Chapter 34

December 25, 2012

When Kurt came to consciousness that morning he couldn't normally breathe. He tried to inhale deeply but it was easier said than done. The boy was about to freak out over his health when something tickled his nose. He finally opened his eyes slightly and was met with the sight of black curls draped all over his chest.

Kurt checked the time on his phone and decided to wake up the boy. He gently ran his fingers through his hair whispering, "Wakey wakey, rise and shine."

It took some time but soon Blaine was rubbing his face onto his chest, still not fully awake. Kurt laughed at that and the other boy raised his head, startled by the shaky surface.

"Merry Christmas, Blaine," Kurt smiled at him and Blaine returned a smile.

"Merry Christmas," he echoed. "I'm so sorry I fell asleep on you, I don't normally do that."

"It's okay," Kurt said and stretched his body once Blaine lifted off of him. Only then he switched on the light. "We can't help but cuddle when we are asleep."

"You must be hurting now," the slave boy looked at him apologetically and for the first time Kurt noticed a cute blush on Blaine's face.

"My muscles are a bit stiff but it should go away soon," Kurt responded and got out of the bed. "I'll go use the bathroom real quick."

Just like any other morning they got ready for the day, getting into warm comfy clothes. Nothing was different until Kurt reminded Blaine that it was.

"Let's go downstairs, presents are waiting to be unwrapped," he said joyfully, suddenly very excited.

Blaine looked at him and from his posture Kurt could see he was uncomfortable about the matter.

"What's wrong?"

"Um, well, I didn't... get anything for you... or your dad," he said with a blush.

Kurt hadn't even thought about it. Of course Blaine would think about getting something for them and of course he couldn't since he was always locked up in the house. Trust this sweetest boy to be so considerate.

Fortunately, Hummels had another tradition that Kurt loved a lot. "What do you mean you didn't get us anything? It's Santa, who brings presents, silly."

"What– Kurt, you don't need to do this..."

"Do what? What are you talking about?" he insisted. "I don't know how about you but I was a good boy this year and I'm expecting some presents from Santa. And I'm sure you were good too so what's the problem?"

"I'm not five, Kurt."

"And neither am I," the teenager shrugged and grabbed Blaine's hand. "Let's go before my dad opens all the presents."

Blaine let Kurt pull him down the stairs and they entered the living room together where they found Burt sitting by the tree.

"I thought you would never come here," the man said and stood up. "Merry Christmas, Kurt."

"Merry Christmas, dad," Kurt said and let the man hug him.

"Merry Christmas, buddy," Burt said to Blaine wrapped his arms around the boy, who surprisingly returned the gesture.

"Merry Christmas, Burt," he said with a shy smile when he was released from the embrace.

"So," Burt clapped his hands, "who wants to see what Santa brought us? You do believe in Santa, right, Blaine?"

The boy looked at Kurt, who winked at him, and nodded. "Yes, I do."

"Great," Burt said and sat down on the ground, gesturing the boys to follow.

When the boys were seated as well, Kurt took the smallest box and looked at the name on it. "This one is for you, dad," he said and passed the gift to the man.

"What could this be..." Burt mumbled and tore the gift paper impatiently. The man laughed when he saw what was inside the box – chrome wheel cufflinks. "Oh no, I will have to wear a proper suit with these."

"For once you will look properly," Kurt laughed.

"Yeah, well, thank you, Santa, for that," Burt said looking at Kurt. He took the box closest to him. "Oh look, Santa knew that Blaine was staying with us."

Kurt smiled when the slave boy shyly took the box that was offered to him. He carefully unwrapped it so that the paper wouldn't be ruined. When the paper was off, first thing he saw was a small envelope on the top of the box.

"Go ahead," Kurt encouraged him and Blaine opened the envelope.

Kurt looked at him anxiously while the boy was reading the letter he had written a couple of days ago. He could clearly remember every word of it.

Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas, Blaine!

It's the magical time of the year again and I'm visiting every nice kid. And I come bearing gifts!

Inside the box you will find a mobile phone because everyone needs one these days. I didn't get you one of those touchy phones because they wouldn't last a day. Batteries were much longer lasting back in my day...

You should know that you can always come over to the Hummels' house to charge this phone. And stay a night or a week, whatever suits you really.

I already put Kurt's, Noah's, Mike's, and dad's numbers. The contract of the phone is for two years and you get unlimited minutes and messages so feel free to talk their ears off and tire their fingers. Especially Kurt's.

I hope you like your Christmas present. I'll see you next year!

Santa

A smile graced Blaine's face the whole time. He finished reading and looked up at Kurt. "I didn't know you had a brother, Kurt," he giggled.

Kurt looked at him confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Santa gave me his dad's number and the only adult I know is Burt so I'm guessing it's your dad's number that I got."

Burt tried hard to look serious when he looked at Kurt's red face. "Uh, Kurt, I didn't want you to find out this way but I cheated on your mom with Mrs Claus and then Santa was born. I'm really sorry."

"Oh, well, everybody makes mistakes, right?" Kurt laughed. "I'll assume that the last present is mine."

"Wait," Blaine stopped him. "If you two ever meet Santa, since he is your relative after all, I'd like you to tell him how grateful I am," he said and his voice became smaller as he tried to keep the tears from falling. "I haven't been this happy... probably ever, so tell him that I'm forever in his debt."

