Kurt's on a train to NYC, depressed, lost, alone in the world. But things could still get worse: The train becomes mysteriously empty, stops, and leaves him stranded in an unfamiliar middle of nowhere. Suddenly, he's surrounded with wizards and healers, and most of all, people who tell him he's the Crown Prince supposed to save them from the horrors of tyranny.
Blaine’s a wizard who keeps a little shop on the muggle street where he sells items that are just normal enough to pass under the ministry’s radar but magical enough to make people’s life a little brighter. Kurt’s a recurring customer.
(Post)Hogwarts!AU
The shop was quite popular given that Blaine didn’t advertise. His customers spread the word of the teapots that ‘keep the tea warm for an incredibly long time!’ and key chains that jingle when you couldn’t find them. It didn’t hurt that Blaine was always polite and took the time to help all customers to find what they needed.
There were a few people in his shop at the moment but this time, Blaine only had eyes on one.
He had come the first time a couple of weeks before. He had flashed Blaine a gorgeous smile, looked at a few items and then walked out without buying anything. He had most likely just come in to escape the rain and had only stayed for about 10 minutes but the face had been carved into Blaine’s mind, so when he had walked in a while ago, Blaine couldn’t stop the tiny gasp that escaped him.
Again, he flashed Blaine a smile before turning his attention to the shelves. This time, it seemed like he was really looking for something. Trying to keep his heart from hammering out of his chest, Blaine walked up to him.
“Can I help you?”
“Oh! Sure. Thank you,” the boy said. Blaine was so surprised by how beautiful his voice was that he almost didn’t catch the American accent. “I’m looking for a birthday gift for a friend.”
“Great. Had anything specific in mind?”
“Well, sort of. I came by here a few weeks ago...” (Blaine had to bite his lip so he wouldn’t blurt out ‘I remember’) and I saw a music box. I realized yesterday it’d be perfect for her.”
Blaine considered for a few seconds. “The one with the fairy in it?”
“Yes!” the boy exclaimed excitedly. “Do you still have it?”
“It’s in the back. It needed some repairing.”
Truthfully, Blaine had thought about giving it to his new baby niece but seeing the boy’s excited smile made him change his mind.
“Let me get it for you,” he said.
“Thank you! Blaine,” the boy replied, his eyes stealing a glance and Blaine’s name tag. Blaine managed a weak nod before quickly escaping to the back room to get the music box and also catch his breath. He hoped against hope that his cheeks weren’t as red as the heat he felt on them would indicate and gave himself a mental pat on the back before coming out again.
“Here it is!” he announced. Th boy was looking at a paper warbler that Blaine had magically folded out of paper and taught to sing quietly, so that whoever bought it would think the singing came from outside. Slowly, he turned to Blaine, and smiled. “Would you like it wrapped?” Blaine asked as he handed the boy the box who opened the lid carefully. Soft, melodic music filled the room and the little toy-fairy started to dance, it’s wings fluttering with each turn, spreading golden dust.
“It’s so beautiful,” the boy gasped. “Just I remembered, maybe even better! She’s going to love it!” He put the lid down. “How much?”
“Oh, uh... 20 pounds?”
The boy blinked. “20 pounds?”
Blaine shrugged. “15?”
“I was prepared to pay 200! Even three or four! It looks worth it,” the boy said.
Blaine shrugged again. “I like to keep things affordable. It’s mostly old stuff that I sort of put new life into and it doesn’t cost me much so why would I charge much?”
“Well, I certainly like your way of thinking. And no, thank you. Not to insult your wrapping skills that I know nothing about but I have very specific standards when it comes to gift wrapping. But would you happen to have cards?” the boy asked.
“Certainly!” Blaine smiled and led his customer to the counter, in front of which he had a selection of cards with pictures that moved just subtly enough to pass as figment of imagination.
“Did you paint these?”
“Oh, no. My mom painted some of them, some are my nephew’s drawings, some are simply photographs that went through... uh... Photoshop?”
The boy nodded. “Well, they’re all pretty.” He picked one with a grinning lion on it. “This one’s the cutest.”
“I’ll make sure to tell my nephew.”
“You do that. Make sure he knows Kurt thinks his art is adorable.”
It took Blaine a moment to realize that... Kurt... had put his name in the sentence on purpose. “I... yes. Yes, I’ll tell him Kurt thinks so.”
