If there was one thing to be said about working for ManhattanMix.com then it would certainly be that they weren't shy of going all out for the holidays. As soon as the Halloween decorations had been put away, the office floor received a makeover of which Macy's would be proud of. Tinsel lined the edges of desks; mistletoe hung from the ceiling; the sound of a Christmas compilation album being played was a constant presence, not to mention the artificial tree set up in the corner of the workspace that was one shiny ornament away from toppling to the ground. It was no surprise then that Blaine Anderson was having difficulty concentrating on his article regarding the race for the Christmas number one slot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Ordinarily there wouldn't be a lot of attention on the matter but this year was different thanks (if you could be thankful of it – Blaine personally thought it was rather dire) to the increasing popularity of a track entitled Christmas Is All Around by a previously unheard-of artist named Noah Puckerman. What started off as a novelty YouTube video had soon gone viral and now the song was available to buy. It was Blaine's task to inform visitors to the website of the song's progress up the Hot 100 list and the likelihood of it actually reaching the top spot in time for Christmas Day, but he instead found his mind drifting elsewhere. His eyes also happened to be drifting elsewhere and rather than focussing on his monitor they were trained on a fine specimen of festive joy. All-year round joy if Blaine was honest.

Kurt Hummel – Manhattan-Mix's head fashion reporter, one of the most well-liked members of staff and object of Blaine's affection. With his immaculately styled chestnut hair, impeccable fashion sense and infamous wit, Blaine had fallen for him as quickly as Noah Puckerman was bound to vanish back into obscurity after the holiday season. Today Kurt was wearing a light grey oxford shirt, charcoal woollen pants, black loafers and the crimson skinny tie that Blaine was particularly fond of. Although to be fair Blaine was fond of any tie that Kurt wore having an affinity for the neckwear himself, albeit mostly of the bowtie variety.

“Needing some bell-jingling inspiration are you?” Tina Cohen-Chang, Blaine's music team colleague, asked teasingly. Whilst Blaine reviewed single and album releases, Tina was Manhattan-Mix's live music reporter and had become a close friend of Blaine's. She was the only person who Blaine had eventually confided in about his feelings towards Kurt and she had often tried to get him to act on them but to no avail. Blaine was far too nervous to do such a thing and so continued to admire Kurt from afar. That's not to say that the pair never interacted at the office. In fact, Kurt would always smile and say hello to Blaine when they happened to pass each other. Blaine would return the greeting and sometimes indulged in a short conversation if Kurt initiated one but that was the extent of it. Hopelessly in love and hopeless when it came to doing anything about it – that about summed Blaine up.

“I'll need more than that if I'm to say anything positive about this song. ‘I need Santa beside me in everything I do' – I mean really?” Blaine turned away from Kurt and answered with distaste written all over his face.

“Not the greatest alteration to the original lyrics I have to agree. Still, I can't help but admire his determination in bringing a bit of festive cheer to the charts,” replied Tina. “Heads up, the boss is heading this way.”

Sure enough Santana Lopez was crossing the floor space towards where Blaine and Tina's desks were located. Santana was Manhattan-Mix's director and whilst she expected a high standard of work from her employees, she also made sure that being part of her staff was an enjoyable experience. Hence the holiday-appropriate office decorations, not to mention the always spectacular Christmas parties she threw, with this year's event coming in a couple of weeks.

“Anderson. A word in private if you don't mind,” Santana spoke to Blaine before promptly walking to her enclosed office at the rear of the floor.

“Evidently I've not got much choice in the matter,” sighed Blaine, Tina giving him a pitying smile as he left his desk and made his way to see what his boss wanted.

Blaine knocked on Santana's open door and was welcomed into the room.

“Have a seat Blaine,” Santana offered as she closed the door and sat down in front of Blaine. “So tell me, how long exactly have you worked for me?”

Suffice to say that this question was not one he was expecting to be asked when he entered the room. “Hmm. Two years, seven months, three days and I suppose, what, two hours?” Blaine answered, trying to calculate how much time had passed since he started his job at Manhattan-Mix.

“And how long have you been in love with Kurt, our very own Liberace in training?”

Blaine's jaw dropped open and his eyes widened. How did Santana know about his feelings for Kurt? He thought he had kept his emotions well-covered, but was it really that apparent? And if his boss who hardly spent any time with Blaine had picked up on it, what about everyone else in the office? It was one thing having Tina aware of his longing for Kurt, but the revelation that she might not be the only person in the office who knew about it was a little terrifying. Blaine started to panic and felt his face rapidly heat up. His mind was screaming at him to deny everything but given Santana's tendency to pester everyone she knew until they spilt their innermost secrets Blaine took the decision to come clean, knowing that he would probably regret doing so immediately.

