Kurt was running from store to store, trying to find one last present just five days before Christmas.  All he needed was a pair of black leather gloves to go with the hat and scarf combo he had gotten for Steven.  Aha! There they were! He grabbed them and began to walk away but something stops him.

Blaine loved Christmas.  He loved the magic in the air, the sparkling snowflakes swirling in the New York City wind.  He loved the hustle and bustle of the shoppers in the stores fled with Christmas music.  He was out looking for a gift for his boyfriend, Jonathan.  A little something to add to the pile of presents they would open together on Christmas morning.  Hmmm, those look nice.  He picks up the hand of a pair of black leather gloves in Bloomingdales.  Only the other is held in the hand of a young man.

“Oh, sorry, you take them.” Kurt said with a bit of a sigh.  He really wanted those gloves.

“Oh no, it’s fine.  Go ahead, Merry Christmas!”

Blaine turns to a sales clerk who is weaving her way around the crowd of people. “Miss, do you have any more of these gloves in black?”

“No, just whatever’s out is what we have,” she said distractedly.

“Well I don’t want to take them from you.” Kurt puts them back on the shelf and almost instantly a tiny shrill old woman picks them up. “Hey! Those were ours!”

“You put them down, now they’re mine!” She begins to walk away.

“No, ma’am, you don’t understand, I need those.” Blaine said.

“For who?” She looks up at him, still slightly hunched over with a cane at his side.

“My boyfriend, his boyfriend, I…” Blaine and Kurt say in unison.

Kurt puts his arm around Blaine.  “I was going to get them for him, but he insisted on buying them for me.”  Blaine puts his hand on Kurt’s chest.

“Oh alright, Merry Christmas.”  She slaps the gloves in Kurt’s hand.  She turns around and walks away to look at a display of scarves.  Kurt steps away from Blaine. 

“Well, now I insist you take them.  After that marvelous display.”  Blaine gives a smirk.

“Fine, but I’m making it up to you.  Do you like frozen hot chocolate?” 

“Of course!”

“Okay, let me pay for these and then I’ll take you to Serendipity.  Have you been?”

“No, but I’m up for it!”

_____________________________________________________________________

“So, you’re a procrastinating Christmas shopper, too? I’m so bad with presents, I just want them to be perfect.”  Kurt said in between sips of his blended drink.

“No, actually I’ve been pretty much all set for a few weeks now.  I just really love Christmas time in New York.  It kind of crazy; everyone tries to avoid the crowds like the plague, but I love it.  People running around, standing in lines, walking around the freezing cold streets, just so the people they love can be happy on Christmas morning.  It’s really beautiful.”

“Wow, that’s so poetic. I’ve never thought of it like that. Hmm…so you didn’t really need the gloves?”  Kurt smirks.

“Well, not the gloves specifically, but I really do need to get something else for my boyfriend.  But I’ll find something.  Still got three more shopping days!”

“So this mysterious boyfriend, does he know you’re out gallivanting over frozen hot chocolate with a complete stranger?”

“I never did get your name, did I…Well than I guess it’s still all innocent.”  Blaine licks the excess whipped cream off of his straw.  Kurt giggles.

“You did not get my name. But then again, I don’t know yours either…” Now Kurt licks his straw.  The check comes.  “Oh I’ve got it.  Not every day a stranger will give up something in a department store a week before Christmas.”

“Well I’m not going to say no to that.”  They leave their table and head downstairs to the exit. 

“Well it was very nice to meet you…” Kurt pauses, waiting for the other boy to fill in his name.

“Nope, no names.  If we meet again, it’s meant to be.  Serendipity.”

“Like the restaurant?”

“Like the restaurant.  A fortunate accident.”

“Okay, but what if this was serendipitous.  Us meeting, grabbing the same gloves.”  Kurt waves his arms around.  He doesn’t know what’s overcoming him.  He has a boyfriend to go home to and give leather gloves to and maybe even one day marry.  But here was this mysterious, care-free, wonderful man standing in front of him and already he can feel himself giving into his charm.  “Me crushing on someone who’s got a boyfriend…”

Blaine gives Kurt a look.

“…I mean…I’m just saying.  I had really great time.  And you know, relationships fall apart every day.  What if, like you say, it’s meant to be, and we’re both single some day in the future and we can’t find each other again?  Wouldn’t that be a waste?”

“If it’s meant to be, it will be.”

Kurt sighs.  “Alright.  Alright.  Well it was very nice to meet you.”

“You, too.”  They walk off in different directions. 

Blaine shivers and realized he left his scarf at the table.  He turns around and heads back toward the restaurant.  To the hostess, he says “Did you see a scarf upstairs? Gray, red stripes?”  She shakes her head. “Can I check?”  She says yes and gestures toward the stairs.  As Blaine reaches the top step, he sees the boy turned around at the table, holding both his Bloomingdale’s bag and Blaine’s red and gray striped scarf.  He turns around and sees Blaine standing there.  It shocks him a bit, he shakes his head and says, “So, you up for some ice skating?”

“Definitely,” Kurt says with a smile.