Kurt smiled. “Good.” He got 25 pounds out of his wallet and put them on the counter. “Well, I gotta run. Thank you for this.”
“You’re totally welcome.”
“Until next time then, Blaine.”
Blaine shook his head when Kurt winked at him. He stared at the door a long time after Kurt left and only blinked himself back to reality when a new customer came in.
He was almost disappointed that it wasn’t just Kurt coming back.
--
Six days went by before Kurt came back. The weather had taken a turn to the worse and it seemed like Kurt’s mood had taken a plunge, too.
“Hey,” Blaine said cautiously with a questioning smile.
“Hey,” Kurt replied, managing a smile in return.
“Back so soon?”
“Yeah. I’m not... I’m not really looking for anything, though,” Kurt said.
“Oh, okay. So all your Christmas shopping is done, then?” Blaine guessed.
“Well, no. I was gonna buy everyone their presents back in the States because my luggage is already over-sized with all my clothes,” Kurt said. He touched the paper warbler with his finger tips, smiling sadly. “But it looks like I won’t be doing any Christmas shopping at all because my flight just got cancelled due to weather and everything’s overbooked until Boxing Day and the weather’s not going to get any better any day soon so... I’m stuck.”
Kurt’s voice broke by the end of his sentence and he just sort of shrugged so helplessly that it made Blaine’s heart ache.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
“No, don’t be, it’s not your fault. God, I... I’m sorry, I don’t want to ruin your day. I was just sort of walking around and your store is so welcoming. Maybe I’ll buy something small and pretty to make myself feel a little better.”
You definitely didn’t ruin my day Blaine thought and only just managed not to say it out loud. What he said instead was: “Would you like some hot chocolate?” which made Kurt blink. “I uh... I’ve been told I make pretty good hot chocolate. I could make you a cup in the back. If nothing else, it’ll be warm.”
Kurt just stared for a few seconds before the corner of his mouth twitched and he said: “Sure. I’d love some hot chocolate.”
“Great!” Blaine said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“I’ll keep myself busy.”
Blaine chuckled before disappearing into the backroom where he had a tiny office and an even smaller kitchen sort of area. He took out a pot and poured some milk in it before tapping it with his wand to warm the milk up. With another tap he melted the chocolate he always kept in the store and it wasn’t too long before he had two steaming cups of hot chocolate ready.
“Here we go,” he said as kicked the door of the back room shut behind him.
“Oh, wow, it smells amazing,” Kurt gasped. He took the cup that Blaine offered him and brought it slowly to his lips before taking a careful sip. “Mmm!”
That sound made Blaine’s heart skip a beat. “It’s good?”
“So good!” Kurt licked his lips and Blaine lost feeling in his legs. “It’s so, so good. Best hot chocolate I’ve ever had, thank you!”
“My pleasure,” Blaine assured him. “So you’re from the States, huh?”
“Yeah,” Kurt said between two long sips. “Born and raised.”
“And what brought you to London?”
“School. Or, you know. Sort of. I go to a school in New York and my teacher told me about this great internship here in London so... here I am, until June. My best friend came with me so it’s sort of like an adventure,” Kurt answered.
“Your friend you bought the music box for?” Blaine guessed.
“Yeah. She loved it, by the way,” Kurt said.
“I’m glad,” Blaine smiled. “Where is she now?”
“Oh, she flew to Miami a few days ago. She’s going on a Christmas cruise with her dads.”
“A Christmas cruise?”
“It’s sort of a tradition by now, I guess,” Kurt shrugged. “At least she’s with her parents. I’ll probably end up ordering a pizza for Christmas dinner and spend the day watching holiday movies.”
“Or you could go out with me.”
It came out so spontaneously that it took both of them a moment to realize what Blaine had just said. A silence fell between them that was broken a minute or two later by a police car siren.
“Uh... what?”
“I... I...” Blaine swallowed. “I just... I’d really like to take you out. And I hate the thought of you spending Christmas alone so... we could have dinner?”
Kurt blinked. “You’re asking me out on Christmas?”
“Yes?” Blaine answered.
“Don’t you want to spend it with your family?”
“Well, my dad’s usually not really around for... anything. My mum and I are going to have Christmas Eve lunch with my brother and his wife but then they’re heading off to her parents and my mom’s got this whole Christmas party thing planned that yes, I am invited to but she’s just going to spend the entire night trying to hook me up and then on Christmas day she’ll cure her hangover,” Blaine explained. “So, all things considered, us having dinner together would actually be sort of perfect. You wouldn’t have to be alone, I’d have an excuse to skip an exhausting evening. Plus there’s the fact that I would have already asked you out last time you came here but I figured that’d be slightly too much too soon.”
