A/N: Originally written on tumblr as a late night Christmas story. Just a little bit of my own thoughts on the Anderson family. Merry belated Christmas, everyone.
It was a rare Christmas for the Anderson family. Early this morning the three of them had piled into Mr. Anderson's newest car and began the eight hour trip to Blaine's uncle's house in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Anderson had turned the radio on the moment the engine had turned over and engrossed himself in the headlines and traffic report for the day. Mrs. Anderson pulled out her laptop and continued her work from the evening before. Blaine, settled in the backseat, slipped his earbuds in, and immediately dozed back off, the tupperware container of brownies he bought at the grocery story the previous day tucked securely next to him.
They stayed that way for the entirety of the ride. None of them spoke, for they had nothing to say to one another.
In fact, if Blaine thought hard enough about it, it was the first time the three of them had been in the same space together for nearly five months.
As soon as he was old enough to know what it meant, Blaine knew he had been an accident. It was truly the oldest story in the book: Boy meets girl, girl and boy get incredibly drunk one night, girl finds out she's pregnant, boy and girl get married to appease their parents. As the newly weds soon figured out, being married with a child provided many nice tax breaks; they reached the agreement that they would both continue along their respective careers, enjoy the benefit of their marriage, and hire a nanny for their brand-new bundle of joy.
So that's how the Anderson family normal operated: Mr. and Mrs. would traverse the globe for months at a time, come back to Ohio every once in a great while when business was slow, and occasionally cross paths with their sixteen, no wait, eighteen year old son.
"Did you finally tell grandma I'm gay or should I come up with an excuse why I don't have a girl friend yet?" Blaine asked in passing as they grew closer to their destination.
"No, they all know by now," Mr. Anderson replied. It was generally accepted by the entire Anderson family that certain things should be kept from Grandma Anderson. She didn't need to know about how Blaine's cousin was currently failing out of community college, or how Aunt Cindy wouldn't be joining them this year because she was down in Argentina sleeping with her pool boy, or that Blaine was gay.
"Just don't bring it up unless someone else says something," Mr. Anderson finished. He really wasn't too pleased to make the trip either. It wasn't that he didn't miss his brothers and sisters; quite the contrary, actually. It was a matter that he really didn't want to spend one of his few days off in a car. But the moment that his brother caught wind of the fact he was off on Christmas, the entire family was assembled, and Mr. Anderson really never could turn down one of his brother's parties.
Blaine sighed and looked down at the phone that buzzed in his lap. It was a text from Kurt.
Merry Christmas, Blaine! I love you.
Momentarily pulled out of his dismal mood, Blaine smiled and tapped out his reply.
Love you too. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Have fun today!
All to soon, Blaine found himself hobbling up the front lawn of his uncle's house, legs stiff from hours crammed in the back of the car.
The Anderson family was the most eclectic collection of human beings assembled; ignoring the fact that they all looked alarmingly similar, it was hard to believe that any of them were related.
Grandma and Grandpa Anderson had been "incredibly blessed by God" to have six children. An even greater blessing to them was that all of their children got along very well and all had children of their own. Blaine was one of sixteen grandchildren: he was the fourth to have been born and the first boy. He was also the solitary only child in the family.
Uncle Dustin leaned right up against the door frame, wine in hand, watching his brother's family traipse up to the house.
"Glad you could make it finally!" he greeted, pulling Mr. Anderson in for a hug. "How was traffic?"
"It's been worse," replied Mr. Anderson. "Merry Christmas." Pleasantries were exchanged all around and Blaine and his parents were drawn into the house.
As apathetic as Blaine normally seems about his family, he really does like to see them every so often. As far as his aunts and uncles go, they're all incredibly kind and seem to genuinely like him. His cousins are frankly hit-or-miss. Four of the six families lived in the northeast and saw each other often enough to have a good relationship with each other. Aunt Nancy's family lived down in Tennessee but they made an effort to come up to visit at least once a year.
And of course there was Blaine's family. He hadn't seen any of his extended family in years. If it wasn't for the annual Christmas cards that his aunts and uncles sent out, he p robably wouldn't recognize any of his cousins.
It was nice though, being around this group of people. Living and being out in Ohio, Blaine was constantly mentally prepared for all sorts of comments and snide remarks. But really, no one batted an eye at the apparent new information. Uncle John had even asked him if he had a boyfriend. Blaine had casually confirmed the question, and tried to beat down the mental happy dance he was doing in his head.
To think he had been dreading this. Instead, he found himself falling comfortably into step around his family. It was like he was at Dalton again: yes, he kept up his gentlemanly demeanor, because that's what is expected of a young man, but he was relaxed.
Blaine found himself in the den with the male members of the family before dinner watching back-to-back football games. He then helped his mother and aunts in the kitchen while they put out dinner. His younger cousins happily dragged him over to their table to eat with them.
After dinner he found himself down in the basement with all of his male cousins, one of the participants in the Halo tournament up on the flat screen television. His phone buzzed as he hammered on the controller.
Rachel's over. I love the girl, but I still feel like stuffing a sock down her throat when she's trying to get me to join in on 'Jingle Bells' while I'm in the kitchen.
