Chapter 28

None of the participants of the Christmas dinner at the Hudson-Hummels’ could recall when they last had such a true family event. The previous Christmas was probably it for Kurt, Blaine and Burt, but the rest was deprived of that experience. Carole and Finn used to spend their holidays alone, her family living too far away to travel to for just a couple of days, her first’s husband’s mostly dead or out of touch.

Aileen hadn’t been to any family celebration since her mother died eleven years prior. Her sister never showed any interest in hosting Christmases after that, and Aileen had a suspicion her brother-in-law could have been behind that. Over the years when she was forced to either spend the December 25th alone or with a bunch of friends who didn’t have families of their own, Aileen developed a slight dislike for Christmas. Until this year.

Having Blaine walking around the house and humming Let It Snow or some other silly holiday song, and get excited over decorating their small tree, made Aileen think back to the times when she used to love Christmas. It reminded her what she’d always found the most wonderful about the season; in spite of the cold and the snow and ice, it used to seem to her the warmest time of year. And now she was beginning to realize she was getting that feeling back.

All the worries and painful memories of Christmases past were left outside the door of the Hudson-Hummel residence. The whole house was brightly illuminated with Christmas lights and decorated with small delicate and tasteful wreathes of pine branches and holly, which Kurt had made himself, with a little help from his stepbrother. Although Finn’s attribution to Christmas preparation was mostly limited to nibbling on every dish that was being cooked, under the guise of “tasting”.

As soon as Blaine and Aileen walked into the living room, Burt noticed the boy’s bowtie; it looked strangely familiar. Hi eyes skipped to Kurt, who was readjusting some of the ornaments on the tree. Unmistakably, there it was. The pattern on Kurt’s tie was near identical to that on Blaine’s bowtie.

Burt raised his eyebrows. Interesting.

‘Huh, did you guys coordinate your ties?,’ he asked, looking from one to the other with suspicious eyes.

‘Yup,’ said Blaine, grinning. ‘Kurt got me the bowtie this year, so we thought it would be fun to wear matching neckwear. When else would we get a chance to wear candy cane pattern rather than on Christmas?’

Burt nodded, wondering whether Kurt’s reason for buying the bowtie didn’t have an additional secret element to it. He shot a curious glance at his son.

‘It’s an awfully coupley thing to do,’ he stated.

Just as he expected, Kurt’s face turned a bright shade of red and the boy swiftly shifted away from everyone else.

‘We’re still not boyfriends, Dad,’ he said with a tinge of wistfulness in his voice.

Blaine would have probably noticed the change in Kurt’s tone and demeanour, if Finn hadn’t dragged him into a discussion of the Glee club’s Christmas performance in the teacher’s lounge the previous week.

‘I didn’t ask,’ Burt said, taking a step closer to his son and lowering his voice. ‘But you would want the two of you to get there, huh?,’ he asked, pretending to straighten out one of the stockings on the mantelpiece.

‘Dad,’ Kurt groaned. ‘I am not having this conversation with you. Definitely now here and not now.’

‘Okay.’ Burt tried to keep the eye contact up, but Kurt turned his gaze away back to the tree. ‘But if you change your mind, I want you to know you can talk to me about this. I might have no idea how to talk about guys, but I do know what it’s like to be in love, and I bet that feeling doesn’t differ much, no matter if you love a guy or a girl.’

Kurt nodded. He was not ready for a discussion of his love life with his father, but knowing that he had the support was definitely comforting. On the other hand, though, if his dad could read him so well, Blaine could figure his secret out just as easily. And that worried him a little.

Despite Kurt’s concern and Burt’s occasional – but quite annoying in his son’s opinion – glances at Kurt and Blaine, the afternoon and evening passed in a cordial homey atmosphere. If all of them weren’t engaged in one discussion, Carole and Aileen would start praising the boys or complaining about them, while Burt and Finn skipped to the TV set to watch basketball. Kurt and Blaine spent the time sitting behind the upright piano and playing Christmas classics.

The closeness of occupying one bench with their bodies touching from time to time set Kurt’s heart on rollercoaster rides. Simultaneously, it reminded him of November of the previous year, when they would settle by the Andersons’ grand piano in the exact same way. A smile crept onto his face, as the last notes of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas died, and he took over the keyboard from Blaine.

‘Do you remember this?,’ he asked, striking the keys to begin My Favorite Things.

‘Of course I do,’ Blaine replied with a wide grin and let Kurt sing the opening lines.

Until that moment, Burt largely ignored the sounds coming from the piano, concentrating his attention on the game. This song, however, was something else. He knew it by heart from the times when Elizabeth used to sing it to little Kurt. He wouldn’t have thought his son would share it with anyone; Kurt used to get angry whenever Burt tried to join in, and he knew he wasn’t a bad enough singer to warrant the reaction. It was just the fact that this was something exclusively between the mother and her son.

And now, there Kurt was, his fingers pressing the keys expertly, all the while beaming at his best friend. No hint of anger or discomfort visible in either his expression or body language.

Burt smiled to himself, as he watched the scene between the two boys running one more time through the verse to the chorus.

The sight made Burt Hummel sure of two things. One: no matter what Kurt told him – or did not tell him – he was absolutely, beyond the shadow of doubt in love with Blaine. Two: if Blaine didn’t reciprocate the feeling, he was either a complete fool, or in the process of falling in love with Kurt.

And Burt was mentally crossing his fingers for it to be the latter.