“Two years, seven months, three days, and I suppose... an hour and thirty minutes,” Blaine hesitantly replied, well aware of how pathetic he sounded. “Do you think everybody knows?”

“Yes,” Santana replied instantly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Blaine's voice rose in pitch and volume slightly when he questioned “Do you think Kurt knows?”

Santana answered yes yet again with a slight roll of her eyes.

Blaine couldn't move. His thoughts were all over the place. If everyone in the office truly knew then they must be constantly laughing behind his back at him for not doing anything about it. As for Kurt... well, Blaine could only imagine how pitiable he must come across if Kurt didn't even react to his apparently easily identifiable crush. “Oh this is bad,” he exclaimed, starting to feel sick to his stomach.

“Look Blaine, I just thought the time had come to do something about it,” Santana remarked. “It's simple. Ask him out for a drink, then casually mention the fact that you want to get married and have lots of sex with that fine ass of his, that kinda thing.”

Blaine stood up in shock. “You know about that?!” he exclaimed, letting the words tumble out of his mouth before realising he had just openly admitted fantasising about matters of the bedroom variety to his boss.

“Yes,” replied Santana with a smirk, also standing up. “And so does Kurt. Now do us all a favour and do something about it. I'm starting to get fed up of seeing your lovesick puppy-eyes whenever you look at Kurt, and you can bet my staff feels the same. It's Christmas, live a little Anderson.”

Santana walked over to her office door, signalling the end of the conversation.

“Right. Certainly. Thanks boss,” said Blaine, trying to claim back some level of professionalism. He adjusted his navy cardigan where it had risen up slightly whilst he was sat down and went to leave the office, only to nearly bump straight into Kurt who was entering the room.

“Hi Blaine,” greeted Kurt, flashing a brief smile in his direction.

“Hi Kurt,” Blaine replied quickly, his blush deepening to the point he was sure Kurt would be able to feel the heat emanating off him. Blaine swiftly excused himself and left Santana's office, closing the door behind him. If the ground could open up and swallow me right now that would be greatly appreciated, Blaine thought as he made his way back over to his desk, just as his cell phone started to ring.

One week later and Blaine had yet to follow Santana's advice and ask Kurt out. It was such an easy task – plenty of his other colleagues went out for a drink with each other after work so why did Blaine find it so difficult to do the same? After growing up in a far from gay-friendly town, Blaine had thought that moving to New York would allow him to finally act on the attraction he felt towards members of the same sex. As it turned out with the exception of a few kisses during his time at Columbia University and on the rare occasion when Tina would persuade him to go to a club with her (and even then he was never the one to initiate the encounter), Blaine had yet to have a relationship. You could take the man out of Ohio but it was proving to be much more of a challenge to take Ohio out of the man. At twenty-four years old and not having had even one boyfriend, Blaine had started to question whether he would ever be cut out for the dating game. But perhaps that's why he should act on his feelings for Kurt now, lest he be doomed to an eternity of singledom.

It was getting on for six in the evening and most of the office staff had gone home or out for some festive fun. Blaine however was still sat at his desk putting the finishing touches to his latest album review. The main office lights had been switched off, leaving the glare from Blaine's monitor and the multi-coloured string lights on the Christmas tree saving the room from complete darkness. That and Kurt's desk lamp. He too was still working, making them the only people remaining in the office. Blaine considered this for a moment. With nobody else around there would be nobody to witness his humiliation if Kurt turned him down. That had been one of the many factors as to why he hadn't done anything yet. The only times when he and Kurt had spoken in the past few days was when other colleagues were close by. Maybe eliminating that aspect would make the task a bit less daunting and so increase the chance of Blaine actually going through with it.

Kurt got out of his seat and put on the black pea coat that was hanging on the coat stand closest to his desk. This was Blaine's opportunity to act. Whilst Kurt was busying himself with fixing a mustard scarf around his neck and doing up the toggles on his coat, Blaine surreptitiously checked his hair for any flyaway curls and ensued his tartan bowtie was still on straight. Kurt turned off his desk lamp and headed towards the office's exit, meaning he had to walk right past Blaine.

“Goodnight Blaine,” smiled Kurt when he was in front of Blaine's desk.

