Archive of Our Own ^beta

Blaine didn't like Christmas. No, it's not because he's a Scrooge and hates presents or the warmth of it, he just hated having to go back to Ohio from New York to see his parents on Christmas Eve and spend Christmas with them.

Every year they would ask the same questions.

"How are things in New York?"

"Are you keeping your grades up? We paid a lot for you to go to NYU you know"

"Have you talked to your brother recently?"

Then there was the one he really couldn't stand.

"How is your soulmate coming along?"

His mother asked it every year at Christmas and Thanksgiving and eventually, Blaine just stopped coming to Thanksgiving because the answer was always the same.

"No, Mom I haven't because I spend most of my days doing homework to pay for that expensive college you were just talking about," He'd give them a polite smile and go back to his ham and mashed potatoes.

He was twenty and he still hasn't found his soulmate. Usually, you find them by the time you're eighteen and he wasn't even close. They say it's magical when you do though. All they have to do is make a noise and something flutters in your heart and through your body, well that's how his mother described it. Cooper described it as if he was being punched in the gut by a pair of brass knuckles.

Yup, even his brother, the guy who has screwed more people in his thirty years than Blaine could even dream of. He found his on his eighteenth birthday actually. One of the girls that his friend brought along to his eighteenth birthday bash had ended up having sex with him after they both had a few drinks. She ended up moaning, making Cooper practically keel over with the breathless feeling. Blaine didn't want to know any more than that.

He doesn't know what to call them though. Yes, they are married, but his soulmate, Lila, most of the time can't stand Cooper, because he is kind of an idiot when it comes to women. She was currently eight months pregnant with twins, so Blaine wouldn't be seeing them this Christmas season. Which, left him in Ohio with only his parents. It was meant to be a disaster

His parents were soulmates too, but they couldn't stand each other. They've broken up so many times it could be a world record. James, his father, was an alcoholic, and he drove his mother mad. She's thrown his shit, along with her wedding ring out the door and into the driveway way too many times, but when it came to signing divorce papers, they both always chickened out and by the looks they gave each other while telling their kids, Blaine can guess they went home and had some make-up sex, which disgusts him to no end.

For them, his mom heard his father yell at one of his employees while she was shopping for mangos and she had dropped the mango and got that butterfly feeling. Blaine calls it foreshadowing, Pam calls it true love.

James always asked him if he'd met a nice girl to settle for instead of marrying his soulmate, but Blaine always told him it wouldn't be a girl. He knew it was a boy. It had to be. The thought of coming home to a girl and kissing her, making out with her, having sex with her, made him kind of sick. The thought of having to suck someone's clit during sex made him want to throw up. It was a boy, he knew it. It had to be. Even if James refused to accept that.

Most of his friends had also found their soulmates. Nick and Jeff found each other when they were just sixteen. Those were his closest friends from high school and Blaine prayed that it would happen while he was still in school, but it didn't. Nick heard Jeff sneeze and he claims that the air was sucked right out of him over a bloody sneeze.

David and Wes met each other in the seventh grade, but didn't figure out they were soulmates until they were eighteen. Let's just say Wes never heard David throw up until he got pass out drunk at a Warbler celebration. Not the most romantic way to find your soulmate, but after David brushed his teeth, the two spent the entire night making out in the Seven Minutes in Heaven closet. They always did like each other, enjoy each other's company more than anyone else's, but they just pushed it aside, wanting them to find each other's soulmates, until they realized they were each other's.

Blaine was beginning to think he was hopeless. He was supposed to find his soulmate two years ago and he still never got a flutter from anyone. He was always on the lookout. He would never put two earbuds in, no matter where he was, and would never turn his music up too loud when he was home, just in case they lived in the same building and he heard them in the hallway. He would even leave the window open in his apartment, hoping maybe he would hear a shout or a laugh or something from down the street and it would be his soulmate, but no. He still never found them. It was getting ridiculous.

