Title: The Season of Love and Understanding
Recipient: himaryan
Author: to be revealed January 3rd, 2012
Rating: PG-13 (if it's even that; only just!)
Warnings: None
Word Count: 2939
Summary: Blaine loves Christmas, and is thoroughly excited about celebrating his first Christmas with Kurt. Kurt doesn't quite feel the same way.
Notes: Thank you to findyourstars for the very quick and awesome beta! To himaryan - I hope you enjoy! I used two of your prompts so I hope this floats your boat :) Title comes from Merry Christmas Everyone by Shakin' Stevens. Happy holidays!




In late October, while Kurt was making alterations to one of Blaine's West Side Story costumes, Blaine asked Kurt if there was anything in particular he wanted for Christmas. It was still eight weeks away, but Blaine liked to be prepared.

"Blaine, honey, stand still or I'll stab you in the unmentionables with this pin."

Blaine did as he was told but repeated the question. Kurt sighed. "It's not even November yet. Let's get Halloween out of the way first, shall we?" If there was a slight hint of annoyance in Kurt's voice, Blaine didn't notice it.

"Now, I need to see if you can move in this. Arms up."

-

Blaine was always excited about Christmas, but this year he was more insufferable about it than ever. He loved everything about it - the tacky decorations, the tree, the music, and the way it always made his family feel more like family.

Also, the eggnog.

Every year his Dad's company held a party at their house for all of their employees, and as the boss's son Blaine was expected to attend. The Annual Anderson Holiday Extravaganza was mostly an opportunity for the staff to mingle for a few hours on the company dime. It had a secondary purpose of allowing Blaine's mom to do what she loved doing the most - put on her best jewellery (which Blaine had recently learned she did not appreciate being referred to as her bling) and play hostess for the night.

Blaine didn't particularly mind being required to show up - everybody was always nice to him and the last couple of years he'd even been cajoled into singing them a couple of songs. Not that it took much to convince him to perform. He especially didn't mind going along this year, because this year he had Kurt. After years of spending the night being asked if he had a girlfriend yet or occasionally in his early teens succumbing to his Dad's hints and agreeing to invite the daughter of one of his colleagues as his date, he could finally bring his boyfriend and his only real worry would be how many glasses of the free champagne they could sneak before anybody noticed.

He naturally just assumed that everybody else felt the same way he did about the holidays. Two weeks into November, when Kurt caught him decorating his locker with tinsel and a tiny tree, Blaine realised that this apparently wasn’t actually true.

"I’m sorry. I just don’t really celebrate Christmas."

Blaine hadn't even realised it was possible to announce something and be sheepish about it at the same time, but somehow Kurt managed it here.

"We haven't done Christmas since I was eight."

Blaine knew that Kurt's mom died around Christmas. It's one of the things he feels like he's always known about Kurt, like exactly what level of freak-out can be expected if he catches his dad eating fried food, or how many insults he can take from Santana before he goes full-on bitch right back at her. Kurt's mom died on the twenty-second of December and Blaine has a perfect memory of the twenty-first last year, when Kurt told him that his phone would be off all of the following day.

Blaine just hadn't realised that it meant no Christmas celebrations at all.

"But you sang with me," was all he could think to say.

"What?"

"Last year. We sang Baby, It’s Cold Outside. It's a Christmas song."

Kurt laughed a little. "Blaine, I had the hugest crush on you. I would probably have sung just about anything you asked me to. And besides, they don't specifically mention Christmas anywhere in that song. It's not like its snow that I'm objecting to."

Blaine listened patiently as Kurt explained that it would be hypocritical of him to celebrate because he's really not religious; complained that it's just a big commercial mess these days; and protested that even if Jesus did exist, He certainly wasn't born in December.

Blaine tried not to worry too much about it. For all of the things that they had in common there were just as many that they didn’t, and this was simply another example of that. He was nothing if not a sensitive boyfriend, and he didn't want to make Kurt think about things he didn't want to think about, so as November turned into December, he tried to keep a lid on his festive excitement. If he cancelled a few dates so that he could stay home and watch Christmas movies with his mom, or if he told Kurt he was too busy with homework to hang out at his house when really he was out helping his dad choose the tree and hang the decorations, it wasn’t really a big deal. He was just sparing Kurt from feeling obliged to do things he didn't want to do.

So when Tina blew her hair out of her face while they were sitting together at the back of their English class and said to him "So what's up with you and Kurt?", Blaine was surprised.

"What do you- what? Nothing's up. Why should something be up?"

Tina glanced at their teacher to check his back was still to them, then turned to face Blaine. He wasn't even bothering to write anything down - they'd done Hamlet at Dalton last year and he still had all of his notes - so she had his full attention. "That would be because he said something's up."

Blaine frowned. "He told you that?"

She sighed and shook her head. "No - he told Rachel, who told Finn, who told Puck and Mike, and then Mike told me."

"Oh."

"You realise when he told Rachel, he knew that this exact chain of events would occur, right? He's an evil genius. He told her because he wants to know what's up. So again... what's up with you and Kurt?"