Blaine raised his head to fully address Kurt. Looking into his eyes was enough to knock the breath from Blaine's lungs and so it was with a little difficulty that Blaine replied “Goodnight Kurt.”

Kurt maintained eye contact for a couple of seconds before walking away and towards the exit. Blaine, needless to say, immediately started to berate himself for not making the most of the situation. With a swift palm to his forehead to try to knock some sense back into himself, Blaine took a deep breath and twisted round in his swivel chair.

“Hey Kurt,” Blaine called out. Kurt stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Blaine. He thought he could read a sense of hope in Kurt's facial expression and was just about to bite the bullet and ask him out when his cell phone started ringing. Blaine quickly looked down to check the caller ID and sighed. Facing back to Kurt he said softly “Have a nice evening.”

“You too Blaine,” Kurt responded and gave a quick wave goodnight before opening the exit door and left Blaine to answer his cell.

The following Tuesday found Blaine once again at his desk, however this time during the middle of the working day and accompanied by Santana. It was exactly one week until Christmas Day and spirits in the office were high. Consequently Santana had eased up on her staff a little and was spending more time talking to her employees when they weren't particularly busy. She had cleared some space on Blaine's desk and was delicately perched on it whilst Blaine was sat in his chair.

“So, made any progress with hot-stuff Hummel?” Santana not-so subtly asked Blaine, nodding over to where Kurt was laughing with two other members of staff across the office floor.

“No,” sighed Blaine, “I've done absolutely nothing and I probably never will because he's too good for me.”

“Ain't that the truth,” Santana remarked, causing Blaine to shoot daggers at her with his eyes. He picked up a CD case from his desk and playfully hit her on the leg with it. It was something he would have done to Tina but this was his boss so for a second he worried that he'd gone too far, however Santana grabbed another CD case and hit Blaine back on the shoulder. “Oh it's on Anderson.”

“Yeah?” smiled Blaine, once again hitting Santana on the thigh. They continued to play-fight with each other for a few moments, causing other people in the office to turn towards them to see what they were up to, Kurt included. Just as Santana reached out for a second case to attack both ears at once Blaine's cell phone began to ring.

Santana stood up rolling her eyes, commenting “You and that damn phone.”

When Santana had walked a reasonable distance away Blaine put down the CD case still in his hand and reached for his phone, briefly checking the caller ID before answering.

“Hey Coop, what's up now?”

Manhattan-Mix's Christmas party was in full swing. Santana had used her outstanding persuasion talents, a considerable amount of cash and the promise of a favourable review in order to book Harveys, one of Manhattan's newest hotspot establishments. With its expansive black laminate dance floor, exposed brick walls adorned with prints taken by local photographers and soft lighting it was the perfect setting. The resident DJ was playing a mixture of current hits and songs from the past decade, interspersed with remixes of classic Christmas songs to get everyone in the party spirit. The bar serving half-price drinks certainly helped too, with attendees all pleasantly buzzed a couple of hours into the event.

Blaine and Tina were currently standing on the edge of the busy dance floor taking a break from dancing – Tina had somehow convinced Blaine to dance to Christmas Is All Around (which had indeed taken the top spot when the charts updated the previous day), claiming “You've dedicated weeks to this travesty, the least you can do is celebrate it coming to an end!”. He wouldn't admit it but Blaine was having more fun than he was expecting to. It was nice to let loose for the first time in well over a month, having found himself on the receiving end of more phone calls than usual from his family, not to mention getting increasingly frustrated by his crush on a certain colleague of his.

Talking of Kurt, Blaine noticed the man in question propped on a stool next to the bar sipping on one of Harveys' speciality festive cocktails. Wearing a denim shirt with rolled-up sleeves, a grey pinstripe vest, sinfully-tight black jeans and black boots, Blaine couldn't help but stare at him. Kurt always looked stunning but there was something about him on this evening that made him look even more irresistible. Be it the alcohol in his system or the twinkling lights hung behind the bar, Kurt was glowing.

“Oh Blaine, just ask him to dance,” Tina said softly. “I'm sure he won't say no.”

“Since when have you ever known me to ask someone to dance? I'd make a fool out of myself no matter what, but ask Kurt in particular? No way,” Blaine replied with a shake of his head before taking a sip of his glass of champagne.

