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Note: Finally having a chance to get caught up with the Advent. More to come! 🧸

Part 7 of “Christmas Cookies”

As with any competition day, Kurt woke up early that morning and did his traditional pre-competition routine that involved a long work out to his favorite Richard Simmons video, an exfoliating shower with a brown sugar scrub, and a high protein shake with açaí berries and dark chocolate. 

He arrived to the CIA in Hyde Park shortly after 1 pm and changed to his chef whites in anticipation of the afternoon’s events. He looked around the locker room trying to find Blaine; but to his surprise, he was nowhere to be found. While Kurt wouldn’t confess this to others, he always admired Blaine’s punctuality. In fact, he couldn’t remember a time where the two of them were in the same class, competition or even a friend’s party, and Blaine had not arrived before Kurt. 

“You’re thinking about ditching this silly competition, aren’t you?” A soft voice took Kurt out of his reverie. 

“Oh, hmmm, Adam! Oh my goodness!” Kurt instantly recognized his ex-boyfriend's voice and gave him a warm hug. “When did you get here? I didn’t know you were participating in the competition or even in New York. I thought you were still in London?”

“I moved back about 3 months ago. I signed up for the competition... a while back, but didn’t make the final cut. Ms. Zizes, the coordinator, called me... if I wanted to be listed as an alternative in case they needed substitute participants in the last minute. I simply couldn't resist... knowing that your heart was set on participating in this event, and that we'd get a chance to catch.”

“Wow, I had no idea they did that. So do you know who you are replacing?”

“No, I have no clue. All I know is that it’s this chump who broke his hand toothbrushing or something silly like that. Not sure of the name. I tried to get it out of Ms. Zizes, but I'm still not a mind reader.” He laughed.

Instantly, Kurt thought of Blaine, and realized that he wouldn’t have the satisfaction of beating him this year if he was the one that got injured. A pang of guilt and disappointment hit him as he caught himself thinking about his opponent.

“All right, ladies and gentlemen,” said Ms. Zizes. “It’s almost 2 pm. You have until 2:45 pm to set up your stations. Here are a few ground rules: Cell phones, iPads and any other devices are not allowed on your tables. No recipe cards or any notes either. Every station has two blank sheets of paper and a pencil in case you need to draw anything or take notes once the judges come out and give you the competition's theme. Remember, the contest is being posted live online. People will be able to watch you work from around the world. Don't let that stress you. I’d like to wish you all good luck.” The coordinator promptly exited the locker room as soon as she finished her speech.

“Ms. Zizes! I have a question for you!” Kurt ran after the coordinator and found her in the hallway. “Is Blaine Anderson not participating today? And is it true that he broke his hand?”

“My, oh my, tsk, tsk... I see the rumor mill is up and running quite well,” teased Ms. Zizes. “He was injured, but I’m not at liberty of discussing his health or well-being. We brought in a substitute, so we could still have 10 participants.” 

She leaned closer to Kurt and with a softer tone, almost whispering and looking around to see if anyone else was in the hallway, she continued, “now, what is odd is that we had several substitutes, but one of the judges….here let me see…” Ms. Zizes looked down her clipboard to find the name, “ahhh, yes, chef Silvester asked for a specific substitute — one of her former students. I think you were talking with him. If I didn’t know any better, this sounds like a set up. Chef Smythe was the first alternate on the list.”

Kurt’s eyes bulged when he realized that he almost competed against Sebastian; and without her knowledge, he was excited to be battling against Adam instead. Just like Adam, Sebastian had been in his graduating class at the CIA and one thing was certain: he disliked that chef with all his being — even more so than Blaine.

——

Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, Blaine was back from the hospital and in his apartment. He didn’t need an eye patch after all even though he had a corneal scratch, and his right wrist was sprained. Resigned and icing his wrist, he sat in front of his computer with a bowl of popcorn waiting for the cookie competition to start. 3 pm could not come soon enough for him.

@gleepotluckbigbang

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Read the story from the beginning:

Part 6 of “Christmas Cookies”

The Christmas cookie competition had finally arrived. It was set to start at 3 pm. Blaine had woken up that morning feeling excited and ready to battle against Kurt. He was elated that the competition would take place at their culinary school. As in previous years, over a 100 people applied to enter the competition. However, the judges had invited back only 10 promising chefs and amateur bakers. 