"It's just a phone, kid," Burt smiled at him. "But I'll make sure he knows how you feel."

"Thank you," Blaine nodded and dried the tears with them sleeve of his cardigan.

"Well, Santa knows everything so I'm sure he already knows these things," Kurt winked at Blaine. "Now I want my present."

The teen unwrapped the biggest box as carefully as Blaine had before and opened the lid to reveal a large foldaway sewing kit.

Kurt literally squealed upon seeing it. "Oh my god, I wanted this so bad!"

"Santa must have read that message you sent me about it," Burt laughed.

"Santa is definitely the best," the boy beamed. "Come on, Blaine, let's go play with our presents."

"Not so fast, breakfast first," Burt insisted much to Kurt's displeasure.

The three of them spent the entire day together in the living room, Burt sitting on the armchair and the boys sitting on the floor. They watched Christmas specials on TV while Blaine tried to figure out the settings of his new phone and texted Puck and Mike Christmas greetings. In the meantime Kurt was working on something with his new sewing kit, not allowing anyone get too close to him so they couldn't see what it was.

When the evening came there was nothing good on TV according to Burt and Blaine offered to play the guitar for them. They ended up having a little concert, all three singing Christmas songs. Blaine had to admit that he sounded better with Kurt alone but Burt singing along with them was pretty amusing.

"Do you know any of Mellencamp's songs?" Burt asked when they finished singing 'Let It Snow'.

"Dad," Kurt glared at him.

"What's wrong with Mellencamp, son?" the man asked innocently and Blaine looked confused at them.

"I'm sorry I don't know any songs but I'm a quick learner."

"You are so not learning any of those songs," Kurt warned him. "I'll go make some hot cocoa."

The boy left and Burt muttered, "Bossy."

Blaine snorted at that. "I could learn some songs for you if you want."

"Nah, I was just teasing him," Burt replied. "Kurt had a phase once when he tried to pretend he was straight and sang a Mellencamp song. I don't remember which one but it was scary."

"I'm sure Kurt can pull off any song. His voice is unique," Blaine said in awe. "Those high notes he hits are something else."

"He's definitely one of a kind," Burt replied.

After a couple of minutes Kurt came back with a small tray that held three big mugs of hot liquid with many tiny marshmallows on top. Blaine had never had such delicious cocoa before.

After a while Burt excused himself saying 'nature is calling' and left the boys alone.

"All done," Kurt said proudly and crawled over to Blaine. "Get that guitar out of my way."

Blaine smiled ant put it on the couch. When he did so Kurt extended his hand and the slave looked at what was in front of him. It was an average size light purple bow tie with small Santas and snowflakes.

"I thought you would look adorable in it," Kurt said with a blush when Blaine took it from him. "I had some material leftover so I thought I could use it on this."

"Wow, it's so cute, Kurt, thank you," Blaine said and put it on. "How do I look?"

"Dashing," Kurt complimented him. "Um, you know how you were worried about not getting anything for us for Christmas? Well, the concert is an amazing gift, really. And also... I was wondering if maybe... you would sleep with me tonight?" he asked and started freaking out when the words left his mouth. "I mean, like sleep sleep, like what we did last night. Not that kind of sleep where there is no sleeping involved."

"Kurt, are you having inappropriate thoughts?" Blaine laughed. "But seriously, that's fine, I can sleep with you. Just... can I ask you why you want that? I almost suffocated you last night."

"Okay, this will sound weird but I want to feel you close to me? Um, this didn't come out right. What I meant was that there is a chance that you'll be leaving us soon and I just wanted to make more beautiful memories with you. You sleeping so far from me is not a nice memory at all."

"I understand," Blaine nodded slowly, thinking hard about something. "Kurt... if you and your dad still want me I... I would love to stay," he finally said.

Blaine wasn't ready for what came afterwards. Suddenly he was lying on the floor with Kurt on top of him between his thighs and his arms protecting his head from the solid ground.

"Oh god, this is the best Christmas present ever!" Kurt shouted and it made Blaine smile.

He rested his hands on Kurt's sides. "I don't want you to be worried about me. I'll do all the chores now that I'm healthy. I know how much it costs to support another–"

"Don't even think about it, kid," Burt's firm voice came from the doorway. "Money is not an issue and we are very happy to have you here. You just saved our sanity, that's for sure."

Kurt got off Blaine and helped him sit up. "We could get a dog so Blaine doesn't feel lonely when I'm at school and you are at work, dad. I always wanted a puppy."

"Yeah, I'm not sure about that," the man laughed. "I'll be back in a second."

More than one second later Burt was back with a piece of paper in his hands. He brought it to Blaine and gave it to him. The boys looked at it to see the list of rules and punishments.

"If you are staying here I want you to not only be treated like a free person but also to feel like one," Burt explained. "I want you to tear it up."

And so he did. He tore it piece by piece, every drag of paper reminding him that he was no longer alone in this world. He was cared for and now instead of hatred he was getting love. By the time he was all covered in small bits of paper Blaine was openly sobbing into Kurt's shoulder and for the first time it was about something good.

Best Christmas ever...