This little holiday drabble contains OCs from "Rachel Chooses..." but they make it obvious what their relationships are, so you don't need to have met them previously.
In my story, since I do not own Glee, they are in the same grade together, so this little extra Christmas story (ahem, sorry Kurt, I mean "December story") takes place in their Senior year.
December With You
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On Christmas night, the Anderson family's house was so warm and inviting it was hard to imagine why the snow all around the foundation wasn't melting, why the icicles weren't falling off the windowsills into the bushes below, with a rapid spread of warmth radiating outward, the ice and snow steaming up and disappearing progressively toward the steps and then the walkways and the driveway until the homestead was an oasis of green grass and flowers surrounded by a winter landscape beyond the outskirts of the property.
Since the temperature outside was below zero, the reality was that there was no hope of anything melting other than some stray ice on the walkways and driveway that were covered with rock salt and premium clay kitty litter (a clever trick of Mr. Anderson's) and lined with luminaries (containing electric flameless candles this year at the insistence of Mrs. Anderson after last year's burnt fingertips went unreported by either son until after the luminaries were lit and placed) along which the annual party guests strolled as the two rosy-cheeked and shivering but constantly joking and laughing and outgoing neighbor boys parked their cars for them.
Blaine and Brian themselves took turns parking to give the neighbor boys time for hanging out inside to warm up and enjoy hot chocolate and shrimp puffs and pigs in blankets and maybe 14 kinds of cookies.
Every time Blaine and his brother were outside parking their guests' cars, Brian marveled at the beauty of the home with its sparkly white lights (never flashing, never colored, always only tiny solid white lights, as Mrs. Anderson likes things classic) outlining the windows and frame and eves of the house, and windows so bursting with a warm glow from within, it was as though the house itself was trying to spread joy out into the neighborhood as far as it could.
Brian tried to point out the beauty of all this to Blaine, but as Blaine was still only a senior in high school and was not the one off at college and feeling nostalgic and appreciative of home during short visits, he didn't really get the poetry of Brian's effusions. "But Blaine, just close your eyes and listen to the music and laughter and clinking of glasses and silverware wafting out of the house, and then look at the glow of the light from the windows reflecting on the snow around the whole place, and the icicles refracting the light out like Christmas fairies alerting the world to the friendship and jollity inside!"
"Have you been drinking mom's eggnog, Brian? You know that has a LOT of spiced rum in it, don't you?"
"Blaine, I'm not drunk. I just appreciate the beauty of this tradition. I've always looked forward to this party every year. And THIS YEAR, Colleen could make it!"
"Aaaaah. So that's what got into you. You're just all love-struck by Colleen sharing Christmas with you finally. You want to hold her, and kiss her, and make babies with her, and have parties like this with her in your own nice little gingerbread hou- Oooof! Oh, look out brother Brian, you have NO IDEA who you're dealing with in a snowball fight!"
Blaine was always the athletic one, but Brian was three years older and had long since figured out how to put his artistic creativity to good use in battles against his brother, at least as far as snow and faces and the backs of necks were concerned.
Once he had Blaine pinned to a former snow angel which now looked like Calvin and Hobbes had attempted to make angel-like wrestlers in the snow instead, he loomed over him and asked, "OK little brother, now that I am the master of you, and master of any of your futile thoughts of moving from this spot, tell me why your boyfriend isn't coming tonight so that you think you have the right to tease me all night about my girlfriend? Hmmm? Tell me that."
His laughter calming down and quieting, Blaine huffed and then looked back up at his brother, suddenly serious. "He's in a snit about Christmas. He doesn't want to do anything Christmas related. He says he's over it."
Brian rolled off of his brother and lay in the snow next to him, his mittens behind his head, gazing up at the brilliant winter stars like Blaine was doing. "That sucks, man. What happened to him around Christmas?"
"Oh, nothing. He's just sick of everyone imposing their religion on him. He says he's tired of running into people this time of year who try to convince him that he should worship Jesus Christ and if he doesn't then he's a bad person, and I don't think that's what people are actually doing, but he just feels that way. I get it. I mean if you don't have a specific religion to tell people you already have, they want to convince you to learn about theirs. I mean, we can always just tell people what church our parents made us go to all growing up, you know? And they just assume that's our belief system or doctrine or whatever."
Brian laughed. "Yeah, and we're both agnostic."
Blaine pointed up at a shooting star even though Brian had said "Oh, hey" at the same moment. A few moments after it faded, Blaine got back to the subject. "Well, I mean, I'm spiritual and stuff… like you are… maybe not as much as you… but I'm just not… like… following any dogma or religion or anything. And the thing is, that's pretty much what Kurt is like too, I think. But he never went to church so I guess where we can just say 'I grew up going to the Community Church of Westerville' he only says things like 'I don't believe in any of that stuff' so people try to talk him into things. I guess he just gets sick of it."
"You should go get him. Just pick him up and bring him over. All our relatives and mom and dad's friends and everyone in there never talk about religion or anything. Half of them are Jewish and other religions anyway. It's just a big party; it's not even about Christmas really except for the tree. Everything else is like, glass and silver and purple under all white lights."