Nick would assure him that maybe his soulmate just taking his time or getting his shit together, but Blaine didn't believe it. There was a part of him that wondered if he'd never meet his soulmate because maybe he passed away young or maybe they were different parts of the world or he was in prison or something, but his grandma told him he would have known because when she lost her husband, she felt like her heart was physically breaking and her head felt like it was turning inside out it was so painful.

Long story short, getting that question from his mother hurt every time and when she asked it that night, again, it still hurt just like it had before, only maybe a little more because he was a year older and another year without his soulmate, who was doing God knows what.

"Blaine, will you go make some popcorn for us?" Pam asks from the top of the steps. "That is if you want to watch the movie with us," She adds gingerly, with the same guilt tripping voice that always worked on her sons and husband.

"Yeah! I will Mom!" Blaine calls, getting up from the couch and heading to the large kitchen, passing his father on the way, who was walking back to where Blaine got up from.
As he grabs the kernals from the cupboard and tosses them in the microwave, he can hear the water running upstairs in the master bathroom, his mother getting ready for their movie. The singer pulls down a bowl from one of the cabinets and takes the appropriate toppings for their snack.

Pam made a large meal for dinner, but they had it early like normal, around two o'clock and it was now eight, so they had time to adjust and digest their meal. As he waits for the microwave, he pulls out his phone, scrolling aimlessly through his Facebook to busy himself. After living in New York for three years, Ohio was boring and unexciting.
A ring of the doorbell made him look up.

"I'll get it, it's probably the carolers," His dad grumbles, just as his wife joins him, now dressed in her satin, light pink pajamas. Blaine rolls his eyes. The carolers never were really good, but his dad still always left them a generous donation, but Blaine's sure it's just to make them go away. His mother loved them though, loving to get in the Christmas spirit.

He hears the door open just as the timer for the popcorn goes off. Blaine hears some talking while he dumps the popcorn into a large bowl and grabs a few kernels on his way back to the living room, hoping to avoid the whole caroler thing in its entirety. When they start singing, Blaine's right behind his parents, tossing a kernel in the air and catching it with his mouth.

"We wish you a merry Christmas," As soon as the first line is out, Blaine's breath hitches in his throat and he feels dizzy, causing him to drop the popcorn with a clatter to the floor. He holds onto the banister for support, his vision starting to go blank. His mother and father, and even the carolers stop to look at the boy, who was still gaining his balance.

He felt different. He felt complete. Is this the feeling he was supposed to feel? The feeling he has waited so goddamn long for.

"Blaine, are you-" His mother starts, but Blaine interupts her, snapping his head towards the array of people in their doorway.

"Keeping singing. Don't stop," He was crying. Tears were rushing down his cheeks as he walked over the popcorn pieces and cracked bowl to get to the doorway, not even caring that his dad would bitch about it later.

"Blaine-" James starts, but Blaine shakes his head.

"No, please, continue," He looks around desperately at the group. A young, short brunette,a man with curly, auburn hair, a freakishly tall boy in the back, standing next to a blonde haired girl around his age as well, who was visibly pregnant, even with her bulky coat on. A man with dark hair and an arm wrapped around the blonde's waist. Beside them were two girls, one with Mexican or some kind of hispanic heritage and another blonde, but this one was taller and skinnier. Lastly, there was a boy with chesnut hair, pulled into a coif that had snowflakes covering it. The boy was tall and slender, but bundled up was an Alexander McQueen scarf and a black peacoat. He had stunning blue eyes, bluer than any ocean Blaine's ever seen for himself.

The brunette is the one who starts singing again.

"We wish you a merry Christmas," She sings again, causing a few others to speak up and start singing again, but Blaine had his eyes locked on the chestnut haired boy, who doesn't starting singing until the second verse. As soon as he does, he almost faints.

"Twenty years," Blaine whispers, tears stinging the back of his eyes.

"Blaine, what is this about?" James asks, putting his hand on his son's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your guy's names," Blaine swallows, trying to act casual, but he had already blown that one.

"What?" The chesnut boy furrows his brow, clearly appalled.