“Look at me Blaine,” Tina reached out to turn his head away from looking at Kurt to face her instead. “You're a smart, talented, caring, good-lucking guy. You need to have more confidence in yourself. You can't spend your whole life pining after someone whilst doing nothing about it. Take a leap into the unknown. It's not like Kurt would laugh at you for it. Besides, I've caught him looking at you too.”

Blaine all but snorted. “Oh yes, because of course he's interested in me like that. It's obvious by his complete lack of flirtation.”

“I wouldn't be so sure of that,” rushed Tina, flashing her eyes to something behind Blaine. Or rather someone.

Turning on his heels Blaine was surprised to see that Kurt had crossed the room and was now standing in front of him.

“Hey. Dance with me? Whilst there's still time?” Kurt asked without giving Blaine time to reply to his greeting.

Blaine thought he must have misheard Kurt. There was no chance that Kurt had actually asked Blaine to dance with him. Maybe he meant to ask Tina? Although Blaine was fairly sure Kurt had been looking at him.

“Who, me?” asked Blaine, seeking clarification for what was surely a mistake.

“Yes. I just meant... I mean it's fine if you don't want to,” replied Kurt, backing away slightly. Blaine couldn't believe it. For some crazy reason this gorgeous man wanted to dance with him of all people. This gorgeous man who was starting to look a little flustered and was slowly walking backwards because Blaine had yet to answer.

“Yes!” Blaine quickly exclaimed a little louder than he was intending to, causing Tina to snigger under her breath. “Err, yes. Yes please. That would be good.” Way to play it cool Anderson Blaine thought to himself, self-consciously running his hand through his hair.

“Good,” smiled Kurt in return as he began making his way to the middle of the dance floor.

Blaine quickly scanned for a nearby table to put down his glass of champagne, but with none close to him Tina took it off him with a wink. Taking a big breath Blaine followed Kurt through the crowd of dancing work colleagues. One of Jay-Z's hits was being played by the DJ – not the kind of music that Blaine was overly fond of but he could try to dance to it. He took Kurt's moves for example and started to shuffle from one foot to the other, exchanging a brief smile when they caught each other's eye.

Everything would have been fine except within ten seconds of being on the floor the music suddenly shifted to a much slower song. Blaine immediately stopped moving and looked up to Kurt with wide eyes. Kurt had also started to stop dancing and the pair chuckled nervously. The dance floor was clearing a little but there were still plenty of people who began to slow-dance with each other. Blaine was looking at these couples whilst biting the corner of his bottom lip and so didn't notice that Kurt was moving closer towards him. When he faced Kurt only to find him standing a few inches away Blaine felt all the breath in his lungs leave him with a soft “Oh.”

Kurt reached out to clasp Blaine's right hand and closed the remaining distance so that they were now standing chest-to-chest. With a slightly trembling arm Blaine stretched out and grasped Kurt's bicep with his left hand. Kurt reacted by curling his left arm around Blaine's waist and resting the sides of their heads together. There was no denying that this was the best moment of Blaine's life, if a little terrifying at the same time. He could feel his heart pounding and hoped that Kurt couldn't also sense it. The pair moved in a slow circle, keeping each other as close as possible.

‘Like a flower waiting to bloom 
Like a light bulb in a dark room 
Im just sitting here waiting for you 
To come on home and turn me on'

Being in Kurt's personal space like this was overwhelming for Blaine. Years of secretly harbouring a crush on Kurt and imagining what it would be like to be held in his arms was nowhere near enough to prepare Blaine for how this would feel. He felt like this was the moment that he had been waiting for all his life.  That now he could finally begin to truly live his life. Although maybe that was the song lyrics talking. Regardless, when Kurt's thumb stroked the back of his hand Blaine started grinning to himself, having to turn his face further into Kurt's shoulder in an attempt to hide just how elated he was. He could only hope that was some indication that Kurt was enjoying their slow dance just as much.

As the song came to an end and merged into a more up-tempo current track, Blaine rather begrudgingly stepped back from Kurt's embrace and couldn't help the beaming smile that broke out on his face when he looked into Kurt's eyes.

“Can I interest you in a drink?” Kurt asked.

“That's ok, I left one with Tina,” Blaine replied. “Although she seems to have conveniently disappeared.”

“Come on, I'll buy you another one,” chuckled Kurt, leading them towards the bar. It was only then that Blaine realised they were still holding hands. Not that he was planning on letting go any time soon.

