"I can't believe him," Kurt hissed to Tina, his eyes narrowed and his arms crossed across his chest, "The audacity of that sneaky bastard!"

Tina was nodding along, staring daggers at the back of Sebastian's head, "Completely inappropriate. You should step in."

"Dude!" Puck slung a well-muscled arm around Kurt's shoulders, "Do you see that guy hitting on your boy there? Not kosher. If you want I can go over there and crack some skulls."

Kurt shook his head, but continued to glare at Sebastian.

The New Directions and the Warblers, in the interest of keeping the friendly aspect in competition as well as reuniting all friends within the groups, had planned a Christmas party. Rachel's dads had been gracious enough to offer the use of their Oscar room again and were awesome enough to be conspicuously away for the night at a Christmas show for an old college friend who had made a modest living as a musician and music teacher in Columbus.

The two groups were mixing well and the alcohol was flowing moderately. True to their nature, the karaoke had been broken out quite quickly and Mercedes was serenading the party with a beautiful rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Mike and Brittany were dancing together, while Santana looked on with a smile, immersed in a conversation with Trent and Thad. Rachel and Finn were staring adoringly into each other's eyes and Sam was reminiscing with some of his friends from Dalton who were on the Warblers.

Blaine was definitely the life of the party. He had bounced out several Christmas numbers already to raucous applause from his friends. He was conversing with everyone, laughing and occasionally doing a Christmas shot from the bar. Blaine's smile was lit up like the Hudson-Hummel's Christmas tree, and Kurt's heart melted every time he caught glimpse of his boyfriend having a good time or when Blaine would come by him to squeeze his waist or steal a kiss.

Now however, rather than heartwarming, Kurt could feel his temper flaring up. All because of Sebastian; the rival was approaching Blaine with a predatory smirk on his face. Poor, unsuspecting Blaine was leaning against a wall observing the party with a mug of hot chocolate in his hand, a little too close to the sprig of mistletoe that Rachel had put up in the arch that separated the basement into two sides. Sebastian had clearly noticed, and had a calculating look on his face.

Clearly he was plotting something to do with Blaine and the mistletoe, and Kurt would have none of that. Kurt watched as Sebastian sauntered up to his boyfriend, noted the confident strut and silently wished that the other boy's pants would suddenly drop around his ankles and he would fall face first into the bowl of punch. His fingers were twitching anxiously against his chest, longing for his sai swords or something he could chuck at the back of Sebastian's head. The other boy didn't seem to notice that Kurt was eviscerating him in his mind.

The mistletoe hung tauntingly above their heads.

XX

First to fall victim to the mistletoe were Mike and Tina. They had just arrived at the party as it was getting into its rhythm. Mike grasped Tina's hand and walked forward, intent on saying hello to everyone before getting drinks.

Rachel let out an overjoyed squeal and announced to the party that "In light of the spirit of the holidays I have put up a sprig of mistletoe. The fun of the holidays should be shared and to bring merriment and pleasure to this party I thought this would be a wonderful idea. Everyone must participate, boys and girls!"

Mike and Tina blushed, but complied with a sweetly chaste kiss. The room, not quite tipsy enough to be enthusiastic about such events, let out a few shouts of encouragement. Rachel, to encourage the rest of the party goers, grabbed Finn and pulled him under the mistletoe with her. This led to a ten-minute long makeout session that had an extremely embarrassed Kurt being forced to smack Finn across the top of the head before dragging Rachel away to gossip with Mercedes about the latest craziness of Sue Sylvester.

Sam had wandered under the mistletoe when Rachel had brought him downstairs, and they laughingly shared a quick peck before they were off in opposite directions: Sam to getting a beer and catching up with Nicolas, Rachel to starting up the karaoke with her pink sparkly , giving Artie a break from spinning as DJ. The next few kisses were either jokes between Warblers who had arrived together and couples who were looking to get some attention with kisses.

Brittany and Santana nearly caused a Warbler riot when they ended up underneath the mistletoe. It had started out with a sweet little makeout that turned steamy right away when Brittany, wearing a festive green and white houndstooth skirt that was already short enough to make Artie regret ever letting her dump him, hiked up said skirt almost to her hips. All the straight boys in the room, taken or not, stopped whatever they were doing to stare. Puck began to clap unashamedly and soon Cameron joined with a whistle.

"And that's how it's done," Santana said with a self-satisfied 'cat ate the canary' grin. Brittany giggled and twined their fingers together. After that spectacle, everyone made a conscious effort to avoid the mistletoe for a little while, no one wanted to compete.

Mercedes and David had bumped into each other under the mistletoe and David had chastely kissed her on the cheek. He wasn't a fool, he had met Mercedes' linebacker boyfriend and was not about to find out just how fast he could run away. She had been a good sport and given him a hug and a kiss on the cheek in return.

