2 December 14th - Bad Memories

On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me, two turtledoves and a partridge in a pear tree.

Blaine wakes up and goes prepare breakfast. As he enters the kitchen, Kurt is already there, making pancakes. Kurt turns around as Blaine comes in.

“Good morning, handsome.” Blaine looks away. They had always greeted each other on mornings like that before New York. Before everything they had was lost.

“Morning. I see you are still an early bird. You went to bed pretty early last night. Is everything okay?”

“Sure. And remember, the early bird gets the worm.”

“But the nightly owl has more fun.” Blaine says. They laugh together like they had many times. It seemed the tension had been broken. “So, how did you sleep? I know the bed isn’t that comfortable, but –”

“I slept fine, Blaine. There are no problems with your visitor’s bed, so don’t worry.” Kurt interrupts. Blaine opens a tentative smile, not knowing exactly how to respond. “So, what are we going to do today?”

“I thought we could start decorating the tree, and after the tree the house. And then go shop for gifts. I’m thinking of doing a Secret Santa.”

“Sure! And we could invite Marley to help us.” Kurt suggests. It is obvious he doesn’t want to stay alone with Blaine yet.

“Sure…” Blaine answers, clearly hurt. “I’ll give her a call. Let’s just hope she isn’t busy or something.” Let’s just hope she is busy or something, he thinks.

*Phone Call*

“Hello?”

“Hi Marley, its Blaine. So, Kurt is here, and we were thinking of going Christmas gift shopping, do you want to come with us?”

“Oooh, sorry Blaine. I’m busy right now. Got to finish recording my album before Christmas.”

“Okay, it’s okay. Sorry to interrupt you then.” Blaine hangs up.

Kurt is waiting at the kitchen eating breakfast. He looks up as Blaine enters the room.

“So? Is she coming?” He asks. A bit of maple sauce is on his chin. Blaine reaches for a napkin and cleans it. They look at each other for a second longer than necessary.

“No, she can’t. She has to finish her album before Christmas. Have you decided where we are going?”

“Of course I’ve decided where we are going. Now eat your pancakes so we can leave. And don’t argue with me, Blaine Anderson.”

“Umm, you didn’t leave me any pancakes.” Blaine says, pointing to his empty plate.

“Oh! Sorry…”

“It’s alright. We’ll pass by the Lima Bean. And maybe one of the old guys will be there.”

“‘Old guys’? Who are you talking about?”

“The Warblers, Kurt. They always hang out there. It brings back memories. Lots of memories. And you wanted to see if someone else wanted to come. We can invite them.” Blaine had to force the words out, because he may have said them, but he didn’t mean them.

Blaine grabs his jacket and car keys. Then he remembers something and goes back into his room. Kurt waits for him outside. Blaine walks to the car and Kurt wonders what he had gone back for.

“What did you get there?”

“Just a CD. We’ll go singing, just as if we were still in New Directions.”

“Sure. Whose CD is it? I mean, by whom?”

“There is a mixture of music. Some of them the New Directions sang, some not. Half of it weren’t even considered by Mr. Schue. Remember how he’d refuse most of our suggestions for Sectionals? But finally we’d convince him that our ideas were best because they were now more popular than the other songs?”

“Okaaay… I remember.” Kurt remembered more than just that. He remembered most his duets with Blaine. Principally ‘Perfect’, ‘Candles’, and ‘Let It Snow’. He remembered before he met Blaine, when he’d flirted with Finn, who became his half-brother, and Sam, who both turned out not to be gay. He remembered always going to the girls’ side when Mr. Schue gave a boys versus girls sing-off. He remembered mostly the day when the boys told him to go spy on the Warblers, and he had ended up in love with Blaine. He remembered everything, every little secret Blaine would tell him, and that he would tell Blaine. He remembered everything until the day it ended.

“Let’s go, then. I’m starving, since you didn’t leave me any pancakes. C’mon. You wanna ride shotgun?”Blaine laughs. Of course he wants to ride shotgun, he thinks. Blaine opens the car door and Kurt gets in. Then, Blaine goes to the driver side and gets in. He puts the CD in the player and starts the car.

*Background Music Plays*

"Remember when we bought the karaoke version? Do you still remember the lyrics?" Blaine asks. Then he starts:

"Made a wrong turn, once or twice. Dug my way out, blood and fire."

Kurt continues, "Bad decisions. That's alright. Welcome to my, silly life. Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood, Miss No-Way-Its-All-Good, it didn't slow me down. Mistaken, always second-guessing, underestimated, look I'm still around."

Blaine continues, "Pretty, pretty, please, don't you ever ever feel, like you're less than, less than perfect. Go, Kurt."

"I can't. I can't do this, Blaine. We broke up, and it's done. Now, either stop the car or stop the music."

"Kurt, please. Just try. You can do this." Blaine parks the car.

"I can't. I just ca–" Blaine leans in and kisses him. Kurt slowly closes his eyelids, then opens them again to see those amber eyes staring into his. Then Blaine gets out of the car. They were parked at the Lima Bean, so he went inside to grab a mug of coffee.

Inside he met Sebastian.

"Blaine! How are you doing? I heard you were going to have a Christmas party, and that you were moving from Ohio. How is everything."

"Fine, Sebastian. Now, excuse me, I'm in a hurry."

"Why hurry? Christmas is still a fine time from today."

"Get out of my way, Sebastian. I'm really not in the mood for your pep-talk today." Blaine shuffles to pass and orders his coffee. Then he gives the waitress the money and goes away. "Keep the change."

Kurt is still shocked from what happened when Blaine gets back. Blaine had just kissed him, the way they used to kiss each other, as if nothing had happened. And I wanted him to continue, Kurt thinks.

"You were fast there. Is there anyone coming?" he asks.

"No. Remember what I said about memories? Yeah, there are lots of memories. Most of them are bad ones."