By Christmas 2014, Kurt felt comfortable enough with it all to call it tradition.
Invariably, Rachel would be gone. This year it was even less of a surprise, as the January before he and Blaine had moved into an apartment in Chelsea all their own. The decision was half the means provided by Kurt's promotion to the actual magazine staff at Vogue and half the urgency of Finn's arrival in New York, suitcases in tow, after he and Rachel made up over Christmas in Ohio. They were back in Ohio again this year, in what might be the beginnings of their own tradition.
Burt arrived, as he did every year, on their doorstep a few hours past noon on Christmas Eve. This year he brought the joy of his first reelection to Congress with him instead of a tree, since Kurt and Blaine had their own. It sat in the living room, already decorated with ornaments passed down from Liz Hummel and chosen by Kurt and Blaine on their own. The apple from two years ago hung low enough that Hugo, their flame point Siamese, was able to bat it with his golden paws until it swung.
On Christmas Eve, over nightcaps (this year, Burt teasing Kurt it would only be a few more months until he could buy his own alcohol), Kurt and Blaine sang their Christmas duet. The meticulous planning that went into this year's arrangement of Winter Wonderland wasn't wasted, as Blaine was sure to set up Rachel's tripod so she could review the performance later.
That night, as he and Blaine curled up in bed, Kurt continued his tradition of pretending the sounds of Burt's snores coming from the couch in the living room were annoying rather than comforting. Blaine kept up his end of the tradition by whispering words of love in Kurt's ear for him to listen to until he fell asleep instead.
"Kurt, it's Christmas."
Instead of opening his eyes, Kurt reached out until he got ahold of Blaine's warm body, pulling him closer. It was weird, having a layer of fleece between his fingers and Blaine's skin in bed, but the feeling reminded him they had company. Waking himself up just enough to listen to more than the steady thump of Blaine's heart, Kurt heard the low rumble of Burt's snoring.
"Dad's not awake. More sleep. 'tsa holiday." He said, burrowing down next to Blaine's torso, letting it block his face from the light.
"Kurt, Christmas." Blaine said with a laugh, running a hand up and through Kurt's hair. He sounded far too awake for Kurt. "It's Christmas," he repeated, leaning in and placing a kiss on Kurt's temple, "and it's magical," this time a kiss high on his cheekbone, "and I don't want to miss a minute of Christmas with you." He finished with a kiss on the pliant skin of Kurt's cheek, so pliant with sleep it was almost squishy. When Kurt sighed and opened his eyes, Blaine kicked his feet a little, sweeping in and pressing a kiss against Kurt's equally pliant lips.
"You are so lucky you're the most romantic man in North America." Kurt said, trying to force his grin into a more exasperated look even as Blaine swept back in to continue kissing him.
"It even snowed." Blaine said in Kurt's ear during a pause. Kurt rolled his eyes and rolled them over, pressing Blaine into the bed and trying to show him just how adorable he found his lovely, perfect, snuggly boyfriend.
Drawing himself away from Blaine enough to be alert again, Kurt sighed.
"He's awake. Playtime's over." He said, pouting down at Blaine, who pouted back.
"Thank god he has that television appearance tonight. Holiday sex is my favorite." Blaine said, eyes rolling back in his head as Kurt giggled above him. "Hey," he said, suddenly quieter and almost nervous. "Mind if I take first shower?"
Kurt wasn't so sure why Blaine's confidence had suddenly flown out the window, but he shrugged and flopped dramatically back onto the bed beside him.
"Be my guest. Gives me fifteen minutes to try to get back the sleep you stole from me." He said, though he dragged his arm down Blaine's side and patted him firmly on the ass as he left the bed.
He wasn't quite asleep but not quite awake when Blaine reentered the room in a towel, coming back over to the bed and pressing a kiss against Kurt's forehead.
"You better hurry up, he's considering coffee mutiny." Blaine said, and Kurt groaned.
"I specifically bought him the decaf!" Kurt said, sliding upright and out of bed with a long, limber stretch. He kissed Blaine on the cheek on his bleary way to the door, from where Blaine heard him call out Dad, there better not be any truth in these claims that you're considering caffeine or I'm not even going to let you have ham with dinner! Before the shower turned back on a minute later.
When Kurt came back into the room, he found Blaine standing in front of the vanity, fully dressed this time and fixing his hair. Frowning, Kurt poked at it.
"You haven't worn that much gel in a long time." He said, turning to the mirror himself and starting to comb through his lightly damp hair to see how he should style it.
"It's a holiday. It's important." Blaine said quickly, looking at his hair with his full determination.
"Well, you look really handsome. I love that sweater on you." Kurt said, kissing him on the cheek. Blaine was wearing a dark green cardigan over a gold oxford: just enough to be festive without overdoing it or overshadowing the crimson one-shoulder cable-knit sweater Kurt had set out for himself the night before.
Blaine helped Kurt cut up a fresh fruit salad for Christmas breakfast, and when Burt was out of the room Kurt gave him a hardboiled egg for his trouble.
"Enjoy it now." Kurt said darkly. "If you ever have heart problems, I'm going to be even stricter with you than with him." Blaine caught his hand and squeezed before kissing Kurt gently, feeding him half of the egg white since he refused boiled yolk.
