Things had sort of been passing in a blur after Brittany's party. He couldn't get what she said out of his head. Blaine had a crush on him, Blaine wanted to kiss him.

Oh, how he wanted that to be true.

But he still didn't know for sure, so he was going to have to find out for himself.

He couldn't just come out and ask Blaine if he liked him or not, because... well, people just didn't do that. Besides, with Blaine, he'd probably be totally innocent and write something like "Yes, Kurt! Of course I like you, you're an amazing friend!" and just not understand the question at all.

He decided to put it off until after Thanksgiving, Blaine was too confused and distracted by the holiday for him to get any straight answers anyway.

He didn't seem to understand holidays much at all, although this particular holiday, he was too distracted by the many delicious foods to care that it made no sense, so he didn't ask as many questions as he did about Halloween.

When everyone went around the table and said what they were thankful for, and Blaine just smiled and pointed to Kurt, it only made things even harder.

Why did Blaine have to be so cute?

Why did Blaine have to be so sweet?

Why did Blaine have to be so perfect?

Why did Blaine have to make this so hard by being so wonderful?

He was everything Kurt ever wanted in a guy.

Unfortunately, Kurt couldn't go through with his plan to find out if Blaine liked him when Thanksgiving ended like he said he would, because the minute the holiday was over, everything was about preparing for Sectionals.

He sort of wondered what Blaine was going to think when they actually had to perform. Did Blaine realize that this was going to be for an audience of people? That they would all be watching and judging? That there was something to win?

Did he know what winning would mean to the glee club?

He was pretty sure that Blaine didn't totally understand what Sectionals was.

Blaine seemed to sense that it was something important, because he was practicing like mad, working really hard to make sure he could mouth every word to every song, making sure he knew every dance move there was to know.

Kurt sort of hoped Blaine didn't totally understand Sectionals. He was working hard, but he was having fun. He wanted Blaine to have fun. He didn't want to tell him how important this was, what it meant if they lost, because he didn't want to make Blaine nervous. He just wanted Blaine to enjoy himself.

Blaine had never gotten to dance before, he just wanted him to enjoy the experience not spend the night a nervous wreck wondering if they'd win or lose.

Even if they did lose, Kurt would be happy knowing that Blaine had the time of his life.

As they stood backstage, Kurt was starting to feel a little nervous, but Blaine looked more excited than ever.

"You nervous?" he couldn't help but ask. He figured that was a safe question. Blaine had to know by now that they were performing for a live audience, he had to have seen them... maybe he just assumed that they were performing for people and that was it, he was pretty sure he hadn't put together that it was a competition, that it involved winning and losing... at least, not yet.

Blaine shook his head, a smile on his face before he tilted his head and gave Kurt a curious look.

"No... well, yeah, I'm a little nervous... but I'll be okay." He said with a smile.

Blaine smiled back before giving Kurt a hug. Blaine didn't need to write on a pad of paper for Kurt to know what he was trying to say.

"Thanks, you're going to do an amazing job out there, too..."

...............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Kurt was right. Blaine had no idea that Sectionals was a competition.

Because when they won, and everyone freaked out, Blaine had no idea why everyone was so happy.

He smiled as he watched the glee club jump up and down, hug each other, he even smiled and hugged back when Mike and Tina hugged him.

He was happy to see everyone else happy, but it was more than obvious by the look on his face that he didn't know what the heck was going on.

"We won! We won, Blaine, isn't that exciting?" Tina had shouted as she hugged him.

Blaine gave Kurt a bit of a confused look, hoping that he could explain what was going on.

"We won! You know what winning is... right, Blaine?"

Blaine titled his head a bit.

"You don't have competition's where you come from?"

Blaine shook his head.

"Well, a competition is where different people do something against one another, and whoever does it better, wins."

Blaine raised his eyebrows.

"Winning is good, you want to win. Losing is when you... don't win. You don't want to lose." He obviously wasn't explaining this very well, he was even confusing himself. But this was never something he ever had to explain to anyone before, he wasn't sure what to say.

"Sectionals is a singing competition, and we won, which is good because this means we get to sing and dance again at Regionals."

Blaine smiled. He seemed to understand that.

Winning when you performed meant you got to perform again.

He could see why that made everyone so happy.

...............................................................................................................................................................................................................

After their win at Sectionals, it became even more difficult to start trying to find out if Blaine liked him or not, because everyone started getting ready for the next holiday on the list, Christmas... and Hanukah, as Rachel liked to remind... well, everyone.

Yet another holiday to confuse Blaine.

The concept of Santa seemed to be the most confusing to him. He couldn't seem to figure out why they saw a guy in a red suit with a beard everywhere they went.

Brittany finally pulled him aside while the glee club decorated their Christmas tree to explain Santa to him... then Finn explained all the decorations, Mercedes explained the presents, and Rachel explained the meaning of Hanukah.

After everything was explained to him, he was actually really starting to enjoy this time of year. Everything looked so pretty, everyone seemed so happy, and there was always something new to watch on TV thanks to all the Christmas specials.

All the snow had sort of freaked him out at first, but when he realized that everyone else seemed to enjoy it, he started enjoying it too.

Maybe a little too much.