Blaine laughed a little at the ridiculousness of the question, which earned them a glare and a "Mr. Anderson, is something funny?" from their teacher. After shaking his head in apology and staying quiet for a few minutes, he put his pen down again. "Kurt and I have a healthy relationship," he whispered at Tina. "We talk about things. He would just come right out and ask me if he thought something was wrong, not play this insane game of Chinese whispers."

"Oh really," Tina hissed back. "So you haven't been cancelling dates or avoiding hanging out with Kurt without giving him any kind of explanation?"

Blaine considered that for a moment. "Oh. Oh."

Tina rolled her eyes. "Exactly. So for the third and final time - what's up with you and Kurt?"

-

Blaine was waiting at Kurt's locker by the time he got out of class. This in itself wasn't an unusual occurrence, and Kurt smiled as he reached Blaine. "Hi!"

Blaine smiled back at him, but Kurt could tell there was something not quite right. His boyfriend’s smile didn't reach his eyes, and that almost always meant Blaine was having a really bad day. Even on the worst of days he could usually muster a genuine smile for Kurt. "What's wrong?"

Blaine pressed his lips together and briefly looked down at the floor before flicking his eyes back up to Kurt. "Why does Tina think we're practically on the verge of breaking up?"

Kurt frowned and his jaw dropped open a little. "Why does Tina what?"

"That was pretty much my reaction." He paused, still worried, but the look on Kurt's face was somehow making him feel better. Whatever he'd said to Rachel, it clearly hadn't been with the intention of a break-up. "There was a huge chain reaction story which seemed to start with you saying something to Rachel?"

It was Kurt's turn to look uncomfortable. Instead of opening his locker, he grabbed Blaine's hand and pulled him down the hall into the empty choir room. They were barely through the door before Blaine started speaking again. "What did you say to Rachel, Kurt?"

"Why have you been avoiding hanging out with me after school?" Kurt sighed as he sat down on the piano bench, answering Blaine's question with a question. "I feel like I've only seen you between classes lately. I miss you."

Blaine swallowed and nodded, stepping a little closer to Kurt and sitting down beside him. "I know. I've just been super busy at home. Christmas stuff."

Kurt frowned a little. He might not have celebrated Christmas in ten years but from what he remembered and from the little bit of the festive season he'd allowed Finn and Carole to bring into the house last year, there was nothing particularly strenuous or time consuming about it. "Christmas?"

Blaine nodded. "Yeah. There's... a lot to prepare for."

"I wasn't aware that preparing for Christmas took up the whole of December. That's one twelfth of the year, you know."

"I- uh. I never thought of it like that." Blaine was thinking back to the last three nights spent at home on the couch with his mom, eating popcorn and watching their way through the Christmas section of Blaine's DVD collection. He loved those nights, and he wanted to get in as many of them as he could.

Kurt smiled hopefully. "So can we hang out after school tonight? I could come over to yours, if you want."

"No!" Blaine's thoughts immediately flashed to his bedroom, which he had spent the last week turning into a perfect Winter Wonderland. He just needed to get one last can of spray on snow to finish off the windows, which had been his plan for tonight, but that could probably wait. He looked at Kurt, who now just looked hurt as he turned away from Blaine and prodded aimlessly at the keys on the piano. Yeah, it could definitely wait. "I mean - just, my Mom is having people over tonight. We could go to your place, though."

"Yeah?" Kurt glanced up at Blaine, still looking a little wounded. "You promise you won't cancel on me?"

Blaine opened his mouth to speak, and a little voice popped up in the back of his mind. A little voice that sounded scarily like Tina. You should just tell him about the party, you know. He likes parties where he gets to wear fancy outfits. He likes you. He can probably get over this anti-Christmas thing for one night. For a brief moment he debated doing exactly that, but he was too scared that Kurt would say no, or worse, laugh in his face. "I promise."

Kurt smiled and stood up, holding his hand out to help Blaine up from the bench. It was the closest to PDA that they ever came at school and Blaine smiled and accepted the helping hand as Kurt spoke. "See you at lunch?"

Blaine nodded. "Yeah." As they went their separate ways, Blaine turned back and grinned, calling out to Kurt. "Oh, and I'll tell Tina she can tell Mike to tell Finn - and Puck, since apparently he was inexplicably involved in this too - to tell Rachel that she can tell you everything is fine, shall I?"

-

Every day for the next week, Blaine found himself arguing with the Tina in his head (and on occasion the Tina sitting next to him in class, which was beyond confusing) about whether or not he should - or could - invite Kurt to his dad's party.

On Monday he waited at Kurt's locker before class, having decided over the weekend that he definitely ought to invite him. When Kurt was a few minutes late showing up, Blaine took this as a sign that he'd made the wrong decision, and so he said nothing. He just smiled as he handed Kurt the coffee he'd bought and enjoyed the brief moment when their fingers touched.