With every word Blaine said, Kurt’s smile grew. By the time Blaine just sort of shrugged in a way that said: ‘So what do you think?’, he was nodding.
“You’re right,” he said. “Dinner would be perfect.”
“Great!”
“Do you know places that’ll be open on Christmas Eve?”
No. “Yes. I’ll make reservations.”
“Wonderful. Uh, can I write my number down somewhere?”
“Oh, sure, sure.” Blaine hurried to the back of the counter to get a piece of paper and a pen. Kurt quickly wrote his number down on it. “So, uh... Do you want me to pick you up?”
“We could meet here,” Kurt suggested. “Around three? You know, early dinner and then just... enjoying Christmas?”
Blaine smiled. “Sounds good.”
“Well then. I’ll see you on Christmas Eve.”
Kurt left the empty cup on the counter before leaving with a small smile on his face. Blaine had to walk to the back room and sit down because his legs gave up under him.
--
As it turned out, Blaine couldn’t find a place that struck him as the kind he’d want to take Kurt to on their first date. So he came up with a plan, hastily, and hoped Kurt wouldn’t be too disappointed.
He was already waiting in front of his little shop at 2.42. The weather had - unlike predicted - calmed down, and snowflakes were falling slowly, making the scenery so very Christmas-y that Blaine couldn’t help but smile. Christmas usually felt like an obligation for him more than anything. This year, he thought, there was potential.
“You’re early.”
Blaine’s smile grew at the sight of Kurt, dressed to perfection as always. “So are you,” he replied.
Kurt blushed slightly. “So,” he said, to cover it up. “Where are we going?”
“Yes, well... It’s uh... well. It’s intimate and cozy, I can promise you that much. I can’t make any promises about the quality of food, though,” Blaine said sheepishly. Kurt raised his eyebrows. “The best places are closed. We’re going to my place. ...if that’s okay?”
The surprise was evident on Kurt’s face but his smile didn’t falter. “Sounds lovely. And if your cooking is anything like your hot chocolate, I’m sure it’s great. Lead the way.”
Blaine’s apartment wasn’t far, which was good because the Christmas Eve snowstorm decided to sneak up on them. The jogged the last couple of hundred meters, giggling, and sighed at the warmth of Blaine’s home once the door was closed.
“Oh, this place looks just like you!” Kurt admired as he took his coat off. “Where’s your restroom? I’d like to fix my hair a bit.”
Your hair’s perfect. “Just down the hall,” Blaine instructed. “Wine?”
“Are you planning on getting me drunk?” Kurt joked. “Red, please. If you have any.”
“Why, of course,” Blaine assured. His heart was jumping at his chest with anticipation as if it knew it’d be a great a night. As Kurt left to style his hair, Blaine took out the best of his three bottles and the paused because he realized he didn’t know how to open it.
Sometimes, he had to admit he may rely too much on his wand.
Glancing over his shoulder, Blaine wondered if he had the time to get his wand from the bedroom and open the bottle before Kurt was done with the hairspray. He could just pretend he was a bit of a klutz with such things and ask Kurt to open the bottle but that wouldn’t be the gentlemanly thing to do and Blaine most definitely wanted to be a gentleman. But he couldn’t use his wand in front of Kurt if they opened another a bottle and besides...
“I don’t think your owl likes me.”
“Oh, Poppy doesn’t like anyone, she...” Blaine paused. Kurt was leaning against the kitchen counter with the corner of his lips turned up. Poppy, the big diva of a barn owl that Blaine owned, sat on his shoulder, glaring. “Uh...”
“Don’t worry. I’ve known all along.”
“You...? But...?”
Slowly, Kurt took something out of his bag. Blaine gasped. Kurt was holding up a slightly battered paper bird.
“At first I told myself that it couldn’t possibly be you. After all these years, I find you in London? But it is you. Isn’t it?”
“I...” Blaine swallowed. “Yeah.”
Kurt smiled. “Well then. I owe you a long over-due thank you.” He put the bird on the dining table, and started to explain.
--
They were talking about his mom.
