Author's Notes: Long overdue chapter, but a variety of reasons had left me unable to update before now (e.g. real work was overwhelming, laptop with all my old chapters/drafts of future chapters got stolen, just wanted to enjoy the beauty of summer, etc). Also, the lack of reviews have been a bit disheartening, but I suppose the lack of updates on my part are to blame (it's a vicious cycle really). In any case, enjoy and feel free to review as always! Song used in this chapter is pretty self-explanatory (undoubtedly cliché, but Darren's acoustic cover is just too good not to feature...just wish he sang the verses from the reprise as well though).

Twas the day after Christmas, when all through the mall
Were people who bustled, carrying gifts and all
Amidst them walked Blaine, ever pleasant and dapper
But the shoppers all urged him, "God damn, walk faster!"

Blaine paid them no heed, no worry, and no care
He was a shopper too, he had the right to stare
To look at the stuff, and think "Isn't it neat?
If I buy this bowtie my collection's complete!"

But he turned away, kept it out of his touch
Another bowtie didn't mean all that much
After all, he supposed, wasn't he the boy
The boy who was sure to have everything?

He looked at all of the stores with treasures untold
Just how many wonders can one shopping mall hold?
Looking around here he couldn't help but think
"Well shit...why does it feel like I'm missing something?

"I've got gadgets and gizmos a-plenty
I've got whozits and whatzits galore
You want thingamabobs? I've got like, way more than Ariel
But who cares? No big deal...I want more

"I wanna be with a boy who cares
I wanna see, wanna see him dancin'
Twirlin' around on those–God they're magical
Feet!

"Being alone you don't get too far
He would be perfect for holding,dancing
Strolling together down a–dare I hope it?
Street!

"Out where we'll walk, out where we'll run
Out where we'll stay all day in the sun!
Wanderin' free, wish I could be
Part of his world

"What would I give if I could live free to be with him?
What would I pay to spend a day warm in his arms?
Given the chance, we could advance
We would make our romance reality
But he's hesitatin', so I'm stuck waitin'
Ready for more!

"And ready to know what true lovers know
Ask that big question and get some answers, like
What is love and why does it, what's the word?
Hurt?

"So when's it our turn?
Don't wanna wait, wait to be brought together too late
Wish he could see, how I should be
Part of his–"
"Jesus Christ Blaine, what the hell is wrong with you? You've been standing there, staring off into space for the last ten minutes!"

Blaine snapped out of his reverie, only to shift his focus to the source of the uncouth remarks. Sure enough, the words came from none other than his brother dearest, who was eying him back with equal attentiveness.
"I'm fine Cooper, I'm just a little–"
"Nervous?" Cooper asked sarcastically. "Never would've guessed."
Blaine glared at him with annoyance. "Yeah well, you're not exactly helping."
"Oh I tried alright, but you were stressing yourself out from the beginning. You do know this is supposed to be a feel-good thing right? Not a panic attack."

Blaine opened his mouth to argue with his elder brother, but realized that Cooper was indeed correct. Ever since Winter Ball...hell, ever since Thanksgiving, Blaine had been stuck in the throes of what might be the most vexing task for any lovelorn teenager: finding the perfect Christmas gift for a crush. To say that the endeavor caused him lots of anxiety was an understatement; it was more like endless grief, constant indecisiveness, and perpetual doubt. Add to that the fact that he still hadn't found a present, even now after the fated holiday had come and gone, and it became more than just frustrating; it was downright humiliating.

How would he be able to explain the extent of his feelings, to convey his deepest emotions, if he couldn't even find a measly gift? Surely such a token of affection was just a simple (but necessary) first step before telling him, before telling Mike, just how much Blaine wanted him. So why then, couldn't he find a single object in the entire godforsaken mall that could successfully express how much the dancer meant to him? Were his thoughts so unique a message that retail stores hadn't yet created some amazing product to capture the sentiment? If so, then what was the point of having ridiculous sales for these gift-giving holidays? Nothing they offered seemed to come close to saying "You're the one for me," or "Please be mine," or even "I like you a lot but I'm afraid to say it out loud because you keep freaking out about it."