Finn dropped one of my twice-baked potatoes and it splattered everywhere. Do you know how hard it is to get cheese out of silk?
I hope everything is going well for you.
Having won his round, Blaine finally was able to reply to Kurt's messages. He smiled, easily imagining the chaos that was currently going on at the Hummel-Hudson house.
"That your boyfriend?" asked Jake. He was two years younger than Blaine and was Uncle Dustin's middle child. It still threw Blaine off that there was no malice found in the question. He was legitimately curious.
"Actually, yes," Blaine replied.
"You guys get along?" Jake questioned.
"Absolutely."
"That's pretty cool, man," Tom said. An obnoxious trill cut through the din- Tom flipped open his phone and read the message. "Shit, I'm being dragged out tomorrow by my girlfriend."
"After Christmas sales, probably. That's what I'm doing tomorrow with Kurt," Blaine offered. Controller back in hand, Blaine promptly hunted down and annihilated his cousins.
"God damn," Mike laughed. "You sure you're gay?"
"Yep," said Blaine, his eyes still glued to the screen. "Why?"
"I dunno, you just seem, like, too gay to be straight and too straight to be gay."
Blaine felt a weird lump rise in his throat suddenly. The contents of his stomach, previously a pleasant warmth, now squirmed awkwardly.
"Is that a problem?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly.
"Asshole, where'd you find that launcher?" Mike shouted. He paused for a moment. "Not really. I just figured that most gay guys just fell into some sort of a specific type."
"That's completely retarded," Donny snapped. Blaine couldn't help but feel a sudden rush of affection for the twelve year old.
"Eh, the fuck if I know," Mike said. They continued the round with the normal amount of shouting between teenage boys virtually murdering each other. "Didn't you say your boyfriend's graduating this year?"
"Yes," Blaine said, pride fighting it's way into his voice. "He's going to school in New York."
"Are you guys going to stay together?" Donny chimed in.
"We're going to make it work," Blaine said confidently. He still felt weird about the previous conversation.
"You're not worried that he'll meet someone else?"
Blaine hated that the conversation was heading down this path. It was still an incredibly touchy subject for him. Stupid Sadie Hawkins Dance.
"Well, of course there is that possibility. But we're going to stay together for as long as possible," Blaine said. He was getting too caught up in his own thoughts to realize that Tom had shot him in the head and the round was over.
"Cool," Jake commented. "I could go for another soda." And just like that, the conversation changed again. Blaine tried to keep his mind on the game and talk of cars.
Before he knew it, Mrs. Anderson was calling down from the top of the stairs. With an eight hour drive to look forward to, they wanted to leave before it was too incredibly late.
Overall, Blaine enjoyed himself. Aunt Christie told him he was welcome to stay at their home in Connecticut when he started looking at colleges later in the year. Hugs were spread all around and then the small Anderson family was piled back in their car for the return trip.
His phone beginning to run low, Blaine let his mind wonder instead of mindlessly plugging in this headphones. The conversation with his cousins was still fresh in his mind.
He and Kurt, even when they were 'just friends', never really discussed if they each had a specific 'type'. They talked about cute guys, sure, but they never said what exactly they looked for in a guy. Once they got together, they both agreed that they didn't enter a relationship with each other simply because it was the only option at the time; no, the legitimately love one another.
But what if Kurt got to New York and suddenly realized everything that he had been missing out on in Ohio? What if he went to a bar in Chelsea one night and found a muscle-bound gym rat that was significantly more attractive than Blaine? Or what if he went to a Broadway show and met another snarky fashionista? The bottom plummeted out of Blaine's stomach as he continued down this train of thought.
When midnight rolled around, Blaine finally recognized the buzzing in his pocket.
How did it go?
Blaine thought for a moment.
Much better than expected. I guess I just haven't seen them all in a long time.
Kurt's response came quickly.
Good. Next year if your parents aren't home, you're coming over here. I want competent people in my kitchen from now on.
Blaine laughed. Kurt obviously had some stories to share tomorrow.
Was that actually a compliment, Mr. Hummel?
Don't get a big head. Finn's hopeless and I can't order Carole around like I can you. I feel bad because she actually tries.
They continued back and forth in a similar fashion until Kurt admitted that he was incredibly exhausted and was going to bed. They exchanged 'I love you's and agreed on a time they would meet the next afternoon.
Three a.m. finally had the Andersons pulling back into their home driveway. Mr. Anderson clapped Blaine on the shoulder kindly. Mr. Anderson would be flying out tomorrow afternoon for a trip to San Jose. Mrs. Anderson would be sticking around a bit longer, but would be spending the New Year in Aruba.
They all bade each other a good night and a Merry Christmas.
Had it been a good Christmas? Blaine wondered as he pulled off the button down and loosened his tie. The sixteen hour round-trip drive had been horrific, but the company of Blaine's extended family had been a welcome change. And even though his cousins had inspired a nagging bit of worry in the back of Blaine's mind, they were still all really nice.
So yes, it had been a decent Christmas. But really, anything was better than last year when Blaine spent the day curled up in his bed with It's a Wonderful Life playing, his television dinner tray abandoned on the beside table, alone in the big house.