AN: I got the general idea for this one from Dirty Santa ( s/6569650/1/) but the stories aren't the same. Read Dirty Santa too because it's really good.

Phew, that was fun. I just finished singing "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Kurt. He has such a fantastic voice and our voices blend together so well it's amazing. It's also a lot of fun to sing with him. I mean because I love to sing and the way our voices sound together and because I love to do anything with Kurt. I'm his friend and mentor but I'd like to be more, a lot more. Kurt has had a hard time for a long time though and I don't think he'll be wanting a boyfriend any time soon. I imagine just not being bullied is enough for him right now, especially after being attacked by a Neanderthal and forcibly kissed. It would have hurt Kurt less if the other boy had hit him, he's been traumatized by something that should have been loving and sweet. I can wait for him to be ready, I believe he is totally worth it. I wish Kurt and I were singing at the Kings Island Christmas Spectacular together instead of having to sing with some girl I'm not the least bit interested in. Somehow I don't think the audience would appreciate it. Their loss, Kurt and I could blow them away with our singing. I was heading out of the lounge and some old guy was walking in. Do we have a new teacher at Dalton? He wasn't OLD old but he certainly wasn't a new student. I paused outside the door to tuck in my shirt. When Kurt and I flopped down on the couch at the end of the song my shirt back got pulled out. I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, really! But I could hear Kurt call the man by name, Mr. Schuester? Who was Mr. Schuester? Then I heard the older man ask Kurt 'Someone special?' and Kurt said 'No, just a friend but on the up side I'm in love with him and he's actually gay. I call that progress.'

After that I couldn't hear a thing due to the thundering of my heart. Kurt is in love? Wait, had the man meant me? Kurt is in love with me?! Why didn't he say something?! Do something?! I don't remember making my way to my dorm room, it was all a blur. My head was spinning. They boy I was secretly in love with was secretly in love with me! I felt like I was floating. I wanted to dance and sing and shout with joy. We were in love – together! I immediately thought of asking him out on a date. Oof, that's a scary thought. I hadn't asked anyone out ever, except that one time with my friend for the Sadie Hawkins dance. And he was really just a friend who was also gay, not a lot of pressure there. And my first date had turned out so lovely with that trip to the emergency room and all. It had made me afraid to date ever again. I had to have courage and do something about this little tidbit of information I just got. I loved Kurt and I hoped to be his boyfriend for a very long time. He's not had a pleasant time with romance and dating, and that's putting it mildly! I wanted to do this, this letting him know I love him too and do it up right. Kurt seemed to love romance so I had to make it very romantic. A special Christmas gift? A love letter? Strategically placed mistletoe? I had to do this just right. Actually at the moment I had to get to Warblers practice!

We were practicing Christmas Carols as we would be making several nursing home visits in the next few weeks before Christmas. It was on my way back to my room after practice that I noticed the poster. Dalton was having a Secret Santa this year. Any student who wanted to sign up was welcome. You'd get the name of someone to be a Secret Santa to the week before Christmas. There was a $10 limit on spending. And you'd be getting gifts from your own Secret Santa. You could reveal who you were on the last day, or not, it was up to the gift giver. It could be perfect, if I could iron out a few details! I took one of the sign up slips and filled it out noting that the person we were to give it to was one of the senior Warblers, Logan. That was perfect! Someone I knew and he could help me rig the whole thing. I doubled back to the practice room to find Logan was still there. I waited around until I could get him alone and explain what I needed and he readily agreed.

The next day's task proved to be much harder. "Morning, Kurt!" I greeted my friend cheerily.

He groaned and asked "What's so good about it?"

"Who said anything about good? I just said 'morning' and you have to admit it is morning." I teased him.

He looked like he hadn't slept well. "Oh yeah, it's morning all right. Dark and early, butt-crack-of-dawn morning."

I went through the breakfast buffet and grabbed a second cup of coffee for Kurt. He looked like he needed it. I went back to the table where most of the Warblers usually sat and took a seat next to him, setting down the extra coffee by his place. I noticed his first cup was already empty.

