Notes: Written for the Klaine Advent Drabble 2018 prompts negligence/candy cane and gingerbread. Takes place on their first New Year's Eve together during Kurt's senior year of high school. Inspired by Blogilates's Instagram post this morning :)

"Oh my God!" Kurt pants, weeding through the crowd and heading for the balcony, pulling Blaine along with him in his search for privacy. "I can't believe we spent so much time dancing that we almost missed midnight!"

"It's hard not to get caught up in the music when Lady Gaga's performing!" Blaine grabs two champagne flutes from a passing waiter and hands one to Kurt before he shuts the door behind them. "And … when we're in each other's arms ..."

"Yeah," Kurt agrees, cuddling up to his boyfriend as a breeze blows between them. "Dancing with you can be … mesmerizing."

"To say the least …"

"The very least …"

From beyond the door, the music stops, and they hear enthusiastic screams of "10! 9! 8! 7! …"

"So, Mr. Hummel, what is your wish for the New Year?" Blaine asks, pulling Kurt close, eyes locked on his lips, completing forgetting his glass of Dom Perignon.

"6! 5! 4! 3! …"

"I wish," Kurt whispers, threading his fingers through the curls at the base of Blaine's neck, "that we can spend every day like this … wrapped up in one another … falling even more and more in love … for the rest of our lives …"

"2! 1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Kurt and Blaine barely notice the exuberant cheering from the grand ballroom as their lips meet, this new chapter of their lives starting the same way it ended, with the two of them thoroughly, absolutely, and contentedly in love …

Blaine readjusts the ends of the afghan he has wrapped around his body so he can pull it over his head like a hood. He scoots in closer to the Connect Four board standing between them, as if getting closer to it might help him figure out his next move.

"So … that's how you pictured New Year's Eve this year?"

"That's how I've pictured New Year's Eve every year since the start of high school," Kurt replies, wrapping his own blanket tighter around his shoulders. "E-except my dates have always been different, of course. I mean, I only met you last year."

"Of course," Blaine says with a small smile since he suspects he may have featured in that year's New Year's Eve daydream, too.

Kurt definitely starred in his.

"Well, you neglected to tell me any of that, Kurt, because if you had, I may have been able to come up with something better for tonight than old Christmas candy, stale gingerbread, and board games."

"I don't know," Kurt says, twirling what's left of his candy cane in his mug of hot cocoa. "It's not like I'm hating this."

"Alright, alright …" Blaine slides a red disc into the board, building a line straight through the middle, and crows triumphantly. "Ooo! Top that!"

Kurt snickers at the suggestive overtones of Blaine's remark as he hunts down his next move. The alarm on Kurt's phone starts to ding, and he smiles. "You know what that means."

"Happy New Year," Blaine says, leaning carefully over the game board to claim a kiss.

"Happy New Year." Kurt moves, too, eager to oblige. Outside Blaine's bedroom window, a small congregation of his neighbors race up and down the street, smacking pots with wooden spoons in an unholy clamor and drunkenly singing Auld Lang Syne at the tops of their lungs. Kurt and Blaine's New Year's kiss is simple considering they're both posed in awkward positions and suffering from seven hours of coffee breath to get to this point – nothing like the champagne-flavored, tipsy-passionate kiss of Kurt's dreams. But it's nice. It's them - a fabulous old married couple but just starting out, willing to wait until they're a little older to enjoy drinking and partying.

And out of Ohio.

Kurt opens his eyes first, his gaze flickering down to the game board when he feels his knees bump against it. It's in no danger of falling over, but in a glimpse, he sees his road to victory.

"A-ha!" He quickly slips a black disc beside Blaine's red. "Connect Four!"

Blaine breaks away from their kiss with a jerk to examine the board. "Dammit! You won again!"

"I have a feeling you're letting me win."

"I wish I was, but I'm really not."

"So, what do you want to do now?"

"I don't know …" Blaine's eyes flicker around the room – to the ice covered window, beaded with condensation, overlooking an impromptu party in full swing; to his iPod on the desk, spitting out their playlist of carefully chosen Christmas music; to his bed, which has been sitting untouched, like an elephant in the room. It would be so easy to lead Kurt up there and start making out, but in a way, that feels like an ending when this should mark a beginning. There will be so many endings for them in the upcoming year, with Kurt leaving for college and Blaine preparing for his senior year. This is the year they're expected to grow up, decide what they want to do with their lives, then get ready to live it. But this moment, sitting on his bedroom floor playing board games like the teenagers they are – how many more moments like this are they going to have? He sees this upcoming year turning into a whirlwind. He's afraid he'll get stuck in the middle of it, then June will be here before he knows it. He wants to delay that for as long as possible … if he can. "Best seven out of eight?"

Kurt looks surprised, as though he'd expected Blaine to say something different. But he pulls the board upward and releases the discs, a conniving smile on his lips. "You're on."