The party remained in full force long after midnight. Since that nerve-wrecking but equally amazing slow dance with Kurt, the pair had been pretty much inseparable. They hadn't held hands since reaching the bar but there was plenty of arm brushing and hip squeezing - admittedly mostly initiated by Kurt but Blaine found himself flirting physically to a much higher extent than he usually would. Tina had joined them twenty minutes after their first dance (with another sly wink to Blaine) and had led them into more dancing to the upbeat numbers, as well as participating in laughter-filled conversation. Blaine was glad that she had stayed with him – it meant that if he ran out of things to say to Kurt, Tina was able to start off another discussion without him turning into the bumbling fool that he was so used to being. Thankfully Kurt didn't seem to mind that she was hanging around. Blaine just hoped that Kurt didn't think less of him for relying on her for support.

By one a.m. Blaine found his energy rapidly draining and decided it was time for him to call it a night.

“Are you going to get a cab?” enquired Tina. “The subway is going to be heaving tonight.”

“Like it would be any easier to catch a cab on the last Friday before Christmas,” Blaine answered. “Nah, I'll just walk it.”

“I'd offer to keep you company but with us living in opposite directions...” Tina replied, glancing over to Kurt briefly.

“Where about do you live?” Kurt asked Blaine.

“Gramercy Park.”

“I only live a few blocks from there. I could walk with you?” Kurt offered. “I'm getting pretty tired myself so wasn't planning on staying here for much longer.”

“That would be nice, thanks,” Blaine replied with a smile. Getting to spend a little more time with Kurt in private before saying goodnight would be lovely. There was of course the possibility of awkwardness when actually saying goodbye but it was best not to worry about that just yet.

Once Blaine and Kurt collected their coats (Blaine's fitting snugly over his navy blazer to keep out the wintry coldness) and said their goodbyes to Tina, they left Harveys and began the twenty-minute walk to Blaine's apartment. Whilst there were certainly pauses in conversation, it never felt too uncomfortable to Blaine much to his relief. The pair found themselves naturally walking close to each other for a little extra warmth with their shoulders and hands occasionally touching, spending sparks of a different kind of warmth right through Blaine's body.

Soon enough they had reached Blaine's building with Kurt offering to walk him up to his apartment on the premise that he wanted to make sure that Blaine truly got home safely. During the brief elevator ride up to his floor Blaine became progressively more aware of the fact that the pair would have to say goodbye soon. Would Kurt just say goodnight, or would he go for a hug? Blaine was going to leave it completely in Kurt's hands otherwise he was sure he would do the wrong thing.

Blaine opened his front door and turned around to face Kurt.

“Thank you for walking me home and for your company tonight. I had fun,” Blaine said with a smile.

“Me too,” agreed Kurt. “So, I should go. Goodnight Blaine.”

“Goodnight Kurt.”

Kurt quickly scanned Blaine's face before moving in to kiss him on the cheek. Blaine's breath hitched, Kurt's lips lingering slightly longer than perhaps socially appropriate for friends. Kurt pulled back ever so slightly, giving himself just enough space to brush their noses as he changed angle and kissed Blaine fully on his mouth. Blaine's brain almost short-circuited at this point, their lips moving against each other passionately. Kurt stepped even closer to Blaine, trapping him against the door and bringing his hands to rest on Blaine's shoulders. Blaine reciprocated by moving his hands up to Kurt's chest, fingers pressing in to latch on to the lapels of Kurt's coat for extra support.

A few moments later the pair separated for what was a much needed breath for Blaine. His lips were tingling, his heart beating rapidly against his chest. Kurt looked deep into his eyes and Blaine found himself completely lost in them.

“I don't have to go right away,” Kurt exhaled, still holding Blaine against him.

“Oh,” exclaimed Blaine. “Okay.”

“I mean, I can go if you want. No pressure.”

“No, it's fine. I'd, I'd like you to stay. Just... excuse me for a few seconds, please.”

“Sure.”

Blaine pulled out of Kurt's grip and rounded the corner from his front door, switching the light on as he went, needing a few seconds to collect himself. Inviting a guy into his apartment was a completely new situation, and with this being Kurt he couldn't help but jump up and down like a small child on Christmas Day. Hell, this was Christmas come early as far as Blaine was concerned.

With the excitement and disbelief somewhat out of his system, Blaine returned to where Kurt was still standing by the door.

“You can come in now,” Blaine said as calmly as he could. “It's kinda cramped in here I know, but you soon get used to it.”

