Gift for holdmetootight!
Recipient's LJ Name: holdmetootight
Title: Happy Working Song (or Four Times Kurt, Finn and Blaine Worked In Retail and the One Time It Was Totally Worth It)
Pairing: Kurt/Blaine, Finn friendship, brief mentions of Finchel
Length: 1500+>
Warnings: none.
Summary: Holidays are not the time to begin your career in retail. Also, big thanks to judearaya and joyasaurus_rex for betaing!
1. Orientation
“Welcome to training, day one!” A tiny blonde girl with a bright smile and even brighter holiday sweater circulated around the tables in the break room at Griffin’s, a medium-priced but incredibly large department store in the Lima Shopping Center.
“See, bro, it can’t be that bad to do retail over the holidays - look at how many co-workers we have!” Finn whispered to Kurt, who was sitting next to Finn with Blaine on the other side.
“So many other suckers,” Kurt muttered darkly, grabbing a large packet from the bubbly blonde lady and slapping it on the table.
“C’mon, Kurt, this is going to be fun! Making new friends, listening to Christmas carols-“ Kurt cut Blaine off with a look. “Okay, at least we get forty percent off for the holiday season.”
“And we’ll be able to go South Padre over Spring Break! And maybe even save some for school in the fall,” Finn interjected.
“Actually, I don’t think we get paid for training, Finn,” Blaine said, wincing as he watched Finn’s face fall.
“All I know is that if there is a trust fall involved, I’m out of here.” Kurt huffed, picking up his packet and flipping to the first page as the blonde began to talk.
2. Black Friday
“Good morning, everyone!” The same lady that trained the boys - Tiffany, they later found out - greeted the mass of anxious looking sales people crammed into the too-small break room Kurt, Blaine and Finn had spent altogether too much time in lately.
Finn was rubbing his face and eyeing the large pile of food leftover from Thanksgiving the day before and Blaine was listening to Tiffany intently. Kurt was sleepily sipping some awful instant coffee Carole had set out for the boys when the rest of the family went to bed, knowing they’d be long gone before Burt or Carole even opened their eyes.
This year, their store and the entire franchise decided to entice the already crazed Black Friday shoppers by being the first store to open in their strip mall - their doors would open at midnight and wouldn’t close again until midnight the next day.
“How did you manage to talk me into the morning shift instead of the afternoon shift, again?” Kurt mumbled as Tiffany called the meeting to the close and Blaine and Kurt made their way to the front of the store, where they’d be opening the doors and getting customers for the next 12 hours.
“I am incredibly charming, didn’t you know?” Blaine replied, smirking.
“I’m pretty sure your hands were down my pants, which makes you a cheater.”
“You didn’t seem to be complaining,” Blaine laughed, tugging Kurt close to him in the deserted aisle. Kurt smiled and leaned in closer, but then his headset started crackling in his ear.
“Two minutes until we open the doors,” Tiffany’s tinny voice said in a clipped tone.
“God save us,” Kurt muttered, eying the line outside. “Also, I hope that lady at the front of the line is here for a new coat, because that’s just -“
“Be nice!” Blaine admonished him. “That’s the only way we’re going to get through today.”
“I think I hate everyone,” Kurt said as the crowd got louder as the duo approached the glass doors.
“Well, I love you!” Blaine said, pressing a quick kiss to Kurt’s cheek before turning the lock and throwing the doors open.
3. Stockroom
Finn was mad. Not just like annoyed or a little miffed. (Rachel was using that word a lot lately, mostly pertaining to gift ideas and who was spending what holidays where. Finn looked it up and was glad he didn’t ask her what it meant instead.)