"There's a lot of green and red around the house."
"Well, OK. But we always hang out with the kids in the kitchen and the den and stuff, after we get bored with the conversations with all the adults anyway. It's like our own secondary party. Bring him over later maybe."
A car approached the driveway and the two of them tore their eyes away from looking for their favorite constellations in the night sky and jumped up, brushed the snow off their jackets (Blaine still had some down the back of his sweater that hadn't melted yet which he had to dig for, scowling at his brother who had shoved it there) and headed out to greet the guest. Blaine answered Brian as they walked, "Yeah, maybe… we'll see."
When Brian and Blaine came in stomping snow off of their boots, Nick and Jeff caught each other's eyes across the living room, finally seeing an opportunity to break away from their respective parents. Nick said to his mom, "I'd better go see if Blaine needs any help parking cars, Mom, if you'll excuse me. Nice to speak with you, Mrs. Fitzpatrick. Merry Christmas and say hello to your daughter for me." Jeff patted his dad on the arm and told him he'd be right back as he slipped away.
The four boys greeted each other boisterously and headed toward the kitchen to get rid of the wet shoes and coats in the mud room adjacent. Brian fist-bumped each of the two neighbor boys on their way out to take over the watch for any more arriving cars.
Trent walked in just as the guys were sitting down around the kitchen counter with hot coffee and cookies. "Well fancy meeting you all here!"
Blaine pulled him into a side-hug while asking what he'd like to drink in "the official kid's kitchen party starting now." As soon as Trent entered the room, the whole group started to grow louder and more raucous by the minute.
Entering into this kitchen of hilarity and joining right in with the laughter as she saw Jeff trying to balance a Pfefferneuse cookie on his nose without getting powdered sugar all over his face, Colleen returned Brian's smile warmly and settled into his lap, his arms instantly wrapping around her as always. She whispered to him, "Have you heard from Greg and Nina yet?"
Brian shifted her in his lap to make them more cozy together in the kitchen chair, and since they were seated between Nick and Trent his whisper wasn't so much of a whisper as an attempt at not-yelling while making his hand act as a megaphone directly toward her ear, "Yeah, Greg actually took his manager's shift at the coffee shop so she could have Christmas off. But he said he'll probably close up around 7 or so."
Colleen knew that Nina needed a little more time to prepare part of the surprise for their boyfriends which the girls had been conspiring on for a while, so this was good news to her. She and Brian were only spending a couple days in Westerville before going to a Yoga retreat together until almost the start of their next semester, so the girls only had today to complete their little project.
She and Nina always wished they could find more time to spend together, ever since they met last spring, but Nina and Greg were at the college here and Colleen and Brian both went to schools in Amherst, Massachusetts which was far too much of a commute for them to visit Ohio very often.
Trent caught sight of something through the kitchen windows. It was a familiar family arriving, which included the girl who had been chasing after Jeff for as long as they could remember, since at least kindergarten. Jumping up, he announced, "Jeff! Look, Cynthia's here! I'll go get her and tell her you're waiting for her in the kitchen!"
Before Trent even made it past the kitchen entryway, all the Dalton boys were on their feet and chasing after Trent, Jeff shouting, "Noooooooooo!" and the other two hardly able to run, they were laughing so hard.
Brian caught his brother's arm before he made it out of the kitchen, and held him back. "Hey Blaine, it seems like only the last stragglers are arriving now, so I think mom and dad wouldn't mind if you left for a little while. I mean, if you wanted to go visit Kurt for a bit."
Colleen perked up and gazed at Blaine's face with curiosity and caring. She could always have the most profound effect on Blaine with just a simple look. He sat right down next to them and ran his hands through his hair, bowing his head. "I texted him a couple times, and he's pretty happy at home tonight. He's enjoying having the house and the TV remote to himself for once."
"Where are the rest of his family," Colleen asked, "they're not here, are they?"
"They were happy for the invitation but Kurt's step mom and step brother have this tradition of going out to Jonestown for that big Christmas light display every year. Kurt says he's much happier having the house to himself than going to a Christmas party or sitting in a car for long hours of driving in a line to look at lights."
"But you'd rather be with him tonight, huh?"
Blaine just looked at his hands clasped on the table.
Colleen put a comforting hand on his back.
That got Blaine talking a mile a minute. "I just like this time outside of school, you know? We're always stressing over college applications and stuff at school, and the winter break is so full of other things, we get to just relax and not think about it for a while, and I want to share that with Kurt I guess. I don't know. You guys are so lucky you're at U-Mass and Hampshire and you can see each other all the time. What if I go to Berklee School of Music next year and Kurt goes to NYU or Fordham? Boston and New York aren't far from each other but it's still such a hike! It'll be like… we'll end up only visiting each other every other month or something. What if I don't get into NYU?"
Brian said to his brother, "You'll be fine, it'll work out…"
But Colleen could feel the tension in Blaine's back. He was sincerely worried about this. She rubbed his back, saying, "Listen, Blaine, it really will work out OK. But the main goal is to not let worry about the future stop you from enjoying the present to the fullest. Right?"
