It was one of those quiet, chilling days in the beginning of winter when the snow slowly filtered down through the cold air, and people curled up inside in hibernation mode. Only the bravest of kids ventured out, bundled in snow suits, their thrilled faces quickly flushing from the cold. The roads were unplowed and a thin pathway of boot prints wound its way along the suburban Ohio sidewalk. Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson were slowly making their way along the path, arm in arm, laughing quietly with each other as to not disturb the stillness of the December afternoon.

"Kurt," Blaine said, laughing as he leant into Kurt's side, "I still don't understand why we had to walk to the library."

Kurt laughed in return and looked down at his boyfriend, smirking at him as they walked, and took a moment to admire how adorable he looked. Blaine, with his fitted navy blue pea coat and olive green scarf that brought out the similar colour in his eyes. His dark curly hair was spilling out of the front of his hat, un-gelled and soft. Kurt could tell just by looking that Blaine was cold; his nose had turned a bright shade of red, and his lips were slightly chapped.

"I told you why, Blaine. I had to return that Hunger Games book! I've had it out for at least 2 months and completely forgot about it. Little did I know you had it stashed away in your room," Kurt said, poking Blaine in the rib.

"Hey," Blaine replied, "it was a good book and you know it. Totally worth the 3 reads."
Kurt rolled his eyes.

"But…" Blaine continued, "…that doesn't explain why we had to walk to the library." At the word walk, Blaine kicked at the thick fluffy snow under his feet for emphasis.

"Well, I wasn't about to drive to the library when I have perfectly good legs and a boyfriend to clutch on to." Blaine laughed and squeezed Kurt's bicep. "And you have to admit taking a walk on a snowy winter's day is a little more romantic than roaring down the street in a car that we'd have to scrape off first."
Blaine sighed. "Okay okay, I agree this is much more romantic"

"Thank you," Kurt said "I am the king of romance, after all."

"Oh are you now?" Blaine said in a flirty voice, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup!" Kurt replied happily. "And don't you forget it!"

The snow had started to fall heavier, whiting out the view in every direction. Blaine un-linked his arm from Kurt's and turned into him to make him stop walking. Blaine curled his arms around the other boy's thin waist, his mitten-covered thumbs hooking into the belt loop at the back of the boy's designer winter coat. Kurt's blue eyes shone startlingly bright, snow reflecting off the multi-colored irises. Kurt's lips were curved up in a crooked smile, and his cheeks were bright pink, shocking against his pale white skin. His cute knitted hat flattened his usually perfectly styled hair; chestnut bangs covered his forehead and his ear flaps wrapped protectively around his sensitive skin.

They stood like that for a few moments until Blaine broke the silence. "I dunno Kurt…I'm not sure I'm feeling the romance."

"No?" Kurt breathed back.

"No…I think it could use a little something." At that Blaine leant up and pressed a gently kiss to Kurt's warm, pink lips. They kissed for a few seconds, and Blaine pulled back, gazing up adoringly at him. Kurt's eyes were still closed, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

"Oh," Kurt said breathlessly, opening his eyes, a small snowflake stuck to one of his eyelashes. "Yeah, that was definitely missing before. I don't know how I missed that."

Blaine gently tugged on the strings of Kurt's hat. "S'what I'm here for."

"And I can't thank you enough," Kurt replied in a light, sing-song voice before leaning in once more to plant a chaste peck on Blaine's red-flushed lips.

It wasn't until Kurt pulled back that they both realized how much it was snowing. The wind had picked up and was illustrated by the swirling and spiraling masses of snow, flowing around every surface, defying gravity and chilling the two boys to their core. Kurt grabbed Blaine's hand and started to lead the way quickly, Blaine stumbling behind, slipping on hidden icy patches and clutching to the taller boy's hand for dear life. Finally they could begin to see the warm, inviting glow of the Hudson-Hummel home. The lights were on in the front room, and a tall, impeccably decorated Christmas tree stood proudly in the center of the window.

When Blaine had come over to the house earlier that week when the tree had first been put up, he knew straight away that Kurt had claimed responsibility for decorating the tree. He was immensely amused when he walked through the house and saw that half of the tree facing the living room was decorated as if by an over-zealous, craft-crazed 9 year old.

"I decorated that section." Finn had said to Blaine when he noticed him eying the odd, somehow heart-warming patch. "Kurt said I could, and he seemed to like it so…" Finn trailed off and simply smiled at Blaine expectantly.

"I love it, Finn," Blaine said with a smile.

Later that night when Blaine mentioned it to Kurt, he laughed affectionately at the thought of his step-brother.

"Yes…yes I rather liked his addition to the tree, actually. I guess… it kind of reminds me of myself. The tree I mean. I'm not all flash and glamour…you know?" He did know.

"I love you so much," Blaine said, his head coming to rest against Kurt's shoulder.
Kurt looked down at Blaine in surprise at the sudden declaration before he realized it wasn't a declaration, it was a simple statement. Kurt's heart fluttered at the utter casualness of it all.

"I love you too."

They had spent the rest of the evening sprawled out on the sofa in the living room, napping on and off in the glow of the multi-coloured lights of the Christmas tree, occasionally whispering things to each other. Hours later they were both sound asleep, and Carol had been forced to descend from upstairs and decided to call the Andersons instead of disturbing the happily slumbering boys. Blaine had woken up then regardless of Carol's precautions. He was very close to sitting up and insisting on letting Kurt sleep in his own bed, but after a few moments of deliberating he decided he wasn't in the mood, selfish as that may be, to abandon the solid warmth of Kurt's body. He tightened his hold on Kurt's waist ever so slightly. Carol's keen eyes noticed the movement, and she smiled a small, knowing smile before picking up her cup of tea and making her way back up to her and Burt's bedroom, fully preparing herself to make the case to her husband so he wasn't too thrown by the sight that was sure to meet him when he sleepily made his way downstairs the next morning.

