Best Dressed
A/N: Written for the combined prompts of Sign, Tacky, and Universe.
"Finally!" Blaine exclaimed as he dragged Kurt into the kitschy little Christmas shop in the mall. "I can't believe it has taken us five stores to find these!" He bounded directly towards two racks displaying the items he and Kurt had been searching for the past hour and a half.
Kurt moved a bit more slowly towards the racks, not nearly as excited as his boyfriend. "I was kind of hoping you'd take that as a sign from the universe that we weren't supposed to find them," Kurt muttered under his breath while still out of earshot. "I cannot believe I agreed to go to this tacky Christmas sweater party with you," Kurt sighed once he caught up with Blaine. He began to flip idly through the rack of bizarre holiday sweaters, clearly less impressed with the selection than his companion.
"Ugly Christmas sweater party, Kurt. Ugly," Blaine corrected him cheerfully.
Kurt held up a sweater which depicted two reindeer in a rather, ahem, compromising position. "Same difference," he stated as he shoved it back on the rack.
"Come on, they're not all crude like that one, and it's fun. Besides, if we have the best sweaters, we'll win a prize!" Blaine sing-songed the last part, as though it were all the motivation that Kurt would need. Before Kurt could answer, Blaine tapped him on the shoulder. Kurt turned to find that Blaine had tried on one sweater, a bright green and red plaid pattern with white letters reading "Mistletoe Tester" across the chest. To top it off, he wore a red plastic headband that had a piece of fake mistletoe attached to the end of a spring, making the mistletoe bob playfully above Blaine's head. "What do you think?" he asked, looking quite excited.
Kurt took in the sweater, then glanced up to the mistletoe before staring back at Blaine. "Is Sebastian going to be at this party?" he asked, his eyes narrowed. Blaine nodded in the affirmative, amusing himself as the mistletoe bounced above him. "Absolutely not," Kurt concluded, turning back to the rack to search some more. He ignored the snort of laughter from beside him, but gave his boyfriend a playful hip check when he pecked him on the cheek.
The search continued, and Kurt wandered over to the next rack before eyeing something across the aisle. He approached slowly, eyed the item critically, and thought, "Now this I can work with…"
xoxoxo
"Come on, Kurt. We're going to be late!" Blaine called from the entry hall of the Hudson-Hummel home. He had slipped off his coat to proudly show Burt and Carole his final selection – a white sweater bearing the image of a platypus in a Santa hat. What had sold it for Blaine was that the platypus was also, inexplicably, wearing a bowtie that lit up with blinking lights courtesy of a small battery pack that slipped into an interior pocket. Burt had chuckled and mumbled something about not understanding kids these days, while Carole had clapped her hands and told Blaine how adorable he was. Blaine loved the Hudson-Hummels.
"Coming!" Kurt answered as he descended the staircase. He had hidden his purchase from Blaine, telling him that he needed to make some alterations to the outfit. Blaine had been left curious, but he had never imagined seeing what was before him now.
Kurt was dressed not in a Christmas sweater, but in a Christmas suit. The jacket and pants were a steely blue color, and were covered in a Nordic design consisting of repeating rows of snowflakes, reindeer, and Christmas trees, all in white, separated by zig-zag lines and rows of chevrons. The entire suit was made of this material, and on anyone else it would certainly have been the tackiest thing ever created.
Kurt, however, managed to make it look stunning. He had tailored the suit to fit perfectly. There was no way that the slacks would have hugged his legs (all the way from his shiny black boots up to the curve of his behind) that tightly. The jacket, too, was fitted exactly to Kurt's body. He finished the look with a crisp white dress shirt, open at the collar to reveal a blue scarf tied around his neck.
Kurt paused at the bottom of the staircase for effect, then crossed over to Blaine. He placed his index finger under Blaine's chin and lightly pressed upwards to close his gaping mouth. Smirking, he leaned in and gave him a peck on his now-closed lips. "Hi," he said once he pulled back.
"Kurt," Blaine finally said in awe, taking his hands and stepping back to look Kurt up and down. "How in the world do you manage to look so incredibly hot in something like that?"
Kurt shrugged nonchalantly. "It's a gift," he said, feigning innocence and batting his eyelashes.
"Merry Christmas to me," Blaine responded, his voice low as he pulled Kurt back towards him and slipped his hand to Kurt's lower back. Kurt squeaked as Blaine pressed close and captured his mouth in a brief but passionate kiss. (Burt was in the next room, after all.)
They broke apart, Blaine smiling triumphantly when he saw Kurt's cool demeanor a bit softened by a pink flush in his cheeks. They put on their coats, said their goodbyes to the parents, and left for the party.
Kurt walked in the door that night just in time for curfew. His scarf was askew and his hair more than a little mussed after saying a lovely ten-minute goodbye to his boyfriend in the car. He proudly clutched a plastic "First Prize" trophy in his hand. "And to all a good night," he said to himself, smiling as he headed to his room.