So um. I was just reading hanabananana's fic the other day and was keeping an eye on her Anomaly fic and I went to refresh her tumblr page and its gone? Anyone know if she changed names or something?
Day 18: Santa Claus is Coming to Town (Kid!Klaine)
Kurt doesn't look forward to Christmas. Not since his mother died the year before. She was the one who brought magic to the holiday for Kurt, but, despite his best efforts, it's exceptionally difficult to just ignore Christmas when your best friend is Blaine Anderson.
"Aren't you excited?" Blaine asks while they're playing superheroes in Blaine’s room. Kurt shrugs.
"Not really," he says simply. Blaine looks like Kurt just told him he has three heads.
"But-but it's Christmas!" he argues, "Santa's coming soon! If he hears you then you might not get any presents!" Kurt doesn't mention that Santa isn’t real, he wants to, the words are on the tip of his tongue but the way Blaine's eyes gleam with hope stops him from saying them. He misses the days when he could believe as well.
Kurt smiles and goes back to playing with the action figure.
"I'm sure, he'll still come," Kurt says to reassure Blaine, "We've both been really good this year!" Blaine grins from ear to ear as he nods in agreement.
"Blaine!" Cooper yells, suddenly bursting through the door. He storms over to where they sit, playing on the floor, and snatches the superheroes out of his and Kurt's hands. "How many times do I have to tell you not to touch my stuff! These aren't toys, keep your snotty hands off of them!" Cooper growls.
"I'm sorry, Coop!" Blaine says, rising to his feet and following after his brother. "I don't mean to be bad! please don't tell Santa!" he begs. Cooper's always telling Blaine that he's bad when it comes to pretty much anything.
"Stop being such a baby," Cooper says, placing his hand on Blaine's forehead and shoving him away. Blaine falls to the floor but remains looking up at his big brother, "Santa doesn't exist, haven't you figured that out yet?" With that he slams the door shut behind him, leaving Blaine and Kurt alone.
Kurt makes his way over to Blaine, sitting carefully beside him. Blaine is staring at the door where Cooper just left, confusion etched onto his face as he calculates what he just said.
"Blaine?" Kurt says gently, placing a small hand on his best friend's shoulder.
"Santa isn't real?" Blaine asks, looking to Kurt for either conformation or reassurance, Kurt isn’t sure.
"Don't listen to Cooper," Kurt says, "he's just a stupid big-kid."
"But-but Cooper knows everything! He's always right!" Blaine argues. "Santa's really not real," he says dejectedly and Kurt's heart breaks. He knows exactly what it's like, to feel like all of the magic and the miracles come down to nothing. Last year he didn't feel like it mattered, not with everything else that had happened but now, with Blaine, he wants nothing more than for his best friend to be able to believe again.
"Of course Santa is real!" Kurt says, "But he only brings presents to kids, right? When you grow up, you forget about all the magic and become a boring grown up." Blaine frowns as Kurt speaks.
"Am I turning into a grown up?" Blaine asks in a panic.
"No! Of course not!" Kurt hurries, "Because Santa is still real, right?" Blaine nods slowly.
"Right," he eventually agrees.
~~~
Kurt rushes into his room as soon as he gets home and immediately begins rummaging through his closet. He finds a stuffed dog given to him by a distant relative a few birthdays before that he never really cared much for. It needs to be something Blaine isn't aware he owns.
He finds some wrapping paper, sticky tape and scissors and begins wrapping the toy as neatly as he can. Despite his efforts, it's still a little messy but Kurt places a bow over the small tear and flattens some of the uneven corners with more sticky tape. Lastly he writes the label. Using his best handwriting, Kurt addresses the present to Blaine and signs it from Santa.
He slips it into Blaine's bag at the end of school the next day as they're saying goodbye.
"Kurt!" Blaine says excitedly the next day at school, "You won't believe it!"
"What is it?" Kurt asks curiously though he has a feeling he knows what Blaine’s so excited about.
"Santa came early! He already gave me a present!" Blaine opens his bag and pulls out the stuffed animal Kurt had gifted to him secretly. Kurt feigns surprise, loving how happy Blaine seems. "He is real!" Blaine half whispers. "I asked my parents about what Cooper said and they said that he wasn't real too but...but he's real!"
"Well of course your parents would say that," Kurt says like it's obvious "They're grownups. They forgot about Santa ages ago! Only kids know about him," Kurt whispers as though it was a secret.
It's a few days before Christmas and Blaine's mother drops him off at Kurt's for the day while she has to work.
"Come on!" Kurt say, pulling Blaine into the kitchen.
"What's going on?" Blaine asks as he allows himself to be dragged away.
"We have to make Christmas cookies! I heard it makes Santa come early!" Kurt says, reciting what his mother used to tell him when they used to bake together at Christmas time. Kurt finds his mom's old cook book and opens it up on the recipe for Christmas cookies.
"I've never baked anything before..." Blaine says uncertainly as Kurt begins to take the ingredients out of the cupboards.
"That's okay," he assures Blaine, "I'll show you what to do."
Kurt measures out the ingredients and let's Blaine mix them together in the bowl. He's just a little too aggressive with the mixing as he manages to spill flour all over himself. Kurt chuckles at his hopelessness as he wipes up the mess on the kitchen top before cleaning Blaine up with a paper towel.
