It had been snowing for eight days straight during the start of December. It wasn't even the mushy kind Kurt had been experiencing all those years he had been living in New York, but the actual fluffy sort that fell down in thick flakes, covering every inch of the big apple.

At first he had been thrilled because hello an actual white Christmas and he wasn't planning on going to Ohio anyway because he could only afford to go during Thanksgiving. But the happiness only remained for a day or three, until there was no sign that the snow was going to stop. Day four he couldn't go to work. Isabelle, his boss, called in panic, saying the heating in the office's building broke and it was impossible to even try to think creatively about the spring and summer issues of Vogue. Day six it was advised not to leave the house unless it was urgent. Day eight he got a phone call he never expected.

He was huddled in a thick plaid and wore layers in a non-fashionable way that day, pacing through his apartment to find something that wouldn't bore him within minutes when his phone chimed.

"Hello?" he answered, crawling up in a ball on his couch.

"Kurt?" a male voice asked, a shrill in his voice probably because he was cold.

"Yes?"

"Oh my God, I'm so happy I found you -"

"Well, that depends who found me, it could either be flattering or creepy -"

"Oh sorry! It's Blaine - Blaine Anderson? From Dalton..." Kurt's heart did a little swoosh. He could barely believe Blaine called him after three years in the middle of December, nor could he believe how he found his number. "It's so stupid to call you now, seriously stupid -" Kurt shook himself out of his thoughts.

"No, no, it's fine - what can I do for you?"

"Well, it's actually kind of a funny story. You do live in New York, right?" He sounded hopeful and panicked all at once and Kurt could recall in their last e-mail exchange he did mention to live in New York.

"Yep, living the dream in Bushwick."

"Bushwick..." Blaine calculated. "Well, I guess -"

"Blaine, spit it out."

There was an enormous sigh on the other end of the line before Blaine murmured: "I'm stranded. At JFK. All the hotels are full and they keep on telling me I need to sleep in the terminal but there are so many people, I just..."

Kurt withheld a chuckle at how desperate Blaine sounded. As if sleeping at the airport would be the end of the world.

"How long are they delaying your flight?" Kurt couldn't help but be curious where he actually was heading and why he was in New York in the first place.

"Undetermined."

"Well, that sucks."

A moment of silence fell and Kurt knew he was drawling it out. He was being cruel by not proposing what Blaine needed, even though he would offer a place to stay in a heartbeat, but he just felt like he needed to sting him a bit. Just a little sting for all those years Kurt only received unrequited love.

"Kurt...  please," Blaine said.

Kurt looked around his and Rachel's apartment to see if it was presentable enough, he guessed he still had an hour or so before Blaine would be there.

"Well, good luck on finding some kind of transport," he said with a dry undertone, and added his address which was followed by about ten thank-yous coming from Blaine. "It's alright, top floor, door clamps so pull hard. See you in a bit."

"Thank you," Blaine said again.

xXx

For a little over an hour Kurt had to entertain himself in the loft. Rachel was out for December with her dads - smart girl, maybe her nose had a weather forecasting sense? He cleaned the space out as well as he could, already whipping out some blankets and pillows so Blaine could crash on the couch. A moment he contemplated of just giving him his bed and sleep in Rachel's himself, but Rachel's covers were pink with elks, so clearly it didn't suffice. Sorry Blaine. At least his couch was far more comfortable than those plastic seats at the airport he got a kink in his neck from last time he was there.

Behind him he heard an attempt for the door to open. Sniggering he walked to the huge metal sliding door and forced it open.

"I told you it clamped," he said and the words faltered in his throat as he took in the man that was standing in the doorway, partially covered in snow and ice and shivering because of the cold, but that wasn't all - his High School crush had grown even more handsome than he already was. Bits of snow were melting in his unruly hair that used to be gelled down and there was a scruff on his cheeks that was at least two days old. Blaine was slumped in relief, closing his eyes at hearing Kurt and he looked so tired.

