Let The Christmas Spirit Ring.
Pairing: Klaine.
Rating: T
Word Count: 3,204
Summary: Kurt's used to having to decorate his Christmas tree alone. He's okay with it. But this year he has Blaine to help him, and Kurt doesn't expect the experience this year to be quite so sentimental. Oh, and there's some corny Christmas song dueting in a car that's pretty random, but what can you do?
Spoilers: Kind of spoilers for 3x09 in the sense that it's Christmas time and Blaine is at McKinley.
Warnings: None really, unless you count sentimental Christmas tree decorating, and intense corniness as a warning.
A/N: I wanted to write a fluffy little Christmas fic. Originally it was supposed to be a drabble, but my fingers refused to stop typing and what I ended up with was 3,000 words of Christmas fun. Enjoy, won't you?"
The halls are completely covered in red and green tinsel. The choir room practically screams Christmas. Even the inside of Kurt's locker has a neatly arranged Christmas display, complete with the tinsel trim, that Blaine had put up. He had broken into Kurt's locker one day before school, choosing to forgo his usual coffee run. He was lolling his head in every single class that day, just desperate for some caffeine and sleep, but it was all worth it when he saw Kurt's face light up when he had opened his locker.
Kurt had admitted to Blaine early on that he was a Christmas fanatic, having developed a liking for the holiday from his mother. Blaine had smiled when Kurt told him, and he might have done an internal cheer, having a fondness for the holiday himself. Come on, it's the only time of the year where people are generally happy all the time, and they have a keenness for horribly tacky Christmas sweaters. The holiday was tailor-made For Blaine.
Yes, it's safe to say that Christmas was in full swing here at McKinley high. The most surprising thing had been that no green and red slushies had been fired at any unsuspecting Glee club member. Not even at Blaine, who liked to walk around in Christmas sweaters, some grotesque and some actually nice looking. He even had the gall to come to school one day wearing a bright green sweater that lit up. How he managed to escape a slushie for that one was beyond Kurt.
Kurt had to help him out kick the tacky sweater habit, putting on a brave face when he showed up to Blaine's house; a black trash bag in hand, to throw away the ugly sweaters and switch them with fashionable fair isle prints. Blaine had begrudgingly agreed, only on the condition that the sweaters were not thrown out but put in the attic. And he had demanded that Kurt let him keep one. A traditional Christmas sweater that his mom had gotten him when he started Dalton. But thanks to Kurt, Blaine has become the most adorable thing walking down the halls of McKinley.
Yes, it's all very different from last year. Last year, Kurt was nursing a dead end crush for the boy who would later become his boyfriend. Jumping for joy when Blaine had asked him to sing with him.
This year it's different though. Kurt actually has someone to spend the holiday with. He has someone to sing cute, flirty Christmas duets with. He has someone to kiss under the mistletoe. Something that Kurt always thought was cheesy, but now that he has a boyfriend, he can definitely see the appeal.
"Merry Christmas," Blaine whispers behind Kurt, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend.
"It's not Christmas yet," Kurt states, turning around to face his boyfriend.
"So does that mean that I can't use this?" Blaine holds up a sprig of mistletoe over their head, shaking it slightly, and the smile that erupts in Kurt's face is brilliant.
"Of course you can," he answers, leaning in to press his lips to Blaine's briefly, not wanting to attract attention from the homophobic jocks. Karofsky might be gone, but that doesn't mean that the other jocks are exactly warming up to McKinley's only gay couple.
"So, what are you doing tonight?" Blaine asks, leaning back against the lockers, as Kurt turns to his own, pulling out the books he's going to need for the weekend.
"Well, we usually buy a tree around this time. Well, my dad does. It's always waiting for me at home so that I can decorate it. I usually never have anyone to help me, but this year I was hoping that my lovely boyfriend might help me," Kurt says, waggling his eyebrows.
"Hmm, well lucky for you, your lovely boyfriend would love to help you," Blaine replies, reaching into Kurt's locker to place the mistletoe up above the books in there.
Kurt smiles warmly, arranging the mistletoe to his liking. "I may let you put up the star, mister Anderson, and then I can make us some hot chocolate after we're done and we can cuddle and watch A Christmas Story."
