The Angel Tree
Talk to someone new.
Kurt thought about his and his dad's December challenge as he knocked the snow off his boots on the scratchy rug just inside McKinley's main entrance. The challenges had started two years ago as a New Year's resolution, and turned into one of Kurt's favorite traditions with his father. On the first of every month, they randomly selected an activity that would push them to try new things and better themselves. This month, he was to talk to someone he'd never gotten to know before.
It would be easy enough to strike up a conversation with a stranger at work, but his dad probably wouldn't let him consider a brief chat with a patron at the library as fulfilling the challenge. Plus, Kurt didn't like to cut corners. But who could he talk to that he didn't already know that was worth knowing? Most kids at McKinley were useless cretins.
Two inches of snow had unexpectedly fallen overnight, and Kurt was running late to school because he hadn't allowed himself enough time to brush off his car. He walked through the door to History just as the final bell rang, snowflakes still glistening in his perfectly swept hair. Mercedes smiled at him when he slid into the desk next to her and squeezed her arm in a silent hello.
Christmas was still two weeks away, but the spirit was in the air and the students were antsy and finding it difficult to attend to classes.
"Good morning," greeted Mrs. Rowe cheerily. "First things first, I'd like to point out the growing pile of donations we've collected so far for our adopted family. If you haven't yet brought in anything, I encourage you to do so."
One of the boneheaded jocks in the back scoffed.
"Why would I give up my hard earned money to give to a poor ass family? A couple of gift cards and some food aren't going to stop them from wearing shitty off-brand clothes and smelling like a stray dog. Right, Anderson?" he threw an evil look over his shoulder to a dark haired boy in the corner who blushed a brilliant red and sank down in his chair.
The teacher scolded the jock and went on about how he was now the inspiration for their new assignment, a project on poverty in America.
Kurt had difficulty turning his eyes away from Blaine, the boy who the jock had embarrassed. They'd never spoken, but Kurt knew from sharing multiple classes with him that Blaine was a sweet, quiet kid who mostly kept to himself. The other kids made fun of him with regularity, but it wasn't malicious like it had been to Kurt his freshman and sophomore years. Kurt had noticed Blaine, but had never taken the time to really look at him. He hadn't realized that Blaine was good looking. Painfully, unassumingly attractive. He absently wondered if Blaine was gay, but quashed that thought, because if he was, the idiots at their school would never leave him alone.
"Kurt?" Mercedes was calling to him.
"Sorry, what?" He blinked at her, realizing that the class had broken into a chatter and had begun to move about.
"Mrs. Rowe said to find a partner to start brainstorming ideas for the poverty project."
"Oh," he said. He and Mercedes always partnered up for the class.
Talk to someone new.
Kurt's eyes wandered back to Blaine's corner where he sat quietly, waiting to be approached by a potential partner and looking quite invisible.
"I think I'm going to work with Blaine," he told his best friend.
She gave him a weird look, but shrugged and turned to the girl on her other side instead.
Kurt walked purposefully to where Blaine sat, but still, Blaine looked like he expected Kurt to keep going. Kurt wasn't the epitome of popularity by any means, but he had all of his glee club friends. His heart went out to Blaine, whom he'd only ever seen talking to one kid before. It must be so lonely.
"Blaine?" Kurt asked, drawing his attention. The boy looked a little disoriented at being spoken to. Close up, Kurt could see that Blaine's yellow polo shirt was worn and his jeans were fraying at the hems, and that his unruly curls were trying, but failing to stay in place. He could see the swirl of colors in Blaine's hazel eyes and the sharp, strong cut of his jaw with just a hint of teenage stubble. How had Kurt never really seen him before? "Would you work with me on this project?"
A flash of surprise crossed Blaine's face before he carefully controlled his expression. Kurt could tell he was evaluating him to see if it was some kind of joke, but he must have found he sincerity he was looking for, because he nodded.
"Sorry if it seems a little random that I'd ask to work with you. I'm supposed to be getting to know someone new, and I really want that person to be you."
Blaine blushed to the neck, clearly surprised but maybe secretly pleased that Kurt even knew who he was. "You do?"
Kurt smiled and nodded, pulling out his notebook. "So, do you have any ideas for the project?"
"Actually, I do…"
Blaine was shy, but Kurt found it so endearing, He was extremely smart, too, and it was fascinating to listen to his honey voice explain his thoughts.
