NEW CHAPTER!

This took me so long to write, but even when I had time to write, I was too drained to even think about writing. But I'm excited to finally have a new chapter, and also to have ideas for future chapters. Thank you so so so much for being so patient with me. I'll try harder to get chapters up from here on out.

Again, thanks for everything.

If you need it, my tumblr is klaine-engagement . tumblr . com (:

Chapter 23

Christmas Eve:

By six o'clock, Blaine felt exhausted. There was too much pressure on him to make a good impression on so many people at one time. Before Kurt's relatives had come over, he told Blaine to just be himself. That was hard for him, though, because the only person Blaine had ever acted like himself around was Kurt. He wasn't used to showing his true colors to so many new faces. However, despite his nerves, Blaine had won the hearts of Kurt's entire family.

"Oh, Kurt, I'm so happy for you," his Aunt Debby nearly shouted when they were alone in the kitchen. Kurt was warming up their next meal while she was fetching a drink.

"Thank you!" Kurt responded politely.

Aunt Debby leaned in closer to him. "I mean, that boyfriend of yours is such a charmer! He's funny and gorgeous and real nice. You've got yourself a keeper!" she exclaimed. Kurt smiled in response.

"I'm glad everyone likes him. He was nervous, but I think he's alright now that everyone's warmed up to him," Kurt stated.

Kurt walked into the living room and set a platter of vegetables on the coffee table for his family to pick at. When he sat down, he noticed everyone laughing, and then shortly realized that it was because of something funny Blaine had said.

"That's a good one, Blaine!" one of Kurt's bald uncles exclaimed while still laughing. Kurt smiled and laced his fingers with Blaine's nonchalantly.

By the end of the night, everyone was happy. Blaine felt relieved that everyone liked him. He fell right asleep on Kurt's bed, and woke up early on Christmas morning.

Christmas:

Blaine's eyes went into focus as he processed his surroundings. Sometimes it was confusing to be at Kurt's house half of the time because for the first few moments after waking up, he couldn't tell if he was at Kurt's home or his own.

"Merry Christmas, sleepy head," Kurt said to Blaine. Their legs were intertwined underneath the covers.

"Merry Christmas to you too," he answered sleepily.

Kurt hopped out of bed. "Is your family formal on Christmas or casual?"

"Wear something lovely," Blaine answered. He got up as well and began to get dressed.

"So, we'll go over to my house at around eleven. My parents like to give me and my brother our presents from them before the rest of our family comes," Blaine laid out the plan. He glanced at his phone for the time. 9:36. "And you're sure that your dad doesn't want to come?"

"I'm sure. He said he's going to his parents' house today," Kurt answered.

Blaine watched Kurt button up a black shirt and then glance in the mirror at his appearance. Kurt could see Blaine's reflection staring at him. He just smiled and pretended not to notice as he touched up his hair.

Blaine wore a V-neck sweater over a shirt and tie.

"You look adorable," Kurt commented. Blaine tried to hide a smile.

"Not as adorable as you," he answered, and he really believed it. The longer Blaine and Kurt were together, the more he noticed how beautiful Kurt was. He liked to watch him do little things, like eat his sandwich during lunch, or even just sleep. He studied Kurt's appearance when he wasn't looking, and fell in love with every detail of Kurt's body. Kurt didn't know this, though. Blaine was ashamed to admit just how much he loved Kurt.

The boys did final touch-ups with their hair, and went to the bathroom to brush their teeth. As they shared the mirror, Blaine thought, this is what it will be like when we're married. He thought that Kurt was thinking the same thing, because he kept smiling to himself.

They returned to Kurt's room so Blaine could get this belongings together neatly.

"Hey," Kurt whispered. Blaine looked up from his bag of clothes.

"We just brushed our teeth," Kurt stated.

"Yes, Kurt, we did," Blaine answered, confused about what Kurt was getting at.

"What a perfect opportunity to share a kiss," Kurt insisted. Blaine laughed, but didn't deny it.

"I guess you're right," Blaine said, standing up from his clothing that he was kneeling over.

He threw his arms around Kurt's neck, cradling his head. He had to tilt his head up in order to reach Kurt's pink lips. They fell into a deep kiss, and Kurt placed his hand on Blaine's hip.

They were quickly interrupted by the sound of an incoming text message from Blaine's phone.

"If you arrive before 10:30, you get pancakes," bribed his mother through text.

"Well, then, let's go," Kurt said, grabbing Blaine's stay-over bag.

"Before we head out," Blaine said, touching Kurt on the shoulder. "We're going to have to act as just friends all day. So, I want to take this time to tell you that I love you, and I'm so happy that I get to spend Christmas with you, and every day following this one."

Kurt was caught by surprise of this sweet statement. He couldn't hide his huge smile. "Blaine, I love you, too. Thank you," he responded sincerely.

Blaine placed a short kiss on Kurt's lips before they left the room.

Burt had to drive them to Blaine's house because he needed his car to go to his parents' house right after. Kurt sat in the front and let Blaine sit in the back by himself, as to not make his father uncomfortable.

"Have a great time, kids," Burt said as he dropped them off.

"Thanks so much for having me yesterday, Burt," Blaine said before getting out of the car.

"Not a problem."

Before they walked into the house, Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand, squeezed it, and then let go.