He woke up at 5:45 today so he could go to the pre-season basketball workout Coach Beiste was requiring three days a week and there was a pop quiz in Spanish (no matter how hard Mr. Schue tried, Finn still didn’t understand conjugating whatever. English was way easier.) Then, of course, Rachel was upset with him during Glee, and to make his day even worse, he had to rush through dinner, barely tasting his mom’s chicken stuffing casserole, his favorite, and now all he wanted to do was find Kurt, drive home and fall into bed and never wake up. At least not until his next shift this weekend.
But Kurt? Kurt was not in menswear, which is where Tiffany said to look. He was not on a register doing backup, he was not in the break room, and he was not in the men’s room. Finn was super-pissed and wondering if maybe Kurt had gotten a ride home with Blaine, and in that case, well, rude! Kurt could have at least let a dude know before he left!
Finn slammed out of the men’s room angrily, dialing his phone and hoping Kurt didn’t have his on silent, when he heard Kurt’s voice coming from the stockroom. Huh. Kurt didn’t really do stock, Finn did sometimes during the day, but they had stockers come in at night to do the big, heavy stuff, like furniture or whatever, Finn wasn’t listening really hard during orientation because there was a smokin’ hot girl at the table next to him, and well, he couldn’t help but look.
So Finn was super glad he found Kurt, and he couldn’t wait to just get the hell home and maybe his mom would make some cookies or something if he looked really tired. He pushed open the door to the stock room-
“Finn!” Kurt cried, wrenching himself away from Blaine, who was red faced, panting, and possibly didn’t have his pants totally on. “Shut the door!”
“Oh, my God,” Finn said, immediately slamming the door shut. “Dudes! Gross! C’mon!”
“Sorry, Finn!” Blaine called out over Kurt’s muttering. “We just, uh, haven’t spent a lot of time alone lately-“ He explained, stepping out of the stockroom and straightening his hair. “We didn’t even really mean to-“
“This never happened, okay?” Kurt said, entering the hallway. “Never. Happened. Do you hear me, Finn?”
“Dudes, I just want to go to bed.”
4. Santa’s Workshop
“No. Freaking. Way.” Kurt said as he grabbed the green tights hanging on his locker in the break room.
“Listen, Kurt, I know you opted out of elf duty and took the stockroom instead, but two of my elves called in sick and Santa is stuck in traffic behind an accident!” Tiffany said, handing him a bright red elf outfit. “And Santa’s workshop is supposed to open in ten minutes!” She said, listening to something muffled on her headset and then quickly stepping out of the break room.
“C’mon, Kurt, you don’t want to make all those kids, like, cry or whatever, do you?” Finn asked, already sliding into his Santa outfit.
“Says the guy NOT wearing green tights and a red dress!”
“It’s not a dress, Kurt, it’s an elf tunic!” Blaine said, stepping out of the bathroom in his outfit. “And it’s surprisingly comfortable.”
“But not unsurprisingly, it is still hideous,” Kurt replied, sighing heavily. Blaine was too busy stuffing a tacky felt bag with mini candy canes to see Kurt’s internal struggle. Then Blaine straightened up and grinned at him. Kurt heard Finn start to practice his Santa laugh outside the break room and grimaced. He sighed and grabbed the outfit Blaine was holding out to him.
--
“This. Is. Amazing.” Blaine said, falling face first onto the king size bed in the hotel room.
“This possibly makes all that crazy overtime and annoying customers worth it.”
“What, exactly, did you tell your dad about room assignments?”
“Finn is always at the buffet if his mom calls me and I’m always at the spa if my dad calls him,” Kurt replied. “That’s pretty believable, I think.”
“What’s unbelievable is this room!” Blaine said, gesturing to the amazing view they had of the beach in front of them. “How did this happen, again?”
“Overtime, bribery, and excellent website-scouring and price matching skills, of course,” Kurt said, laying down next to Blaine and settling his head on Blaine’s shoulder. “I was not going to let this week go to waste.”
“That backpack you didn’t want Finn to carry wasn’t full of hair product and face cream, was it?” Blaine asked, grinning at Kurt.