"Your group name, the name of your group," Blaine clarifies, clearing out his throat awkwardly, he all the sudden felt very strange and out of place.

"We're the New Directions," The brunette says with a small smile.

"Holy shit,"

"Blaine," His mother whispers, scolding her son.

"Sorry, you- you guys are just really good. I'm blown away," He tries to cover.

"You've heard us singing a verse," The tall teen says, scrunching his brow. Blaine laughs gingerly, quickly feeling awkward once more.

"What is your problem, Hobbit?"

"Santana!" The brunette scolds, glaring back at her. The girl, Santana, just roll her eyes.

"I-um. Don't stop. I'm sorry," Blaine shakes his head, clearing out his throat and, turning back around to go back to the kitchen.

"I'm sorry about him. I don't understand what's gotten in to him," He hears Pam say with a soft chuckle.

"It's okay, Mrs. Anderson," He hears another voice, probably the older man with the curly hair. As Blaine is in the kitchen, pacing he about slaps himself.

He's waited twenty years for his soulmate and he's just going to leave with not even a name? What was he supposed to do though? Ask a random stranger for a name a number? No, that would be insane, especially after that stunt. Maybe he was imagining it. Maybe it wasn't the chestnut haired boy at all. No, it had to be.

"Here," His dad says and Blaine knows he's pulling out some cash. When he hears them start to say goodbye, Blaine yells from the kitchen.

"Wait!" He cries, before he even knows what he's saying. He runs back out the doorway, to see the group start towards the steps of their porch. "Don't go!" He says again, but instantly covers his mouth with his hand. He did not just say that.

"Blaine, what the hell the matter with you? Who raised you?" His father practically screeches. Blaine tries to ignore him though.

"I-I-uh," He didn't think this far ahead. "Um-"

"I'm sorry, guys. We'll see you next year," Pam says, shaking her head at her son's behavior. He was acting like an idiot.

"Can I-um, do you take step ins?" Blaine says, his heart beating a million miles an hour.

"What?" The pregnant blonde asks, scrunching her brow with confusion.

"Yeah, we do," The curly haired man says, a small smile forming on his face, almost as if he knew something no one else did.

"Do you mind if I join?" Blaine clears his throat.

"No, go ahead," The curly haired man says.

"Awesome," Blaine spins around, slipping into his a pair of boots and his coat as the group starts down the walkway, all of them a little confused.

"Blaine, where the hell are you going?" Pam asks.

"I'll be back tonight," Blaine promises, giving his mom a quick hug, but not before whispering. "I found him,"

She gasps loudly at her words a hand going to cover her mouth. Luckily, the group didn't hear him. He shuts the door behind him as he hurries down the steps and slots himself next to the chesnut haired boy.

"Well, Blaine. I'm Will," The curly haired man says before pointing to the brunette and crazy tall guy. "This is Finn and Rachel. Then there's Quinn and Puck," He points to the expecting couple. "There's Santana and Brittany," He points to the tall blonde and hispanic woman. "And lastly, we have Kurt," He points to the chesnut haired boy.

Kurt

It was perfect. The perfect name. Blaine can't help but smile.

"You do sing, right?" Santana asks, scrunching her brow at the boy and that's when he realizes her and Brittany were holding hands.

"Yeah, I sang in the Warblers at Dalton for three years. Their leading man," he says proudly.

"The Garglers?" Puck can't help but laugh at his own joke and Quinn smacks him in the chest. Blaine smiles gently.

"Sure," he shakes his head.

"We were the New Directions, original members from Lima," Rachel says with a smile, Finn's arm wrapped tight around her shoulders.

"Oh, I actually remember you guys. You guys are incredible," Blaine says and he can feel Kurt's smile on him as he talks.

"That's us," Rachel sighs with content, as if remembering the old days. "We usually have more people, but we were the only ones in Lima this year," Blaine nods with her carefully, trying to focus with knowledge that he was being checked out by Kurt.

As they walk up the steps to the next house, Kurt whispers.

