kurt replied. He looked down at his book. 'Do you mind if I, um, continue reading?'

'Not at all,' Blaine said. 'Do you mind if I read along with you?'

Kurt smiled a little at that. 'Not at all,' he replied, carefully picking up Blaine and scooting back against the pillows. Blaine was placed down on the comforter as Kurt picked up another book from his bedside table and flicked through it. 'I was thinking about reading The Ugly Duckling again. It was one of my favorites when I was little.'

'Mine too,' Blaine replied, staring at the black and white illustrations underneath the title. He looked up at Kurt, who had slid down to lie on his back. 'Can I sit up there?' he asked, motioning to Kurt's chest.

'Oh…sure,' Kurt said, and then Blaine felt strong fingers around his waist as he was picked up and placed on a soft acrylic sweater. Blaine was comfortable here; Kurt was warm and the light rise and fall of his chest felt very soothing underneath him. Kurt propped the book up over his stomach.

'Can you read it aloud?' Blaine asked, resting his hands on Kurt's sweater.

As Kurt began to read, Blaine thoughts drifted to finding a cure that would once and for all reverse his mother's curse and make him the size he used to be. All he had to rely on was hope. And by hope, he meant Kurt.