Work Text:
It wasn’t that Sebastian hated the holidays, per say. But unlike his festively inspired boyfriend, he had never been one for the dramatics of it all. Was it really necessary to have Christmas songs blaring from every shop, café and car from the first of the month? Did he really have to endure close to two months of Christmas coffees? And don’t even get him started on the strings of lights in the apartment, the cord of which he tended to trip up over on a near daily basis.
But while the rest of the world got increasingly more brightly coloured and disgustingly sweet smelling around him, their apartment remained a haven of the norm that year. Between classes, a dissertation to write and picking up shifts at the Starbucks down the road from their apartment, Blaine’s motivation to decorate only got as far as him passing out on the couch clutching a string of tinsel, and smelling like a gingerbread man himself.
Blaine finally had a day completely clear and free coming up that weekend, and even though Sebastian personally thought it should be left for him to get some sleep, his boyfriend had other plans - namely, of the Christmas tree buying variety.
But, Sebastian figured it wouldn’t hurt to get a little head start on the decorations the day before; nothing major, just some lights, maybe a little mistletoe..
Santana snorted as he suggested that to her, the two of them hovering outside of the downtown Christmas market that was bursting with shoppers and stalls alike.
“Just whose interest is this in then?” she cackled, shaking her head as they moved into the fray, matching expressions of disdain mapped across their faces.
They battled their way through the shoppers towards a stall teeming with wooden buckets of the plant Sebastian was looking for, all labelled with a little chalkboard notices that seemed to spell out something in..Latin, maybe?
“I thought mistletoe was just mistletoe,” Sebastian murmured blankly, as he stared around at the different buckets helplessly.
Santana shrugged, tucking her chin into the collar of her jacket with a shiver. “All looks the same to me.”
“There are 1,500 types of mistletoe, young man,” the stall holder told him firmly, and there was something in her expression that told Sebastian that if he didn’t choose one of those types quickly, he was going to receive a lecture on all of them.
“This one,” he blurted out, grabbing a hefty handful from the bucket nearest to him, unconcerned at this point about species or price. “I’ll take this one.”
Sebastian was feeling pretty pleased with himself by the time had made it back home, and starting fastening the plant up above the doorways of the apartment. He could just picture it: Blaine would step through the door, exhausted and weary, see the mistletoe and come falling into his arms and-
He looked up at the sound of a key in the lock, a wide grin tugging at his lips as his boyfriend stomped his way in, tugging his beanie off his head to let his curls spring free, cheeks rosy from the cold outside.
Blaine looked around the apartment slowly, his eyebrows furrowing as he closed the door behind him. “Isn’t that..?” he murmured, rocking up onto his tiptoes to touch his thumb to the edge of one of the leaves.
“Yes,” Sebastian beamed, puffing out his chest proudly as he walked over to greet him with the customary kiss. “It’s mistletoe.”
“Sebastian,” Blaine sighed, and- okay, wait, why did he look mad? “Over a thousand species of mistletoe and you chose one of the endangered ones? I can’t have this in my house!”
Sebastian groaned inwardly, cursing himself not for the first time for becoming so smitten with an environmentalist. First it had been his car, then his shower gel, and now the mistletoe. Typical.
Blaine huffed, pushing past him to get a chair from the kitchen before clambering up to tug at the fastenings.
“No, Blaine, come on,” Sebastian whined, almost petulantly, reluctant to let his hard work and thoughtful gesture get pulled down so mercilessly. “It’s already cut! It makes no difference!”
The shorter man paused, looking between the plant and his boyfriend before his shoulders slumped a little. “I guess that’s true,” he whispered sadly, letting his hands drop to his sides once more.
Sebastian nibbled on his lower lip for a moment before looking over at the recycling box they had stacked up in their kitchen. “We could take the recycling to the drop off bins,” he suggested, moving over to rub Blaine’s thigh reassuringly. “That always makes you feel better.”
Blaine smiled softly, and nodded, before reaching down to thread his fingers through Sebastian’s hair. “Can we walk? Instead of taking the car?”
Sebastian glanced outside the window at the icy cold rain that had started up again, shuddering at the thought of the thirty block walk.
“If we take the car, I’ll let you put on the Michael Bublé Christmas album for the drive,” Sebastian bargained, and the sparkle in Blaine’s eyes told him he’d won.
Blaine leaned down, brushing his lips over Sebastian’s dryly and smirking as the taller man whimpered at his teasing. “Next time, take my Bio book with you to the market.”
Like hell would Sebastian carry that three ton book through the city at this time of year, or any other. But he smiled sweetly all the same, looping his hand around Blaine’s neck to draw their lips together. “Yes, dear.”