Blaine took a shower, got dressed, styled his hair and grabbed his contact lenses. As he was putting the right lens on in the bathroom, his phone rang in the bedroom, and he twisted his head slightly in the direction of the phone causing himself to scratch his cornea with the lens. 

“Shit! Ouch! Damn it!” He flickered the lens off his fingertips and turned on the water in the faucet to splash his face, hoping to reduce the pain. As he was reaching for a hand towel, he slipped on the wet floor (from all the splashing) breaking his fall with his right hand. 

“Great, shit. Fuck!” He was furious and in pain. He got up from the floor realizing his phone was still ringing. He grabbed a towel, dried his hands, padded his face and went to his nightstand to answer his phone.

“What!” He answered curtly, rummaging through his nightstand’s top drawer looking for ibuprofen or any pain killer. 

“Gees, Blaine. Good morning to you, too. What the hell happened? Why are you in such a sour mood?” Sam inquired.

“Shit! My right hand is swelling. This freaking hurts. I injured the same hand a couple weeks ago while boxing. I didn’t wrap my fist correctly before I hit the bag, and it’s been irritated since then. But now, shit, I’m pretty sure I sprained my wrist."

“Yikes! Wow, Blaine. That doesn’t sound good.”

"Thanks, Sam. Also, I’m pretty sure I scratched my left eye. At this point, I think I have a fever, too, though I’m not sure if it’s related to the hand injury or not, but crap! How am I going to compete against Kurt like this? He won’t even have to try that hard to beat me. He could just make stupid meringue cookies and win. I feel so sick just thinking about it.”

“Crap. Sorry to hear that, brother. Do you need any help? Do you need to go to the emergency room or at least to a doctor? I’ll be there in 15. Don't move!”

“Ok, thanks, Sam.” 

“Hey, didn’t you say meringue cookies were kinda hard to make?”

“Shut up,” Blaine giggled. “I’m in pain. I can be irrational if I want to. I’ll see you when you get here, Sam. Bye.”

Blaine hanged up the call, walked up to his refrigerator, took an ice tray out of the freezer and dumped ice cubes onto a kitchen towel. He put his make-shift ice bag on his head and sat on the couch waiting for his best friend to arrive.

The competition was off to a disastrous start.

@gleepotluckbigbang​

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Read the story from the beginning:

Part 5 of “Christmas Cookies”

“Rachel, that’s what I’m telling you. The guy just lies. I still can’t believe he sat there denying—” Kurt stopped talking abruptly.

“Rachel, I’ll have to call you back later. I just spotted Blaine across the street. He’s getting a piggyback ride by the same guy who was with him at the bar the other day. Who does that? Is he even an adult? Like I said, he’s so immature. I’m hanging up and hiding. My shopping emergency for extra strawberries for the lemon strawberry torte I was making for Tina’s birthday will have to wait. I’ll just shop for another gift instead.”

He pocketed the phone and turned around hoping not to be seen by his competitor. Unfortunately, he wasn’t quick enough. He felt a light tap on his right shoulder forcing him to turn around and face his rival.

“Hi Kurt. How are you doing?” Blaine extended his hand hoping to shake Kurt’s. However, Kurt didn’t reciprocate the gesture and stood stock-still and quiet.

“Anyways,” Blaine pulled his hand back and continued talking hoping to break the silence, “this is Sam. He’s my partner. You may have heard me talk about him a few times.”

Kurt narrowed his eyes and made eye contact with Blaine first and then with Sam, who proffered his hand to Kurt.

“Hi Kurt. It’s so nice to finally meet you. I've seen you in action during the Christmas cookie competitions, and just so you know, I’m rooting for you. This guy,” Sam signaled to Blaine tilting his head, “cannot win another competition. He'll become insufferable, and as is, he's got a pretty big head for such a tiny body." He teased.

Blaine laughed dismissing Sam’s joke while Kurt remained silent and in shock. He knew it! Blaine had lied. Not only was he dating someone, but it was serious enough to introduce him as his partner. 

Kurt snapped out of his reverie and looked at Blaine. He was not going to let him get away with more lies or waste his time.

“Look Blaine. I don’t know what kind of game you are playing, but I have no interest in talking with you or meeting your partner.” And with that, he turned around feeling satisfied. 

“Kurt! Wait!” He could hear Blaine calling for him, but he continued with his stride, looking up and straight ahead. Yes, today was going to be glorious, and he was not going to let Blaine, or his partner, ruin it — not by one bit.

@gleepotluckbigbang​

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Read the story from the beginning: