I started out writing a CrissColfer New Year's Eve one-shot, but I wasn't getting anywhere with it. In the middle of my frustration over that, this came out! :)

Kurt sat at his father's office desk and organized his many papers and envelopes when he heard a light knock on the door. He glanced up and noticed Rachel Berry positioned in the doorway in a short plaid skirt, black elephant sweater, and white socks that reached her knees.

"What are you still doing here?" she groaned.

"I work here. The more appropriate question is what are you doing here?" He continued sorting the paperwork into the proper piles.

"Blaine's car has been acting up. My dads made me bring him here to get it looked at, but that's not the point. I want to know why you're still working. The party starts in two hours! You need to go home!" She reached out and seized his hand, tugging him out of the seat and towards the door.

"I'll have plenty of time," he struggled against her and attempted to finish up what he was doing.

"Go on. Go home and get ready for tonight," Rachel grinned and shoved Kurt along, out into the hallway.

"Ow. Rachel. Shoulder." Kurt reached up and removed her grip, placing her hand at her side. He opened his work locker, grabbed his shoulder bag off of the hook, and pulled on his coat.

"Come on. Don't even begin to pretend like you aren't eager for tonight. Finn and I have planned quite the New Year's Eve party. He managed to hire an affordable DJ and we've got a ton of decorations. It's going to be an exciting night. No alcohol this time, though. Instead, we picked up several bottles of sparkling cider and grape juice for a midnight toast."

"Yes. A party," he repeated. "At my house. I just want the two of you to know that you're responsible for all cleanup and damages that may be done by your boisterous guests." He closed his locker and headed back out into the garage, subtly watching Blaine from a distance. "Look, I'll be ready, ok? Don't worry. Have you ever known me not to arrange an outfit hours in advance? All I have to do is slip it on when I get home. I've been baking up a storm for the past three days. You'll have every cookie, muffin, and cake possible, complete with vegan pie and meat-free appetizers for you. You name it, I've made it. Just relax and have fun. Everything is going to go smoothly."

Rachel took a deep breath. "I know. I'm just apprehensive about the entire thing. Your dad and Carole, they were so nice about giving us the house tonight. I just don't want to do anything to mess this up. The last party I had didn't go too well, if you can recall correctly. Getting so drunk that I nearly forget who my brother is and coming within inches of almost kissing him isn't an experience I'd like to repeat. I don't want this one to get out of hand."

"Well just stay away from spin the bottle, and you should be good." Kurt noticed Rachel wasn't laughing, but seemed genuinely concerned that something terrible could happen at the party. "Listen, my dad wouldn't agree to take Carole out of the house so you could have a party if he didn't trust you and Finn to throw a responsible one. The worst that will happen is someone gets too hot from dancing so much and passes out or throws up because they ate one too many cookies." Kurt looked up to see Blaine finally making his way towards them.

"Blaine, you're a mess! Look at you!" Rachel gave him a disgusted look as she took in his grease-stained shirt, dirty hands, and disheveled hair. "You better not get my car filthy as well!"

"Hey, Kurt," he said, ignoring Rachel completely.

"Hi," Kurt blushed, silently cursing himself for allowing Blaine to have such a huge effect on his easily-reddened face.

"Hi, hi. How are you? Good. That's good. I'm Glad. Blah blah blah." Rachel was used to the awkward small talk that always went on between Kurt and her slightly younger brother, and she certainly didn't have the time to watch another one of their excruciating conversations play out. "Let's go, Blaine. I have to take you home and then get ready for the party tonight."

"How's your car?" Kurt asked, overlooking Rachel's attempts at getting Blaine out of the garage.

"Your dad said he'll have to look at it a bit longer to find the real problem. It may be the transmission. If that's the case, I need to begin looking for a new car. Keep your eye open for me?"

"Blaine," Rachel whined and stomped her foot, "go get in the car. I'll be right there. I just have to go over a few last minute party details with Kurt, and then I'll be out."