As the two snow covered, shivering boys stumbled up the pathway towards the warm house, the door swung open, Burt Hummel standing at the threshold, beckoning them inside.

"My God, boys! I thought you'd both been buried by snow or gotten lost out there. You could walk right into a house in this weather! What were you two thinking? Get inside, come on."

Kurt and Blaine scurried inside, Blaine quickly closing the door behind him, preventing any more snow from blowing into the dry, warm home. They stomped their boots on the welcome mat and carefully extracted their snow-caked scarves from their necks before the precipitation could melt and ooze water down their backs. Kurt took Blaine's coat and hung it up in the closet next to his own before walking back to meet his shivering boyfriend.

"I'm really sorry Mr…I mean Burt. We really should have been back before now. We didn't know the storm would be this bad."
Kurt walked up behind Blaine and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's my fault really. I insisted on taking a walk."
Blaine stepped back a fraction into Kurt's warmth.

"Well yeah, Mr. Over-due-library-book here nearly getting us killed in a deadly blizzard." Blaine said jokingly, more to the boy behind him than to Burt.
Kurt's face broke into a look of mock astonishment. "Oh don't you start Mr…"

"No, Kurt," Burt said, cutting his son off by quickly holding up his hand. "Don't you start… its fine, you two are back now. I think Carol is making hot chocolate or something in the kitchen. You two go get warmed up. I'll get your gloves and stuff by the fire to dry."

It was then Kurt noticed they were both still wearing their winter hats. Kurt hopped over to Blaine's side and promptly pulled the knitted beanie off his head in one quick motion.

"…Hey!" Blaine yelped, his hands flying up to his head. His hair was sticking up in every direction. The snow that had been matted in the curls near his forehead had melted and made his hair slick and shiny. Not in the way his gel would, though. His hair looked messy and ruffled, and heart wrenchingly - Kurt had to admit - sexy. He suddenly had the urge to reach out and touch. He lifted a hand up and gently ran his fingers through Blaine's damp curls, scratching slightly at the back of his head. Blaine let out a low purr of pleasure, his lips curving up into a smile. The taller boy then made a small "tut" noise, "Blaine your hair…" and got to work slicking it back, combing his fingers through the knotted curls. The entire scene was so unintentionally intimate that Burt paused to watch before coughing gruffly and muttering something about "kitchen" and "out of your way" before shuffling down the hall. After tucking one last curl into place, Kurt stepped back to witness his masterpiece.

"There now. Handsome as ever."

Blaine eyes scrunched up and he smiled a mischievous smile. "Kurt, you do realize you still have your hat on too, right?"

Kurt's face whitened instantly.

"Don't. Don't you dare Blaine Anderson or I will-" Kurt shrieked as Blaine dove for the offending hat.
Kurt ducked just in time; dodging Blaine's grabbing hands and spinning around to face Blaine's back, wrapping his arms around the boy's shoulders. "No you don't-hey!" Blaine size allowed him to twist around and carefully push a shocked looking Kurt into the opposite wall. Without looking away from Kurt's face, Blaine reached up while keeping an unnecessary restraining hold on Kurt and plucked the toque off his head.
Kurt's eyes darted upwards in an attempt to inspect his hair. "But my hair's a mess!"
he exclaimed in a semi-panic, reaching up and frantically attempting to fix his hair, first combing it down and then up, trying to find a suitable substitute to his usual perfectly coiffed style.

"Kurt," Blaine said as he watched the boy in front of him pull anxiously at his hair, "Stop!" More styling. "Kurt, hey…" Blaine said calmly, his hands moving to still his boyfriend's hands and bring them between their two bodies. "Stop. You look beautiful."

"No I don't." said Kurt quietly.

"Yes. You do."

Kurt was very close to believing him. And that was enough.

Blaine watched the blood rush to Kurt's cheeks and moved his arm from the taller boy's shoulder to run his thumb over the flushed skin.

Just then Finn walked down the hall with a very large mug of hot chocolate that appeared to be piled precariously with mini, multi-coloured marshmallows. He stopped when he caught sight of the scene playing out in front of him and watched for a moment, cocking his head a little.

He coughed. They both turned their heads in surprise.

"Hey dudes."

Kurt straightened up quickly, but didn't push Blaine away.

Kurt watched his step-brother, and Blaine decided to be the one to talk.

"Hey, Finn! It's good to see you."

Finn took a step forward.

"Good to see you too, Blaine. Uh Kurt, there's hot chocolate," he pointed to the cup
smiling. "It's in the kitchen. Oh and Blaine, your mom called and asked if you were here. She said she wanted you to stay and wait out the storm or something like that." Finn shrugged and picked a marshmallow off the top of his drink, popping it in his mouth as he spun around and marched upstairs.

"Thanks Finn!" Blaine called up after him.

Finn raised a hand in a gesture that said "Any time!"
Blaine turned back to Kurt and whispered, "So, hot chocolate!"

"So I've heard," Kurt laughed.

"After you!" Blaine gestured to Kurt to proceed first, and they both make their way down the hall into the kitchen that promised warm chocolaty liquid.