Faithful Friends Who Are Dear To Us
Title: Faithful Friends Who Are Dear To Us
Author: lennoxave
Pairing,Character(s): Kurt, Ensemble
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,347
Spoilers: Through 2.10, "A Very Glee Christmas."
Summary: Kurt's having a terrible, no-good, very bad Christmas. A surprise Christmas morning helps cheer him up. Basically, why Kurt wasn't at Schuester's on Christmas Eve, and what his friends did about it.
Author's Note: Christmas fluff, in case anybody's reading over the holidays. :)
Faithful Friends Who Are Dear To Us
It took Kurt a lot of effort to keep himself from calling this the worst Christmas ever.
The worst Christmas ever, obviously, was the first one after his mom died. Not only were he and his dad just generally depressed, but his Aunt Mildred came to visit, drank too much wine, and ended up puking all over the Christmas ham.
So, compared to death and bodily fluids, this Christmas was going wonderfully. But absent that comparison, it was shaping up to be a pretty terrible Christmas.
First, Kurt had an exam Christmas Eve day. He and the rest of his English class were stuck writing essays about Charles Dickens until three in the afternoon. (Kurt appreciated the general secularism of A Christmas Carol, he really did, but that was a bit too much.)
Then he had to help one of his classmates fix his car. Well, he didn't have to, exactly, but writing about Ebenezer Scrooge for two hours straight is a great motivation for helping others. So he'd looked at the kid's car (in the freezing cold, he might add) and discovered that his battery was totally drained. When several attempts at jumping the car were unsuccessful, Kurt snuck into the Dalton automotive shop (part of a “practical life skills” class he had thankfully gotten out of, thanks to his car maintenance and sewing abilities) and stole the kid a new battery.
The stealing totally wasn't an uncharitable act. It wasn't like Dalton didn't have enough money to replace one lousy car battery.
This ordeal brought him to five o'clock, when it started snowing. His dad had called him to tell him to wait out the storm, which was pummeling Westerville but for some reason missed Lima.
So he waited to set out until eight o'clock, when the snow finally stopped.
The cafeteria was closed, so he was forced to eat for dinner whatever food was left in his room.
The only thing in the entire place was his roommate's half-empty box of fruit roll-ups.
He'd have to remember to buy Eric a replacement box.
At eight o'clock, Kurt finally set out from Dalton. But the roads were terrible, especially around Columbus, and what was normally a two-hour trip took three.
He finally got home at eleven, and at that point he wanted to kick every plastic glowing Santa Claus on the block. His dad was waiting up for him on the couch.
“Hey,” Burt said as he walked in with his suitcases. “Merry Christmas!”
“Bah, humbug,” Kurt muttered in response, but he gave his dad a hug anyway.
“Rough day?” Burt asked.
“The roughest,” Kurt replied. “Did Finn and Carole go to bed already?” The family had decided against the new house for now. Finn was living in the basement while an addition was completed (which, given that they were building during the winter in Ohio, was taking longer than it should have).
“Yep,” Burt said. “Finn said you missed some glee thing, huh?”
“Yeah,” Kurt sighed. It would have been nice to see all of his friends in one spot again, and even to see Mr. Schue, who had grown a lot on him this year.
Burt, seeming to sense his disappointment, picked up the remote. “There's still some time tonight for Christmas Eve. We could watch White Christmas?”
“That's okay,” Kurt said, shaking his head. “I'm just going to put my presents under the tree and get to bed. I might even skip my skin care ritual tonight.”
At Burt's look of fake shock and alarm, he laughed a little. “I said, 'might'!”
* * *
Kurt slept straight through to eleven o'clock the next morning. He was awoken by Finn (who, surprisingly, was fully dressed) throwing a pillow at his bed.
“Mrumph,” he grumbled, throwing the pillow back at his step-brother. Finn threw it right back.
“Get up!” he said, and he started bouncing Kurt's bed. “We let you sleep super-long. We have presents to open! And cookies to eat!”
Kurt just rolled over.
“This is important!” Finn exclaimed.
“The presents will still be there in another hour,” Kurt said into his pillow.
Finn gave him a very undignified look. He was practically pouting. “If you aren't upstairs in ten minutes, I'll tell Burt, and we'll drag you upstairs together.”
Kurt sat up in bed. “Finn, that's not even enough time for me to take a shower!”
“Who showers Christmas morning?”
Kurt wrinkled his nose. “But my hair.”
“Dude, you own over fifty hats. I got bored one day and counted.”
Kurt glared at Finn. “You went through my stuff?”
Finn rolled his eyes. “Just get up there as soon as you can, all right? We have a surprise, but it can't wait that long.” With that he bounded up the stairs.