"Why wasn't I invited to this party?" he questioned, turning to Rachel and suddenly acknowledging his twin's presence in the room.

"Because you need to find your own friends to hang out with so you'll stop stealing mine!"

"Rachel, come on! We're the same age. You can't expect me to find a completely separate group of friends to hang out with, can you?"

"We are not the same age. I am older. I was born at 11:57, and you were born at 12:03 the next day."

"Technicalities," Blaine waved his hand at her nonsense.

"Rachel," Kurt spoke up, "what can it hurt? Just invite him."

She turned to Kurt, willing him to keep his mouth shut, but gave in. "Fine. But if you cause any trouble or embarrass me at all, you're out of there!"

Blaine's victorious smile crept across his face. "Great. We better go home, sis. Don't wanna be late to the party, do we? I promise I'll only tell a few mildly humiliating stories of your youth."

Rachel groaned. "You better not say anything, or I'll have our dads give me your baby pictures! The ones of you in the bathtub. Naked." Kurt chuckled at the twins' interactions until Rachel turned her focus back to him. "You owe me for this, Kurt."

"Yeah, yeah. Go on. I'll see you in a couple hours." He kissed her cheek before watching them pile into her car and head home. He couldn't shake the feeling that the coming night was going to end up a great deal more fascinating than he'd originally anticipated.

By the time 9:00 rolled around, the party was in full swing. Almost all of the guests had arrived and the food was a hit. The couches and chairs had been pushed to the side of the room to create an adequate amount of space for dancing, and the overhead lights were temporarily substituted with blacklights. If anyone had doubted Rachel Berry's ability to throw a raging party before, they no longer did. Music blared through the speakers as her fellow Glee club members and numerous Warblers from Dalton Academy—the private, all-boys school Blaine had attended for three years prior to his transfer to McKinley—danced out of control and sang at the top of their lungs.

Around 10:15, Kurt decided to back out of the party for a few minutes to allow his ears to recuperate from the heavy pounding of the base, and headed up the stairs towards his room. He approached the door to find it cracked open, insisting to himself that he'd pulled it shut behind him. Kurt entered his room and nearly jumped when he found Blaine standing inside. "Oh my gosh, you scared me," he said, holding his hand over his chest.

"Oh. Sorry." Blaine was embarrassed at being caught sneaking around in Kurt's room. "I was looking for the bathroom, and when I opened this door, I noticed your CD collection. I couldn't help myself. I wasn't trying to be nosy."

"No…it's….it's fine." He made his way farther into the room, making sure to keep a safe distance between himself and Blaine. "That's not all of my CDs, just some of my favorites."

Blaine noticed that each CD was separated by genre and placed in alphabetical order on the shelves. "You still have quite the assortment. I'm jealous. Rachel won't let me borrow any of her CDs. She's exceedingly possessive over her stuff."

Kurt took a seat on the end of his bed. "If you see anything there you'd like, you can borrow it. Her and I have a lot of the same CDs. I'll have to show you the rest of mine sometime."

Blaine turned around and smiled. "That would be great." He glanced at Kurt before looking out the door. "I…I should go find the bathroom now. I'll leave you to whatever you were going to do."

Kurt nodded. "Around the corner and the first door on your right," he offered as Blaine made his way out of the room.

"Thanks." Blaine disappeared around the corner and Kurt fell back on his bed, forgetting why he'd come upstairs in the first place.

"You're awfully quiet tonight, Mr. Hummel." Blaine slid the patio door shut behind him and joined Kurt on the chair outside.

"It's loud in there. This sort of party really isn't my thing." Kurt pulled his arms tight around him to hold the warmth against his body.

"To be honest, it's not my party of preference either, but I couldn't let Rachel get away with not inviting me." He playfully nudged Kurt's shoulder with his own.