Brittany and Nick had some fun making out under the silly holiday plant until Santana had seprrated them.

"You're a really good kisser," Brittany giggled, wiping some strawberry lip gloss from the corner of Nick's mouth, "Almost as good as Kurt. Your boyfriend is one lucky dolphin."

Nick laughed, "Why thank you, I take that as the highest of compliments. You're a good kisser too."

Jeff stepped up to Nick and swept his boyfriend up in his arms, kissing him oblivious of the cat calls of their friends. They pulled away blushing and had gone off to find a secluded corner together. Then Wes and Santana, Tina and Cameron, and Quinn and Trent had all ended up under the mistletoe together at various points throughout the night. Brittany had cheered on everyone happily, and Rachel had loudly announced their impending "doom," as she had been doing the entire night.

Quinn and Trent had kissed to Santana's sexified rendition (her words, of course) of "Santa Baby." Despite the suggestive wink Santana had shot Quinn over Trent's shoulder – she was all for her girl getting her mack on with a boy who wasn't New-Directions-bat-shit-crazy – the kiss between the two was rather sweet. Later, Quinn and Trent were spotting holding hands and having a very intimate conversation, if the way they were leaning in so close to each other and smiling such a way were any indication.

Wes and David had shrugged at each other and gotten in a steamy makeout session. The girls of New Directions had stopped whatever they were doing to eye the two hotties, though the Warbler boys seemed immune to this having seen this happen more than once. Wes and David swore they were just heterosexual life partners.

Perhaps the funniest kiss of the night had been when Quinn and Rachel had passed each other under the plant. Rachel had let out an indignant shriek (it had to be Rachel; who else could hit that note?) and Quinn's look had gone from blissful to murderous in record time. Kurt had gleefully informed Rachel, with an apologetic look to Quinn, that since she had enforced the mistletoe rule on everyone else, it would set a bad precedent if she didn't follow her own rule. They had stood two feet apart and leaned in with completely horrified looks on each of their faces. The rising chant of "Faberry!" had spurred them to quickly press their lips together and then pull away.

Quinn raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow to the rest of the room, "Faberry?"

XX

Now Sebastian was attempting to take advantage of the mistletoe tradition in a bid to win Blaine's affection. He had approached the former Warbler and engaged him in an apparently hilarious story, though Kurt doubted that he would find anything that Sebastian said funny.

"That's amazing! You have got to joking!" Blaine exclaimed, setting down his empty mug to gesture emphatically.

"Nope," Sebastian leaned in closer, "Dead serious."

Blaine was smiling at Sebastian, not noticing the way the other boy was about to scoop him around the waist and move both of them under the offending plant. Kurt couldn't hold back any longer and sprang into action. He was across the room in two strides and planted himself between the two, much like he had done at Scandals. This pushed himself under the mistletoe with Blaine, and Sebastian was shoved just out of the way.

"Get some Hummel!" Puck howled, guffawing at the look on Sebastian's face. His exclamation attracted the attention of the rest of the party, and the others were quick to cheer on their friends. Brittany was clapping her hands happily.

Kurt grinned deviously and wrapped his hands around Blaine's hips, hooking his thumbs in his boyfriend's belt loops. Blaine looked momentarily surprised, but then shrugged happily and closed the gap between their lips. Kurt felt a familiar spark start up the moment Blaine's lips touched his. He allowed his tongue to sweep across Blaine's lips and purred with satisfaction as his boyfriend opened his mouth to deepen their kiss; Blaine's calloused hands came up, one to gently cup the back of Kurt's neck, and one to trace Kurt's jaw. Kurt's hands moved from Blaine's belt into his back pockets, pulling him closer and grinding their hips together. Blaine moaned, and it rumbled in his chest. Catcalls and cheering broke into their happy world of Kurt-and-Blaine and reluctantly they pulled away.

"You know..." Kurt breathed, nuzzling Blaine in an Eskimo kiss and eyeing Sebastian's glare out of the corner of his eye, "You really shouldn't stand in such a tempting place."

He kissed his boyfriend again and felt him smirk, Blaine was ready with a retort when they pulled apart again, "Oh really? Not even if you're the one tempted to come over here and do something about where I'm standing?"

Kurt grinned, "Well, I suppose that part isn't so bad. But do you know the second part of mistletoe lore?"

Blaine shook his head, and looked at Kurt to continue. He blushed and concentrated on Blaine's flush lips rather than his eyes when he said: "When two people in love kiss under mistletoe, it's seen as a promise to marry."

This seemed to spark a different kind of fire in Blaine. His eyes were positively glittering as he leaned in for another kiss, the other party goers – especially Sebastian – completely forgotten.

"Noted."