"It's basically just Mary Did You Know, Jingle Bells, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas," He says and Blaine smiles, ignoring the blush creep up on his cheeks.

"Got it," Blaine says as Will rings the doorbell.

"Coming!" They hear from the other side of the door. As soon as the door is opened, Rachel starts them out on We Wish You a Merry Christmas. Blaine opens his mouth to sing, trying to be heard.

As the first line is sang, Kurt has to grab onto Finn to steady himself, almost falling backwards on the steps. The first row ignores him, not seeing him, but Finn and Blaine see, having to steady him, both of their voice stopping.

"Holy shit," Kurt whispers under his breath. Blaine swallows, a blush creeping up on his face.

"Twenty-one years," He whispers. Blaine smiles gently, relief washing over him. A part of him was worried that Kurt would be his soulmate, but he wouldn't be Kurt's. In an instant, Kurt slips his hand through Blaine's and squeezes. The feeling send chills down his spine and he swears there was electricity.

"Dude, are you okay?" Finn whispers.

"Awesome," Kurt replies, clearing out his throat awkwardly. They both try to focus on singing through the song, but they couldn't, they had just found each other, they couldn't focus on a silly Christmas tune.

When they finally finish with that house, the group goes one way, but Kurt tugs Blaine the other way.

"Kurt, where are you going?" Santana asks, furrowing his brow.

"I'll meet you back at my house," Kurt calls, ignoring their questions and instead just leading Blaine down the side walk. They walk in silence, their hands still locked together until they reach the end of the street, hitting the park which was usually filled with children.

Kurt leads them to an empty picnic table, sliding in and expecting Blaine to do the same, which he does.

"You're my soulmate," Kurt chokes on a sob. Blaine smiles.

"And you're mine. Holy shit," He whispers, covering his mouth with his hand.

"What do we do now?" Kurt asks, his smile fading with confusion, not really knowing where to go after this.

"Tell me about yourself, even the stupid things. What's your middle name, where do you live, who are you parents, who's your favorite musician, and movie and song, and most importantly, how did you get that Alexander McQueen scarf, it's impeccable," Blaine chuckles.

"You know Alexander McQueen!?" Kurt gasps. Blaine nods with a light chuckle.

"We are soulmates," He laughs with teary eyes.

The night goes by way too fast. Blaine learns that his middle name is Elizabeth, named after his mother who died when he was eight and his dad owns a tire and lube shop in Lima, while he goes to school at NYADA, majoring in Fashion Designing, and that Finn is his step-brother. Kurt learns that Blaine has a brother named Cooper, he going to NYU, majoring in Musical Theatre, he's a Katy, and that his birthday is February 5th.

They spend the night getting to know each other, just by telling each other about themselves, making jokes about living in Ohio, and talking about their goals and what they want in their personal lives.

"Shit, it's one o'clock in the morning," Blaine says, checking the time on his phone.

"Oh my God. I am so sorry," Kurt says. "I don't have my phone. The group is probably freaking out,"

"No, don't apologize. It's okay, really. I've enjoyed this," Blaine smiles.

"Me too," Kurt smiles, a blush creeping up on his neck.

"Do you wanna go back to my place? I can grab my keys and I can take you back to Lima?"

"Blaine, that's almost a two hour drive,"

"I know, but I want to. This is really just an excuse to spend more time with you," Blaine chuckles nervously, making Kurt smile and hang his head.

"Okay," He nods, getting out from the bench as does Blaine, who opens his hand for the other man. Kurt happily laces their fingers together and Blaine tugs him back to his house.

"This actually happened. I just met you and now I'm going to meet your parents. What the hell," Kurt scoffs, shaking his head with disbelief.

"I know, this all seems to be happening crazy fast," Blaine replies. "You can wait outside while I get my keys if you want,"

"No, it's fine. I'll go in with you," Kurt assures him, allowing Blaine to pull him up the porch steps and through the door.