"You're so much like Rachel," Kurt pointed out. "She won't take no for an answer either. She always has to be in the middle of everything."

"Please, Kurt. Not you too," he moaned.

"What?"

"I just…" he trailed off.

"What is it Blaine?"

"I understand that I'm Rachel's brother, and it may not be cool to have me around, but I'm just trying to make friends. I've been at McKinley for four months and don't have a single friend. Being an openly gay guy makes it hard enough to find friends, and every time I think I've made one, she pulls them away from me."

"Having your warbler friends here tonight probably helps, doesn't it? Makes you feel more at ease?" Kurt looked up at Blaine.

"Yeah, it does. I miss them a lot. I still can't believe she invited them, but didn't even invite her own brother." He shook his head in disbelief. "I just want one friend. One friend who doesn't wear a blazer, and doesn't attend Dalton."

Kurt rested a hand on Blaine's knee. "You have me. I'll be your friend, Blaine." Kurt noticed Blaine's eyes start to tear up before he turned away, avoiding Kurt's gaze.

"Thanks, but Rachel would kill you for giving me a chance."

"Rachel doesn't have a say in who my friends are. She's my best friend, but she's dating my brother. Why can't I be friends with hers?"

When Blaine noticed Kurt start to shiver, he reached back and unfolded the blanket that was draped across the back of the chair and wrapped it around the two of them. "Better?"

"Yeah, thanks." Kurt could was sitting close enough to Blaine that he could feel the heat radiating off of his body. Their shoulders were pressed together and every time his thigh occasionally bumped into Blaine's, it felt like a bolt of electricity was shot straight through his skin. It wasn't long before they heard everyone inside getting restless and someone yell "two minutes."

"Do you wanna go inside?" Blaine offered.

Kurt shook his head. "No. Not unless you want to."

Blaine's breath was caught inside his lungs. "No. I don't." He reached under the covers and took ahold of Kurt's hand. "Are you still cold?"

"Just my hands."

"Here. Give me your other one."

Kurt did as told and placed his other hand on Blaine's palm. Blaine wrapped his hands around Kurt's and began rubbing them, creating enough friction to warm them up. Kurt's face began to color and he looked away, unable to hide the smile beginning to form on his face. "Hey Kurt?"

"Yeah?" Kurt turned back towards Blaine.

"Can…" he hesitated and briefly looked away from Kurt before continuing. "Can I kiss you at midnight?"

"You're Rachel's brother," Kurt said, wishing the words he'd muttered were far from the truth.

"I don't want to be known as Rachel's brother, Kurt. I want to be my own person. I just want to be known as Blaine."

Kurt nodded and against his better judgment, he whispered, "I want you to kiss me, Blaine."

From somewhere inside the house, they heard everyone begin to countdown. "Ten…Nine…Eight…Seven…Six…Five…Four…Three…Two…One…" Their voices were tuned out as Blaine leaned forward and closed the distance between their lips. It was a gentle kiss, and when he went to pull away, Kurt reached up and lightly placed a hand against his cheek. Blaine leaned in once more, their second kiss being slightly less chaste than the first. When their lips parted once again, a smile took over Kurt's entire face and he rested his forehead against Blaine's.

"Happy New Year, Blaine."

"Happy New Year, Kurt." Blaine pulled away just enough to look Kurt in the eyes. "This year is already starting out incredible. I finally have a friend."

"I don't want to just be your friend, Blaine."

Blaine squeezed the hand he was still holding. "What about Rachel?"

"Rachel? Who's that?" Kurt beamed. "You're just Blaine to me." Blaine leaned in once more and pecked Kurt's lips. "Do you want to go inside? I have something in my room I want to show you."

"Your CD collection?"

"Not this time," Kurt smirked and stood up, holding his hand out for Blaine to take. Blaine grasped it once more and allowed Kurt to lead him inside, unable to contain the smile on his face.

Yes, Blaine thought, This year will be the best one yet.