He still felt tense under her fingers, or even more so at that point, so she went on. "Think about it. If you knew right now for a fact that you'll be in the same city for college next year, you could enjoy all your time together now without worry, right? And if you knew for a fact that you'll only be able to visit each other's colleges every month or so next year, you would try even harder to enjoy all your time together now. So either way it turns out, think how much happier you'll be next year if you can think back and remember how you spent every moment this year completely enjoying each other's company."
A smile snuck onto Blaine's face, mostly just because Colleen always tried so hard to find the right things to say to him. He didn't have anything else to add to this conversation for now, but he said softly, "I'm so glad you're my sister-in-law." His head shot up at his little slip of words. "I mean, you know what I mean… whatever…" Colleen and Brian were both laughing at him, and that made the three of them feel all the more like family already.
"Greg! Nina! Welcome!" Mrs. Anderson gave a hug to each of them. "Merry Christmas. Let me take your coats, and I'll let Brian know… oh here he is now. It's so nice to see both of you."
Colleen grabbed Nina almost the instant they all finished their greetings at the door, and pulled her off toward the sun porch, the two of them giggling about their secret extra gift for the boys. Brian turned back to Greg after watching them go, and the two of them exchanged huge shrugs. Greg said, "Nina won't tell me what the surprise is, but I think it has something to do with crafts. Do you have a sewing machine back there or something?"
Brian glanced toward the sun porch, all decked out in green pine garlands and red poinsettias, and shook his head, saying, "She just has her computer back there. So who knows? It could be anything."
After piling Colleen's and Greg's coats onto Brian's bed upstairs, one of the designated coat "racks" for the party, already covered with 30 coats or more, Brian walked over to a shelf and took down a stack of cups. They were take-away coffee cups from Disney that he had grabbed from one of the cafeterias when he and Colleen were there last week.
Colleen and Brian made a habit of working at Disney for at least a few days, at least every six months, during the busy times so they could keep their status as "Seasonal cast members." They had just spent a week there right after finishing their finals, back at their old favorite jobs in the world, Brian at Kilimanjaro Safaris and Colleen at The Great Movie Ride, sharing holiday joy with guests from all over the world and having the time of their lives as usual. Greg and Nina had considered going down there to visit, but they both had finals that were held late this semester so they couldn't make it.
When Brian handed the stack of a few take-away cups to Greg, all the barista could do was stare. He loved Disney and all of a sudden he was lost in that world. The cups were adorned with Disney characters all dressed for the holidays, surrounded by snow and the Disney holiday theme. Greg smiled at the cups in his hand for a few moments, just taking in the design and feeling the Disney holiday spirit, and then he looked up at Brian with wide eyes and threw his arms around him, saying "I'm naming a coffee after you, and a sandwich after Colleen!"
Brian pulled back from their hug, laughing, and saying they were just paper coffee cups that they grabbed from the cafeteria, it's no big deal, but Greg went on, "No, seriously, these are the coolest thing ever! It's like I got to go to Disney too or something! Of course, I'll have to have Peter invent the actual contents of the sandwich, that's not my talent. But it'll be 'Colleen's Cucumber Cuteness.' And your drink… is coming right up! Where's your kitchen?"
Nick kept swearing to Blaine that he heard actual singing from somewhere, but whichever direction they headed, the sound kept getting more faint and then he'd lose the trail again.
Blaine kept telling him it was the music playing in the living room and dining room that he must be hearing, and maybe it sounded like people singing because of all the actual talking in there. But Nick stuck to his theory, and insisted that there were angels somewhere in this house because there were two female voices blending so beautifully somewhere… no not this way, maybe toward the back of the house, no, maybe beyond the foyer…
And then Nick stopped short, right in his tracks, Blaine crashing into him unable to stop in time, after they passed the door to the sun porch.
Turning his head back, to look past Blaine and toward the sun porch door, Nick strained to listen. "There it is! Do you hear that? Tell me you're not hearing that!"
Tilting his ear toward the door as well, Blaine concentrated, finally taking Nick seriously, and then he suddenly jerked his head toward Nick, "I hear it! You're right! It's beautiful, who's in there?"
They both scrambled toward the door, and peeked through the windows on either side. They couldn't see who it was since they were apparently on the far left side of the room, so they ended up pressing their ears against the windows instead. Those voices were indeed blending together beautifully, with Nina's jazz background and Colleen's college acapella experience adding the right touches to make an old classic their own.
"… I need no overcoat, I'm burning with love!
My heart's on fire, the flame grows higher,
So I will weather the storm!
What do I care how much it may storm?
I've got my love to keep me warm."
There was some movement, and some soft discussion, and then Blaine recognized Colleen's voice saying, "Let's play back what we have so far, I think I have an idea for a different harmony on the second verse." Then there was the shuffling of a chair, and the sounds of the girl's alto and mezzo-soprano tones intertwining and rising and falling around each, causing Nick and Blaine to stand taller as they listened at the windows.
"The snow is snowing, the wind is blowing,
But I can weather the storm!
What do I care how much it may storm?
I've got my love to keep me warm.
I can't remember a worse December,
Just watch those icicles form!
What do I care if icicles form?
I've got my love to keep me warm.
Off with my overcoat, off with my glove,
I need no overcoat,
At that line, Nick stood back from the window, unable to resist singing along anymore, and threw his hands across his heart, belting out, "I'm burning with love!"
Blaine looked up at him and laughed, and then of course he happily joined in, harmonizing with Nick and blending nicely with the female voices coming through the windows,
"My heart's on fire, the flame grows higher,
So I will weather the storm!"
They both started dancing right there outside the door, singing with glee,
"What do I care how much it may storm?"
The door opened, and Nina and Colleen peeked out at them, laughing, with their recorded voices behind them and these goofy dancing boys in front of them, and then they shook their heads and sang right along on the last line,
"I've got my love to keep me warm!"
"Come on in, guys," Nina said, ushering them through the door.
"Oh my gosh, yeah, hurry," Colleen added, grabbing Blaine's arm to pull him out onto the sun porch and looking around to see if anyone was coming from either direction, "quick, before anyone else hears us! This is a secret for Brian and Greg!"
Nick couldn't stop gushing about how beautiful their voices were and how long he had wandered around the house searching for the source of those angelic tones calling out to him, and how Blaine wouldn't believe that the angels were real, but they WERE! And here's proof, here they are! The girls mostly ignored him but laughed and thanked him for the compliments.
They answered Blaine's questions about the surprise CD they were making, and played for him and Nick the two songs that Nina had already edited, mixed and produced, that they had recorded that morning when they said they were out shopping together.
"I love what you did with 'I'd Like You For Christmas.' You turned it into a really pretty duet. And I know Brian loves 'What Are You Doing New Year's Eve' so that was a perfect choice." Blaine actually had a couple suggestions for both of those songs, but he figured they were already done with them, and they were perfectly beautiful as-is anyway.
Nick asked how many songs they were recording and if they'd like his and Blaine's voices on any of them. They thanked him, but it was only going to be those three songs this year, and this last one was going to be just the cut they can edit right here, so it would be a more intimate and spontaneous sounding recording in contrast to the other two.
"That's smart," Blaine said. "I think they're going to love it! How could they not? Hey Nina, you know Greg told me a while back that he set up your jazz albums as his alarm in the morning, so he wakes up to you singing. Has he ever told you that?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm aware of that." She and Colleen shared a few giggles. She looked at Blaine, not sure if she should share this kind of info with high school boys, and then did anyway, "He says he never hits the snooze button when he hears my singing, but I have a hard time believing that since he's perfectly able to shut me up live when I'm right there next to him actually telling him to wake up!" The girls broke into laughter, and Nick blushed and Blaine shook his head with a chuckle.
"Maybe you should try singing it instead of saying it! See if that's what he's conditioned himself to wake up to!" As they all laughed, Blaine confessed that when Greg had told him about that girlfriend-concert-alarm-system, it had given him the idea to try the same thing with some recordings he had of Kurt singing. The only problem was, waking up to Madonna's "Four Minutes" or part of the fourteen and a half minutes of a Celine Dion medley entirely in French was getting old, so it would be an amazing present to get new recordings of him singing.
Nina asked when Kurt was coming over tonight, and Nick put his arm over Blaine's shoulder supportively as he answered, which annoyed Blaine since this really wasn't that big of a deal at all and people should really stop making it seem like one.
Of course that gesture of Nick's made the girls believe that he was just pretending to not be bothered, or at least that's what Blaine figured when they started cooing at him.
"Seriously guys, he's just relaxing at home and didn't feel like a big party tonight. It's no big deal. We're going out tomorrow night together anyway."
Nina offered a little suggestion to be helpful, "You know, I'm sure if you put in an appearance with your parents now and then as soon as you got back, you could slip away to visit Kurt without anyone noticing you were gone…"
"Oh my gosh, why do people keep telling me that?" Blaine was looking out the dark floor-to-ceiling windows of the sun porch toward the woods in the back, the only shapes to be made out being some amorphous dark tree shapes contrasting with the white snow on the ground. He didn't notice the other three all exchanging knowing looks.
Throwing the final touch of a dash of nutmeg to the steaming coffee and handing the enormous bowl-sized mug (the Anderson family are big coffee drinkers) over to Brian, Greg announced, "I call this drink, 'Brian!' Tadaaa!"
Smiling, Brian blew into the mug to cool the drink down a bit, and breathed in the aroma, which was bursting full of holiday cheer.
"And it's an extra large so you can share because you always do and then you always end up having to go get more." He wished he had made the drink cooler so he didn't have to wait so long for Brian to be able to try it and tell him how it turned out.
"And it's perfect to celebrate the retreat you and Colleen are leaving for on Tuesday to become yoga masters or 'yogis' or whatever! It's all spices from India!"
Greg couldn't help bouncing on his feet in anticipation of the feedback on his drink. "It's all kinds of spicy, I made it with whole cinnamon and fresh ginger and cloves and tons of whole cardamom pods, and that dash of nutmeg on the top, and I can tell you the secret ingredient because it's your drink!"