They walk down the stairs and leave the restaurant for the second time.

“God, it’s been forever since I’ve ice skated.  I think my mom took me on my seventh birthday.  Yeah, that’s it, so forgive me if I make a fool out of myself.”  Kurt said as they rounded the corner to Bryant Park.

“As long as you promise to not get jealous of my mad skills on the ice.”  Blaine skips ahead toward the skate rental booth.

“Are you sure you weren’t one of Santa’s elves in a past life?” Kurt said with a giggle.

“Is that a short joke?”

“Your words.”  Blaine shoves Kurt playfully.

They put on their skates and walk onto the rink.  Let it Snow is playing over the loud speaker.  “Isn’t this just magical?”  Blaine turns around to see Kurt hugging the wall for dear life.  “Wow, you really weren’t kidding.  C’mere.  Take my hand, I’ll go slowly.”

Kurt hesitantly takes Blaine’s hand and they, slowly but surely, begin to make their way around the rink. 

“So, I clearly, love Christmas time, what’s your favorite part about New York?”

“…well Christmas sure is climbing the charts right now.”  Blaine turns away bashfully and let’s go of Kurt’s hand, sending him quickly on his butt.  Kurt giggles and tries to get to his feet.

“Ah, I’m sorry.”  He helps Kurt to his feet, who is now spreading his arms out to balance and beginning to skate again.  “Look, Kurt, you’re a natural!”  Blaine says slightly mockingly.

They skate around peacefully as the number of couples and children on the ice dwindle down.  A light, powdery snow has begun to fall overhead.  The song switches to Michael Bublé singing White Christmas.  The rink had all but emptied as the boys continued to glide around.  Blaine begins to sing alone with the “bum bum bum ba dums” and starts the verse.  He’s gotten Kurt’s attention away from the ice which he focused on intently and onto the beautiful sounds coming from his mouth.  Kurt joins in with harmonies in the second verse.  By the end of the song they are belting it out and spinning circles around each other, ending very close together.  Blaine grins at Kurt and sideskates and back toward the skate rental booth as the music stops and eventually cuts out completely.

“I guess that’s them telling us something.”  Kurt says as he reaches the bench where Blaine is fastening his boots.

“I guess you’re right.  You’ve got quite a voice on you.  Are you a singer?”

“I am.  I sang in high school and now I’m in school for Musical Theater and Costume Design.”

“That’s quite a course load.”  Blaine says, tying up his left boot and looking up at Kurt.

“Yeah, but I love it.  So what about you, what are you doing in New York? Or is that another no-no on the rules of serendipity?”

“No, it’s not.”  He laughs a little nervously.  “But honestly, I’m still figuring out what I’m doing here.  A little bit of everything I guess.  I mean I’m working, but not in anything I can see myself doing forever.”

“Well New York is a great place for figuring stuff out.”

“Sure is.”  They walk out together back toward the road.

“So, you promised before you’d tell me your name…so?”

“I can’t.  This was too special.  Too magical.  If we give names.  It makes it real, and not so innocent and sweet.  Can’t we just leave it at what it is?”

“I just don’t want to spend forever wondering if leaving Santa’s Helper on Ice with the voice of an angel was the biggest mistake of my life.”

“Well, when you put it that way…”  Blaine is about to say something, but then a spark lights in his eye.  “Hey, give me a dollar.”

“Wha…what for?”  Kurt says, caught off guard.

“Just do it.”  He takes the dollar from Kurt, scribbles something on it, then walks over to the kiosk at the corner of the block and comes back with a pack of gum.

“What was that?  I want my dollar back!”

“I wrote my name and number on that dollar, so now, if it ends back in your hands, we’ll know the hands of destiny are with us, and you can call me.  Sound good?”  Blaine says with a smile that could cure cancer.

“Sounds crazy.”  Kurt says shaking his head.

“Okay now my number’s out in the world, we have to send something of yours out.”

“How about one of your dollars?”

“No, something different.”  Kurt’s sarcasm went over Blaine’s head as he contemplated.   Blaine pulls out a copy of The Catcher in the Rye.  “Oh I’ve got it! Okay I was planning on donating this book tomorrow, but now you can do it!”

“Huh?”

“You write your name and number in it and bring it to any used book store in the morning.  Then, sometime in the future, this Friday, next month, next year, ten years from now, I’ll go in a book shop, see a copy of The Catcher in the Rye, and remember the magical night I had with a guy who stole my gloves.   And, if the fates are with us, I’ll see your number, and be able to call you!”

“That’s crazy, I could just give you my number now, and you won’t have to wait ten year to call me.  You could call me tomorrow.”

“I can’t, you have a boyfriend.  I have a boyfriend.  If things are different later, destiny will decide for us.”

“You’re crazy, have I mentioned that?”

“You have.  Now do it…”  Blaine is searching for Kurt’s name.

“…Kurt.” 

“Kurt, I’m Blaine.  Merry Christmas, Kurt.”  Blaine walks away and catches a cab, leaving Kurt standing there with the beaten up copy of Catcher in the Rye and a quizzical look on his face.