Blaine's apartment was indeed on the small side. Leading off the practically non-existent hallway was an open-plan kitchen and living area, the only furniture being a small table with one dining chair and a single loveseat by the window. There was also a small artificial Christmas tree decorated in shades of red and gold, a small number of wrapped presents next to it. If the two were to have any space to sit together then they would have to move to Blaine's bedroom which was located upstairs on a mezzanine level.

“It's a bit less crowded up in my bedroom, if you want to go there? Not that I'm saying we have to do anything. Just, more space and all,” Blaine blushed, suddenly feeling extremely hot underneath his many layers.

“I understand. And yes, more space would be lovely,” Kurt replied, his own cheeks turning a slightly brighter shade of red.

“Great. I mean... oh you know,” Blaine laughed nervously. “I, erm, just need a minute to tidy up. I left my room in a bit of a state trying on outfits for tonight.”

“No worries,” responded Kurt. “I've got the same prospect waiting for me when I get home.”

Blaine made his way up the staircase that was next to the kitchen area, taking off his coat and hanging it up on the rack in the corner of his bedroom. He quickly grabbed all of the shirts and pants on his bed, stuffing them into the bottom of his wardrobe (he'd just have to iron them all over the weekend). His bow ties were similarly hastily pushed back into the drawer they came from. As a final thought Blaine took his stuffed dog off of his pillow and hid it underneath his bed, turning round just as Kurt reached the top of the stairs.

Kurt hung his coat on Blaine's stand. The pair looked at each other. And then they were crossing the room to crash their lips together. Blaine reached up to cup Kurt's face in his hand, whilst Kurt moved to take off Blaine's blazer, letting it fall to the floor. With every slide of their lips together, Blaine felt more and more sure that this was worth the years of pining for Kurt and then some. Kurt began loosening Blaine's red bow tie, all the while maintaining their deep kissing.

“Is this okay?” Kurt asked with a husky tone to his usually crystalline voice.

“More than okay,” whispered Blaine, starting to open the buttons on Kurt's vest. Whilst Blaine wasn't ready for anything overly sexual he figured indulging in some shirtless making out couldn't hurt.

Having removed Blaine's tie and dropped it on the floor to join his blazer, Kurt got to work on the buttons on his blue and white checked shirt. By this point Blaine had removed Kurt's vest and was now also in the process of unbuttoning Kurt's denim shirt whilst placing kisses along his jaw and neck, inhaling the scent of Kurt's skin and committing it to memory.

When shirts were open all the way and hands were finally able to search bare torsos the two made their way over to Blaine's bed, sinking down to sit on the mattress whilst never breaking some form of lip contact. Blaine's skin turned to gooseflesh everywhere that Kurt brushed his fingers over him, the sensation shooting right through his core.

Just as Kurt began to move his lips down Blaine's neck towards his chest, Blaine's cell phone started ringing from the inside the pocket of his red chinos. The pair froze in place. Blaine reached down to his pocket to get out his phone, hoping that the caller wasn't who he had a strong feeling it was going to be.

Looking down to check the caller ID, Blaine sighed.

“I should get this,” Blaine said apologetically. “It shouldn't take long.”

“Okay.”

Blaine shifted so that he was facing away from Kurt and selected to accept the call.

“Hi Cooper, what's up?” asked Blaine. He heard some movement from behind him that sounded an awful lot like Kurt taking his shirt off.

“She left me! That woman has only gone and left me!” Blaine's older brother Copper practically shouted down the phone.

“With you referring to Laura like that I'm not surprised.”

“Do you have any idea how difficult it is to book a table at Sorrentino's, even for an actor of my standing? Weeks of calling them it took me. And then that bitch goes and breaks it off with me for flirting with the waitress. Well excuse me for engaging with one of my fans. I didn't want to leave her with a bad impression of me did I? A bit of innocent flirting never hurt anyone.”

Throughout Cooper's monologue, Kurt had moved so he was sat directly behind Blaine and was leaving kisses on every patch of skin he could reach whilst removing Blaine's shirt. This resulted in Blaine finding it extremely hard to concentrate on what his brother was saying, but he got the impression that Cooper wouldn't notice.

“Coop, this is the date to make up for you forgetting your six month anniversary. The anniversary which you spent filming a commercial with a group of scantily-clothed women who you proceeded to tweet dozens of photos of. I'm not surprised Laura has called it quits,” Blaine sighed, barely holding back a moan when Kurt's fingers brushed over one of his nipples. “Listen, it's stupidly late. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?”

“But Blainey...”