The popcorn from earlier had been swept up with no trace it ever happened, making Blaine feel a little bit bad that he didn't clean it up before he left.

"Mom? Dad?" Blaine calls, releasing Kurt's hand long enough to grab his keys from the hook.

"In here!" Pamela calls from the living room. Blaine beckons for Kurt to follow him until they're in the doorway of the room. The pair were sitting on the couch together, James's arm wound tight around her shoulders and Pam leaning into her husband, her feet up on the end of the couch.

"How was-" James starts, but stops when he noticed Kurt was there too.

"Mom, Dad, this is Kurt. He-uh-he's my soulmate," Blaine says awkwardly. Feeling the tension, Blaine reached over and took Kurt's hand his own, squeezing tightly. Kurt practically melted.

"Oh my God! Hi!" Pam instantly sits up, brushing popcorn from her pajamas and getting to her feet. She hurried over to the pair, shaking hands with Kurt, who was smiling, while Blaine had a blush creeping up on his cheeks.

"Hi," Kurt breathes, a little overwhelmed. James remained on the couch, a small, but obviously fake smile on his face.

"Well, I'm going to drive Kurt home. He lives in Lima, so I won't be back for a few hours," Blaine says, going to make a move towards the door, but Pam cleared her throat.
"Sweetie, I think you're forgetting something," She says, looking up at the doorway. Blaine's face falls and Kurt's eyes widen when they both notice the mistletoe hanging above the two.

"Oh," They both say at the same time. They look down from the ceiling before meeting each other's eyes. Blaine starts to speak, but Kurt cuts him off by crashing his lips into Blaine's. At first, Blaine's taken aback, but is soon kissing back and it felt like fireworks had just gone off. Kurt's lips were perfect. They were sweet and soft and everything he could have ever imagined.

They pull back, both remembering where they were.

"Fireworks," Blaine breathes, his voice small as they stared at each other. A blush creeps up on Kurt's cheeks at his words and he ducks his head.

"Come on, my dad will be wondering where I am," Kurt says. Blaine nods his head, letting Kurt start for the door. "It was nice meeting you Mr. and Mrs. Anderson," He calls.

"You too, Honey!" Pam says happily right before the door closed and Blaine led them to his Toyota in the driveway. They climb into their respective seats and are on their way to Lima within a few minutes.

"This all seems so surreal," Kurt admits, shaking his head from the passenger seat, a small, hesitant smile on his face. They were almost there. The ride was not silent. They continued to talk while Kurt shuffled through the CDs in Blaine's center console to get a good idea of what kind of person his soulmate was. Blaine tears his eyes away from the snowy road briefly to look at his-what was he? Were they boyfriends? Were they just friends? Blaine didn't really understand how all of this worked. He looked at him anyway for a second.

"I know," The man agrees.

"This morning I had lost hope on finding my soulmate. I was ready to give up and now here I am with you sitting right next to me, cute as ever," He chuckles.

"Same actually. I always hated the holidays because I would come home and my parents would keep asking me about my soulmate. I contemplated just bringing a friend from school and passing her as my soulmate,"

"Her?" Krut scrunches his brow.

"My dad does not like the fact that I'm gay, but I'm sure you'll learn that the more time we spend together," At his words, a small blush creeps up on Kurt's face, suddenly feeling like a teenager again.

"So, we're going to try this? We're really going to try it?"

"Of course," Blaine nods his head, looking quickly to his soulmate and reaching over to squeeze his hand tightly, resting them on the center console.

"Awesome," He says softly. He looks away from Blaine's profile to study the road. "It's right up here," He says nodding towards the quaint, white house sitting on the corner. Blaine releases Kurt's hand to pull into the driveway, pulling up beside a beat-up pick-up truck. Kurt unbuckles his seat belt and it's strange again, not really knowing what to do.

"Do you want to come in?" Kurt asks, hope in his voice. Blaine whips his head towards the man.

"Yeah, I'd love to," He says a little too quickly. They both laugh at that, Kurt from amusement and Blaine from a little embarrassment. Blaine switches off the car and Kurt waits for him to get out before meeting in the front of the Toyota, following him inside.