“It most certainly was not,” Kurt replied, leaning to kiss Blaine.
Title: Happy Working Song (or Four Times Kurt, Finn and Blaine Worked In Retail and the One Time It Was Totally Worth It)
Pairing: Kurt/Blaine, Finn friendship, brief mentions of Finchel
Length: 1500+>
Warnings: none.
Summary: Holidays are not the time to begin your career in retail. Also, big thanks to judearaya and joyasaurus_rex for betaing!
1. Orientation
“Welcome to training, day one!” A tiny blonde girl with a bright smile and even brighter holiday sweater circulated around the tables in the break room at Griffin’s, a medium-priced but incredibly large department store in the Lima Shopping Center.
“See, bro, it can’t be that bad to do retail over the holidays - look at how many co-workers we have!” Finn whispered to Kurt, who was sitting next to Finn with Blaine on the other side.
“So many other suckers,” Kurt muttered darkly, grabbing a large packet from the bubbly blonde lady and slapping it on the table.
“C’mon, Kurt, this is going to be fun! Making new friends, listening to Christmas carols-“ Kurt cut Blaine off with a look. “Okay, at least we get forty percent off for the holiday season.”
“And we’ll be able to go South Padre over Spring Break! And maybe even save some for school in the fall,” Finn interjected.
“Actually, I don’t think we get paid for training, Finn,” Blaine said, wincing as he watched Finn’s face fall.
“All I know is that if there is a trust fall involved, I’m out of here.” Kurt huffed, picking up his packet and flipping to the first page as the blonde began to talk.
2. Black Friday
“Good morning, everyone!” The same lady that trained the boys - Tiffany, they later found out - greeted the mass of anxious looking sales people crammed into the too-small break room Kurt, Blaine and Finn had spent altogether too much time in lately.
Finn was rubbing his face and eyeing the large pile of food leftover from Thanksgiving the day before and Blaine was listening to Tiffany intently. Kurt was sleepily sipping some awful instant coffee Carole had set out for the boys when the rest of the family went to bed, knowing they’d be long gone before Burt or Carole even opened their eyes.
This year, their store and the entire franchise decided to entice the already crazed Black Friday shoppers by being the first store to open in their strip mall - their doors would open at midnight and wouldn’t close again until midnight the next day.
“How did you manage to talk me into the morning shift instead of the afternoon shift, again?” Kurt mumbled as Tiffany called the meeting to the close and Blaine and Kurt made their way to the front of the store, where they’d be opening the doors and getting customers for the next 12 hours.
“I am incredibly charming, didn’t you know?” Blaine replied, smirking.
“I’m pretty sure your hands were down my pants, which makes you a cheater.”
“You didn’t seem to be complaining,” Blaine laughed, tugging Kurt close to him in the deserted aisle. Kurt smiled and leaned in closer, but then his headset started crackling in his ear.
“Two minutes until we open the doors,” Tiffany’s tinny voice said in a clipped tone.
“God save us,” Kurt muttered, eying the line outside. “Also, I hope that lady at the front of the line is here for a new coat, because that’s just -“
“Be nice!” Blaine admonished him. “That’s the only way we’re going to get through today.”
“I think I hate everyone,” Kurt said as the crowd got louder as the duo approached the glass doors.
“Well, I love you!” Blaine said, pressing a quick kiss to Kurt’s cheek before turning the lock and throwing the doors open.
3. Stockroom
Finn was mad. Not just like annoyed or a little miffed. (Rachel was using that word a lot lately, mostly pertaining to gift ideas and who was spending what holidays where. Finn looked it up and was glad he didn’t ask her what it meant instead.)
He woke up at 5:45 today so he could go to the pre-season basketball workout Coach Beiste was requiring three days a week and there was a pop quiz in Spanish (no matter how hard Mr. Schue tried, Finn still didn’t understand conjugating whatever. English was way easier.) Then, of course, Rachel was upset with him during Glee, and to make his day even worse, he had to rush through dinner, barely tasting his mom’s chicken stuffing casserole, his favorite, and now all he wanted to do was find Kurt, drive home and fall into bed and never wake up. At least not until his next shift this weekend.
But Kurt? Kurt was not in menswear, which is where Tiffany said to look. He was not on a register doing backup, he was not in the break room, and he was not in the men’s room. Finn was super-pissed and wondering if maybe Kurt had gotten a ride home with Blaine, and in that case, well, rude! Kurt could have at least let a dude know before he left!
Finn slammed out of the men’s room angrily, dialing his phone and hoping Kurt didn’t have his on silent, when he heard Kurt’s voice coming from the stockroom. Huh. Kurt didn’t really do stock, Finn did sometimes during the day, but they had stockers come in at night to do the big, heavy stuff, like furniture or whatever, Finn wasn’t listening really hard during orientation because there was a smokin’ hot girl at the table next to him, and well, he couldn’t help but look.
So Finn was super glad he found Kurt, and he couldn’t wait to just get the hell home and maybe his mom would make some cookies or something if he looked really tired. He pushed open the door to the stock room-
“Finn!” Kurt cried, wrenching himself away from Blaine, who was red faced, panting, and possibly didn’t have his pants totally on. “Shut the door!”
“Oh, my God,” Finn said, immediately slamming the door shut. “Dudes! Gross! C’mon!”
“Sorry, Finn!” Blaine called out over Kurt’s muttering. “We just, uh, haven’t spent a lot of time alone lately-“ He explained, stepping out of the stockroom and straightening his hair. “We didn’t even really mean to-“
“This never happened, okay?” Kurt said, entering the hallway. “Never. Happened. Do you hear me, Finn?”
“Dudes, I just want to go to bed.”
4. Santa’s Workshop
“No. Freaking. Way.” Kurt said as he grabbed the green tights hanging on his locker in the break room.
“Listen, Kurt, I know you opted out of elf duty and took the stockroom instead, but two of my elves called in sick and Santa is stuck in traffic behind an accident!” Tiffany said, handing him a bright red elf outfit. “And Santa’s workshop is supposed to open in ten minutes!” She said, listening to something muffled on her headset and then quickly stepping out of the break room.
“C’mon, Kurt, you don’t want to make all those kids, like, cry or whatever, do you?” Finn asked, already sliding into his Santa outfit.
“Says the guy NOT wearing green tights and a red dress!”
“It’s not a dress, Kurt, it’s an elf tunic!” Blaine said, stepping out of the bathroom in his outfit. “And it’s surprisingly comfortable.”
“But not unsurprisingly, it is still hideous,” Kurt replied, sighing heavily. Blaine was too busy stuffing a tacky felt bag with mini candy canes to see Kurt’s internal struggle. Then Blaine straightened up and grinned at him. Kurt heard Finn start to practice his Santa laugh outside the break room and grimaced. He sighed and grabbed the outfit Blaine was holding out to him.
--
“This. Is. Amazing.” Blaine said, falling face first onto the king size bed in the hotel room.
“This possibly makes all that crazy overtime and annoying customers worth it.”
“What, exactly, did you tell your dad about room assignments?”
“Finn is always at the buffet if his mom calls me and I’m always at the spa if my dad calls him,” Kurt replied. “That’s pretty believable, I think.”
“What’s unbelievable is this room!” Blaine said, gesturing to the amazing view they had of the beach in front of them. “How did this happen, again?”
“Overtime, bribery, and excellent website-scouring and price matching skills, of course,” Kurt said, laying down next to Blaine and settling his head on Blaine’s shoulder. “I was not going to let this week go to waste.”
“That backpack you didn’t want Finn to carry wasn’t full of hair product and face cream, was it?” Blaine asked, grinning at Kurt.
“It most certainly was not,” Kurt replied, leaning to kiss Blaine.