“Goodnight Cooper,” Blaine ended the call, leaning over to place his cell on his bedside table before facing Kurt who happened to look devastating now that his full torso and arms were revealed.

“Sorry about that. My brother likes to call me a lot. Well, he and my parents, but mostly Cooper,” explained Blaine.

“That's alright. My stepbrother tends to pester me a lot too about the most trivial matters,” Kurt replied.

“He always seems to phone at the worst possible moment. I don't know how he does it. But if I didn't answer...”

“Honestly, it's fine. Now where were we?” Kurt smirked and pushed down on Blaine's chest, leaning over so that he was mostly lying on top of Blaine.

The two kissed hungrily again, the energy that had left Blaine earlier returning with each second. With one hand stroking the back of Kurt's hair, Blaine's other arm wrapped around Kurt's back and held him even closer. Kurt moaned into the kiss, opening his mouth wider to pull Blaine's tongue into his mouth.

Blaine was starting to reconsider his stance on shirtless making out being as far as he was willing to go that evening when his cell phone commenced ringing once more. Kurt pulled back and searched Blaine's eyes for any indication of what the man beneath him was going to do. He really didn't want to answer it, truly Blaine didn't, but if he ignored it then Cooper would only continue to keep phoning until Blaine gave in. And if Blaine turned his cell off he would never hear the end of it. It wouldn't surprise him if Cooper even spoke to their mom about being ignored and then Blaine would have her to deal with too. Why did his family feel the need to constantly bother Blaine? And why did Blaine always submit to them?

“Is it really that important?” Kurt asked, still hovering over Blaine's body.

“No,” Blaine hesitantly answered, because it was true. Listening to Cooper talk incessantly about the newest addition to his list of failed relationships wasn't exactly of great significance, but could he actually ignore him for a change?

“Then maybe don't answer it?” suggested Kurt, stroking Blaine's cheek with the back of his hand.

It would be so easy. Just not answer his phone and continue kissing Kurt. Amazing things like this didn't happen very often after all. But on the other hand...

With a heavy heart Blaine rolled from under Kurt and picked up his cell.

“Hey Coop.”

“I really thought she was the one little bro,” Cooper spoke softly, Blaine able to deduce from sniffles on the other end of the line that Cooper was crying. “I was going to ask her to move in with me and everything.”

“I know. I've never known you to keep a girlfriend for so long,” Blaine sat up fully, reaching over to pull his shirt over his back and shoulders.

Blaine continued to listen to his brother mourn the apparent death of his relationship, offering words of comfort as Kurt got off the bed and put his clothes back on.

“Sometimes things just aren't meant to be, Coop,” Blaine sighed as he watched Kurt give a small sad wave goodbye on his way downstairs and out of the apartment.

A perk of Manhattan-Mix being so in favour of celebrating holidays was that Santana allowed her employees to work at home during the week surrounding Christmas if they so wished. There were a handful of people who had no choice but to work at the office due to their position, but for everyone else they had the freedom to do what they liked as long as Santana and the human resources officer knew in advance. Most employees took advantage of this, however there were a few who decided to attend the office, including Blaine.

Blaine had taken a flight to Ohio on Monday afternoon after work to spend Christmas Day with his family. Cooper had flown in from Los Angeles a few days beforehand and had spent most of the day wallowing regarding his break up with his girlfriend. Between that and his parents getting on at him about still being in a low-paid job, Blaine was glad to be flying back to New York on Wednesday morning, returning to work as soon as he had dropped off his luggage at his apartment.

Stepping into the office, Blaine was relieved that there was no sign of Kurt. Blaine assumed that the fashion reporter was still celebrating Christmas with his family as he hadn't been at work on the Monday and was seemingly the case for today too. Ever since the awkwardness of Kurt leaving his apartment after the office party, Blaine found himself constantly berating himself for answering Cooper's second phone call. If he had just ignored it like any sane gay man with a hot shirtless guy making out with him would do, then he wouldn't be in this somewhat self-loathing position. Instead he would be elated that his feelings for Kurt were reciprocated, and maybe they would have plans for their first real date. But no, a lifetime of being at the beck and call of his family meant that Blaine was left feeling a little mortified at his behaviour. And of course he couldn't stop thinking about what it was like kissing Kurt, knowing that he'd most likely never get to experience it again.