That was when Cooper came in. Literally. Sometime over the span of Winter Break and inbetween his endless rounds of angst, his older brother decided to come home for the holidays, thinking it best to randomly show up one day (complete with a theatrical entrance, confetti, and obnoxious fanfare). And the first thing he said when he saw Blaine?
"So mom's been telling me about the new guy you're seeing. What're you getting him for Christmas?"
As resentful as Blaine was about being reminded of his romantic incompetence, he willingly and quickly accepted Cooper's subsequent offer to help out. In fact, Blaine was glad that Cooper offered to help; if nothing else, he could just blame his older sibling's poor taste should Mike end up not liking the gift they chose.

And that, was how the two Anderson brothers ended up at the shopping mall, on what seemed to be the busiest day possible. Suffice it to say, any trace of post-Christmas bliss that Blaine may have carried over from the previous day had quickly vanished amidst the rampant pushing and jostling. If it weren't for the fact that he had finally, finally found a suitable present and was holding said present in hand, he might've gone berserk and decked the next person to bump into him. But alas, the weight and feel of an actual present in his hand was enough to keep him content, to subside a bit of the anxiety he'd been feeling...but only by a little bit. As it were, his brother's commentary was preventing him from basking in his well-earned relief.
"We just spent four hours being shoved around and hustled by salespeople, just to get your boyfriend...a book. Seriously?" the older Anderson asked in genuine disbelief.
"Shut up Cooper," said Blaine in a low, warning growl. "And he's not my boyfriend..."
"I know we decided on getting him something pragmatic but sentimental...but no lie, this is kind of lame. It's no better than getting him socks. Itchy, woolly socks at that."
"Shut up Coop, I mean it!"
"I mean, maybe I can see the appeal of it in the long run. But couldn't you have saved us both the time and effort by just ordering the damn thing off Amazon?"
"Coop I swear to God, if you don't–"
"Hey ain't that your lover boy over there?"

Blaine knew better than to look. Blaine knew there was no way Mike could've gotten to the mall in the 15 minutes since Blaine had texted him, telling him to come meet him there for a surprise. Blaine knew it was probably just another one of Cooper's quick-and-easy pranks, the kind which his older brother could tease him about incessantly for the next few hours. But none of that stopped Blaine from practically bending over backwards to look anyways; there was just too much instinct and wishful hoping to resist. He was immediately rewarded for it.

Out of the corner of his eyes, just a bit beyond comfortable shouting distance, bobbed a tuft of jet black hair nestled neatly inside of a navy blue parka. Said hair was also perched atop a 6' frame, that was paradoxically built, yet slender at the same time. Blaine couldn't get a good look at the face, but the way the head was scanning its periphery as if searching for someone all but confirmed who it was. There was a slight problem however: it was headed in the opposite direction, away from Blaine and towards the food court.

Without looking back or even bothering to tell Cooper where he was going, Blaine jumped forward into the throngs of people milling about. Or at least attempted to. In his mind, it seemed like the most effective way to cut through all of the shoppers separating the two of them. But the only progress he made from his sudden charge...was a couple of steps forward, before being repelled by overly enthusiastic bargain mongers. Mentally cursing Cooper's theatricality for rubbing off on him, Blaine decided to take a more logical approach: weaving in and out and through the crowds.

Weaving through the crowds, subtly sliding by big families, traipsing around the rowdy teenagers...Blaine made it all look like one elaborate dance. A fun dance at that, especially once he got in the zone and found the rhythm with which to waltz around and dodge oncoming was quite odd really, since mere moments ago he was infuriated by the sheer volume of bodies surrounding him. Yet now here he was, actually enjoying this little game, this dance with no one in particular. It was almost as if he could understand why Mike always had a spring in his step, why he was always so fond of busting out little dance moves at random.

Unfortunately, his good mood didn't last very long. Try as he might to keep an eye out for Mike, it was inevitable that he would eventually lose track of him...and at the entrance to the massive, overly crowded food court no less. Blaine grumbled to himself as he considered the possibility of entering into the war zone in front of him, but the prospect of combating food-laden customers was several levels of difficulty higher than the little game he had just finished. Plus, there was no way he was going to risk an accidental spill or food stain all over Mike's book. Not after all the effort and worrying and anxiety and grief and irritation and...no, not after all he just went through.

Blaine pulled out his phone and typed out a text with lightning precision (why he didn't think to do this in the first place, he had no idea), telling Mike to come meet him at the railing just outside of the food court. Seconds went by with no sign of Mike, so Blaine decided to send a courtesy reminder. Minutes went by with still no sign of Mike, so Blaine decided to send him another, more firmly worded reminder. Several more minutes went by with absolutely no sign of Mike, so Blaine decided to send him one final reminder, which at that point practically meant/read as "Where are you, why are you taking so long, I'm getting anxious, are you ignoring me, please don't ignore me, I kind of hate you for making me wait but I really don't, etc."

He had half the mind to call him right then and there (again, not sure why he didn't think to do that in the first place). But he assumed, or rather he hoped, that Mike had a good reason for not replying to his texts. It's not like Mike had any reason to be mad at him and ignore him today of all days. That, and they had been exchanging ever so cordial texts all break long (albeit a bit too friend-zone status for his liking), so it couldn't have been an issue with his phone either.

That left one very real and big possibility: Mike was shopping for his gift. Why else would he not be responding (...besides the fact that he was already a naturally quiet person)? Moreover, he was probably as embarrassed as Blaine was about getting a gift so last minute. If that were truly the case, Blaine didn't mind the absence of replies; he could sympathize with the feeling after all. And so he resigned himself to waiting, and doing what he always did to pass time: sing.

What would I give to live where you are?
What would I pay to stay here beside you?
What would I do to see you smiling at me?

Blaine looked around to make sure that his singing wasn't attracting unwanted attention. In reality, he didn't need to. No one could've heard him over the hum of voices all around him. His voice was too soft and quiet, almost pleadingly so. But how could it not be? How could he sound anything but gentle and full of want? The words he sang weren't a celebration of passion. Rather, the lyrics described everything he was feeling in the sincerest and purest way. They conveyed the rawest of his emotions, his most basal wishes and desires. Above all else, they carried the full weight of his longing, subtle yet more real than ever before.

He had fallen completely, thoroughly, so utterly "head over heels" for Mike in every sense of the expression, that he wasn't even embarrassed to admit it. Let Cooper tease all he wanted, there was no sense in denying the truth in the first place. After all, if there's one thing he'd learned from watching all those Disney movies, it was that it's OK to be honest about wanting something so unbearably bad. Also, that it was apparently OK to vocalize that want in song-form. And so Blaine continued to sing, daring to sound the tiniest bit more earnest than before.

Where would we walk?
Where would we run?
If we could stay all day in the sun?
Just you and me, and I could be
Part of your world

"You know," a voice called out to Blaine from behind him, causing him to visibly jump. "I don't think I've ever heard that part of the song before. Did you make up those lyrics or something?"
Blaine immediately spun around from the railing he had been leaning against, though his mind seemed to lag a step behind. "M–Mike!" he said with a slight stutter, like it had actually taken him that long to register whose face he was looking at.
Mike's face brightened, as if he enjoyed seeing how nervous Blaine was. "Yes?"
"I uh–well I mean it's, the song that is, it's definitely from the movie," Blaine said as his brain slowly began to recover from the initial surprise. "It's from the scene after the storm, after Ariel rescues Eric and brings him to shore and..." Blaine let his explanation trail off as he suddenly realized how awkward talking about the scene was, in this given context. Unfortunately, Mike didn't seem to get the hint.
"Oh you're right! Wasn't he still unconscious? And she's kind of just staring at him...and singing to him...and yeah..." It was Mike's turn to let his voice trail off, as he too realized how awkward it was, letting the silence hang in the air between them.