"A Christmas Story, eh? I didn't know you liked that movie."
"Oh, I love that movie," Kurt states, shutting his locker. "Me and my dad watch it every year. There's just something about a little boy wanting a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas that never gets old."
"But what about the bunny suit? Or the famous triple dog dare?" Blaine counters, and Kurt looks at him, astonished.
"What? You're not the only kid that watched that movie nonstop on Christmas Day. You know when I was a kid I wanted a gun just like Ralphie's. I actually wanted to have a Chinese breakfast, you know with the duck, but my parents told me I was crazy," Blaine says, sighing deeply. "Oh well. You ready to go?"
Kurt shakes his head to snap out of it and nods weakly, allowing a chuckling Blaine to pull him out of the school and into his car.
"You know what other movie we can watch? Elf, or maybe It's A Wonderful Life, oh, Home Alone!" Blaine cries excitedly, clapping his hands together.
"Home Alone?"
"Yeah, it's one of my favorites."
"Mine too, but Macaulay Culkin outwitting brainless burglars over the lamp leg?" Kurt questions, turning to give his boyfriend a skeptical look. "I'll take the lamp."
"But Joe Pesci, and Daniel Stern, and it has probably the greatest Christmas song ever."
"Oh yeah? And that would be?"
"Carol of the Bells," Blaine answers as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Kurt releases a chuckle, settling back into his seat as Blaine begins to drive.
"Hark how the bells," Kurt begins to sing, and Blaine looks over at him, a smile creeping up on his face. So they're doing this now are they?"Sweet silver bells, all seem to say, throw cares away."
"Ding, dong, ding, dong," Blaine joins in when Kurt starts on the next part, their voices ringing throughout the otherwise silent car.
"Christmas is here bringing good cheer, to young and old, meek and the bold.
Ding dong, ding dong, that is their song, with joyful ring, all caroling, one seems to hear, words of good cheer, from everywhere, filling the air." Kurt's voice is so goddamn beautiful, and especially on this song. It's the most random song they've ever sang together, but somehow it's so perfect. Especially given the time of the season.
"Oh, how they pound, raising the sound, o'er hill and dale, telling their tale
Gaily they ring, while people sing, songs of good cheer, Christmas is here," Kurt continues to sing, hitting the high notes perfectly while Blaine sings the harmonies for him, bobbing his head along to the rhythm.
"Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas. Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas
On, on they send, on without end, their joyful tone to every home, dong, ding, dong, ding, dong, bong."
"On, on they send, on without end, their joyful tone to every home," Blaine sings, taking over the last bar effortlessly. When they're done, Kurt has an urge to leap over the seat and kiss his boyfriend because that was a pretty damn good duet.
"You know, we've had some pretty awesome duets, but I've got to say that that one just may be our best yet," Blaine states, as if he's picking the words directly from Kurt's brain.
"Oh my god, I totally agree," Kurt concurs happily, turning the Christmas CD they left in the CD player in the morning on.
"The fact that it was spontaneous was damn cool too," Blaine says, changing the songs.
"Wait, you just passed Michael Bublé's version of Let It Snow. I like that song," Kurt says, slapping Blaine's hand away to change it back.
"Do you think we might break out in another spontaneous Christmas duet?" Blaine asks, placing both hands back on the steering wheel.
"I think I'm all dueted out," Kurt shrugs. "But we can sing along to the CD."
"Good enough."
"You know, this is actually really heavy," Blaine groans, carrying a heavy box of Christmas lights and decorations down from Kurt's attic, Kurt watching him very closely to make sure he doesn't break anything.
"Yeah, well try lugging that thing down for years," Kurt says, leading Blaine into the living room, where a beautiful green Douglas Fir is sitting in the corner of the room, just waiting to be decorated. Kurt had to admit it, his dad sure knew how to pick a good looking tree.
"Well the tree looks beautiful," Blaine comments, setting the box of decorations down onto the floor carefully.
"Yeah, my dad does know how to pick a mean tree," Kurt says, chuckling slightly. "Okay, so usually he leaves it a little bit away from the wall so that I can decorate it easily. Hand me the lights."