Over lunch they took thermoses of soup on a walk through Central Park, which was outside of their tradition but irresistible with the fresh layer of snow. Though it was a common way to get some calm for Kurt and Blaine, it was a whole new adventure for Burt, and Kurt thrilled to share something else of his life in New York with his dad.
Back at the house in the afternoon, Burt turned on basketball as Kurt started to prepare dinner. Blaine was shooed away from trying to help by Kurt, who told him to go enjoy the game while he could. Blaine looked questioningly at Kurt's odd reference to an alternative, but Kurt only winked and turned back to peeling potatoes.
At nearly seven, Kurt emerged from the kitchen, swooping down on Burt and snatching away the remote.
"My house, my traditions." Kurt said, starting to flip the channels to a collective protest from both Blaine and Burt.
"My house, too!"
"Oh shut up, that game wasn't even competitive. And anyway, you're on my side." He said, reaching the channel he wanted. Blaine stared for a few seconds before realizing what was on the screen, at which point he smiled and settled back into the sofa.
"You giving up on me here, kid?" Burt pleaded, and Blaine just shrugged, gesturing to the screen.
"I don't argue with Kurt's favorite movie. Besides, he's right, 40-80 isn't exactly competitive."
"Just look at the screen, Dad." Kurt said, coming around and sitting on Blaine's other side, snuggling up onto his shoulder.
"Oh." Burt said, realizing he was watching the opening scenes of It's a Wonderful Life.
"Yes, oh." Kurt said, rolling his eyes and looking up at Blaine. "It was my mom's favorite, too." He stage whispered, and Blaine nodded.
"You need me to go fix something while you watch?" Blaine asked quietly, and Kurt shook his head.
"It's all in the oven. No, you just stay right here with me."
A while into the movie, Kurt got up again, checked the ham and the turkey and took out the rolls. Blaine joined him, helping to stir the sauces and do some of the other, smaller tasks.
Kurt heard the sound of the dance scene come on and walked over to the edge of the kitchen, leaning up against the wall where he could see the television. Blaine joined him there, leaning against Kurt and resting his head on his chest. Kurt took his hand, pretending to dance along with the screen.
A few minutes later, just as the pool opened up, Burt got a text.
"Shit, the damn Nets game is tied. Let me change the channel." He said, and Blaine perked up.
"Not a prayer, this is my favorite part." Kurt said, shaking his head even as his eyes stayed glued to the screen, his arms wrapping tighter around Blaine as he watched George and Mary. Burt sighed, leaning back in the seat and trying to grumble out that Kurt had seen this scene a million times, but Kurt shushed him instantly.
"Why don't you ever offer me the moon?" He asked Blaine, half wistful and half teasing, just before pressing a kiss against his forehead. Blaine began to tremble in his arms, and he looked down, concerned. "I was kid—"
"Because you should never settle for the moon." Blaine said, and as Kurt looked at him confused, he saw something in Blaine resolve. "I'd rather bring you the stars. That's what you really want."
Kurt's face broke open into a smile, a hand sliding up to brush aside a strand of Blaine's heavily gelled hair, but even then Blaine was slinking away from him, sliding to the floor. Kurt stood up straighter, concerned, before he gasping. Burt stood up from the sofa sharply, turning around before gasping, too.
Blaine was on one knee, right there in the entryway between their living room and kitchen, pulling a little box from his pocket, his hands shaking.
"I have stars for you, Kurt." He said, looking up at him as he opened the box to reveal a silver ring set all the way around with diamonds.
"Blaine."
"Two years ago, you accepted me as a Christmas present. I love you so much, and I've always loved you so much, and I want to be able to love you so much forever." He cut off with a sob, and gave a shaky laugh when a little splash of tear fell from Kurt's cheek down onto his hand with the box. "And I just want to know if I can be your Christmas present again, except in a forever way, and I guess this all made more sense and was a lot more clever before you looked at me like that and I forgot all my words, but Kurt, will you please marry me?" He asked, and he was positively shaking.
Kurt had so many tears falling from his eyes he could only nod frantically while his hands grabbed for Blaine, his fingers flexing and making Blaine fumble as he shakily tried to guide the ring onto Kurt's finger. He was unsuccessful, and he stood up as Kurt's right hand finally got a hold of his sweater.
"Yes, yes, Blaine, yes, oh my god, yes, Blaine oh my god," Kurt finally choked out, the words falling from him in big streams as Blaine finally got the ring on him. Feeling it snug against the base of his finger, Kurt didn't even bother trying to admire it through the prisms his tears were creating in his eyes, but instead clutched Blaine to him and dived for his lips.
They heard a large sniffle that came from neither of them and broke apart, wiping tears from their eyes as they saw Burt, pressing his hat against his eyes in an effort to stop his own tears.
Kurt giggled first, then Blaine, then Burt joined in, too. They laughed until their eyes were dry, at which point Kurt caught sight of the ring on his finger.
Tears sprung up in his eyes again, and he took Blaine's face in his hands.
"I love you so, so much." He whispered before kissing him firmly. "You're better than any Christmas present ever. You're better than the entire holiday." He kissed him again, longer this time. "And we're going to be husbands, and you haven't even opened the box under the tree that has your engagement ring in it." He said, laughing gently as Blaine looked up at him in shock, torn between looking over at the tree for the box and keeping his eyes on his brand new fiancé.
Kurt giggled, taking Blaine by the hand and leading him over to the tree. He picked up the box and handed it to his fiancé, smiling.
"Merry Christmas, Blaine."