It was during that time that Blaine got to take a closer look at what Mike was wearing: a plain black peacoat, generously unbuttoned near the top to reveal long stretches of his bare neck. But as stylish and attractive as the Asian may have looked, Blaine couldn't help but wonder about what had happened to the navy blue parka from earlier.
"Did you...did you just get here?" Blaine asked cautiously, no longer wanting to assume anything.
"Actually, yeah I did," Mike admitted with a sheepish grin. "Sorry I didn't reply to all your texts, it was a bitch driving in traffic and the parking was god-awful." Blaine mentally face-palmed as he realized that he had probably been following some random stranger earlier. He didn't have long to wallow in his mistake though, as his focus was drawn back to the taller boy and how he was pulling a plain white gift box out of a shopping bag he had brought along.
"I got you a present," Mike said matter-of-factly, though his fidgeting and shaky hands seemed to belie his apparent neutrality. Blaine couldn't help but break into a smile as he quickly stuffed Mike's book into his coat.
"Should I open it now?" Blaine asked as he accepted the gift, and playfully shook it while pretending to listen for sounds from within. Mike nodded eagerly, almost childishly, and watched intently as the shorter boy opened the gift.

Blaine wasn't sure what he was expecting. It could have been anything really, though he wouldn't have been too surprised to find a sweater vest or perhaps a cardigan. What he did find inside the box, was a familiar-looking piece of fabric that had been folded ever so neatly. It felt cool to the touch, the mesh material being softer than he had ever imagined. It flowed smoothly through his fingers, giving it a pleasant velvety sensation. It even shone brightly in his hands, its color as red and vibrant as the first time he ever laid eyes on it. It was the one thing that Blaine would have never expected, yet made so much sense in retrospect. It was Mike's football jersey, adorned with his personal number, 22.

"It's a tradition to give your jersey to someone special to you," Mike started to explain rapidly, afraid that Blaine wouldn't understand the intent of his gift. "I was going to give it to my mother, but I...I kept thinking of you."
Blaine was smiling much too hard to be able to form coherent words with his mouth. "Mike, I can't even–"
"Don't worry, I washed it," Mike cut in nervously. "Thoroughly. Twice actually. It doesn't even smell or have clumps of mud in it."
"No I know Mike, it's perfect–"
"You don't have to wear it right now, or ever if you don't want to," said Mike apologetically. "I just, I just really wanted you to have it."
"I understand Mike, it's really–"
"AndIgotyouanothergift," Mike blurted out finally.

As Mike's hands scrambled into his bag to procure a second, much smaller box, Blaine found himself struggling to maintain his composure. Every part of his body was practically begging him to launch himself at the taller boy, to latch onto Mike and hug him so tightly that even his God-given biceps wouldn't be able to break him free. It literally took every ounce of the younger boy's restraint to stay still enough to receive the next gift, open it graciously, and inspect the contents. This time, he found a bowtie inside, a crimson red one, that felt and looked suspiciously familiar.
"Mike, is this...?" Blaine started to ask as he shot a questioning glance back at the first box.
The older teen nodded in understanding. "I made that from my old jersey, back when I was #28. Or well, what used to be that jersey...not much left of it now, considering how many times I messed up making this," he said as he sheepishly gestured at the bowtie. "You might have to touch it up yourself too. Some of the threads will probably come loose, and I think I may have messed up one of the corners, and...and...and you look so damn dapper right now."
Blaine smirked as he finished tying the bowtie around his collar with a firm tug. "Thank you Michael. For everything."