Blaine obeys, handing Kurt a box of rolled up white lights, which Kurt immediately starts placing on the tree.
"Hey, grab this end will you?"
Within ten minutes they have all of the lights on the tree and are now working through the ornaments. Kurt gives Blaine a overview on how the ornaments should go, and Blaine tries to follow it carefully, knowing that if he messes this up, Kurt will probably never let him decorate a tree with him again.
Together, he and Kurt arrange the ornaments on the tree, singing along to the Christmas music playing softly in the background. Blaine sings loudly, flailing his hands around, earning him a reproving look from Kurt, who bends down to grab another ornament from the box. He picks up a flat ornament with a imprint of a baby's foot on it, and Kurt immediately recognizes it as the ornament his mom made when he was a baby. It went on the tree every year, even though it pained Kurt's heart to look at it sometimes, but no matter what, the ornament always made it onto the tree.
Usually when Kurt decorates the tree, he cries for a solid 20 minutes before he can put his mom's ornament on the tree. He always places it in the exact same spot, near the top of the tree, because then she's right near the star and that's where she belongs.
Today, he's with Blaine, meaning he can't cry like he usually does because he doesn't want to bring Blaine's spirits down by crying over a ceramic ornament of his feet that his mom made.
"Hey," Blaine asks, noting how quiet Kurt's become. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Kurt says hurriedly, wiping the stray tear out of the corner of his eye quickly.
"Is that your foot? Oh, did your mom…make this?" Blaine asks, and Kurt nods once.
"She did it the year I was born, she used to do a bunch of crafts so she imprinted my foot on a an ornament and placed it on the tree. My dad loved it so much that he insisted on being put on the tree every year, along with this." Kurt searches the box for a small box, where a ornament of Snoopy, wearing a Santa hat and laying on top of the snow covered doghouse with Woodstock on top of him wearing a small little Elf hat was. It was his favorite ornament whenever he was a little boy, always begging his mom to let him put on the tree every year since he was three. Blaine smiles warmly when he looks at the little snoopy.
"This was mine and my mom's favorite. Every year I begged my mom to dress me up in a Santa hat and draw a nose on me with her eyeliner. I…hold on a minute," Kurt says and retreats upstairs to his room. He goes under his bed and pulls out the box of pictures and stuff he has that remind him of his mom, and pulls out a small stack of pictures that are him dressed up in a Santa outfit with a small black nose. He walks back downstairs to Blaine sitting on the couch, inspecting the Snoopy ornament with great interest. He turns around when he hears Kurt's footsteps, placing the ornament back into it's box carefully.
Kurt walks over to him and holds out a picture of him at four years old, black little nose and all, smiling boisterously at the camera, the little ornament in one hand and a small stuffed Woodstock in the other. Blaine smiles, taking the picture from Kurt's hand and staring at it intently.
"Kurt, you look adorable," he gushes. "Do you still have that Woodstock?"
"I do," Kurt admits. "My mom got it for me when I had my Snoopy obsession."
Blaine smiles warmly, his fingers tracing Kurt's face in the picture. "You make quite the cute Snoopy."
"You can keep it if you want," Kurt whispers, and Blaine turns to look at him, eyes wide as saucers.
"Kurt, no, I can't keep this."
"I want you to have it. I have plenty more." Kurt waves the small stack of pictures. "Besides, this is the only baby picture I'm actually comfortable giving to you."
Blaine's eyes start watering, and he places the picture down on the coffee table and throws his arms around Kurt's neck, squeezing him tightly.
"I will frame it and place it on my bedside table," he promises, pecking Kurt's neck with tiny kisses.
"You better," Kurt chuckles. "You're going to have to give me one of yours to make it up to me, you know."
"Of course. You know, I think I may have a picture of me at age four, dressed up as Rudolph. The red nose and all."
"Really? Oh, I want that one," Kurt laughs, and Blaine joins him, pressing a kiss to Kurt's cheek.
"Come on, let's finish the tree," Kurt suggests, placing the pictures next to the one he gave Blaine before standing up. "Come on, the faster we get done with the living room, the faster I can make you hot chocolate. I'll even put marshmallows in it."
Blaine perks up, standing up immediately. "You know I'll do anything for hot chocolate with marshmallows."