"You did," Blaine said with a tiny smile, opening his eyes again to look at Kurt. "It's been a rough few days, I'm a little worn out."

"Hey, hey it's okay," Kurt quipped, pulling him inside. "Come in, you want something to drink? Or change?" Blaine seemed soaked to the bone, slipping off his drenched coat with trouble. "Or a shower?" He looked up at that, mouthing ‘please' before kicking off his shoes.

Kurt ushered him into the bathroom, only then noticing that Blaine actually had a suitcase with him, meaning he had been traveling for longer than just a trip, but that was for later.

"I'm going to make some hot chocolate, alright?" Maybe with a little something extra, he added in his head, remembering he some amaretto laying around from one of Rachel's sudden parties.

He was busy sprinkling some cinnamon on top of the whipped cream when Blaine returned, covered in just as many layers as Kurt was.

"Hot coco?" Kurt held up the navy colored mug and nodded at the couch where they could sit down. He waited until Blaine was sitting and accepting the mug before sitting down himself.

"Kurt," Blaine said quietly, "I seriously can't thank you enough. The airport was so packed and there was this screaming child that didn't shut up."

"It's okay, at least now I'm not alone." Kurt smiled as Blaine took a huge gulp, making a little choked sound when the amaretto hit his taste buds and the cream touched his nose, leaving an adorable little blob on the tip.

"Y-you live here alone?" Blaine spluttered, whipping the cream of his nose with his sleeve.

"No, I live with Rachel? Remember her?"

"Ah yes," Blaine finally smiled, "I do. The one that reminded me I was absolutely gay."

"Nice to know that still stuck." Kurt leaned his elbow on the backrest of the couch and rested his head against his hand.

"How have you been?" Blaine asked to create some small talk, but Kurt was way too curious why Blaine got stranded at an airport. Maybe some more alcohol could loosen him, plus it would warm them both.

Kurt started to talk about his work at Vogue, being promoted to first assistant not so long ago and excused himself to get some more blankets (and a bottle of red wine). Blaine first declined a glass, at least until they started to recall memories from Dalton. As soon as they started talking about the Gap Attack, Blaine chugged down two glasses in almost one go.

Their words started to slur but they weren't drunk, just pleasantly tipsy. Kurt felt butterflies buzz again in his stomach, just like last time he had these conversations with Blaine. They were just friends, always had been friends and still his heart swooped and breath faltered when Blaine was close.

"You haven't changed a bit," he said after a while. Blaine froze mid-smile, staring at him with his big hazel eyes. "And yet you changed so much."

"You look amazing." Blaine looked away, placing his almost empty third glass back. "Why - what happened between us? One day we were best friends and the next it was... gone."

Kurt shrugged, there was nothing more he could do. "We grew up, I went back to McKinley and then here." And you never let me have more than I wanted.

"Well, I missed this. Us." Blaine sighed, licking his lips where a drop of red wine was lingering.

"Where were you going? Or coming from?" Kurt nodded at the suitcase and Blaine followed his gaze.

An uncomfortable silence appeared and for a second Kurt was afraid he crossed some kind of line but then Blaine took a deep breath.

"I was visiting my boyfriend," he said and Kurt felt something die inside. "Or as I should address him now - ex-boyfriend." Kurt tried not to be too pleased at that. "We broke up two days ago, he studies abroad in Europe and we were going to try it. Long distance, but he - he wasn't worth it. We ended it mutual though, I'm pretty sure he was relieved."

"Don't be like that," Kurt said, patting Blaine's arm. "You're a catch and you know it."

"It doesn't make my relationships last long. It just feels like there's always something missing, a connection or something."

Kurt scooted a little closer. "Have you ever felt that connection?"

"No," Blaine admitted. "I think not." He dropped his head back against the couch, rolling it to face Kurt and smiled a little. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Kurt sat up to place his own glass next to Blaine's and fell back.

"Let's be friends again? Promise me we won't let that happen again?"