Kurt made himself as presentable as he could in the amount of time he was given--he had to admit that Finn's idea of a hat placed at a jaunty angle on his head (okay, the jaunty angle was his own idea) had been a good one--and then went up the stairs. The sight of the living room stopped him dead in his tracks.
Every member of New Directions was in his house, drinking hot cocoa.
“Merry Christmas!” Finn said, and the others expressed similar greetings, although Puck just said, “Happy Saturday!”
“I . . . you guys . . .” Kurt said. He was speechless. Mercedes got up and gave him a hug, and Mike passed over a cup of cocoa.
“We figured you'd be bummed about missing Christmas Eve, and it's been awhile since any of us have seen you, so we worked through family plans and church schedules to figure out a time we could all get here and say hi,” Mercedes said.
“Some of us didn't have to work through very much,” Rachel pointed out.
“Anyway, we just wanted to let you know that we miss you, and even if we can't stay long now, we'd better hang out over Winter Break,” Tina said.
“I--thank you,” Kurt said. “This . . . it really means a lot.” It was nice, knowing that the feeling of acceptance he'd had within the group, even if he hadn't felt it in the rest of the school, was real and lasting. That these were his friends, even if they weren't in each others lives every day anymore.
“Oh!” Rachel said. “And Mr. Schue couldn't be here, but he wanted us to bring you this.” She grabbed a gift bag off the floor. “He said his parents found it in their garage and didn't have any use for it, but he thought you might like it.”
Kurt opened the bag and pulled out its contents. It was a copy of the soundtrack to A Star is Born. On vinyl. In excellent condition.
“Oh, wow,” Kurt said. “I'm definitely going to have to send him a thank-you note for this.” He flipped the record over. And frowned. “. . . Why is this signed by Sue Sylvester?”
“She wanted to get in on the holiday cheer, too, I guess,” Rachel replied.
“I have cookies!” Carole announced as she walked into the room with a giant platter. She was immediately mobbed by hungry teenagers.
No one was able to stay for very long. And Santana complained about the number of calories in the cookies even as she had her third one. And Quinn and Sam were being disgustingly schmoopy in the corner. And Rachel and Finn made sad puppy eyes at each other the whole time. And Mercedes kept referencing Jesus. And Brittany said non sequiturs while Artie made vaguely sexist comments and Puck talked about what a badass he was.
And Kurt wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world.
Author: lennoxave
Pairing,Character(s): Kurt, Ensemble
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,347
Spoilers: Through 2.10, "A Very Glee Christmas."
Summary: Kurt's having a terrible, no-good, very bad Christmas. A surprise Christmas morning helps cheer him up. Basically, why Kurt wasn't at Schuester's on Christmas Eve, and what his friends did about it.
Author's Note: Christmas fluff, in case anybody's reading over the holidays. :)
Faithful Friends Who Are Dear To Us
It took Kurt a lot of effort to keep himself from calling this the worst Christmas ever.
The worst Christmas ever, obviously, was the first one after his mom died. Not only were he and his dad just generally depressed, but his Aunt Mildred came to visit, drank too much wine, and ended up puking all over the Christmas ham.
So, compared to death and bodily fluids, this Christmas was going wonderfully. But absent that comparison, it was shaping up to be a pretty terrible Christmas.
First, Kurt had an exam Christmas Eve day. He and the rest of his English class were stuck writing essays about Charles Dickens until three in the afternoon. (Kurt appreciated the general secularism of A Christmas Carol, he really did, but that was a bit too much.)
Then he had to help one of his classmates fix his car. Well, he didn't have to, exactly, but writing about Ebenezer Scrooge for two hours straight is a great motivation for helping others. So he'd looked at the kid's car (in the freezing cold, he might add) and discovered that his battery was totally drained. When several attempts at jumping the car were unsuccessful, Kurt snuck into the Dalton automotive shop (part of a “practical life skills” class he had thankfully gotten out of, thanks to his car maintenance and sewing abilities) and stole the kid a new battery.
The stealing totally wasn't an uncharitable act. It wasn't like Dalton didn't have enough money to replace one lousy car battery.
This ordeal brought him to five o'clock, when it started snowing. His dad had called him to tell him to wait out the storm, which was pummeling Westerville but for some reason missed Lima.
So he waited to set out until eight o'clock, when the snow finally stopped.
The cafeteria was closed, so he was forced to eat for dinner whatever food was left in his room.
The only thing in the entire place was his roommate's half-empty box of fruit roll-ups.
He'd have to remember to buy Eric a replacement box.
At eight o'clock, Kurt finally set out from Dalton. But the roads were terrible, especially around Columbus, and what was normally a two-hour trip took three.
