H is for Heat

"Don't say it," Kurt mumbled as he stared at the controls for the apartment's heat and air conditioning, pressing uselessly at the button that should have caused the apartment's temperature to rise, but which was currently stuck on the rather uncomfortable temperature of 43 degrees- and steadily dropping. "Don't even say it…"

"Why the hell not? It's obviously true, isn't it?" Santana demanded from where she stood approximately four inches back from him, peering over his shoulder as she shifted her leg from one foot to the other in a semi hop, rubbing both hands over her arms in an attempt to warm up, even though she was wearing a coat. Both were visibly blowing out their breath each time they spoke, and Kurt shivered anew as he felt her breath hit the back of his currently bare neck. "Denial ain't gonna do shit to fix anything, it's OBVIOUSLY not working, seeing as my nipples could currently double as icepicks and there are basically icicles forming in my hair!"

"To match the ice water already in your veins?" Kurt muttered under his breath, but if Santana heard him, she didn't have time to respond, because Rachel's anxious voice was already piping up over his as he started to speak.

"It's really BROKEN? It's not just stuck, or…it's BROKEN?!"

"Well, it's not working, and pressing the buttons a thousand times doesn't seem to be unsticking anything, so…" Kurt turned his head back towards her, giving a helpless shrug. He was still shivering himself, and from under the scarf, coat, blanket, gloves, and knit hat that Rachel had already smothered herself in, he could see that she was regardless still shivering too, automatically stepping closer to Santana and pressing her shoulder into the other girl's.

"But it's the day before Christmas! Who's going to come out and fix it the day before CHRISTMAS?!" Rachel's voice rose still more shrilly, starting to carry a note approaching hysteria as she waved her hands around beneath her blanket. Santana too raised her voice, fumbling with slightly shaking hands inside her coat pocket for her cell phone as she punched in a number for the tenth time, swearing in frustration when the line rang without response.

"Fucking landlord, I swear, if he fucking cut off our heat somehow to save himself bills over the holidays…!"

"Someone will," Kurt said without much conviction even as he turned and took hold of Santana's wrist, as she had lifted it as though in preparation to throw her phone across the room. "Santana, give me that, I'll call heating and air companies and see who might come…no doubt we'll have to pay a ridiculously high price for whoever comes out, but…well, I guess we'll cross that bridge then…"

"But Kurt, we can't afford to pay a ridiculously high price!" Rachel's concern mounted still higher, although she made no move to move her hands from beneath the blanket to touch him. "We can barely afford to pay rent this month, let alone pay for a service which should have already been covered and paid for! It should already be ours to possess, paying for it again and over the price of what it should legitimately be is just wrong and….and…"

Then her voice trailed off as her eyes drifted towards Santana, new suspicion dawning. "It DID get paid for, didn't it? Last month's heating bill?"

As Kurt's eyes joined hers in looking at Santana, whose responsibility it had been to take care of that particular bill, the angry expression on her face quickly shifted to one of dawning horror, then guilt, then defensiveness, and she backed away, putting up both hands as though to ward off attack.

"Right…I may have forgotten that…"

"You MAY have FORGOTTEN to pay for our HEAT for the month of DECEMBER in NEW YORK CITY?!" Rachel's voice rose to an impressively high and loud octave at that, and Kurt too started to join her in a tirade before cutting himself off, shaking his head.

"Santana…Santana, how the hell could you POSSIBLY…"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I forgot, okay? I won't again, believe me!"

"But Santana, it's COLD, and it's CHRISTMAS, we could freeze to death out here on Christmas morning and how would THAT be for a very bad tale straight out of the Dickens times, who literally freezes to death in their own apartment, it would be a tragedy and I for one am NOT ready to be cut down in my prime before I even make it big enough that everyone will properly regard it as the true tragedy that it would be-"

"Rachel, get off my back, I said I was sorry, if you don't shut up I swear I'll be the one cutting you down and you won't have to worry about the cold-"

"Both of you, SHUT UP NOW!" Kurt nearly screamed, and this was rare enough from him that both girls actually did stop and look at him, startled. He exhaled another visible puff of breath, then gestured towards the couch, directing them.

"Both of you, go get all the blankets in the place and huddle up together under them on the couch, I don't care how much you hate each other right now, we'll need the heat. I'll join you in a minute, I'm calling companies to fix this, and if either of you say one word while I'm on the phone you're outside the blanket warmth pile."

And although both were glaring as they began to gather blankets, neither contradicted him. With the heat in the house now dropping below 40, even cuddling up to someone they were pissed off at currently beat his threatened option.