A/N Here is my 2020 Christmas story! This is a collaboration with KurtandBlaineGleek. I hope to update daily between now and Christmas day, but she has Covid, and is pretty sick, so the last couple of chapters may be a little late.

Hope you all enjoy!

...

Gingerbread Kisses

PROLOGUE

"Mumps?" Kurt said, incredulously. "I didn't know people could still get the mumps!"

"Apparently they can," Elliott replied, sounding kind of garbled. "I didn't know my cousin married an anti-vaxxer when I went to his son's bar mitzvah last weekend. My doctor said that some people who got the vaccine as a kid can still get it later if they are exposed."

Kurt let out a frustrated sigh. "Now what am I going to do? The first prelim starts tomorrow, and even though I drew second, I'm supposed to check in with my main assistant no later than eight AM, and Mercedes can't get off her other job right now! She was going to be my second for the finals."

"Well, I wouldn't be much of a friend if I left you out in the cold, would I?" Elliott said, voice sounding pained. "I have the perfect solution."

Kurt sat down on the couch and held the phone in place with his shoulder as he reached for his cup of tea. "What's that? And please tell me it doesn't involve that friend of yours who plays Santa at the mall you keep trying to set me up with."

Elliott let out a hoarse laugh. "No, not him. I happen to know that one of the other competitors is also down an assistant. The two of you could team up and compete."

Kurt narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Who?"

"No one too bad. You two have always gotten along well together, and he's never gotten sore over you beating him in competition more often than not. I think the two of you will work well together, once you make it clear that you are in charge."

"Who?" Kurt repeated, running through the list of his usual competitors in his mind.

"Blaine Anderson."

Kurt frowned. "Blaine? How the hell is he down an assistant?" he asked, knowing that the other man seemed to have a plethora to choose from.

Elliott let out a snort that sounded awkward because like his speech, it came out kind of garbled.

"Apparently he decided to enter with the meerkat, and said meerkat got himself an STD." Kurt had to wonder how in the world Elliott knew this stuff. But then, he was the kind of guy that worked the scene, in the right way, so he always tended to know the water under bridge information.

Kurt wrinkled his nose. "Well, that's what he gets for sleeping around so carelessly. What about those two goofballs he works with? What are they called, Niff?"

Elliott had apparently taken a drink of something, as Kurt could hear him swallowing, followed by a little wince. "He was holding them in reserve in case he made the finals. They are out of town right now, and can't get back by tomorrow."

Kurt thought about it for a moment. He and Blaine had competed against each other in more than two dozen challenges over the last several years. The shorter man was charismatic, and always seemed to be smiling, and Kurt couldn't help having the smallest of crushes on him.

Okay, reality check. Kurt was already half in love with the gorgeous man, but he was pretty sure Blaine was straight. Whenever he saw him at competitions, he always had that pretty Asian girl hanging all over him, calling him 'Blainey-days,' and other sickenly sweet nicknames. Considering Kurt's luck with falling for the wrong guys, it would be just like him to find the perfect man, only to find out they were straight.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to call him and ask if he wants to team up."

He thought he heard Elliott let out a little, muffled cheer on the other end of the line, but chalked it up to the mumps causing his friend to make strange sounds. He said goodbye to his business partner, and looked up the phone number he'd saved to his cell last year but hadn't gotten the courage to call yet.

A voice picked up on the second ring.

"This had better not be Sebastian again! I told you I'm done with you! So just take your sick, perverted little-"

"Blaine?" Kurt said, interrupting. "It's Kurt. Kurt Hummel."

The other man stopped speaking abruptly. "Kurt?" he asked, uncertainly.

"Yes, I heard you were out an assistant for the challenge this week."

"Oh," Blaine mumbled. "Yeah, that slut, Sebastian went and got gonorrhea. So I had to pull out of the competition, because Nick and Jeff are in Reno, opening their new bakery, and Tina can't take the whole two weeks off."