"Don't let my dad intimidate you. He's really just a teddy bear," Kurt assures him, lacing their fingers together as he pushed the door open. A gruff looking bald man is quickly on his feet along with Finn (?) and another woman with light, short hair looking tiny compared to both the men.

"Kurt!" The man, that Blaine thinks is his dad, worries. "No call, no text, nothing. All if get from Finn is that you went with some short hobbit,"

"Dad!" Kurt screeches, squeezing Blaine's hand tightly to let him know he's not a hobbit. "I'm fine and he's right here," Kurt replies, kicking the door closed with his foot, pulling Blaine inside. The man eyes him up and down. "Blaine, this is my dad, Burt, and he's just protective, and dad this is Blaine, my soulmate," He can't help but smile at his words and Blaine ducks his head to hide his blush.

"Oh," Burt says, his face relaxing and the other woman lets out a small gasp.

"Hi, I'm Carole," She says, moving so she can shake Blaine's hand. Blaine chuckles lightly. "I'm Kurt's step-mom,"

"Blaine," He introduces, shaking her hand tightly with a charming smile.

"Soulmate? I always thought your soulmate would be taller," Finn says, scrunching his brow. Kurt rolls his eyes.

"No everyone can be a giant like you, Finn," He grumbles, removing his coat and hanging it up.

"I'm Burt, Kurt's dad,"

"Hi, Sir. It's nice to meet you," Blaine says, shaking his hand firmly, suddenly feeling nervous around the man.

"None of the Sir crap. Call me Burt," He says with a small smile, which relaxes Blaine's shoulders slightly and he manages a small smile.

"Thank you, S-Burt," He corrects.

"It's kind of late, where are you coming from, Blaine?" Burt asks, checking the clock. He was right it was almost three in the morning by now.

"Westerville, which reminds me. I should probably get going. It was-"

"No, you're not driving home in that crap. We have a guest bedroom, why don't you take that," Burt offers.

"It's really no problem, Sir. I can-"

"Blaine, you look exhausted and I don't want you getting into an accident, and I told you, none of that sir crap, okay?"

"Right," Blaine manages a small smile, his heart warming. Kurt tugs on his coat and Blaine obliges, slipping it off, so Kurt can hang it up with the others.

"We're heading to bed. Kurt can show you the room," Burt says, patting Blaine's shoulder and squeezing Kurt's on his way up to bed, following Carole and Finn following them.

"Wow. Your family is nice," Blaine says, slipping off his shoes as well, as does Kurt. Kurt smiles, taking Blaine's hand in his own, squeezing tightly. "I should go call my parents,"

"In a minute," Kurt says, wrapping his arms around his neck and pressing their lips together. That was their second kiss and it was better than the first. Blaine chuckles, his hands instinctively resting on Kurt's hips. "I'm so happy you're here," Kurt sighs happily.

"Me too," Blaine breathes, relishing in the scent of his soulmate.

"We'll talk more in the morning," Kurt says, pecking the man's lips again, unable to get enough of his sweet taste before leading him up the stairs and to the last room on the right. It wasn't the guest bedroom, but it was probably Kurt's room. There were a few suitcases scattered across the room to show he was only here for a little bit. He reaches into one of the black suitcases and pulls out a pair of pajama bottoms and an old t-shirt, laying them into Blaine's palms.

"I don't think jeans are very comortable to sleep in," Kurt winks, going right across the hall to an empty bedroom. This must be the guest room. Blaine lays the clothes on the end of the bed. "there's extra blankets in the closet if you need them by the way and I'm right across the hall," Kurt sighs with content, a small smile on his face that really hasn't left his face ever since their first kiss back in Westerville.

"Thank you, Kurt," Blaine smiles.

"Of course," Kurt says, taking a few steps closer to the man. "Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning," He says awkwardly. Blaine leans forward, pressing a soft kiss to his thin lips.

"Yes, you will,"