Friends. The word still hurt. I don't want to be just friends, he wanted to say, I want to kiss you, cuddle you - be more. It had been years since they've seen each other and still the crush was as huge as ever.

"How's your love life? Many broken hearts in New York?" Blaine changed the subject, staring at him curiously that unnerved Kurt even more.

"Nope, married to the job." Kurt played with the zipper of his sweater.

"Oh come on, there's got to be someone," he pushed, but Kurt kept on shaking his head.

"Want to watch a crappy movie before the snow kills the power?"

Blaine looked panicked. "Has that happened before?"

"First thing for everything," he said, standing up to get the first romcom he saw and maybe to get evenmore wine.

xXx

"This is strangely nostalgic," Blaine said when the movie was halfway through. "When Harry met Sally."

"I always compared us to them, I was Meg Ryan."

"Of course." A silence. "Wait, don't they end up together in the end?"

"Spoiler alert," Kurt sniggered.

"No, no for real? You compared us to them?" Blaine frowned and nodded at the screen.

Kurt laughed out loud. "Well duh, ugh, sometimes I can't even believe myself for having such a crush on you back then." His smile vanished when he turned to look at Blaine to laugh together at the entire scene, but Blaine was staring at him with his mouth open in shock. "B-but that was years ago and well, you knew -"

"I didn't," Blaine said immediately. "I didn't know, I had no clue -"

Kurt started to panic, reaching up to clean the glasses while nervously fidgeting his sleeves.

"Forget it, sorry, I shouldn't have said any- it's the alcohol. I need to -" A hand grabbed his arm to stop him from getting up and Kurt lost his balance, falling back onto the couch and was even closer to Blaine than he was before. "I -"

There was one flicker of Blaine's eyes down to his lips, one little hitch in his breath and one second between staring and Blaine leaning in to press their lips together in a kiss. Kurt felt shock first, never really gotten used to kissing after his Karofsky disaster - but then again: he never kissed Blaine before. And kissing Blaine was an upgrade of all the nameless men from the past years. Feeling Blaine cup his face with two hands was more than a sudden kiss in a smoky bar.

Kissing Blaine might be the best experience he ever had in his life.

Kurt shivered all over his body, reaching up to grab Blaine's face too to get him even closer. Blaine took it as encouragement and carefully nudged Kurt to open his mouth to deepen the kiss. He knew they had to break it off soon, getting light headed because of the lack of oxygen but he feared what would happen after. Was this just a spur in the moment? A release of the tension? Or was this more?

Blaine eventually released Kurt's lips, leaning back to let his eyes trace from his lips to his eyes and after all those years of imagining Blaine looking delightfully relaxed after kissing, Kurt realized reality didn't even get close to his fantasies.

"I'm -"

"If you're going to apologize I'm kicking you out," Kurt threatened. "Snow or no snow."

"So, you - you didn't - ?"

"Mind it?" Kurt said to fill in and almost snorted at the ridiculousness of it. "Not one bit."

"Okay." Blaine seemed confused, falling back against the couch. "It's just - I didn't know what I was doing. I was afraid I screwed up."

"Blaine?"

"Yes?"

"Did you want to kiss me?"

"Yes! Don't think I didn't want to, you just - I'm so grateful, and you look so much like... you."

Kurt inhaled sharply. "And that's good, right?"

"Very," Blaine quickly said, sounding relieved. "First I cursed the snow and now I can't thank it enough."

"And it isn't the wine talking?"

"Kurt, you know the wine would only make me tell the truth more." He took Kurt's hand and leaned in closer in an almost conspiring way. "I think I found it," he whispered.

"What?"

"The connection."

Kurt took a leap, jumping into Blaine's arms on the couch and sending him backwards before demanding another kiss. "But you have a lot of making up to do, mister." They laughed together and the laughter dissolved into more kissing as the eighth day of snow turned into the ninth.

Day ten the snow stopped, but Blaine never caught his plane anyway.