A tear fell on Kurt’s cheek as he studies his dad’s solemn face, the sympathetic frown on the doctor’s face. Young as he was, Kurt had learned a lot about reading people during the last few months, when everyone around him were trying to convince him things were all right with false smiles on their faces.
Most of the time, Kurt pretended to believe them. If only to try and make himself believe that they were right.
Kurt sniffed. He hated the world sometimes.
”Hello.”
Kurt looked. A boy around his age was smiling at him, and it was the first true smile Kurt had seen in a long time. There was a mop of curls surrounding his face, and his eyes twinkled with innocence Kurt no longer felt.
”Are you okay?”
Kurt blinked and sort of nodded and shrugged at the same time.
”Are you sure?” the boy asked, his head tilted.
”Uh-huh,” Kurt replied, though it came out more as a sob.
The boy sat down next to Kurt. Kurt thought he’d be annoyed - he was annoyed with most people these days. But he wasn’t. It was almost weird.
”Look.”
The boy ripped off a page of one of the many old magazines in the waiting room. Kurt frowned and opened his mouth to tell the boy off, but then his eyes widened in amazement as the page started to fold by itself. It folded and folded until it became a bird, and had it not been for the print of the paper, Kurt would have thought it was real.
”Blaine?” An older boy entered the waiting room. “Come on, buddy, dad’s ready to go.”
”Here.” The boy - Blaine - gave Kurt the bird before hopping off the bench. “Bye!”
It wasn’t until Burt came to pick Kurt up that Kurt realized he’d probably never see Blaine again. After his mom died, though, he often thought of him, keeping the bird he named Pavarotti by his bed. The memory of his smile was an odd source of comfort, and what Kurt had seen Blaine do with the paper was what helped him believe there was still magic in the world, no matter how heart broken he was. He kept the bird there until he moved to New York.
--
“And I never forgot you.”
Blaine’s head was spinning. Out of everything that might happen tonight, this had definitely not occurred to him.
“What I still don’t understand is what you were doing in a hospital in Ohio.”
“Oh, uh... My dad’s a muggle - a non-magic person. And a doctor. Mum moved us to London after their divorce, when he found out she’s a...”
“Witch?” Kurt finished.
“Yeah.”
“So your Dad’s not a wizard but you’re struggling to open a bottle of wine in a non-magic way?”
Blaine blinked, looked down at the bottle, then at Kurt again, and was relieved to see that Kurt was grinning in an amused sort of way. He chuckled and shrugged. “I admit to being a little too used to the comforts of magic.”
“Mmhm.”
Kurt took the wine from Blaine, Poppy still on his shoulder. Blaine was a little too focused on his face to notice how he got the bottle open, but soon they both had their glasses filled.
“My mom died a few weeks after we met,” Kurt told Blaine. “For a long time, Pavarotti was the only thing that could make me smile. Along with my dad.”
“Pavarotti?”
“That’s what I named him,” Kurt explained, nodding at the paper bird that Poppy was still eyeing suspiciously. “I never stopped thinking about you. It’s amazing how many things you suddenly see when you’ve gotten a first glimpse.”
“And so you found out about wizards.”
“And everything related to them,” Kurt nodded. “I haven’t told anyone. Not that anyone would believe me if I did but... I haven’t.”
Blaine could still barely believe it. So many years ago, as a child, all he had wanted was to make the other boy feel a little better. He had thought nothing of it, had nearly forgotten about it over the years. But his heart soared now that he knew how much his little trick had meant for Kurt. Suddenly, magic had more meaning to him than ever before.
“Kurt, I...”
“Shh,” Kurt said when Blaine couldn’t come up with anything more. Ever so slowly, he leaned forward until their lips were a mere inch apart. Blaine didn’t move, so Kurt closed the small distance and their lips met for a small, quick kiss that made sparks fly in Blaine’s tummy.
Poppy hooted, bringing them back to the moment. Blaine was sure his face was red, and was quite happy to see a blush on Kurt’s cheeks, too.
“We should cook,” Kurt said, out of breath. “If we ever want to eat.”
It turned out to be the best Christmas in a long time. As the Eve turned to Day, Blaine was sure he’d never experience such a happy Christmas ever again.
(He was wrong, though, because next year the two of them went to Ohio to spend Christmas with Kurt’s dad and step mom. Even that, though, was nothing compared to the first Christmas they spent with their daughter. And when she came back for her first Christmas break from Hogwarts, both Kurt and Blaine knew it’d be the best Christmas present they’d ever receive.)