"Do it gently!" Kurt instructs and Blaine starts again much slower, getting the hang of it eventually. Once they have scooped the cookie dough onto the baking tray, Kurt calls his dad in to help put them in the oven.
"Decorating them is the best bit," Kurt says once they're cooked and cooled enough. Kurt had to chastise Blaine for eating one early. "The better they're decorated, the better presents Santa brings," Kurt tells him matter-of-factly. At that Blaine suddenly becomes significantly more interested in decorating the cookies, however art was neither boy's strong point. Kurt frowns at the cookies, they're nowhere near as pretty as the ones he used to make with his mom but, when he looks over at Blaine who is decorating his last cookie, he sees how proud he looks at their hard work.
"I think Santa will like them," Blaine says, admiring their work and Kurt nods, allowing himself to smile.
"They're perfect," he says and he means it.
Kurt works on his next surprise. He wraps up a small wooden carving of a bird he made in woodshop after deciding to engrave Blaine's name on it instead of his own and signs it from Santa as well. Deciding to go a step further, Kurt sneaks into his father's bedroom and finds one of his old boots.
Downstairs, he tiptoes to the kitchen so his dad won't be suspicious and, pulling open the freezer, he scrapes at the ice lining the freezer walls, filling a small plastic tray. Before he takes it upstairs, Kurt grabs a carrot from the bottom drawer of the fridge and takes a bite out of it, pocketing the rest of it. Blaine should be arriving soon, so he has to be quick.
Kurt doesn't know when this turned into such a big project for him. It suddenly felt like the only thing that mattered was making Blaine believe. When she was alive, Kurt's mom would always make sure Santa stayed real and now, doing the same for Blaine, Kurt felt that by keeping Santa alive, he was also keeping his mother’s memory alive. He may have had to grow up prematurely, as everyone says, but that doesn't mean Blaine has to put away his childhood early.
It's Christmas eve so it's his last chance at making Blaine's Christmas dreams come true.
Pressing the boot into the tray, Kurt begins making icy footprints on the floor of their upstairs hallway. It hasn't snowed all winter much to Blaine's disappointment.
The doorbell rings downstairs and Kurt hurries to answer it before his dad does.
"Blaine!" he says as Blaine is saying goodbye to his mother. Kurt pulls Blaine into the house as his dad chats with Blaine's mom. "You missed him!" Blaine, who is clutching at the stuffed dog Kurt had given him gives him an odd look.
"Missed who?" Blaine asks in confusion as he is led upstairs.
"Santa!"
"What!?" Blaine cries, "He was here?"
Kurt nods, "Uh huh! I told you the cookies work! He left some presents for you too, since you helped make them!" Blaine follows Kurt across the hall, freezing when he sees the footprints on the floor.
"He...He really was here!" Blaine exclaims.
"It must be really snowy in the North Pole," Kurt mentions, "He was covered!"
Blaine follows the footprints into Kurt's bedroom, eyes widening when he sees two presents on Kurt's bed. Kurt had decided to throw in the present he had bought Blaine himself with his saved up pocket money and say it was from Santa, too.
"I can't believe I missed him," Blaine mumbles sadly, "Did you talk to him?"
Kurt nods before pulling out the half eaten carrot from his pocket. "He let me feed his reindeer!"
"Are you serious?" Blaine asked, gawking at the vegetable. "I miss all the good stuff!"
Blaine can't stay disappointed after opening his presents though.
"Do you think this was carved by his elves?" Blaine asks, holding the wooden bird in his hand. The carving is shaky and uneven but Blaine doesn't seem to notice the flaws.
"Probably," Kurt agrees as Blaine tears off the wrapping of his second present.
It's a blue and grey striped bow tie. Kurt had seen the way Blaine marvelled over the ones he sometimes wore and thought this one would suit his best friend. He watches Blaine as he unwraps it, itching to know if he likes it or not. Blaine moves to stand in front of Kurt's mirror.
"It was sewn by hand by Santa’s elves," Kurt supplies as Blaine holds it up to his neck, smiling goofily as he looks at his reflection. Turning back towards Kurt, Blaine flings his arms around him, hugging him as tightly as possible.
~~~
That night, Blaine stays awake all night waiting for Santa to come. He needs to be sure and he'll do whatever it takes to know for certain. After his fourth glass of milk and the fifth telling from his mother to go to bed, Blaine reluctantly goes to his room but he doesn't sleep. He drags a chair to his window and sits beside it, curled up in a blanket and looks sleepily out at the sky. The night is clear, there are no clouds and the sky is littered with thousands upon thousands of glittering stars. But no Santa. There are no footsteps on the roof or bumbling noises from downstairs.
Eventually he falls asleep, head pressed against the cool glass of his window and wrapped snugly in his blanket.
The next morning, there are presents but he knows they're from his parents. They're not pretending any more. Santa is for kids.
Santa isn't real.
And for some reason, Blaine can't seem to stop smiling because if Santa isn't real then Kurt was the one who got him the bow tie. It’s tucked into his pocket and Blaine promises to wear it every single day. It was Kurt who did everything, not Santa.
