"I got it!" he called out to his dad as he passed the living room and went straight to the front door, all but yanking it open. The huge smile on his face faltered, however, as soon as he let his eyes trail along the body of the person in front of him.

"Hi?" Blaine said tentatively, the abrupt change in Kurt's demeanor not escaping his attention.

"That is not what we agreed on," Kurt said, sounding exasperated. "I told you: navy McQueen jeans, dark red polo shirt, ash grey striped Marc Jacobs cardigan, russet Vuitton dress shoes. Which part of that did you not understand?"

Blaine looked down apprehensively, scanning over the brown shoes, blue jeans, red polo and, finally, the grey cardigan he was currently wearing, before he looked back up at Kurt.

"I don't know?"

"You don't know which part you didn't understand or you don't know what we agreed on?"

Blaine shot him a blank look, unsure whether there was even a 'right' answer to that question, and Kurt sighed, pulling Blaine in anyway.

"Those are not your Vuitton shoes, Blaine, they're Prada, and that polo is carmine, not dark red. I mean really, I thought you read Vogue?"

Blaine shrugged his shoulders apologetically.

"I just distinguish between 'pretty clothes' and 'not pretty clothes'. I never really pay attention to the labels... or the colors... ."

"Well, it's high time you start doing so," Kurt told him, dusting off some imaginary specks from Blaine's shoulders. He eyed Blaine critically. "I suppose my dad won't notice anyway, so it'll do."

"Yo-your dad?" Blaine stuttered, suddenly ill at ease as Kurt grabbed his hand and tugged him towards where Blaine vaguely remembered was the living room. "I thought... I-I mean... you said to pick you up and... we should go?"

But he was pretty sure Kurt hadn't even heard the last few words, because not even five seconds later he found himself in the middle of the Hummel living room, standing less than four feet away from the man who, he was told, was particularly deft with a wrench. Blaine wasn't sure whether he was angry at Kurt for tricking him into this meet-the-parent trap or grateful he at least looked good for the occasion - the stars knew he was stressing out enough as it was without having to face Burt Hummel in his new capacity as the guy who kissed his son.

"Dad?" Kurt said, waiting for the man in front of them to look up from the newspaper he was reading.

"Kurt? Oh, hey Blaine!" Burt lowered his newspaper, nodding in Blaine's direction in acknowledgement before he looked back at his son. "What's up?"

"Dad, I would like to introduce you to someone."

Kurt glanced at Blaine and back to his dad, and the smile on his face was one of pure joy and pride, as if he still couldn't believe that he was really this lucky, that this was really happening. The trembling force with which he grabbed Blaine's hand, however, betrayed him - underneath it all Kurt was at least as nervous, if not more so, as Blaine was.

Burt, meanwhile, looked at the two boys in confusion.

"Kurt, I know wh-"

"Dad," Kurt cut him off, bouncing slightly, "I would like you to meet Blaine. My boyfriend."

For Blaine, the silence that followed seemed to last an eternity and he cringed in anticipation as Burt looked him up and down and back at Kurt, opening his mouth several times to speak, until finally-

"Well... Blaine... welcome to the family, I'd say."

Blaine let out an almost audible sigh of relief and Kurt was positively beaming now, risking a chaste peck on Blaine's cheek. It was clearly meant to be a reassuring gesture, but seeing as it happened right in front of Burt it only caused Blaine's just relaxed heartbeat to speed up again.

"See you, dad, we've got to go now!"

Kurt made for the door, and Blaine managed a shy wave at Burt before he followed his boyfriend's example. There was no reason to stay and risk Kurt's still-not-fully-recovered-but-nonetheless-very-intimidating father having a change of heart, after all.

"Blaine?"

... he really shouldn't have taken the time to wave, should he?

Blaine mentally berated himself for thinking he might actually get away with it so easily and turned around, putting on what he hoped was his most charming smile.

"Yes, sir?"

"Look, I know you're a good kid and all, and if Kurt believes he can trust you I'm not going to argue with him but... if you even think of hurting my son..."

