It was the night before Christmas Eve. The tree was lit, the fireplace warmed the room, and there was the everlasting scent of holiday cookies wafting in the air. Kurt and Blaine were the only inhabitants of the Hudson-Hummel house and sat wrapped up in each other on the living room couch. While Kurt admired his new favorite accessory, which sat perfectly on his left hand, Blaine softly hummed the tune to “Baby It’s Cold Outside, nuzzling his boyfriend’s cheek as he did so. He shifted to nibble on Kurt’s ear, which elicited a low moan from the back of Kurt’s throat.

“I should probably give you your gift now, though I’m not sure how it’ll compare to a promise to always love me.”

“Kurt you know you don’t-”

But before he could finish his sentence, Kurt was up, out of his arms, and hopping off to his bedroom. A minute later, he returned carrying a long navy blue box with a bright red ribbon tied around it. Still bouncing slightly, he held it out to Blaine.

“Open it! “

Blaine took the box, returning Kurt’s devilish smile with a questioning one. He held the box up high, above his head, playfully trying to examine every inch of it. He put his ear to the box, rattling it a little bit and was about to sniff it until Kurt broke out.

“Just open it already!”

“Haha! Alright, alright! I was just having a little fun!”

Carefully, Blaine undid the ribbon and removed the long lid to reveal a little orange bottle that read “Travel Hair Gel.” Oh, ok then. Well, they never really did talk about getting gifts in the first place, and at least it was from Kurt, which is all that really mattered right? He put on his best happily-surprised face and looked up at his boyfriend.

“Oh wow! This is great! And it’s even my favorite brand! Thank you so much Kurt!”

Kurt eyed him speculatively before he laughed and teasingly said, “Well, If I had known that you would like it so much, I wouldn’t have gotten you anything else!”

“Wait there’s more?” Blaine asked, pleasantly surprised.

“Blaine, honey, you didn’t actually think that all I would get you for our first Christmas together was a little bottle of gel did you? Look under the bottle, silly!”

Excitedly, Blaine took the bottle out, placed it on the coffee table in front of the couch and then looked at the box that was sitting on his lap. At one end, he noticed a looped piece of blue ribbon that was not visible to him before. When he pulled on it, the whole tier of the box popped out to reveal another level. Placed very delicately on a white satin cushion, was a beautiful silk bowtie. It had skinny stripes that were all varied shades of a soft green. Blaine had never seen more perfect neck attire.

“Kurt it- it’s beautiful.”

“You’re beautiful. I saw it and I just knew it would bring out the color in your eyes. It might not be a ring that symbolizes our undying love for each other bu-”

“I love it. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’m glad you love it.”

Blaine picked up the bowtie and admired it, running his hands along the silky surface. He held it up to his face and caught a whiff of Kurt that emanated from the accessory. He hummed contentedly to himself.

“I’m going to put it on right now!” Blaine went to remove the bowtie he was already wearing, but Kurt stopped his hands before he could.

“No, don’t put it on right now.”

“Why not? Is something wrong?” Blaine questioned, concern now entering his voice.

“I have a confession to make.”

A confession? Oh no. Blaine immediately grew worried. What if Kurt didn’t want his ring after all? What if the gesture had been too much too soon? What if this was Kurt telling him that he thought they were moving too fast and he wanted to take a break? Oh god, he knew he should’ve waited till their one-year to give him the ring... or maybe longer than that. Why did he always have to listen to his damn heart, it’s gotten him into trouble before and now it was going to cost him the one thing he couldn’t bear to lose.

Trying to pull all of his emotions together, and with the steadiest voice he could manage, Blaine responded, “Oh? What would that be?”

Kurt gave him a suggestive look and pointed to his Blaine’s first gift.

“That bottle... isn’t actually filled with hair gel.” Kurt winked.

Well that definitely wasn’t what he was expecting.

“Hmm... so I wouldn’t use the contents of it on my hair?” he inquired teasingly.

“No...,” Kurt crawled over to Blaine’s side of the couch until he was straddling his boyfriend’s lap, and snaked his arms around his neck, “but I’d like to show you where you could use it.”

All the doubt and anxiety drained from Blaine’s body and he wrapped his arms around Kurt’s waist, pulling him closer so that he could place deep and drawn out kisses on Kurt’s lips.

“I’d” -kiss- “like” -kiss- “that” -kiss- “very” -kiss- “much.”

“Merry Christmas Blaine, I love you.”

Yeah, Blaine made the right decision, and not just about the ring.