By the end of the period, they had a good start on the project, and had agreed to work on it more in their study hall that afternoon.
"Kurt?" Mercedes asked, shaking his shoulder lightly. Kurt looked around and noticed they were the only two left in the room. Everyone, including Blaine, had cleared out while he stared.
"Sorry, lets go to lunch."
"Yeah...I see why you wanted to be his partner." She wiggled her eyebrows at him.
"Oh, shut up."
"Hey, Blaine!" Kurt said, sliding into the seat next to him later that day.
"Hi. That's a really nice coat. Where did you find one? I heard they were supposed to be really expensive." Blaine bit his lip and looked down, as if he hadn't meant to say so much.
"Oh, this?" Kurt thrilled inside. Maybe Blaine was gay if he knew a designer coat when he saw one. "This is my luckiest find of my life. It was in a thrift store for twenty dollars. Someone must have donated it as soon as it was out of season."
Blaine's posture immediately straightened at the idea that Kurt shopped in thrift stores.
"I make most of my clothes myself," he continued. "But sometimes I find gems like this. Sorry. I'm rambling on about clothes and you probably couldn't care less."
Blaine smiled for the first time and it went straight to Kurt's heart. Smiling looked good on him.
"Oh, thanks," Blaine said in a choked, shocked voice. His face was scarlet, and oh, shit.
"Did I say that aloud? Forget I said anything. I swear I didn't ask to be your partner to hit on you and make you uncomfortable."
Blaine just chuckled. "I do care about clothes, by the way." He went quiet for a moment. "I know it doesn't seem that way from what I wear…"
"No, I can tell. I don't know many guys who could compliment the accents of that bow tie so well."
"Hummel, what are you doing with Anderson?" asked Rick the Stick, rounding on their desks. "His poorness might rub off on you. That's almost as bad as your gayness."
"He's working with me on a project," Blaine mumbled quietly, looking at his lap.
"We're friends, you uncultured swine," Kurt rebutted. "But you wouldn't know about that, since you don't have friends, only lackeys. Now go to practice and take a puck to the face."
When Rick walked away defeated, Kurt turned back to Blaine, who was looking more confident and had a laugh in his eyes.
Yeah, Blaine had been the right person to pick for the challenge.
"How's it going?"
"Great, Dad. There's a sweet boy from school who's normally really quiet and I asked to be his partner for class. But I can tell we're going to be friends, too. How is it going for you?"
"Good."
"That's just cryptic enough for me to want to pry. Who is it?"
"It's a lady."
Kurt raised his eyebrow. "A lady as in a lady?"
"Maybe."
Kurt tilted his head to the side, urging his father to elaborate.
"I hope so," Burt grumbled in embarrassment.
"Yes!" Kurt cheered.
"Hey now, maybe there will be two of us with dates at the end of this."
Kurt's cheeks flushed. "I hope so."
Kurt was working at the library the first time he saw Blaine without a planned meeting.
Blaine approached him at the front desk, a hesitant smile on his face.
"Hi. You come here to study a lot, don't you?"
"You've seen me?" Blaine sounded surprised.
"Of course. You always sit there," he pointed to a table in the corner. "The girls may or may not call it the 'cute boy table'."
Blaine coughed to hide the choking noise he made.
"So, um...What are you working on?"
"Oh this?" Kurt held up a sheet of notebook paper, completely covered in his scrawl. "It's my Christmas list."
Blaine's eyes widened. "Your family will get you all of that for Christmas?"
"No, of course not," Kurt laughed. "It's just my dad and me, and he saves up all year to be able to buy me one or two things off my list. I can't help that I have expensive tastes. I need to give him options."
Blaine chuckled, suddenly less tense. "You're ridiculous," he said fondly.
A patron came up behind Blaine, so he excused himself so Kurt could continue working.
While he worked, he admired the library's angel tree, which he had finished decorating earlier in the week. It was now ready for people to peruse to find the perfect family to adopt for the holidays.
Kurt also kept sneaking glances at Blaine, who was doing homework at his usual table. The more he got to know the quiet, guarded boy, the harder it was to believe he didn't have any friends.
Blaine was witty and funny and intelligent, and Kurt wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.
An hour later, Blaine packed his things away, stood, then eyes darting around, took a few steps over to the angel tree. He picked up a bell-shaped tag and turned it over. With a carefully controlled expression, he set it back on the branch and walked away, toward Kurt.