Blaine spent the remainder of Wednesday hunched over at his desk, immersed in listening to the latest music releases in attempt to block out thoughts of Kurt. Surprisingly it worked well, with Blaine not noticing how quickly the afternoon went, or his work colleagues moving around the office floor. He especially didn't notice a lithe pea coat-and-scarf clad man enter the office until a pair of hands resting on his desk caught his attention.

Looking up to find out who the hands belonged to, Blaine's mouth dropped open slightly to see that it was Kurt. With a nearly-audible swallow, Blaine reached up to take his headphones off.

“Hi,” Blaine said nervously.

“Hi Blaine. Have a nice Christmas?” asked Kurt politely.

“Yes thanks. Yourself?”

“Same.”

Maintaining eye contact was proving too difficult for Blaine, so he brought his eyes down to the desk, only for the sight of Kurt's hands to bring back memories of how they felt when they were exploring Blaine's chest. With a shiver Blaine tore his eyes away and began fiddling with the headphones in his own hands, the tension-filled silence lingering on for what felt like an eternity.

“I just popped in to drop something off for Santana and saw you sat here so thought I'd say hello before I left,” Kurt explained, clearly attempting to fill the quiet with small talk.

“I see,” replied Blaine. As far as embarrassing interactions with Kurt went, this had to top the list. Was every day that they worked together from now on going to be as uncomfortable as this?

“Listen Blaine, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go out for a drink sometime?” Blaine's gaze snapped up to Kurt's eyes. “I think there are things we need to talk about. Hopefully this time without any interrup-“

The gods are against me, there's no other explanation thought Blaine, staring at his cell phone on his desk which of course had chosen this exact moment to start ringing, the name ‘Cooper' flashing on the caller ID. Blaine barely held in the groan of frustration threatening to tumble out of his throat.

Kurt however had no problem audibly sighing. “I'll let you get that. Clearly your family are meant to keep getting in our way. Goodbye Blaine.”

Blaine watched Kurt exit the office, his phone continuing to ring. He went to pick it up and as his finger hovered over the accept call option Blaine paused. Was he really going to let this happen yet again? Answering this call would be no different from all the other times that his family had managed to get in the way of Blaine's life. He'd be giving in to them as per usual, and truly hitting the final nail in the coffin when it came to his and Kurt's possible relationship. No. The time had come for Blaine to start living his own life.

Selecting ignore call, Blaine turned his cell off and hurriedly put his coat on, hoping to catch up with Kurt before it was too late. Running down the stairs because the elevator was no doubt occupied by Kurt, Blaine was so focussed on not tripping that there was no time for him to think of what to actually say when he caught up with Kurt.

Throwing open the doors to the building, Blaine scanned the street left and right for Kurt. He couldn't have gotten too far, but with so many people on the sidewalk it was difficult to spot someone even as unique as Kurt. Blaine was about to give up when he caught a glimpse of coiffed chestnut hair and a jade green scarf further down the right side of the footpath Blaine was standing on.

Taking in a big breath, Blaine called out Kurt's name hoping he was loud enough for Kurt to hear. Thankfully it turned out to as Kurt came to a standstill, turning around to see who had shouted out to him. When his eyes latched on to Blaine's, his eyes widened in surprise.

Blaine began running towards him, trying not to knock anyone over and apologising to those who he managed to clip on the shoulder as he passed them.

Coming to a stop in front of Kurt, Blaine bent forward a little to catch his breath.

“Blaine, what are you doing?” Kurt asked with a tinge of hope in his voice.

“I...” Blaine looked up to Kurt's face, his eyes automatically looking at Kurt's lips. “Oh to hell with it.”

Before he had time to talk himself out of it, Blaine surged up to kiss Kurt, cupping his cheeks as he did so. Kurt sucked in a breath loudly through his nose in shock before returning the kiss. The pair stood in the same spot kissing for a couple of blissful minutes, blocking out the noise of people walking past them and the engines of cars going by. Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine's waist, holding the slightly shorter man close to him. Blaine couldn't help the grin that took over his face, forcing their lips to separate. This was definitely worth the harassment he was bound to get from Cooper once he turned his phone back on.

“What about your brother?” Kurt enquired with a similarly large smile on his face.

“It's about time he deals with me seeing someone rather than the other way round,” Blaine replied.

“So we're seeing each other now, are we?” teased Kurt.

“Kurt, I've had a crush on you for years. There's no way I'm letting you go now” Blaine admitted.

“Good,” Kurt leant in for another kiss. “Merry Christmas, Blaine.”

“Merry Christmas, Kurt.”