He dropped his voice to a comically excited stage whisper. "It's TURMERIC! Isn't that wacky? You'll love it, though. It adds a crazy indeterminable flavor that seems exotic yet familiar but you can't place it, right? And it gives the drink that orangey color, so with the cream and sugar added, it looks just like eggnog! Isn't that cool? That's why it's called Brian! Because it looks like eggnog! But it's coffee! Just like you. You look like you're a total Christmas boy wearing a reindeer sweater your grandma knitted for you, but you're really a Yogi!"
That made Brian snort into his mug, splattering some of the spicy fragrant coffee onto his Christmas sweater. As he was wiping at it, Greg was bowing to him with his hands pressed together in front of him, saying, "Namaste."
Brian responded with a laughing, "Shalom!"
Greg came back with, "Alaikum as-salam!"
Colleen and Nina walked in as Brian was bowing to Greg saying, "Mariska hargitay" which threw both guys into a fit of joyful cackling.
"What's with the Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, and… I don't know what that last greeting was?" Nina looked at Colleen in response to her question and shook her head indicating she had no idea either.
Through his doubling over laughter, Brian found a way to slide his arm around Colleen and draw her in to him, kiss her on the cheek and explain, "Ah, my sweet brilliant bookworm who will never go to silly movies, it's Mike Myers. It's from a movie he did where he always said 'marishka hargutay' to everyone as if were a sovereign greeting in some Indian language, but then he met the actual actress and he had to say, 'Marishka hargutay, um… Marishka Hargutay!"
Remaining dead-pan, all Colleen said was, "You're not gonna do that at the yoga retreat, are you?"
She quirked an eyebrow after, showing she was being jocular, but really inside her mind she knew that there was a chance that he actually would do that. Watching him laugh even harder at the accusation, she also knew that if he did, she would roll her eyes at the people he said it to, with a smile that admits how much she loves that side of him anyway.
Jeff was not having any of Blaine's excuses. "Anderson, we're going to your boyfriend's house right now. It'll take like an hour round trip tops if the roads are clear. None of our parents will even notice we've left. Everybody get in my car! Brian, can you grab my dad's car keys?"
"Wait wait wait…" Blaine tried to slow Jeff's momentum. "We can't just barge into his house and make him come out with us or force him to have to invite us all in. He's really enjoying relaxing at home."
"But it's Christmas! And Blaine…" Jeff huffed and stopped his gesturing to the others to get moving and looked into Blaine's eyes. "…That's a special time for you. I've spent every December 25th of my entire life at your house for this party. You love today. You love this party with all your relatives and all your friends all around you. Your boyfriend being right down the road just sitting around doing nothing has got to be killing you. Now get in my car, we're going over there, even if we only get to see him for a few minutes and you can kiss him and hug him and whatever the heck else you want and then we'll come back here. But maybe we can convince him to come with us and we can spend the rest of the night teaching him how to tell your mom's disgusting eggnog from the good store-bought stuff and how to sneak as many cookies as possible from the dining room without getting stuck in a 20 minute conversation with Mrs. Fitzpatrick about how her daughter just got elected mayor of her town in Oregon for the fifth time tonight."
Nick spoke up, "No, Blaine's right… we can't just barge over there. If he says by phone that he doesn't want Blaine to come over, then we may be doing nothing other than bothering him."
"What if we go over there and sing like carolers and see if he comes to the door," Trent began, "HOLD YOUR OBJECTIONS! I know Kurt too you know! I know not Christmas carols! We would sing all snuggle-by-the-fire winter wonderland songs."
Jeff jumped on that. "Baby It's Cold Outside!"
"Oooh, and Let It Snow," Nick called out gleefully, jumping up and down clapping his hands, "And Sleigh Ride!" He started singing, "Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? In the lane, snow is glistening," Wrong song, but nobody cared. Trent and Jeff and Brian started right in singing along. "A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland."
Blaine saw that an irresistible momentum had a hold on his group of crazy friends as they continued singing and were starting to gather their things. Trent held Blaine's shoulders to sing right to him, "Gone away is the bluebird, Here to stay is a new bird..."
He wasn't going to be able to stop this train, so he might as well get on board. His smooth voice joined theirs softly, in a light harmony, as he put their dishes in the sink. "He sings a love song, as we go along…"
Nina and Colleen had already gotten four of their coats from upstairs, and were putting two of them around their boyfriends as they joined in, "Walking in a winter wonderland."
By the time they were all ready to go, everyone was singing, and they headed out into the snow, "Later on, we'll conspire, as we dream by the fire, to face unafraid, the plans that we made, walking in a winter wonderland."
As they all piled into Jeff's car, Trent suggested, "When we get to his house, we should sing 'I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm!' It's a classic, and it's so romantic!" Nina only just barely stopped her giggle from escaping, and she and Colleen exchanged a secret grin.
When Greg said "That's one of my favorite songs!" it was Colleen who failed to stop a giggle and Nina reached over to punch her on the arm, both of them breaking into laughter, so excited about giving the guys their CDs later.
To Kurt: So… are you sure you're perfectly happy at home tonight? Say if I were to stop by for a little bit later would that be alright?