"See you tomorrow in school."
"See you," Kurt responded. For the first time in a long time, he looked forward to going to school.
The after school routine was the same every day. Blaine came in, chatted with Kurt, then went to his table to study. And every day before he left, he checked the same tag on the increasingly bare angel tree, looking more and more disappointed each day.
By the end of the week, Kurt's curiosity got the best of him, and after Blaine left, he went to read the tag Blaine always checked.
Mom, Dad, Boy (16)
"Oh my god," Kurt whispered. It suddenly made sense. Blaine's guardedness, the taunting at school, his obsession with the tag.
Kurt all but ripped the tag off the tree and ran home.
"Dad!" he called once inside the house. "Dad!"
"What's wrong?" An alarmed Burt peeked out of the living room.
"Throw away my Christmas list," he demanded, out of breath.
"Why? Did you realize that something you wanted was out of season?" Burt teased.
Kurt held out his palm with the angel tree tag inside.
"It's Blaine's family. I don't want anything this year. I want to adopt them instead."
Burt's eyes filled with pride. "Done."
On Monday, Blaine went to check for his tag on the tree and couldn't find it in its usual place. His eyebrows knit together as he searched for it, but when he had checked all those that remained and not found it, he straightened out with a small, grateful smile.
Kurt's smile was bigger.
"What is your family doing for the holidays?" Kurt asked Blaine, whom he'd found sitting alone at lunch and had decided to accompany. They had forged a tight friendship over the past week and a half. Kurt wasn't sure about Blaine, but he felt he'd finally found someone he could truly be himself with, even more so than with Mercedes.
Blaine looked up, slightly surprised that someone was sitting with him. He gave Kurt a wide grin, then went back to absently picking at his school lunch. "We're not really in a position to do anything special. My mom is sick, and we don't have the means to travel. We will probably just spend time together. My brother might come in from California, and my dad and I will definitely watch the Buckeyes play in their bowl game. But thats all."
"That sounds nice and relaxing." Kurt frowned, afraid to ask his next question. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but what happened to your family that put you in such a tough place?"
Blaine no longer hesitated before opening up to Kurt as he once had. "A series of unfortunate events, really. And no, I don't mean the book series." Kurt laughed at the cheesy joke. "A couple years ago I was in the hospital, and the bills stacked up. Then a few months later, we lost everything in a house fire. And now, just in October, my mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer."
"Oh wow, you weren't kidding. I'm sorry you've had to go through all of that."
Blaine shrugged, throwing down the remainder of his turkey sandwich.
"If you don't mind me asking, why were you in the hospital?" Kurt's voice was soft and curious, and Blaine's eyes lifted, the ghost of traumatic memories floating there.
"I was bullied at my old school, and one day it got out of control and I was beat up after a school dance."
Kurt tensed his arm to keep from reaching out to grab Blaine's hand. Instead, he leaned his body in slightly so their shoulders were touching. He hoped it was comforting. "Why would anyone do that to you?"
Blaine's laugh was humorless. "Why do those jerks throw slushies at you and throw you into dumpsters?"
Kurt's head whipped to the side to stare at his new friend. "Wait, you're…?"
"Gay? Yep. You really didn't know? You thought I just blushed every time you made a comment that could be construed as flirty for no reason?" Blaine threw a teasing smile at Kurt, who looked amazed and relieved.
"I mean I thought, but I wasn't sure. Nobody at school knows."
"Excuse me if I'm not eager to have a repeat of past events." Blaine's comment came out softer than he intended.
"That's not what I—I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to pass judgment." This time Kurt did grab Blaine's hand under the table. It grasped back tightly.
"No, I know you weren't. And I'm not really trying to hide my sexuality, I just haven't had a reason to reveal it at McKinley."
"So if you were to have...a reason, you wouldn't have a problem being out?"
Blaine's blush matched Kurt's. "Not at all."
"You come here every day after school," Kurt said, joining Blaine at his regular table in the library.
"Yes," Blaine confirmed absently. They'd already covered the topic.
"There aren't any extracurriculars you're involved in?"
Blaine frowned. "I have to study hard to get a full scholarship to a good college."
"So there's nothing you're interested in?" Kurt pushed.
"Leave it, Kurt," Blaine said shortly. He'd never been so snappy with Kurt in their short friendship.
Kurt sat back in his chair in surprise, observing Blaine's body language, watching as he went from rigid and angry to looser and more open. Eventually he looked up at Kurt apologetically.