It was as if the sudden lull in their conversation became the unspoken cue for Blaine's turn to give his gift. The problem? He didn't even want to give the gift anymore. How could a book he had just bought earlier today compare to Mike's not one, but twogifts? Not just unoriginal, but how half-assed would that look?
"I wonder if I get a present..." Mike pondered innocently, though the anticipation in his voice betrayed his unassuming remark. Blaine let out a heavy sigh as he nodded and reluctantly pulled the book out of his coat.
"Merry Christmas," Blaine murmured softly, almost ashamedly, as he handed Mike the little novella.
"The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry...is this a children's book?"
"Well, yes and no. It looks like it is, but I think it could help you with the supplementary materials for some of your college applications...maybe like help keep things in perspective?" Blaine hoped his 'synopsis' would've sufficed, but from the curious look on Mike's face, he had the feeling that it hadn't. "I don't really know how to explain it, but I think you'll get what I mean once you read the book."
Mike gave him the longest blank stare before asking him, "Are you trying to tell me that you want to be called 'Little Prince' from now on?" He quickly smiled to show he was teasing. Blaine couldn't help but grin back.
"Now where'd you even get that idea?" Blaine asked with a chuckle, as he proceeded to point at the color illustration on the cover of the novel. "I mean, do I look blond to you?"

Before Blaine could even react, Mike leaned in agonizingly close, to the point his breath was tickling the shorter boy's ear. "No, but...right now you kind of look like a prince to me." And that was all it took to render the younger boy speechless. Blushing, but nonetheless speechless. Mike was faring no better himself, as he too began to blush when he realized just how unintentionally intimate he had been.
"T–then again," said Mike, looking for a way to ease the tension. "I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter how you 'look.' Eyes are 'blind' after all..."
Blaine's eyebrows shot up at hearing the vaguely familiar words. "You–you've already read this haven't you!"
"Would you look at the time?" Mike asked as he tried to change the topic while playfully pointing at an imaginary watch on his wrist. "Got to go meet with family now, but let's do something once I'm done with all my apps next week!"

The next few seconds felt utterly surreal to Blaine. He knew he heard Mike thanking him for the present. He knew he heard Mike wishing him a Merry Christmas. He knew he heard Mike saying goodbye and turn around to leave. He knew he should say goodbye too, but the words he heard being spoken next were definitely not of his own volition...yet his ears registered the voice as none other than his own. But how was that possible? Never in his wildest dreams, not even with multiple shots of adrenaline and dopamine and whatever other hormonal crack out there, would he ever have enough 'balls' to make the suggestion he heard being uttered from his own lips.
"Let's get dinner next week."
Mike stopped in his tracks to look back at the junior in surprise. He cocked his right eyebrow questioningly, as if saying to Blaine, "Go on?"
"L–let's get dinner to celebrate everyone being done with college apps."
"Blaine, you don't have to do that," Mike said reassuringly. "It's not that big of a deal."
"T–then think of it as a part two to my Christmas gift!" Blaine had no idea where he was getting the gall to openly tease the older teen, especially at a moment like this. But much to his relief, Mike only chuckled in response, as if recognizing the friendly jab to be in good taste.
"Alright, let's plan on dinner then."

Blaine was left waving dumbly as he watched senior walk away. Part of him was still in shock at how he had just managed to ask Mike out on a date, totally on a whim. The other part, the part that was in even greater shock, was just relieved at how his friend had agreed to the date so easily. No excuses, no awkward silence, no hesitation whatsoever. If this wasn't a sign of things starting to look up, then Blaine didn't know what it was. Not that it mattered right then and there though. He was too busy reveling in a bout of sudden giddiness and glee. Everything just seemed so much happier now, like the shoppers were kinder, the vendors more joyful, the colors were brighter, and the weather more beautiful... Even Cooper, who was just now reappearing (Blaine remotely remembered seeing him disappear a while back, probably to give his sibling some privacy) seemed to be in a better mood than before. Feeling inspired, and confident that everyone around him was as suddenly ecstatic as he was, Blaine decided that no one would mind if he partook in one last little bit of song. That, and he just needed to let everyone know how damn good he felt.

I don't know when
I don't know how
But I know something's starting right now!
Watch and you'll see, someday I'll be
Part of your–
"Oh for the love of God, when do you not sing Blaine?"
"Shut the hell up Coop, why do you always have to be such a douche and ruin the moment? God!"

Author's Notes: One episode of Cooper wasn't much for me to work off of, so I decided to write him as a semi-typical douchey big brother. As a side note, be on the lookout for a side project I've got in the works (Mike-centric with slash of an undetermined nature for now).