Burt didn't finish his sentence, but the look in his eyes was so reminiscent of that of Jack Byrnes in Meet the Parents, that it was quite obvious what he meant, and despite the fact that he was standing and Burt was still sitting, Blaine felt much, much smaller than he should have.

"I won't, sir. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, kiddo. But I'll give you this one. And-"

"Blaine! You coming?"

"-call me Burt."

Burt smiled, and even though Blaine knew on some level it was meant to be reassuring, the effect was completely lost on him.

"Now go," Burt told him, reaching for his newspaper again, "Kurt doesn't like to be kept waiting. And I don't want you to get hurt, either."

It took Blaine all of five seconds to find his voice again.

"Yes, sir. Burt, sir. Thank you, sir."

He managed a small bow -although why exactly he did that he didn't know- before he smiled back uneasily and fled the room as elegantly as he possibly could.

He was almost convinced he could hear the man chuckle behind him.

Meeting up at Nicky's or Santana's place had been out of the question, or at least Santana had made it pretty clear there was no way she was letting them come to Lima Heights if she could help it, and so they had arranged to meet in a park not too far from Kurt's house. It was a good twenty minute walk, but Kurt had refused to take out the car for it. 'I'm not gonna waste gas on a trip I can walk,' he had told Blaine, 'and besides, walking will help you relax a little, it will be stressful enough as it is.'

As usual, of course, he was right. As they walked, too close to each other to be coincidental, but not that close that it would arouse suspicion from curious neighbors, Blaine felt himself slowly calm down from his official introduction into the Hummel household. It had gone fairly well, all things considered, and of course he did have the advantage he wasn't just some stranger to Kurt's dad either. Still, Blaine realized that even though he would go to the end of the world for Kurt, Burt would always go one step further. He would have to make sure never to give Burt a reason to think he had to.

Blaine let his mind wander, and it automatically turned to Nicky. He wondered how the boy would react to seeing Blaine, how Blaine himself would react to seeing Nicky... and he had absolutely no idea. He felt the uncertainty slowly rise in his chest once more and quickly filed away all thoughts of his little brother, trying to focus on other things instead.

Kurt, however, misinterpreted his silence.

"Was I too presumptuous?" he asked.

"What?"

It took Blaine a moment before he realized what Kurt was talking about.

"Was I presumptuous?" Kurt repeated. "Introducing you to my dad as my... boyfriend."

He sounded anxious, and when Blaine saw how he kept his eyes on the pavement in front of him, he immediately stopped.

"No, Kurt, of course not!"

He turned Kurt by the arm to face Blaine and bent through his knees a little as he tried to catch Kurt's gaze, smiling reassuringly as they locked eyes.

"You d�d put me on the spot, so a little warning next time might be nice, but- ssht!"

He shooed at Kurt, grabbing his shoulders as he saw the panic rise in the other boy's eyes.

"Kurt, it was an honor to be introduced to your dad as your boyfriend."

A small hesitation, and Kurt lifted his head.

"It was?"

"It was," Blaine reassured him, "and if I hadn't seen a curtain move in that house two minutes ago I would kiss the hell out of you to prove it, but I'll give you a rain check for that, if that's ok?"

He cocked his head, smiling broadly, and Kurt smiled back tentatively, taking Blaine's outstretched hand, squeezing it softly to express his gratitude.

"So... what do you think he will say?" Kurt asked as they resumed walking.

'He' was Nicky, now, and Blaine sighed.

"I don't know. I have this romantic idea in my head where he'll just scream of happiness and run up at me and hug me, or something, but then I think I've seen too many movies and I get scared again. Maybe he'll just walk right by, won't even recognize me."

Santana had only reluctantly agreed not to actually tell Nicky he was going to see Blaine that day, but Blaine had insisted. He wanted Nicky to see him on his own terms, to have the chance to turn around and walk away.

"Maybe he'll recognize me and run off, decide that he doesn't want to see me. I d�d leave him, Kurt, when he needed me most. He was all alone in that hospital, and I didn't even send him a card..."