"Anything?" Kurt asks, giving his boyfriend a wink.
"You don't need to bribe me with hot chocolate for that," Blaine says, grabbing another set of baubles. Kurt reaches out and takes the ornaments from Blaine's hands.
"Here, put this up instead." Kurt holds out the Snoopy, and Blaine gives him an incredulous look.
"Kurt, I can't…you…you put this up. Every year, you told me."
"I've been putting that ornament up for fourteen years. I think that it's okay if I let you do it. Besides, I want you to put it up. That ornament means a lot to me, and so do you. I love you, and I want you to put it up," Kurt says, smiling as he hands Blaine the small ornament.
"Kurt, I don't know what to say," Blaine says, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.
"Just put it up," Kurt chuckles, pushing his boyfriend toward the tree.
"W-where should I put it?" Blaine asks, his hands shaking dramatically.
"Wherever you'd like," Kurt says, and Blaine nearly drops the ornament in shock.
"I can?"
"Yeah, just stay away from this spot." Kurt walks forward and gestures at the area near the top of the tree. "This is where my mom goes."
Blaine smiles widely, and places the Snoopy ornament in the middle of the front of the tree.
"There. So that everybody can see it when they walk in here."
Kurt grins widely and walks over to Blaine's side, wrapping his arms around the slightly shorter boy.
"I think it looks great," he says, pressing a kiss to Blaine's neck.
"I think it's time fro your mom to go up there."
"I think so," Kurt says, grabbing his mom's ornament. He walks to the tree slowly, breathing slowly out through his nose. It's always hard to put this particular ornament up, no matter who's here, it's always tough. That ornament reminds Kurt of all the fun they used to have on the holidays. His mom was a huge Holiday junkie, decorating the house meticulously, even going as far as decorating Kurt's room. Kurt didn't mind all that much. He loved having a small little pine tree on his desk completely decked out in lights. He loved the little twinkle lights his mother would hang on his bed frame. He just loved it. Which reminds him, he's been meaning to ask Blaine to help him decorate his room, wanting to keep his mom's tradition alive.
A small tear makes it's way down Kurt's cheek as he places the ornament in it's designated spot, arranging it so that Kurt's tiny foot imprint is visible.
"I think it really makes the tree," Blaine comments, coming up behind Kurt.
"I think so too," Kurt breathes, twisting his head to give Blaine a tender kiss. "And all that's left is the star."
Blaine breathes in excitedly, his hazel eyes twinkling with sheer vibrancy. "I can still do it? Even though I put up the snoopy?"
"Of course," Kurt giggles, pulling the beautifully ornate gold star from it's box. He hears Blaine suck in a gasp and he smiles smugly. "You like? The one my mom had broke the year she passed away, so my dad let me pick a new one."
"I gotta say, even at eight years old you had great taste."
"Had? I still do," Kurt scoffs playfully, holding the star out. "Now, fair warning, if you break this star I will kick your cute little patootie."
"I won't break it," Blaine promises. Kurt gives him one final look before handing the star over. Blaine cradles it gently and climbs up the step latter, placing the star on the tip of the tree.
"Is it straight?" he asks.
"A little to the left," Kurt says, and Blaine fixes the star. "Right there."
Blaine climbs down, and connects the plug into the extension, turning the lights on, taking the tree to a whole new dimension. "Perfect."
"Perfect," Kurt concurs. It's actually the most beautiful tree he's decorated. He's pretty proud of the work he and Blaine accomplished.
Kurt starts grabbing the empty boxes and arranging the neatly in the bigger box that they came in. "Here, can you do me a favor and take these boxes back up to the attic while I make us some snacks and start the movie?"
"Alright," Blaine agrees, taking the box from Kurt's hands. "Home Alone?"
Kurt groans loudly. "Fine, but you should know that I'm breaking a tradition here."
"Well, it's time to start some new traditions," Blaine states, climbing up the stairs. "Sometimes it's good to mix in new traditions with the old."
Kurt smiles after him. Silently agreeing that it's about time he start new traditions, and it's great that Kurt finally has someone with whom he can start these new traditions.
Still smiling, Kurt walks into the kitchen, whistling Carol Of The Bells to himself.