Because every time Kurt went outside, he somehow managed to get hit in the back of the head with a snowball.

He never had to wonder where it came from.

"Blaine! I know you did not just get snow on my new outfit!" He shouted, trying to hold back a laugh as he spotted Blaine hiding behind the car in the driveway, laughing his head off, or at least he would be if he could manage making any sound.

"Okay, that is it, I've been nice, I let you throw snowballs at me every day since the holiday season started... but you've taken it too far! Prepare to get your butt kicked!" He said laughing, grabbing a handful of snow and throwing it at Blaine, hitting him right in the face.

"Don't mess with me, Anderson, I am like a ninja." he said with a proud smile on his face.

Blaine was a bit surprised but then smiled and grabbed more snow, throwing it at Kurt.

Kurt had to admit, he was loving this.

He felt like a kid again.

It was so nice to see Blaine experience all these things for the first time.

It was so nice to see Blaine happy.

Which reminded him that he couldn't possibly focus all his time and energy on finding out whether or not Blaine liked him.

He had to focus all his time and energy on figuring out what it was he needed to do to keep Blaine human, to keep Blaine here with him.

Because if he let himself get too distracted... this time next year, Blaine would be gone.

He didn't want this to be Blaine's last Christmas.

He didn't want this to be his last Christmas with Blaine.

He didn't want to be without Blaine, period.

He loved him too much.

He had obviously started giving this too much thought, because he was so distracted he didn't even see it coming when Blaine suddenly tackled him to the ground, knocking him into a pile of snow.

"Blaine! That is not how a snowball fight works!" He said laughing, trying to push Blaine off of him.

But before he could, Blaine grabbed a handful of snow and dropped it all over Kurt.

"Oh, you are in for it now, mister." Kurt said, flipping them over so that he was the one pinning Blaine down, throwing crazy amounts of snow on top of him before tickling his sides. "That's for getting snow all over my brand new Marc Jacobs scarf!" he said, trying to fight back a smile but failing miserably.

He finally stopped, about to get up but that was when he realized how close their faces were. He was literally right on top of Blaine... if Blaine leaned up even the tiniest bit their lips would be touching.

It was so tempting to just lean down and kiss him right then and there...

But before he could move, he heard the front door swing open and he quickly rolled off of Blaine, sitting next to him in the snow.

"What are you two doing out here?" Finn asked.

"Nothing." Kurt said quickly.

"Well, come inside, dinners ready and mom won't let me eat until everyone's at the table."

"Alright, we'll be right there." Kurt said as Finn shut the door. He could feel his face getting hot, and he noticed Blaine's was pretty red too.

"We should go inside..." He said finally standing himself up before reaching his hand out for Blaine to take so he could help him stand.

Blaine bit his lip and nodded before heading inside, Kurt sighing and looking down at his feet.

So close.

They were so close to kissing one another.

Blaine's lips had been right there.

And just like that, he was gone.

But maybe it was for the best, Finn interrupting them.

He was right before... he couldn't focus on whether or not Blaine liked him. He had to focus on doing whatever it took to keep Blaine here... to keep him human.

But then another thought came to him... something else he was going to have to focus on for a while.

What on Earth was Kurt going to get Blaine for Christmas?

...............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Neither Kurt or Blaine mentioned what almost happened during their snowball fight, and not just because Blaine couldn't talk. Kurt wasn't sure what Blaine thought about it, and he was afraid bringing it up might just result in making Blaine feel awkward and uncomfortable.

He figured the best thing to do would be to see if Blaine ever mentioned it again, if he ever wrote something about it on his little pad of paper that he used to communicate, and if he didn't, Kurt wouldn't bring it up.

So far, he didn't.

Kurt just hoped that Blaine would like what he got him for Christmas.

Or more specifically, what he made him for Christmas.

Since Blaine was from the ocean, he figured it might be nice to make him something using sea shells, so he decorated a small blue box with shells and things, figuring Blaine could keep things inside of it, maybe it would remind him of home, in a good way.

He knew Blaine obviously didn't want to go back to the ocean, he wouldn't be here if he did, but he probably still had happy memories from there that he'd like to keep close to his heart, and this seemed like the perfect present for exactly that.

He didn't really expect Blaine to get him anything, but he still felt like even if he got nothing in return, he really should give Blaine a present.

So when Christmas morning rolled around, he was absolutely shocked when Blaine smiled at him and handed him a small box wrapped perfectly in red wrapping paper with a little green bow on top.

"Blaine, you didn't have to get me anything..." Kurt said with a smile, Blaine simply shrugged innocently and watched carefully, obviously not wanting to miss Kurt's reaction to the present.

Kurt smiled when he opened the tiny box.

"A ring... made out of... gum wrappers?" Blaine smiled and nodded, a hopeful look on his face as he waited to see if Kurt liked it.

Kurt smiled. "I love it. It's perfect." he said with a smile as he handed Blaine his gift.

"Your turn." he said happily as he waited for Blaine to open his gift.

Blaine carefully unwrapped the present, smiling down at it before looking it over.

"I made it myself, those are sea shells I found and collected while I was on that trip where we first met." Kurt pointed out. Blaine smiled more and made a heart with his hands.

"I'm glad you like it."