He did the same thing on Tuesday before lunch, and on Wednesday before glee practice, chickening out again both times. And then during glee on Wednesday he changed his mind again and decided to ask him right there and then, which of course was the exact moment that Finn and Rachel started singing Last Christmas and Kurt just scowled from his seat beside Blaine in the back of the room.

It was Thursday afternoon before he finally decided absolutely for definite that he couldn't possibly invite Kurt now - the party was on Saturday and Kurt would never say yes, he would just berate Blaine for not giving him time to put together an outfit and use that as his excuse.

Which is why when the doorbell rang on Saturday night long after the party had started and Blaine was dispatched to answer it, he was shocked to find Kurt standing on the step holding a piece of mistletoe high in the air and wearing - wait.

"You're wearing a Santa hat," was all Blaine said by way of greeting.

"You're an idiot," was Kurt's reply.

"But your hair..." Blaine blinked and shook his head, realising that absolutely wasn't the most important thing happening right now. "What are you doing here?"

"Your mom invited me when she realised you hadn't. To which I say, again, you're an idiot."

"But you-"

"Don't do Christmas. I know. But you do. Now are you going to keep me standing out here in the cold or are you actually going to kiss me under this damn mistletoe?"

Blaine grinned and leaned forward to kiss him as his hands slid down the front of Kurt's navy pea coat and unfastened the buttons. Kurt dropped his arms, giving up on the mistletoe and letting his fingers tangle loosely in Blaine's mercifully gel-free curls as he kissed him back.

"You're wearing a Santa hat," Blaine repeated, smiling against Kurt's lips.

"Mm," Kurt hummed. "And if you tell anyone, I still have those steel-toe boots at home and I'm not afraid to use them. And by 'use them' I do mean 'kick you'."

Blaine laughed and took Kurt's coat from him, revealing the black wool waistcoat Kurt had chosen to wear with black suit pants and a crisp white shirt. Understated, for Kurt, but perfect for the occasion. "You look amazing," he grinned as he hung Kurt's coat on the rack, then frowned when he turned back and Kurt had disappeared. "Kurt?"

Kurt popped back up in the doorway with an overnight bag in his hand, before smiling and stepping up close to Blaine again. "Your mom talked to my dad and they agreed I can stay here tonight. See what you risk missing out on when you do stupid things like not invite me to parties?" Blaine blushed, but Kurt was laughing.

"It's a Christmas miracle," Blaine grinned back at him.

"Shall we put this in your room?" Kurt wiggled his eyebrows, giggling slightly as he lifted the bag in the air. "A little bird told me it looks like Santa's workshop up there and that is something I have got to see."

Before Blaine could do anything other than gape, Kurt had run ahead of him onto the stairs and was well on his way towards Blaine's bedroom door. Finally Blaine's brain kicked in and he ran after Kurt, laughing, and Kurt let out an involuntary yelp as Blaine grabbed him around the waist to stop him from getting any further.

Removing Kurt's bag from his grip and dropping it gently onto the floor, Blaine reached up and covered Kurt's eyes with his hands. He rested his chin on Kurt's shoulder and whispered against his neck. "Don't laugh."

"I promise," Kurt breathed as Blaine started to walk them forwards. Kicking the door open so that he didn't have to take his hands away from Kurt's eyes, they stepped inside and Blaine let the door swing closed behind him before dropping his arms to Kurt's waist.

There was a pause as Kurt blinked a few times, readjusting to the light. "Oh, Blaine." He took a deep breath as his lungs were filled with the scent of pine from the tree in the corner - a miniature version of the one he'd caught sight of in pride of place downstairs. "Maybe I'll make an interior designer out of you after all." White fairy lights were strung just below the ceiling and the windows were covered in so much fake snow Kurt very much doubted Blaine was planning on seeing outside until January. All of the other decorations were a deep red, complimenting Blaine's green walls and making everything look perfectly Christmassy.

Blaine looked thrilled. "It's not too much?"

"Oh, it's absolutely too much," Kurt laughed, turning in Blaine's arms and placing a kiss on his lips. "But I love it. It's very you."

"You know, you're still wearing that Santa hat. You match my décor."

"And you're still an idiot," Kurt smiled. "Now come on, we have a party to go to." He stepped out of Blaine's embrace and offered his arm. "Accompany me downstairs?"

Blaine obliged, laughing, and they headed back down to the party arm in arm, where Blaine introduced Kurt as his boyfriend, and they danced and they sang, exactly as Blaine had pictured it before this whole 'not celebrating Christmas' debacle had ever come up at all.

-

The answer to the champagne question turned out to be four glasses each and one absolutely inappropriate public makeout session beside the buffet table during Blaine's dad's big speech before his mom sent them to the kitchen with strict instructions to get coffee from the caterers and behave themselves for the rest of the evening.

---

Please consider spreading holiday cheer by commenting on and/or reblogging this fic! If you rec this fic, please be sure to attribute it to "anonymous" until the author/artist is revealed on January 3rd, 2011. Don’t forget to check out all of the other amazing works that will be posted throughout December!