“Blaine, what do you think of that?”
Blaine tore his gaze from the scene outside the window and saw that Tina was looking at him.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” he asked.
“If you think singing Let It Be would be good for Regionals.” Artie said, taking a sip of his hot chocolate.
“Oh yeah,” Blaine sighed. “The Beatles are always a crowd pleaser. You and Tina would rock out on that.” He gave a half-hearted smile to his fellow Glee clubbers and then went back to drinking his coffee. But after he took a sip, he started thinking about all the coffee dates he and Kurt had been on last year. He put down the cup slowly, suddenly losing his appetite for the beverage he loved so much.
Truth was, he had been in a funk ever since Kurt had left for college in New York. Nothing seemed to hold his interest anymore, not even New Directions despite their fantastic win at Regionals. He found himself daydreaming, looking out the window at the constantly falling snow, wishing that Kurt was there to help him shovel snow and then give up halfway through to have a snowball fight. Blaine put his head in his hands. Kurt looked so adorable in the snow; it made his eyes shine even more brilliantly and the way his cheeks, pink with the cold, got even pinker after they stole a few kisses when they were making more snowballs. When Kurt said goodbye to him before boarding his plane in August, he had told himself that it wasn’t terribly long until he came back for winter break. Skype and phone conversations, many of which kept Blaine up until the early hours of the morning, just weren’t enough to heal the hole in his heart that Kurt had left at the end of the summer.
A few days later, Blaine was pouring over a particularly difficult math problem when “Dance Away” by Roxy Music started playing loudly from his phone. Smiling, Blaine flipped the phone open and held it to his ear.
“Kurt?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” Kurt’s voice sounded stuffy and weak, maybe like he’d been crying.
“What’s up?” Blaine asked, concerned, putting down his pencil.
“You know how you said I’d be leaving for Lima in two days?” Kurt sniffed.
Blaine felt his heart drop to his feet. He gripped his phone harder and said, “Yeah.”
“Well, a lot of bad snowstorms are forecasted for the next few days so…so I don’t think I’ll be home for Christmas.” His voice broke on the last word and that hurt Blaine more than anything.
“Oh.” Blaine could hear his heartbeat in his ears and he suddenly felt very sick. “When’s the earliest you could possibly get in?”
“With all the holiday traffic…probably the 27th or 28th.” Kurt sniffled again.
“But Kurt…” he began, but Kurt cut him off.
“I know, it’s just…I have to go.” Kurt mumbled. Blaine heard a cry from the other end before the line cut out. Blaine stared down at his homework, feeling tears swim at the front of his eyes. Abruptly closing his binder and shoving his Christmas gift for Kurt out of sight, he headed to his room, shoving his phone into his pants pocket.
“Hey Blaine, are you okay?” Tina asked the next day in the hallway.
Blaine looked out from behind his locker door, rubbing his eyes. “Yeah, Tina, I’m fine.”
“You sure? Your bow tie isn’t even tied. If that equals an okay Blaine Anderson, then I’m not Asian.” Tina smiled, and adjusted her backpack. “And you were also really down during the glee club meeting.”
Blaine looked down; his bowtie was indeed untied. Sighing, he said in a quieter voice. “I’m just upset, that’s all.” He didn’t look up to see Tina’s questioning gaze. “Kurt isn’t coming home for Christmas.”
“Oh Blaine…I’m so sorry. Is there any way…” Tina began.
Blaine shook his head. “Weather problems.”
“Well, you can always spend Christmas with us! Artie’s having some people over at his house that night. It might make you feel better.” Giving her friend a small hug, she walked away. Feeling even more depressed, he turned back to his locker, taking out his English binder. His eyes caught on the tiny calendar he had pinned up. Large red X’s led up to the eventual day of Kurt’s arrival, which would now never happen. He tore down the calendar and shoved it into his locker. It was a stupid idea anyway. But he couldn’t stop thinking about the little memories he had from last Christmas…
“Blaine, you’re just twisting this garland even more.” Kurt said, exasperated.