"Oh, you are a God send!" he exclaimed and tried to chug the coffee only to have to slow down and sip because it was piping hot.

We both had our first class in the science building so after breakfast we walked over together. Once we got in the building I glanced around looking for a Secret Santa poster and spied one near the entrance to Kurt's class. I kept just chatting with Kurt as we walked to his class and then just 'happened' to notice the poster. "Hey, Kurt, this looks like fun!" I said pointing at the poster.

Kurt looked over the poster and didn't look too enthused about it. "Maybe" he said with a shrug.

"Oh come on, Scrooge, get into the Christmas spirit!" I said brightly and took two of the sign up slips and tucked one in Kurt's chemistry textbook. I didn't want to tip my hand but everything I was planning now hinged on Kurt filling out that little white square of paper and giving it to Logan. PLEASE, Kurt, PLEASE sign up for Secret Santa! I begged silently to whatever powers might be out there willing to help. I chucked my new sign up slip in the trash as I'd already signed up.

Life went on as usual for several days except that every time I saw Logan I would look expectantly at him to answer the unasked question. And every time he gave a small shake of his head back and forth my heart fell. It was only a few more days before Secret Santas were going to be chosen. I started coming up with a Plan B. A special gift to tell Kurt that I want to be his boyfriend. I could come up with a number of really great gifts that he would love but coming up with one he'd love AND that would convey to him that I want to be more than friends was tough. Maybe I could wrap up the Secret Santa gift ideas I planned on using into one gift for him to take home instead of opening one each day the week before Christmas? I didn't like that idea as much, he'd know they were from me right away instead of wondering who was giving him these strange gifts. I wanted to watch him open them, or some of them any way, and see the puzzled look on his face. I wanted to be a fly on the wall for the opening of the last gift. I wanted to watch his face to see how he felt about everything but not have him know I was watching. I didn't want to actually be there in case he isn't as receptive as I hope he will be. What if I do this and lay my heart on the line and he rejects me and I've ruined our friendship? No, I couldn't think that way. He said to Mr. Schuester that that somebody – and I could only assume he meant me as I was the only other student I think the man had seen – was a friend and gay and he was in love with him. It HAD to be me! There was one other gay student that I knew of at Dalton but he was 2 years ahead of Kurt, and I don't think Kurt even knew who he was.

Finally, the day before Secret Santa names were handed out Kurt and I went to Warblers practice and as we entered the room I looked around for Logan. He saw me and Kurt come into the room and immediately he stood up and started milling about the room. I kept watching him out of the corner of my eye while I was chatting with Jeff next to me. Slowly, Logan made his way around the room until he was standing behind Kurt's chair. He quietly looked straight at me and smiled while giving me a quick thumbs up. Yes! Plan A is a go! No surprise the next day when there was an envelope taped to my dorm door with Kurt's name inside.

I was so busy getting my gifts ready I completely forgot that since Kurt signed up, he had his own gifts to give. He was staring off into space one afternoon instead of reading his history book when he asked me "Blaine, who did you get for Secret Santa?

I'd already figured he would ask so I had an answer ready. "Wes" I said.

"I've never done a Secret Santa before. How am I supposed to come up with 5 gifts for $10?" he asked.

"You've never done a Secret Santa before, really? It can be a lot of fun. Sometimes it can be tough coming up with gifts, especially if you don't know the person very well. Or if you get someone that isn't really trying and gets you lame gifts. You can only spend $10 cash so you have to be creative with the gifts. And it doesn't have to be one for each day of the week, you can give the person one $10 gift on the last day but if you do that you should give a homemade card on the first day so they know you haven't forgotten you're in the Secret Santa exchange. You can make gifts. I did Secret Santa with a church group I once belonged to and the person that got me made me the nicest scarf and hat from yarn she already had – $0 for a nice gift. Stuff most everyone likes is always safe – like chocolate!" I was hoping to get him a little excited about the festivities next week.

"What are you getting Wes? I need ideas!" he begged.

"Who do you have?" I asked.

"Ryan Johnson" he answered. "I hardly know who he is!"