From Kurt: Oh no, Blaine. I'd feel horrible if my lame attitude made you actually leave your party. Don't do that for me. Please enjoy it and your family and everyone. I'll see you tomorrow! I really am happy over here tonight, please don't worry about me. I'm just sorry that I didn't get my butt over to your house like I really should, and that made you worry.
Blaine held his iPhone on his lap, bouncing his knee up and down nervously. He didn't know if this was a good idea or not, but for some reason that last text made him glad they were doing it. He read it over and over. Finally he decided not to reply, and to just show up at this point and see what happens. He had no choice about the just-showing-up part, since his friends had basically taken over that idea and wouldn't take no for an answer.
When they got to Kurt's house, they all piled out, everyone talking at once, going over their plan for the song.
Nina ushered everyone to a good spot on the lawn and they all arranged themselves tramping in the snow and beating at their arms for warmth, the Warblers automatically leaning in to listen to Trent out of habit and the others following suit. He hummed out the first note from the song and held it until each of them piped in with their notes, some matching his and some harmonizing.
Blaine looked from the faint light in Kurt's third-floor bedroom window to the bright glow emanating from the living room windows downstairs, wondering if his isolated boyfriend really was just sitting around watching TV, or a movie, or if he was in the kitchen baking or cooking, or if he was mindlessly flipping through magazines or wasting time online… and he was jolted back to awareness of his surroundings by Nick pulling him into a friendly embrace as they all began the song. "Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring ting tingling too, Come on it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you..."
He couldn't explain why his heart started beating faster and faster like crazy as he stared at Kurt's house waiting for him to notice their voices and figure out who it was, as his friends around him all kept goading each other on to sing louder, "Outside the snow is falling and friends are calling, 'yoo hoo'…" and Jeff and Greg called out a few extra actual "Yoo Hoo's" at Kurt's house just to make the song more accurate.
"Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you." Blaine could swear he saw movement through the side window that could have been Kurt leaving the kitchen to walk toward the front of the house. Maybe. In the middle of all the giddy-up's, the door opened and Kurt appeared in the doorway throwing on a big soft blue-grey scarf that struck Blaine as almost exactly the color of Kurt's eyes at night. Blaine faltered in his singing, sharing a smile with Kurt, who then folded his arms, and leaned against the door frame chuckling at his friends, his smile never fading even as his laughter went silent.
Blaine responded to a squeeze from Nick and added his voice softly to, "…just holding your hand," but could do nothing but stare at Kurt and grin after that. Meanwhile, Greg and Jeff were making wide gestures with their arms indicating the whole group inviting Kurt to come out with them, as they all (except the momentarily awe-struck Blaine) sang, "We're gliding along with a song of a wintry fairy land!" Kurt shook his head at everyone but his face showed that he was getting more and more touched by this gesture as they put on the show for him. Then he fell into nothing but gazing at Blaine, making it that much harder for Blaine to get back into singing along, as the rest of them continued in their campy and delighted rendition, "Our cheeks are nice and rosy and comfy cozy are we, We're snuggled up together like two birds of a feather would be!"
Blaine continued his attempt at lending his voice, "Let's take that road before us and sing a chorus or two," and while everyone else sang the line correctly, Jeff threw in a little more accuracy at the last minute since it was his car they were really talking about, singing, "Come on it's lovely weather for a Jeep ride together with you!"
On the car ride over, they had all decided to change the words to the Farmer Grey part, so Kurt laughed out loud as they sang, "There's a BETTER party at the home of - Master - Anderson," everyone pointing at Blaine.
Kurt didn't move his eyes from Blaine's as he kept chuckling at them all, so neither of them noticed when they all paused suddenly right after singing, "It'll be the perfect ending to a perfect…"
Each of the singers went into a confused or panicked look, some of them looking around at each other as they grappled with what to sing at the end of that line, since they only just then realized that they hadn't thought about that part and the original suddenly didn't fit. Almost all of them blurted out something or other at about the same time, throwing in their last-second attempts to end that line poetically.
Jeff sang, "mmm I don't know" followed quickly by Trent singing decidedly, "day!" and Nick singing, "Anderson's song…nnn" and Greg singing out "day" after Trent, agreeing with his assertion that the original should work just fine.
Colleen sang almost right on-cue, "sleigh ride, son!"
Unfortunately Colleen's perfect save was obscured by Brian's blurting out of "flenderson."
Nina closed her mouth from whatever she was about to sing and scrunched up her face at Brian asking, "What?" and they both broke out laughing, Brian saying, "I couldn't think fast enough!" They both ended up sitting down in the snow overcome with laughing as Nina barely got out between giggles and tears, "What's a flenderson?"
Colleen and Greg looked over at each other and broke out in their own giggles, more at the sight of their boyfriend and girlfriend cracking up in the snow than anything else.
Blaine hadn't even started that last line in the first place because of the look in Kurt's eyes. He walked right past all the piling-up laughing crazies on the lawn without even noticing their antics, and took Kurt's face in his hands. He allowed Kurt to pull him into the house by the waist and cover his lips in a kiss that showed he was definitely happy they had come over tonight. In fact, Kurt's kiss told him that if there weren't a party at his parent's house he really should be sending his friends away and shutting that door to keep the heat inside, not that the two of them would need it to keep them warm any time soon.