"I'm sorry. It's a sensitive subject."
"Don't apologize. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."
"Maybe that's exactly why I do." Blaine appraised Kurt like he was understanding something for the first time. "I used to play piano and sing, and I boxed. But all of my things were lost in the fire, so that was the end of it."
"Oh." Kurt looked thoughtful. "I have a piano at home. Would you play for me sometime?"
Blaine smiled sadly. "I'm not sure if I could."
"Okay, then maybe I can sing for you," he offered, putting joy back on Blaine's face.
"That would be lovely."
Kurt closed the library's back door behind his father and stood back to take in the collection of gifts they'd purchased for the Andersons. Between Kurt chipping in from his savings account and Burt using Kurt's Christmas money, they'd been able to afford more than they'd expected. It brought tears to their eyes.
"It's going to make their holiday very happy," Burt said, clapping Kurt's shoulder.
"I just hope they like it."
"I guarantee they've never had a more thoughtful, generous gift. You know...I've never told you this, but the Christmas after your mother passed, the garage was struggling, and I didn't know if I'd be able to give you the holiday you deserved. A few people from the community came together to help out, and I've never been more grateful. It's hard at first to accept help, but when you open yourself up to the kindness of others, the things you can do together are endless."
"So it's kind of full circle?"
"Exactly."
Kurt was bouncing up and down in his seat all day at school. It was the last day before break, and his and Burt's angel tree gift was supposed to be delivered just before Blaine got home from school.
Kurt had come up with an excuse to go home with Blaine so he could see his reaction, and he could hardly wait.
The second the bell rang signaling the end of the day, he walked so quickly to Blaine's locker that they nearly collided.
"Whoa, there," Blaine laughed.
"Sorry, just excited to get home and start my holiday traditions with Dad. Is it still okay if I come grab my sweater from your house first?"
Blaine nodded. He followed Kurt out to his car, chattering excitedly all the way.
He gave directions to Kurt as he drove, and when their hands brushed in the space between their seats, Blaine boldly held on and refused to let go, much to Kurt's joy.
Blaine's parents were both home, since his mom had a chemotherapy session earlier that morning, and she was in tears.
Blaine rushed over to the living room and hugged his mom. "Mama, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly.
"Nothing is wrong," she said shakily. "Look, Blaine."
Blaine turned his head to the pile of gifts in the middle of the room that he had somehow missed.
His mouth fell open as he stumbled toward them. A punching bag and new gloves. A keyboard and sheet music book. A set of tickets to the OSU bowl game. A gift certificate to a nearby spa, and many smaller items.
"A true angel found our family on the tree, baby," she whispered.
Only one person could have done this.
Blaine's heart tugged toward Kurt, but when he turned around, tears glistening in his eyes, the angel was gone.
The day after Christmas, Kurt finally reached out to Blaine after not hearing from him for days. They agreed to meet up at Kurt's house.
"Blaine!" Kurt hugged him excitedly.
"It's only been a few days, you weirdo," Blaine teased, but he hugged back harder.
"How was your Christmas?" Kurt asked, pulling him into the kitchen for hot cocoa.
"It was beyond belief." Blaine's voice was quiet. He caught Kurt's hand and squeezed. "Thank you, Kurt."
"I have no idea what you mean," he said, but his lips quirked up at the corners. "Nobody deserved it more."
Blaine hugged him once again.
"The angel tree gifts were amazing, but the best present of all is your friendship."
"I guess we actually have my dad to thank for that," Kurt laughed.
"Speaking of your dad, did he get you the boots you wanted?" Blaine asked, taking a sip of his cocoa.
"Uh…" Kurt toyed with the end of his scarf. "No. Not this year."
Blaine quickly realized what Kurt meant.
"You gave them up? For me?"
"I didn't give up anything. I gained so much more than boots could ever give me."
Blaine grabbed his face and pulled him in close.
"What are you doing?" Kurt's voice was breathless.
"You didn't have much, but you gave it to me. I have nothing, but I want to share it with you."
Blaine leaned in and kissed Kurt softly on the lips, with a sharp intake of breath. Kurt's arms wound around Blaine's shoulders to keep him in place. He never wanted to stop kissing him.
When they broke apart, Kurt shook his head with a smile.
"It's not nothing. It's better than any gift I could have asked for. Merry Christmas, Blaine."