I thought for a minute. "He's a back to nature kind of guy. I bet he'd love one of those tree gifts."

Kurt looked confused. "What's a tree gift?"

"I've seen them given as wedding favors before. You can get a tiny tree, not much more than a seedling really, in a plastic tube about this long." I said holding my hands about 8 inches apart.

"Are they under $10?" he asked.

I laughed at him. "If they give them away as wedding favors I bet you can get one for just 2 or 3 bucks! Around Dalton a money clip is also a good gift, most of us have plenty of money and we are always losing our money clips. See if you can find out from Ryan's roommate what his favorite chocolate is." There you go, three super ideas!"

MONDAY

It was finally the last week of school before Christmas. Monday morning I was up early and so nervous! I had to walk through the dorm hallway 3 times before I could manage to walk by Kurt's door when no one else was around and quickly drop his first gift outside his door and then nearly run down to breakfast lest Kurt open the door and see me.

When Kurt sat across from me with his breakfast he had his gift with him and he hadn't opened it yet. I was going to get to see his reaction. I hoped someone at the table with us, Jeff, Roger or David, knew what this gift was and could provide a little explanation. I was afraid it would look suspicious if I supplied the information. Kurt drank half his coffee before even looking at his breakfast, his companions or his neatly wrapped present. He took a bite of toast and turned to the present. He was a careful gift opener, the kind that didn't tear the paper. He lifted the little cloth drawstring bag from the box and opened it, peering inside only to see a jumble of stuff unable to be identified in the dark bag. He reached in and pulled out a bit of string. His brow furrowed. He pulled out a yellow marker, then a rubber band looking more and more confused and a fair bit disappointed.

"What you got there, Kurt?" I asked a bit loudly to get the other boys at the table to pay attention to Kurt.

He dumped the contents of the bag onto the table: a small votive candle, a penny, a puzzle piece, a pink eraser, a small bit of rope, a little plastic star, a yellow foam ball with a smiley face on it and a few marbles that went in every direction when they hit the table. "I think it's supposed to be my Secret Santa gift." he said. He looked sad. Oh, sweetie, I didn't mean to make you sad. Someone please chime in here!

Roger pointed to the bag and said "Read the piece of paper." Oh thank you Roger! May you get an A on your next exam!

Kurt looked in the bag and turned it inside out. "No paper in here."

"Oh, you have a Stupid Santa!" he said with a laugh. "There is supposed to be a piece of paper explaining each thing. I don't know what they all are for but I saw one of these once and the penny is so you are never broke and the marbles are extras for the days when you lose your marbles. It's like a friendly survival kit for daily life. I bet the smiley ball is so you will always have a smile, that kind of thing." he explained.

Kurt looked at the objects for another moment, trying to figure out what each one meant. "That's cute." he said and smiled. On the surface I was keeping up my front but inside I was heaving a big sigh of relief that the first gift went off without a hitch.

TUESDAY

Tuesday I had Logan give Kurt his gift after Warbler's practice. He asked Logan who his Secret Santa was and was promptly told it was Logan's sworn duty not to reveal any Secret Santa under pain of death! He'd said it so seriously it made us all laugh. Kurt opened the gift and shared some of the bag of Kisses with Almonds. "Ooooh my favorite!" he said. "I guess my Secret Santa does know who I am."

I decided he needed a little more information even if he took it the wrong way. "Mmmmmm sweet boy kisses are my favorite too." I said popping one in my mouth.

"What did you say?!" Kurt gasped.

"Boy Kisses, Kurt. You know, Kisses" I said pointing to the name on the bag.

"So what makes them 'boy' Kisses?" he asked warily.

I snorted trying not to laugh. "Kurt – they have nuts! Get it?"

"Oh my God, Blaine! That is awful!" he said with a laugh. "Oh, wait a minute." he said suddenly serious, "Do you think these are because I'm gay? That's mean!"

"I told you already, chocolate is a staple for Secret Santa. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that I call them Boy Kisses, I doubt many people have heard them called that. Just enjoy already!" I said as I grabbed another chocolate from the bag.