Kurt squeezed his hand softly.

"You didn't leave him, Blaine. You never chose to stay away from him. You said he's smart, he'll understand you never really left."

"He's ten, Kurt," Blaine shook his head. "He can be the smartest kid in the world but he's still only ten. And he doesn't know it was their fault, all he knows is the reality and the reality of it is that I wasn't there for him."

"Don't you remember what Santana said? Do you really think he'd be talking about you like you were some kind of super hero if he hated you?"

Blaine looked aside at Kurt as they entered the park, resisting the urge to wrap his arms around the other boy and kiss him, expressing his gratitude instead by letting his thumb brush softly over Kurt's hand. Kurt responded by walking a little closer to him until they arrived at the bench they had arranged to meet Santana at -right next to a little playground that was currently deserted- and sat down.

"2:26," Kurt said, looking at his watch. "They probably won't be too long."

He glanced over at Blaine, who was writhing his hands in his lap, and he instinctively knew that it was best to just leave him be now. It didn't take long, however, before they could hear the distinct voice of a boy approach.

"Tana, I don't want to go to the park today! I want to stay home and watch tv!"

"It was either the park or Sunday school," they heard a familiar voice reply just as the latina it belonged to appeared from behind a tree, "you have your pick."

Santana nodded quietly in recognition when she spotted Kurt and Blaine, but true to her word, she didn't alert Nicky, who continued to loudly express his dissatisfaction with the current situation.

"You could've found something else for us to do," he complained. "I hate the park. The park is for babies. I want to go to the mall. Or the arcade. Can we go to the arcade, Tana, please!"

He turned to Santana, his two hands held together in a prayer-like gesture, and as he did so, he finally caught sight of the two boys ahead of him, who had slowly risen to their feet in anticipation of the duo's arrival.

Afterwards, Blaine couldn't possibly say which one of them had started running first, or when exactly he had started crying - it might have been as soon as he saw Nicky appear from behind Santana, still unaware of Blaine's presence, or maybe it was when he saw that look of shock and recognition appear on Nicky's face as he caught sight of him. But most likely, he thought, it was when Nicky had cried out, on the top of his lungs:

"BUBAINE!"

It didn't matter, however, because before he knew it, he was holding Nicky, was holding on to Nicky, who had all but thrown himself around Blaine's neck.

"You found me," he heard Nicky whisper over the sound of his own sobs, "you came back. I knew you'd come back."

Suddenly, he started wriggling, forcing Blaine to put him on the ground and let him go, and for a moment Blaine was confused. Nicky, however, obviously knew exactly what he wanted as he took Blaine's hand and dragged him along towards Santana.

"Tana! It's Bubaine! He found me!" he told her smugly, all but pushing Blaine at her. "Everyone said he would never come back but I told you. You wouldn't believe me, but I told you, and see! He's here! Bubaine's here!"

He didn't give her the opportunity to say something, though, because he immediately turned back to Blaine, hugging him as if he never wanted to let him go again.

.

As the two brothers talked softly to each other -'Why are you crying, Bubaine? Aren't you happy to see me?'-, Kurt made his way over to Santana, who was looking at the intimate scene in front of them with a softness in her eyes that Kurt had rarely seen there before.

"Thank you," he told her, and she looked aside, her usual look of condescension immediately back in place.

"I didn't do it for you," she said. "Or for Blaine."

"I know," Kurt smiled. "But you still did it. And the fact that you did it for him is actually even more impressive. You really care about him, don't you?"

Santana snorted derisively.

"Sister's godson, remember? It kinda comes with the package."

Kurt decided to let it go. Trying to get Santana to admit she cared about something, let alone someone, was pretty much a lost cause, so this was probably the best he would get.

"So," Santana interrupted his thoughts, "not your boyfriend, ha?"

Immediately, Kurt felt his cheeks flush.

"H... how did you even..."

"Oh please," Santana rolled her eyes, "I'm surprised you were actually able to walk from that bench to here with the amount of wobbling that was going on. I have to say I'm impressed, though, I never thought you had it in you."