The boys walked into the house, and Kurt immediately noticed how much cleaner it seemed since the last time he was there. Boxes from their move had finally been removed, and decorations had been put up (not only Christmas decorations, but normal household decorations, such as paintings on the walls). The house smelled faintly of vanilla, but mostly like pancakes. Kurt followed Blaine straight into the kitchen.

"Welcome!" his mother said overenthusiastically. "Sit, sit. Pancakes are on the way!" she exclaimed. They sat, and she continued talking while flipping pancakes. "Kurt, it's lovely to see you."

"Thanks, you too. I'm so glad that your family can have me over for this holiday," Kurt answered.

"So are we. Dad's still sleeping, Blaine. But, I heard Cooper get up a few minutes ago," she informed Blaine.

"Coop's here already?"

"Yeah, he came in last night." As his mother spoke, Cooper strutted into the kitchen.

"Blaine! What's up, shortie?" Cooper nearly screamed.

Blaine stood up to hug him. Although he hated Cooper a lot of the time, he was genuinely excited to be seeing him after months of separation.

"Cooper, this is my b-" Blaine looked at Kurt, realizing he can't call him his boyfriend. "…best friend, Kurt," he saved himself. Kurt laughed quietly to himself.

"Nice to meet you, Kurt," Cooper said politely, extending a hand. Kurt stood up to shake his hand and gave a quick "you too."

Blaine's mom turned around with a huge stack of pancakes in her grasp. The three of them all sat down and enjoyed her breakfast as she made more.

"My whole family gets really excited and weird around Christmas time. Sorry about that," Blaine whispered to Kurt at the table.

Kurt laughed. "It's fine

"Hey, Blaine, I was wondering if you wanted to have the football team over for New Year's Eve. We have nothing planned this year, but I love hosting it," his mother offered.

"Um, actually, they're not really the family party type. They're probably all going to have their own party at Karofsky's and get wasted. But, actually, we could have Kurt and his father over, and maybe some of my other friends from school," Blaine suggested.

"I guess that sounds like a fun time," his mother answered, still being overly cheerful.

Kurt didn't say a word during breakfast, he just let Mrs. Anderson shout about how much she was looking forward to having family over. The fact that Blaine's family was really strange actually made Kurt feel better. He was the most normal person in that house. He knew it was only because of the holidays, but he didn't really care.

Blaine and Cooper opened presents at eleven, when Blaine's father was awake. Kurt sat awkwardly on the floor next to Blaine as he went through wrapping paper. Blaine was a little embarrassed at how much presents he had. He knew that Kurt's family didn't have a lot of money, and he felt greedy that he received nearly twice the amount of presents that Kurt did. But, Kurt didn't care about things like that.

In the middle of opening gifts, Blaine's mother suddenly remembered. "Oh! Kurt, we got you a little something, too. We know that you've helped Blaine so much when we moved here, and you give him a place to be besides boring old home, so this is a thank you present," she said.

She retrieved a box from under the Christmas tree and handed it to Kurt. He was shocked at how nice they were, considering they didn't know anything about Kurt at all.

He carefully tore the wrapping paper. Blaine had a few presents left, but he watched Kurt unwrap his, because he was very intrigued. He had no idea that his parents were going to get him something.

He opened the plain box that it came in to find a black tie, and a hippo broach.

"You see, one of the only things we knew about you was that you love fashion. Blaine told us that you inspired his new outfit choices, which we love seeing him in. So, we picked that up for you," Mrs. Anderson explained.

Kurt was in awe. "I love it so much. Thank you! This was very thoughtful of you," he told them.

"You're quite welcome. It's the least we could do," Mrs. Anderson answered.

Later that day, Kurt told Blaine that his parents were incredibly nice. "Buying someone's love doesn't make you nice, darling," Blaine answered bitterly.

"I'm sorry my dad didn't get you anything. He's not thoughtful like that, you know?" Kurt apologized, ignoring what Blaine had said.

"Your dad does enough for me. He's more than thoughtful, because he cares about me. That's more than I can say about my father," Blaine said.

"Are you mad that they got me a gift?" Kurt questioned.

"No. I'm just angry about the reason. It wasn't a you're-our-son's-best-friend-and-that-makes-you-part-of-the-family gift. It was more of a thanks-for-dealing-with-Blaine-so-we-don't-have-to gift. Plus, they like to use their money to get people to like them," Blaine explained.

"Well, I still appreciate it. Whether it was because they love me or because they hate me, it's still a cute broach. I wouldn't wear it to school because no one there understands true fashion. It's too bold for school. I'll save it for when I move to New York," Kurt stated. "Let's go socialize with your family now," Kurt said.

As the day went on, Mrs. Anderson cooled down a lot. By the time relatives came over, she was completely calm. Then, as the night went on, she got drunk off of wine and became crazy all over again. Blaine told Kurt that it happens every year. It's like a tradition.

Once everyone was gone, it was eleven at night. Kurt didn't bring overnight bag with him, so Blaine lent him pajamas. He liked the idea of being in Blaine's clothes.

They slept in the basement, because if they both slept in Blaine's room, his parents might have gotten suspicious. He knew that Cooper was already suspicious.

Lucky for them, there was a futon couch downstairs. They pulled it out and slept on it together, kissing and cuddling throughout the night.