Day 7: Grind

Three days before Christmas, Blaine stirred in his sleep, reached for his husband, but felt nothing but sheets and blankets. Opening a bleary eye, he saw that Kurt's side of the bed was empty, and the clock on the opposite nightstand declared that it was 5:27 a.m.

Sitting up, he peered across the dark bedroom towards the bathroom door, but saw no light peeking out from under it. Having a fair idea where his fair husband now was, he sighed and got out of bed.

Sure enough, the apartment was dark, save for the light emanating from the kitchen. There was Kurt, baking away, the scent of cookies in the air and the timer on the oven set to ring soon.

Blaine approached quietly. Kurt caught the movement out of the corner of his eye. His head snapped up and his hands stilled. Blaine thought he saw a wave of guilt cross Kurt's face before it was replaced by his prior determined countenance. Kurt gave him a half smile, then returned his attention to his dough.

"Kurt, what are you doing?" Blaine asked, his voice low with sleep.

Kurt looked up incredulously, and Blaine amended his question to, "Okay, why are you doing what you are doing now?"

The oven timer dinged, and Kurt turned to attend to the cookies in the oven. "I have a lot to do to get ready for Christmas, Blaine. All of this isn't going to do itself. I've still got two more batches of these to make, and then I need to make the ones with the walnuts that my dad likes. Can you get the nuts out of the cupboard and grind them for me? I know they sell them already ground, but they're much better fresh."

Blaine frowned at Kurt's rapidity of speech. Over the past couple of days, they'd both been doing various tasks to prepare for the holiday. Kurt was eager for everything to be perfect, because it was the first time he and Blaine would be hosting their families in their new home. While Blaine was on board with trying to make a nice day for everyone, he'd noticed that Kurt was getting more and more stressed over the whole thing.

Bypassing the cupboard where the requested walnuts were stored, Blaine went to Kurt's side, waiting for him to finish putting the warm cookies on the cooling rack and set the pan aside. He removed Kurt's oven mitts and then took him by the hands.

"Kurt, listen to me. You have to slow down. It's not even light outside yet, and you're in here baking. Did you even sleep last night?"

"I'll sleep when Christmas is over," Kurt retorted, attempting to pull his hands away, but relenting when Blaine held them fast. "I have to get all these cookies made, then there are presents to wrap, I have to make the dinner rolls, go buy the ham, get out the good dishes and glassware, finish the decorating…"

Blaine interrupted him by repeating his name a few times and stepping closer. "I know you want to make Christmas wonderful for our families," he began.

"…and for you," Kurt added quietly.

Blaine smiled softly. "And for me. But do you really think that cookies and ham and presents and all of that is going to make anyone happy if you've run yourself ragged and are exhausted? You're going to make yourself sick at this rate, and that won't make for a very merry Christmas."

Kurt took a deep breath that shuddered slightly on its way out. At the first sign of his eyes watering and his lip quivering, Blaine drew him into a tight embrace. "Honey," he admonished, "it will all be great, you'll see. You don't have to drive yourself into the ground in the process. We'll get things done together, and if something's a little less than perfect, well, that's what a real family holiday is all about."

With a light chuckle, Kurt pulled back from their hug. "You very nearly quoted Linus there," he observed.

"Nonsense," Blaine replied, kissing him on the nose. "That would have made you Charlie Brown, and you and I have much better hair than either of them."

Working together, they packaged up the raw dough and refrigerated it for later, did a quick cleanup of the kitchen, and then Blaine led a very tired Kurt back to bed.

Years later, they would remember that Christmas as one of the best they'd ever had, although neither could recall a single thing about what cookies they made, what the gift wrap looked like, or whether they'd used the good dishes or not. What they did remember was being together with their families and each other.

A/N: inspired by my own real-life stress trying to do everything "just so" for Christmas.