In the several minutes that Kurt and Blaine were out of sight on the other side of the open door, "greeting" each other and "catching up," the group of friends on the lawn got into playing around with some of the songs they had come up with in the car that were nice joyful wintry songs that had nothing to do with Christmas. They had worked out a few of them during the ride over, and their blend of voices was just perfect for arranging so many great songs, so they kind of wanted to get back to them.
Trent was about to suggest a slightly different direction for Nick who was harmonizing with Nina and Colleen on "Let it Snow" when he noticed over their shoulders Kurt poking his head out from behind the door, obviously intrigued and captured by their voices. Trent called out toward the door instead, "You're exactly the voice we need to round this one out, Kurt!"
There was no need for anyone to even take off their coats as they crowded into the Hummel's foyer and finished up quick preparations of a few songs, having decided very quickly to go drive around looking for neighbors at home around town they could sing for. Kurt suggested that they head to Rachel's house first. With half of them piling into Jeff's Jeep and the other half bustling into Kurt's car, it became a non-Christmas-song Winter Caroling Caravan.
Before Kurt got into the driver's seat, Blaine leaned him against the door for another kiss, and asked in a whisper just for him, "Is it really OK that we just stormed over here like this?"
Kurt's "Yes" followed by a nuzzle to Blaine's neck and some kisses behind his ear should have been enough, but Blaine wanted to be sure, so he asked, "But you're really into this caroling thing, you're not just being sociable for everyone?"
After shoving him back and sliding his hands over Blaine's cheeks to frame his face, Kurt said, "I'm psyched about this, it's so much fun. I'm so happy that you came, sweetheart. I'm just sorry that you left your party."
Pulling his boyfriend back into his arms, Blaine finally said out loud what he should have been saying all night, "Kurt I just wanted to be with you."
On the way to Rachel's house, Jeff asked if anyone knew if that Quinn girl they met at Regionals last year lived in Lima.
After they sang to Rachel's dads and decided to make Mercedes' house their first stop with Rachel enthusiastically in tow, Jeff asked Rachel, "so... is Quinn's house on the way to Mercedes' house?"
Over hot chocolate and cookies baked by Mercedes' aunt, Jeff asked Kurt, "so... you know Quinn right? She's a pretty nice girl, isn't she?"
Mercedes' uncle sang a couple songs with them before Mercedes left with the group to sing at some more houses. He suggested to them that they stop at a specific neighbor's house down the road. As Mercedes was about to climb into Kurt's car, Jeff asked her, "so... is Quinn's house on the way there?"
Sadly, the group never made it to Quinn's house.
The neighbors down the street from Mercedes were so touched by their "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm" that the elderly gentleman had tears in his eye, and his wife, patting his arm, suggested to the group that they stop by the Westerville Retirement Home, where his sister resides.
They stood by the cars, discussing if they should head all the way out there. It was back out in Blaine's neck of the woods, but for Kurt, Rachel and Mercedes it would be a bit of a hike, so it was up to Kurt if he wanted to make that round-trip. In the end, Blaine convinced them all to go sing at the retirement home and then hang out at his parents' party.
Blaine leaned in to have a private whisper with Kurt again, asking, "Have I tricked you into coming out to my party after all? That wasn't my intention at the outset, I swear. Are you really into this?"
Kurt answered, "Blaine, I'd rather go home with you than do anything else."
Holding his mittened hands over his nose in an attempt to warm it up, Trent bounced in front of Jeff's door until he opened it. He wanted to catch a moment to talk to him before they went inside.
"Remember how Nick was supposed to go to his girlfriend's house tonight?" Jeff nodded as he stepped out into the snow of the curb. "Well," Trent continued, "I found out the reason he's not going is her whole family ended up having to drive to her grandma's house instead of her grandma driving out here. So he's all sad but he's doing this great job of not showing it. We should do something nice for him."
"Like what?" Jeff tried to think of anything they could do other than pour him some eggnog and sing some more songs, things they'd be doing anyway.
Walking toward the Anderson's driveway, Trent gave a side-glance to Jeff and started almost apologetically, "Well... um, he's always trying to get us to play Bridge..."
"Oh my gosh, no!" Jeff stopped in his tracks. "No, I'm not playing Bridge. You have to have four people anyway! Why does he like that stupid old game?"
As they made it to the house, Trent tried, "I don't know, I think he grew up playing with his family or something, but anyway, his girlfriend plays it with him."
Jeff wanted to do something nice for Nick, he really did, but maybe something other than a card game, or anything but that one. "Someone get that redhead over here now so I don't have to play bridge!"
Mercedes was walking in the door with them at that point, and asked, "You guys talking about Bridge? I love Bridge!"
Hours later, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson walked in on Nina and Colleen presenting their CDs to Greg and Brian and all four of them beamed with happiness as they hugged the Andersons and wished them Merry Christmas.