While each preliminary only lasted one day, the final competition would take place over five days, and the rules required each competitor and their main assistant to be there for the entire nine days of competition, plus the judging and awards ceremonies. Even when they weren't competing themselves, they would be in the audience, observing the other competitors.

Kurt cleared his throat. "Well, I may have a solution. My partner, Elliott is out with the mumps, and Mercedes is in the same boat as Tina, and unlike you, I don't have any other assistants I can call in. I was just going to use a couple culinary students if I made it to the finals, but now I can't even compete. Unless you'd want to team up with me?"

"Team up with you? Are you serious? That'd be awesome!"

Kurt was surprised by the excitement in the other man's voice. "Great! Okay, um, wow. So, we should meet up at the hotel tonight and talk about what we're going to do."

"Sure. Meet you at seven in the restaurant?"

"Okay, see you there."

…

Blaine was early, he knew, but he couldn't help himself. He was going to have dinner with Kurt Hummel! He'd been in awe of the beautiful man ever since the first time they'd competed against each other. Granted, this wasn't a date. It was just a business dinner. Kurt had a boyfriend. Why would Kurt be interested in boring old Blaine Anderson when he had Elliott? The man was Rockstar glamorous, and exuded sex with every breath he took.

Still, it didn't stop Blaine from crushing on Kurt. He suspected it was part of the reason why it never bothered him whenever he lost to the other man. But now, the idea of working with him...Kurt was great at winning, without even really trying. So maybe this time, they would both get to win.

Kurt entered the restaurant at seven on the dot, looking as immaculate as ever. Blaine wondered how he had the time to make himself look that put together and still turn up right on time. When he spotted Blaine already waiting at a table, he offered him a smile and headed over.

"Hi," Kurt said as he took his seat.

"Hi," Blaine replied, cursing himself for how breathless he sounded. He'd talked to Kurt before just fine so why was he just now falling apart? Especially since he knew this wasn't a date.

Kurt looked down slightly awkwardly for a moment before he looked back up with a smile. "So, thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me so quickly. Honestly, I thought you might be intimidated." He chuckled nervously.

"Intimidated?" Blaine repeated. "By you? Nah." He was playing it cool, but in all honesty, there was some truth. With all the wins under his belt, Kurt could definitely be intimidating.

"So," Kurt started, taking a sip from the water glass a waiter had just brought him. "Who do you think our celebrity judge will be?" he asked, wanting to keep things on a safe level to start with.

Blaine looked contemplative for a moment. "I don't know. Honestly, they could have repeats or people who are completely new. But I know there are people that I will just die if they were on the show."

Kurt laughed. "You and me both," he said. "I can never tell what they have in store for us." He gave his head a shake.

"What prelim are we in then?" Blaine asked. He knew which one he and Sebastian had been set for, but when Sebastian had canceled on him and no one else could do it, they'd been replaced with another potential team. They had been slated for the final prelim, North Pole Train Station.

"The second one," Kurt said. "Which means we have Victorian Christmas."

Blaine nodded. "That sounds right up your alley," he said. Kurt laughed and God did the sound just do something to Blaine. He shifted awkwardly in his seat and cleared his throat. "Don't worry Kurt, I'm sure whatever you come up with will be amazing! And knock the judges' socks off."

Kurt laughed again and Blaine really loved that sound. "You mean whatever we come up with." He had to hand it to Elliott. Blaine was definitely not a terrible choice of a replacement.

Blaine hoped he wasn't blushing. We sounded really nice coming out of Kurt's mouth. "So, um. Are we going to duke it out for the lead, or what did you have in mind?"

Kurt let out a little snort of laughter. "Well, we could do rock, paper, scissors, I guess. Best two out of three?"

"You aren't going to insist on being lead?" Blaine asked. "It was your idea, after all."

Kurt shrugged. "That wouldn't be very fair of me, would it?"

Blaine smiled. "Okay. On three…"

Kurt ended up winning, and Blaine was perfectly happy with that. "Okay, boss, what is our design?"

They spent the rest of their meal talking about Kurt's vision for their piece for competition, and what he needed Blaine to do.