Kurt went from confusion over understanding to understanding when he finally caught on to what Santana was referencing, and he could tell he was probably beet red by now.

"That's not... I mean, it has nothing to do with... Blaine just g-"

He cut his own nervous ramblings off as he realized that the explanation 'Blaine gave me a riding lesson' would confirm rather than invalidate Santana's apparent suspicions, and decided to go for a little white lie instead.

"I'm sore from going to the gym, that's all."

He could tell she didn't believe him, but he couldn't bring himself to care as he let his gaze drift back to the scene in front of him. Blaine was crouched in front of Nicky, listening intently to a story the little boy was enthusiastically regaling, smiling through his tears until Nicky suddenly remembered something.

"Hey, do you wanna see my scar?"

Without waiting for Blaine's answer, the little boy pulled up his shirt, turning to show his side which revealed a long, bright pink mark running from his heart and over his ribs to halfway down the small of his back. The cruel ugliness of it would have put off anyone who saw it, and Kurt could see Blaine's smile freeze as he let his eyes trail over it.

"The boys at school used to make fun of me because I'm so little," Nicky babbled, oblivious to Blaine's sudden apprehension, "but I showed them the scar so now they know I'm really tough! Now can we go for ice cream? I want ice cream."

He yanked his shirt back down and cocked his head at Blaine, who sat frozen. Kurt could almost hear him think, trying to process how it was possible that the scar that, to Blaine, was a painful reminder of his own failure to protect Nicky, to Nicky himself was no more than a battle scar, the proof he was tough and strong and could survive anything. Finally, Blaine seemed to regain his composure, and he slowly nodded.

"Sure," he said, his smile not exactly forced, but still a tad too wide to be really genuine, "we can go for ice cream. Can Kurt come along?"

Nicky looked in the direction Blaine was pointing, only now becoming aware of the fact that there was someone else there with them as well. He let his eyes flicker between Blaine and Kurt before finally settling on Blaine.

"Is he your boyfriend?"

Never before or after Kurt ever wished so hard he'd had a camera on him, because the proud smile that appeared on Blaine's face was without doubt one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen.

"Yes," Blaine said, glancing at Kurt, "yes, he is."

Immediately, Nicky leant forward, whispering something in Blaine's ear which caused Blaine to giggle and nod.

"He absolutely is," he said, the look he sent Kurt once more leaving no doubt who he was talking about. "Now, ice cream?"

"Yes!"

Nicky bounced up and down and Blaine scooped him up, laughing as he threw him over his shoulder and spun him around.

He would be an amazing dad.

The thought suddenly flashed through Kurt's mind, catching him off-guard, and he mentally berated himself. They were together for less than twenty four hours, and he was thinking about Blaine's parental abilities? Talk about getting ahead of yourself!

Still... he was allowed to dream, wasn't he? He was allowed to fantasize, to make up crazy scenario's of perfect weddings, to build air castles and loose himself in silly daydreams, because that's what you did when you were sixteen and in love. You dreamt, and you hoped, and you imagined, and whether or not those dreams would become a reality one day was completely irrelevant simply because right there, and right then, they were real enough in your head.

Kurt was pulled away from his fantasies when Blaine was suddenly standing in front of him and Santana, putting Nicky down.

"Shall we go?"

Kurt nodded, almost surprised to find Blaine took his hand again as they turned around to leave the park, Santana and Nicky walking a little bit ahead of them.

"So, what was it that Nicky told you when he was whispering so secretively in your ear?" Kurt asked curiously.

"You really want to know?" Blaine teased, and Kurt was still drying to decide whether to huff indignantly or to just let go of Blaine's hand when he felt an arm

wrap around the small of his back, and Blaine pulled him closer.

"According to Nicky," Blaine whispered, "you are way prettier than Aladdin."

Kurt felt his stomach jolt at the sudden closeness, smiling coyly as he looked at Blaine.

"And who are you in this fairy tale?" he asked. "Princess Jasmine?"

"Oh no," Blaine replied, a grin spreading over his face. "I'm the Genie."