Then the host couple stopped by the den and gave some pointers to Trent and Mercedes who were being creamed by Jeff and Nick at Bridge, warning them that Jeff and his sister had been junior Bridge champions for three years in a row when he was younger.
Despite the laughter and smack-talk around the Bridge game, the Andersons noticed that all four of the players were being intentionally quiet in their outbursts. The reason for this became clear as their eyes lit on their son and his boyfriend on the couch. Kurt and Blaine were wrapped up together in a feather blanket, seeming to have drifted off to sleep.
Blaine didn't stir when his mom bent down to give him a kiss on the cheek, because he and Kurt were perfectly content allowing everyone to think that they were asleep.
As the card game roared toward its conclusion, Kurt and Blaine were just smiling and breathing each other in, wanting nothing but to feel cozy in each other's arms.
Mercedes suggested that they go rescue Rachel who must still be talking to Mr. and Mrs. MacPherson since she hadn't returned yet. Jeff said they should probably have time for a movie if the girls and Kurt could stay a bit longer, and they could run up to Brian's room which is now more of the family's upstairs TV room since he left for college.
As soon as their friends headed out in search of Rachel, Blaine turned over to face Kurt, and told him, "I want to tell you something... I um... I kind of wrote a song while we were out caroling."
Chuckling into the hair by Blaine's temple, Kurt kissed his head there and asked, "How do you write a song while you're singing other songs? You're kind of insane, you know that?"
Blaine curled his arms around him tighter under the blanket. "It just kept coming to me, I couldn't help it! I guess I have a problem with songwriting. I can't stop."
All Kurt could do was laugh, but snuggling in to his boyfriend at this point was pretty much the best thing in the world and if he wanted help finishing a song, then he was there to lend a hand.
"And now, this whole time we've been lying here," Blaine peppered a few kisses to his lips and cheeks and forehead before continuing, "it keeps going through my head. I kind of have to sing it now. Can I sing what I have so far for you?"
Adjusting on the couch a bit so that Blaine could rest his head on Kurt's arm without falling off the side, Kurt said, "Go ahead."
"OK, so once I get the tune the way I want it when I get to a keyboard, the lyrics might change a little... But this is kind of the gist of it."
He started softly,
"My baby's got a chip on his shoulder,
On this holiday,
And I just can't wait until we're older,
When we can fly away.
Now my bags are all packed,
And this is all in my head,
But it's a dream I can't shake,
Fly off with him instead,
Oh, we'll go so very far and near, dear.
We'll see our friends, then we'll fly so far from here, dear.
Let's see places... we want to visit... (here Blaine was making it up as he went along, giving Kurt "I don't know" looks as he matched the cadence with random words to fill in the tune)... that are places that are cold..,
Where do you want to go, Kurt?
How about some snow?
We'll go to that place you talked about
Remember the ice castle thing?
If no one's skating, we'll sing them a song,
How about a show?" (Then, laughing, he got back to lyrics he had already worked out for the most part.)
"Oh, we'll go so very far and near, dear.
I'll always feel at home if you're right here, dear.
Let's get back to Ohio where we started, baby,
For New Year's Eve with everyone and maybe,
If we're lucky we'll slip away,
For a midnight kiss and then I'll say:
Oh we'll go so very far and near, dear.
I always feel at home when you're right here, dear.
From now on I'll love December, because no matter what we do,
I'll be with you, I'll be with you, I'll be with you.
Oh, we'll go so very far and near, dear.
Just always, always whisper in my ear, dear:
From now on I'll love December because no matter what we do,
I'll be with you, I'll be with you, I'll be with you.
Just always, always whisper in my ear, dear,
I'll be with you, I'll be with you, I'll be with you."
Kurt pulled him in against his chest and kissed his head and whispered into his hair, "I'd go anywhere with you."
Before he could say anything more, they heard from the other side of the room,
"Blaine, what's that song called?"
They both craned their necks to see Rachel standing in the doorway looking excited. On his way back to his comfy position molded around Blaine, Kurt looked down into his eyes with a fond "Rachel will always be Rachel" head-shake and smile. He kissed him and whispered, "No, don't change the lyrics one bit. Don't change a thing." Blaine whispered back, "That's silly, it's not even finished. And it's so sappy, though." Kurt pressed him into he couch even more and said, "Yeah, just how I like you."
Blaine answered Rachel finally from inside Kurt's neck where he had settled back in, "Right now it's called I love cuddling with Kurt and singing with him and I'd go anywhere as long as he'd come with me and sing with me and cuddle with me so I'm in the process of writing him a song about it."
"Well that's a really long title."
At Rachel's joking reply they both broke out in laughter, and she joined in. Was she serious at first and laughed when she realized how clueless and cute it was, or did she mean it to be ironic and cute in the first place? Only she will ever know. She followed with, "Seriously when you finish it, can I use it in my audition for the King's Island New Year's Eve Spectacular? They need a last-minute replacement for a lead role!"
Kurt nuzzled into Blaine, planning to stay there as long as possible, and murmured, "I think Rachel's trying to choose your original song again, Blaine."
Tucking the blanket tighter around them, Blaine said, "Maybe next year, Rach. This song is just for Kurt and me for now."