“No, see, it’s fine now.” Doing a few quick loop-de-loops, Blaine untangled the impossible garland and raised his eyebrows, challenging his boyfriend.
“Oh fine. Just put it around the tree.” Kurt laughed and got out the box of ornaments. “Aw, I made this one for my dad in second grade. I’m surprised he still has it.” He found a branch for the crudely made angel and then picked up a red and green glass orb.
“Where are your parents anyway?” Blaine asked, flinging the last part of garland on a top branch, or at least the highest branch he could find.
“Watching a movie in their room.” Kurt said. He hung up another ornament and chanced a look at Blaine. Blushing, he went back to decorating. “Okay, now all we have to do is plug in the lights.”
“I’m on it.” Blaine flopped over the top of the couch and stretched his arms out to plug the cord into the wall. Kurt laughed; his boyfriend was such a dork. Blaine finally succeeded and he flopped down on the couch and admired his work. Warm red, green, and gold lights filled the dark room with a gentle light.
“Not bad.” Kurt flopped down on the couch next to Blaine. “Merry Christmas.” He leaned over and kissed Blaine on the lips, inhaling the uniquely Blaine smell of vanilla, coffee beans, and hair gel. Smiling slightly, Blaine put his hands on Kurt’s back and pulled him closer until he was right next to Blaine, almost on top of him. Kurt pulled out of the kiss and mumbled into Blaine’s cheek, “Woah there. My walls are woefully thin and I don’t think we want any rude interruptions. Or any more horribly awkward pamphlets.”
Blaine laughed and gave him a light peck on the lips. “You’re right.” He leaned back against the couch cushions. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas.”

“Rachel, I already told you, I don’t think I’m up to this…” Blaine half-heartedly mumbled, barely able to put his coat on the rack as Rachel pushed him impatiently toward the basement stairs.
“Oh, come on Blaine, it’s Christmas. You have to spend it with someone.” Rachel tried to hold back a laugh, but failed completely.
“What’s the big rush anyway?” Blaine asked, pausing at the top of the stairs.
Rachel put on her best convincing smile and said “Oh, I made bowtie cookies and I know how much you like bowties and well…I just wanted you to see them and eat them and…” She drifted off, slapping on the convincing smile again.
Blaine gave her a weird look, but continued down the stairs.
The cacophony of a few moments ago ended abruptly as Blaine reached the foot of the stairs. No one was talking, even Brittany, who seemed to never stop talking. Everyone kept on glancing at Blaine for a moment, then looking back at the ground with odd smiles on their faces. Brittany cracked for a second and let out a giggle that was quickly silenced by Santana, though she was smiling too.
“What’s going on?” Blaine asked, a bit worried. He only had to wait a few seconds before finding out. Someone seized him from behind and hugged him, letting out a small ‘oof’ with the impact. Blaine knew who it was immediately. But how could he be here?
“Kurt, is that you?” Blaine asked, gasping for air a little bit due to the tight embrace. As way of an answer, Kurt let go and pulled his boyfriend into a hard, passionate kiss. He heard hoots and hollers from the other glee club members, but Blaine barely noticed. Fumbling putting his arms around Kurt’s neck, he was still wondering how he was here.
“How are you here right now?” Blaine finally asked, wrapping Kurt into another hug.
“I found someone who was driving to Toledo. Small world, huh? We had to speed most of the way here and the snow was terrible, but that doesn’t matter now.” Kurt grinned and hugged Blaine tighter.
“Blaine, Rachel actually did make bowtie cookies.” Tina said from what felt like very far away. Blaine laughed into Kurt’s shoulder: she would.
“C’mon, let’s go.” Blaine mumbled into Kurt’s neck, inhaling the scent that he had missed so much. Before Blaine could pull away, Kurt whispered into his ear, “Merry Christmas.”
Caught a little off guard, Blaine paused for a moment, but then smiled and said, “Merry Christmas.”