He finally got home at eleven, and at that point he wanted to kick every plastic glowing Santa Claus on the block. His dad was waiting up for him on the couch.
“Hey,” Burt said as he walked in with his suitcases. “Merry Christmas!”
“Bah, humbug,” Kurt muttered in response, but he gave his dad a hug anyway.
“Rough day?” Burt asked.
“The roughest,” Kurt replied. “Did Finn and Carole go to bed already?” The family had decided against the new house for now. Finn was living in the basement while an addition was completed (which, given that they were building during the winter in Ohio, was taking longer than it should have).
“Yep,” Burt said. “Finn said you missed some glee thing, huh?”
“Yeah,” Kurt sighed. It would have been nice to see all of his friends in one spot again, and even to see Mr. Schue, who had grown a lot on him this year.
Burt, seeming to sense his disappointment, picked up the remote. “There's still some time tonight for Christmas Eve. We could watch White Christmas?”
“That's okay,” Kurt said, shaking his head. “I'm just going to put my presents under the tree and get to bed. I might even skip my skin care ritual tonight.”
At Burt's look of fake shock and alarm, he laughed a little. “I said, 'might'!”
* * *
Kurt slept straight through to eleven o'clock the next morning. He was awoken by Finn (who, surprisingly, was fully dressed) throwing a pillow at his bed.
“Mrumph,” he grumbled, throwing the pillow back at his step-brother. Finn threw it right back.
“Get up!” he said, and he started bouncing Kurt's bed. “We let you sleep super-long. We have presents to open! And cookies to eat!”
Kurt just rolled over.
“This is important!” Finn exclaimed.
“The presents will still be there in another hour,” Kurt said into his pillow.
Finn gave him a very undignified look. He was practically pouting. “If you aren't upstairs in ten minutes, I'll tell Burt, and we'll drag you upstairs together.”
Kurt sat up in bed. “Finn, that's not even enough time for me to take a shower!”
“Who showers Christmas morning?”
Kurt wrinkled his nose. “But my hair.”
“Dude, you own over fifty hats. I got bored one day and counted.”
Kurt glared at Finn. “You went through my stuff?”
Finn rolled his eyes. “Just get up there as soon as you can, all right? We have a surprise, but it can't wait that long.” With that he bounded up the stairs.
Kurt made himself as presentable as he could in the amount of time he was given--he had to admit that Finn's idea of a hat placed at a jaunty angle on his head (okay, the jaunty angle was his own idea) had been a good one--and then went up the stairs. The sight of the living room stopped him dead in his tracks.
Every member of New Directions was in his house, drinking hot cocoa.
“Merry Christmas!” Finn said, and the others expressed similar greetings, although Puck just said, “Happy Saturday!”
“I . . . you guys . . .” Kurt said. He was speechless. Mercedes got up and gave him a hug, and Mike passed over a cup of cocoa.
“We figured you'd be bummed about missing Christmas Eve, and it's been awhile since any of us have seen you, so we worked through family plans and church schedules to figure out a time we could all get here and say hi,” Mercedes said.
“Some of us didn't have to work through very much,” Rachel pointed out.
“Anyway, we just wanted to let you know that we miss you, and even if we can't stay long now, we'd better hang out over Winter Break,” Tina said.
“I--thank you,” Kurt said. “This . . . it really means a lot.” It was nice, knowing that the feeling of acceptance he'd had within the group, even if he hadn't felt it in the rest of the school, was real and lasting. That these were his friends, even if they weren't in each others lives every day anymore.
“Oh!” Rachel said. “And Mr. Schue couldn't be here, but he wanted us to bring you this.” She grabbed a gift bag off the floor. “He said his parents found it in their garage and didn't have any use for it, but he thought you might like it.”
Kurt opened the bag and pulled out its contents. It was a copy of the soundtrack to A Star is Born. On vinyl. In excellent condition.
“Oh, wow,” Kurt said. “I'm definitely going to have to send him a thank-you note for this.” He flipped the record over. And frowned. “. . . Why is this signed by Sue Sylvester?”
“She wanted to get in on the holiday cheer, too, I guess,” Rachel replied.
“I have cookies!” Carole announced as she walked into the room with a giant platter. She was immediately mobbed by hungry teenagers.
No one was able to stay for very long. And Santana complained about the number of calories in the cookies even as she had her third one. And Quinn and Sam were being disgustingly schmoopy in the corner. And Rachel and Finn made sad puppy eyes at each other the whole time. And Mercedes kept referencing Jesus. And Brittany said non sequiturs while Artie made vaguely sexist comments and Puck talked about what a badass he was.
And Kurt wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world.